Apparently Cards Against Humanity had a Mass Effect themed set come out in 2017 and this was their official fucking art for it

Fantasy races are an uncomfortable concept, because they present a world that literally works the way racists think that it works. The attempts to mitigate this problem often fail to address the core concern, merely making the idea more palatable.

A big example is trying to correct by changing the language from "races" to "species." This attempt fails for two reasons:

1) Exactly! Racists think that people of other races are a different species. That's the foundation of "race science," phrenology, all of it.

2) Are demihumans different species, though? Like, the interactions between elves and dwarves don't resemble the interactions between different species in our world. They don't act like snakes and lemurs, or whales and krill, or even cats and dogs. More often we've got different groups of people, who may speak different languages and have different cultural practices, engaging in diplomacy or war and struggling to coexist. In practice, they are treated as nations: ethnicities. Except they're ethnicities who are biologically distinct enough to have objective differences in ability.

This is something that puts me on edge in Mass Effect, otherwise one of my favorite games. True, the game ultimately lands on condemning the genophage, and it's not subtle about that. I mean just look at the name... But it's still considered debatable, morally grey, and Mordin Solus remains one of the most charming and enduring heroes of the series. The setting has bent over backwards to make every racist stereotype and talking point as legitimate as possible. In this setting, it is objectively true, scientifically proven that it is in the DNA of Krogans to naturally be violent, warmongering killing machines whose explosively rapid breeding poses an existential threat to the galaxy. That in turn is meant to make us think that maybe forced sterilization is something worth considering. It's hard to ignore the parallels to real life racist propaganda. I don't think it's malicious, just ungrounded and thoughtless; the result of creators to whom these ideals are abstract thought experiments, rather than reflections of real history.

Another big example is Dark Elves. They try to make it okay, to mitigate the message by fleshing them out as characters, by scapegoating an abusive deity rather than an ingrained nature, by erasing the monster manual description that reads "Always Chaotic Evil," by trending skin tone away from black and towards purple, or gray, even pale white. But none of it really changes the core issue, does it? The idea of drow is to equate dark skin with evil, to fetishize that idea, and to tell a story about a subsect of people cast into darkness as a result of sin in a direct parallel to racist Christian beliefs about dark skin being a curse or punishment from God.

So, do I think we need to cancel Mass Effect and stop playing D&D or telling stories about drow? No, not really. I mean... I do all these things. Truth is, I don't have an actionable solution, for myself or anyone. But the dynamic is clearly present and worth describing. And the attempts to challenge it are often insufficient, more about making ourselves feel better about what we're already doing than enacting real change.

The Undateables™

My Favourite Mass Effect Companions (Part One)

13 tickets for Barbie pls

Late for pride month but have my gay war criminals

The lighting is based on pride flags for each chara!

Drawing this made me feel a lot of things ok. Please understand that drawing this made me feel a lot of things.

Prints of this, as well as a few other Mass Effect stained glass pieces, are now available! I'd love to see/hear about it if you order any, it would make my day <3

This one, Femshep, and Tali are the only ones currently finished, but I have plans to do a few other characters as well; you can check out the #mass effect stained glass tag on my blog to see the others, if they happen to exist when you come across this post.

mordin solus most character of all time. blorbo of the century. he is babygirl (he is an old man but also in his 30s). committed so many war crimes (but sees inherent value in all life and will die to preserve it). he is a doctor and a healer (will also fucking kill you). he doesn’t understand romance (but provides enthusiastic sex education for people in cross species relationships). worked in espionage doing unthinkable things (also performed in gilbert and sullivan). he has everything. he is the ultimate. he is the very model of a scientist salarian

Thinking of my magnum opus…. the greatest thing I ever drew

Have you got a minute to talk?

"But take heart. Look around you. You’re not in this fight alone.” – Commander Shepard Been doing this piece quite some time now 'cause wanted to fit all my peeps in one picture. I just love Mass Effect. Selene Shepard & art © me Mass Effect by Bioware, do not copy

Ho ho ho.

Alright.

Got this joke out of the way.

ohmnohmnnom

replaying mass effect 3, more specifically citadel dlc atm, so here's what it's inspired ✨️ - part one

(part two)

Well, if anyone can make hybrids of two sentient species that have fundamentally differing DNA structures… I have some feelings about Garrus y’all…

Day 1 of Art Challenge

Word: Homage

Fandom/Subject: Mass Effect

Little Mordin loves his doll 🥲