Hero of the Citadel. Conqueror of the Collectors. Savior of the galaxy.
The Mass Effect Trilogy is a series of Crowning Moments of Awesome.
This page has been split due to its length.
Expanded Universe
- From Retribution, Kai Leng may be an incredibly xenophobic and sociopathic asshole, but there is no denying that he is a badass. Before the story, the man killed a krogan with a knife in a Bar Brawl and during the story's events, he kills six turians, by himself, and again with only a knife, showing off just how he beats Thane later down the line.
- In the prologue of Revelation, a young Anderson (recently promoted to N7 status and still a Lieutenant) had a conversation with Admiral John Grissom about the hostile first contact with the Turians. In which in a Call-Forward, he basely gave a massive middle finger to Saren's "Is submission not preferable to extinction?" philosophy in regards to the Reapers.Grissom: Every military engagement has only three options, Lieutenant: engage, retreat, or surrender.'Anderson: We can't just turn our backs on Shanxi! We have to engage!... With all due respect.Grissom: It's not that simple. This is completely unprecedented; we've never faced an enemy like this before. We know nothing about them. If we escalate this into a war against an alien species, we have no way to predict how it will end. They could have a fleet a thousand times the size of ours. We could be on the verge of starting a war that will culminate in the total annihilation of the human race. Do you honestly think we should take that risk, Lieutenant Anderson?....Anderson: Sir, I don't think we have any other choice. Retreat isn't an option. Now that the aliens know about us they aren't just going to sit at Shanxi and do nothing.Grissom: And you don't think surrender is an option?Anderson: I don't think humanity could survive being subjugated under alien rule. Freedom is worth fighting for.Anderson: I don't know, sir. Are you willing to condemn your daughter to the life of a slave?
- Liara's chapter in the comic Mass Effect: Homeworlds ends with a pretty good one. Set in the interim between Mass Effect 2 and 3 as she tries to research a way to stop the Reapers, after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt on the hanar homeworld Kahje, Liara is contacted by the Illusive Man, who insists that the assassination attempt was the work of a rogue faction within Cerberus and offers an alliance between Cerberus and the Shadow Broker to find a way to defeat the Reapers. Liara agrees that pooling their resources could be mutually beneficial, but tells the Illusive Man to go first. When he hesitates, Liara guesses either Cerberus doesn't want to share its information on the Reapers, or more likely, they don't have any. Furious at the insult, the Illusive Man tries to taunt Liara, insinuating that her tenure as the Shadow Broker has made the galaxy's underworld think the Broker has become soft and weak, insisting that she needs his help to succeed. Liara effectively gives the Illusive Man the finger by pointing out he's the one begging her to make a deal and tells him to send an army the next time he tries to kill her before hanging up.
- There's an app that can be downloaded to smartphones that will track your progress in game and send you messages accordingly, as though you are Shepard in real life. How cool is that?
- Unfortunately, in Summer 2013, the app was removed. So far, the messaging function hasn't been available elsewhere.
- The image from the ninth foundation comic. The very model of a Scientist Salarian indeed
◊. - Shepard has, like, half the entries on this page. Well if one were to look at the character page they have one all to themselves. Detailing Shepard's exploits. How many characters full stop have their own page? It's a testament to just how awesome they are that Naruto, Batman, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Buffy Summers, or anyone else had not hit that level of Troper Critical Mass.
- The comic He Who Laughs Best delves into how Joker became the SSV Normandy's pilot prior to the events of Mass Effect. He steal the Normandy and was able to beat the trials, under fire, with spare time. More awesome is that the turian representative, initially disdainful of Joker due to his illness, was impressed enough to defend him and insisted in putting Joker as the Normandy's pilot.
- The comic Invasion is all Aria being a One-Man Army. Since she's the key to Omega, Cerberus takes it by tricking her onto a Cerberus vessel then taking it to their base. She's then suspended face-down in a harness with a biotic damper on each limb. She breaks out of it within a page, snapping her captor's neck with her legs then taking the key. Then she fights her way out of the compound with nothing but biotics and one pistol.
- There's more. Cerberus tricks Omega by letting the adjutants escape and swarm Omega, meaning Aria has to lead the charge fighting them. Without exception, every time she enters a fight she kills all adjutants in seconds with biotics, and even the ostensible boss meant to kill her - a super-adjutant thrice the size of the others - turns out to be nothing more than a speedbump that she demolishes within a page. The only reason she loses is that Petrovsky comes up with a plan she can't power her way through. And throughout, she never seems to tap her upper limits, implying that she's still not really in danger here.
- The First Contact War was one for the Systems Alliance, where they managed to hand the Turian Hierarchy, the preeminent galactic military power, their first major military defeat in over a millennium, crushing the fleet that took Shanxi.
Series
- In the second game, Kasumi will mention she got Shepard into Badass Weekly. The writer for the real life Badass of the Week thought this was the crowning moment of his career and was so flattered he had to write an entry for the site. Guess who.
- The only reason it didn't come out earlier was because the author wanted to finish the trilogy first.
- The character designs are so popular that people have recreated them in real life. This and this are pretty CM for Mass Effect Coplay. Though it'd probably be better called special effect artists play dress up.
- Just about any time Commander Shepard gives one of their famous speeches is going to be this.
- One would think it's impossible but not for Leopard Turret who should be honored for his passion and dedication. He took the entire Mass Effect game series and turn into a legit Sci-Fi series with incredibly authentic openings that can be seen in television shows. Here's the link to the playlist.
