Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Maj. Kaidan Alenko, Lt. James Vega, and Dr. Liara T'Soni
Sophie, I don't know what you are- or who. Not since Cerberus rebuilt you. For all I know, you could be their puppet- controlled by The Illusive Man himself.
Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)
I should probably note, they aren’t all crushes in the romantic sense, but I do love them all. The middle pic in the third row is supposed to be Liselle - I used a photo of an asari NPC that gives me Liselle vibes because there are no canon images of what Liselle looks like.
I am tagging @sillyliterature @mintysdoodle @uponthenormandy @dreaminginstasis @spectralhero @gaysjureido @spacebunshep @danifart @kirschewine @sugarandstories and anyone who wishes to participate
Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Maj. Kaidan Alenko, Lt. James Vega, and Dr. Liara T'Soni
With: The Illusive Man and Dr. Eva Coré
Your vision is pathetically limited. You were a tool- an agent with a singular purpose. And despite our differences? You were relatively successful. But like the rest of the relics in this place, your time is over.
Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)
Oo maybe Shiara for the ship game? My personal favorite lol
I exclusively ship fshep/Liara not mshep/Liara, and that's what I'm going to be answering for in this ask since you didn't clarify and I don't really have strong feelings about mshep/liara other than that it's just not my cup of tea. That said, if you were really wanting me to get into mshiara, hit me with another ask and I'll answer that separately 👍
What made me ship fshiara and what are my favorite things about the ship?
A lot of people portray Liara as a sweet little uwu nerd girl, which she very much is especially in the first game, but I feel like a lot of people ignore the lowkey unhinged megalomaniac side of her personality and honestly that's one of my favorite parts of her character. I love the contrast! Very much sweet but also with almost evil mad scientist vibes happening on the side too? like princess bubblegum in adventure time, you know??
And honestly, that's a pretty good comparison point for how I feel about her relationship with fshep: I think they have a princess bubblegum/marceline dynamic, at least with my characterization of shep. It's the sweet uwu scientist on the surface, but secretly unhinged and a little bit evil / chaotic goth powerhouse, who uses her renegade personality as a mask for her gooder nature. Again, the contrast, the FOIL, crazy fucked up lesbians committing crimes together !!
Is there an unpopular opinion that I have on the ship?
Liara high-key has an unhealthy infatuation with Shepard in the first game that makes me go *YIKES* and i feel like it's problematic if you just gloss over this because you're almost, ,,, , taking advantage of her?? Ik she's technically older than Shepard, but in terms of Asari biology/culture and her characterization, her crush on shep screams teenager who wants to bone their adult role model
I'm not saying it's an adult/minor ship because it's NOT (they're very much both adults), but there is an inherent power imbalance that the game kind of pushes on it
No hate for shiara shippers who write it out of their headcanons and fics to represent more positive themes OR who intentionally lean into the toxicity of it, BUT I really haven't run across any discussion of this I feel like also and I'd like to see if other people have felt this way?
____
Also this is total word vomit and I'm not really 100% here right now, so if this is incoherent or I just said something straight whack, then I apologize 😷
Imagine if ME1 Liara was a Zevran situation - treat her well and she betrays her mother and fights for you, treat her badly and she betrays you and fights for her mother.