In Awe: Girls with Tools

No Trip, this is not about games.

This post isn't a rant, nor does it have anything to do with anything really. It is merely something I wanted to share. I don't know why, but my whole life I've had a soft spot for girl mechanics in tv and movies. They are just really fascinating. Maybe it's because of my utter and deep admiration towards women who can fix things, since I can't. Or maybe it's because a big chunk of my childhood consisted of hanging out at garages with my father. Maybe I even considered that career once. I don't know. All I know is gasoline smells good and overalls make me happy yet today. And because of that, I feel the need to honor the women who fix things in fictional worlds. So here they are, the six coolest mechanichicks made famous by some of my favorite shows.

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6. Audrey Ramirez

from Atlantis: The Lost Empire

First of our Wrench Wenches is Audrey Ramirez, a spicy latina mechanic of the Ulusses, a submarine voyaging to find Atlantis. She's just a teenager, 18 at the time of the trip, but very competent and very witty. As is common with girl mechanics her father was also a mechanic on the same expedition before her. As she tells, her father had planned to have one of his sons follow his lead - too bad he had nothing but girls. Audrey's obviously "too cool for you" and definitely one of the guys, but comes up very kind and thoughtful under all that. That is also how Milo describes her to Kida, "sweet", though she does like to punch people. Besides being a very capable mechanic she is dearly needed on the trip. Of the whole crew she's the youngest, the smallest, and the first one to have the balls to stand up for Milo, not only once but two times. Now that's something all right. All and all Audrey's a good example to all little girls out there, and a very fresh character for a girl in animated Disney movies. And at the end, she gets to use those spectacular lips too.

Fun fact: her big sister is a middleweight boxing champion. Probably the one who taught Audrey those moves. 

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5. Charlene "Charley" Davidson

from Biker Mice from Mars

It's weird that the manliest shows sometimes have the best female characters. The hilariously named Charley Davidson is a human woman who the Biker Mice adopt as their personal mechanic. She owns a garage in Chicago and fills her days fixing bikes, the mice's equipment (including guns) on the side. She's an extremely talented mechanic, since she fixes the extra-terrestrial tech like nothing, and makes upgrades too. This wicked city chick is used to be taking care of herself (despite the occasional getting kidnapped part). In fact she is introduced in the pilot pretty much kicking ass like there's no tomorrow. Still, she's a lady, who sometimes wears a dress and enjoys her Shakespeare play, and forces the mice to enjoy it too. Without a doubt she also does know how to use her femininity to her advantage. Charley's relationship with the mice is close from the very beginning. Most of the time she wants to help them, whereas the mice, especially Vinnie, try to stop her from tagging along to the battles, which annoys Charley to the max. That's why she sometimes goes anyway, with a scheme of her own. She's a very moral person and feels responsible for her dear home city and its people. For some reason we almost never see her with her own bike. I mean she has a Harley (I must presume).

Fun fact: Youtube's filled with tributes to Charley and Vinnie. People really would have wanted to see that inter-species romance, huh?

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4. Callandra "Cally" Tyrol nee Henderson

from Battlestar Galactica

From the first sight I though Cally was the most adorable thing alive. But as it turns out, her life wasn't easy at all. During the series she works as a deck hand on Galactica, so she is taking care of the Vipers and the Raptors, the fighters and the scouting planes. Being a mechanic is not her chosen occupation, she's doing it to save money for dental school, of all things. However it is what she's stuck doing and I gotta say, those coveralls do suit her well. She is very loyal and a genuine, down to earth person. For both her happiness and unhappiness she fells in love with her boss at the engineer deck and the do work side by side as a couple for a while. However, she faces plenty of horrors on the Galactica including constant fear, both physical and sexual violence and almost dying several times. She also seems to lose her temper easily and ends up being the one to kill Boomer after she is revealed being a Cylon. Unfortunately Cally faces an awful end, first getting delusional and jealous and wrenching her husband, and then being launched into space via airlock. Rest in peace, Cally, rest in peace.

Fun fact: The only "on-screen" married woman and a mom on this list, and the only one who met her maker, too. 

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3. Winry Rockbell

from Fullmetal Alchemist

Winry plays a huge role in the series as Edward's personal automail engineer and mechanic. She is located in Edward's and Alphonse's home village, Risembool and is a childhood friend of theirs. Winry was taught to mechanics by her automail guru grandmother, who she has lived her whole life with. To no one's surprise Winry ends up being Ed's romantic interest, however I would use "romantic" with some serious reservation here. Winry is very sweet and passionate and cares for the brothers very much. This very work oriented girl knows what she's good at and therefore is found dabbling with her tools in her workshop at all hours. It is obvious she takes great responsibility on Edward's mechanical limbs, which she had built with her own hands at the early age of 11, and her reactions on the abuse Edward gets them through are usually quite extreme. Edward relies on her with his life, literally in most cases, and Winry, even though she doesn't like being taken for granted, does always deliver - with some loud complaints of course. Edward knows Winry's passion for mechanic and often teases her for it, which she doesn't seem to care one bit. She's indeed a happy mechanic geek who's easily excited by new tech. I also like to think her as the mechanichick trendsetter, since she's the only one on this list that gladly shows some skin too. Despite that it takes years before she finally gets her man.

Fun fact: Much like with Cally, that wrench is just not for show. It is also her weapon of choice when smacking Ed around.

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2. Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye

from Firefly

As every Joss Whedon fan knows Kaylee is the Serenity's memorable lady mechanic. Like Audrey Kaylee was also taught by her father, and judging by her exquisite problem solving skills she seems to have a natural talent for the field. She's probably the most emotional of all the girls, since Kaylee sees the ship a bit like her baby and tends its problems as if it was sick. By nature Kaylee is a free spirit and thus fits nicely with the merry band of misfits that the Serenity's crew is. Kaylee puts herself as the runner-up on my list exactly because of her amazing nature. Even though none of the girls on my list are stereotypically rock hard and manly, Kaylee is the most feminine, soft and sunny of all. She's all and all very lovely, always helping others and always cheering people up. Her captain Mal has indeed express that her naturally good mood is at times even annoying. Even bullets to the stomach don't stop this sugar cube from smiling. Whereas Winry brings sexy to the job, this oil covered human hummingbird wears bright floral prints under her overalls and is proudly her own giggly self no matter the job. Unlike, say, our number one, she'd happily wear a dress too, a pink one, preferably.

Fun fact: Got introduced to Firefly by sleeping with the ship's mechanic - and replacing him on the job.

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1. Gadget Hackwrench

from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers

Gadget is the Rescue Rangers' mechanich, pilot and inventor and number one female mechanic on my list. She is my earliest take on the subject and frankly the reason this list exists at all. That jumpsuit, those goggles, that determination. Who can say this particular mouse isn't the best thing! Raised by an inventor father Gadget became a a crazy MacGyver type who can take any two items and make  a car or a bomb out of them (well it's Disney, so maybe not a bomb). Of all Gadget's gadgets some of the best are vehicles: The Ranger Plane, The Ranger Wing, The Rangermobile, The Easter Basket Tank, and my personal favorite, The Bagpipe Express. Gadget's work is especially challenging as she uses every day human objects to the needs of mice and chipmunks. In addition to flying the planes she also drives a car, steers a boat, and occasionally controls a huge robot dog. Along with Kaylee Gadget's fast talking and a bright, sunny personality. She's very practical and often comes up with just the thing needed in the situation within seconds. Typically both chipmunks are totally in love with her, which Gadget is joyfully clueless of most of the time. She's not a perfect mechanic, and her inventions are more experiments than the result of long and careful design, but they work enough at least. To me Gadget is just the right combination of cute, crazy and creative. The ultimate lady fix-a-lot. 

Fun fact: There is apparently a trope named after Gadget, called GadgeteerGenius. Golly!

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How Mass Effect 3 became a make your own adventure book

Source.

There's enough rant about the Mass Effect 3's ending in the internet already, so no, I'm not going to analyze that any more. I will however talk about the scam that is connected to that shitty ending and how BioWare, or EA, really screwed over their fans this time. 


Here's the deal (also: spoiler spoiler spoiler). In the end of Mass Effect 3 it is possible to get one of the following results: Shepard either lives (barely) or dies (painfully). These are one of the few things that the player actually can affect on, when the lack of choice has been the biggest criticism the game's ending has yet received. "Shepard lives" is in no way a good ending, however it is a hopeful ending, even if the player hasn't heard of the infamous indoctrination theory. It is an ending that inspires to play the game again and again, to see Shepard survive against all odds.

There is a catch though. To get Shepard live the player has to choose the red ending and have over 4000 effective military strength, a collection of war assets the player gathers throughout the game. To this day there hasn't been any decent prove that it is possible to get the required 4000 EMS, unless the player boosts their numbers with online multiplayer. And what do you know, on my platform, the Xbox360, the multiplayer is only available for those who own a 70€ a year gold account. The player does get free multiplayer time with the game, but there's no possible way to use it on the free silver account. I know. I tried. For those who aren't willing to pay for MP, there exists very badly made, badly playable iPad games that can apparently help with the war asset gain - if you're willing to purchase them for the amazing price of 8€ (whereas the average price for a iPad game is under 5€) and suffer through the ghastly gameplay. 

Source.

I'm completely serious. Even if the player plays the game perfectly, does all the side quests, has all the quests done from previous games as well, there's no way to get 4000 EMS. To even get close is a achievement itself, since the game is so glitchy and the quest list so impossible to read (to see f.e. what missions have been already done) that a massive frustration is a certainty. I don't blame that poor soul that wants to avoid this massive headache by skipping the side quests completely. I was a masochist enough to play them myself, by the end a quest list open on my laptop just to keep Shepard from running around the galaxy to double check her missions. And after all that, guess what happened?

Does this sound like a genius game design to you? No, it doesn't. When it comes to games the whole idea of playing them is to have fun. They are a form of entertainment. To force people to buy games they don't want to, accounts they don't need, or in general force people to use their time on something they didn't sign for is not what makes players happy. A game's purpose is not to sell other games. It is not to take away content from some. It is not to alienate the player from the game by guiding the player away from the game itself.

But this is the truth and unfortunately I am not surprised. We live in a time where mobile and Facebook based games rule he world. This is where the idea of micro payments and improving your chances with money most likely comes from. In Facebook games though the game itself is free, so better weaponry, armors and gadgets are understandably the only income the gaming company gets. Mass Effect 3 costs 70€ on Xbox360 like any new Xbox game, and over 50€ for PC. DLCs are a thing I would gladly pay extra for. The game content itself? The game content should not depend on if the player is ready to put more money in it or not. That's just douchey. If MP makes the wanted goal easier to achieve that's all fine and good. But with this solution the game can't function on its own. BioWare's choices not to allow people to get their ending they want and deserve, mind you, can lead to where is has lead today. And it should not come as a surprise to BioWare that people simply stop playing the ending, go to Youtube to see Shepard live, and rather just make up their own endings from thereon. 

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The amount of fan produced material is slowly staring to remind a movement. So far I have seen some awesome videos, forum posts, fanfics, digital art, paintings, animations, comics, you name it, all telling how the game really ended. My personal favorites are the epilogue slides, where it is possible to just write 4000 or 5000 war assets on the first page, and get the hopeful ending, where Shepard takes that crucial half of a breath and all that happens afterwards. The many, many fails of the game design choices seem to be something to bring people together. Angry, yet extremely creative. People are moved by each others' endings, and find meaning in them. One person's headcanon can be a part of another's vision. This I do enjoy. However I do not enjoy the fact that the players have to be the ones to fix the game. An editor to adjust the numbers is already there, but that is exactly the problem: it shouldn't be.

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When talking about the ending a certain theme always comes up. Ownership. It is debatable whether the game belongs to the gamers as well as it belongs to BioWare. Do they players have a right to demand better endings? Well when it comes to being able to play the damn game, yes they do. When it comes to the other disappointing stuff, that's another question. However it is not a matter of opinion that the world that has been once created is meaningful to the players at this point and that is in spite of EA or its minion, or their lack of interest to the gaming crowd. People take their characters very personally, which BioWare too knows. The game is dear to many, and that is why Shepard lives on in thousands of fan made products today. 

The answer to ownership is not simple, and it's not simply definable by the people who made the game. Fans can and will modify the game as they please, and yes, fix it if it's broken. Even if the company itself takes no action to grant the players' wishes considering the ending (with a DLC that costs even more money), it is clear that people have had enough time to create maybe better stories that there is and will be, and they have by now realized they do not need to bend over backwards to get what they want. All they need is a keyboard or an edit app. But that's also what will rip the gamer and the developer crowd apart. Especially with a company that used to be so close to its fans, it's a damn shame.