The Evolution Of 'Mass Effect' In Meme Culture

In May, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the highly anticipated remaster of the original Mass Effect trilogy, was released across consoles to give fans a new way to revisit the series in its entirety with a fresh coat of paint and some welcome tweaks. Considering the first Mass Effect game came out back in 2007, it was about time the series saw a rerelease, and so far the reception has been extremely warm, with many even calling Legendary Edition the ultimate way to experience the trilogy. It's also the ultimate way to re-experience some of the most classic memes from the game.

With over a decade’s worth of games under its belt, the Mass Effect series has experienced a rich meme life across the web, resulting in tons of niche and well-known formats, as well as viral one-off hits. In honor of Legendary Edition's release, we've collected some of the biggest meme formats related to the Mass Effect trilogy in rough chronological order by their first comedically intended upload to help Mass Effect fans and newcomers alike re-experience the best memes in glorious, remastered HD. This only includes meme formats, which is liberally defined in this piece as any meme that has inspired more than one variant.

Mass Effect (November 20th, 2007)

Ass Effect (November 2007)

The first entry in this list is Ass Effect, a series of comics from Something Awful artist Dennis Farrell parodying Mass Effect, particularly the choices you can make in the game. While this isn't technically a meme itself, these are some of the earliest pieces of comedy referencing the game as well as some of the most high-quality ones. Plus, the term "ass effect" is somewhat of a meme, appearing in tons of parody art and memes about the game as the most obvious pun of the game's name.

There were two sets of Ass Effect comics released in November and December 2007, and they act as something of a starting point for the ME memes to come. If you've never read these underrated classics, do yourself a favor.

Shepard Punch / I’ve Had Enough Of Your Snide Insinuations (January 8th, 2008)

Mass Effect was released in November 2007, and it only took a short two months for memers to sink their claws into it. The earliest meme of the franchise appears to be “Shepard Punch,” an edit of an iconic scene from the game. At some point in every Mass Effect game, your character, Shepard, is harassed by a journalist. If you wish, you can punch that journalist straight in the face rather than talk. It's kind of the best.

Understandably, each of these scenes has become a classic because of how unhinged the choice is, and fans started memeing it on YouTube as early as January 2008. The first edit was uploaded by NightsShad0w, and simply adds Captain Falcon's "Falcon Punch!" sound effect to the scene to great effect.

Many first-time ME players likely didn't get to see the punching scene as they were trying to do a "good" playthrough, offering a potential reason why this clip became so popular. It's also just great seeing the hero of the galaxy punch a poor journalist in the face. Since then, the scene (and its subsequent versions in other games) has been referenced in countless video edits and memes, remaining one of the most famous from the series. More evil choices in the Mass Effect series would become the subject of memes in the following years, as we'll see shortly.

Wrex. Shepard. (June 2008)

“Wrex. Shepard,” refers to a viral video first uploaded to YouTube by Linguica in June 2008. It shows the player continually talking to Wrex and then backing out of the dialogue, resulting in a back-and-forth of “Wrex,” “Shepard,” ad-nauseum.

The original upload has gained over 500,000 views in 13 years and inspired another version in 2013 when Mass Effect 3 came out, as well as a number of image macros and pieces of fan art referencing it. It's simple, but it's a classic that's still referenced in memes today, and contains a few staples that carried into future ME memes, such as its basis in the game's dialogue and interactions.

Shepard Dancing (July 2008)

The first year of Mass Effect memes are all very Shepard based (as opposed to Shepard cringe), making the dancing scene at Flux night club a no-brainer as far as memeable moments go. From the banging techno music to the hilarious dance moves (as the description of the original uploader’s video reads: “I guess saving the Galaxy doesn't mean you have to have hot moves”) this one has been a consistent subject of jokes that hasn’t died since the game first came out, and even saw a revival a few years later with the release of Mass Effect 2.

One of the most well-known stabs at the Mass Effect dance is a 2008 upload by IGN called “Mass Effect Dance Party,” a meme that reeks of digital dust and features IGN’s Nate Ahearn dancing like Shepard around the office. It’s a relic of its time, but absolutely worth the watch. It kind of helps you grasp just how big a deal Mass Effect was at the time, and how powerful its memes were.

Understandably, future Mass Effect games have also featured dancing scenes, something that the developers should be praised for. Bioware was clearly paying attention to online discourse surrounding the game, and they knew what the fans would want out of the next game all the way down to the memes.

Big Stupid Jellyfish (December 2008)

"Big Stupid Jellyfish" is an insult hurled at a species of religious aliens called the Hanar that, admittedly, do look like big, stupid jellyfish. The first uploaded video showcasing the scene consists of a simple edit adding some text and effects to it, meant to highlight the phrase. It only gained about 90,000 views in over a decade, but kicked things off for the meme.

From there, the phrase spread naturally over the course of the next two years. It's inspired fan art, numerous edited uploads of the scene, and even a remix that showcases some of the memes based on it (shown below). Again, this one is based on one of the more "evil" Shepard choices in the game that a large section of players probably don't get to see, and puts Shepard in a very unheroic light, possibly aiding to its virality.

There's something about seeing Shepard, the hero of the galaxy, in compromising or less-than-ideal situations that makes for great memes, and this is illustrated in nearly every meme from the first entry in the series. This notion carried on throughout each entry's memes, constantly expanded on by fans of the series.

Mass Effect 2 (January 26th, 2010)

Sir Isaac Newton Is The Deadliest Son Of A Bitch In Space (January 2010)

By the time Mass Effect 2 came out, hype for the series was at an all-time high and the meme scene was really exploding. This lead to a lot more niche memes and formats, a lot of which cropped up around the same time. One of the earliest and most relevant of these, however, is undoubtedly “Sir Isaac Newton Is The Deadliest Son Of A Bitch In Space.”

This meme is a quote from Mass Effect 2 spoken by an army sergeant to his troops in order to let them know that if you fire a "20-kilo ferrous slug" in space, a bullet with three times the yield of the city buster dropped on Hiroshima, that bullet will just keep on going until it hits something and ruins its day, apparently making Isaac Newton the deadliest son of a bitch in space. The logistics of the speech itself are questionable, but the comedy is not. The scene was first uploaded to YouTube in January 2010, and soon became one of the most well-known in the series. The joke has even seen a bit of a revival since the release of the remastered games, with a number of new variants appearing in recent months as new players hear it for the first time.

I’m Commander Shepard (February 2010)

I’m Commander Shepard is likely the most well-known Mass Effect meme out there. This Advice Animal format is derived from a quote in Mass Effect 2 spoken by Shepard when endorsing a shop for a discount. In the game, you can endorse multiple stores, resulting in the quote, "I'm Commander Shepard, and This Is My Favorite Store on the Citadel" echoing in every shop you visit.

The quote quickly became a favorite for its malleability as users began changing its context as a snowclone to fit different situations. This one really goes without explanation, and if you’re a Mass Effect fan you’ve likely seen it more than enough times, but here's some examples for nostalgia's sake. In a way, this is the first Mass Effect meme to really break into the "mainstream" so-to-say, and find some life outside of the most hardcore Mass Effect fans, making it a very important entry in the history of the game's memes.

Ah, Yes, Reapers (February 2010)

Ah, Yes, Reapers popped up around the same time as "I'm Commander Shepard." The meme is based on a scene where a Turian council member uses air-quotes and says the phrase, "Ah, Yes, Reapers," doubting the Reapers' existence once more, a running theme throughout the series. The earliest meme of the scene sees it intercut with images of Reapers closing in for the attack, really highlighting how annoying the council becomes about the problem (shown below).

The sarcasm emanating from this scene struck a chord with memers, resulting in numerous memes and pieces of fan labor referencing it over the following months and years, including a Deviant Art image as early as February 2010 (shown below). This one is a meme for the fans, and only fully works if you understand the council's doubt of Reapers throughout the series and how much trouble it results in. Again, it's a meme based on dialogue from the series, following the most common thread in this list. At this point, players had become highly invested in the characters and plot of the series. They could feel the pain Shepard could when yet another councillor doubted the Reapers' existence, and this meme is the result of tat pain.

Assuming Control (May 2010)

The origins of the Assuming Control meme are a bit hazy, but this one is said to have started on 4chan's /v/ board sometime around May 2010. This format sees the phrase "assuming control" or "assuming direct control," used by the game's villainous Harbinger species when it takes control of other beings.

People started using the phrase to interrupt themselves during online discourse as if being taken over by a Harbinger around May 2010. It was also attached to numerous image macros, many featuring cats with glowing eyes for whatever reason. This one is some good, silly fun, and another meme derived from the game's dialogue and writing. It's a bit of a deep cut, but it made a pretty big impact while it was around.

Wanna Dance? (June 2011)

In 2011, Shepard's dancing came back into the limelight with the Wanna Dance? trend, combining ME with Team Fortress 2 and Garry's Mod to see new characters dance to the nightclub track from Mass Effect 2.

"Wanna Dance" is a logical extension of ME's dancing meme, applying newer meme techniques and more skilled editing to an old format to revive it for new players and nostalgic memers alike. These are definitely some of the highest quality Mass Effect memes, and still hold up today. With the release of Legendary Edition, it's likely only a matter of time before the song takes off on TikTok, so get hyped for that.

I'm in the Middle of Some Calibrations (July 2011)

Around July 2011, I'm in the Middle of Some Calibrations became a hugely popular phrase from ME2 spoken by the character Garrus. It became somewhat of a catchphrase for the character thanks to fans, who began imagining different scenarios in which Garrus might say it via memes and art, many using the phrase as the character's ultimate excuse.

Garrus became a fan-favorite character to a similar degree as Shepard over the years, becoming the subject of tons of fan art and memes. It only made sense to give him his own meme, and it's a pretty memorable one, too.

Mass Effect 3 (March 6th, 2012)

We'll Bang, Ok? (March 2012)

Okay, if "I'm Commander Shepard" isn't the biggest meme in ME history, it has to be We'll Bang, Ok? This format comes from a 2012 Gamer Poop video (a series that Mass Effect was massively popular in) that's edited to make Shepard say, "We'll bang, ok?" to a female reporter.

This one went mega-viral and was applied to every meme format imaginable, from image macros to video edits and beyond. Again, this one is focused on Shepard, and the comedy comes from putting words that are decidedly unheroic in the mouth of the galaxy's hero. The incredible voice work of Mark Meer, Shepards voice actor, also plays a huge part here.

Meer has notably played into the meme over the years, and is apparently asked to quote it any time he does meetups. Like a legend, he often obliges, resulting in fantastic videos like this. Now that's meme magic, folks.

Ending Criticism (March 2012)

Unfortunately, Mass Effect 3 didn't have quite as exciting a meme life as the previous two games. This is mostly due to the criticism over the endings of the game, which became something of the defining meme for it. Basically, without spoiling too much, players were left extremely unhappy with the possible endings presented in the game. This left many feeling betrayed by the series they'd sunk so many hours into, feeling like their choices throughout ultimately didn't matter. This also meant lots of online criticism and memes hurled at the game's developers.

The developers tried to solve this issue through DLC, but every effort they made was criticized. The ME3 ending drama ended up being one of the most talked-about stories in gaming that year, and completely drowned out most other memes that cropped up or might have cropped up from the game. Of course, that's not to say there weren't some pretty good memes that came from the drama.

Marauder Shields (March 2012)

Marauder Shields is a meme that came as a result of the ending criticism for ME3. Marauder Shields is a colloquial name given to the last enemy you face in ME3 before reaching the terrible ending. Because of this, people started joking about Shields being something of a martyr, trying to save the player from disappointment.

This meme screams of fans trying to cope with the bad endings, and it's one of the funnier ones from ME3 because of it. It goes to show, however, how the game became so marred by criticism that its thriving meme community all but stopped making new formats related to the actual game-to-game moments. There were undoubtable some good one-offs and smaller formats, but many memeable scenes were definitely overlooked as players could only focus on the ending, leading to an ultimately disappointing cropping of memes from the third entry in the series.

The Evolution of Mass Effect Memes

Following Mass Effect 3 was the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, which unfortunately wasn't received quite as well as the original trilogy when it came out. It resulted in memes, but most of these were critical, accusing the game of making its females ugly on purpose as part of some feminist conspiracy theory, and bashing its bugs every which way they could. There was too much incentive to hate on the game after the massive blow-up over the ME3 endings, and admittedly, it did have a fair share of issues at launch. Not all criticism was unfounded. Unfortunately, the criticism somewhat tainted the game's meme community forever and greatly slowed the spread of new, banger Mass Effect formats in favor of critical Mass Effect formats.

There are many more niche formats from the series that haven't quite excelled to the heights they should, but now they have another chance. Here's hoping that with the release of Legendary Edition players will be able to forget the series' shortcomings and come up with some great new meme formats that they missed before, as well as continue to remake the classics for the new age of Mass Effect players.

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