Sudden uncouth love and support have been showered upon an artist who draws Overwatch fan art, the community having a meltdown albeit preciously in the best way. Blizzard Entertainment’s official account tweeted out a spotlight of @reika_draws, stating how they “𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 love” along with jaw-dropping visuals. Let’s just say, the reactions amounted to a ruckus in the best possible way.
First, the artworks (as seen in the consisted pluralization). Ever so helpful, Twitter decides not to display the actual pieces, and the responses say it all: these are no kid drawings. Comments started pouring in with words like “phenomenal,” “so beautiful,” and “UGHHH I love him,” referring to Genji, of course. One comment read that the art had induced Ode to “reinstall Overwatch immediately”—an awful lot coming from the…ahem… vocal opinions from the Overwatch community on the current state of the game.
However, since it is Overwatch, drama follows every discussion. While the hype took hold, along came the usual complaints, one calling the game “gaywatch” (so mature), whining about bundle prices (“3300 coins? Not cool.”), and a random FBI call?? Yeah, @IzzyInMalanga just dropped “Remember when you called the fbi on me” like it was normal to even say it. And Blizzard’s response? Complete silence. What else?
The artist was beginning to garner quite a following under the handle of @reika_draws. One comment stated they purchased the D.Va and Kiriko pieces back at a con in Melbourne years ago, and another squealed in all-caps that Reika finally deserved the credit. Then follows the outfit scouring for more Juno. Priorities, people.
There’s just something about this thread that turns into a massacre and a makeshift history of the Overwatch fandom—half good, clean appreciation and half absolutely insane side commentary. Some were saying how marvelous the art is while others are using it as a soapbox for every single complaint about monetization, with at least one of them having the boldness to claim Marvel Rivals is the better game (now how brave is that on a Blizzard tweet).
There’s really nothing new about Blizzard highlighting fan art, but this comes at an interesting moment where Overwatch 2 has left a more or less rocky impression on its player base, who seem… let’s soften it here and say “mixed” toward recent updates; this feels like a soft nudge reminding people of what made them fall in love with the game in the first place—the characters, art direction, community creativity—they’re all still very alive, if only somewhat forgotten in terms of actual gameplay.
For what it’s worth, this tweet has gone on to proving two things:
1. Overwatch fans never agree on anything.
2. Good fan art brings them all together for like five seconds, and then chaos ensues.
So a shout out to @reika_draws for making an artwork so hot that it even caught the attention of Blizzard—which also, unwittingly, led to the day’s most entertaining comment section. Now, on that note, let me go check if this art deserves was all the hype. (Spoiler: It really does.)
