Started up a game of ME1 last night and noticed the dude's face and skin was all red and shit. What gives? Don't try and tell me that shit is all paint or a tattoo. The only Turian colors I've seen since him are grey, dark grey, light grey, and maybe gray.

Also, what's up with Saren's little antennae? Doesn't look like Reaper tech to me. ALSO, how dumb is everyone that they never asked Saren why he had metal and wires and shit sticking out of his body?

What gives, Bioware?

Well, we've never been to Palaven. Maybe the red coloring is a recessive gene that only shows up in 5% of the population.

Nihlus could just be the token black guy for the Turians. Afterall he does die relatively early in ME1. Weirdly enough, he's garnered quite a few fans despite his low screen appearance. His face paint is pretty cool though. As for Saren's arm, it's actually a Geth arm that's fused to him (according to the art book from ME1). I don't remember anyone talking about it before though.

Well, Nihilus was a Spectre. I remember that all the Spectre gear had that same color scheme of black with streaks of neon red. As for Saren, I really don't know. Either way both are far more badass than Garrus or any Turian for that matter could ever hope to be

Nihlus was awesome, that's why.

@eroticfishcake said:

Nihlus could just be the token black guy for the Turians. Afterall he does die relatively early in ME1. Weirdly enough, he's garnered quite a few fans despite his low screen appearance. His face paint is pretty cool though. As for Saren's arm, it's actually a Geth arm that's fused to him (according to the art book from ME1). I don't remember anyone talking about it before though.

@deathstriker666 said:

Well, Nihilus was a Spectre. I remember that all the Spectre gear had that same color scheme of black with streaks of neon red. As for Saren, I really don't know. Either way both are far more badass than Garrus or any Turian for that matter could ever hope to be

Yeah, I'm one of the people who somehow managed to really like Nihilus, despite his black-like screen time. Had more personality than any of the other people, along with Saren. I'd have rather had Saren stick around as the bad guy in ME3.

I thought I saw one on the Citadel.

@FunExplosions: Nihlus had some shades of grey on him (morally speaking that is) so it would've been interesting to use him as a catalyst for the whole Spectre being above the law thing. Except that he didn't because he was too busy pushing up daisies. But yeah I like Saren since I enjoy the idea of having a villain of sorts to bounce off of because hey, he was a Spectre too. The concept of fighting the Reapers in ME2 and 3 just don't feel as personal as I wanted it to be. At least your team mates were awesome in ME2/3.

@deathstriker666 said:

Well, Nihilus was a Spectre. I remember that all the Spectre gear had that same color scheme of black with streaks of neon red. As for Saren, I really don't know. Either way both are far more badass than Garrus or any Turian for that matter could ever hope to be

I will FIGHT you!

I'll lose but...ARGH!

@slowbird said:

Well, we've never been to Palaven. Maybe the red coloring is a recessive gene that only shows up in 5% of the population.

Could be, this is the same universe where natural blondes have gone extinct, look it up.

Nihlus*. And Saren presumably had cybernetic implants and a geth arm.

Space racism.

Didn't Pallin in ME1 have red skin as well?

I have question, Why do all races speak English?

Wait. When we're talking about skin tone with Turians are we referring to colour of the scaly parts or the leathery parts of them?

@devilzrule27 said:

Didn't Pallin in ME1 have red skin as well?

Black?...That's what I remember as. I can't seem to get a good picture of him but his scales are black so...

@BadSniper52 said:

I have question, Why do all races speak English?

I'm guessing they just didn't bother mentioning language at all in the series since it's just one of those annoying hurdles you have to explain and justify when it comes to the Fantasy/Sci-Fi genre. So Bioware just skipped it instead. Or probably all alien races just decided adopted English(or whatever language you're playing on) as a the Galactic Standard when humans entered the council 60 odd years ago. I'm going for the former.

Saren got all his cyborg gear after he defected to the reaper union and stole the davey crocket nukes.

EDIT: It's explained in the book Mass Effect: Revelaitons.

I feel like I have seen at least 2 red/orange turians as just random npc's walking around in ME3 - although they might have just been the outer colour and not the darker back colour.

@BadSniper52 said:

I have question, Why do all races speak English?

They don't. You have a translator. Lady Shepard mentions this when Than calls her a siha.

I thoroughly enjoyed Nihlus and wished he was around longer.

I have question, Why do all races speak English?

@TaliciaDragonsong: Hmm. Now that you mention it I do remember FemShep mentioning something about translators when Thane calls her Siha. I've never actully seen one though unless it's installed on the ever convenient Omni-Tool. I'll take your word for it though. Dunno why Javik sounds Jamaican though.

@eroticfishcake said:

@TaliciaDragonsong: Hmm. Now that you mention it I do remember FemShep mentioning something about translators when Thane calls her Siha. I've never actully seen one though unless it's installed on the ever convenient Omni-Tool. I'll take your word for it though. Dunno why Javik sounds Jamaican though.

I thought it was supposed to be African, with his entire civilization being a kind of analog for the wars going on in Africa right now, along with their kind of primitive overall world-knowledge. Then again, I'm bad with accents. Also, I still pretend the Portheans looked completely different. Why the hell were there statues on Ilos of things that looked like Humans getting indoctrinated? Shit's all fucked. I think the real issue is the writers making too much of this shit up as they go, without much forethought at all.

This thing isn't a Prothean. They have five fingers and round domes!

@FunExplosions: Javik explains the statues on Ilos were there when the Protheans discovered the place. I don't remember if they were of an extinct race or a subjugated race of the Protheans.

Any of you guys got the dialogue with Samara where she mentions that she had a run-in with Nihlus? I'll quote from the wiki.

"While supposedly conducting Council business, Nihlus was once drawn into a fight with an asari justicar named Samara after she witnessed him kill an unarmed civilian. Compelled into battle by her justicar code, Samara attempted to kill Nihlus for the perceived crime. For two weeks the pair played a deadly game of cat and mouse in the wilderness. Eventually, Nihlus was able to use Samara's code against her, creating a situation in which she had to choose between saving the life of an innocent or capturing him. Being a defender of innocents, Samara naturally chose the former, allowing Nihlus to finally escape. Despite her failure, the encounter left her with an admiration for his adaptability and tactics."

I feel like Nihlus could have been a really cool character, possibly cooler than Garrus. I was glad they put Garrus in ME1 but who knows if Garrus was the one to die at the beginning instead of Nihlus? Something to think about.

@Brodehouse: That's a nice way for Bioware to retcon their initial intentions with the statues, then. Besides, Javik says Ilos was pretty much just a myth in his time, with only advanced scientists and the elite being allowed access there. This just further proves Bioware's willingness to cover their own mistakes with new ones.

@xyzygy: I think they essentially tried to turn Garrus into Nihlis' character in ME2. They completely overhauled him for 2. In one, he was just some bugged boring companion, who's only redeeming factor was him being of another species than the rest of the crew. At the end of 1, he was set to stay with C-Sec, but after fans saying they wanted to fuck Garrus (Bioware's weakness), they opted to overhaul him and come up with an excuse to put him on the other side of the galaxy.

He likes to spraytan.

So garrus vs. Nihlis? who would win?

Space racism.

@FunExplosions said:

@xyzygy: I think they essentially tried to turn Garrus into Nihlis' character in ME2. They completely overhauled him for 2. In one, he was just some bugged boring companion, who's only redeeming factor was him being of another species than the rest of the crew. At the end of 1, he was set to stay with C-Sec, but after fans saying they wanted to fuck Garrus (Bioware's weakness), they opted to overhaul him and come up with an excuse to put him on the other side of the galaxy.

I can see that. I really liked Garrus from ME1, they turned him into this "Alien Chuck Norris" in ME2. He was "the cool dude" and had all the snappy lines. I really didn't like it. He was modest in the first game and that's what I loved about him.

@Brodehouse:Yeah, I got that story from Samara (re:Nihlus), thought it was a rather nice tie-in :)

edit: I'm sure I saw some red Turian somewhere in ME3. I thought General Corinthus had a red carapace, but googling showed a greenish tint. Maybe one of his advisors?