Mass Effect: Questionable statue puzzles fans, now sales halted

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Bioware has unveiled a statue of the dying Commander Shepard and taken it right back off sale.

Would you put a statue in your living room depicting one of the most disturbing moments from Mass Effect? No, we’re not talking about the drunken Grunt. We’re talking about the intro to Mass Effect 2, in which Commander Shepard (spoiler alert) suffocates in space. Not a very nice motif, one might think – but Bioware sold exactly that as decoration.

“But why? “

The small statue turned up in the official Bioware Gear Shop, where merchandise for in-house brands like Mass Effect and Dragon Age is sold. Here’s what the controversial $135 artwork looked like (which was only available in the female Shepard version):

Mass Effect Shepard’s death statue depicts the dramatic opening scene of Mass Effect 2: Commander Shepard is ejected from the disintegrating Normandy and hurtles through space to her untimely end.

Description from Gear Store

 

Okay, but … why? Who wants to buy this and always think back nostalgically to that tragic moment? This was the question asked by numerous confused fans on Twitter, some slightly worried whether everything was okay with Bioware’s merch team.

A little later the statue was taken offline again, currently it can no longer be found in the shop. In a statement Bioware explained this decision like this:

Hello everyone, today we announced the sale of our newest Mass Effect Shepard statue. This statue was intended to be part of a series commemorating some of the most important and emotional moments in the series. The way we announced it didn’t properly convey that and didn’t give the moment in the series its due.

For this reason, we will be pausing the sale of the statue until we can share the bigger plan with you. Thank you. BioWare Gear Store

So far it is unclear if and when the statue will return to the shop and what other designs might be featured in this series. The Virmire Bomb? David hooked up to project overlord? Mordin’s march to the lift? Red, blue, green? Feel free to post your own ideas for morbid Mass Effect decorations you’d put in your living room.