LAST EDITED ON May-13-13 AT 12:10 PM (EDT)
 
>tl;dr: Don't beat yourself up about not everyone sharing the reference
>pool, for that way madness lies.

Agreed. The Mass Effect material is the only stuff you've used that I just didn't get until I 'knew' the characters. In terms of NXE, I STILL have never seen an episode of NGE or played X-Com (I did run In Nomine as a gm though). In terms of SotS, I've never seen an episode of RGU. And in terms of Transformers, the 1986 motion picture is as current as I'll ever be. And I've loved it all.

I'm actually blaming Bioware for this. Bastilla, when introduced in 'In for a Penny', just left me going 'meh'. Then I bought a compilation pack of Star Wars games, played KotOR, and suddenly 'huh, ok I get her now'. Maybe the way Bioware games alter character personality development dependent on Light/Dark//Paragon/Renegade etc just keeps ME from getting those characters till I see them interact in their 'native' environment.

(Well, that and about the time Bastilla showed up, my wife had been reading the New Jedi Order rubish; I got through the first two or three and walked away, completely done in with angsty teenage Jedi)

Brian