User blog comment:JordanaBrewsterFAN/Mass Effect 3 4th DLC./@comment-78.8.158.162-20130119154502/@comment-4950455-20130120104552

''Yeah, it did... while Sovereign was also being fired on by the combined power of two whole fleets. With his shields down.''

As I said, extraordinary circumstances.

And actually, now that you bring it up... I actually think that what the original poster is complaining about (Harbinger becoming mute in ME3) is directly related to one of the reasons why Cerberus played such a disproportionately large role in the game.

Consider: it's been either stated or implied - I forget - that it was a deliberate goal of the writers to make the Reapers come across as an alien and unknowable enemy in ME3, which is why they have no real personality and why ol' Harby (which does) did not speak and only appeared in a cameo. Some people have complained about this, but I think it's a perfectly valid direction to take, especially given the themes of Lovecraftian cosmicism that the Reapers draw upon. But there's still a need, as far as most players are concerned, to have some type of personified antagonist - and thus, enter Cerberus as virtual galactic superpower.