Why is Kaiden Alenko so popular?

[Shock and Awe]

Oh come on, a man with a dark past who is in pain everyday, its a fangirl's dream.

A better question is why the hell does everyone hate Ashley so much? She is my favorite character.

 

[Shock and Awe]

I dunno, he was Shepards 2nd in Command, and since it was either him or Ashely... I chose Ashley.
Although he sounded liek a wife in ME2, I thought he was a pretty cool guy

Actually navigator presley is the XO.

 

[TheBoulder]

I thought people didn't like him. Seeing as how he's automatically dead if you start a new file in ME2. I found him to average and boring to be on my crew.

 

[crudus]

I actually hate him for various reasons. I really don't know if the fan-fiction captures his whiny-ness correctly.

 

[Gralian]

Eh, Kaiden served as my tech expert / hacker dude who opened stuff for me. That's all i really had him tagging along for, in relation to Ashley however she was useless as i played a soldier anyway so there was no love lost there. I suppose Kaiden is popular because he plays the "rough childhood" role that women seem to find endearing, like they want to protect him or give him a cuddle or something. He's not a tough guy, in fact, i thought Kaiden was a bit of a wuss. But again those qualities may appeal to women more.

 

[HeySeansOnline]

Sans Mass Effect 2 he was the only set in stone "dude". But on a deeper level he's kind of cool, a child forced a burden on him by a corporation, no real backstory due to this. But they subdued It a bit, his short backstory left him without much of a personally and his pains from the biotics had to be lowered for the sake of him not randomly going insane with pain ... which might have been cool. For those who let him live hopefully he can get deeper character development.

 

[Pearwood]

Probably cause when I played it I was comparing it to Dragon Age subconsciously, Kaiden is several hundred times better than Alistair, his Dragon Age-ian counterpart.

 

[Nueemann]

Meh, I didn't really like Carth, I preferred Bastila, although that's because I usually went all Dark Side and I thought Carth was a little annoying. Teach him not to trust me....

Anyway, OT: I'm not really sure. Although this is probably close.

Probably because he's the only one fangirls can fantasise about without needing to excorcise themselves of the creepy alien thoughts.

 

[Souplex]

A lot of fanfiction writers are female. He's the only romancable male in 1. Seems like the answer is obvious.

 

[Ertis]

He was pretty forgettable when I started playing ME, but when I started paying attention to the conversations, he's similar to Garrus; a real quite, cool guy who could unload a can of whoop-ass in an instant.

 

[zHellas]

Well, Rule 32.

Also, Kaidan is the only male love interest of the first Mass Effect. I doubt girls are wanting to bump uglies with Ashley, or have a mindfuck(tee hee) with Liara.

 

[Vicarious Vangaurd]

He isn't popular, he's dead...well in my game at least.

 

[mythicdawn12]

His ass died on Virmire. I felt bad because he was a good friend, but Ashley was not going to die in my game. Honestly now, I can hardly remember Kaiden's character, he was very forgettable.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

OK I've been reading Mass Effect Fan Fiction(oh god what have I got myself into), and there tend to be A LOT of Kaiden ones out there. I am also aware of how popular he is among fangirls. And I don't understand why. Why is this character so popular? Please someone explain why he's so popular! Is it the head bump? Is it the fact he's voiced by the same person who did Carth in KOTOR? I'm not going to waste my time explaining why I hate him and I don't want people out there to post why they do. I just want to know why people like him.

OK I've been reading Mass Effect Fan Fiction(oh god what have I got myself into), and there tend to be A LOT of Kaiden ones out there. I am also aware of how popular he is among fangirls. And I don't understand why. Why is this character so popular? Please someone explain why he's so popular! Is it the head bump? Is it the fact he's voiced by the same person who did Carth in KOTOR? I'm not going to waste my time explaining why I hate him and I don't want people out there to post why they do. I just want to know why people like him.

well as you said, i liked him for carth's voice actor, beyond that i thought he was boring and very 2 dimensional for a bioware character.

 

[Lolth17]

I thought people didn't like him. Seeing as how he's automatically dead if you start a new file in ME2. I found him to average and boring to be on my crew.

If you start a new ME2 game with a femshep, he's alive and Ashley's dead, fyi.

Also, Kaiden has way more of a personality than Jacob, so he wins best human male companion npc by default ;-/

In my playthroughs, I killed Ashley even when I didn't have a relationship with Kaiden. Can't stand that *****.


Personally, <3 Thane Krios. I won't apologize for my weird alien romantic thoughts.

 

[Flack]

Personally, I prefer Alistair.

 

[kickyourass]

I swear I had to re-read the title a few times cause I thought I was seeing things. Now I've nothing against Kaiden I think he's a pretty likable character, boring as hell but likable, but I don't think I've ever seen a more ignored character in all my 10 years of gaming. I swear at least 70% of the Mass Effect players I've talked to have told me that they either flat out FORGOT that he even existed until the final mission on Virmire, or just ignored him entirely.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

I don't really like Kaiden either so like OP Im not getting why he's so popular in ME fanfics. And yeah I just prefered Ashley(in ME1 that is) but once 2 came around though it was all about Tali

 

[drisky]

I thought Kaiden was boring the first play though, on the second (playing as a female and renegade) he was a lot more interesting, probably because I was paying more attention and he's was a lot more sarcastic and bad ass around fem Shepard. I'd legitimately say he's the most interesting romantic option. He is not popular though, you cant take fan fic writers as the general fandom.

 

[Woodsey]

A better question is why the hell does everyone hate Ashley so much? She is my favorite character.

She's a bit of a raging xenophobe, but after a few chats you can get her to change her mind anyway.