Mass Effect modder reluctantly returns missing butts to Legendary Edition

Miranda Lawson
(Image credit: BioWare)

A new mod for Mass Effect Legendary Edition has added back in the infamous Miranda Lawson butt shots—and it's been created by the same person who removed them from the original games a few years prior.

Modder Scottina123 originally pulled the fairly unnecessary rear-view camera shots in their No More Butt Shots mod back in September 2018 (thanks, Polygon). "The camera positioning for Miranda's pre-loyalty mission always annoyed me," their description for the mod reads. "She just let you in to, possibly, her greatest secret and all the camera does, by focusing on her behind, is sexualize her in a key point of character development." 

The shots which Scottina123 removed take place during a pretty emotionally heavy scene between Miranda and Shepard, where she talks about concerns for her family's safety. Rather than focusing on her face or Shepard's concerned expressions, the camera decides that her butt is the pinnacle of evocative cinematography. Bioware seemed to agree that the choice of angles was a little egregious, deciding to reframe them for this year's Legendary Edition of the trilogy. 

Now it seems Scottina123 is playing both sides of the field, putting their 2018 butt shot opinions aside in favour of releasing mods that add the camera cuts back into the Legendary Edition. There's a separate mod for restoring the shots in both Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. The modder has less to say this time, calling it a "very simple mod that restores the butt shots that Bioware removed." While I probably don't need to see Miranda's ass while she sincerely shares her family woes, it's at least nice to be given the choice. 

If Miranda isn't your Normandy beau of choice, you can always snuggle up with the recently re-released Garrus and Tali body pillows—I'm more of a Turian bad boy fan myself.

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.