I do not understand the Tali fandom.

[Penitent]

I like Tali, and I was really glad to see her in ME2 and how she had matured from the inexperienced-yet-dedicated pilgrim we had in the first game.

...Yet whenever I see threads like these, I really ask myself if her fandom even knows what she's about or if they're just infatuated. D:

 

[DustyDrB]

I like Tali. She's loyal, practical, and a bit daring. She's pretty much the character type of Kaylee from Firefly. The whole "she's racist" argument doesn't fly with me. I'm willing to bet none of the people making that case sympathized with the geth before playing up to a certain point in Mass Effect 2. And by that time, we are revealed information that (as far as we know) no one else knows or would have reason to suspect. Did the Quarians attempt to kill the Geth as soon as they started to show signs of sentience? Yes. But the Geth are Quarian creations. It would be hard to see anything you build yourself as anything more than an object. I would likely also try to destroy all Geth, because I'd have the view of "I'm destroying a flawed and dangerous machine".

It's not just the Quarians who have that viewpoint either. After the events of the first game, the Alliance sends the Normandy on a mission to find and kill any remaining pockets of Geth. Every mention of the Geth is met with total disdain and disregard for their sentience. The view that the Geth are nothing more than advanced renegade machines is one that is reinforced all throughout the Galaxy.

 

[Murderiser]

Actually i think a lot of Mass Effect teammates could've afforded more characterization. Ashley Williams has daddy issues and a sister who could kick Wrex's ass, Tali has daddy issues and is caught in the middle of a political spat of whether or not the Quarians should commit mass suicide in a war against a machine race they made, Garrus has daddy issues and became Shepard II until his team got slaughtered, Wrex has daddy issues and murdered his daddy over them, Miranda has daddy issues and a habit of shooting every single guy she meets, Jacob has daddy issues and really likes to savor the priiiize, and finally Mordin has no daddy so he kills remorselessly and sings Gilbert and Sullivan.
Yeah, real depth. Still though, Mass Effect gives the effort which is more than i can say about Halo. They could still do a better job though.

Couple of things wrong with that statement: namely that Garrus and Wrex don't really have 'daddy issues'. Garrus mentions his father a grand total of ONCE during the entirity of BOTH games, and even then only in a sense of 'my parents don't approve of me running around with
a SPECTRE'. Wrex barely mentions his parents as well. Garrus is clearly far more driven by his irritation with what he sees as regulations inhibiting the course of justice (his father is the antithesis of this) and Wrex is a nihilistic arsehole with an anger management problem.

I will admit though that Bioware maybe overuses the 'parental issues' thing a tad too much (Liara, Jacob, Tali, Miranda, Grunt, Ashley, Samara in a reserve kind-of-way). However, seeing as parents have a HUGE effect on our personalaties, perhaps this is not too surprising.

 

[Wuggy]

Standard characterization test: You should be able to easily describe the character's personality without referring to their appearance or job. With Tali... I got nothing.

ME1: Naive, immature, confused, often abashed, somewhat inward

ME2: Altruistic, matured up, experienced, more capable to express opinion and emotion

For me, my liking of Tali is not because she's been great all along. It's because she's had actually has plausible character development.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

I would answer but

Spoiler: I think Shamus Young put it best

We joke about wanting to romance Tali, but I have the sense that this is a pretty common preference among male gamers. Tali seems to be a lot more popular than either Liara or Ashley. And I think she's more popular because she's simply more interesting. Liara is smart, Ashley is capable, but Tali is both. Yes, she has a skin-tight body suit, but so does just about everyone else in the game. More importantly, she's got chicken feet and you never see her face. So I think her popularity is due to her personality far more than sex appeal.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

In Mass Effect 1 Tali received almost zero characterization. She had lots of interesting stuff to say about Quarians in general and I was happy to listen to it, but her individual personality didn't get any attention.

And no, I'm not just pulling that out of my arse. Standard characterization test: You should be able to easily describe the character's personality without referring to their appearance or job. With Tali... I got nothing.

For your second point, with only ME1: Socially awkward, ear for music, daddy issues (yes, in game 1), independent, and melancholy. She's also kinda bouncy and excitable, in a very cute sort of way, which is one reason why I liked her so much in ME1.

As for the main question - because Tali is just so sad. Her race has lost everything - their home, most of their numbers (the Migrant Fleet is like 1% of their original population), and even life's simple pleasures. Tali can't stop and smell a rose - it would probably kill her. She can't eat anything but tasteless paste. Tali's life is AWFUL. And yet she keeps going, trying to make her daddy proud and help her people. She talks about bringing music back to her fleet to make their lives suck slightly less. It's SO SAD. It makes me want to hug her and tell her it will all be okay.

Tali is clinically designed to appeal to the kind of person who wants to protect and help the sad girl. Tali has lived with all the worst shit in life, and she keeps pushing on, trying to make things better. She is beautifully written to appeal to that sort of person... and someone who doesn't feel that way probably won't feel a thing for her, because her entire character is geared towards that.

Anywho, there's your answer.

I'm not a rabid fangirl as you have probably seen by my comments in some other ME threads. I suspect Tali sets off my mothering instincts that I must have somewhere. In Mass Effect 2 though she's clearly grown up alot and doesn't need Shep holding her hand anymore.

Okay, I wasn't going to mention my maternal instincts, but yeah... poor girl, I just want to give her a hug. I just want to give her SOMETHING nice that's just for her, and not to save her people.

And if that's me, then I'm okay with that. ^^;;

... too bad I can't as FemShep. Stupid straight Shepards. ME3 will fix that, though, so all I need to do is wait. ^^

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

I don't understand it either. I found her to be a great character, but there were always others that were more interesting in both mass effect games.

 

[MaximillionMiles]

I honestly have no idea, there is even a name for the people that are obsessed with tali, their'e called TALIMANCERS.

Do not DARE googling that in images with safe search off.

You do know that when you tell people not to do something, they will do it right? Anyways, not really anything bad as far as I saw. Most images were pretty much SFW or just tali in a sexy pose.

Although I did find this:

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Yeah... that train of thought did occur to me. However, I didn't really want to go there because:
a) There's kind of an implied insult in there and I'm not out to piss people off. (Not any more than necessary, at least.)

I don´t even think it´s really an insult.
She´s smart, hot, has a touch of mystery and shared interests (us nerd-folk like technology and so does she). Liking her on the basis of such attributes is, I dunno, superficial, at worst.
It´s certainly why I like her.

Well, I guess the whole "nerds like her because she is non-threatening"-thing could be kind of insulting, but why should everyone have to like aggresive, violent broads ?

(The answer being of course: because aggresive, violent broads are fuckin´ hot, but I think that´s kind of beside the point.)

 

[Pyro Paul]

She's the awkward nerd girl who's good in a fight, but clumsy with social matters. Nerds eat that shit up.

Plus, she wears a helmet which adds another element of mystery and projection.

it isn't so much so that she is a nerd, it is the fact that she is insecure. Although often people attribute insecurity with 'nerdy' characteristics, it isn't nessarly true.

In ME1 Liara was a nerd. she was well read, smart, and approched situations logically and analytically. but the diffrence between Liara and Tali is confidence. Liara wasn't afraid to come to a conclusion and state her oppinon or initiate the first step of a conversation. Even in the times where she was wrong, she redoubles her efforts to try and better understand things she misinterpreted rather then being discouraged or disuaded.

the lack of confidence... the insecurity with herself... thats what people eat up.

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

For your second point, with only ME1: Socially awkward, ear for music, daddy issues (yes, in game 1), independent, and melancholy. She's also kinda bouncy and excitable, in a very cute sort of way, which is one reason why I liked her so much in ME1.

As for the main question - because Tali is just so sad. Her race has lost everything - their home, most of their numbers (the Migrant Fleet is like 1% of their original population), and even life's simple pleasures. Tali can't stop and smell a rose - it would probably kill her. She can't eat anything but tasteless paste. Tali's life is AWFUL. And yet she keeps going, trying to make her daddy proud and help her people. She talks about bringing music back to her fleet to make their lives suck slightly less. It's SO SAD. It makes me want to hug her and tell her it will all be okay.

Tali is clinically designed to appeal to the kind of person who wants to protect and help the sad girl. Tali has lived with all the worst shit in life, and she keeps pushing on, trying to make things better. She is beautifully written to appeal to that sort of person... and someone who doesn't feel that way probably won't feel a thing for her, because her entire character is geared towards that.

Anywho, there's your answer.

Sooo.... some people like her, not because she has nice **** and doesn´t take her helmet off, but because they appreciate the backstory of her race on a literary and emotional level and because they find her personal struggle to persevere and triumph over a life of misery and isolation tragic and endearing...... that is just sick.

 

[Zhukov]

She is the quintessential woman every man wants.

[snip]

I myself, am a Tali fan. Shes a great character, in a great series.

I'm... not exactly sure that being tailor-made to suit the tastes of men is grounds for greatness.

 

[unit5016]

[sub](Alternative thread title: Ye gods! Apparently some people like something a lot more than I do. This cannot be!)[/sub]

EDIT FOR CLARITY: I am not referring to the whole should-we-see-her-face-or-not thing. I'm fairly neutral on that and it's already been better covered elsewhere.

...

Wait! Calm down. This isn't a hate thread. I'm not out to hang shit on your favourite character. I'm just... bemused is all.

In Mass Effect 1 Tali received almost zero characterization. She had lots of interesting stuff to say about Quarians in general and I was happy to listen to it, but her individual personality didn't get any attention.

And no, I'm not just pulling that out of my arse. Standard characterization test: You should be able to easily describe the character's personality without referring to their appearance or job. With Tali... I got nothing. I guess she's kinda plucky? That's really all I can come up with. With the other characters I can rattle off traits without a problem (Liara: earnest, sincere, awkward, bookish, inexperienced. Wrex: dour, blunt, taciturn, bitter, wry sense of humour, easygoing, casually violent). But Tali? There's just nothing there.

The second game was a considerable improvement in this regard. The loyalty missions allowed for a higher degree of focus on the characters and, in Tali's case, let her express a lot more emotion and become more humanized (alienized...? Whatever, you know what I mean). We learnt more about her role in her society and her concern for her people.

Oh, and then there was the romance thing, present by popular demand. No. Sorry, but... just no. That played out like an exercise in ego-stroking. "Oh Shepard, you're so wonderful but I was always too cute and shy to say so... because you're so awesome!" Yeesh.

So, in a nutshell, a very interesting species and a comfortably-above-average character (by video game standards that is). But I still don't see where the adoration comes from.

Anyone care to explain?

[sub](Alternative end line: I demand that you justify your subjective preferences!)[/sub]

Well good sir I am afraid I cannot answer this seeing that I have stayed loyal to Liara through both games (when the dlc that lets you meet her again came out I NEEDED to buy it) but many previous posts I feel justify why as I have chatted with tali till the point it was turning into being more than "friends"

 

[Nudu]

That played out like an exercise in ego-stroking. "Oh Shepard, you're so wonderful but I was always too cute and shy to say so... because you're so awesome!"

You sort of answered your own question on that one

 

[Manji187]

Anyone care to explain?

because she is a virgin.
others might use words like 'pure' or 'innocent' but it just comes down to the simple fact that she is a virgin.

From a psychological stand point, her naive inexperienced nature reinforces our own manhood and placiates our own sexual insecurities. the simple concept that 'No one has touched her' means that she doesn't have any preconcieved notions on our preformance or basis to compare it against.

She isn't going to sneak out so that we wake up alone the next morning nor will she roll over and reply with 'I've had better'.

That's one very convincing analysis...

What I wanna know though: Why does Bioware portray a romantic relationship as "sexual innuendo followed by a roll in the hay....AND THEN NOTHING". Rather simplistic/ immature for such a "mature" game, wouldn't you think?

 

[Red Albatross]

I like Tali as a character and she gets much more interesting in ME2, but I do agree with those that are saying the romance option was a bit...contrived. I can see the mass appeal of someone who needs to be protected, because a lot of people on the internet like to "white knight" for whatever reason. I guess that's just really not my cup of tea, hence why I've been more fond of Ashley Williams as a character.

And will you people quit with the "racist" crap. Tali has no home because of the Geth. No, it wasn't right for the Quarians to try and massacre them, but she didn't make that decision and it's hard to blame your own people for something like that, especially when they're so close-knit. If you'll actually play the damn game instead of being reactionary, Tali and Legion actually start cooperating near the end of the game. Leading to something more on-topic, I thought it was a great bit of character development and maturation for Tali to be able to interact with a Geth and see that the Geth don't even understand why the Quarians tried to destroy them.

 

[Doktor Sleepless]

I lost her at the end of my first ME2 playthrough offscreen, and sat there for a minute trying to make myself feel sad about it. I was more disappointed at myself that I'd lost SOMEONE, not that it was her.

 

[k7avenger]

For me at least, its not really so much what SHE looks like, its more like what does her race look like. Surly there's more to their face than a featureless visor.