What this reviewer wrote is only true for the first six issues of the comic. Which according to the koobismo, is no longer canon to the storyline. New comers should start reading the story from issue six onwards to go directly into the serious bits and skip the ranting parts. And with extremely positive reviews and reception from not just deviantart users (more then one million views as of the writing of this reply), but also on Bioware Social Network (with it's own 'Marauder Shields is my canon ending' banner used by many users) and Youtube (Even the infamously unpleasable user smudboy praised the series), it is definitely worth checking out, even if you like the original (or extended cut) endings.
And one more thing, considering the fan's poor reception to the original Mass Effect 3 endings (with 90% of users voted “The Endings Suck” while only 2% deemed the endings to be “Fine As It Is”, not to mention the heavy backlash that resulted in the price for Mass Effect 3 getting cut in half by some retailers due to the large amount of former fans returning their copy of the game), I will not describe ME 3 as having a 'highly-praised storyline'.
90% of less than 2% of the people who played the game is still less than 2%. Of course, that "90%" claim is an abject lie, but who expects honesty from Retakers?
In the comic, I couldn't find a passive-aggressive complaint about the original ending anywhere from issue 6 onward, despite what the reviewer says.
And actually, Rhetoric Hunter, the "90%" claim is true. See here: http://social.bioware.com/633606/polls/28989
. Or here: http://social.bioware.com/poll.php?user=1183972&poll_id=29101 . And how idiotic is to believe that when 'two percent of all people who bought it' actually go online and vote that your ending sucks, that means only two percent of the audience believes the ending sucks?
Guys you can enjoy the ending without having to deny that there's a significant number of people who don't like it. Be happy for what you have and take your happiness from your personal enjoyment of the ending instead of arguing over stuff like this
I am not sure how to respond to Rhetoric Hunter's reply. Since he/she has either:
(A) Completely missing the point about what my comment was about. Or; (B) Is more concern about picking a fight with someone that dares to dislike it.
The main focus of my comment was on whether or not the Marauder Shields comics are truly as terrible as the reviewers claims it to be. With the "90% of users disliking the ending" comment being nothing but an unimportant afterthought.
Back to the main topic, this discussion is about whether or not the seiners have so much Author Tract that it degrades the story to the degree that it will prevent readers from enjoying the story. And to be honest, no. Not at all.
Once again, from issue six onwards, koobismo has managed to keep the amount of Author Tract to the very bare minimum within the comics, so unless you take your time in reading his author's comments at the bottom of the page or his journals at the main page (both of which are NOT part of the comics), there really isn't any "passive-aggressive rage about the ending".
And lets compare it with another fan-made Fix Fic that have generated a lot of positive reviews: Tiberium Wars.
Here we have a story in which there is actually some noticeable Author Tract within the story itself. Going as far as having characters commenting on how unrealistic some of the key points in the official novelization was. However, the story itself was completely enjoyable and a great read that in many ways exceed the official material. The same thing applies to Marauder Shields.
So, in conclusion:
(1) Is there a massive amount of Author Tract within the comics? No, beyond issue six there isn't many noticeable ones with with the story.
(2) Is there so much Author Tract that it degrades the comics into Writer On Board? No. Again, not beyond the now non-cannon issue six.
(3) Does the series have "a premise that ignores the lore of the series", a plot that is "practically nonexistent" and "lacks any humor to be entertaining"? Once again, no. Sure the idea that the the Marauder who shot Shepherd turns out to be Nihlus is a bit far fetched. But everything else is strictly believable in canon. Even avoiding the "Conventional victory though The Power Of Friendship" plot that is found so frequently in attempted Fix Fic for the ME 3 endings.
"And how idiotic is to believe that when 'two percent of all people who bought it' actually go online and vote that your ending sucks, that means only two percent of the audience believes the ending sucks?"
Bingo. There's an old saying in showbiz that if you hear a complaint from someone about a work, you should assume there are 50 more people who feel the same way whose opinions you didn't hear about. Do that to the 2% of everyone who bought the game who hated the ending, and you have everyone who bought the game hating it. Obviously that's an exaggeration - it's easy to vote online - but it shows that the people who hated the ending are not some tiny minority. '2% of the people who bought the game' doesn't sound like much, but considering this was just one poll, on a single site, it's actually a huge number.
And on Marauder Shields - guddamned awesome. The first 5 issues are just goofy comedy strips, but from issue 6 onwards, the writing, art, voice acting, and so on have been excellent, and we're not even halfway through - strips 40-41 will be the 'mid-series finale'. Not only can we expect every issue to eventually get an audiobook, but the ultimate endgame is for the entire series to be converted into motion comic form. Do Want.
The user "Queen Of The Sirens" is unfortunately a well-known troll around the Marauder Shields parts, who has also called herself "Lilyhearts Liara" and many other names. She is trying to provide a campaign to discredit the comic, even though prominent Bio Ware figures and other game developers have praised it as an awesome fan-created story. Be aware that the mentioned troll is on the prowl, commenting under each and every thing connected to Marauder Shields that is released anywhere, always repeating the same "arguments".
Don't feed the trolls.
Eh, different opinion =/= Troll.
I don't know if I'd use the word "troll", but the basic facts balladino brings up are true: this woman(?), under various names, has been pursuing a one-person bashing campaign against this comic for several months now.
One of the primary reasons I went ahead and made a review for this (despite my dislike for TV Tropes' review section) is specifically because I wanted to show that people could have a negative opinion of this comic without coming across the way she does.
Posting same review 4 times under multiple accounts, after main account has been banned = Troll.
That doesn't necessarily make her a Troll, it could just makesher obsessive and it might mean she must really hate it.
That doesn't necessarily make her a Troll, it could just *make her obsessive and it might mean she must really hate it.
PS: I hate that I can't edit my comment. XD
@kay4today If you pretend to be different people...you're trolling. I don't mean you, but the poster in question.
"90% of less than 2% of the people who played the game is still less than 2%. Of course, that "90%" claim is an abject lie, but who expects honesty from Retakers?"
You have no fucking idea how polling or sampling works, do you?
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If you hate Mass Effect 3 canon...
What would you expect from a webcomic that its author describes as a "better ending" to a critically-acclaimed RPG with a highly-praised storyline?
Would you expect a premise that ignores the lore of the series?
That's what Marauder Shields delivers. Created by someone who disliked the ending to the blockbuster videogame Mass Effect 3, Marauder Shields has...well, what does it have?
Very little, to be frank. As already stated, the author believes it to be a better conclusion to the series despite its frequent contradictions with the established lore of the series, most notably the titular sentient turian husk working against the Reapers. The plot is practically nonexistant and the webcomic lacks any humor to be entertaining.
What Marauder Shields contains plenty of is passive-aggressive rage about the ending; if the characters in the webcomic are anything to go by, its author believes that everyone hates the ending deep down inside just like they do. For all its focus on bashing the ending, the webcomic provides little reason as to why we should think that instead of the nigh-universal acclaim for the conclusion.
Interestingly enough, one of the earlier "non-canon" comics (which are even more pointless than the main comics, being nothing but insisting that the ending is bad without giving any reasons why) gives the impression that the author's hatred of the ending comes from the fate of a major character in the series.
If there is one pro to the webcomic, the art is good. It's a shame that the artistic talent is being wasted on a webcomic which consists of nothing but bitterness over the success of a game with an ending which they couldn't accept.