god i go absolutely apeshit every time i think about how much garrus loved shepard like. romantically or platonically he was unconditionally loyal to the one person who showed affection toward him and who had his back no matter what. he LOVED shepard like family and would die for them over and over again and that makes me go bonkers fucking yonkers

One thing I think about every time I'm replaying ME2 is:

It actually makes Shepard even scarier is you tell the Council to shove it and don't accept the Spectre status back, doesn't it?

'Cause here's the thing: Bioware didn't sufficiently change the dialog based on that decision. There are multiple instances where they just threw in the word "former" and otherwise kept everything the same.

Think about it. Not everyone knows Shepard's face (esp in ME2 where they're dead and already a history bad movies are being filmed about), not everyone even keeps up with Council news well enough.

What do most people know? That Spectres are these scary supercops who are above most laws are can do virtually whatever they want to achieve their goals. The only famously un-spectred rogue Spectre that they maybe know of is Saren, who, uh, betrayed everyone and allied with the geth and then tried to coup the Citadel.

So when this awfully self-confident human (potentially with a scary scarred face too) rolls around and says to you, threateningly:

"You're going to 'run in' a former Spectre? I don't think so."

The biggest question that should concern any sane person would be:

WHAT THE FUCK DID THIS BITCH DO TO BE A FORMER SPECTRE