
Your Critic: "I never needed or wanted to see specifically MY Shepard on the box. But the thing is: it doesn't really matter which Commander Shepard is chosen. The actual problem runs far deeper than this leading lady. The problem is that once again, as seems to happen so often in our society, a female body and a female appearance have become a matter of public debate and public determination. Shepard may be a digital construction, rather than a real woman, but she has still just become the subject of a popularity contest -- and, yes, a beauty pageant -- for a majority male audience."

One of the best things about the Mas Effect series is the companions you meet along the way. So here is a tier list of all the companions from Mass Effect!
To think that Bioware at some point was capable of doing games like this, you see those characters and remember them like good old friends, and now check ME Andromeda, Anthem, Veilguard etc and wonder what the hell happened.

Based on one narratively fitting ending in Mass Effect 3, Prothean squadmate Javik is highly unlikely to return in the next Mass Effect game.
He was one of my least favorite characters. I wish they would have done the Proths different.

This Canada Day, explore our homeland with the best video games that have adapted or reimagined the Great White North in digital form.
This "public debate" regarding the looks of Femshep is just as ridiculous as the male Shepard. Why? Cause they represent the same thing - preference. The stock setting for both male and female are there for promotional purposes. I believe no one played the Mass Effect games, without having to experiment with their own personal male or female Shepard.
No one really cares. Just pick the one you like and move on.
She is wearing too much eyeliner.
If you dont like it change it. Your not stuck with the default character
I think the blonde Shep 5 is totally fine and normal. What I don't understand is the makeup.
Why use makeup, when you are simply a space bada$z, looking to save the universe (again)? Being blonde is immaterial. Being "pretty", at least by means of face paint, is something Shep wouldn't care about.
All of the Sheps were wearing makeup -- the blonde one is no different in that regard... she just shows it more, thanks to her hair color. Honestly, none of them should have had it. Without it, due to the (socially driven) perceptions of the young males who voted, it's likely that Shep 1 would have won the contest, because she's high contrast (dark brunette, pale skin), and of european origin (likely the same as most of the voters).
You can't really blame the voters. Other than looks, what did they have to discern between the Sheps, after all? It was inevitable that they would choose the one that was deemed the most attractive, socially, by popular perception. I personally found Shep 1 the most appealing, visually, but I'm not dumb enough to think that Shep 5 wouldn't be deemed the most attractive by a huge percentage of the voters.
I'm sure they all got plenty of votes, and honestly, controversy was just about the best thing BioWare could hope for. Sounds like their plan worked.