Talk:Miranda Lawson

Accent
I'm not so sure it's a British accent. I've only heard a couple of lines in Galaxy, but she sounds Australian to me (I should know, I'm Australian), which makes more sense considering the actress is Australian. I'm not sure enough about this to edit the article though. Having not seen her speak in any of the E3 demos, I can't say for sure she doesn't sound British in that. Can anyone confirm it's a British accent? 220.245.79.97 11:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

That entire paragraph is speculation obviously, but I would agree with you. I think it is Austrailian

I've played a little more of Galaxy and am pretty certain it's an Australian accent, which makes a lot more sense since it's an Aussie actress. I'm not sure what protocol is here, but I think it should probably be deleted or edited to make note of the correct accent (if that's considered important), but as Captain Anderson's accent and his birthplace show, the accent can't really be used to denote someone's country of origin in the Mass Effect universe.

The confusion is understandable because she doesn't have the accent Americans are more likely to recognise, instead the accent that is actually more common, but less recognisable. More info here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AustralianAccent

On another note, as an Australian I think this is pretty awesome, given that Australians seem to be so rare in Sci-Fi outside of Farscape, since all our actors seem to have to put on an American accent to get work in the genre. Thanks BioWare. ;) 220.245.79.97 11:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

I changed it to Australian accent, but left the rest as British as a more general, all-encompassing term for Britain and her former colonies. I hope that was ok, so as not to fuel more of the Australia vs. British debate.


 * I actually thought it was a New Zealand accent. : ) --Tullis 17:57, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

I have to disagree with the adjective mild Australian accent. It is an Australian accent, through and through, there is nothing mild about it. Sure it's not the famous broad accent made popular in American media, but very few people in Australia talk like that anyway, almost no one sounds like Crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin. I'm removing it, because it really is misleading.

The actress, her name is escaping me right now, claims that her accent comes from the Sydney, Australia. IF that clears things up anymore. I doubt it will. The accent does not seem significant. In the Mass Effect universe, the use of automatic translators is prevalent and it seems that this has made the human race more uniform, although there are certain exceptions. The captain in Noveria ends words with "sama" and "san", heavily hinting that she is speaking Japanese vs. we assume English Shephard is speaking.


 * Not significant, but somewhat interesting. It shows the Australians in the ME universe must have kept a little cultural presence, good on ya mates. ;) In Revelation, they describe how because universal media is so prevalent, Cpt. Anderson was able to be born and raised in London without even developing a discernable English accent. Now if only someone knew what Udina's accent is... --TheWilsonator 20:05, October 21, 2009 (UTC)

Judging by how Miranda speaks, the accent seems its from New Zealand, as it doesn't have all the characteristics of an Australian accent. It appears "cleaner", more refined, not to mention a milder tone. I recall hearing Russell Crowe on an episode of American Chopper and the accent he has (he is a New Zealander) seems to be the same as the one Miranda uses.H-Man Havoc 05:17, January 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * It's an Australian accent, you know how I know? I have the same accent (actress and I are both from Sydney, so not surprising).
 * You're under the impression, it seems, that most, or all, Australians sound like the Crocodile Hunter. Couldn't be further from the truth, it's like me saying all Americans sound like Forrest Gump. Also, Russell Crowe, despite being born in New Zealand, speaks with an Australian accent. Though it's not hard to mistake the two, the distinction is very similar to the distinction between Canadian and American accents, with the pronunciation of certain vowels being a dead giveaway. The Miranda video had none of those.


 * The similarity being that outside the US and Canada a lot of people (not all, far from it) can't tell the difference between an American and Canadian accent, unless the accent is particularly thick, so it wouldn't surprise me if some people outside Australia and New Zealand couldn't tell the difference, hell, you could probably throw in the South African accent in there too, provided it isn't too thick. They're all very similar. Australians can tell a New Zealand accent very very easily ("fush and chups", to use an old cliché), and Miranda doesn't have a trace of one.


 * Then there's the fact her Australian accent has been acknowledged by the developers, with it being the reason her last name was changed, and the fact that the actress is Australian.


 * Also, why does speaking with a""cleaner", more refined, not to mention a milder tone" disqualify someone from speaking in an Australian accent?
 * JakePT 06:09, January 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * Hey now! I take offense to that! Americans and Canadians sounding the same my @$$! I do not say "eh", or "aboot", or "hoose" or any of that crap! Maybe if the American is from Minnesota (aka Southern Canada). And I don't really think South Africans sound that much like Aussies or Kiwis. After all, a lot of their dialect is also based off the Dutch language and it's more local cousin, Afrikaans. SpartHawg948 08:33, January 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * Now you know how I feel. :P
 * In all seriousness some people, my mother for example, generally can't tell the difference between Canadian and American accents.
 * On South African, listen to this interview with Sharlto Copely, the guy from District 9. Now no one is going to mistake his accent from the movie for Aussie or Kiwi, but there are strings of words in that interview, where he isn't putting on the thick accent, (particularly "as much as I could, you know, and it's crazy, it's really crazy", just those words), that sound indistinguishable from General New Zealand or Australian accents. Now when you line up people like the Crocodile Hunter, Wikus in District 9 and the whale from Beached As, they're obviously completely different, but they're the very thick variety of those accents that a lot of people from those countries just don't have, and at least in Australia, are often associated with the equivalent of red necks (No one, I repeat, no one, in this country says 'crikey' unless they're taking the piss out of Steve Irwin). JakePT 10:26, January 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * I do also think, upon further consideration, that it needs to be more specific, something along the lines of it being hard to distinguish between a Canadian accent and a flat, Midwestern American accent or an Upper Midwestern American (aka Southern Canadian!) accent, as I doubt even your mother (although, as I don't know her I could very well be mistaken) would have trouble distinguishing between someone speaking with one of the various Southern dialects (the ones commonly spoken in the American South and especially the Deep South), or a New England American Accent, with a Canadian accent. Then it'd be pretty easy to spot the American, as I've never heard a Canadian pull off a convincing Alabama accent, or pronounce Boston "Baastan".
 * However, the point is taken, and I do also see your point about how it can at times be difficult to distinguish between a "British" South African accent (as opposed to an Afrikaner South African accent) and an Aussie or New Zealand accent. (on a somewhat related note, why the hell is my spellcheck telling me Zealand is spelled wrong? Didn't anyone inform these people of the existence of an island nation to the east of Australia?) SpartHawg948 11:37, January 7, 2010 (UTC)

Lol. No I think its just that there is no "Zealand" as a word outside of its use as New Zealand. I think I figured out why Miranda sounds the way she sounds. She may have been born near Sydney, but her first language is Polish. It could've been that that accent changed how she spoke English, which she learned shortly before starting school. Therefore the "Australian" accent she speaks with was toned down due to her original Polish accent's influence. I can compare this to myself, since I don't have a pure Canadian accent despite being born in Toronto. I learned and spoke Hebrew a few years before learning English and although I no longer speak Hebrew, the accent prevents me from saying various terms with a Canadian accent, such as "About", Canadian accent would sound like "Abowt" but I simply say it the 1st way. H-Man Havoc 13:19, January 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * Again, no that's not the reason. Her accent is a pretty accurate representation of how most Australians sound, it's just that isn't how they are portrayed on American TV.

Man you Yanks have no clue. It's an Aussie accent, Crocodile Dundee is not the typical Australian accent. Majority of city dwelling Australians (90%) of them sound like that, (like I do). As for the New Zealand angle pah, half my family are kiwis and it sounds nothing like a New Zealand accent. Example a kiwi when saying "pen" it comes out like "pin" or "bear" sounds like "beer". Oh and the Russel Crow example, he speaks with an Australian accent. :)


 * Nice. We Yanks have no clue, eh? Nevermind the fact that the majority of "Yanks" here (including this "Yank") were in complete agreement that Miranda has an Australian accent. In fact, while I can't vouch for the anon users, there only appears to be one (or possibly two) American registered users who have commented. Myself, and possibly the Wilsonator. And neither of us claimed she doesn't have an Australian accent. The user who stated that she thought Miranda's accent was a kiwi accent is actually British, not American. So maybe you should rephrase it to say "Man you Limeys have no clue." (or maybe just retract the whole comment, seeing as how nobody claimed that she didn't have an Aussie accent, as the purpose of this thread was to dispute her having a British accent) :P SpartHawg948 11:42, February 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, I know pretty much nothing about "regular" (non-tv) english or austrailian accents, but I would just like to point out that Miranda is supposed to be a secret agent sort of character, and those are stereotypically british. Also, I think if she was supposed to be austrailian, she would have more of an "oi" to her "eye" sounds, but that could be my preconceived movie ideas of austrailians. 24.72.49.251 05:20, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

Talents
From some videos released, we know she has Warp and Overload... okay to start adding?--Matt 2108 07:29, December 24, 2009 (UTC)
 * Adding what? We tend not to add talents that the squad members can use individually... just add her class when it's known. SpartHawg948 08:10, December 24, 2009 (UTC)

A new video featuring Miranda Lawson was released on the Bioware site today, and according to her character description there, she not only has biotic powers but is also a tech specialist. This leads me to believe she's a Sentinel. H-Man Havoc 05:11, January 7, 2010 (UTC)
 * Squadmates don't use Player classes, so the Sentinel connection isn't quite right. I can't remember if it's or Jacob, but they also have Neural Shock, which no player classes have, so there's a clear difference between players and squadmates here. JakePT 05:14, January 7, 2010 (UTC)

Relationship
Is it possible to have Miranda as your lover?


 * It is assumed so, but I'm not sure if there is an actual source as of yet. SpartHawg948 04:15, December 30, 2009 (UTC)


 * Putting a character 'genetically engineered to be the perfect woman' in a game series noted for allowing relationships between the player character and other characters, and not allowing a relationship with that character? Not a chance. While it would show an admirable level of restraint on BioWare's part, I would be hugely surprised if she wasn't a 'romance option'. JakePT 06:11, December 30, 2009 (UTC)


 * That is an excellent point. I hadn't thought of that. How messed up would it be to have the "perfect woman" and not be able to romance her? SpartHawg948 06:22, December 30, 2009 (UTC)
 * Hopefully she swings both ways. Can't stand playing with Mark Meer Shepard. Matt 2108 06:41, December 30, 2009 (UTC)
 * I hope u and Miranda have a relationship in the game

In the Sci v.s. Fiction documentary they showed a brief clip of Shepard and Miranda having an intimate encounter (Possibly the one mentioned by the ESRB) which isn't quite confirmation but its pretty darn close.
 * If it's the same clip that's been linked several places here (including the "Miranda" section of the Talk:Romance page), it definitely isn't confirmation, nor is it close. The one I'm thinking of shows a brief flash of what could be Shepard's forehead. Not even close to cutting it for confirmation. SpartHawg948 03:51, January 17, 2010 (UTC)

Forehead... Riight.
 * Forehead indeed! Snarky comment aside, the Sci vs Fi special elaborated enough to show that it is indeed the forehead of the one and only Commander Shepard! :P SpartHawg948 21:54, January 21, 2010 (UTC)

The jury is definitely still out as to whether Miranda swings both ways, but the Best Buy Casey Hudson Q&A leads me to believe/speculate/guess that the final answer will be no. Unless Mr. Hudson misspoke or was purposely yanking our collective chains, of course. Derint 00:19, January 22, 2010 (UTC)

After sucessfully romancing Miranda and beating the final mission, you can call Miranda up to your room to cuddle or sit on your lap. My X360 game sometimes glitches when you try to sit together, so that Shepard cradles the air and Miranda stands off to the right side of the screen spazzing out.


 * If you want to be THOROUGHLY amused, talking to Mordin after romancing Miranda will cause him to bring up using Mass Effect fields to enhance sex with Biotics.Elamdri 22:23, February 4, 2010 (UTC)

Squad Points
I have the following build for Miranda Lawson:


 * 1.) Overload - 6 points (6 points)


 * 2.) Warp - 3 points (9 points)


 * 3.) Cerberus Officer - 10 points (19 points)

I have 11 points remaining. Ten of these points I am placing into Slam. This leaves one point unused. 11 + 19 = 30 points.

In regards to the Loyalty conflict
The article says that the loyalty conflict between Miranda & Jack is one of the harder ones in terms of trying to maintain both loyalties. It says you need a FULL Paragon/Renegade meter. I disagree on that, because when the loyalty conflict came, my Shepard's Renegade meter was only 30-45% full and I had the opportunity to keep them both in line without much effort in trying to get more Renegade points.

However, when the loyalty conflict came for Tali & Legion on my second playthrough, when I worked my ass off trying to get as many Renegade points as possible to influence them both (the renegade meter was filled up until the very last bar, which was about 15% filled) I still didn't have enough to influence them, so I took Legion's side of the argument. Even after Tali managed to survive the suicide mission, I still couldn't regain her loyalty with the Renegade meter's very last bar being halfway full.Ploxis 20:41, February 19, 2010 (UTC)


 * OK, this is getting silly with all the edits about whatever Paragon or Renegade is required to do whatever. Mass Effect 2 is unlike Mass Effect, in that there's not a strict threshold that must be reached in order have Charm or Intimidate options. With Mass Effect, it was simple. You need you needed so many ranks of Charm or Intimidate. Instead in Mass Effect 2, how much Paragon or Renegade is required seems to be a function of how much of the game has been completed. The more you complete, the higher the requirements become. For example, at point you might be capable of Intimidating a shopkeeper, but you reload it and play a lot more, have a lot more Renegade points, and find you're unable to Intimidate that Shopkeeper now. As a more concrete example, I did Thane's loyalty mission in which there is an Intimidate option to say you're a Spectre. When I did it early on, I could do it. When I had the Renegade meter almost full and the red glowing eyes, I couldn't. So it's useless to say a certain percentage is required, because it's going to vary from playthrough to playthrough. So, please stop putting in numbers. &mdash;Seburo 04:43, February 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * Do you think it could be tied to your character's level? Matt 2108 04:49, February 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * No, for one simple reason. If you imported a level 30 character, you'd be screwed. All Charms and Intimdiates would be almost impossible to do. And I have imported Level 30 characters and Charms and Intimidates were possible, so I think it must be tied to how many missions have been completed. &mdash;Seburo 04:52, February 24, 2010 (UTC)

Well, in my case, I had an almost full Paragon meter and I still couldn't resolve Miranda/Jack conflict (went with Jack, and even after a suicide missoin I couldn't regain Miranda's loyalty), however, I *could* resolve Tali/Legion with with a 'blue' option (which I was very happy about). The only other thing I can't resolve with Paragons is the case of two asari who can't live Citadel (I gave them the forged IDs so no real problem, but I still can't Charm the C-Sec customs woman). Kiadony 08:51, February 25, 2010 (UTC)


 * There's a thread on this issue at the bioware community board. http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/106/index/1513200
 * Particularly http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/106/index/1513200/1#1606389 post made the most sense out of all of them seeing how people have various results with the Paragon/Renegade meters.
 * To quote Fyk0 who quoted Ecael if you don't want to go to the link --Lord0din69 16:30, March 9, 2010 (UTC)

Very weird. Well here's the post I saw on the other thread posted by Ecael:

Kim Stolz (BioWare) recently revealed the secret behind Paragon and Renegade in one of the technical support forums. The game basically keeps its own hidden bar of the maximum amount of Paragon or Renegade you can get every time you enter an area. It then takes a percentage of that hidden bar to calculate how much you need at that moment to pass the check. The more times you miss a possible place to get Paragon or Renegade, the more checks you eventually fail. The more checks you fail, the more you miss getting Paragon or Renegade. It's a snowball effect.

To simplify: The game keeps track of all of your missed opportunities in getting Paragon or Renegade in every single area. If you start falling behind, you will most likely never catch up. You HAVE to continuously act Paragon OR Renegade. This becomes much easier if you start out with an import bonus from ME1 for those extra Paragon/Renegade points.

In addition, the ship arguments have different percentages. Miranda/Jack is easier to resolve with Renegade and Tali/Legion is easier to resolve with Paragon. That import bonus provides a safety net in case you miss some opportunities. Doing the mission earlier can be slightly in your favor only because you haven't missed as many opportunities yet.

Expanding the "Romance" section.
I notice that we have plenty of info regarding the content of Jack and Tali's romance paths but nothing about Miranda's beyond the fact that she is a love interest. Can someone rectify this? I'd do it myself but I honestly can't stand her character. DanteShepard 21:26, February 20, 2010 (UTC)

I'll edit that right now, but how can you not stand Miranda? Is it the cockiness? The Yoshiman 97 06:24, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

No, it's just that the tali/jacob reveal kind of put her on my bad list. She seemed sort of xenophobic, too similar to ashley who I also cannot stand. Besides that I prefer a challenge; Tali is stuck in that suit, great challenge. Jack is a known psychopath, cliche but a nice challange. Miranda's got what I think is a superiority complex that hides insecurity...not so much of a challange.

Or maybe I just like Tali too much to care about Miranda lol. DanteShepard 06:35, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

I know, I romanced Tali too. The Yoshiman 97 06:47, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

Alright, I helped expand the romance section in Miranda's article. Don't know if it's up to the wikia standards, so, by all means, feel free to edit and fix the section if its bad.

Also, it's worth mentioning that there is an alternate path in Miranda's romance. Almost in comparison to having casual sex with Jack, it's possible to kiss Miranda if the conversation after her loyalty mission goes wrong, which can be found here. I was going to put it in, but I was unsure if, by kissing her, the romance could still be pursued by her, so, as of now, I've left it blank. So, if it is confirmed that the romance can be pursued after kissing her, then please, put it in, but if the romance cannot be pursued by kissing her, then again, feel free to fix it, or put it here, so that someone else can fix it as well.

Also, I don't know what Mordin says about the creepy sex-advice with Miranda. Might be to enhance sex with biotics, but I'm not sure, so I didn't put that in. Yet again, if you have the knowledge, feel free to put it in. So, thanks for taking your time to read this, The Yoshiman 97 07:47, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

Biotic Abilities
I was browsing through the BioWare forums and came across an interesting question. How is it that Miranda has such pronounced biotic abilities when she was born in 2150? She was genetically engineered so she couldn't have been among the settlements that had been exposed to element zero. The combat potential of biotics also wasn't realized until much later. Is it possible to introduce biotics into a person after birth? CipherCero 17:04, March 15, 2010 (UTC)


 * Consider for a moment: Shepard has the ability to change class when moving from ME to ME2. Even if Shepard wasn't a biotic before, Shepard can be one in ME2. So, I would say, heck yes you can make someone a biotic after birth. Bakageta-Koto 01:35, March 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * Can't you only become a Biotic after birth? With the L2 implants? I thought that biotic abilities were never a birth-born gift unless you were an asari. The Yoshiman 97 01:44, March 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * I was always lead to believe that the biotic amps merely gave the individual the ability to control the element zero nodes that had formed in their body while they were in the womb. Bakageta-Koto 01:47, March 24, 2010 (UTC)

Given that Miranda was born 6 years before humans even discovered biotics (although a year after the discovery of eezo), I'd say it's virtually impossible that she was naturally born with her biotics. Perhaps a classic case of Bioware failing to manage their story timeline correctly... I'm sure they can retcon/justify it somehow by claiming that it's possible with extremely advanced technology and loads of cash to artificially implant eezo nodules in a person's nervous system (the same excuse could be used in Shepard's case if he/she wasn't a biotic in ME and was in ME2), For the second game, Bioware seems to have adopted the maxim of never letting reality get in the way of a good story - they didn't seem to think about the issue of Miranda's backstory and biotic abilities when they were designing her character. Bronzey 08:09, April 4, 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps, although I find it unlikely that within a year of the discovery of eezo Miranda's father could anticipate the effects, work out how biotics worked and successfully engineer her so that she had working biotics (rather than brain tumours, for example). This also raises another question: if people knew of the potential for biotics 6 years before the first children started showing signs, why did it take so long for training programs and widespread eezo 'accidents' to start taking place? Miranda's father was connected to Cerberus; if he had known about the potential for biotics (and 'creating' biotics) as early as 2150; why on earth were Cerberus relying on random eezo accidents as late as 2183? (See the novel Ascension). If humanity and Cerberus had known that biotics could be engineered at birth rather than being random accidents, most of the subsequent plot makes no sense (in regards to creating fake engine accidents and kidnapping random biotics from their homes). They could've just engineered a super-biotic army in the 2150s, rather than relying on chance for the next 35 years (which we know they did). So it seems to me that Bioware essentially contradicted their whole backstory regarding biotics by creating Miranda, born in 2150, and already 'engineered' as a biotic. Bronzey 08:27, April 4, 2010 (UTC)
 * Maaybe element zero exposure was part of the creation process with her, perhaps it wasnt even intentional exposure, maybe one of the machines used for genetic manipulation used element zero for something, maybe high up people rich folks and government types knew about it, it is implied that exposrues to the element might not necessarily have been accidental, they could have known for a hwile what would happen ralok 08:14, April 4, 2010 (UTC)


 * Miranda's father was connected to Cerberus? How do you figure? I don't recall that ever coming up in conversation, and it seems to me that if you are going to great lenghts to escape your father, including kidnapping (or 'liberating', 'rescuing', whatever) your infant sister, the last place you'd turn both personally and as a group to ensure the safety of said sister would be a group your father has ties to. SpartHawg948 08:38, April 4, 2010 (UTC)4

From the article: "At some point Miranda approached Cerberus and joined them in exchange for protection. Miranda knew of them since her father sympathized with their human-centric agenda and was a major backer." I remember a conversation with Miranda where she stated that the only reason she knew about Cerberus was because she had overheard meetings between her father and Cerberus operatives. As to her motives, I have no idea. Bronzey 09:35, April 4, 2010 (UTC)

Brave New World
Has anyone read Brave New World? I don't want to spoil it, but the way Miranda was "created" reminds me a lot of the human manufacturing that goes on in the novel. I guess Miranda would be an Alpha +. ;)