Sometimes during the downtime between new releases in a series like Mass Effect, fans will start to take some classic characters and mix them up with more recent fads and memes. This is exactly what has happened lately with several of Shepard's companions that have become icons, and a relatively new meme known as Flat Croc.
The Flat Croc meme itself is a part of an ongoing weekly event online where Reddit users will post pictures of flat objects each Friday, generally including animals that look like they may have been deflated. Naturally, this means that combining this with characters from the Mass Effect series makes for some hilarious designs as the classic companions are flattened out.
So far, the Reddit user MaxCrultak_26 has shared two of these images, one depicting a deflated version of Garrus Vakarian, and the second being Urdnot Wrex. Both of these characters have continued to be among the top-tier of fan-favorite characters since they appeared in the very first Mass Effect title. This makes seeing them in this weird, deflated state, with some of their most iconic lines subtitled underneath, quite the sight for fans that have grown attached to these characters.
The artwork for Wrex in particular feels surprisingly fitting for a character who is known to have leathery skin and be willing to rip Shepard's head off in Mass Effect if the two are on opposite sides of an argument. However, no matter how fitting the prospect of either of these two being reinvented as a crocodile seems, the stretched out armor and angled face definitely takes some getting used to. It's a set of simple pieces that manage to pull plenty of character from the companions, and pile on some of its own through the use of this strange meme format.
These strange lengths that fans will go to show their appreciation for a game is part of how the franchise continues to stay in the minds of players, even after Mass Effect 3's controversial ending. The characters and how fans responded to them, to the point of continuing to make fan art for companions from the first title in the series, has always been the biggest strength Mass Effect has had going for it. This is why fans have already flocked around these Flat Croc versions of Garrus and Wrex and are looking forward to seeing what the fan artist has in store for any other beloved companions.