Mass Effect Movie: Male or Female Shepard DISCUSS

[KitFox21187]

Well done, all points well considered and presented!

I have a female Shepard and I'm quite pleased with her, but I have made male Shepards too. I totally agree with you on the boring male interesting female aspects. Mark Meer is a good voice actor but really did nothing to make the male Shepard really stand out. Jennifer Hale however is just brilliant. Power, emphasis, emotion, she conveys it all and well. I don't think I made it past Eden Prime before I rerolled a female Shepard.

[greenlronmonkey]

well you can make it and use my ideas to do so

[simongenius1]

@greenlronmonkey I can't. I planned my femshep story as a quadrilogy. Character development carries over. You'd have to figure out how YOUR shepard change by the story of ME-O, ME1, ME2 and ME3.

[greenlronmonkey]

think you for your concern, he dose not hate earth but he dose hate how his life is, he dose meet ash,garrus and jacob . the femshep is evil and willing to kill anybody to get the job done.lastly she joins cerberus because she kill off shep's men in a black ops mission.

[simongenius1]

@greenlronmonkey wow that sounds cool, but i dont' know if it's going to work. How can I see it?

[lorthin123]

Actually I think I forgot to include different gender imports....

[lorthin123]

Where did you get these stats in the beginning? It didn't include how I have over 6 imports from ME1, that I played twice (renegade and paragon) each have different romances, then played each import 4 times, plus the defaults' too, in ME2.

[simongenius1]

@lorthin123 It's published by Bioware. I assume it's data collected over Cerberus network.

[lorthin123]

@simongenius1 Thanks I was just wondering (also can I inquire when these stats were made?). Well anyway to give my opinion, I loved playing as both, but I'd rather see a female play in the movie because it just seems the male sci-fi lead is overdone. But IF they do insist on having it as male I'm petitioning for Sam Worthington to play as Shepard.

[simongenius1]

@lorthin123 not too early and not too late is my initial impression. 1 yr after the game released? Who plays HIM doesn't matter right now, because mShepard's character doesn't develop at all in ME1 nor ME2 and so many people can depict a military hardass. Worthington just LOOKS more like the default shepard.

[lorthin123]

@simongenius1 I'm saying it to the contrary, I'm just giving my opinion on who should be actor if Shepard is chosen as a male in extension on my former opinion that FemShep should really be starred in the movie.

[greenlronmonkey]

yes you did, but male Shapard in my idea he is poor and living in the worst part in the city and seeing the army is the only way to get out of that life . as for femshep, her dad pay her way to the top class in army to be a officer .

[simongenius1]

@greenlronmonkey I like that idea! It's like the romantic setup for Titanic. My 3 concerns: 1) I like the fact that no one seen what Earth looks like till ME3. And if audience see your Shep hating Earth so much as a kid, it may ruin their emotions when "take Earth back". 2) How will you distinguish Femshep and Ashley's character? why waste time introduce a new character? why not combine them into one? 3) What happens to Femshep? Why she isn't in ME1-ME3?

[greenlronmonkey]

keep the male Shapard in the movie , but have him meet a female in the army who is just like him , but she is the renenegade to his paragon to the story and his first love in his life.

[simongenius1]

@greenlronmonkey I did that in my origin story (starring both male and female Shepard), except femshep is the star.

[Sumgui2009]

Female. Female soldier are hot.

[anime691]

FemShep all the way and im a dude,the movie and gaming industries are just to full of male protagonists.

[droid521]

they already said hes a default male

[Zada2011]

I'd vote for a female shepard, if well written she could really take a movie to the next level. I like to point out that we can't really make a voice acting argument with manshep or femshep, remember this role is not going to be filled by the voice actor (most likely) so the way they portray lines will not be the same. There is not real difference between male or female except for generic vs risky.

[Atchuu2004]

I vote Kate Upton. That is all.

[shockmatter]

I support Male Shep in a movie. Much like many others I've played through ME1 and 2 as both female and male and I preferred Male Shep more than Fem Shep. When the idea of a battle-hardened, war-torn soldier comes to mind my first reaction is male. No sexism intended. If you were to think of a soldier would your first image be female? It may or may not be but the iconic soldier In today's modern society is a male. I feel a male Shep would be much easier to relate to

[simongenius1]

@shockmatter the reason you think that "battle-hardened, war-torn soldier" can only be ma|e is because EVERY movie/game have told you that. Hence, it's relatable and safe, but also cliched. If you are happy for an average movie, I can see why one would support mShepard. However, if you want to create something cool and new in 2010s, you probably need to take a risk with Femshep.

[shockmatter]

@simongenius1 I still think a male Shep would be better suited for the role, despite influential media. Although it is a movie we're talking about. Perhaps FemShep would deliver better

[iwillfollow24]

i agree with shockmatter and really making more money will be a male shep since he appeals to more gamers and auidence. good vid though

[simongenius1]

@iwillfollow24 I may be just making it up, but my understanding is that a Summer Blockbuster (eg. Transformers, The Avenger) actually has a lot of female and non-comic/gamer audience. If the Mass Effect movie only caters for male gamers, it would miss out on a lot of potential audience. Scenario: 10 blockbuster with male leads and only 1 with female lead. If a girl was to see one of them with her bf, which one would she pick?

[Sumgui2009]

@shockmatter Yeah, my first image would be a female. A redheaded female with bright green eyes. That's my Shepard, and she is the most awesome soldier ever.

[pokenub1000]

I think a male Shepard would be better, not that I'm sexist, but I played several playthroughs of both mass effect 1 and 2, I tried both fem and male Shepard, and male Shepard definitely felt more natural, especially with the voice acting

And if they make femshep movie, there had better be some Garrus romance

[shockmatter]

@pokenub1000 agreed

[ryspett]

Isn't the canon Shepard male?

[SmileLikeStudios]

I really don't need a Mass Effect movie, whatever you do: a lot of people will hate it. I would like a miniseries (I'm thinking the format of Band of Brothers: to be taken seriously and made by people who know what they're doing) about the backstories of important characters.

You could do a story about Mordin's mission on Tuchanka (following the script the Shadow Broker has in his base), about Garrus's team on Omega, Thane hunting down the killers of his wife, Jack escaping from Pragia...

[thezurator]

Male shep; why? Because he is the main character, femshep seems more like, how do i put is.. an addition, not the main thing.

[PopeOwned]

@thezurator Male Shepard is not the main character. Shepard is a customizable character that has been portrayed as a man through marketing because of the large amount of men who play games. Shepard can be Male or Female, so your reasoning actually doesn't make sense.

Female Shepard is a better choice: Different, interesting if done right & as he said, it's something that is rarely seen in movies especially Sci-Fi.

[simongenius1]

@PopeOwned I'm definite|y for a femshep movie, but I actua||y think Bioware wrote the script with a Ma|e Shepard in mind. Femshep is as thezurator said... "an addition", because it's an RPG hence customisab|e gender. HOwever, Ha|e did an incredib|e job and the fact that Femshep say everything and does everything exact|y the same as mShep made Femshep RIDICU|OUS|Y interesting and more important|y be|ievab|e.

[thezurator]

@PopeOwned Yes, good point, but to proove my point (correct me if I am mistaken) I will look at official game avatars. There is almost every single ally in there, shepard, but no femshep... Does that mean that they did in fact focus on male shepard as the main character?

PS: If I am mistaken just say it, no need to flame, say "u are sooo stoopid" etc.

[simongenius1]

@thezurator whatever they put on the poster is a marketing choice. Stats show 80% played as mShepard in ME2, but the 20% absolutely loves femshep. So for ME3, they are doing marketing for both male shep and femshep for the very first time. Bioware said that they have no canon so both genders are valid. I'm just talking about the potentials and the repercussions of doing a femshep movie. Marketing would definitely play a huge role in the decision making.

[MARTlANxMADNESS]

@PopeOwned Revan could be a male or female in Kotor but he was canonically a male. The exile could be a male or female but in canon she was a woman. The hero of ferelden could be a female or male but canonically is male(depends on which ending you had or took but the default ending is male) same with Shep he's advertised as a male then he is a male. End of discussion. It doesn't matter what is more interesting

canon is canon.

[simongenius1]

@MARTlANxMADNESS Bioware came out and said that Mass Effect doesn't have a canon storyline for Mass Effect. It's whatever the player choose.

The best adaptations takes liberty from the original lore - retaining the essence of it so it feels familiar, but it's different. See my Shepard origin story or wait for my Mass Effect 1 adaptation. So many things will be different, but the movie will be better for it.

[MARTlANxMADNESS]

@simongenius1 No. Fem Shep is nothing but a mary sue idea. Not only will there probably never be a Mass effect movie.(because high budget video game movies usually under perform, i'm looking at you Prince of Persia) But it wouldn't benefit from having a female protagonist because the larger demographic has already spoken as it pertains to that. Yeah it's "new" but it doesn't make it good.

[MARTlANxMADNESS]

@PopeOwned BUT! i will say this if there is one argument that can be made on Fem Sheps behave is that they never reveal Shepards gender in the comics when referring to him/her. But still Shep is Male as it pertains to literally EVERYTHING else

[chaoss610]

I chose FemShep cause I just didn't want to look at a man's ass for a 20+ hr playthrough.

[Puglord99]

I think a Male shepherd would fit the bill the most. With all the trailers, MOST of the gameplay and all the other things it shows him as a male. Sure, it would be cool for a large female role, but NOT for shepherd.

[trollsarevirgins]

Wow! Well- thought out reasoning- so very very rare on YouTube! Rare offline too, to be honest. I am impressed.

I chose FemShep for the same reasons as you feel the movie would be better (if done well) with a female lead. We've already seen the "Gruff, irresistible space man whose orders everyone obeys and who everyone wants to sleep with and who enjoys sex without love". But a FEMALE? Now that intrigues me! I have played through ME1 and ME2 as male too, but "my" canon Shep is a FemShep.

[simongenius1]

@trollsarevirgins You know what's even rarer than "thought out reasoning"? Actually publishing a script for Femshep's origin story AND it's in visual/audio format on my channel!!! People say it's good so far (part 8/10). Check it out if you have time.

[WolfRydella75]

@trollsarevirgins I. Love. you.

[trollsarevirgins]

@WolfRydella75 *blushes*

[Gogetahan]

its sounds like you really hate Male Shepard :P your opinion and thats great like you said at the beging of video. But me I don't no to me I just don't want a female Shepard movie because I would get the feeling it would be like the Resident Evil Movies and it would not be tooken seriously. I'm not trying to be sexest or anything but I think the Male Shepard would be better and get Chris Evans to play him if you seen him in Sunshine then you no he would fit the part as Shepard. My opninon :P

[simongenius1]

@Gogetahan I LOVE the movie Sunshine!!!! and I know exactly what you been about being like Resident evil. This is why you should check out the FemShep Origin story i have posted up. It EVEN mentions my desire to stay away from Resident Evil, Underworld and Tomb Raider. Please make your comment there and we shall discuss again. PS. I hate mShepard, because i wrote my story for femshep and I can imagine how the gender switch can ruin my story.

[kalars88]

I've always played as FemShep, but I am not expecting them to use a woman as Shepard in the Mass Effect movie. It would be nice, though.

[dh599]

Male Shepard is on the front of all the game covers the defult male is basicly the trade mark... just putting it out there

[simongenius1]

@dh599 Everyone knows that. Bioware said they don't have a "canon" shepard. I actually think the core script of ME is written with a mShepard in mind (e.g. rescue a hot blue alien who you can romance and use seduction to lure out Morinth) and that's why they used mShep in marketing. Femshep is also a 2ndary add-on to the script. However, I don't think even Bioware expected Femshep to be so popular for those who played as her. Feedback is feedback. This is a rare opportunity for Bioware.

[anagron63]

@simongenius1 Fem shep should be the MC of the movie (no shit), but the movie should be fully animated (like Beowulf or Tin tins adventures).

Other than that it shouldn't even be 1 movie but maybe 4-5 cause the universe is just that big.

Plus i think femShep should be a redhead like she is in ME1 (default, but with some updates) and she doesn't need to be this ultra skinny bitch with huge boobs, how would she shoot the gun if she's not powerful enough?!

Directors: P.Jackson, S.Spielberg or J.Cam

[simongenius1]

@anagron63 Check out the script I wrote for it. It's in the form of a video on my channel. People seems to think I'm going good so far.

[anagron63]

@simongenius1 Can't check it now, I'm @ work but i'll check it later today.

Kinda pointless post...:|

[dontmesswiththeooray]

@dh599 While it is true that the male Shepard is the default and the one person that everyone sees and goes "Oh, That's Shepard." It really depends on the actor that they cast for Shepard. There are those who preferred Hale's Female Shepard in the game if only just because they believed that Hale did more with the character, while others claimed that Meer sounded like he was just reading words off of a page. But either way that they decide, there will always be people who wanted the other gender

[mugenrider754]

male is canon, so.. why nor male?

[dontmesswiththeooray]

@mugenrider754 because people love the game because they have a choice of being male or female, and 90% of the fan's favorite things about the game would be different or eliminated if you changed Shepard's gender

[SexiTRfan]

@mugenrider754 Femshep's getting a trailer and will be on one side of the Collector's Edition box.

[fen94]

movies based on video games are usually horrible anyway, im probably not gonna watch the movie regardless of shepard's gender

[predatorvmt]

I think in order to not upset male or female fans, Shepard should be HERMAPHRODITE!!!!!!

I play game because i want to decide the story myself, make my own ending, not to be scripted by director.

As the games made based on movie are horrible, movies based on games can't have a happy sale.

For or a storyline-fixed game like resident evil, the movies weren't welcomed. How can you expect from a multiple-route game like ME can be successfully convert into movies?

[simongenius1]

@predatorvmt I touched this issue in my first episode "should there be a ME movie". Basically, multiple storyline of game > one storyline of movie. 100% with you there. But any branch of the ME story is good enough as a movie for the general audience. i.e. the thing about Reaper trying to kill everyone. May not be good enough for a gamer since he/she has the choice of multiple stories. But the whole point of a movie is broaden the franchise to general public. check out ep1.

[predatorvmt]

@simongenius1 i come to this vid through the link on "should there be a ME movie".

Still "Shepard should be HERMAPHRODITE!!!!!!" would be even more unique than female Shepard if they chose 2nd direction.

[simongenius1]

@predatorvmt maybe too unique... but the term encompass the spectrum from both 46 XY phenotypic female (male gene but looks like woman) or 46 XX phenotype male (female gene but looks like man). Most likely, shepard will be infertile and have an unambiguous genitalia. Which actor/actress going to play this character?

[predatorvmt]

@simongenius1 I really don't know who should play this character. But that's the exciting part lies. You probably less likely to watch the movie when you already know and be familiar with everything happen in the film. I will eagerly wait to see who will play the role or how they explain how come Shepard is a hermaphrodite, how other character interact with him IF there is a movie.

I think you would understand what i mean because you make Blonde Shepard.

[StelaPop]

I believe having a male Sheppard will be better received not because it's the safe choice but because there is a need for balance. In the ME universe there are many jaw dropping female characters and having a female Sheppard would not allow her to stand out among the crowd of gorgeous women. I feel that in order to have a well balanced ME film, we need a male Sheppard to stand out and and take charge because there are already a plethora or very strong female characters in the ME universe!!!!!!

[simongenius1]

@StelaPop VERY good point. I agree with you. To address this problem, I'd have an origin story with only 1 other female character, kill Ashley in ME1, no union with Tali in ME2 (delay till ME3), Kasumi and Samara become minor characters who most likely die, and of course, no one in the galaxy can have Shep's hair color. This way ME3 will feature only Shep, Miranda, Jack, Liara and Tali. Maybe... the only way for a strong female leader to work is surround her with other strong females.

[glowyrm]

They should make 4 versions of the movie. A female, male, paragon, and renegade version.

When you go to the movie theater you order the ticket for whichever version you want to see.

Couldn't possibly cost the production studio THAT much money...right??!!?!

[simongenius1]

@glowyrm actually, i think only 2 versions exist. A male shepard will naturally drift more renegade (with heart of gold), because the only all paragon heroes that exist are Spiderman and Cap America - both have a "weakling" phase in their origin. mShep won't have that. Female Shepard will be more paragon (otherwise she's totally unlikable bitch) but she has a wild side. i.e. they are opposite. mshep = badass, but sometimes nice. fshep = nice, but sometimes naughty.

[SternMann93]

Katee Sackhoff as Shepard... yes, I could see that. In the movie BSG: Razor she was awesome as a marine in the force that boarded the Cylon basestar.

[oakfire12]

Sheppard is named sheppard because the play guides its party in battle. Sheppard is also meant to represent humanity in the galaxy. Both a Male or Female could do that role in the movie. I would probably say that if a STRONG female lead was to play Sheppard in the movie it could work and be very original. however it would be better for a male if a Strong female lead was not found

[01101111omg]

im content with sheploo

[xRaetastic]

I agree that the ME movie would be so much more memorable with a female Shepard rather than yet another bland macho man with a buzzcut. And it's ridiculous that they're making Shepard male right off the bat. The quality of the acting is what should matter, not gender. Can't they consider both men and women for the role, and ultimately cast the actress or actor who fits best? The game doesn't discriminate, why does the movie?

Unfortunately, I have a feeling cliche is the goal here, not quality.

[davidyang98]

WE NEED MILLA JOVOVICH AS COMMANDER SHEPARD!!!!!!!

[PamBamm]

why the hell do you speak for all fans? I'm a fan and I'd like to see mShepard

[simongenius1]

@PamBamm I'm not speaking for the fans. If anything, I'm speaking for the people who are not fans and don't know what is a Commander Shepard is. My opinion is that i think they would appreciate femshep more than mShepard.

[PamBamm]

@simongenius1 you speak for yourself and that's all. you have no right to represent these stupid arguable statements like it's true. if you can't imagine all psychologic and dramatic tension that man Shepard has it's your omission. there are a lot, I mean fuckin many movies concentrating on women (check out the Hours and all Tarantino's films) and you know what? femShep will be looking boring as hell comparing to that characters. btw you compared Hitman and Nico Bellic. serious?

[simongenius1]

@PamBamm I'm speaking for myself and possibly other femshep supporters. I represent my view just as you can represent yours in your own youtube video. Not saying mShepard has no dramatic tension, just seen it before. No saying there aren't movies with women in them (there are pornos). Saying a lack of in the sci-fi lead woman subgenre. Never played Hitman and hence from an outsider perspective, he shares similar features as Niko. I like Niko, but I don't want him in every film/game.

[PamBamm]

@simongenius1 I could write an essay "differences between Nico and Hitman" but in two words - Nico feels guilty, Hitman doesn't. that's the point. you're making things simple. You compare Shepard to Bruce Willis showing us picture of Hitman that you didn't even play.

[glowyrm]

@PamBamm

WTF are you talking about? Did you even listen to the video? What is your point?

[nasgoxo]

I play a female shepard, and it would be great see a female hero, we have to many heroes, we need a good heroine with her horse-- I mean ship Normandy

[CroGamer002]

That is a good argument.

But I would rather NOT to have Shepard in movie at all.

Mass Effect universe is too rich just to be wasted on 1 character.

[321Royal]

I agree with your reasoning for choosing female Shepard. Yes, Bioware can make a convincing female character and a good director can but it on screen...but sadly there aren't a lot of actors who can perform convincingly as Commander Shepard, look like a Commander AND have some sort of sex appeal all at the same time. While there are plenty of male actors who can.

While the FemShep in theory is probably better, we don't have a lot of female actors that can do it convincingly

[Gormagongirl]

it has to be female i love Mass Effect i think it would be better wiht a girl decause it be more fun. it alway a due and that ok but having a hot but bad ass girl would make it funny decause of what u get to say in the game, so having a girl make all thou sarcastic comments and beat up all men that she does like. it be a change to have a girl and not a due

[hinbow]

I don't care if it's male or female (i'd prefer male) as long as it's good, but i'm curious of the choices the movie will go with like paragon or renegade, save the council or kill them? or will it be a prequel? I hope it's not a prequel because i want to see Garrus and Tali in the movie.

[PosingAdrianIPL]

im a big fan of mass effect.. but im affraid that the mass effect film will really suck cuz there are too many decisions to make.. for example if i save the council and in the film sheppard wont save it... it will really suck and again with other decisions.... the time will show if the film will be good or not ;/

[hardjunglegabba]

Sackoff as femshep oh yes, Im for that.

[cisme113]

the funniest part is that the engineer is OP as shit

[drewgarcia117]

@simongenius1 who knows vote might not work because of the bias but there are people who played as male shep but would like to see femshep so it could balance to 50/50 or it could just stay at about 80/20 or they could decide to make an animation movie instead of real life actors because then they could have the standard femshep or maleshep and they could just hire the voices of the characters

[drewgarcia117]

@simongenius1 i agree a femshep could end up being better then a male Shepard but women are more critically judged then men so it may be much harder to find the perfect femshep unless they actually put out a real vote where people vote fore maleshep or femshep and then an actor for the role

[simongenius1]

@drewgarcia117 Vote won't work due to 80%:20% selection bias. Bioware needs to make the decision alone. It's so true that woman will always be judged more harshly, but Mass Effect is so rare in that Bioware literally has feedback of what people thought of femshelp. Most other people have to do the gender switch completely BLIND.

[drewgarcia117]

Male would be better because then they wouldnt have to worry about upset fans and plus every ad is standard male shepard so it would work more for people who saw commercials for the game but never played it and there are more good male actors for action then females

[simongenius1]

@drewgarcia117 Great points. I still reckon femshep movie will be better if done right.

[michaell8000]

i think the main thing is that we need to avoid live act just because sci fi games never go well like that also whats stoping a entirely diferent charicter from being a lead

[Terrorkekx]

Like Simon says.....fem shepard is a risk.....but a starkbuck like one would be perfect...as a male a male shepard wouldn´t be that bad.....its canon and I have nothing against it.

[SumJ23]

Female. A bad ass, funny, main character fem is needed. who's best than femshep

however, i would prefer the game to remain as a game, it would change completely the reason of playing as sheppard and making your decisions and suffering the consequences.

but...what the hell. Jason Stackhouse (hothothothothothothothotbadas­s), bradley cooper (i think he can pull it off ) or mark meer for male. and jennifer hale ( badass voice ) or jessica bueno or naoomi rapace

[udaho456]

Like I said on the other video, I would prefer a female Shepard-for pretty much every reason that you stated-but I think the company will probably take the safe route and stick to a male. Oh well.

[KevinLuhrs]

Male, seriously, they use a male shepard in every single ad and they probably will be using him in the movie.

Plus he looks like a bad ass/hero, Femshep just doesn't fill that role!

[PantsheadMD]

I think the main reason I'd prefer a female Shepard is BECAUSE I played as a male Shepard. It would be a refreshing change from the normalcy I get from playing the game, and it would intrude less on the connections I have with the character because it would be an entirely new Shepard.

[simongenius1]

@PantsheadMD I knew people like you existed. Yay!

[nejiharuno]

@PantsheadMD But... I play both male and female Shepard so that wouldn't really work on me. Though the movie itself would be its own Shepard, just that (hopefully) make his/her own decisions that isn't in the game, and make it reasonable too (while being awesome, though that part will be hard).

[emozombe]

femshep FTW

[94SideKick]

I'd like to see a female, but it's probably going to be male.

[kevynspeed]

FemShep FTW