I'm In The Middle of Some Calibrations

About

"I'm In The Middle of Some Calibrations" is a quote from the Bioware action RPG video game Mass Effect 2. It is a catchphrase for the character Garrus Vakarian, who uses it in response to players within the game when interacted with. The phrase is also commonly preceded by "Can it wait for a bit?" or "I would, but …" The line became popular among Mass Effect fans, who characterized "calibrations" as Garrus' favorite activity in memes.

Origin

Mass Effect 2 was first released on January 26th, 2010. In the game, it's common practice to check up on characters after completing an important mission to see whether they have anything new to say.^[1] Because Garrus' events and conversations take a longer time to trigger than other characters, he will usually say the line, "Can it wait? I'm in the middle of some calibrations," more often than not when the player attempts a conversation (seen below).

Players began to use the line as a catchphrase in memes around the web shortly after release, and Garrus' love of calibrations became well known as a joke among Mass Effect fans. Although it's unknown who first referenced the quote in a meme, some of the earliest examples use the "Advice Hurt Garrus" format (in the style of Advice Animal memes). One such example was posted to LiveJournal^[2] by user Hungry Spider on February 20th, 2010 (seen below).

Spread

The theme of Garrus' calibrations continued to be referenced in memes, primarily image macros, over the following months and years.

On November 2nd, 2010, YouTuber^[3] TheREALSisko uploaded a slo-mo version of the clip from the game under the title "Calibrations – Garrus is in the middle of some," receiving over 24,700 views and 200 likes in roughly 11 years (shown below).

On March 24th, 2012, Redditor theknot_caligrl posted a webcomic referencing the catchphrase to the /r/masseffect^[4] subreddit, accumulating over 1,000 likes and 30 comments in six months (seen below).

Reference in Mass Effect 3

The meme was also referenced several times in Mass Effect 3, the sequel to the second game. On April 13th, 2012, YouTuber^[5] FluffyNinjaLlama uploaded a compilation of Garrus' lines with "calibration" in them, receiving over 85,000 views and 1,200 likes in nine years (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References