my pony is the prettiest.

Also, I didn't find Tali tragic, I thought she was one of the most hopeful characters in the series. In a way, I aspire to be like her. Her entire life, and all she aspires to is to bring her people a better world. At the beginning of the series, she's nobody, just a teenager who gets swept up in Shepard's journey, but by the end of the Reaper war, she's a hero to the galaxy in her own right.

Favorite character? MMMph... I have a few, all amazing in their own way. I think my all time favorite was Jack, because not only was her character development tracked, tangible and explainable, but unlike some of Shepard's other crew members, she could have very well had a game or series written around her. Or, to be clearer, if that were to happen, there would have been very few similarities between Shepard and Jack's stories. This compared to, say, Garrus, who is pretty much a turian Shepard without the Spectre status. She has a very clear Paragon/Renegade personality, without falling into stereotypes, which is very unique in the ME games. Favorite romance all around, at the very least, because it feels much more developed by the end of the series.

It always irks me that she was so snubbed for her loyalty mission in ME2, and then you only get a glimpse of her in ME3. She deserved more.

Thane's another favorite, because aside from being a jewel of a character (didn't bother with him much for the first couple of playthroughs - 3rd, 4th time around? Man, I'd missed out), his Citadel-DLC romance is absolutely one of (if not the) most touching moments in the entire series.

Kasumi gets an honorable mention for her loyalty mission, which is, I think, one of the most creatively inspired missions in the series as a whole. Seriously, it's what got me into the mass effect fandom.