History Fridge / MassEffect

* In Mass Effect, being called by the name of your species by someone close to you is often the ultimate insult as you're no longer Commander Shepard to them, you're just some arrogant whelp who likes to think you deserve their respect, without earning it. Beyond not earning it. You diminish any positive thoughts they might have had for you. Despite your over all intentions, you and your methods are still inferior, and with calling you "human", they make sure you know it. That hit me when Tali's mission ended with giving the evidence, while she was mad at you. She didn't called Shepard "Human" as an insult. She holds enough respect for Shepard to accept that s/he had reasons for handing over the evidence but she needs time to get over the fact her father is a BrokenPedestal and she was now responsible of what path she takes to find homeworld. Either through peace with the geth or like her father, hunt down every geth if possible.

* In Mass Effect, being called by the name of your species by someone close to you is often the ultimate insult as you're no longer Commander Shepard to them, you're just some arrogant whelp who likes to think you deserve their respect, without earning it. Beyond not earning it. You diminish any positive thoughts they might have had for you. Despite your over all intentions, you and your methods are still inferior, and with calling you "human", they make sure you know it. That hit me when Tali's mission ended with giving the evidence, while she was mad at you. She didn't called Shepard "Human" as an insult. She holds enough respect for Shepard to accept that s/he had reasons for handing over the evidence but she needs time to get over the fact her father is a BrokenPedestal and she was now responsible of what path she takes to find homeworld. Either through peace with the geth or like her father, hunt down every geth if possible.
** Ahem. I see you liked [[http://www.youtube.com/Ecci my]] [[http://www.youtube.com/comment?lc=09Zv-2TVtXeSiOueGii7jQ_3avmGxEZBOBfy--Kv__Q YouTube comment]]. I'll let it slide.

* In Mass Effect, being called by the name of your species by someone close to you is often the ultimate insult as you're no longer Commander Shepard to them, you're just some arrogant whelp who likes to think you deserve their respect, without earning it. Beyond not earning it. You diminish any positive thoughts they might have had for you. Despite your over all intentions, you and your methods are still inferior, and with calling you "human", they make sure you know it. That hit me when Tali's mission ended with giving the evidence, while she was mad at you. She didn't called Shepard "Human" as an insult. She holds enough respect for Shepard to accept that s/he had reasons for handing over the evidence but she needs time to get over the fact her father is a BrokenPedestal and she was now responsible of what path she takes to find homeworld. Either through peace with the geth or like her father, hunt down every geth if possible.

* [[spoiler:The 'biotic god' volus ''is'' actually a powerful biotic due to the drugs the Eclipse gave him, they're just not stupid enough to give him a biotic amp!]]

** [[{{Stargate}} Stellar drift.]] The systems/clusters containing the relays that are right next to each other now probably ''weren't'' next to each other 3+ million years ago when the relays were first forged. And unlike the Stargate network, the relays probably don't auto-correct beyond finding the relay that they used to connect to again, since it would make them harder to shut down whenever the Reapers come back to harvest.

** [[{{Stargate}} Stellar drift.]] The systems/clusters containing the relays that are right next to each other now probably ''weren't'' next to each other 3+ million years ago when the relays were first forged. And unlike the Stargate network, the relays probably don't auto-correct, since it would make them harder to shut down whenever the Reapers come back to harvest.

* This troper (*THWACK* on the head) had a moment of Fridge Brilliance for Mass Effect's plot itself. Initially, he had many of the same misgivings stated on the [[JustBugsMe/MassEffect Just Bugs Me]] page: [[spoiler:Why didn't Saren activate the Citadel Relay while he was there, secretly? Why didn't Sovereign just attack the Citadel in the first place? What was the point behind Saren having to find the Beacons and Ilos? But then, this troper(another *THWACK* on the head) reached the Ilos VI, and through the dialog with it, [[ThisIsSparta EVERYTHING. MADE. SENSE.]] Sovreign's original plan was to get the Keepers to activate the Relay themselves, allowing him to let the Reapers return without ever really lifting a finger. But with the Keepers modified by the Protheans, Sovereign's essentially screwed. Sure, he could've flown in and hooked himself up to the Citadel and done the job manually, but as we see at the end of the game, he would've gotten Curb Stomped pretty badly by the defending fleets and then that'd be the end of the Reapers. So with Saren's help, he formulates a backup plan. Somehow, he knows the Protheans made a miniature Relay that let them get to the Citadel, so he sends Saren off to find it, with the Beacons able to tell him the location (likely by tracing the Beacons back to their point of origin). At the same time, Saren begins gathering allies: the Geth, the Krogan, the Rachni, etc. All of it, ''all of it'', the gathering of allies and the finding of the Conduit, was all just to provide Sovereign with cover and protection long enough for him to activate the Citadel Relay manually. The new plan would've been thus: with the Relay on Ilos secured, Saren teleports onto the Citadel with an army of Geth, Krogan and Rachni, completely overwhelming the defenders and crippling the Citadel's "ground" defenses. Sovereign flies in with the Geth fleet, the Geth carving a path for him through the Citadel fleet and holding off any reinforcements. Saren, in control of the Citadel's Control Center, closes the Citadel's arms, preventing anyone else from approach the station. With the Geth fleet maintaining a perimeter outside and Saren's army preventing anyone still on the Citadel from interfering, Sovereign is given all the time he needs to hook himself up to the Citadel, activate the Relay manually and summon the other Reapers.]] EFFING. BRILLIANT. -GhostWhoWalks

* Ever wonder why, when traveling to another cluster, you simply don't take the shortest route? Even if two clusters are close together, the route to them from another could be completely different. It hit me after a while: it's the way mass relays are connected to each other. A relay in one system might not be connected to a relay in another, nearby one. You might need to take a roundabout route to get to your destination, but because of the way the relays work, that won't take too long. -Tropers/TeraChimera

** Samara only tells you that if you're more Renegade then Paragon. If you're Paragon, she tells you that "you've been a true friend to her", and if you hit on her, she implies she has feelings for you, but represses them because of her memories of her first companionship. Here's to her changing her mind in #3?

****** Sorry, your right, I was thinking of Zaalbar. Still, it still might be a Shout Out. Bioware IS making the next game in the series.

***** Wrong. Hanharr was introduced in KOTOR II.

**** I'm not talking about the second game. Hanharr was only in the first, Bioware-made KoTOR.

*** Oh, sure. Han*h*ar is the name of a companion in Knights of The Old Republic, another Bioware RPG.
*** Not quite. ''[=KotOR=] II'' was made by Obsidian, not Bioware; the similarity between Hanharr's name and the name of the hanar race is probably coincidental.

*** Oh, sure. Han*h*ar is the name of a companion in Knights of The Old Republic, another Bioware RPG.

* This troper just realized this while reading the Mythology Gag entry on the main page of the first game. Does the name Hanar sound familier?
** Not really. Care to elaborate?

* This troper just realized this while reading the Mythology Gag entry on the main page of the first game. Does the name Hanar sound familier?

* Legion mentions that the heretic virus introduces a mathematical error in low-level geth processing, resulting in the same operation returning 1.33381 versus 1.33382. At that time, it just seemed to me like a typical LaymansTerms analogy. Then I read on the Mass Effect wiki that Legion was actually referencing the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug Pentium FDIV bug]]!

* Legion mentions that the heretic virus introduces a mathematical error in low-level geth processing, resulting in the same operation returning 1.33381 versus 1.33382. At that time, it just seemed to me like a typical {{Layman's Terms}} analogy. Then I read on the Mass Effect wiki that Legion was actually referencing the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug Pentium FDIV bug]]!

* Legion mentions that the heretic virus introduces a mathematical error in low-level geth processing, resulting in the same operation returning 1.33381 versus 1.33382. At that time, it just seemed to me like a typical [[Layman's Terms]] analogy. Then I read on the Mass Effect wiki that Legion was actually referencing the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug Pentium FDIV bug]]!

* [[CyberCyclops Why do the geth only have one eye?]] Because they don't need for the computer to give them a damn firing solution, unlike two servicemen [[MemeticMutation we all can think of.]]

* I was always frustrated by the fact that the Mako and the Hammerhead were hard to drive. Then I realized: of course it would be hard to drive it! Shepard is a soldier through and through, not a driver/pilot! The difficulty of controlling the vehicles is just an in-game example of how Shepard can be a bad-ass because of killing people, but NOT because of his/her brilliance of driving. [[MemeticMutation Impressive]].

* In Mass Effect 2, you bust Jack out of Purgatory, a prison ship held by the Blue Suns. Now, the merc gang they belong to might not matter, but think for a moment. The Blue Sun(s) hold a girl who's badass, a trained killer, and insane. If this is starting to sound familiar, did I mention that she [[{{Firefly}} can kill you with her brain?]] They used them for yet another Firefly shoutout (the Blue Sun Corporation is the jackasses who were a large part of the Academy's funding/control). Someone at Bioware must really like Firefly.
** That same Firefly fan/Bioware employee must also like [[PitchBlack Riddick]] if he'd name a badass bald chick 'Jack.'

* This troper (*THWACK* on the head) had a moment of Fridge Brilliance for Mass Effect's plot itself. Initially, he had many of the same misgivings stated on the [[JustBugsMe/MassEffect Just Bugs Me]] page: [[spoiler:Why didn't Saren activate the Citadel Relay while he was there, secretly? Why didn't Sovreign just attack the Citadel in the first place? What was the point behind Saren having to find the Beacons and Ilos? But then, this troper(another *THWACK* on the head) reached the Ilos VI, and through the dialog with it, [[ThisIsSparta EVERYTHING. MADE. SENSE.]] Sovreign's original plan was to get the Keepers to activate the Relay themselves, allowing him to let the Reapers return without ever really lifting a finger. But with the Keepers modified by the Protheans, Sovreign's essentially screwed. Sure, he could've flown in and hooked himself up to the Citadel and done the job manually, but as we see at the end of the game, he would've gotten Curb Stomped pretty badly by the defending fleets and then that'd be the end of the Reapers. So with Saren's help, he formulates a backup plan. Somehow, he knows the Protheans made a miniature Relay that let them get to the Citadel, so he sends Saren off to find it, with the Beacons able to tell him the location (likely by tracing the Beacons back to their point of origin). At the same time, Saren begins gathering allies: the Geth, the Krogan, the Rachni, etc. All of it, ''all of it'', the gathering of allies and the finding of the Conduit, was all just to provide Sovreign with cover and protection long enough for him to activate the Citadel Relay manually. The new plan would've been thus: with the Relay on Ilos secured, Saren teleports onto the Citadel with an army of Geth, Krogan and Rachni, completely overwhelming the defenders and crippling the Citadel's "ground" defenses. Sovreign flies in with the Geth fleet, the Geth carving a path for him through the Citadel fleet and holding off any reinforcements. Saren, in control of the Citadel's Control Center, closes the Citadel's arms, preventing anyone else from approach the station. With the Geth fleet maintaining a perimeter outside and Saren's army preventing anyone still on the Citadel from interfering, Sovreign is given all the time he needs to hook himself up to the Citadel, activate the Relay manually and summon the other Reapers.]] EFFING. BRILLIANT. -GhostWhoWalks

** And further, why is the entire Reaper race so angry with Shepard? S/He's an entire species-wide cock-blocker of monumental proportions!
*** As of the end of Mass Effect 2, the Reapers probably consider Shepard guilty of [[spoiler: murder, grave-robbery, desecration of the dead, and child-killing. No wonder they look pissed.]]

** Thinking on this, I just realised that he was probably exposed to the beacon just before the attack. The doctor describes him as 'always a bit unstable', but maybe this is what happens to a 'lesser mind', as Liara put it. - {{Tropers/Randomfanboy}}

** In that same vein, the mechanic from Horizon in ME2 [[spoiler: blames Shepard and the Alliance for bringing the Reapers down on the colony, despite the fact that other netural colonies are being targeted and the Alliance defenses used by Shepard are exactly why most of the colony was saved.]] Yes, he's a coward for not helping out... ''but'' [[spoiler: Shepard and the Illusive both agree that it is too big a coincidence that the Collectors target a colony where one of Shepard's crew is stationed]], so ''technically'' he was right. This doesn't make me wish any less for a Renegade Interrupt to punch him in the mouth. - koolkame
* I just noticed this, but in the Exodus Cluster, there is a star named Utopia which Eden Prime orbits. The thing about this system is, every planet orbiting it is named after a philosophical Utopia. These planets are: Arcadia, named after an area of Greece where people lived down to earth and close to nature; Eden Prime, after the Garden of Eden where the bible says that Adam and Eve lived until [[Satan made them eat the apple]]; and Zion, a term used by Judaism t descibe the promised land where God will dwell with his chosen people; Nirvana, where according to Buddhism someone ascends to when they no longer require to be reborn. The last planet is Zanadu, which isn't the idea of a Utopia, but the name of the city where Kublai Kahn made his capital and had is "Pleasure Gardens".
** Most of the star systems have naming schemes. Boltzmann system objects are all named after famous theoretical physicists, Enoch system are all based on the Old Testament, Fortis are all based on Latin words for virtues, etc. The names span a large number of cultures, too, which can either indicate that various human cultures settled different systems, or that humans have a worldwide culture that isn't nearly as Anglo-centric as most depictions of the future.

* The principle villains of MassEffect 2 are [[spoiler:The Collectors. You could buy a limited Collector's Edition, whereupon you got The Collector's armor as a bonus. It's not an edition for collectors. It's the edition OF The Collectors. Of course!]] -- JackSlack

* OK. So let's talk about Udina. He's a cold, uncharismatic toad. His decision making is absolutely lousy. He clearly lacks any ability to be a good politician. So why on earth did he get such a high position? The answer comes from Anderson: "Udina has his uses. If you want to get anything done on the Citadel, he knows who to ask." ''Of course''. He's not a politician; he's a ''bureaucrat''. He's a very good bureaucrat. As an assistant to a decent politician, he'd make that politician's career - People would praise that politican as decisive and capable. But Udina is also ambitious and doesn't know his own limitations. It's a combination that got him promoted above his level of competence... right to the point where he could help end all organic life, in fact. -- JackSlack

** And then FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that the Elcor don't use those prefaces themselves, the TranslatorMicrobes do that for them (as evidenced by the Elcor who hacked his translator to allow him to fake the emotional descriptions).

** This freaked me out when I noticed it because it makes so much sense since the whole tower is basically [[spoiler: Sovereign's throne.]]- koolkame

*** Which is a FridgeBrilliance itself, considering what a ''widow'' is supposed to be... get it? [[spoiler: The Citadel itself is a TRAP!]] -{{Tropers/Raverine}}
* In Mass Effect 2, one of the first things you behold upon entering Omega is a line of people queued in front of an elcor bouncer. According to the Codex, elcor are heavy worlders capable of punching their way through a bulkhead, adept at detecting body language, and who speak in a very calm, concise and ''infuriating'' manner. Thus it makes sense to use them as bouncers.

* It's easy to get angry about how the love interest from the original. They're at least distant, if not outright hostile. But, think about this for a minute. Shepard is probably as angry about this as you are! He/She would go looking for someone for confort. Tali and Garrus serve as the UnluckyChildhoodFriend of sorts. Thane is the dying Woobie to bond with. Miranda and Jacob take Ashley and Kaidan's place almost perfectly. They all have good reasons for acting like this -- ''Especially'' [[BrokenBird Liara]]. It turns out [[spoiler:she got that way saving your life. Trashing her ends up being an epic case of WhatTheHellHero.]] It's still infuriating for Liara/Shepard shippers, but [[strike:presumably]] remaining loyal to her [[strike:will pay off in ME 3]] pays off ''big time'' for Liara romancers in Lair of the Shadow Broker.
* If you read the Codex entry on the Unification War, you'll note that the turians have a thing about a member of their species who has no facepaint markings, as it apparently is taken as sign of someone who can't be trusted because they have no declared allegiances. Unsurprisingly, Saren's face is unpainted, but the real brilliance comes in ''Mass Effect 2'': [[spoiler: Warden Kuril of Purgatory has no facepaint,]] which should be a subtle warning sign that [[spoiler: he's going to betray you.]]

** of course, so is the turian C-sec officer Bailey brings with him to Talid's apartment, so it's not completely internally consistent.
** Speaking of Barefaced Turians there is a similar form of Fridge Brilliance involving Geth, a certain doctor from a DLC is also voiced Gerrel. Given the fact both of them share the same voice mean they did something evil involving Geth

* On Garrus' loyalty mission, if you confront Sidonis, [[spoiler: he seems genuinely ashamed and guilty of his actions in betraying Garrus' squad.]] At first, this seems pretty normal for someone like that, but check the Codex entries on turians. [[spoiler: Betrayal of the team and refusing to own up to your own mistakes and actions - like Sidonis did, by fleeing and hiding - is a ''deep'' taboo among the turians.]] ''No wonder'' the guy is so torn up about it.

** Not only that, but the novels drop a small tidbit about Collectors being interested in human biotics. This seems like a throwaway scrap of information, but it all makes sense when you consider [[spoiler:they're trying to make new Reapers out of human genetic material. Reapers integrate biological material with Element-Zero based technology. Biotics are a perfect group of subjects to see exactly how well the species is suited to this kind of synthesis. THAT'S the whole reason behind littering the galaxy with eezo-based technology too -- they want to see how other species react to eezo to judge how compatible they are with Reaper technology]].
* Also in the sequel, some fans don't like the way your Charm and Intimidate checks are completely tied to your Karma Meters rather than an upgradeable skill. However, it makes a whole lot more sense this way because it means that your reputation is preceding you. If people know you have history of kindness, they are more likely to believe you when you try and charm them. Likewise they are more likely to cower before you if they know what badassery you're capable of. Also, it means that every conversation is an opportunity to upgrade your Persuasion skill: a character that always takes a neutral response WILL miss out on a lot of Karma and therefore be unable to orate properly. [[YourMileageMayVary It doesn't fix every problem]], but the concept is interesting.

** Then again, the system in the first game makes sense as well. When you add points to the skill, you're basically training it offscreen. Think [[ApolloJusticeAceAttorney Apollo Justice]] and his [[NoIndoorVoice Chords of Steel]].
* At first glance, the Vanguard's Charge ability doesn't seem to fit within the various powers of mass effect fields. The power to move at insane speeds and phase through solid objects en route to the target? That doesn't make any sense based on what we've seen so far, until you look at the mass relays, including [[spoiler: the Conduit - which actually did allow Shepard's crew to ''phase through the Citadel walls''.]] Biotics are, after all, just a way for organics to generate mass effect fields, so theoretically an organic can do anything an ME-based technology can pull off. Looking more closely at it, it becomes obvious: Charge is essentially a ''short-ranged, much slower, one-way version of a mass relay jump''.

** Heck, even ''Paragon'' Shepard is slowly becoming Saren's inverse: [[spoiler: The Geth? On your side thanks to Legion. The Krogan? On your side thanks to Wrex. The Rachni? On your side thanks to the Queen you spared on Noveria. With former enemies like these, who needs friends? (Though you probably made a lot of those, too.)]]
** You could buy a licence to Geth weaponry in the first game, which seemed to make no sense at all. However [[spoiler:With the reveal in the second game that the Geth working under Saren are rogue and the real Geth are benevolent (or at least neutral), it makes much more sense that Geth weaponry could have been leaked at some point, maybe even intentionally.]]
** [[spoiler: And remember, Saren was in control of several research corporations. He could very well have 'leaked' Geth designs and tech. Why? Because it would be tech that he, and by extension, Nazara could control.]]
* It's noted on the main ''MassEffect'' page that the planet Klandagon is described as having a massive scar carved from a mass effect weapon fired either at or by the Reaper you board in 2. But notice what's in the orbital just outside Klendagon? [[spoiler: An asteroid belt. [[EarthShatteringKaboom Boom.]]]]
* Many people were irked over Garrus' loyalty armour being just as broken and burnt his standard armour, which gets damaged during his recruitment mission. They complained about it being a blatant case of a simple repaint... which it is, ''literally'', in the game. Genius! - ThePein
* So, hey, the credits for ''MassEffect 2'' are pretty nifty and all, with that awesome music playing in the background, as you're reading that white text against a black background with gold section headers... wait a second, where have I seen that color scheme before? [[spoiler: That's ''Cerberus''' colors!]]

** That moment of Fridge Brilliance led to this troper's (*THWACK* on the head) own moment of Fridge Brilliance. Consider Garrus. the other team members go from various color schemes to some combination of black/orange/white. Garrus, and to a lesser degree, Tali, change their armors to something that resembles the Cerberus color palette, but maintains distinct differences, such as Garrus's use of blue. After reading the above entry, the thought struck me: Yes, the ME1 veterans are changing something to fit in with Cerberus, but retaining enough individuality to show that they are allied with Shepard first, and Cerberus a very distant second. The reason that Garrus shows more individuality is that he was recruited early, when Shepard was at his most uncomfortable working with/for The Illusive Man. -Schezar
* In the first Mass Effect, Saren's goal is to preserve the existence of organic life by proving that it can be of use to the Reapers -- that submission, to paraphrase one of his lines, exists as a preferable alternative to extinction. Naturally, everyone thinks he's crazy, and that the Reapers would wipe out all organic life anyway. It's not until Mass Effect 2 when you [[spoiler:discover that the Collectors were once Protheans]] that you learn he was ''right'' -- the Reapers would have preserved organic life[[spoiler:, though almost certainly in a very different form than what existed]]. Not only that, but it's likely that Saren KNEW [[spoiler:the true fate of the Protheans]], which is why he was trying to prove that organic life should be spared [[spoiler:once again]]. Submission really DID exist as an alternative to extinction. (Though [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu "just beating the hell out of the Reapers"]] was [[TakeAThirdOption obviously better than either of those choices]].) -Technogeek
* On the flip side to the Collectors, also remember the keepers - more than likely, a different race modified as the protheans were (long long long ago). Considering the important role the keepers play in the Reaper's plans, it's likely that the keepers were involved in the very first cycle (or at least, for quite some time).
* In the sequel, minor mooks can be buffed by Harbinger '''ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL'''. Now go back [[spoiler: and notice what happens to Saren once you "kill" him the first time in the original. Sovereign tried the same trick.]]
** That makes perfect sense! Note, that when Harbinger possesses one of the Collector's it glows gold. In the ending cinematic, Harbinger's hologram is also gold. [[spoiler: When Sovereign possesses Saren, he glows red, and Sovereign's hologram on Virmire is red.]]
** [[spoiler: Although the Turians will be the first race with a "culture" to be accepted as the servants of the reapers. And even then for Saren it is shaky since the Heretics are also considered possible candidates as the next generation of "keepers" who knew a lot more about Sovereign than Saren who doesn't know his true name as Nazara.]]
*** [[spoiler: Not sure what the above entry is trying to say, as according to what Vigil says it seems as if at least some sentients become indoctrinated during every Reaping, and at the very least the Protheans had a galaxy-wide culture and were turned into the Collectors.]]
* Remember how Tali kept talking about her people, rather than herself, back in [=ME1=]? After taking a group communications class, I realized why. It's because the Quarians have a highly collectivist culture from living in the flotilla for so long and having to depend on each other. Tali is simply not used to talking about herself as a person, and instead prefers to talk about her people as a group. [[TruthInTelevision Some Earth cultures are like that, too.]] We (North Americans and Europeans, mostly) only find her behavior strange because our culture tends to be more individualistic. Sure enough, after she starts show her own feelings in [=ME2=], she apologizes for being "selfish and unprofessional," even if we (and Shepard, in at least one dialog option) consider that sort of thing to be perfectly normal. A quirk that was probably planned as [[MrExposition an excuse for Shepard to keep talking to her in the first game]] was explained by one of her defining traits in the second. Brilliant! -[=MrUnderhill=]
** As a point of contrast, consider also Legion. Legion -also- come from a highly collectivist culture, more so than Tali. This it's use of 'we' and 'geth' aren't signs of a lack of individuality but equivalent to Tali talking about herself as 'we' and 'Rayya/Neema/Normandy'. That is, as the platform/ship she's associated with or in Legion's case, the race. This is also why Legion uses 'odd' naming for Shepard and Tali. Creator-Tali would be a creator... but the adding of Tali would, to Legion, be the same as marking her as a complete race (an entire geth station) unto herself. That is, to Legion, the quarians are like the Reapers. Individual (every quarian is different) even as they are also of the same race (quarian). As for Shepard-Commander? Note the reversal of words. It's not race-individual (Creator-Tali). There's no reason why Legion would use a different naming scheme for Shepard even with emotional tiess. Thus, Legion considers 'Shepard' to be not just a nation unto him/herself... but an entire -race- unto him/herself. Commander -is- Shepard rather than Shepard -is- Commander. Legion doesn't know how to react to Shepard because, in some ways, Shepard is, conceptually to Legion, something much more profound than the Reapers and quarians. All this in turn can't be something the geth picked up from the quarians as the quarian naming convention is individual-clan-ship and by extension, race (Tali'Zorah vas Normandy of the quarians) so Creator-Tali would be the same as saying "quarian Tali'Zorah etc etc". Commander (individua) John (clan) Shepard (ship) of the humans would, if the geth were treating Shepard the same, would be "human-Commander John Shepard".
* Here is some epic foreshadowing. In Mass Effect 1, you get to hear a poem from Ashley. "O captain, my captain." Shepard can point out. "Didn't the captain die?" Sure enough, in Mass Effect 2...

* People keep saying that Miranda's face is UncannyValley because of how strange it looks. But while reading that page, this Troper (*THWACK* on the head) realized that [[spoiler: the reason her face does seem so strange is because it's ''too perfect''. Since she was a designer baby grown in a lab, her face is more symmetrical than the average human's!]]

*** [[spoiler: But then again, the Codex is unreliable. And we're talking about trying to paint an accurate picture of people that lived millennium ago.]]
** If the Beacon is any indication, [[spoiler: they are are more arthropod/humanoid than insectoid]]. Perhaps the reflecting troper meant [[spoiler: "having a strongly hierarchical society"]] instead?

* If the player [[spoiler: chooses Morinth instead of Samara during the latter's loyalty mission, Morinth will join the squad. At the end of the game, you're given option to have sex with Morinth, but it obviously leads to DeathBySex. A common belief is Shepard would have to be stupid to have sex with Morinth but it actually makes sense in context. Morinth is a character who puts her victims in MoreThanMindControl and has an absolute obsession with winning. Shepard is the one person who ever escaped her grasp. So essentially she was biding her time until Shepard finally fell under her control.]]

* In the sequel, when you find out that Archangel [[spoiler:is actually Garrus]] and he's been holding off wave after wave of mercenaries, mech soldiers, and elite hitmen for ''days'', you might just assume that [[spoiler:Garrus TookALevelInBadass]], right? Except if you talk to [[spoiler:Garrus frequently in the first game]], you find out that he was originally ''[[spoiler:hand-picked as someone who would make a good Spectre candidate.]]'' Of course he [[spoiler:was able to take fifteen [[TookALevelInBadass Levels In Badass]] in the sequel- he could have been the turian ''Shepard,'' and he's embracing his innate Spectre talents!]] [[MemeticMutation Very...impressive.]]

** The stigma only appears if a turian is demoted, in which case the person who promoted him is humiliated. So if he failed Spectre training, the shame would come to the person who tapped him for Spectre training. Garrus' sponsor would not be stigmatized.

* The name of the [[NorseMythology LOKI]] mechs in Mass Effect 2 is pretty funny when you realize that they're constantly glitching out and betraying you.
* When talking to [[spoiler: Legion]], Shepard mentions that the geth are immune to hacking. However, in what would normally look like a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation, the AI Hacking ability works on them just like any other MechaMook. It wasn't until I thought about ''why'' the geth are hack-proof that it made sense. [[spoiler: Their programming acts like a giant wiki. If a couple of geth programs realize that some of the others are acting weird, they can just replace them with older, unhacked versions.]] The reload, however, takes time, which is why the AI Hacking ability only works for a few seconds, rather than permanently like it would with current-day computer programs, or not-at-all if the update was instantaneous. I figure the non-geth synthetics have anti-virus software or internal backups which accomplish pretty much the same purpose. Who knew WikiMagic could be used as a tactical advantage?
** [[spoiler: And at least for the geth, remember that they're a highly democratic society that values individualism and duty to the whole/state. It's as likely that should some of programs on any given platform get hacked, any non-hacked geth would simply point out the flaws in the hacked program. Then, by nature, the hacked geth would essentially fix themselves.]]
** It doesn't explain, though, why the Overlord AI was able to take over a small army of dormant geth from a crashed ship. Then it hits you: [[spoiler: the Geth are programs, the robots you see are only platforms. When their ship crashed, it is likely that most of the programs were transmitted off-world, with only a few remaining Geth on the actual ship. Overlord had an easy time controlling them, since the Geth's strength is mainly in numbers]].
*** There's another way to interpret that, though - remember [[spoiler: David's pleas to "Quiet - please make it stop"? Well, recall that David has an ability to understand the Geth's language, and in one-on-one interactions, he's perfectly fine with chatting with them... but then think of ''how many geth he would be hearing simultaneously'' when hooked up directly to their network.]] A case of FridgeHorror, to put it mildly.
*** As well as in Shadow Broker's Dossiers, Legion is a huge gamer not because they found it fun but rather it was a means of PsychicStatic, since the Shadow Broker keeps tabs on almost everything. One way for Legion to counteract that is to delegate a set of programs to be playing video games (from Grim Terminus Alliance to that Quarian Dating Sim), another set to combat function and the rest to deal with annoying AI intrusion, switched regularily of course. It was only during the whole conversation with EDI were they able to get a relevant log related to Legion. - Gyrobot

* While AnyoneCanDie in the second game, having any of your squadmates die doesn't actually affect the post-game much...except if Mordin dies, then all your upgrades suddenly require 50% more resources to get. You no longer have the brilliant scientist operating the tech lab, so ''of course'' getting upgrades takes more effort.

* Initially, when on the flotilla, I thought the wide variety of accents quarian characters was unrelated to their culture, but then I realised that, by separating out onto ships, quarians essentially live in small countries, preserving unique dialects, accents and subcultures. Some quarian ships are older than countries on Earth. It makes sense that, after first being forced off their homeworlds, ships would have initially been inhabited by people from the same clans or colonies - if only because they would have been in the same area - and they probably wouldn't have started trading shipmates until many years later, so all these traits from the old communities would have been reinforced, forging the many evolving quarian dialects we hear today. - Badgersprite
** Given the time involved and the use of translator microbes, what we percieve as differences in accent may represent entirely different ''languages''.

* This Troper (*THWACK* on the head) recently played Mass Effect again and was initially bugged by Saren's temper tantrum after he finds out Shepard uses the beacon on Eden Prime. Given how Saren was so calm and collected throughout the rest of the game, it seemed rather out of character for him to start roaring incoherently and throwing things around, not to mention all the flashing red lights in the background. And then this Troper (*THWACK* on the head) realised that [[spoiler: ''Sovereign'' was the one having the temper tantrum ''through'' Saren. You can even hear his voice mixed in with Saren's when he states Shepard must be eliminated.]]

* A meta realisation: I caught the end of an episode of CSIMiami, and it occured to me that a Renegade Shepard who treats his crew nicely is pretty much exactly like Horatio Caine - morbid snark, highly protective of his/her crew, tends to piss off authority and love it, and weirdly beloved by the franchise.
** This is a fairly common (anti-authority) archetype in Western media; see especially Malcolm Reynolds from {{Firefly}} and his own inspiration, Han Solo from [[StarWars Star Wars]]. (Solo's character itself drawing heavily on the "[[AntiHero antihero]] who finds redemption" archetype of old cowboy Westerns, though Mal gets bonus points for actually being on the losing side of a [[CivilWar civil war]].) --genkracken
* Throughtout the game, Miranda makes a big deal of how she was "designed to be perfect" and that [[CursedWithAwesome hasn't really made her life significantly better]]. It's easy to take this at face value as AnAesop against the limitations and potentional misuse of genetic engineering, but then you realise that there's a a double, out-of-universe meaning. Miranda is a Sentinel: she can use both Warp and Overload, making her effective against enemies with all four types of protection. Her passive boosts the entire squad's weapon damage and health points. And she's one of only two squadmates that can max out three abilities instead of just two. ''Bioware'' '''''literally''''' ''designed Miranda to be the perfect squadmate''.
** Not to mention she also gets the most powerful Advanced ability in terms of raw damage. Slam can [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu one-hit kill Collectors]], and its cooldown is ''one second.''

** Remember also the turian culture tends to be something of a meritocracy. To a very proud turian like Saren, this would, again in a twisted way, mean that if Soveriegn choose turians to survive, this would 'prove' that turians really are better.

* You know why people don't respond in panic to the fact that [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom you're bringing Legion onto the Citadel?]] Because A) Legion has a ''giant hole in them'', and B) Legion is ''wearing N7 armor''. Its quite obvious that whatever Legion is, they ''aren't'' a geth, at least not after a moment's observation.
* I was about to start Legions loyalty mission. I chose Tali because I figured we would be fighting a lot of geth. Part-way through the level I started wondering why they gave Legion and Tali the same powers, because it made them the worst squad ever. At first I thought it was just laziness from Bioware, then it hit me. They have the same powers because the quarians ''built'' the geth, of ''course'' they are going to have the same base traits (Higher shield levels, tech-based skills etc.) Secondly, quarians ''hate'' the geth because they kicked them off of the homeworld. Thier ''races'' aren't compatible, so the ''individuals'' aren't compatible. -KingSasquatch

* I hear a lot of bitching about the fact we lost the [[ScrappyMechanic horrible inventory]] COMPLETELY and now everyone uses the same weapons, not to mention the fact that we [[RestartAtLevelOne restart at level one]] (or a little higher for importing a character) when previously Shepard was a {{Badass}} of the first order with top-of-the-line weaponry. [[FridgeBrilliance This was all part of the plan.]] You start [=ME2=] at exactly the same place as the end of [=ME1=]: you're strong enough to take on an army of Geth - sorry, mechs - and your weaponry is ''still'' top of the range. You don't need to buy millions of upgrades or new weapons every other planet because you're already using the all the upgrades Cerberus could get its grubby little paws on, and have outfitted your ship to make anything else you find! Money too - you're making for every mission what you only dreamed of at the beginning of [=ME1=], because the stuff you're buying now is new and experimental tech that costs an arm and a leg! Finally, you only level another 30 or so levels because you're going from killing [[spoiler: the most feared SpecTRe in the Galaxy]] to a whole [[spoiler: human foetal]] Reaper! Of course you've leveled up. I love this realisation so hard. -Sefriel

*** [[spoiler: Yes, there is a huge difference. But Miranda wants something that she can call completely and utterly something she did on her own by her own violation with no outside help at all. She also would want her children to be the same - win or lose based on their own abilities not the abilities given to them by others. A non-IVF baby and birth would be the ultimate expression of this as much as she could get. Her want for a baby is all her own. Having getting pregnant naturally means it was purely the result of her and another (no scientists). A natural birth wouldn't be perfect (infant mortality is high without advanced medicine). And that's part of the point - she wants imperfection and adversity. She wants challenge. She wants to prove and have something that wasn't 'programmed' into her and she wants to do it without any help.]]

--->'''Harbinger''': Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. You have failed. We will find another way. Releasing control."

** I'll probably get labelled a pervert for adding this, but here we go. In Mass Effect 2 its a widely known secret that you can flirt with Yeoman Kelly Chambers. If you finish the last mission with her being rescued and you aren't in a romance with any of the other women on the ship, you can invite her up to your room to have her dance in a stripper outfit. The reason as to why she dances in your room is fairly [[MsFanservice obvious]], but it makes a lot of sense if you examine the context: Kelly acts as the ship's counselor and has a psychology degree. She's also very uninhibited and after you have dinner with her as a first date she says she hadn't stayed up that late since her days in college. Its not too big a stretch to think that while in school studying for her degree (Psych is not easy to major in,) she took up dancing in bars to help pay the bills. When she graduated and quit the dancer job, she kept the catsuit as a memento and decided to dust it off to perform a private dance for you. - {{Anomaly188}}

*** This is also why she is the prime suspect (according to the fandom) for the outbreak of 'scale itch' on the Normandy; it's a sexually transmitted disease, and only carried by varren, which are basically the alien equivalent of pit bulls. [[{{Squick}} Implications]] [[{{Understatement}} unpleasant]]. - princeforte
** I got another one. Its always annoyed me in the games how [=NPCs=] always turn their head in one direction before exiting the area (usually after you fulfill a quest for them.) It looks completely silly and unnatural, and it was a chore for me to wrap my head around why they do that. Only recently did I have an epiphany as to why: Mass Effect is a Space Opera. Opera is usually acted out on stage. The [=NPCs=] are all playing roles for Shepard and the crew to interact with. After their moment in the spotlight, they leave. The [=NPCs=] are stage actors and are signaling their exit from the scene instead of announcing it. Looking left and walking means "Exit Stage Left!" - {{Anomaly188}}

** [[FreudWasRight Freud Was Right]]

* At first I was a bit disappointed with the general lack of diversity among the Galactic races. All but two of the major races in the game have the same basic design as humans. They're all bipedal, land dwelling species, with four limbs. All of them except for the volus survive on an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. Even the hanar and the elcor are not that exotic, being basically alien jellyfish and elephants. It was even worse with the asari, each one basically a blue human female with a cuttlefish on their head. At first I just chalked this up to developers being uncreative, until the [[spoiler: Reapers]] came in. [[spoiler: The Reapers are not only shown to subtly influence galactic civilization for their own purposes, but they're also able to alter and create new species, like the Collectors, and the Keepers. Also the Reapers reproduce by capturing all the advanced life in the galaxy and melding into a new Reaper. It's probably much easier for them do this when all of the advanced life is similar so as to make them more compatible. So it's not much of a stretch to imagine the Reapers going from planet to planet altering any promising looking species to make them more genetically similar.]]

* At first, [[Tropers/TeraChimera I]] was annoyed that in the ''MassEffect3'' teaser, [[FanNickname Big Ben]]'s sniper rifle looks like a bolt-action gun - it's the year 2185, for Pete's sake! But guess what I found while browsing the ''[=ME=]'' wiki - the Mantis and the Widow are both bolt-action. The design most likely allows for a quick cycling of a heat sink, and they're powerful enough that each round ''could'' require its own heat sink.

* [[spoiler: The 'biotic god' volus ''is'' actually a powerful biotic due to the drugs the Eclipse gave him, they're just not stupid enough to give him a biotic amp!]]

* During the final boss fight of Overlord, [[spoiler:geth pop out of thin air to slow you down. At first, it just seems like they're there to stall you from a gameplay perspective, and wouldn't make sense in-universe. However, a few minutes earlier, David hacked your omni-tool and is basically controlling you. The geth also vanish when they die, implying they don't really exist. They ''do'' exist, and they ''are'' real geth - they're not geth platforms, they're geth ''programs''. David is sending the few geth programs remaining on the planet to MindRape you via your omni-tool.]] -Tropers/TeraChimera

* After reading this page, I understood Jack a little bit more, especially the tattoos and, um, lack of clothing. But it still kinda bugged me that if it were true that, as an abuse victim, it was an act of reasserting control over her body, why did she have the strap combination thing on her upper half? I marked it down to Bioware not showing bare breasts, but the real answer is so staggeringly obvious, I can't imagine why I didn't realize it before. Jack is a very active woman, obviously. She gets in fights almost constantly. So of ''course'' she'd wear something over her breasts! Sports bras were invented for a reason, after all! (what makes it even worse is that I'm female... you'd think this would be something I'd recognize instantly!) -{{Tropers/Alynnidalar}}

* When you first encounter the Collectors in battle on Horizon, they seem to be little more than generic identical {{Mooks}} blindly rushing into battle. Then it is revealed later in the game by Mordin and EDI that the Reapers engineered them to be exactly that: expendable servants with no sense of individuality and self-preservation.