Ex-BioWare Animator Reveals Commander Shepard Was Female First

Unfortunately, the title makes it sound a little more interesting than it actually is, but that doesn’t mean it’s not neat.

So, here’s the story in full: An Ex-animator for Bioware, Johnathan Cooper, celebrated his ten year anniversary with the series by showing us the first animation test for Commander Shepard and Mass Effect in general; the video, which I can’t link directly onto the article but can direct you too here, shows a gray person in armor running about in a very rough form. What’s interesting (And what Johnathan Cooper points out in his tweet) is that the person in the armor is a woman.

A sign that Bioware intended femShep to be cannon? Sadly, no; it was always Bioware’s intention for Shepard to be either gender, and for the male Shepard to be the default—the reason the animation is for a woman, Johnathan Cooper later told his followers, was that it was a re-purposed mocap from an earlier game, Jade Empire.

So does it ultimately mean very much? Absolutely not. But it is a neat bit of trivia—and if you leave some information out, you’ll blow some minds of your friends and relatives. So you’re welcome for that.