User blog comment:Romig/Why Sovereign different than other reapers?/@comment-8419211-20130607133604

Well, I think Sovereign is not that different from the others, except for age. In destroy ending you can see the same red electricity which began to surround other reapers. This red electricity can be seen in time, when thresher maw kills a reaper on Tuchanka and when the fleet kills Rannoch reaper. Also, when this red electricity surround Sovereign, Joker mentioned that shields are down. So, I think that's all happening when shields are disabled.