lenaperseveranceoxton @lenaperseveranceoxton - Tumblr Blog

You know Overwatch's latest developments are bad when I can no longer resist the urge to unprivate my account and scream into the void. Since I hate being perceived, I'll probably delete this post soon enough, but I just have to get things off my chest.

Now, I've been in mourning ever since the Overwatch Spotlight. It angers me that Team 4 doesn't even seem to care about its long-time fans anymore; it seems like they're catering purely to the "I haven't played Overwatch in a while, but ooh, this shiny new thing might just bring me back (for a week before I drop it again)!" crowd. This is especially blatant with the release of five new heroes and the promise of an additional hero every nine weeks for the next year. In the wake of Marvel Rivals, casual gamers with low attention spans want new stuff every second. Before I deleted this account in the middle of a mental health episode (later reactivating it to squat on the blog name), I remember making a post complaining about exactly that, saying "What ever happened to playing the game because you love it?" Now, we need more skins, we need more heroes, we need more maps, we need more lore. More, more, more.

Mind you, Jeff Kaplan's philosophy was to eventually stop updating the original Overwatch, letting the PvP game exist on its own as they expanded into new grounds for the universe, such as a PvE experience. Of course, this would shrink the player base down to autists like myself who can play the same game for thousands of hours and never get bored, and it would stop bringing in money for Activision Blizzard and Microsoft, but all good things must come to an end. I would say it's better to know when to stop and end on a high note than run your universe into the ground until it stops generating money, but here we are. Overwatch used to be about quality over quantity, but now, it's just like any other live-service slop, and that alone absolutely breaks my heart.

That's not why I'm here, though. Instead, I'm here to talk about the lore. So, let's face it: Overwatch's lore has never been good. Michael Chu himself said at GDC 2017 that they had based everything off vibes after scrapping Project Titan, leading to content like a ~20-year-old Lena Oxton being pictured with a ~35-year-old Jack Morrison. At some point, I even remember either Michael Chu or Jeff Kaplan saying that Lena and Angela aged differently to justify this, rather than saying "We messed up." Lena's age is another thing that I ranted about constantly in the past. First off, it's strange for an RAF cadet to fly a prototype fighter jet in the first place, but I've always depicted this as the RAF using a teenager as propaganda. "Join us, and you might get to work with cutting-edge technology like Overwatch's OWX-01 Slipstream!" and whatnot. Still, in Lena's origin story that's only available through a reupload on YouTube, Lena says that they were missing for months. We also know that they were 26 in Overwatch 1, and Uprising took place 7 years ago. This would make them 19 on their first mission. Then, we need time for them to reappear, time for Winston to invent the chronal accelerator, time for them to *adjust* to said chronal accelerator, and time to *start* training to become an Overwatch agent. Since you have to be 17.5 to enlist in the RAF, this means that Lena had a very busy year and a half at most.

Well, Overwatch 2 comes along with an inexplicable two-year time skip after Winston's recall that kills the flow of the narrative entirely. (Again, I've ranted about this in the past. Reflections, Bastet, Valkyrie, What You Left Behind, New Blood #1, and Reunion all seem to flow into one another, as if they're all taking place in the same December-January range. At numerous points, Winston's recall and everyone's hesitance to answer are mentioned. Then... nothing. Two years later, Noah Tremblay tells Vivian Chase that CSIS sure was struggling to decrypt this broadcast from Overwatch's emergency frequency! (I know that in Blizzard's canon, the recall and the emergency broadcast are two different things, but the broadcast is what wakes Mei up from cryostasis, and she apparently went off on her own for a while for ecological activism purposes after showing up at Watchpoint: Gibraltar.) With this time skip, Uprising would have been 9 years ago instead of 7 years ago, but in the in-game Story Missions menu's timeline, it says 10 years ago, for some reason? (Despite this, the latest "Reign of Talon" cinematic correctly says that Antonio Bartalotti was killed 10 years ago.) If Lena is 28 in Overwatch 2, this would mean that they were now **18** in Uprising, which obviously doesn't make sense. Now, despite Lena's "I was missing for months!" line in their origin story, Overwatch: Declassified suddenly says that Lena was in a state of chronal displacement for two years and did not age during this time. I think this was done to rectify the fact that they would have needed to do all that I just listed before Uprising, but even if we assume that Lena is *chronologically* 30 and biologically 28 (Mei's age is similarly listed on Overwatch's website as 33, despite the fact that she is chronologically ~42)... it really doesn't? It's not like they would have been able to do much, such as train to become an Overwatch agent, while disassociated for two years.

Then, we have the Null Sector's invasion. So, our three Story Missions all seem to take place in the same few days, and it's even snowing in Toronto at this time. At the end of Ironclad, we get a scene where Widowmaker and Sombra show up to capture Zenyatta. Based off a cutscene from Blizzcon 2021, we know that Genji should swoop in to save him, and that's when we start the mission in India. Instead, we hear that "Months into Null Sector's global invasion," Widowmaker and Sombra bring Zenyatta to Ramattra in King's Row. There is no mention of any conflict with Overwatch to bring him in, and then, just like that, Ramattra lets him go. Then, we also have the Together comic, which takes place at the end of the year of Null Sector's global invasion. Somehow, despite Secretary-general Osei's threatening message in the Story Missions menu, the United Nations is suddenly fine with the vigilantes of the new Overwatch. Apparently, amid the festivities at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, the conflict with Null Sector *is* still going on, but there's just enough time for all our heroes to come together with all their families. Aww, how thoughtful of Ramattra! But where will Null Sector's invasion go next? Hold on, someone's calling me. ("Yes? Hello? Oh... I see...") Well, everyone. I regret to inform you all that Null Sector's forces have all retreated. It's true. Captain Vivian Chase has just announced it in front of the United Nations. We can all rest now.

So, Null Sector may be gone, but what about that deal that Ramattra struck with Akande "Doomfist" Ogundimu at the end of Storm Rising? Although we never hear what it entails, I assume that it was something along the lines of "I want to plunge humanity into conflict to make us stronger, you want to plunge humanity into conflict to expedite our extinction... want to join forces and see what happens first?" "Sure thing, let me just kidnap as many omnics as possible and house them in an uncharted omnium (that Anubis somehow built on its own) in Antarctica so that they're not caught in the crossfire first." Naturally, with Null Sector's retreat, it should be Akande's time to uphold his end of the deal, with Null Sector's mindless troopers providing backup. Here it comes, everyone! Akande has finally overthrown Vialli's place as Talon's leader, and he has a war to start!

Ugh, this damn phone won't stop ringing. ("What's up? Oh, Antonio Bartalotti's daughter, who we only just learned existed four months ago, wants her rightful place as Talon's leader? That's cool, but let's pump the brakes on that and see what the great Doomfist will do first... What do you mean she just bested him in a fight and threw him out a window?") Huh. Well, that was unexpected.

I know people have been rightfully outraged over Blizzard killing one of their only Black characters during Black History Month (even if we know that Akande's not actually dead), but that's not even the half of it. I don't know how many of you have actually been around since May 2016, if not sooner, but let's not forget that Akande started as a **MacGuffin**. His gauntlet existed as a plot device, but the thought of a hero that wields a giant gauntlet capable of leveling a skyscraper was so cool that players just *needed* to have him in-game. I actually only just had this thought in the aftermath of the "Reign of Talon" cinematic, but it's crazy to think how different Overwatch's lore would be without him. As of the 2014 Cinematic, he wasn't anything more than a gauntlet. Sure, Talon still existed, so Reaper and Widowmaker were probably meant to be operating under Augusto Vialli, even if we now know that they were likely attempting to capture the gauntlet so that it was ready for Akande when they broke him out of prison. (I think the 2014 Cinematic, like most Overwatch lore, is stupid, but this is just another case of Team 4 basing everything off vibes. Also see: Akande being the only Doomfist whose existence actually makes sense (being an heir to a prosthetics company, losing his arm in the Crisis, and all), with the other two existing only because Chris Metzen thought a generational handle would be cool.) Then, through the Retribution event in 2018 and the Storm Rising event in 2019, we see Akande's rise to power within Talon.

Real quick, I just want to note that many people are saying that Akande was dumbed down in his cinematic to make way for a new character, but I want to argue that this also goes for Lena. How do you anticipate the movements of a character with the power to manipulate their place in time and space? I still hold the opinion that it would have been more in character for both Lena and Akande if Akande had just waited for Lena to tire themself out, even if he doesn't know that the chronal accelerator has a "cooldown". (I think it should, as lore states that the accelerator "channels" an unknown energy to keep Lena in the present. We even see the chronal accelerator "turn off" in the 2014 Cinematic-- I assume it reserves some energy just to keeping Lena grounded, allowing them to use the rest to Blink, Recall, or even reload their pulse pistols. (I headcanon that the pulse pistols use non-lethal pulse ammunition, which we know canonically exists because Jack uses it against UN Peacekeepers in Lucky Man, that can be restored with this unknown energy, removing the need to reload normally. At the part of the 2014 cinematic where Lena loses energy, the spinning part of their pistols pop out, its lights going dark.))

That actually brings me to another point. Let's talk about our three Archive missions. I think all three missions have problems, some of which stem from things needing to be interesting from a gameplay perspective. First off, Retribution. My biggest problem with Retribution is actually the aftermath. While Blizzard has constantly contradicted themselves on this point, I personally think that Blackwatch was established by request of Gabriel Reyes after the success of his clandestine operations with Gerard Lacroix and Cole Cassidy using the funding received as Overwatch transitioned to becoming an engine of innovation "over ten years after the Crisis" (per "Valkyrie"). This gives the covert ops branch around six years before the Venice Incident, which sounds about right, given their first major mission was to take down the Shimada Clan, leading to the recruitment of Genji Shimada. Now, something worth noting is that it's initially Dr. Angela Ziegler who serves as Blackwatch's lead medic, but after she objects to coercing Genji into becoming a living weapon, Jack allows her to stop answering to Blackwatch and tells Gabriel to find someone else. From the way I see it, after Dr. Ziegler's departure from the covert ops division, Jack doesn't know anything else that went on within Blackwatch besides the results. This way, should shit ever hit the fan, he *is* given some plausible deniability-- and Gabriel actually states as much before Jack interrogates him on the Venice Incident. ("You sure you want to hear about this, Jack?" / "You haven’t left me much choice." / "What ever happened to ‘plausible deniability?’" / "Little late for that. Tell me what actually happened.") This is why Jack and Angela don't even know about Moira's recruitment until it's too late. (Of course, if you have seen my past posts, you know that Jack is my second favorite Overwatch character. I'm not trying to say "He's my sweet little peepaw that can do no wrong," though. This *does* make him complicit, and Moira does rightfully call him out on it in a non-canon interaction in the original Overwatch. ("You were a disgrace to Overwatch. If I had known what Reyes had been planning, I would have never allowed it." / "It seems to me that it was convenient for you not to look too closely into Gabriel's business.")) That's exactly one of my biggest problems with the aftermath of the Venice Incident-- as canon has it, Gabriel was literally hiring mercenaries and criminals. Realistically, the only people that I could see staying in Blackwatch after its exposure are Gabriel himself (I suppose Jack would use their shared status as legendary war heroes and the fact that Gabriel knows Talon better than anyone to keep him from major legal repercussions), Gerard Lacroix, Cole Cassidy, and Genji Shimada. (Not only did Blackwatch put a ton of money into rebuilding Genji, but it would be morally bankrupt to cast him aside after turning him into a living weapon to take down his family's clan. Dr. Angela Ziegler would know as much, and Jack Morrison would concede.) This, on its own, means that Blackwatch shouldn't really be standing after the United Nations finds out about its existence, but instead, it's simply "placed under heavy sanctions." We hear Lena comment during Storm Rising that it must be hard for Overwatch to gather intelligence with Blackwatch sidelined, and they ask Genji if he still talks to his friends from Blackwatch, implying that its members are still around or reachable in some form. All in all, I think that Blackwatch shouldn't exist after the Venice Incident, and Gabriel should henceforth dedicate himself to containing the mess that he had made with Talon.

Now, before we get into Uprising, let me restate that Lena needs time before their first mission (even if it's before they officially "graduate" alongside Winston and Genji) to adjust to the chronal accelerator. Honestly, it's insane to me that we never hear Lena's reaction to the Venice Incident *in general*, but in my rewrite, Lena is still adjusting to their chronal accelerator (or spatiotemporal modulator, as I've coined it, at least for the time being) when it happens. By this point, they would have asked Jack Morrison if they and Winston could train to become Overwatch agents, and knowing they had nowhere else to go and carrying the guilt of allowing the Slipstream Incident to happen, Jack would agree. So, by the time of the Venice Incident, Lena finds out that the organization that they idolized had this secret dark side, and their childhood hero was the one who signed off on it. Specifically, I envision that they see the news on the TVs in the Overwatch Headquarters' cafeteria while getting breakfast with Winston the morning after the incident and storm off to isolate themself. Concerned, Winston tells Dr. Angela Ziegler, who then tells Jack. Jack comes by to apologize and explain himself, Lena lashes out at him, saying things they don't entirely mean before shutting down once more, and he leaves them be. A few days later, Jack comes back to suggest that they start training, though he adds that while he doesn't want to force them into anything they're not comfortable with, he would like them to train alongside suspended Blackwatch agent Genji Shimada. After some convincing from Dr. Ziegler and Winston, Lena agrees, and when Jack (still somewhat mistrustful of Genji) tells them to come to him if he gives them any trouble, Lena dismisses his concern with "Okay, *Dad*." Although this use of "Dad," is sarcastic, Lena notices the flushed reaction that it gets out of Jack and continues to use it more and more until it becomes nothing but sincere. (My rewritten Lena's father dies in the initial attacks of the Omnic Crisis when they're just four months old. They grow up with a well-meaning but traumatized mother who isolates herself and them before slowly succumbing to a dependency on alcohol. Emily moves into town in Year 10, Lena starts sneaking out of the house to be with her, they get a piercing on their left ear for their sixteenth birthday, Lena's mother accuses them of falling in with a gang and demands that they sort their life out, and a career fair at the end of Year 11 leads to them pursuing an apprenticeship with the RAF, both for the promise of on-base housing and the hope that it could provide the same sort of structure and camaraderie that Overwatch seems to offer. Despite her emotional negligence, Lena's mother loses it over their supposed death, and she is promptly arrested and institutionalized. This brings Lena more in line with their parentless Overwatch comrades and makes it easier to justify the all-but-legally adoptive father figure that I want Jack to become, though I'd like to imagine that Lena eventually hears back from their mother at some point during or even after the "Recall" era and has it in their heart to forgive her, even if she remains in assisted living for the rest of her life. Since Overwatch is only down for around two years in my rewrite as opposed to seven, this would make Lena around 23 during the Recall. I've de-aged just about every other character by five years from Overwatch 2's ages, as well, though some ages have been modified for other reasons. I digress, but what did you expect from "lenaperseveranceoxton"?)

So, in my timeline, I think I want the Omnic Crisis to start on July 1st, 2054, **12:00 UTC**, and end on March 16th, 2056. I chose the first date because it simply felt the most "scheduled" date for a middle-of-the-year attack by an omniscient A.I. Although it's summer, making it so that a lot of people would be out of school or work, it explains why Vivian Chase is on leave with Valentine (to celebrate Canada Day), even if it taking place at 7:00 EDT means that I have to rewrite the events of the Sojourn novel, which is fine by me, as I have my own issues with what goes down on Vivian's first day of the Crisis that I won't get into here. I chose the second date because Overwatch's Uprising is said to take place "twenty-seven days after the eve of the signing of historic peace accords," and was released on April 11th, 2017. Therefore, since March 15th is twenty-seven days before April 11th, the Omnic Crisis ended on March 16th. Because of this, Unity Day also falls on March 16th in *my* rewrite, even if Blizzard never said when Unity Day came to be in their canon. Speaking of which, after much analysis, I **really** hate the London Calling comics and don't consider any of them canon (Kace's punk ass better not come to the game), but the comic is somewhat unclear on what the order of Mondatta's appearance in King's Row is. He's *there* to speak with Parliament about human-omnic tensions, but it's unclear whether he addresses the crowd outside Meridian Theater before speaking to Parliament or after. Therefore, I'm saying that he's assassinated the night before-- March 15th, 2076. Call me corny for incorporating "Beware the Ides of March" into an assassination, but it's just too good to pass up. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. So, I think I want the Slipstream Incident to happen on April 27th, 2072. 18-year-old Lena Oxton disappears for a few *days*, and Athena flags an anomaly in security footage of Overwatch Headquarters' airstrip. Jack watches the footage back, unmistakably sees a ghostly blue figure resembling Lena wandering around, crying out for help, and falling to their knees before disappearing once more, and discusses the reappearance with the lead designer of the Slipstream. The lead designer says that she wouldn't even know where to start, but since she had been getting messages from Winston, who had watched the test flight from Watchpoint: Gibraltar, with theories about what had happened to the jet and its pilot, she suggests Jack bring him on the case. Winston immediately packs his things from Watchpoint: Gibraltar, moves into the medical wing of Overwatch Headquarters (where Lena is secured in a sterile containment chamber), and gets to work on a solution. This gives Winston a few **months** of work until the spatiotemporal modulator is in a state where it's working and Lena can wear it as a harness in early August. Then, as I mentioned before, Jack allows Lena and Winston to start training to become Overwatch agents, but first, Lena has to report to Overwatch Headquarters' training facility to ensure the spatiotemporal modulator's stability, and Winston needs to go on a new regimen for his Space Gorilla Bones™️. Therefore, Dr. Mina Liao's death (which I think should happen because Antonio Bartalotti fears what Overwatch will be capable of with Project Echo, even if Blizzard themselves never gave a reason for the attack) happens in mid-August 2072, followed by the Venice Incident two weeks later in late August or early September 2072. (I'll decide on exact dates later, okay? Also, I know that Retribution has multiple interactions about the team being upset that they missed Carnevale, but I don't think that **confirms** that it should take place in February.) So, Lena agrees to start training with Winston and Genji Shimada under Captain Vivian Chase in early September 2072, and Null Sector's uprising starts on March 16th, 2073.

That's right! It's finally time to talk about Uprising. Can you believe it? Took me long enough... Anyway, I think that the events of the playable Uprising mission are stupid. You're telling me that Null Sector apparently took Mayor Nandah and dozens of other humans hostage and locked them in a fortified power plant for twenty-seven days? What about food, water, and even going to the bathroom? I don't care if Gavin Jurgens-Fhyrie, who literally doesn't even write for Overwatch anymore, said that one of Ramattra's friends was in that power plant. It still doesn't make sense for Null Sector, of all extremist groups, to take hostages. Therefore, I think it makes more sense for Mayor Nandah and Tekhartha Mondatta to get out of the initial chaos at the groundbreaking event alive, but there's no way to get them out of the city without putting their lives in danger. Therefore, they shelter in place, and like the thousands of other residents of King's Row (I guess King's Cross? I can't lie; I've never really been a fan of Overwatch's fictionalized versions of real-life locations. Saying that whole cities like Numbani or Oasis were erected in previously empty pieces of land is one thing, but come on. Eichenwalde existed for centuries before it was abandoned? Go ahead. Point to Eichenwalde on a map), they live off whatever meager support circulates throughout the city. I guess it makes sense why Jack would keep Overwatch out of London for 27 whole days, given the fact that he can't afford another scandal, but I feel like even that might be too long. Surely, Ana Amari and especially Dr. Angela Ziegler would start stressing that people are going to start dying of hunger, thirst, and disease by day 7. Ah, well. I'll settle on something eventually. My point is that I'm not saying that sending Lena, who hasn't even graduated yet, on a mission such as stopping Null Sector's uprising is completely farfetched. I envision that they were born and raised in Brixton, as opposed to King's Row/Cross (which Jack says is their home turf in-game), but I think it would still hit close enough to home for them to implore him to let them fight so that less people end up like their father (in my rewrite). Now, it does seem reckless for Jack to send a freshly nineteen-year-old cadet into the heat of battle here, but I envision that by this point, Lena had already sustained an injury from a sparring match (the one seen in the Uprising comic) with an angry, cheating Genji and learned that they could undo it with Recall (before humbling said angry, cheating Genji in a rematch, earning his respect), giving him *some* peace of mind about their safety. Not only that, but he sends them into battle with none other than fellow Omnic Crisis legends Reinhardt Wilhelm and Torbjorn Lindholm, as well as Dr. Angela Ziegler, the combat medic who had already been taking care of them since their initial reappearances after the Slipstream Incident. Therefore, I think that **in lore**, the Uprising mission should be deactivating Null Sector's anti-aircraft systems and rescuing Mayor Nandah and Tekhartha Mondatta, based off intelligence from Cole Cassidy regarding where they had been holed up. Lena can play scout, Torbjorn can be the one who deactivates the anti-aircraft systems, and Reinhardt and Angela can be the ones who get everyone home safe. Then, once the anti-aircraft systems are disabled, Overwatch can get reinforcements into the city and shut Null Sector down once and for all. It's as simple as that. Then, while Mayor Nandah and the nameless English prime minister butt heads about Overwatch's presence in their city in the messy political aftermath, Lena's role as an Overwatch agent comes into question, revealing their survival of the Slipstream Incident to the public. From there, I think it only makes sense for Lena to be a part of a public relations campaign restoring Overwatch's image, as they are in Blizzard's canon.

Okay, time for another detour. So, Overwatch's Storm Chaser comic shows that Lena and Winston took part in operations against the Deep Sea Raiders, but I don't think that Overwatch's fight against the Deep Sea Raiders even makes sense. After the Uprising, I don't think Jack would send either Lena or Winston, neither of whom read as killers to me, on missions to neutralize faceless grunts in hostage situations. Instead, I think he would send them on search and rescue missions much like we see Freja go on in the aforementioned comic, wanting to shield them from the horrors of what being an Overwatch agent is **really** like. I feel like this would preserve two big character beats: first off, since Lena and Winston never take part in kidnappings, assassinations, and such, it would explain why they would be naive enough to want Overwatch back. Secondly, it preserves the beat of Vivian Chase insisting that Lena has grown as a leader to Jack in Storm Rising. While she doesn't want to exploit their unique cases to turn them into living weapons, I think she would see potential in her agents where Jack sees **kids**. Point being, Lena and Winston rescuing hostages? Yay! Killing people? Nay. I think fictional writers have become too desensitized to how much killing another living being-- another human, especially-- really messes with the brain. (I'm looking at you, Nancy Wheeler in Stranger Things.) At least until the Recall era, where they might not have any other choice if it means saving someone else, I want Lena and Winston to keep their hands clean. Yeah, I'm infantilizing these trained soldiers for a global paramilitary organization backed by the United Nations. What are you going to do about it? (Live Jack Morrison Reaction)

As for the "Overwatch v. Deep Sea Raiders" conflict itself, Blizzard's canon says that the fighting dragged on for years, and the Deep Sea Raiders were apparently just better than Overwatch in aquatic warfare... I'm sorry? A global paramilitary organization backed by the United Nations with limitless funding... outclassed by ecoterrorists? Like, at least with Talon, they're arms dealers with connections to corrupt politicians and everything. Sure, the Deep Sea Raiders have guns themselves, but what do you mean that Overwatch didn't have the technology or military know-how to best a group of ecoterrorists (loosely spread out with their own branches across Polynesia) in aquatic warfare? Then, rather than have the fighting stop with Overwatch's dissolution, the Polynesian League apparently just said "All right, y'all, we've seen enough. We're gonna have to ask you to leave." In fact, in one operation, since he wasn't enough of a villain already, Gabriel Reyes got fourteen civilians killed in one operation, leading to Emre Sarioglu's departure from Overwatch. What a joke. How **I** think this should have been handled is that Emre should have left Overwatch after the Venice Incident (especially when he finds out about Genji Shimada, who *he* helped retrieve), and the Deep Sea Raiders should have already been losing by the time Overwatch Headquarters goes up in smoke, leading to their dormant state by the present day. But what do I know?

Now, onto Storm Rising. Out of the three Archives missions, I think that this is the worst. Despite Overwatch being under heavy scrutiny after the Venice Incident, you're telling me that **Vivian Chase**, not even the now disgraced Jack Morrison or Gabriel Reyes, approved a mission where her strike team of oddities would violently stop a convoy of nine trucks escorting their target out of Havana in the wake of an approaching hurricane (whose trajectory doesn't make any scientific sense) and proceed to go on a wild goose chase throughout the city for their target on foot, fighting through an army of Talon troopers just as Blackwatch had two years ago? No way. Even if Talon had people within the government of Havana, Overwatch would absolutely have no choice but to try and do things by the book, just like Jack had suggested with Bartalotti before letting Gabriel make the final call. What's even worse is that we're supposed to believe that Talon just deployed dozens of soldiers in response to Overwatch's attempted apprehension of Maximilien, only for them to have no idea what happened to him once the fighting was over? It's not like Akande knew Overwatch would be targeting Maximilien and told him to sell him out to keep up appearances, either-- Blizzard's Maximilien is clearly terrified of him finding out as much and was clearly looking for a way out before it was too late for him. (It sure is convenient that Vendetta came into the picture, though!)

As a side note, remember that post I made after I had found Maximilien voice lines in the files that basically confirmed a PvE, or potentially even PvPvE, escort mission where Overwatch rescued him from Talon? It might be up on the Wayback Machine, if anything, but I'm too ashamed of my past self to go looking for it. Still, Blizzard made me look like a fool when that never came to fruition. I guess things changed once Vendetta came along, but if so, why bring Stéphane Cornicard back into the booth so soon? (For Maximilien's Vault, of course. I love live-service slop!)

Back to Storm Rising. So, what I think should have happened here wouldn't have worked as a playable mission, but I think that Vivian and her strike team of new faces that spelled a hopeful redemption arc for Overwatch's future should have worked with Havana's government based off intel gathered from Gabriel Reyes, Cole Cassidy, and potentially even Gerard Lacroix, should he still be alive by then. Government officials would have summoned Maximilien to answer for something related to Don Rumbotico (I haven't decided yet), he would have walked in without backup to keep up appearances, thinking that he could silver tongue his way out of whatever they throw at him, only to be met with Captain Chase and Company™️. He's taken into Overwatch custody, asked about Akande and Talon, and let go before anyone even notices he's gone. I know it sounds strange for him to walk free if Overwatch has evidence of wrongdoing, but I think they would have justified it as "If we lock him up, he's as good as dead." Thus, they tell the government of Havana that they'll take it from there, freeze his assets, limit his travel, place him under heavy surveillance, and even give Don Rumbotico back to its rightful owner, Alicia Díaz. (I know Maximilien still owns Don Rumbotico in Blizzard's canon, but I like the idea of this change both for it appeasing the people of Havana enough to let Maximilien walk free and let him bluff like "Oh, that distillery? It no longer served any use to our operations." It feels more fitting to throw a character like him a curveball like that.)

Then, we have Akande's arrest. So, the "Reign of Talon" cinematic has me feeling especially pissed off about how Blizzard has fumbled Akande time and time again. (I don't even "like" villains. Ever since I was a child, I've always gravitated towards heroic characters, but I can still recognize that he is an important piece to the universe that deserves so much better than what any writer, new or old, ever gave him.) I've already mentioned how it doesn't feel characteristic for him to defeat Lena in the way that he does, but I feel like it doesn't even make sense for him to put up a fight against Overwatch in the first place. Sure, it helps that I'm saying that he's already hired ex-Blackwatch personnel to help him overthrow Vialli and work for him, but even in Blizzard's canon, he's made a deal with Ramattra. I'm also currently envisioning that he was in Singapore to make a deal with Sanjay Korpal. We even know that he has moles in Helix Security once he's transferred into their custody after Overwatch's disbandment. Basically, I think it's the most fitting for Overwatch to send *multiple* strike teams to take him in, with Captain Chase and Company™️being at the helm of the operation and the face of the perp walk. This way, Akande knows that he's already won, and Overwatch has the same feeling that they did when they recovered Amélie in Blizzard's canon: "This was too easy." Bonus points if Akande *really* sizes up Lena and Winston like "This is the best Overwatch has to offer these days?", strengthening a future confrontation after they recall Overwatch. (I do really like the idea of Winston using his Primal Rage for the first time **since the uprising on the Horizon Lunar Colony** in a fight with Akande, especially to save Lena, and being ashamed of how he lost control, but now's not the time.)

Again, I'm not really sure *when* I want Storm Rising to happen in my rewrite. I've had to compress everything for the sake of narrative momentum, and I do have to find a healthy balance between how long it takes Reinhardt to retire after Uprising, how long it takes for Storm Rising and Akande's arrest to happen, how long it takes for Ana Amari's death to happen, and how long it takes for Overwatch Headquarters to blow up, but I think that it shows a lot more of a clear "cause-and-effect" within the overarching narrative. Cole Cassidy himself says that the Venice Incident is where everything started to go wrong, so why does Overwatch continue to flounder for another two years or so? Why does it take so long for Doomfist to break out of prison? For Winston and Lena to recall Overwatch? Above all else, since it falls so quickly in my timeline, Overwatch's disbandment leaves an image of Lena getting just a taste of family and belonging, only to have it violently ripped from their grasp. To get to Overwatch's disbandment, though, there's still one more event that I have to cover: the passing of the Petras Act.

While I haven't decided on a solid date for Overwatch Headquarters' destruction, I was thinking that it would take place around May to July of 2074. Jack Morrison, Gabriel Reyes, and Cole Cassidy are caught in the blast, but every other hero that we know and love is stationed elsewhere. (This means that Cole loses his arm with the tattoo connecting him to his old family and his two dads connecting him to his new family in one fell swoop. Heartbreaking. 💔.) Then, after months of hearings, Overwatch would officially be disbanded on September 21st, 2074-- the International Day of Peace, as well as Overwatch's twentieth anniversary. This way, Overwatch is formed months into the Omnic Crisis as "This is our answer to restore peace to the world," and the Petras Act is passed as "Overwatch has out served its purpose, and the world will be more peaceful without it." Of course, since I'm having Winston recall Overwatch in late 2076, I do fear that I've made things too formulaic with the Omnic Crisis happening between 2054 and 2056 and Overwatch being gone between 2074 and 2076, but we ball. (I decided that Overwatch would be recalled in 2076 because of Michael Chu's original statement from way back in 2016 that Overwatch takes place sixty years in the future. Under this presumption, due to its inexplicable two-year time skip, Overwatch 2's Story Missions would have started in 2078, and since the Story Mission's timeline menu says that the Omnic Crisis started 28 years ago, that means that the Omnic Crisis started in 2050. Since I didn't want Overwatch to be down so long, rather than having Winston recall it sooner, I shifted the entire timeline of events forward by four years instead. This way, Winston still recalls Overwatch in late 2076, but everything actually happens in 2077, which is obviously, unequivocally just the best year for the best sci-fi stories to take place in. (/sarcasm))

Now, I could go into just how poorly written London Calling is, such as how we never hear about what happened to the police that were lining up outside The Underworld just before Lena got shot, how Lena got shot just because the writers didn't know how to wrap up the revolution subplot and thought it would be profound for Lena to finally be able to take a bullet for someone, how Kace got away despite the aforementioned police outside The Underworld, how Winston got from Watchpoint: Gibraltar to London with his armor, Tesla Cannon, Jump Pack, and Barrier Projector, how Lena has their pulse pistols in Alive despite it canonically being taken away in Declassified, and so on, but until Kace shows up as a new hero in-game because one person on Twitter made everyone suddenly pretend to care about this ugly bum, I don't think anyone really cares about such trivial third-party media, anyway. London Calling nor Alive (meaning Lena's fight with Widowmaker, not Mondatta's assassination) just don't exist in my eyes. Instead, Lena is allowed to visit Watchpoint: Gibraltar *with Emily* for periodic maintenance on their spatiotemporal modulator, and after Doomfist's gauntlet is reported missing, Winston pleads with Lena to help him recall Overwatch. Lena and Emily agree, and the next time that they visit, they pack all their things from London and never go back. That's right! I'm keeping Emily at Watchpoint: Gibraltar in my rewrite! RAHHHH! 🌈🌈🌈🌈 *Ahem.* Besides the aforementioned events of Bastet, Valkyrie, What You Left Behind, New Blood #1, Reunion, and so on, that's about it for my rewrite. I don't think things like Dragon Slayer, Mission Statement, and Destroyer matter at all. Again, why did Overwatch need to be down for seven or eight years? Whatever. Water under the bridge.

It's time that I talked about what brought me here to begin with: the new writers' direction for the lore. I forget how long I've been gone from this hellsite, so I can't recall if I was here for Lost Ghosts and Lucky Man, but needless to say, it pissed me off. Jack and Ana have been apart for years. They are literally about as sibling-coded as you can get for an emotional relationship between two people who aren't blood related. Jack argued with Ana and stormed out of her hideout in Egypt before coming to the conclusion that he needs her in Bastet. Hell, Jack even gets wounded in Lost Ghosts, and then, he decides "Okay, Ana, our missions don't align anymore. I'm leaving now. Byeeee! :)" What does he do next? He meets Sombra in Zurich, only to realize "My informant's been this Talon hacker that I knew about and swore to bring down just back in Valkyrie! Grr, I can't believe I've been duped like this!" (How did Jack know Sombra by name in Valkyrie anyway?), and then, this Talon hacker sends him to meet some eighteen-year-old girl in Peru.

All right, now, I hate to single out one person from the new writing team, but Joshi Zhang. Come on. Your first character ever was Illari, and she immediately has this central importance to the overarching narrative with The Conspiracy? Somehow, I doubt an eighteen-year-old Peruvian girl was core to Michael Chu's vision for the cabal behind Overwatch's destruction, but hey, who am I to say? I guess I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there, but then, we have a quirky nineteen-year-old girl who was born on Mars and left for Earth to find help for her family back home amid... space storms or whatever. How lucky for her, though! Athena, Overwatch's old security A.I. that Winston is likely running a localized instance of from Watchpoint: Gibraltar just detected her falling out of the sky and landing in Mexico! Okay, Lena and Winston, time to fly to Mexico to retrieve her and bring her to Watchpoint: Gibraltar. What's that? One of her parents is friends with Mei-Ling Zhou? What a pleasant surprise! She just so happens to be at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, too! (Don't even get me started on that weird short story where Mei and Juno head to China to speak with Dr. Chao from Lucheng Interstellar. What was the point of any of that?) Then, we have Wuyang and Anran, two students from "Water College" and "Fire College" from "Wuxing University" (because there's just an entire Avatar: the Last Airbender college based off an ancient Chinese philosophy that exists in this universe now). Wuyang and Anran fought against Null Sector in a comic, and that's cool. It's always nice to see how people separate from the Overwatch vs. Null Sector and Talon arc are affected by the narrative, I guess. (Ring ring! Ring ring!) Hold on, let me get this one second. ("What is it this time? What do you mean Winston invited this 19-year-old Water College student and his older sister to his vigilante group in Watchpoint: Gibraltar by putting Overwatch coins under the doors to their dorm rooms? Am I going insane? Why does no one see how crazy this is? No, you talk to a therapist!") Right, so um... I can't say that I'm a fan of either of these characters, the whole controversy about Anran looking eerily similar to our other East Asian heroes in-game aside.

I especially hate Wuyang, though. No disrespect to his voice actor Howard Wang, but his character is obnoxious. I know I'm one to talk as a Tracer kinnie, as I've heard many complaints about their voice over the years, but I actually can't stand his voice in-game. "I'm so ready! Come at me!", "It's all in good fun, right?" Okay, Deku. My Hero Academia is down the hall and to the left. (I guess I have more of a problem with whoever *wrote* Wuyang and whoever *directed* Howard Wang. At the very least, he's not putting on a piss-poor accent that makes him sound like Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Jen Cohn.) Additionally, Wuyang's writing is just so run-of-the-mill. Upon his release, Joshi Zhang wrote a whole thing on Twitter about how much it meant to them to put their struggles as an Asian American into a character who feels equally pressured by strict parents and whatnot, and I know it's not really my place to be talking as a White American, but um... is Overwatch really the universe for this? Like, hasn't Pixar been doing this whole shtick, to no one's enjoyment, for the past decade now? Literally, what makes Wuyang stand out from every other character that falls under this same trope? Even in his cinematic where he spars with Anran, he does this Chai from Hi-Fi Rush thing where he imagines being cheered on by a crowd of adoring fans and fighting alongside Overwatch. You see, the endearing thing about Chai is that he starts out as a self-centered slacker but emotionally matures over the course of the game with the help of his new friends. Aside from his forced "smol anime boi" awkwardness and not being able to get into "Fire College," Wuyang doesn't have any actual character flaws. He immediately gets to join Overwatch, no questions asked. I despise his entire existence. I want him and his sister gone, so it puts a bad taste in my mouth when Overwatch releases a trailer for the upcoming season with Anran as the "main character" representing Overwatch (with Winston literally just doing his sitting emote beside her at one point, literally taking the backseat). It feels like all of the characters that I know and love have been Flanderized and turned into nothing but narrative tools to make way for the newer writers' OCs, and that hurts like you wouldn't believe.

Obviously, I touched upon this before with Vendetta. She showed up, like, four months ago, we get story after story about how she's doing just about everything that Doomfist did. She threatens Maximilien, she makes a deal with someone from Vishkar, she moves her chess pieces, whatever. (I know he's still in Talon *for the time being*, but Domina just feels like Sanjay Korpal 2. Why is she here?) Then, she shows up at Doomfist's doorstep while he's holding a meeting with his inner circle (who just so happen to be in the forms of holograms just this once), but first, we hear Sombra, who knows everything about everyone, exclaim "We don't know anything about her! Eek, she's so scary!" Then, lastly, Doomfist obviously gets folded like a lawn chair. I think the funniest part of the cinematic for me is how he holds his hand out and charges at her like "RAHHHHH!" before she just Dying Light Grapples him out of the window. What was he cooking?

Before I get to the newer hero releases, let me go through *every* Overwatch hero release since Overwatch 2, and I'll discuss my problems with each of them.

Sojourn? I absolutely adore her. As I touched upon before, I do have problems with, say, how her first day of the Omnic Crisis is portrayed. In fact, I find that the "Overwatch 2: Sojourn" novel bastardized a lot of things regarding the Omnic Crisis in general. That said, while I think that Overwatch as a game was better off with fewer heroes to choose from, Vivian was an important addition to Overwatch both as an organization and a universe, and I wouldn't change too much about her. In fact, I think that one of my biggest problems with her is that her backstory says that even with the slew of autoimmune disorders slowly destroying her body, she traveled the world because both of her parents were in the military. Personally, I think it would be stronger if her father had traveled the world, whereas her mother had stayed home to take care of her and Valentine. Since she's able-bodied, Valentine would find her place in Toronto, whereas Vivian would be stuck in bed, hearing stories about all the places that her father's been and all the things that he's done, and she would want to follow in his footsteps. I don't know how her writers settled on anything else, really.

Now, hot take? I don't hate Kiriko is a concept. I think it's interesting to have someone who was close to the Shimadas, whose parents and even *community* directly benefitted from the Shimada Clan's protection, only for them to inadvertently be thrust into hardship after Blackwatch took the clan down. Obviously, the biggest issue with Kiriko is her age. I don't think she even has to be bumped up in age by too much-- I think her relationship with Genji could work even if she was, say, eight years younger than him. Sixteen is absurd. However, as someone who hates a lot of Overwatch's more "magic" abilities, such as Zenyatta's whole deal, I'd rather that she just led the Yōkai with her kunai and a dream. That's about it, though. I don't really care for her otherwise.

I like Junker Queen's vibes (when she's more like her cinematic and less like "DOCTOR, HAVE I REALLY GOTTA EAT VEGETABLES? IT'S LIKE 'CRUNCH! CRUNCH, CRUNCH!' HOW LONG HAVE I GOT TO CHEW THESE?"), but her story makes no sense when you try to place her into a timeline. (I could honestly do without Junkertown as a whole. Fun fact about my feelings toward Junkrat, in particular: before the Alive cinematic got me into Overwatch, I saw a screenshot from a closed beta of Junkrat on the hero select screen for defense on Hanamura, and I thought "Man, people really want to play a game with freakishly ugly characters like this?" (I was very much one of those Team Fortress 2 players who hated all the talk about Overwatch being a "TF2 Killer.") He's still ugly, and I don't care if former writer Justin Groot tried to turn him into a misunderstood genius. I still hate him. I've also always hated Roadhog *especially* because of his old hook and his "cheap" gameplay, but I also just get the ick from the way that he waddles around, grunting, coughing, and even farting all over the place. Neither Jamison nor Mako feel "cohesive" with the rest of the Overwatch universe, either. If I had to guess, it seems like Jamison's father could have died while fighting in the Omnic Crisis, and his mother died of radiation poisoning when he was older, but canon never seems to want to commit to anything. Similarly, we've always had hints that Mako was actually a Māori New Zealander before moving to the Outback before the Omnic Crisis, but Blizzard never wanted to *actually* incorporate it into his backstory.)

Ramattra is obviously crucial to the lore, but I don't really know if his kit makes sense in canon. We never really got an explanation behind where his Nemesis Form or nanite-based abilities even came from. Dare I say he should have just stayed a lore figure?

Lifeweaver is a cool character in canon, and I actually even like playing as him when I want to turn my brain off and play Support. I would be more okay with him joining the recalled Overwatch, and even dragging Symmetra along with him, than someone like Wuyang and Anran. (He's an old*er* character, he's *on the run* from an evil corporation with ties to Talon, and he even has connections with the Martinses, who had worked with Overwatch in the past. Seriously, how did we get two college students before him? I do wish they would explain what's going on with his Schrodinger's Prosthetic Arm, though.)

I've already spoken about Illari. Bad character.

Mauga is a character that I wanted in the game for a long time, and I'm going to say something else that gets me cancelled: I really like how he plays. I know he's had his moments, such as his meta back in Season 8, but this all could have been avoided if they had stuck with 6v6. I think my problem lies more with his lore. There's nothing *too* bad about his lore, but I wish that they gave him a better reason to join Talon. For example, what if Overwatch had arrested his father, the leader of the Samoan branch of the Deep Sea Raiders, by the end of their conflict, and he joined Talon to break him out? Just *something* with some sort of substance, because what do you mean he tracked *the* Doomfist down to challenge him to a fight that ended in a stalemate, and Akande said "You're chill. I'll give you all the cybernetics and chaos that you want." At least it's better than Akande losing to Orisa and Lúcio. (In my rewrite, I want D.Va to exist as a pro-gamer-turned-celebrity and Lúcio to exist as an underground-DJ-turned-political-activist-and-global-superstar that just exist to make the universe feel more alive. No MEKAs or Sonic Amplifiers allowed. Orisa can exist on her own, but Hero of Numbani sucks. Why do they hate Akande so much? Also, damn it, why does Vivian groom a thirteen-year-old into joining Winston's vigilante group? Why do Efi's parents allow it? Are we for real, Blizzard?)

I *want* to like Venture as a character. Their voice gives me some gender envy. (Obviously, I wish I was Tracer, but Lena is already Tracer. Low hanging The Living Tombstone reference aside, as an American, I can't really have Lena's voice.) On the surface, they are very similar to Lena, with both of them being optimistic adventurers and all. I think they're cute, but their smaller irises are a little off-putting. (I know Blizzard did this *specifically* because "woman is when big iris," but the point still stands.) I don't really think their story makes too much sense, either. As canon goes, their family was always moving from place to place, and they started collecting rocks and things from wherever they went, which led to a love for archaeology. But did their writer forget that they're only 26, and their canon states that the Omnic Crisis started 28 years ago? First off, creating another mouth to feed during a conflict like the Omnic Crisis is *very* irresponsible, but also, where did Sloan's parents have the money (or jobs) to be moving from place to place like that after the Crisis? Could they elaborate a bit more on that?

I have this problem with a lot of Overwatch's characters, and I want to give them all backstories related to the Omnic Crisis. For example, we only ever hear that Baptiste and Sombra were orphaned-- Baptiste goes into an orphanage at around age 10, and Sombra seemingly joins Los Muertos at, like, age 4? (I've adjusted Sombra's age in my rewrite to be closer to Baptiste's for this reason.) We know that an eleven-year-old Angela Ziegler lost her parents when they were volunteering at a hospital that was bombed in an airstrike, and a police officer came to her door to say "Your parents are dead lol," but we never hear where she goes afterward. Canon seems to be indecisive on whether she went to live with the Lindholms or just visited them often, but if she did live with them, how did Torbjorn find out and transport her to Gothenburg amid all the fighting? The bigger problem with this is that her parents were seemingly commuting back and forth from home and to the hospital, because surely, they wouldn't have left her at home otherwise. No, wait, what am I saying? it's *still* ridiculous that they left her at home alone. It's even more ridiculous that it was a police officer who came to her door like her parents just got gunned down in Crime Alley. It is the equivalent of World War III outside, people! Okay, last example before I move on, but I also have this problem with Cole Cassidy. We only ever hear that he was a teenager hopping from megafarm to megafarm for work. We never hear what happened to his parents, but judging by the fact that no one came looking for him after he was taken into Overwatch, they're *dead* dead. On one hand, I suppose this helps preserve some sort of mystery about him, but on the other hand, why not let us experience that sort of trauma with Cole, allowing him to feel more like a real person? He's real to me, damn it!

I've already spoken about Juno, so that brings us onto Hazard. I initially hated him because his backstory was eerily similar to what I had written for Lena, even if I've changed it in the slightest bit since then, but even then, he seems like the aforementioned case with Gabriel Reyes getting civilians killed during an operation against the Deep Sea Raiders-- he exists just to say "This global paramilitary organization was BAD!" No, really? Like I couldn't conclude that the idea of a global paramilitary organization is inherently bad already? Why do you need to make my flawed found family seem like outright villains? Still, as Blizzard's canon goes, he joined the military to pay for college. HE'S SCOTTISH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. I feel like this backstory fits someone like Jack Morrison more (and, thus, is what I'm going with in my rewrite for him)-- Jack has always been a nerd. His mother took him to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, he went on road trips, he speaks about chess and Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov, he has loads of historical books in his office, and the United Nations see him as a better leader than the rogue Gabriel Reyes. Therefore, why not have him initially pursue a degree in political science, with his background as a farm boy from Indiana leaving him no choice but to join the military to pay for it, which he actually finds his place in? Jack has the foundation to be such a great character, and Blizzard just fumbled him completely. He's still my second favorite, though. (Besides, it's not like Blizzard doesn't absolutely hate Tracer, as well.) What was I talking about again? Oh, right. Hazard. Findlay Docherty. So, according to the Story Missions tab, Overwatch fell around seven years ago, including Overwatch 2's inexplicable time skip. Findlay is 24, so that means that he was no older than 17 when he lost his arm, both legs, and drunkard father to a random Overwatch jet being brought down by Talon in the middle of Glasgow, Scotland, of all places. Then, Jack is still alive by the time that he's in the hospital, just so that he can clench his fist when he hears a news reporter say that the strike commander gave a moving speech to those affected. Leave my peepaw alone. He's literally about to lose the only family that he has left in a tragedy even worse than yours. Anyway, Hazard's only saving grace is that Conor McLeod's voice rocks. (Honestly, at risk of sounding like this guy, I'm not a fan of how Conor McLeod glazes Overwatch non-stop when he didn't even really know anything about it before he got the job as Hazard, but that's not really his fault. I wish I could still feel joy about this game and its universe, as well.)

I've already touched upon Freja, but she just doesn't interest me whatsoever. First off, her design feels so uninspired for a bounty hunter. (Why is she clearly dressed for colder conditions, only to have a boob window and exposed thighs?) Lorewise, her mother kept her safe from the Omnic Crisis and inspired her to pursue a degree in criminology, which led to her joining the Danish Armed Forces. Somehow, Ana Amari finds out about her and recruits her into Overwatch's search and rescue team. She was there to rummage through the rubble of Overwatch Headquarters for survivors, and she couldn't get a job afterward. I guess it's just easier to see why someone like Angela Ziegler, who simultaneously served as the head of Overwatch's medical research and as one of its most famous combat medics, would struggle with getting a job in their respective field after Overwatch's fall over someone like Freja, who was previously in the Danish Armed Forces and didn't really do anything morally objectionable. That doesn't cause Angela to sell her skills to the highest bidder, such as Talon, but what does Freja do? Exactly that. Good luck getting a job now, idiot. Outside of that, I'm not a fan of her potentially being set up as a love interest for Emre Sarioglu, if I’m interpreting all the looks that they give each other in their comics and the fact that Emre invited her over for dinner at his parents’ house correctly. I mean, he's been around since Operation White Dome, we can see graying at his temples and crow's feet on his model, and he was something of a mentor figure to her in the search and rescue team. Don’t even think about serving me such hetslop, Blizzard.

That brings us to our newest heroes, and who else to start with but Emre? Admittedly, he's the one hero that I am excited for. Lorewise, it *is* nice to finally have him, but... just about everything else sucks. Personally, I'm torn on whether I like The Conspiracy being the ones behind Overwatch Headquarters' destruction. In all that I've shared before, it really could go either way in *my* rewrite of whether Doomfist's Talon-- especially disgruntled former Blackwatch members-- or The Conspiracy were the ones behind it, but at face value, it *is* interesting to imagine that it was *Emre*-- the guy that we've been waiting for since that picture from before the game's release-- all along. However, while Freja is one thing, he *really* seemed like a stand-up guy. Even when he leaves Overwatch, he tells Freja not to worry about him, as he's already got a few offers to consult on global security (one of whom is obviously from The Conspiracy), to keep being herself, and to put her trust in Captain Chase. This clearly isn't a guy who wanted Overwatch to blow up, so what's going on with his split personality thing? His concept art shown during Spotlight shows him saying "Get out of my head!", implying that he does canonically have moments of clarity between whatever The Conspiracy did to him. So, how does he justify sticking around Talon? I mean, he and Freja clearly look upset when Vendetta attacks Watchpoint: Gibraltar in the latest comic. Overall, I think it remains to be seen whether I like what they're doing with Emre or The Conspiracy as a whole. I'll just have to wait and see if they stick to the landing before I think about incorporating them into my rewrite.

As for Domina, who I touched on before, I just don't really have much to say about her. Again, she's just another Sanjay Korpal. What does she do differently, besides provide Talon soldiers new gear? How is Vendetta going to help her? Vendetta literally just threatens to expose Vishkar, and she's like "Ouh là là, you're feisty. I can treat you better than Sanjay." Okay? Besides patching up the destruction they cause, just as Sanjay was already doing, how is Vishkar actually benefitting from your involvement with Talon? So far, they aren’t.

Now, onto Jetpack Cat, who I don't have too much to say about, either. So, Jetpack Cat's story is literally just that she was a stray cat that wandered onto Watchpoint: Gibraltar, and Brigitte decided to arm her to the teeth. I'm sorry, what? You can't be serious, right? Like, if it doesn't take a genius to work this machinery, why not let Mitzi be Jetpack Cat (other than the fact that she's in Brigitte's emotes and victory poses already)? Let's be real for the second, though. Jetpack Cat is just soulless fan service for the people that Team 4 wants to rope back into the game. "They have Jetpack Cat! They answered our prayers! Now, I *must* return! (Ask me which game I'm playing a week from now, and it surely will not still be Overwatch.)" Jetpack Cat makes it more obvious than ever that they aren't trying with the lore of these characters anymore. Marketability is being prioritized over everything else.

Lastly, my issues with Mizuki go back to the Ye siblings, especially Wuyang. From the second that I heard "Though still quite young, Mizuki has grown detached and hardened after years of misfortune and fighting under the severe expectations of his clan" in the Spotlight, my eyes rolled into the back of my head. "Oh, my God, Joshi Zhang, you can't write the same quirky teenager over and over again." I go to their Twitter description, and sure enough, it proudly declares that they are the writer for Mizuki. Just like Illari, Juno, Wuyang, and Anran have all been shoe-horned into the narrative, especially the latter three, it's already basically confirmed through the Conquest event that Mizuki is going to be joining Overwatch. I can't take this fanfiction anymore. I want off of Mr. Bones' wild ride.

Finally, we get to our new narrative. So, obviously, it's stupid that Vendetta beat Doomfist and immediately usurped his throne, but what I think is even more ridiculous is that she doesn't even have a clear ideology. Her motivation was "They took my inheritance from me! That was supposed to be MY spot as Talon's leader, and they banished me to The Colosseo to fight killer bots in gladiatorial combat!" Okay? Well, you're Talon's leader now, so which direction are you taking it, Marzia Sue? I mean, uh, Marzia?

...YOU IMMEDIATELY BLEW UP WATCHPOINT: GIBRALTAR? Well, I'm so glad that one of the game’s most iconic maps, which I hold near and dear to my heart, is never going to be the same again. I think it's actually quite a great representation of how the newer developers, writers or otherwise, have absolutely run this game into the ground. (I was initially happy to see that the Lena and Emily picture frame was still glued to its desk in a video of the destroyed crew quarters, but on second thought, it's also a perfect representation of Blizzard's consistent practice of rainbow capitalism, isn't it?) Also, let's address the other elephant in the room: this game's main narrative is now going to be moved along in a seasonal format, and Blizzard has already said that they want to end "this arc," (whether that means Doomfist taking back Talon from Vendetta or otherwise) by the time that they go back to "Season 1" next year. The narrative is also going to be moved along through gameplay events, such as us choosing to side with Talon or Overwatch for in-game rewards. (Obviously, completionists like me are going to get as many rewards as possible, even if I wouldn't want any part of Doomfist's Talon, let alone Vendetta's.) This means that just like how all of our newer heroes are two-dimensional Barbie dolls, our narrative is going to be rushed along with a deadline for the sake of profit. If you thought Blizzard wasn't thinking about consistency and logistics before, just you wait! (I'm still really pissed off that Lena says "This will be a great place for a holiday with Emily," in Storm Rising, only for them to say ""When we started dating, Overwatch was out of commission” in Together. How do you screw up the romantic relationship of your iconic lesbian poster child and their partner that's existed since December 2016 like that?)

Along with these gameplay events, we'll also be getting *skins*! Yay! This is actually what finally pushed me to unprivate my Tumblr account and type out this entire vent. I just could not carry this grief alone. So, before I deleted my old account, I would always vent about how Lena's newer skins don't match them, and nothing has changed since then. Overwatch 2 came out swinging with Constable, Street Urchin, Polar, and Adventurer (even if blue-eyed Lena scares me; please take their contacts away), and since then, the only skins that I've liked for them are Deku and Reindeer. Now, Deku is obviously just funny. I never got into My Hero Academia, but I don't think any non-MHA fan is capable of taking Deku seriously. (I remember posting this video on this blog, saying "Lena with Emily," when the skin was announced.) As for Reindeer, I do recall posting that I wanted Lena to get a Reindeer skin, but when they got it, I was initially disappointed. I don't know how to describe it, but I guess it just wasn't what I envisioned for them. (I think I was more so envisioning something akin to the clothes of Wuyang's Cozy skin, but with a headband like Jingle Belle Mercy's over their normal hair?) It's really grown on me over time, though. (It probably doesn't help that I had to pay out of pocket for the $40 bundle since Microsoft Rewards couldn't cover it all.) They're just a little guy. :)

This new skin, however...

No! That is NOT Lena Oxton!

That looks like if you prompted StableDiffusion to generate an image of Cadet Oxton, and it mistook their spiky hair for a ponytail. (At least I assume so, given all the AI-generated images of Lena that I've been exposed to over the years where their hair does exactly that. 🤷 Still, even this victory pose just isn't Lena. I remember hating it back when it was shown off with the Black Cat skin and saying "That's not them. That's not how they would carry themself," but sure enough, it eventually became a pose in the Battle Pass. While I have purchased and completed every single Battle Pass, it can stay unfavorited with Over the Shoulder.) While I can't say for certain whether this design is canon for Lena, I am praying that it isn't. Why does Lena have a scar on their cheek now? Who hurt them? Who do I have to fight?

I just... after seeing all the skins that they've been getting, and especially knowing that this one could be canon, I've never been more scared for their place and characterization in the upcoming progression of the overarching narrative. Like, if you're going to kill them off so that Kiriko, Illari, Juno, Anran, Wuyang, Mizuki, and whoever else comes along can get the spotlight all to themselves, just rip the band-aid off already. You clearly haven't shown them love in years, and you wouldn't be able to defile them anymore. It still annoys me that after Soldier: 76 got the "You had so much potential! (frustrated sigh)" elimination line against Tracer with Overwatch 2's release back in October 2020, they've forgotten about the relationship between their two main protagonists almost entirely. Sure, the voice line doesn't really read like Jack-- it reads less like an adoptive father mentor who wants to see his child protégé thrive and more like someone who wants to exploit their powers, but it left me with a false sense of hope that the newer writers hadn't forgotten about the signs of their close relationship that go back to the Uprising comic. Even in the Lost Ghosts short story, we hear about Fareeha being in Overwatch, and nothing about Lena. We don't hear so much as a consideration about Jack wanting to answer Winston's recall, even if it's just so that he could talk himself out of it. That was his family, and he knows it. Blizzard knows it, based off how he reminisced in Lucky Man (where he still doesn't mention Lena 😡). Again, these characters that I've known and loved for years-- arguably way more than Blizzard and their freelance writers themselves-- now just feel like narrative tools that exist in someone else's backstory. I don't even recognize them anymore.

Okay, it's about time that I wrapped all this up. At the end of the day, I guess I just don't have any faith in Overwatch's newer developers to bring the game back to how it was, nor in the newer writers to write a narrative that respects the iconic characters from their franchise that was once a cultural phenomenon. I'm already watching through my fingers, feeling my adrenaline spike with each new piece of third-party media that they publish. What do you mean Reaper, Sombra, and Widowmaker just left Talon? You mean to tell me that Talon wasn't just a means to an end for Gabriel after he awoke in Moira's care, but he actually felt some sort of loyalty towards Doomfist? (He says "You're not welcome here, Vendetta," in the Reign of Talon cinematic like a catty sister whose brother is trying to join her sleepover.) Olivia was fine with leaving Dr. de Kuiper in the care of Marzia's Talon, despite the fact that Akande's Talon was already bad enough? Yeah, right. What about Amélie, who Maximilien just said needs Talon's drugs to maintain her skill and suppress her emotions in Vested Interests? Like, did Sydney King (Vested Interests) and Brandon Easton (Vengeance Comes... C*de of Violence, as well, mind you) even consult the rest of the narrative team before they submitted their work for publication?

I know that holding onto this ten-year special interest isn't doing me any good, and it's probably best that I just drop the game and live in my own little interpretation of its universe, but things are never quite that simple. Sigh... I'll see you all in Overwatch "Season 1: Conquest," on Tuesday, February 10th.

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