Fortnite leakers have revealed the raw model of the forthcoming Hatsune Miku skin in the form of a short clip. The tweet, which included only a link to the video and the words “hatsune miku wip/devs video,” has provoked a lot of conversations among the players who are very eager to see Miku, as a crossover, in the battle royale. The leak has been a rare occasion to take a glimpse of the character modeling and animating process before the official unveiling.
HYPEX was like, “Here is the video,” and it was indeed an unprocessed clip of Hatsune Miku. Just the raw one, Miku. It’s literally a very quick video, probably from the work of an internal developer, which only shows the model turning its head. That’s it. However, the internet has again gone completely crazy, the replies are full of chaos, and all kinds of feelings like confusion, hype, and even overwhelming the reality have been caused by a three-second video of a blue-haired singer’s polygon face. One gamer, DimFork, just declared, “now this is what I call a leak,” and to be honest, that’s exactly how I feel too. After a long server downtime or whatever, sometimes a simple leak of a beloved character slowly turning her head is all you need. It’s really the small things.
The overall response is, and that is why it is so entertaining, totally a mixed bag. Gamers, some of them, are revealing their almost bearable deep and profound gratitude. The user ‘TheCosmicNeo’ and a few others voiced the same when he remarked: “thanks for this important leak it has changed my day,” which is so… sincere and somewhat funny. So, what was Neo’s day like before the Miku WIP video? Was it gloomy? Was it hopeless? Now it’s significant because Miku can turn her neck. On the other hand, the players, they mostly critical or confused right away. User ‘thesockbeater’ honestly asked, “What are they trying to show us?”, which is a question everyone needs to start with! The answer is… she can turn her head? But, then ‘joshaing’ popped up with an even better explanation: “hatsune miku can turn around.” That was helpful, thank you, josh. Case closed. Mystery solved. The revolution in the “neck joint” technology has been transferred to the game. Fortnite has reached its peak height.
And it doesn’t end there, the impressive responses went on to turn into even stranger ones. ‘Kani_Rabi143’ (and later ‘kornfetti’ with the same text, strange) wrote, “The hell she looking at me for like I did it.” This made my day. The accusing stare of a not-quite-ready-digital pop star is a very specific mood that I was not ready for today. What have you done, Kani? What does Miku know? Another user ‘psyfairy_casan’ asked in Spanish, “a qué hora arreglan la ponytail toda tiesa de Ariana Granade?!!” which translates to “what time do they fix Ariana Grande’s all stiff ponytail?!!” First of all, comparing Miku and Ariana Grande is a bad but risky move. Secondly, about hair physics, they are right! It’s a continuous fight in gaming. The ponytail is the final boss of character design.
Moreover, on top of that, there is a meta-commentary going on. A user by the nickname ‘Gumbgraal’ ridiculed the situation, to support their claim that “u know the update was really bad when leakers post shit like this on an update day.” Ouch. That’s a real slap but it could be true? When the new content is not that special, the community will take any sign, however small, that there is still future stuff to come, even if it is just a tech demo. And ‘VirtualIdol39’ said, “that one comment from this post is making me question my reality,” which, I agree with. After reading all those replies I am also starting to question everything. Why is this clip so fascinating? Why do we care at all? The answer is that Fortnite has become more than a game; it has turned into a hype machine where the whole process from leak to release is a part of the experience. Players are not just interested in the skin but they also want to see it being made. They want to be involved in the journey.
Little though the leak is, it does confirm that the Hatsune Miku collaboration is an active project and is probably already in the last polishing stage. Plus it will provide players with the assurance regarding the skin that it is real, it is on the way and that the makers even pay attention to tiny things. The game is also popular on PlayStation and Xbox.
