I like to head canon Indoctrination Theory and fantasize about the alternate reality where the Extended Cut was Shepard getting pulled out of the rubble after telling the star child to shove it. Then they just fight their way through the Citadel as expected and you get destroy without all of the bullshit and other secret firing modes that no one knew about. Reapers remain the Cthulu death squids and don't have to have a full DLC dedicated to damage control over how turning them into Galactic Doom Roombas was a bad idea.