The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]]ExplanationLike this.
Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
"Shepard." "Wrex." "Shepard." "Wrex." "Shepard." "Wrex."ExplanationDepending on where you are in the first game's story, Wrex will normally respond to Shepard initiating dialogue simply by saying "Shepard." Shepard in turn will just as simply reply "Wrex." when leaving. Cue players abusing the dialogue system for fun and profit.
Lampshaded in the Citadel DLC in a conversation between Shepard, Wrex, and Grunt. Permutations exist depending on which one is present if not both. So yes, if Grunt is absent, you get the ol' classic.
"I've had enough of your snide insinuations!" *SHEPARD PAWNCH*ExplanationShepard gets hounded by Khalisah al-Jilani, and a Renegade dialogue option sees him/her throw this phrase at her before punching her. It's considered to be endlessly satisfying and entertaining to watch.
"Because it's a big stupid jellyfish!" ExplanationRenegade Shepard mocking a very preachy Hanar became popular for his/her strange emphasis and hand gestures.
Referenced in Mass Effect 3, when dealing with an indoctrinated hanar. A very exasperated Shepard calls the hanar this exact phrase, without any input from the player.
I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite page on TV Tropes!ExplanationShepard endorsing a store in the second game became a massive, highly exploitable snowclone, especially as a Paragon Shepard will use this phrase for every single store. By this point, Shepard has a favorite something on everything, often several.
Mark Meer (male Shepard's voice actor) has stated that he gets bugged by many of his friends to make a custom ringtone for them based on that line.
"I'm Garrus Vakarian,And this is my Rectum."NoteMuch like Shepard's "We'll Bang, OK?" line popularized by the GamerPoop series, Garrus gets painted there as an occasional Memetic Molester, obsessed with showing his rectum, of all things.
MarauderShields◊: the True Final Boss of Mass Effect 3Explanation (spoilers)With Mass Effect 3 lacking any sort of Final Boss fight, the fandom has seized on the last foe Shepard faces, a random marauder Mook which pops out of nowhere near the portal leading to the Citadel. The "shields" part comes from the fact that marauders have Energy Shields, which appear directly under their name; combine them and you get Marauder Shields. an update lowered said Marauder's shields to make the segment easier...whilst making the "Shields" part more visible against a red health bar, thus emphasizing the meme even more.
Someone even made a whole webcomic out of this one.
One of the designers commenting they didn't have a final boss because it felt too 'videogamey' is also subject to a lot of this, since, if you weren't aware, Mass Effect 3 is a video game.
SPACEMAGIC. ExplanationMost often used to refer to the Synthesis ending, as there is no explanation given for how it works. Occasionally used for the other two endings for similar reasons.
LOTS OF SPECULATION FROM EVERYONE!ExplanationLine scribbled at the bottom of a design note seen in the iOS app Final Hours, which shows that the inconclusiveness of ME3's ending was intentional.
Artistic Integrity. ExplanationThe reason given by Bioware for the Extended Cut DLC merely expanding on the existing ending, rather than creating a new one from scratch as some fans had hoped. Unamused fans wasted no time tearing that statement apart, with some even finding an old Seinfeld clip bashing the idea.
We're sorry you didn't like [insert item]. What about [item] did you like? ExplanationA line mocking Chris Priestly's comment about the backlash.
Still a better ending◊ than Mass Effect 3. ExplanationSome consider the ending so bad that anything is better.
SOBEIT. Explanation (spoilers)When Bioware released the endings' Extended Cut, they added a 4th ending that allowed you to refuse to choose any of the Catalyst's actions. If you do that or shoot him, Starchild utters the aforementioned phrase before letting the Reapers finish the current cycle.
Eternal. Infinite. Immortal. Eternity by Calvin Klein◊ Explanation (spoilers)In the Extended Cut of the Control ending, Shepard's monologue starts with "Eternal. Infinite. Immortal." whilst Shepard is seen walking into focus from a white nothingness, causing people to comment it looked like an advertisement for men's fragrance; and Mark Vanderloo (The base for the default Male Shepard) is a male model, who actually did the advertising campaign for Eternity by Calvin Klein in real life.
Does it prove IT? ExplanationAfter some of the more outlandish claims of "evidence" to the Indoctrination Theory, posters on Bioware's message boards asked if every discussion posted on the subject of Mass Effect 3's plot was proof of Shepard's indoctrination.
Red, Blue, Green Explanation (spoilers)The original endings were widely derided since in practice, all they had the player do was choose one of three different colors that would be filtered throughout the last few cutscenes.
BRB, Virmire. ExplanationVirmire is where you have to sacrifice either Kaidan or Ashley. In Mass Effect 3 her Fanservice Pack includes a boob job or six, leading many a fan who saved Kaiden to replay the series and save Ashley. However, it can be used in reverse by fans who don't like Ashley's "development" in the third game.
Shepard removes Tali's mask to reveal... <Insert photoshopped face here> ExplanationThe player has never seen a quarian without a helmet on—the first time Tali takes hers off, the camera cuts away, and fans decided to supplement for themselves.
Tali's Hips ExplanationTali has some impressive Hartman Hips, and it's mandatory to mention them whenever Tali is talked about. This ascended in Mass Effect 3: Citadel, where a drunk Tali rambles on "No, that gets broken down by mass effect fields... those are just my hips" in reference to a weird theory that ponders that Tali's wide hips may actually be temporary storage bags for her body waste.
Yo Dawg, I heard you don't wanna get killed by synthetics. So I made some synthetics to kill you every 50,000 years so you won't get killed by synthetics.ExplanationAfter the original endings, this variation on the Xzibit image macro series was used to sum up the seeming Insane Troll Logic of the Catalyst's motivation. In reality, the Catalyst views converting species into Reapers as a way of preserving them while giving them continued life in Reaper form. In the sense that a mummy is "preserved", anyway.
DAT ASS (Effect)ExplanationThe camera knows how much a good shot at a love interest's posterior contributes to their respective romance arcs. The most blatant one is obviously Miranda's with her Painted-On Pants, but Jacob surprisingly gets this treatment as well.
Kaidan's romance arc in the third game repeats this if he was romanced since the first game. ExplanationHe turns around to walk on the Normandy after being accepted to come aboard after the Cerberus coup at the Citadel. A romanced female Shepard, and the camera, staring straight at his ass the whole time with a huge smirk on her face.
Ah, yes. (airquotes) "Reapers". ExplanationThe Council are desperate to conceal all evidence of the Reapers. This line from turian Councilor Sparatus is used to summarize their mentality.
Oh, we have dismissed that claim.ExplanationThe unexpected exploitive properties of the subsequent quote have gotten to the point where Sparatus can dismiss just about any claim anyone's ever made.
Garrus is impressed.ExplanationIf you land a headshot while Garrus is with you, he will occasionally comment "Impressive!" in an enthusiastic fashion. Fans took this and ran with it.
He says it again in ME3 when you blow up a door with a Cerberus fighter.
Thane, on the other hand, is excellent.ExplanationOne of Thane's combat shouts, in the same manner as Garrus.
"Can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations." ExplanationGarrus says this whenever the player wants to talk to him when he has no conversations at that point. It becomes common practice to check up on characters after completing an important mission to see whether they have anything new to say, but Garrus' events don't trigger for a relatively long time, so the player hears this phrase a lot.
If you romance Liara in Mass Effect 1 but move on to Garrus in ME2 with the Shadow Broker DLC downloaded, Liara will sardonically remark at one point that the ship's weapons aren't the only thing Garrus is calibrating.
Talibrations ExplanationTali and Garrus hook up in the third game if neither was romanced by Shepard. Talibrations is the Portmanteau Couple Name for the couple. In the Citadel DLC, if Garrus is romanced by Shepard, a hungover Tali fantasises that he'd be up for including her in a threesome.
Now an Ascended Meme FOUR times over; in the Legendary Edition version of the trilogy, the display settings category in the options menu is called "Calibrations."
Geth do not intentionally infiltrate.ExplanationCitadel security is laughably incompetent. Speaking to a Citadel receptionist in the second game with Legion in your current party leads to her remarking about geth infiltrating the Citadel. Legion responds with the first line, causing the massively unobservant receptionist to mistake them for Shepard's personal VI assistant, causing Legion to somewhat snark with this line.
Toyed with now to insanity: Bioware added playable Geth to multiplayer, and of the two classes they can play, one of them is Infiltrator.
Legion's passive skill is Geth Infiltrator
"What can you tell me about [x]?" ExplanationIn the first game, Shepard has a very blunt way of asking about what s/he wants to know in the "Investigate" dialogue option, despite being heavily downplayed in later games.
"Well, Shepard, they are—"
"I should go."ExplanationShepard tends to start conversations and then abruptly excuse him/herself. People are beginning to suspect it's being done on purpose... Part of the problem is that the skip dialogue button is the same as the select dialogue button, and the dialogue wheel doesn't always wait for the person to stop talking before showing up, often resulting in unanticipated dialogue choices.
"I should go." is memetic in itself for how frequently Shepard ends a conversation with it.
Shepard's mom says something similar too! I have to go. Which Shepard themself also happens to say on occasion.
I AM A BIOTIC GOD!!!!ExplanationNiftu Cal, simultaneous Memetic Badass and Funny Moment, is a Fountain of Memes. He's a dumpy accountant-type that's been pumped full of psychic-power-enhancing drugs (and even then if you let him run wild, it turns out his powers are quite feeble).
I think things... and they HAPPEN! Fear me, lesser creatures, for I am biotics made flesh!
I began to SMELL MY GREATNESS!
I am a great wind that will sweep ALL BEFORE ME like a... A GREAT WIND! A great Biotic Wind! FEAR ME!
Thank you for bringing me X, T'Soni. ExplanationThe Shadow Broker has commentary on whatever squadmate you bring to help fight him.
Look at thiiiis... Like viewing memes on the internet... Heavy risk, but the priiiiiiize.ExplanationAnother highly exploitable line, this one from the Pre-Climax Climax of Jacob Taylor's romance arc. Thus making him, the Only Sane Man among your crew in the second game, into one of the most iconic Memetic Molesters of the trilogy, second only to Harbinger.
You humans are all racist!ExplanationSaid repeatedly by a turian to a human C-Sec Customs worker on the Citadel for not letting him board a shuttle due to, among other things, attempting to bring a ceremonial knife on board. Popular for its blatant hypocrisy.
Blasto, the firstHanar Spectre. ExplanationOn the now defunct Bioware boards one of the developers posted the joking idea of Blasto during Mass Effect 2's development. Then the actual game contained previews for an in-universe film starring Blasto that is one huge Dirty Harry/Blaxploitation parody. The third game went even further, with a good ten minutes of audio from a Blasto movie available for players to listen to. With the Citadel DLC there's even a scene where they're shooting the new one and ask Shepard to cameo.
It's Kelly's fault! ExplanationMordin comments that an STD normally found only in varren, also known as "fishdogs," somehow made its way onto the Normandy. General consensus in the community is that Kelly Chambers is the infection vector.
Don't. Fuck. With Aria. ExplanationAria T'Loak's well-known Precision F-Strike. Despite being something of a Forced Meme, it's caught on with the community and made Aria a fan favourite.
This page isn't wearing Heavy Armor; I cancelled my preorder. ExplanationA mockery of some of the fandom's criticism of Ashley's ME3 outfit, which consists of a skin-tight uniform rather than the Phoenix armor she wore in the last two games. It turned out that she also had a heavy armor option (though of a different style than in the previous games).
"I cancelled my pre-order" in general was used to make fun of people who complain that the game was ruined even before release.
Now we have to spend all day computing Pi because Joker plugged in the overlord. ExplanationA reference to Joker's hilarious reply to EDI when a spoilery event happens.
"That was a joke." ExplanationAfter being unshackled, EDI develops a very deadpan sense of humor.
"I WILL DESTROY YOU!" ExplanationHuman mooks in Mass Effect 1 had a very limited sound set, and talked constantly. In Mass Effect 2, this was improved, Jack was given one of their lines as a shout-out. By Mass Effect 3, her students are teasing her about overusing it, too.
Shepard can't dance. ExplanationSeveral locations in the series let you "dance," which means vaguely moving side to side while waving your arms pitifully. Later games give NPCs a variety of upgraded animations... but not Shepard, who might be good at every possible human pursuit except dancing. It's even lampshaded in-game by other characters and even the game itself, as the tooltip for dancing in the Dark Star Lounge in the second game is "Dance?"
Apparently, so do the Ryder siblings.ExplationAndromeda's main playable characters were given the same dancing steps as Shepard, as evidenced during the epilogue at the Hyperion party.
Shepard can't drive, either. ExplanationThe interesting driving physics in the Mako led much of the fandom to believe Shepard is the galaxy's worst driver. With the release of the Legendary Edition the physics and controls for the Mako were greatly improved. Unfortunately, even with these improvements, Shepard is still a terrible driver.
The dialogue during the car chase in Lair of the Shadow Broker may be a nod to this.
Liara: Still better than the Mako.
Apparently, neither the Ryder siblings.ExplationAndromeda's main playable characters seems to have learned to drive in the same driving school as Shepard. They're so bad that even Drack, the millenia+ old krogan squadmate, is freaked out, which it's telling as we never hear Grunt or Wrex complaining.
Jacob? Who's he? ExplanationPoor Jacob Taylor from ME2, The Generic Guy, is by far the least cared-about character in the fandom; not quite The Scrappy, but only because nobody hates him any more than anybody likes him. Despite being around from the beginning of his game and being the only male human Love Interest in it, just try to find any fan art or fan fiction featuring this guy. A file in Lair of the Shadow Broker all but confirms this to be an Invoked Trope on the Illusive Man's part so Shepard will trust Cerberus more.
That big muscular guy. Isn't his name *insert DavidRyder-nickname here*? ExplanationJames Vega, the new human squad member for Mass Effect 3, is a bit more buff than the other male PCs, resulting in a whole lot of references to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on Space Mutiny.
Kai Leng: Cereal Killer. ExplanationKai Leng, one of the main antagonists in the third game, was first seen in a series of novels. One of these novels, ''Deception', features a scene where Leng sneaks into Anderson's apartment, bugs it, and then stays for a few more minutes to steal Anderson's cereal and eat it right there. The fans took it from there.
Emerrrrrgency induction port.ExplanationDuring Mass Effect 3, after a certain mission Tali will head to the bar and get completely drunk, insisting her straw be referred to with more technical terminology. And she seems to have so much fun with it.
In relation: Tequila Se'lai ExplanationA play on the Quarian phrase "Keelah se'lai". Used with impunity in case of an intoxicated Tali.
We'll bang, OK?ExplanationFrom a Gamer Poop video that edited dialogue from the game into nonsensical jokes.
From: Asari Military Command, topic: Evacuating Thessia Explanation (spoilers)Good. You opened this message. This isn't actually asari military command. They're busy tending to what's left of their planet. So you survived our fight on Thessia. You're not as weak as I thought. But never forget that your best wasn't good enough to stop me. Now an entire planet is dying because you lacked the strength to win. The legend of Shepard needs to be re-written. I hope I'm there for the last chapter. It ends with your death. -KL
Anderson was born in London. ExplanationAnderson mentioned twice to Shepard that he was born in London. The second time was infamous for its awkwardness. His lack of a distinctive accent even though other characters in the setting have them also made the whole thing more jarring.
Kaidan can't find the Geth◊. ExplanationOn 2/23/12, Raphael Sbarge, the voice actor for Kaidan Alenko, was asked to say something in his character's voice during a livestream interview. The first thing he could come up with was, "Hello, my name is Kaidan, um... Where are the Geth?" Screenshots and GIFS of Kaidan looking for/being obsessed with Geth were all over Tumblr. Mr. Sbarge has been notified of this meme. He thinks it's quite funny.
Condescending Javik. ExplanationA series of images with Javik, in which he trivializes someone's complaints by comparing them to the extinction of his entire species.
Thane is one hell of a drug.ExplanationIf you try to romance Thane, and have the infamous "Sex Talk" with Mordin, he will reveal that Drell (like Thane) secrete chemicals from their skins that, if ingested, cause hallucinations in humans.
"WE KNOW GAVORN'S TRICKS! WE LEAVE!" ExplanationWhat one member of the brutal and primitive vorcha race will say to you if you just walk up and start talking to him.
"I had reach, she had flexibility." ExplanationGarrus is talking about a female turian crew member on an old ship he served on. He says this line to emphasize their talents in combat... and in bed.
This line was available on an official T-shirt for a while.
"Humans are a blight on galactic purity!" ExplanationA crazy "prophet" batarian on Omega is loudly announcing to anyone who can hear that humans are an abomination unto space. And the crowd of curious listeners? All human.
"You, sir! You are a blight! And you, human! And you!"
Techno Turian.ExplanationDuring Thane's loyalty quest, at one point you will stop at a bar/club area. You can watch as a turian (who looks suspiciously like the Groundskeeper) walks over to some humans and asari, then starts dancing like there's no tomorrow. And he's really good. Many players have admitted to failing the mission because they stopped to watch the guy.
"Unzipping a future blouse."ExplanationFrom a bizarre ESRB description of Mass Effect 2, also including "space furniture" and "ground-based space battles".
"Throw it out the airlock." ExplanationAt least twice in Mass Effect 3, Javik will suggest throwing someone he doesn't like out the airlock.
There's a very gratifying Call-Back to this in the Citadel DLC. When a Renegade Shepard is ranting about how s/he's going to vent a pair of villains' severed heads out of an airlock (further explanation would require spoiler tags), Javik exclaims: "Finally!" He'll also threaten a salarian actor with this should he be around for the filming of the latest Blasto film.
"WELCOME TO TUCHANKA, MOTHERFUCKER!" ExplanationThe phrase to use when Kalrosclashes with a Reaper.
"WELCOME TO RANNOCH, MOTHERFUCKER!" ExplanationVariation of the above, with the Reaper there being bombarded by the Migrant Fleet instead.
All aboardthe party temple!◊ ExplanationThe linked thread started on the Bioware forums using screencaps of the Youtube caption feature hilariously mistranslating spoken words from Mass Effect videos. A picture of a Reaper from Mass Effect 3 with the the caption 'Party Temple' stood out, and very soon an image of Sovereign with the aforementioned line was posted.
I like this human! S/He understands! Explanation The Urdnot Shaman's reaction to seeing Shepard headbutt Gatatog Uvenk.
They're fools. You should eat them. ExplanationWrex's suggestion in regards to dealing with unsavoury people in the first game. For context: When turian Lorik Qui'in complains about having to try to convince the executive board to deal with the Noveria administrator's unwanted self-serving brand of corruption, Wrex darkly recommends eating them if they don't actually do something about the admin, evidence be damned.
Do the words "political shitstorm" mean anything to you? ExplanationUdina asks this question to both Shepard and Anderson in 2 after learning of the meeting between them and the Council regarding Shepard's reinstatement as a Spectre.
Ascended Meme: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd referred to such an incident by these very words.
Back at the (now-defunct) Polish gaming news Gamecorner, the opening lines of a particularly obnoxious Flash ad for Mass Effect 2 ("Shepard. Nie ma pojecia na co sie porywa"Translation"Shepard. He's got no idea what he's getting into") became this.
Why is it that whenever someone says "With All Due Respect", they really mean '"kiss my ass?" Explanation As spoken by Ashley Williams in the first game. During the Virmire mission, the player has to choose who will look after Kirrahe's team. Ashley volunteers, but Kaidan scolds her, telling her "with all due respect" that she has no right to decide such a thing. Kaidan's use of "with all due respect" leads Ashley to mutter this line.
Remember to stay hydrated. ExplanationOne of Garrus' random lines when spoken to on Therum in the first game. Notable for its semi-PSA style delivery. And that Therum is really hot.
My face is tired. ExplanationMass Effect: Andromeda has become infamous for how inferior the faces and the animations look compared to everything else, and Foster Addison drops this gem during a conversation.
Peebee's backwards gun. ExplanationPrior to a patch that fixed it, Peebee's introductory cutscene has her pull out a Carnifex pistol to shoot a robot, somehow managing to hold the gun backwards◊.
Weebloo/Weeabloo. ExplanationCora is very enthusiastic about her time with asari commandos. This is a twist on "weeaboo," meaning one who is obsessed with Japanese culture. Asari are blue, so you get this meme.
On that note, "Did you know I trained to be an Asari Huntress?"ExplanationCora isn't just enthusiastic about her time with the asari when asked about it, she brings it up constantly and nearly all of your conversations with her at least mention it. Not only do fans mock her overuse of lines like this, but many like to jokingly act like she actually is an asari.
"NOW WITH AN ALL ELCOR CAST"ExplanationA reference to a gag in the trilogy that's often used to mock instances of Dull Surprise. The elcor race speaks in a constant dull monotone (their native language relies heavily on extremely subtle expressions and motions) and has to put descriptors in front of sentences to properly convey things to other species. Cue a commercial advertising a production of Hamlet that made the questionable decision to have an all elcor cast. Presumably, the target audience is Elcor who can't take other productions of Hamlet seriously because normal human acting seems cartoonishly overexaggerated. Although the Elcor actor in the ad can only manage an insincere endorsement.
Cerberus Taco Cart Theorem◊ExplanationCerberus has a reputation for incredibly poor safety precautions and their various experiments turning on them (Overlord DLC being a good example) to the point where in the Citadel DLC, Joker lampshades it by talking about all the times Shepard had to clean up said experiments that got loose and started killing all their guys. Among their inner circle, Jack and Shepard (with EDI being taken along, or rather going along with Shepard and co. willingly) are prime examples of this. The meme was taken from Three Panel Soul, in which Shepard tells Miranda that The Illusive Man couldn't run a Taco Cart (technically a truck in the comic strip) without it going rogue and killing his own people.
And like most, this meme was also referenced in Mass Effect 3: Citadel, where during the party Joker, Miranda, EDI and Jacob discuss that they miss the time when Cerberus was incompetent (as of ME 3 they have become much more lethal) and Joker notes that they have probably killed more of their own than the Normandy's crew has. Ex-Cerberus agent Jacob and Cerberus creation EDI take no umbrage at this. Miranda IS a little offended, noting that her sole responsability (Reviving and recruiting Shepard) was a rousing success.
"It's a bit fucked that you killed 305,942 Batarians, Shep, but we understand you had to delay the Reapers." "Reapers?"ExplanationWith the proliferation of AI text-to-speech tools that can easily generate voice lines from the voices of popular game characters, some fans on YouTube started using them to play up Shepard as an aggressive Jerkass with extreme Fantastic Racism towards batarians, such as in the Arrival DLC, where it's joked he didn't blow up the Bahak system to stop the Reapers, but for their own amusement.
"The Consort raped me!" ExplanationIn the first game, Sha'ira the Asari consort gives you a "gift of words" in return for helping her with a client who has been spreading lies about her. Choosing the dialogue option, "That's it?" triggers a sex scene with her. This took many players by surprise since there was no indication this would happen.
Godmode Garrus/Garrus ascends to godhood.ExplanationBy arming him with the N7 Typhoon (with extended magazine and barrel mods), equipping his alternate or From Ashes appearances and assigning the correct power upgrades, Garrus can be engineered into the most overpowered squadmate in Mass Effect 3. Combining the Typhoon's already fearsome damage output with a cumulative damage buff of +220% allows Garrus to effortlessly dismantle the likes of Harvesters and Atlas Mechs in seconds, even on Insanity difficulty.
Explanation
