Ever wondered what it would be like if Commander Shepard were replaced by Michael Scott from The Office in Mass Effect? Me neither, but apparently YouTuber eli_handle_b.wav thought about it enough to edit him right into footage of the game.
Michael Scott in Mass Effect is a surprisingly natural combination, despite their disparate tones. Mass Effect is a spacefaring adventure but also an office drama, and adding in Michael Scott’s “world’s best boss” sized-ego works partially because Shepard really is that boss loved by everyone. Where Commander Shepard generally takes a serious tone, Michael Scott instead takes the piss just by being himself. Where Shepard punches reporters, Michael Scott is content to accidentally apologize for the wrong thing.
Michael Scott’s goofy reactions to space laser attacks and office romance are a perfect fit because he’s normal. Well, more normal than Shepard, at least. He gets overexcited, runs away from danger, and makes a puppet punch Joker in the face, and that’s exactly what we would do if we were space captains. My personal favorite joke is the “That’s what she said,” in the first 10 seconds, but the entire video is full of funny moments from The Office given new life by its newly serious spacefaring setting.
Michal Scott in Mass Effect is only the latest in a series of videos by eli_handle_b․wav editing movie and TV characters into video games. Kermit, Shrek, Tony Soprano, and more have been edited into different games over the course of a couple of years, and it’s quite well done.
Hopefully this The Office x Mass Effect crossover tides us all over until we finally hear something about the next Mass Effect game. At the very least, we’ll always remember Shepard and Michael’s terrible dancing.
