paragade-shepard

[paragade-shepard]

I have java enabled on my main blog and I was able to update my profiles for my female shepards! (Kerica Shepard and her AUs)

it’s not *quite* done I still gotta add some pictures, but the bulk of it’s done!

[paragade-shepard]

When the smooch is so good you get that kissy foot. (Click for better quality.)

[paragade-shepard]

Shepard’s first conversations with the crew when she gains command of the Normandy sr1 are hilarious

Shepard: hey so all of these conversations are going horribly. My XO and Gunnery chief are xenophobic. My LT has a crush on me. I was racially insensitive to Wrex. My pilot is an insubordinate little shit. Please tell me you’re chill

Garrus: Haha, well you don’t have to worry about me

Shepard: Good. Tell me about yourself, why’d you join up?

Garrus: C-sec wouldn’t let me kill or abuse criminals. Spectres don’t have any red tape so I’m here to do things my way

Shepard: oh for the love of god

[paragade-shepard]

page 002: oh hey? whatup?

a multi-muse page by @chaaostheory

take this overly complicated multi-muse page i made up for harry potter characters because i’m a nerd. it’s easily (well, depending on your skill with html) edited so you could change stuff around if you want

place the code in a custom page, codes long, bound to be bugs, yada yada. if you have any questions feel free to ask box me. 

features.

fontawesome 5.1 icons

hint.css tooltips 

scrollable biography section along with two other small boxes

scrollable stat box

six links

a traits box with space for six traits

a tv tropes box with space for nine tropes

side statics for development, availability, etc. 

preview // code

[paragade-shepard]

Back on my bullshit

yo yo idk if anyone even follows me anymore or will see this but I’m playing MEL (mass effect legendary) and just though I might poke my head back onto my blog and see what’s up. 

I’m gunna take a browse through my shit and see if I can like...fix anything or queue some posts -shrug-

at this point I’m just here for me to have a log of pics and screenshots from my game and stuff so if ur into that cool

I’m down to RP too just gimme some time to sort through things but we can talk in IMs too

[paragade-shepard]

Hey mother nature i love you and shit but like….what the fuck my good bitch

[paragade-shepard]

Kristen Stewart || The Kelly Clarkson Show (1)(2)(3)

[paragade-shepard]

I hope it’s okay to reply to this, I don’t even have a massive response

XCom made big on their 2nd one bc they saw a majority of people FAILED so they made it canon everyone FAILED and then had to fight the aliens AGAIN. 

So I don't think it's far fetched to jump the next ME off the ending where you see Shepard breathing. People have so many thoughts of how Shepard even survived, who found them, things like that, I for one would be happy to have some more context to that myself so I don’t even need to play the next one through as long as I know the details of THAT for writing purposes, bc by this point Mass Effect’s fandom make so many fantastic ‘what ifs’ and storylines it’ll be fun, at the very least, to see if anyone gets validated

Massive Speculation

On N7 day of this hellscape of a year, BioWare announced they were making another Mass Effect instalment. Naturally, being sat up here in the bridge as I am, it gives me a lot of time to speculate and here are my thoughts on the wider picture.

These remasters are intended to revitalise the fandom for the upcoming project.

That much, to me, seems obvious. Whatever this new instalment is, it’s some years off and it makes perfect sense to give something to the (not insignificant) fanbase Mass Effect still has to attract them again, as well as new fans. These remasters will be well positioned to buy them a few years of good “fandom time.”

This upcoming instalment after the remasters is going to be Mass Effect’s last hurrah.

And maybe, as much as it sucks to say, BioWare’s last hurrah in its current form, too. It’s no industry secret that BioWare has outlived its life expectancy since the EA takeover. EA notoriously acquires and dissolves spirited, highly skilled studios once they stop being profitable (and sometimes even before that.) Unlike films, where franchises are just allowed to limp on indefinitely despite litanies of failures (think Terminator, Alien vs Predator and its ilk) games “enjoy” no such luxury. Beloved franchises are taken out behind the barn on the regular. BioWare’s productions in particular are large, grand, expensive, and alarmingly the past two have been both critical and commercial failures, vastly underperforming expectations. Mass Effect: Andromeda sold well initially, but proved to have no legs in the market; so much so, that all its DLC was cancelled and the title unceremoniously shelved. Anthem suffered a very similar and drastic fate. Whatever this upcoming Mass Effect title is going to be, it needs wide, iconic and lasting appeal.

Mass Effect can only be a flagship title.

There is no way to make a cheap Mass Effect game, and so all the stops are going to have to be pulled for this one. The studio learned a painful lesson when they left ME in the hands of their passionate, yet relatively inexperienced branch. Narratively, that puts the upcoming title in a very interesting place.

Mass Effect: Andromeda 2 is not a safe investment for a flagship title.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to rile up interest in the ME universe again just for the next offering to be a sequel to the broadly disliked and violently shelved Andromeda. Such a decision seems counterintuitive. ME:A seems like a very bad basis to hitch a project of such importance on.

In terms of Mass Effect, what is more iconic than Commander Shepard?

As discussed, the new title is going to need to capitalise on broad appeal and fan favourites to survive. Mass Effect: Andromeda’s premise of sidestepping the whole Reapers debacle by being pioneers seeding the stars in a new galaxy was an excellent idea. Unfortunately, that ticket has been used up. Doing that same idea again seems ill-advised at best. Fandom has been hungry for more Commander Shepard for almost eight years, now… Easily, they and the N7s are the most recognisable, iconic figures. But, and it is a krogan sized “but”…

However, the endings were not meant to be written around.

Whatever you think of them, each “candy flavour” has far-reaching consequences that narratively speaking would be intensely difficult to write a meaningful and interesting continuance for. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, but it is extremely challenging and I think the only way to go forward with that would be to piss off a lot of people, for lack of a better term. It presents several challenges: 1. Okay, so the protagonist is Shepard. How? We have to pick the only path forward from here, which is to say that only the Shepards who chose this particular colour candy ending can proceed. This essentially makes one of the decisions the “canon” ending, because you can only make a game based on one of these outcomes, realistically. Scope becomes too huge if you’re trying to include all the branches. So… we are faced with the age old problem that caused such outrage over the endings initially… a lot of people are going to feel like their choices didn’t matter. This said, there is a slight precedence for this in that one could get their squad and themselves all killed in Mass Effect 2, and only my man Joker is left. That’s a bit of a different situation, but it’s all I got. 2. Okay, so only the Shepards who chose x ending can load their save and continue on. Shepard doing what? N7s are an interesting concept and the Mass Effect universe is a very interesting one with many kinds of narrative possibilities, however, it’s a real pretty corner the writers have painted themselves into on this one, gotta say. This leaves only two other narrative possibilities: 1. The least interesting of all the options, a prequel. This presents challenges of its own, because in Mass Effect’s own lore, it’s not actually that long ago that humanity came into contact with the rest of the galaxy. You can either write about the First Contact War, which involves only humans and turians and shrinks the scope drastically so much so as to be disappointing and lose much of the colour of the universe… or you go so far back into the past that it’s the Protheans’ cycle, in which case there’s no opportunity for a human protagonist - which is a massive problem - and is narratively not very compelling because we know everyone and everything dies, unless you want to do something stupid like time travel. Mass Effect is already high concept enough, I don’t think time travel is a particularly good mechanic to introduce to the series… Unless it’s short-term and single-use, like Shepard has to stop themselves from making a choice in the third game’s era. Even then, that’s opening a big can of worms that I don’t think is a good fit for the series. 2. Mass Effect: Mandalorian The only way to retain the colourful scope, the human protagonist, and the aliens we’re familiar with is ditch the iconic N7 situation entirely and set the instalment maybe 5 or 10 years before Shepard’s time. This ensures humanity is still an up-and-coming member of galactic society, yet the whole Reapers business isn’t going on yet. They won’t go for N7s because as we know, Shepard was the first human Spectre, so the protagonist could be some kind of smuggler, criminal or vigilante rather than military. Touching on what fans loved so much about Mass Effect 2, which was the feeling of getting together your motley crew of misfits to do a real big job, your role could simply be to amass a group of space jerks to do a mission of much smaller scale than the Reapers’ plotline, but no less fun. I’m going to bet it would be called something like Mass Effect: Renegades (you can have that one for free, BioWare) and the player could be pitted against C-Sec and other galactic law enforcement agencies. This even gives the opportunity for small cameos, such as Garrus’ time in C-Sec, and other characters to appear in different points in their careers. Whilst it wouldn’t make up for the loss of the iconic N7 visual and idea, it might go some way towards helping broad appeal. Also just look at how successful the Mandalorian has been for Star Wars. The only reason I don’t like these ideas is because I don’t get to date Joker in any of them. Seriously, BioWare, I don’t care what you do, just let me date the damn scruffy pilot. Not a different one, that one. Specifically. You could get an impersonator if Seth Green doesn’t wanna do it. Say his voicebox got damaged, I don’t care, just something, please In all seriousness though, I’d love for Shepard to come back. My ideal situation has to do with only one of the endings being “canonised” and is that Shepard somehow survives. Then it’s about rebuilding the galaxy after the Reapers have gone. I’m sure there’s drama to be had in that. And it gives me the opportunity to hope for Shepard to finally, FINALLY hook up with Joker. Seriously it’s so narratively powerful they’re always there for each other come on give me this I think that option would be challenging to write and would involve a sacrifice of pissing some fans off quite a lot, but the fact is, Mass Effect needs to be saved if it’s going to continue on, and it might be possible to orchestrate a situation where Shepard passes the torch on to new characters at the end. That’s also a common theme in shows and games these days.

[paragade-shepard]

but like who started the idea that fanfiction writers are somehow bothered by enthusiasm for their work???? cause i see posts all the time like “do writers really want to talk with us about their fics? Do writers really want long comments? I dont want to bother them” and i just think its absolutely ridiculous????

ofc i want to talk to you about it, and would love to hear you go on about it. i took time out of my real life to write this stuff down so we could all share these characters!!! the idea that you’re bothering a fanfiction writer, a fellow nerd, is absolutely crazy

[paragade-shepard]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition – Official Teaser Available Spring 2021

[paragade-shepard]

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

[paragade-shepard]

I was scrolling my ME tumblr hoping for like single shot gifs of the characters and at first I was like XD "welp guess it's just the trailer rn cuz it's too early" and then BOOM

I ASK AND I SHALL RECIEVE

MASS EFFECT LEGENDARY EDITION   ▷   Spring 2021

[paragade-shepard]

HAPPY N7 DAY BITCHES

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition - official teaser.

[paragade-shepard]

[paragade-shepard]

some of the reasons I love the ME1 Citadel so much

how excellent it is at getting across the station’s sheer scale

the map is expansive but not empty

how its design is sterile and echo-y in that government building way but the whole place still feels alive

the lighting, whether its the harsh florescents or the warmer lighting in the wards or tower

the blue and purple color palette in general

the background music (i know it’s used in the other games but it fits this Citadel version so well)

how the sounds of footsteps change depending on the flooring

the elevators and their muzak and announcements

how said announcements are so spot on in how banal and insipid they are

that no matter what dramatic thing Shepard’s doing, it may be interrupted by a tedious elevator ride

the elevators as a representation of the contrast between the messy reality of what’s happening and the Citadel’s sanitized bubble

and how while Sovereign’s invading the Citadel Shepard must shatter the elevator glass, literally bursting that bubble

maybe I’m reading too much into the elevators but I don’t care

it’s such a good location 10/10

[paragade-shepard]

day 10 - noir

based off this prompt list

[paragade-shepard]

art takes hours to produce and seconds to consume so dont act suprised when artists get upset when their posts only get likes and no reblogs

similarly a piece of writing that takes a few minutes to read could have weeks of work behind it… dont take creativity for granted when ur getting it for free