Canadian Delicacy - The Kaidan Alenko Thread

I didn't even think about this when I played through for the first time. I tried to make a custom Shepard but couldn't come up with anything that I liked better than default, so I just went full default and kept the name as well. That ended working out the best for me. Now I can insert my John in all the the gorgeous mShenko fanart (except the renegade stuff sadly). It has really helped me come to terms with the trilogy ending. I can still see my guys in new content thanks to all the wonderful artists that dedicate their time and skills to this community. I can't express how much their work means to me.

I wish I could say the same about fanfiction, but it's so much harder to insert my guys into those. It's difficult enough to find one with a John who is an Earthborn/War Hero/Adept/Paragon who romanced Kaidan and chose the high EMS destroy ending, it's next to impossible to find one that has deviated in my decision making at all and has the personality traits I see my John having. The only one that could write John the way I would would want to see him portrayed is me.


For similar reasons, it's very difficult for me to find songs that reflect how I interpret my guys. Listening to Drake repeat the lyric "You're a good girl and you know it" doesn't really scream mShenko to me. 

But the good news is I actually like #13 for John and Kaidan. Finding even just one song I like makes listening to the whole playlist worth it. 

Well, we like what we like. Then again, when you rarely see something you relate to in this type of genre, you hold on tight to it. In any case, I don't find this guy generic:

Default male Shepard is amazing-and the CC is bad-like real real bad. You can make a Shepard that looks okay...but not nearly as good as default-maybe if you mod the cc (which I doubt I'd do cause I tend to prefer a less is more approach to mods). So 9 times out of 10 I'll play as default. I will try to make a custom on that other 1 out of 10 times though-and I generally regret it.  (random guesses on those numbers...lalala)

Sounds like a comment only a whiner would make, right? Oh, wait...

Definitely Shep's daughter.

Don't Leave Me Behind!

Because forums allowed more longer discussions in safety with like-minded folks and we have dmc1001 to keep mShenko lovin' going on. lol

I enjoyed talking about Kaidan from time to time because there's so many aspects of his characterization that was interesting to explore in depth. Its fun to do character analysis on him and every time I discovered how well written he was. Kaidan is possibly the first video game character who made me appreciate the subtleties of mature masculinity; I find this to be very attractive and frankly, rarely appreciated and should be celebrated.

Older Kaidan threads used to be sleepy, since its not the first time Bioware shut down the forums. But the entire time I was there, I never encounter much anti-Kaidan; especially not on daily basis. But most of the general hate for Kaidan seem to be most directed toward fShenko pairing than mShenko (being accused of homophobic is a deterrent enough, I guess.) It does play with the fandom's ownership that FemShep can never be with anyone else except Liara OR Garrus; (and occasionally maybe Thane or Traynor)

But this is more to do with communal hatred. It just feels good to be united in blind hatred with everyone who hate the same thing that was seen as socially acceptable. For them, its justified. This sort of mob mentality sadly have many real applications.

The best thing we could do to combat all these hate is to keep on loving. Kaidanmancers community isn't a cult. We're free to love what we love. And no amount of their incessant hate and shaming would change that.

and since the topic is always frustrating.. here's my in-game fShenko NSFW.