"Humanity is Special" Trope

Well, humanity pretty much bagsied Meridian when we crash landed the Hyperion on it...

I can see a device in future games for you to play as something other than a human. Especially if the next game jumps ahead 100 years, but for me I have no issue with this. Playing from the human perspective makes sense, and creates a connection that makes sense.

I actually enjoyed the Asari being taken down a few pegs in ME3. Because no one has that level of dominance over anything without some help and some dirty dealing.  The same can be said of the Protheans. During the mission to get Javik when Liara is talking up the Protheans, Shepard can mention how no group becomes as powerful as the Protheans by sharing and being benevolent.  Which turned out to be true.

Renegade Shepard also has a different response to the Asari hiding the beacons on Thessia. "I don't blame them for hiding this, who knows what would have happened if this ended up in the wrong hands." So you do have the option to support this. 

Also Javik mentions how they (Protheans) got their tech from the race that came before them and considering the fact that the other races were their slaves, they got to where they were by hording that knowledge, too.  Javik also mentions that they were watching a lot of the "lesser" races. Which is true considering his knowledge of the "primitive" races and what they were doing during his time period. They were watching for the group that had the most potential. The ones who showed it were the Asari, which is why they began grooming them.  

In MEA. Cora looks up to the Asari to a weebo degree but Lexi is quick to say that age doesn't come with having all the answers. Which I think is more realistic.

But the Asasri are still the special ones in the universe no matter what.  Even Shepard auto explodes over the fall of Thessia. 
 

The asari are parasites attaching themselves to any true greatness.

Star Control 2 made humanity right, we werent anything special in that game, we were just another race that got put under the slave shield by the ur-quan species which seemed to be the dominant force in Milky Way. Our strenght came in us being lucky, for example the player character was from a secret colony that wasnt discovered by the ur-quan and that he went uniting the various factions around his homespace , but without their help we wouldnt have had a chance.

You should really play or watch that game, the story is excellent and it has really alien aliens in it and theyre all very different and well constructed. Even the "supposedly real aliens", the greys make an appearance. The tone is somewhat more humorous than in ME, but when there are dark parts, theyr are dark and done very well, for instance the villains.

The kett, or even the reapers in my opinion dont even come close with the ur-quan. Imagine a presence  and voice that is like that of Sovereigns, but for an entire race of huge alien caterpillars, except that unlike the reapers, they are explained well and arent ruined.

Now that's a bit disingenuous. The Asari may have a lot going for them, but they were never depicted as a perfect race that could do no wrong. I mean, do these characters come off as Mary Sues to you?

Nassana Dantius 
A manipulative business dealer who not only uses Shepard to kill her own sister, but also kills anyone who would seek to damage her reputation. Heck, by the time you're sent to find Thane, she sends out all the mechs to kill her own employees just for the heck of it.

Nyxeris
Liara's secretary on Ilium who was serves as the Shadow Broker's agent who is ready to kill Liara on his command. 

Hermia
A no good illegal schematics smuggler.

Tela Vasir
The only known Asari Spectre who ALSO winds up being an agent of the Shadow Broker sent to kill Liara.

Aria T'Loak
The Asari who rules the Omega Relay station by making it a personal hell for everyone who lives there.

Matriarch Benezia
Despite her Matriach status and good intentions, she wasn't powerful enough to help Saren or stop Sovereign from indoctrinating her.

That One Asari at the Eternity Bar
Freaking slave dealer!!!!!!!!

Shiala
Also joins Saren's group but winds up being the host of the Thorian's clones and gets messed up biologically months later causing when her biotics go haywire and her skin turns green. That's terrible!

Erinya
A deeply xenophobic Asari who gives the colony of Zhu's Hope a horrible contract and refuses to change it. She's so xenophobic that she refuses to help the colony even when a sickly Asari (The aforementioned Shiala) comes to her on their behalf. 

Enyala
Eclipse Mercenary who will murder anyone that's even the slightest inconvenience to her. Even calls out Miranda on her skimpy outfit.

Elnora
A very violent Asari who takes great pride in murdering a Volus just to join a mercenary group. Really. She records her joy in killing the Volus on an audio log.

Morinth
An Ardat-Yakshi who murders people to quell her addiction. To her credit, she'll actually pull a "Humans are Special" on Shepard in order to tempt them into joining with her. Shepard isn't that special.

Samara
A delusional Justicar who's views are so absolute that she'll actually kill herself simply because a 'code' was inconvenienced when she chooses not to murder her daughter. And despite wanting to bring Justice to the universe, she will literally do nothing if she's a companion of yours when you confront Erinya's treatment of Zhu's Hope colonists.

And this is a species that needs to be brought down even further? I don't get it. At this point, Mass Effect is spending more time talking about how bad the Asari than anything good that they've done for galactic civilization. Come on, let the elements that make the Mass Effect franchise unique have some love for a change. 

Honestly I feel like the "humanity is special" trope was downplayed a lot in andromeda vs the shepard trilogy. Sure we play as a human in the same universe and as such inherit a lot of the tropes but at the same time there really isn't a lot that makes humanity stand out overmuch in andromeda.

Humans are just the ones that happened to show up to the nexus and start fixing things first. Ryder's manipulation of remnant tech has nothing to do with being human, any pathfinder with a functional SAM connection could have done the same. The kett in their analysis of initiative species has relatively little to say about humans in contrast with the reapers/collectors that found humans to be the most interesting thing in the galaxy.

Great post!

You forgot Alestia Iallis

I mean, this less a "Mass Effect" trope and more an "everything" trope. There's a reason why the majority of sci-fi/fantasy protagonists are human, regardless of how fantastical and unique the setting might be otherwise.

Seriously, check out the sci-fi section of your local bookstore and see how many protagonists are anything other than human. Hell, just for fun, see how many are anything other than white, straight men and women.

Lol, I'm not defending BioWare. What I was essentially getting at is they lack imagination, and lean on their predecessors. XD

He would be concerned with the arks. Not preoccupied or fixated, but concerned.

Human-centrism does not mean selfishness. Centrism in general doesn't mean anything bad. It can be indications of bad things, but also doesn't need to be that. Alec gave no indications of negative feelings towards aliens, their involvement in the Initiative, or their value. He only comes from a place of trying to protect humanity first, since the war he fought to keep Turians from harming humanity.