History Anime / MassEffectParagonLost

* BittersweetEnding: Veering closely to a DownerEnding. [[spoiler: Everyone in the film except Vega and Treeya die, including all the colonists and the little girl that Vega promised he'd save. The intel that Vega chose to save over the colonists is promised to be useful for the Alliance to track down and stop the Collectors, but it's proven moot when Shepard and Cerberus wipe out the Collectors on their own anyway which makes Vega's choice AllForNothing. The only real positive outcome from the film is that Vega lives to fight another day and so that he'll help Shepard take down the Reapers when they invade the galaxy.]]

* GenderNeutralWriting: Shepard is mentioned several times, but their gender is intentionally left vague.

* BareYourMidriff: Camille's outfit when not in her armor.

''Mass Effect: Paragon Lost'' is an animated movie set during ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. Produced by Creator/FUNimation and animated by Creator/ProductionIG, it was released on November 28, 2012. A nine-minute sneak peek of the movie was uploaded [=FUNimation=]'s Website/{{YouTube}} channel on October 25, 2012, and can be accessed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7v616__Ays here]].

* AintTooProudToBeg: Messner desperately begs Vega for his life [[spoiler: in exchange for the data on the Collectors. When Treeya reveals he no longer has it, Vega leaves a sobbing Messner to be torn apart by Collector reinforcements]].
-->'''Messner''': Just take me with you! I don't wanna die, not like this!
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Subverted. See SadisticChoice.

* BigDamnHeroes: Several characters get these moments, although for a few of them it also [[HeroicSacrifice costs them their lives.]]

** [[spoiler: Kamille ends up getting integrated into a Praetorian after she is captured by the Collectors.]]
* BoomHeadshot: Several {{mook}}s and Archuk are victims of this.
* TheCameo: Treeya contacts Liara T'Soni and speaks with her briefly before the signal is jammed.

** The Citadel, orbiting a planet which looks similar to Earth. This was before the final battle in ''Mass Effect 3'' [[spoiler:where the Reapers moved the Citadel to the Earth's orbit]]. In addition to this, Sovereign's corpse looks pretty much in one piece, despite being blown to bits at the end of the original ''Mass Effect''.
** Vega's training as a N7 operative at the end of the movie. Anyone who played ''[=ME3=]'' know that he's still a candidate for the program and hasn't started training yet before the Reapers invaded Earth and Shepard has the option to encourage to join the program during the game.
** The fact that Anderson, who is potentially the human councilor at this point (as the attack on Fehl Prime would seem to have to fall in during the course of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', so the debrief would not likely be long after, still well before the events of the book ''Retribution,'' where Anderson resigns from his duties on the Citadel), is seen wearing an Alliance uniform.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Treeya, who initially dismisses Vega as being {{dumb muscle}}.
* DiesWideOpen: Nicky.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Clearly Messner was dumb enough to believe [[spoiler: that the evil aliens melting down humans to grow a new Reaper were just going to let him walk away once [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness his use to them]] was at an end]].

* DoomedByCanon: Quite a few named characters don't make it to the end. Only Vega is guaranteed to survive, although he's [[SurvivorGuilt not happy about it.]]

** There is the mission when the platoon destroys the Collector artifact. Treeya thinks their action was an act of senseless destruction and states she thinks Vega and the other soldiers are [[TriggerHappy trigger-happy]] [[BloodKnight blood knights]], assuming they just "shoot first, ask questions later". In addition, the heightened security, with the Alliance not explaining the reason for it, disrupted the flow of colony life which soured Treeya's opinion of him further.

* ForegoneConclusion: If you've played ''Mass Effect 3'' and talked to Vega, you know how this ends. [[spoiler: [[AllForNothing Vega's decision and the sacrifices from it were rendered moot and needless.]]]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson are aware that Vega wants to live up to the example that Shepard set, and warn him that such greatness can come at too great a cost.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Nicky shoves Vega out of the way of a Praetorian's claw stabbing for him and ends up taking the blow instead]].

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Messner, who is too busy [[KickTheDog kicking Vega while he's down]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech taunting him as a dumb grunt]] that he doesn't think it's a bad idea to get too close. Inevitably he does, and Vega buries a combat knife in his stomach.
** [[spoiler: Nicky gets stabbed in the gut by the Praetorian and Essex [[InTheBack from behind]] by a Collector General]]
* ItHasBeenAnHonor: [[spoiler: A mortally wounded Brood thanks Vega for giving him the chance to die a warrior's death]].

* MagicAntidote: Subverted. After Essex is paralyzed by the Seeker Swarm, the team tests the experimental antidote on him... and it doesn't work. [[spoiler:At least, it doesn't work ''right away''. He shows up two scenes later to save his friends.]]

* OffscreenInertia: Given that this anime is released after ''Mass Effect 3'', the fates of Treeya and Milque, [[spoiler:who are the only survivors of Vega's squad at the end]], remained unknown by the time Vega joins the ''Normandy'' crew in the game and the Reapers began their invasion across the galaxy. Considering that the Reapers invaded several of the races' homeworlds and colonies, the two are either fighting against them or became unfortunate casualties of the war.

* QuickNip: Vega takes a swig from a flask and passes it around before attacking the Collector cruiser. [[spoiler: After they are captured, they realize that Vega spiked the booze with the MagicAntidote, which also explained [[ATankardOfMooseUrine why it tasted so lousy.]]]]

* RedShirtArmy: The other squad Vega's team drops in with don't even get any lines, nor much screen time. They get killed off rather unceremoniously, along with the other shuttles dropping in with them.
* ReforgedIntoAMinion: Messner forces Treeya to use a Prothean beacon aboard the Collector ship; through it, she sees the Reapers annihilate Fehl Prime's Prothean defenders and then use their corpses to create the Collectors.
-->'''Harbinger''': You will submit. You will ascend. And you will serve.

* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:Vega sacrificing the colonists to save Treeya.]] As noted above, [[spoiler: Vega ultimately made the wrong choice due to the intel he gathered being useless.]]

* SpacePirates: While they are ostensibly PrivateMilitaryContractors in the games, the Blood Pack act more like this in the movie (although it's implied in ''Mass Effect 2'' that this is par for the course for Terminus Systems merc bands).

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: Having been mortally injured by a Collector General, Essex uses his last strength to biotically push himself and his attacker over the edge of a pit inside the Collector ship]].
* TalkingYourWayOut: [[spoiler: Messner tries to get out of the Collectors threatening to turn him into HumanResources by threatening to transmit the data he's gathered on their weaknesses to the Alliance unless they let him go. The Collectors dismiss his words as empty threats]].
** He also [[spoiler: offers to [[BuyThemOff pay Vega in exchange for his life. Vega throws the offer back in his face]].]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Messner]]''': Listen, I can pay you, as much as you want! Just name your price! Please Vega, help me! You can't just leave me here!
-->'''Vega''': [[TranquilFury You made your choice]].

-->'''Essex:''' Collect '''''THIS''''', you bitch!

** [[spoiler:Mason loses it when he sees Kamille has been subsumed into the Praetorian. He runs straight towards it intending to save her, and gets vaporized by a particle beam.]]

* WeirdnessCensor: Heavily in effect due to Shepard's discoveries being covered up by the Council. Most characters are incredulous about the existence of the Reapers, the Collectors and the true reason for the Prothean's disappearance, with Treeya lamenting that her mentor, Liara, has ruined her career by becoming a "conspiracy theorist" ever since she ran off with Shepard. At the time, [[TheWorldIsNotReady the official story published by the Citadel Council]] was that Sovereign was a unique Geth dreadnought, and not an ancient mechanical EldritchAbomination come to usher in an apocalypse for organic life.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Subverted. While Vega's choice is a matter of record, and an arguably justified choice at that, only he can know for sure what the real reason was for that choice.

''Mass Effect: Paragon Lost'' is an animated movie set during ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. Produced by Creator/FUNimation and animated by Creator/ProductionIG, it was released on November 28, 2012. A nine-minute sneak-peak of the movie was uploaded [=FUNimation=]'s Website/{{YouTube}} channel on October 25, 2012, and can be accessed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7v616__Ays here]].

* [[spoiler: Nicky gets stabbed in the gut by the Praetorian and Essex [[InTheBack from behind]] by a Collector General]]

* ReforgedIntoAMinion: Messner forces Treeya to use a Prothean beacon aboard the Collector ship; through it, she sees the Reapers annihilate Fehl Prime's Prothean defenders and then use their corpses to create the Protheans.

** He also [[spoiler: offers to [[BuyThemOff pay Vega in exchange for his life. Vega throws the offer back in his face]].

* BareYourMidriff: Camille's outfit when not in her uniform.