Kaidan Alenko, Mass Effect Trilogy

Realizing I was gay thanks to Mass Effect was a process of elimination. The original game, stuck in its very heteronormative ways that BioWare tried to justify, only had two love interests for male Commander Shepard. Ashley Williams, the space racist whomst loved the lord, and Liara, the naive and perhaps obsessive scientist. I played that first game so many times before Mass Effect 2 launched, and as I sorted through what my canon playthrough would be to transfer to the next game, and while I did the space war crimes and the politicking, deciding who my Shepard’s love interest would be was a separate issue.

Eventually, when you realize you are not interested in the ladies in the room, your brain does the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World gag of switching a flip in your brain and getting it. Then, I started looking at Kaidan Alenko, and while my Shepard and Kaidan wouldn’t be allowed to enter a romantic relationship until Mass Effect 3, you bet your ass I played every moment of the first two games with that framing in mind.

My Shepard was a hardened renegade with a soft spot for the soft-spoken, sensitive soul of the Normandy, who is also ripped and has a tragic, tortured backstory but overcame it. I love an “I can fix him” story, but it’s nice to have a guy who fixed himself. Now I’m the problem in the relationship, and I think that’s beautiful. — Kenneth Shepard, staff writer