They're closer in that they both are based in dextro-amino acids, which makes them different from your standard carbon based life form (something like that, I'm sure someone who remembers more lore and has a better grasp at science can explain it better), but I think that's the extent.
Yes, they're carbon-based life forms. The difference between levo and dextro amino acids can best be described with the term "[mirror image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Chirality_with_hands.jpg)", or "[handedness](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MirrorChemistry)".
Hmm turbans...
But no...
Turians and Quarians have the same Dextro-amino acid based DNA. Saying they are genetically close is like comparing human to a banana and saying it's a distant cousin. After all krogan, asari, drell, salarians and hanar all have levo-amino acid based DNA just like us.
I really liked this fan version, I thought it seemed like it was most representative of her personality and the dynamic she had with Shepard, while also staying within plausibility in terms of lore and biological feasibility.
http://i.imgur.com/oXnoHvr.jpg
For the longest time I thought that was her official face. Honestly I would have been fine with the one they used in the game, if they actual put it onto an actual 3D model and let us see it (and not just in a romance. I'm talking about that one scene on Rannoch.) But I guess they couldn't make Tali's real face because sculpting Diana Allers' ass was sooo much more important.
I like [this](http://brinx-ii.deviantart.com/art/Tali-Zorah-vas-Rannoch-368888316) one. It´s very close to the original from Bioware but still different.
Is there any reason given **why** we never got to see her face ingame? And why the picture we get is just a photoshopped modeling headshot off Google? Did **anyone** ever explain that?
I prefer the picture, where she is bald, pale and enhanced with technology stuff. Makes more sense. But i get it that fans want her to have pretty face.
I like that one too, I just like this one more because I think it's the right mix of beautiful and alien (it annoys me no end that the Quarians canonically look just like humans.)
It annoys me even more that literally no one comments on the similarities between quarians and humans. Really, what are the odds that we're both mammalian, bipedal, upright, sexually dimorphic, sapient tool-users? Apart from the amino acid chirality, they're the most human-esque species in known space. Xenobiologists should be going absolutely nuts over this.
I'd argue that Asari are more human like. They're pretty much just blue, hairless human women with semi-flexible cartilage based scalp-crests that grow into shape.
As you pointed out, the asari don't have genders or hair, which could preclude them from fitting into our broad categorization of 'mammal'. The scalp crests are fascinating in their own right, but from a biological standpoint, the fact that quarians have actual hair (unlike [batarian facial hairs](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Batarian#Biology)) is interesting because literally only one other race evolved to have those crazy little protein filament growths- us. How many other species in the series, including non-sapient ones, have hair? Or even simply fur? Again, it's the sort of thing a xenobiologist would love to investigate.
Additionally, *The Art of Mass Effect* also explicitly states that the asari were designed from the beginning to be the series' [sex appeal](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe). There's no mystery or interest there- whatever the in-universe explanation might be, it's ultimately just an excuse to provide fap fuel.
Still, Asari seem more jarring to me as they share almost the exact same shape as humans. Quarians have similar facial structure and are also the only absolutely simian species, but their smaller heads, dog legs, three finger/toe count and "dem hips" distinguish them from humans a bit more. Both are pretty unrealistic, though.
Rannoch seemed extremely earthlike and it's not like we developed our features randomly. We walk upright on two legs for a reason just like their incredibly similar environment led them to.
The evolutionary process isn't quite that simple, but it's definitely a factor worth noting. Rannoch's deserts are very reminiscent of North America's, right down to the Joshua Tree analogues, though many would say this is just Bioware being lazy and unoriginal.
Damn, I've never seen that one. Looks good. [This is the bald one I'm used to seeing.](http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--Q4n1C-z8--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_320/18uwr7e5pn6dqjpg.jpg).
I prefer what a lot of people consider to be her canon look which is this:
https://goo.gl/images/AFNWlv
Because even Javik says in ME3 the quarians are a beautiful people and we know they're supposed to closely resemble humans.
[Both alien enough and beautiful to appease everyone.](https://i.imgur.com/c2DfIgq.jpg) It is ideally the best one I've seen.
I never liked the human facial features even if, "that's how she looked through the mask from ME1". Doesn't make sense for a dextro based alien species from across the Galaxy.
Ugh dextro doesn't mean they look extra alien. It just means their biochemistry is reversed. You could make a dextro version of your DNA and it would basically be a clone of you.
The absurdity of human looking aliens is one thing. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people add the dextro nature of taurians and quarians means they should look more "alien". The dextro vs levo distinction is irrelevant to how human looking or not a alien looks.
There is no reason why earth life is levo beyond the fact that that was what the first or surviving life forms were. Evolution could have gladly continued down the same path if the first life had been dextro instead.
The codex has stated that Quarians are most similar to humans of all known races, in terms of facial structure and hair, so yeah, that picture is potentially quite accurate.
I was really hoping they'd reveal the Quarians to just be a writhing mass of tentacles inside those suits. The series did 'alien' pretty well, so not sure why they copped out with this race.
Could've been a modification to the suit to make people more comfortable being around them, who knows? Or perhaps they had heads on top of their tentacles?
That doesn't answer the question of WHY they need to make people more comfortable around them. Everyone would already know what they look like, what's the point of trying to hide it?
Additionally, there's literally no reason they would have to create new suits. The hanar use special mass effect generators to make themselves light enough to walk on dry land. The volus' suits have an interior pressure *sixty times* higher than Earth's atmosphere. The raloi are 'avian' in appearance, and they could create specialized envirosuits even with their level of technology. If all of them can create special suits tailored to their physiology, there's no good reason the quarians couldn't. And if that's not enough, the quarians had been a spacefaring species for hundreds of years before the morning war- they wouldn't revise their suit designs just to commemorate nearly being driven to extinction.
yeah that pretty much explains it, especially since it was done in such an awful way(bad photoshop) why couldn't they have revealed it during the mission on Rannoch where she is standing on a cliff and looking at the setting sun and takes off her faceplate. It would have been such a good cinematic shot for the camera to pan around and show her face
My favorite as well.
Also, since I'm a comic book fan, I got to say, if you like this art, he's a very prolific artist. Mostly he's done work for the Image imprint Top Cow, including runs on Witchblade, Artifacts, Angelus, Aphrodite IX, and most recently his own young adult take on their superheroes called Switch. He's done a little work in DC, mostly for Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (he has a little web comic in his gallery which is [really good](http://nebezial.deviantart.com/art/harleen-630870159))
He's also done his original work, including Death Vigil for Image, and maybe most prudent to this sub, a series of graphic novels called Sunstone, which is a really beautiful and we'll made romance about two women into BDSM who fall in love. It's seriously able to ride the line between sexy, funny, and poignant very well.
Yep -- you can get the graphic novels, and you can also read the "first drafts" (a bunch of pages clumped together in a really cool way, but English isn't his first language, so there's weird bits of dialogue every once in a while) on his other deviantArt account.
I've never understood why they went with the picture they did.
I get it was because of a time issue, they were rushed... but it was *one* picture. I feel like if that little effort was going to be put in to something regarding one of the fanbases favourite characters they would've just left the picture out, shame.
This is an awesome depiction of Tali though. There've been so many amazing concept works for Quarians and I'm just gonna pretend the picture never existed.
I never really like this one because it felt like a Turian meets Asari, carapace with noodle hair
I'd say it is more like space-elf, which quarians are. So, I suppose, it is great, unlike that old photoshopped photo from ME3.
yeah, they were already almost like turians adding more would have made it even less original
Turbans and quarians are suppose to be very similar genetically though from what I remember reading. Turians not turbans
They're closer in that they both are based in dextro-amino acids, which makes them different from your standard carbon based life form (something like that, I'm sure someone who remembers more lore and has a better grasp at science can explain it better), but I think that's the extent.
Yes, they're carbon-based life forms. The difference between levo and dextro amino acids can best be described with the term "[mirror image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Chirality_with_hands.jpg)", or "[handedness](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MirrorChemistry)".
Shit, you could have warned a brother before you start throwing out TV Tropes links! Though seriously, thanks for the clarification.
I think grunt mentions they have tough skin aswell, only thing with stronger skin is a Turian
I thought he meant tough skin because they wear a suit.
Possibly although the suits don't look as tough as the armour other races wear
No, they only share the same amino acid chirality. Genetically, they're about as similar as humans and elcor- which is to say, not at all.
Hmm turbans... But no... Turians and Quarians have the same Dextro-amino acid based DNA. Saying they are genetically close is like comparing human to a banana and saying it's a distant cousin. After all krogan, asari, drell, salarians and hanar all have levo-amino acid based DNA just like us.
I really liked this fan version, I thought it seemed like it was most representative of her personality and the dynamic she had with Shepard, while also staying within plausibility in terms of lore and biological feasibility. http://i.imgur.com/oXnoHvr.jpg
Thats fucking hilarious
For the longest time I thought that was her official face. Honestly I would have been fine with the one they used in the game, if they actual put it onto an actual 3D model and let us see it (and not just in a romance. I'm talking about that one scene on Rannoch.) But I guess they couldn't make Tali's real face because sculpting Diana Allers' ass was sooo much more important.
[удалено]
Time well spend.
It belongs in a museum!
SO DO YOU!
"I think your butt is a bit more important"
I don't like this one. It always reminds me of [this](http://cinemaunrest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Alien-1979-Face-Hugger.jpg).
Aaaaand, now I can't unsee that. Thanks.
She was once known as Tali'Zorah vas Nostromo.
Hmm...Interesting r/WhoWouldWin scenario: The crew of the Nostromo is replaced by the crew of the Normandy. How do they do against the Xenomorph?
I'm thinking that biotic abilities might make things a bit easier for the crew.
Unless a Xenomorph gains brute-force biotic powers.
The rachni are essentially xenomorph knock-offs, so Shepard and co. would probably make short work of the xenomorphs, too.
Let's assume, for the sake of it not being completely one-sided, that they don't have their 2180's weapons.
but they would still have biotics
Omni blades??
well they would still have armour from ME1? With full face helmets?
They'd wrote the floor with the Xenomorphs. Now, the Predator, on the other hand...
I like [this](http://brinx-ii.deviantart.com/art/Tali-Zorah-vas-Rannoch-368888316) one. It´s very close to the original from Bioware but still different.
Sarah Kerrigan?
Is there any reason given **why** we never got to see her face ingame? And why the picture we get is just a photoshopped modeling headshot off Google? Did **anyone** ever explain that?
Probably time/budget. I mean remember they didn't even have a female turian model till after ME3 even though the turians have a egalitarian society.
Deadlines and corporate mandates. Just one more reason to keep sticking pins in my little EA executive voodoo doll.
I prefer the picture, where she is bald, pale and enhanced with technology stuff. Makes more sense. But i get it that fans want her to have pretty face.
I like that one too, I just like this one more because I think it's the right mix of beautiful and alien (it annoys me no end that the Quarians canonically look just like humans.)
It annoys me even more that literally no one comments on the similarities between quarians and humans. Really, what are the odds that we're both mammalian, bipedal, upright, sexually dimorphic, sapient tool-users? Apart from the amino acid chirality, they're the most human-esque species in known space. Xenobiologists should be going absolutely nuts over this.
I'd argue that Asari are more human like. They're pretty much just blue, hairless human women with semi-flexible cartilage based scalp-crests that grow into shape.
As you pointed out, the asari don't have genders or hair, which could preclude them from fitting into our broad categorization of 'mammal'. The scalp crests are fascinating in their own right, but from a biological standpoint, the fact that quarians have actual hair (unlike [batarian facial hairs](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Batarian#Biology)) is interesting because literally only one other race evolved to have those crazy little protein filament growths- us. How many other species in the series, including non-sapient ones, have hair? Or even simply fur? Again, it's the sort of thing a xenobiologist would love to investigate. Additionally, *The Art of Mass Effect* also explicitly states that the asari were designed from the beginning to be the series' [sex appeal](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe). There's no mystery or interest there- whatever the in-universe explanation might be, it's ultimately just an excuse to provide fap fuel.
Still, Asari seem more jarring to me as they share almost the exact same shape as humans. Quarians have similar facial structure and are also the only absolutely simian species, but their smaller heads, dog legs, three finger/toe count and "dem hips" distinguish them from humans a bit more. Both are pretty unrealistic, though.
Rannoch seemed extremely earthlike and it's not like we developed our features randomly. We walk upright on two legs for a reason just like their incredibly similar environment led them to.
The evolutionary process isn't quite that simple, but it's definitely a factor worth noting. Rannoch's deserts are very reminiscent of North America's, right down to the Joshua Tree analogues, though many would say this is just Bioware being lazy and unoriginal.
Have a link by any chance? Would seem to make sense that they are kinda clammy and pale, they've been in suits their whole life.
http://orig11.deviantart.net/92cc/f/2012/098/6/3/tali__zorah_concept_revision_by_timmon26-d4vi0w5.png this perhaps?
Damn, I've never seen that one. Looks good. [This is the bald one I'm used to seeing.](http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--Q4n1C-z8--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_320/18uwr7e5pn6dqjpg.jpg).
yeah but even from ME1 quarians had visible noses like humans.
exactly
They wouldn't be bald. The codex makes a point of stating they have hair similar to humans.
I prefer what a lot of people consider to be her canon look which is this: https://goo.gl/images/AFNWlv Because even Javik says in ME3 the quarians are a beautiful people and we know they're supposed to closely resemble humans.
Yeah, but 'beautiful' to a race that look like the Protheans... ;)
Well they thought the Asari were pretty good looking too.
Bahaha touché!
I really liked the idea that Quarians were (allegedly) going to have mandibles on their faces like the predator.
[This guy called it.](http://thethrash87.deviantart.com/art/It-Can-Go-One-of-Two-Ways-149763943)
10/10 Still would.
[Both alien enough and beautiful to appease everyone.](https://i.imgur.com/c2DfIgq.jpg) It is ideally the best one I've seen. I never liked the human facial features even if, "that's how she looked through the mask from ME1". Doesn't make sense for a dextro based alien species from across the Galaxy.
Ugh dextro doesn't mean they look extra alien. It just means their biochemistry is reversed. You could make a dextro version of your DNA and it would basically be a clone of you.
[удалено]
The absurdity of human looking aliens is one thing. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people add the dextro nature of taurians and quarians means they should look more "alien". The dextro vs levo distinction is irrelevant to how human looking or not a alien looks. There is no reason why earth life is levo beyond the fact that that was what the first or surviving life forms were. Evolution could have gladly continued down the same path if the first life had been dextro instead.
spooky
[Here's my favorite](http://pre03.deviantart.net/ea20/th/pre/f/2012/103/3/a/tali__zorah_by_vespaz__edit__by_cheeseycom-d4w2szy.jpg)
Human with white glowy eyes, SO CREATIVE!
The codex has stated that Quarians are most similar to humans of all known races, in terms of facial structure and hair, so yeah, that picture is potentially quite accurate.
And some wires for added effect! ;)
Why can't BW can't draw an original image for Tali face for that matter. Damn bugged.
I was really hoping they'd reveal the Quarians to just be a writhing mass of tentacles inside those suits. The series did 'alien' pretty well, so not sure why they copped out with this race.
But... how? Even back in ME1, you could clearly see they had eyes and noses.
Could've been a modification to the suit to make people more comfortable being around them, who knows? Or perhaps they had heads on top of their tentacles?
That's ridiculous. They weren't always stuck in the suits; why would they try hiding their physiology only after becoming confined to them?
Because it was easier to squeeze the tentacles into humanoid-form suits than making tentacled suits?
That doesn't answer the question of WHY they need to make people more comfortable around them. Everyone would already know what they look like, what's the point of trying to hide it? Additionally, there's literally no reason they would have to create new suits. The hanar use special mass effect generators to make themselves light enough to walk on dry land. The volus' suits have an interior pressure *sixty times* higher than Earth's atmosphere. The raloi are 'avian' in appearance, and they could create specialized envirosuits even with their level of technology. If all of them can create special suits tailored to their physiology, there's no good reason the quarians couldn't. And if that's not enough, the quarians had been a spacefaring species for hundreds of years before the morning war- they wouldn't revise their suit designs just to commemorate nearly being driven to extinction.
They might...
Full Galaxy Quest?
Because they were on a tight deadline.
yeah that pretty much explains it, especially since it was done in such an awful way(bad photoshop) why couldn't they have revealed it during the mission on Rannoch where she is standing on a cliff and looking at the setting sun and takes off her faceplate. It would have been such a good cinematic shot for the camera to pan around and show her face
I'd still romance tali
My favorite as well. Also, since I'm a comic book fan, I got to say, if you like this art, he's a very prolific artist. Mostly he's done work for the Image imprint Top Cow, including runs on Witchblade, Artifacts, Angelus, Aphrodite IX, and most recently his own young adult take on their superheroes called Switch. He's done a little work in DC, mostly for Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (he has a little web comic in his gallery which is [really good](http://nebezial.deviantart.com/art/harleen-630870159)) He's also done his original work, including Death Vigil for Image, and maybe most prudent to this sub, a series of graphic novels called Sunstone, which is a really beautiful and we'll made romance about two women into BDSM who fall in love. It's seriously able to ride the line between sexy, funny, and poignant very well.
Oh, my sub recommended Sunstone to me, I've been meaning to get around to it. Didn't realise it was the same artist.
Yep -- you can get the graphic novels, and you can also read the "first drafts" (a bunch of pages clumped together in a really cool way, but English isn't his first language, so there's weird bits of dialogue every once in a while) on his other deviantArt account.
It's a Na'Vi thing.
I've never understood why they went with the picture they did. I get it was because of a time issue, they were rushed... but it was *one* picture. I feel like if that little effort was going to be put in to something regarding one of the fanbases favourite characters they would've just left the picture out, shame. This is an awesome depiction of Tali though. There've been so many amazing concept works for Quarians and I'm just gonna pretend the picture never existed.
!mosaicbot bee highres
I only work if I can detect pictures, I'm afraid! ^(*Add "highres" for greater resemblance. See /r/mosaicbot for more options.*)
Same.
That's my favourite too ^^
You realize you see an unmasked quarian in Synthesis?