[ SECRET POST #2511 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2511 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[The Hobbit]


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03.
[The Fly 1986]


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04.
[Slightly Damned]


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05.
[Game Of Thrones]


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06.
[DC Comics]


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07.
[NCIS]


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08.
[Roosterteeth]


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09.
[Mass Effect]
[Art: The Shepard Siblings, by bigcman321]


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10.
[Easy A]


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11.
[Sleepy Hollow]


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12.
[Sir David Attenborough]


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13.
[New Tricks]


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14.
[Hannibal (NBC)]









Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 078 secrets from Secret Submission Post #359.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

09. http://i.imgur.com/BIX7qfc.jpg
[Mass Effect]
[Art: The Shepard Siblings, by bigcman321]

[insanenoodlyguy]

THIS. BEAUTIFUL. PICTURE. *_*

Also, agree hard.

[sootyowl]

I haven't read much Mass Effect fiction... but I do agree Shepard does have a set personality. Of course, it's still your perception of your own Shepard that you're writing about.

Some people have an intensive backstory for their Shepard and that's why she/he can come out OOC. Still, having Shepard cry about a broken nail or or something like it, would be OOC no matter what.

[(Anonymous)]

Iknow I'm pointing out the obvious here, but your Shepherd does not equal other people's shepherd. Even if you both choose identical responses to everything you're still interpretatin the character differently which will than carry over into your fics as you exagurate things they see them.

they only seem OOC because theu're not YOUR Shepherd, bit they're IC for that person and that's what matters cause its their fic. you don't have to read it

[forgottenjester]

See, this is how I feel. I have two Shepards that are basically identical. They have different genders but they have the same background and made mostly the same choices. However, I interpreted them so differently due to the various motivations I assumed they had that was exclusive to them. That's me interpreting the character differently from others and making him/her my own. I've seen a lot of people do this.

I mean, just going back to the Rachni decision in the first Mass Effect, which did you choose? Did their background affect their decision? Who were the people you took with you? Was one Wrex? How did that change your interpretation of your standoff with him on Virmire? But what if you did Virmire first? It kind of just goes on and on.

I will admit there are some limitations but mostly Shepard can be who you want.

+1

[elaminator]

They have different genders but they have the same background and made mostly the same choices. However, I interpreted them so differently due to the various motivations I assumed they had that was exclusive to them. That's me interpreting the character differently from others and making him/her my own. I've seen a lot of people do this.

Exactly. I agree with the limitations bit too, but there's certainly room for variety.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly.

There's a lot of Shepard or other player character fics that I have zero interest in, so I simply do not read them.

[(Anonymous)]

People can have radically different Shepards but there are some things that are out of character no matter what their background. I have seen a lot of femSheps written like teenagers who cry over thinking Garrus or Thane doesn't like them or who have to be taken care of. I saw one memorable MShep who was an incredibly slutty unprofessional goth who spent his time sexually harassing people. Some things just aren't IC for Shepard.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, if there isn't at least some baseline of military professionalism going on, I back out of a fic pretty quickly.

[nailtek]

Yeah, absolutely. There's a such an absurd number of choices to be made that will more concretely define Shepard's personality, but despite the tendency of fanfics to use Shepard as a "free pass for self insert" (or maybe I've been reading too many porn fics IDK), there is actually a canonically defined personality.
It's why I tend to stick to fics that don't involve Shepard at all, or at least minimally.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed. I don't always have a problem with Shepard in fic, but I tend to sideeye the ones with super-special names. An Emily Shepard or a Sarah Shepard is usually fine, but I've never seen a, say, Philomena Shepard who was written well.

(I've never actually seen a Philomena Shepard. It's just an example.)

Besides, with the occasional exception of Garrus/Shepard stuff, I tend to find other characters more interesting anyway. Maybe it's because we got Shepard's story already, but there's still tons of unexplored territory with characters who aren't her/him.

I understand people's attachments to Shepard and I am very fond of Femshep myself - she's one of my favorite video game protagonists - but I'm really glad that Bioware isn't including them in the next game. I'm done there.

[nailtek]

Honestly I tend to pass over the ones that even refer to Shepard as anything besides, well, "Shepard", and to a lesser extent the default first names. Because no one ever actually calls Shepard anything but that, so it's really jarring for me personally to suddenly see everyone calling Shepard, "Jason" or "Allison" or something.

[(Anonymous)]

An Emily Shepard or a Sarah Shepard is usually fine, but I've never seen a, say, Philomena Shepard who was written well.

Oh my God, I agree. I hate when fanficcers give them nicknames too. Philomena "Stupid Nickname" Shepard. That is also an automatic no.

[writerserenyty]

Agreed; that's actually one of the things I love about Shepard. That I can play her as a paragon and my sister can play her as renegade, but it still feels like the same character.

[(Anonymous)]

my main issue with mass effect fic is people using anything other than the default names. i have no idea why this annoys me as much as it does.
i'm curious as to whether OP sees renegade/paragon as different personalities for shepard? but i think most people write paragon shepard anyways?

[(Anonymous)]

mine too. LOL.

I'm more inclined to find any interp of Shepard viable so long as their names stay John or Jane. The moment we start getting idiotic stupid ass 'special' names, it feels like character interpretation flies right out the window.

Note I said feels like. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't but that's how it parses with me.

I write a Renegade Shepard, fwiw.

[diet_poison]

I guess I'm not sure what exactly you're talking about, anon. There are definitely some things Shepard would never ever do, but there's also room for different backgrounds and choices to make different peoples' headcanons of Shepard different (while still being believable and IC). I think that's part of the fun.

Disclaimer: I haven't played Citadel (yet).

[ggc]

i just want to say it's neat of you to credit the pic, op

[(Anonymous)]

If you think that Shepard has a consistent personality despite some being nice dudes, some being jerks and some being OPENLY GENOCIDAL, I don't know what to tell you. Wait, yes I do - you're not very sharp.

[(Anonymous)]

They do though. There are some things that Shepard just would not do.

[(Anonymous)]

There's enough choices that change the sound of your Shepard for sure, so I can see how there's a little wiggle room for making him or her kinder/meaner/whatever. But some people take this way too liberally, and I tend to back button out of fics that make Shepard sound like a teenager and/or cry all the time.

[terra_mythos]

I agree with the secret.

I'm commenting to congratulate you on that A+ fanart choice, though.

[bored_bitch]

Agreed.

Also agreed with other commenters that I hate it when characters call Shepard anything other than just "Shepard".

I think, a lot of the time, it's meant to be like "Oooh. Look how intimate s/he is with their romance partner, that said romance partner can address them by name."

Except that we've already seen the romance scenes, and still... nothing.
Shepard is just Shepard.

Garrus or Liara or whoever the fuck wouldn't suddenly decide to go "Oh, Amy Jo Sue Diana, we are finally alone. U r my solemaet."
Plz stop.

[ariakas]

Yep. You get choices, but a limited number of choices. And no matter what you choose, Shepard is always someone who became an Elite Speess Murheen. There are a limited number of people who a) could pull that off, and b) would want to. If N7 is anything like our elite special forces now, only a tiny percentage of an already tiny group even make it in, and they all have common characteristics.

The SMT fandom has the same issue. You have a character who has plenty of choices as to what they do/day/date, but at the end of the day there are still scenes where the character always does the same thing, people they don't date, things they don't say, and expressions they always make. Taking it as a "free pass to make your own character" is somewhat missing the point.

(That said, in the much more populous Japanese fandom at least, I find this give rise to precisely two types of interpretations of SMT protagonists: the first being as close to canon as they can within the parameters of the choices they made in the game, the second being an ultra kawaii woobie who takes it up the ass from one of the older, larger males in the cast. Doesn't matter what the character is like in canon. Doesn't mater that the Demi-fiend spends 99% of the game - the same game we all played and whose expressions we all saw - scowling and snarling. He's a kawaii weepy uke chans who is suuuuper sweet and friendly!)