Why Mass Effect 3′s New Blonde FemShep is a Disappointment

Why the new FemShep being blonde is such a big thing to some fans, and what the new fair-skinned, blonde Commander Shepard means to me against what we could have had.

[ChrisW]

When I think of FemShep's voice, I think they should've just used the default FemShep from ME1 and ME2... Though my character looked more like Lucy Liu. Nonetheless, there was absolutely nothing wrong the default and there is a lot wrong with this blonde poll-dancer.

[DeadlyFire]

You guys do know Female Shepard is customizable just like male Shepard. So blonde isn't the only option. Relax a little. Its not being forced at you or anything. Just customize. Its not a bad thing to actually use your creativity you know. Everyone has it inside them. Just open up and learn to tweak it.

[xxBiG_BoSSxx]

This article and your "pole dancer" comment are ridiculous.
The author talks about the many negative stereotypes that women have had to endure over time, then proceeds to stereotype blondes. Apparently blondes can't command, blondes can't kill collectors, or shoot a krogen in the face.
There was a vote. Femshep 5 won. Isn't it insulting to the gamers who voted to assume they did so only because they are brainwashed hornytoads mindlessly gravitating toward some societal standard of beauty?

All this hate toward femshep 5 seems to be people projecting their negative high school experiences onto a generic avatar. This is evidenced by the tweet in the article proclaiming femshep 5 as "the popular girl." Which is kind of insane. She has the same face as all the other avatars. She just has different colored hair.
Sorry for the rant. I just don't get this. Maybe the detractors are right. Maybe this shep won because she is blonde, and the mostly male voters voted with their crotch, I don't know.
What I do know is you shouldn't deride the way people perceive something (like blonde hair) when you yourself perceive it the same way.
It's like saying I hate racism...and Eskimos!

[Urrakia34]

Seriously?

[gamingdroid]

People voted already....

That said, why is this turning into a feminist marketing campaign. After all Bioware is trying to sell a game, not fight women's right.

What happened to these feminist involvement prior to and during the contest? They all had their chance....

[EmperorDalek]

If you don't like it, import your one from ME2 or create one.

[ChrisW]

That's not the point and of course I'm going to import my save file. The point is that this poll-dancer is supposed to represent FemShep.

[Urrakia34]

No, ultimately you get to choose who represents FemShep. I also don't really see how this rendition of FemShep resembles a "pole-dancer."

[starchild]

A woman having blonde hair doesn't mean she is a pole dancer. And in no other way does she resemble a pole dancer.

I think she is as good as the male version. Most people probably create their own character anyway.

[MidnytRain]

@starchild

Maybe it's the heavy make-up she appears to be wearing. I don't know - the combination of everything, including the messy, stringy-looking hair does kinda make her look like a pole dancer.

Come to think of it, most of them look like pole dancers, lol. Hmm... the Rihanna one seems to have wider hips than the rest...

[Xelestial]

The point of the entire article is how the world will perceive this FemShep and what that might mean for women. Whether BioWare likes it or not, this is an important step for women, especially for women who work in the games industry.

It doesn't matter that she is blonde, it matters that FemShep now has a stereotypical "standard of beauty" look even though she is not a stereotypical character, and the average person has certain connotations about stereotypes. It is unfortunate, but one must be aware of these connotations in order to understand how most people will perceive things.

As for myself, I customize my own character like most players, but we know who the world will think of when they think of FemShep, so it does matter to some of us.

[GrooveMachine]

GJ BIOWARE, Cos Im certain when everyone hears jennifer hale they think of barbie, should have let the female contingent of ME players choose what she looks like.

[ChrisW]

+Bubble!

For those who don't know what Jennifer Hale looks like, here's a link. BTW, she looks like she could kick that blonde FemShep's arse any day.

[Charmers]

Nope I don't think of "Barbie" when I hear Jennifer Hales voice. I think of my strong independent BLONDE femshep. I think it is great that No.5 is winning TO ME she is the closest match to how I would picture FemShep.

As for only letting the female contingent vote that is ridiculous. It might interest you to know that FemShep is played by quite a few MALE gamers too. The primary reason being a lot of guys get fed up with playing "generic space marine with a bald head" and of course Jennifer Hale's excellent voice work.

Not to mention that the winner of this contest will appear on the Collectors Edition. So even if you aren't a FemShep player you should have a say because she is going to be on YOUR Collector Edition box.

In short anyone that has an interest in the Mass Effect universe should vote. If that means your preferred choice loses then that is the way the cookie crumbles I am afraid.

[rick4691]

Another FemShep article. For god's sake guys get a life. Whats with the damn obssession with this?

[Xelestial]

I had an opinion and I get paid to write.

[nCiTy]

No big deal, Im sure everyones Shepard looks pretty different than the defaults.

[Pillville]

I can't read the article without hearing it in Neil Goldman's voice.

"FemSchep being blonde is shuch sha big thing to shome fansh"

[Solans Scott]

I fail to understand the fuss everyone is making about this situation. Bioware made held a contest so fans could determine what default Shepard looks like, and persons chose their favorite. My personal preference didn't win but I still have the option to import my character from ME2 or create a new one.

[Pozzle]

Eh. I don't know why they aren't just using the original default FemShep for the advertising campaign. She might have been "boring" according to Bioware, but she's the face everybody is used to, and her hair makes more sense than the new FemShep (new FemShep's long fringe makes no sense for a military woman to have).

I wonder if the original default FemShep would have won if she had been a part of the competition?

[Xelestial]

I believe they should have had one that looked like default Shepard, maybe give her a little more polishing but that was it. I also wish they had one based on Jennifer Hale.

[Phantom-Deutschland]

the person who wrote this is disappointment.
blonde femshep ftw!

[Xelestial]

Way to begin an intelligent debate on behalf of the fans of this Shepard.

[Phantom-Deutschland]

'an intelligent debate' here on n4g?
oh please XD

nice avatar by the way ;)

[NMC2007]

I was wondering why not make her look more like the voice actress, it would make more sense than what we got. Oh well, my voice doesn't matter since I am a 100% default male Shep player.

[Da_Evil_Monkey]

Seriously, people are still moaning about this? Create your own character! Do people really use the default Shepard? They are awful, at least the new FemShep looks better than the default male Shepard.

[palaeomerus]

Dumb article, dumb topic. This is 4chan /B psycho turf. get over it. Move on. This is as sad as the ruckus from the "I hate the new Cole because he has hair and looks happy" idiots.

[Tuxedo_Mask]

I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me, but I don't think either of the voice actors for Shepard were anything special. Maybe it's because they're Canadian so they don't know how to sound tough? Just kidding.

As for the choice of the new female Shepard, who cares? At least you had a say in what she looked like which is more than we can say for the default "Male Model Shepard" based on Mark Vanderloo. Would you have been more satisfied if they had picked a Victoria's Secret model?

If you wanted them to choose one of the other options you should have campaigned for them more. They all look the same to me except for the two who are obviously different. They're all wearing makeup too, which seems odd to me although again I don't really care.

If you really want to send a message to BioWare and the rest of the world about how tough "FemShep" is why don't you all dye your hair blonde to show solidarity with her rather than spend your time calling her names? I really don't think she cares either way though since she's a fictional character who, thanks to customization, has more faces than Simon Templar from The Saint.