BioWare Pits Blonde Against Brunette in New FemShep Poll

[Metalrocks]

Jesus H. Christ. I know I'm going to bring a lot of shit down on my head for saying this but I'm going to say it anyway:

Bioware. Grow the fuck up.

They've decided to have their own canon Femshep, but rather than actually design her in-house like they did for Manshep and every other character in the game, they've turned this into a beauty pageant so that gamers can vote for the character they think is the hottest. Not only is that a pretty hypocritical thing to do (why didn't we get to vote for Manshep in the same way?), it speaks volumes about the state of the industry.

Can you imagine what it would be like if other female videogame characters had been carted out onto a beauty pageant stage rather than being designed around their setting and backstory? If Alyx Vance had been treated by Valve in such a way, she'd no longer be the gently attractive, reasonably clothed woman we all know and love. People would have voted to make her a blonde supermodel with a huge chest and a stripperiffic outfit instead of a sensible jacket and jeans combination. If Samus Aran had been treated like this by Nintendo, you can bet her armour would be a lot less androgynous, and would have those ridiculous metal boob holders designers seem to think make sense. Hell, Femshep is sporting armoured boob-holders in the very pics in this article.

It is not the job of the artist to pander to the audience and give them what they want. If they audience knew what it is theywant, they wouldn't be the audience. They would be the artists.

Bah. This article says it better than I ever could.

maybe so, but i still think its nice of bioware to let the fans choose who they want. how many dont agree with the default maleshep? i am one of them, thats why i have my own version of maleshep. were i tried to make him look like my self and make decision like i would do them.

letting the fans choose who they want will make many people less angry because it was made in a fair way. sure, the femsheps look attractive (as in many other games) but i see nothing wrong with a very good looking female kicking some ass. i mean, how many women who care so much about there looks, try not to even break a damn nail?? seeing a woman like this should make them think a bit that they too can kick some ass.
i find a attractive femshep (or women in general) who kick ass, are nicer to look at. this make me wish that these women would be like that.

 

[O maestre]

hmmm miss parallel universe anyone? at least we know evil femshep isn't on the list(ugh)

why didn't they just use the already present default femshep

going for the black haired one.... yes i have a goff fetish, and this is about picking which one you would rather bone have save the universe right?

 

[Undead Dragon King]

My Joanna Shepard is a redhead, so that's the FemShep I like best, but...she looks way too young. Like, really, THAT girl can save the universe?

I thought that as well. I'm hoping that she looks a little older in the game.

Shepard's only 31 canonically. That's not even close to approaching middle-age in a 2185 human. 30 is the new 20! =D

 

[Subject7]

As tired as I am of blond, I have to admit it compliments her eyes very nicely, better than all the others in fact. But my choice is ultimately between black and red...

...I'm gonna have to go with Red.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Red for the win! XD

 

[zehydra]

As much as I love red-heads, I gotta go with the Blonde hair. Her red hair just doesn't look natural.

 

[nonl33t m4st3r]

THe red haired one reminds me too much of Scarlett Johanson...

You say that like it's a bad thing.

I voted for the blond one the first time around for her hair style primarily; all the rest looked like Captain Janeway got hit with an ugly stick. 2nd round, redhead Shep got my vote.

 

[scw55]

Red haired Shep seems most right to me, but I am partial to black shep more... though black shep looks a bit too angry for me.
Does make me feel awkwad though that it feels like I'm perving over some women over which I find most attractive. Damn you Bioware making you reflect on my own humanity even outside of games!

 

[rcs619]

Also, it'd be nice if they could maybe patch ME1 and ME2 to include the new FemShep. I mean, it'd be kind of disappointing if the ONLY way to play as her would be to start a new game in ME3.

That's a very good point, too. Having a new pseudo-canon main character option for a series that carries that character through from the beginning of the first game to the end of the last one would make a lot more sense if that option were retroactively made available from the beginning...

Yeah, it'd be nice. Im fairly happy with the FemShep design I came up with, but honestly, the female design options (especially the hair) have never been that great. Having them add in the canon FemShep at least as far back as ME2 (Only option for me to play them is on the PS3 unfortunately, or else I'd start on the first one) would be a nice touch. It really seems like it would be a waste to finally have an "official" female Shepard design, but ONLY have it available to the people who start off in Mass Effect 3.

Hell, if they aren't feeling generous enough to give away a freebie, give us a $2 "character creation part pack" or something. Maybe celebrate the launch of Mass Effect 3 (and the many people going back to play the first two games again, or for the first time) by giving us a bunch of new character creation options.

 

[Shynobee]

I'm thinking red head actually.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Just. Use. The. God. Damn. Default. Female. Shepard. From. The. Game.

 

[silver1881]

My problem wasn?t that she was blonde, it was everything else. The long, messy hair is impractical. The face is too young ? she?s 31 in ME2, and this woman looks like a teenager. Too much makeup, no lines or scars. And only one nonwhite choice. I could have lived with a blonde, if it wasn?t for all the rest of it.
It's true that people might look younger in 2185, and 31 isn't middle-aged anymore, but looking at it from a 21st-century perspective, it throws me off a bit. And all of the other humans (except Miranda) seem to look their age.

Just. Use. The. God. Damn. Default. Female. Shepard. From. The. Game.

Or this. I would have been happy with this.

 

[UnderCoverGuest]

Uh. What happened to the military cut--she looks like Avril Latrine or whatever her name is more than she does an elite soldier. Going with brown though, I rather like the original female Shepherd...

 

[00slash00]

i like the look of the blonde one the best, my femshep is a redhead though

 

[00slash00]

Uh. What happened to the military cut--she looks like Avril Latrine or whatever her name is more than she does an elite soldier. Going with brown though, I rather like the original female Shepherd...

because this is a video game. its okay for a male lead to be a prettyboy, rugged, or just plain ugly. female leads, however, must always be pretty and feminine looking

 

[SandroTheMaster]

They already got her the impractically pretty long hair. Why bother...

 

[The Lugz]

My problem wasn?t that she was blonde, it was everything else. The long, messy hair is impractical. The face is too young ? she?s 31 in ME2, and this woman looks like a teenager. Too much makeup, no lines or scars. And only one nonwhite choice. I could have lived with a blonde, if it wasn?t for all the rest of it.
It's true that people might look younger in 2185, and 31 isn't middle-aged anymore, but looking at it from a 21st-century perspective, it throws me off a bit. And all of the other humans (except Miranda) seem to look their age.

Just. Use. The. God. Damn. Default. Female. Shepard. From. The. Game.

Or this. I would have been happy with this.

shep is not old, though physically he/she is less than 10 due to the resurrection processes used
it seems logical to me that the artificial ageing would not deliberately deteriorate the cells as that would seem counter-productive to making the ideal person

 

[C117]

I vote for the black-haired one. At tad bit more badass, in my opinion.