Mass Effect -- There's snow in my boots!!
As much as I love FemShep and adore the supporting cast (Wrex forever!), I have to give a special shout-out to my other Mass Effect crush, the SSV Normandy SR-1.
She isn't the most beautifully designed fictional ship, I'd have to give that to the USS Voyager, and she isn't even the most badass, because the Millennium Falcon exists, but the Normandy does have a certain unmatched fun, fiery comic elegance about her that just makes me stop and stare whenever I get the chance.
Total crap cell phone pic, but when I noticed the background of this scene, I had one of those corny moments where you think 'dam, I love video games -- I get to fly around SPACE in that thing. FUCK YEAH!'
Anyway, I love the Normandy so much I bought a replica! It's the SR-2, but whatever.
I blame my dad for my love of all things geeky, but I especially blame him for my obsession with aircraft. My dad is an accomplished pilot, and as a result my brother and I grew up surrounded by everything aviation. I have attended countless air shows, visited numerous flight museums, and spent more time than was comfortable buckled into a tiny four seat Piper Cherokee. And although there were times where zipping around in a plane was a bit much and I just wanted to DRIVE places like regular people, I've mostly enjoyed every minute of it and have been able to see some unforgettable things. There really isn't anything quite like flying around New York City at night, or soaring so close above Niagara Falls you feel like you could jump into it.
Sadly, a lot of that stuff isn't even possible anymore, but the memories will always be there. And I think that's my fascination with flight -- it's that feeling of awe and wonder that comes over you when you see things from a different perspective than you ever thought you would, or even could. That doesn't mean I'm not still terrified of flight, lord am I ever, but I can get over it enough to enjoy the experience it brings.
And the Normandy has a way of doing that for me, vicariously anyway. I'm never going to travel to distant worlds or cart around a crew of misfit aliens, but the world of Mass Effect is so nicely realized it's quite easy to fall into it all and feel that twinge of excitement when you jump to a new solar system, and see shiny little globes orbiting around a sun, and wonder.....oooo, what's that pretty planet? What will I find down there? (and the answer is geth. It's always geth.)
And while on the topic of things I love, oh my, I do adore Kaidan. I take my little biotic dweeb everywhere.
So we land on Noveria -- an icy, cold planet with a crazy ass blizzard raging all around us, and Kaidan, ever cerebral, has this to say:
"I think I've got snow in my boots! A bit nippy. Mom was right. I should've brought a sweater. I wish we could pop off some incendiaries."
What. the. fuck Kaidan?!?! I shouldn't be surprised he's a mama's boy.
Oh, and Garrus?
"Turians don't like the cold Shepard. Did I ever mention that?"
Back to the cargo hold with you, crybaby.
She isn't the most beautifully designed fictional ship, I'd have to give that to the USS Voyager, and she isn't even the most badass, because the Millennium Falcon exists, but the Normandy does have a certain unmatched fun, fiery comic elegance about her that just makes me stop and stare whenever I get the chance.
Total crap cell phone pic, but when I noticed the background of this scene, I had one of those corny moments where you think 'dam, I love video games -- I get to fly around SPACE in that thing. FUCK YEAH!'
Anyway, I love the Normandy so much I bought a replica! It's the SR-2, but whatever.
I blame my dad for my love of all things geeky, but I especially blame him for my obsession with aircraft. My dad is an accomplished pilot, and as a result my brother and I grew up surrounded by everything aviation. I have attended countless air shows, visited numerous flight museums, and spent more time than was comfortable buckled into a tiny four seat Piper Cherokee. And although there were times where zipping around in a plane was a bit much and I just wanted to DRIVE places like regular people, I've mostly enjoyed every minute of it and have been able to see some unforgettable things. There really isn't anything quite like flying around New York City at night, or soaring so close above Niagara Falls you feel like you could jump into it.
Sadly, a lot of that stuff isn't even possible anymore, but the memories will always be there. And I think that's my fascination with flight -- it's that feeling of awe and wonder that comes over you when you see things from a different perspective than you ever thought you would, or even could. That doesn't mean I'm not still terrified of flight, lord am I ever, but I can get over it enough to enjoy the experience it brings.
And the Normandy has a way of doing that for me, vicariously anyway. I'm never going to travel to distant worlds or cart around a crew of misfit aliens, but the world of Mass Effect is so nicely realized it's quite easy to fall into it all and feel that twinge of excitement when you jump to a new solar system, and see shiny little globes orbiting around a sun, and wonder.....oooo, what's that pretty planet? What will I find down there? (and the answer is geth. It's always geth.)
And while on the topic of things I love, oh my, I do adore Kaidan. I take my little biotic dweeb everywhere.
So we land on Noveria -- an icy, cold planet with a crazy ass blizzard raging all around us, and Kaidan, ever cerebral, has this to say:
"I think I've got snow in my boots! A bit nippy. Mom was right. I should've brought a sweater. I wish we could pop off some incendiaries."
What. the. fuck Kaidan?!?! I shouldn't be surprised he's a mama's boy.
Oh, and Garrus?
"Turians don't like the cold Shepard. Did I ever mention that?"
Back to the cargo hold with you, crybaby.