What Epic Games did is that they dropped a new Bathany skin today with a custom Mandalorian variant in the Fortnite item shop, and, well, reactions within the community are definitely split. The biggest Fortnite leak and content creation figure, ShiinaBR, actually dropped the reveal with their usual affiliate code and everything, but the players have huge capital T Thoughts about the item shop today.
And then the skins. Bathany is basically a cyberpunk-futuristic character with neon highlights, whereas the custom Mando is an alternate palette of colors and armor details, which is nothing but honestly quite a nice revision of the very well-liked Mandalorian skin in the game now. There are players rating it a very good S level skin. And the other side of the opinion is saying these new skins are “plain and a bit boring” compared to what we’ve had before.
Now is when it starts to get a bit colorful in the replies. “These mid item shops got my wallet looking fat,” one player reacted, with crying laughing emojis. Those sentiments represent what the entire community feels like right now. You start accumulating V-Bucks with no genuine reason to spend it because the item shop hasn’t got any highlight for weeks. Weird flex but definitely real.
And where was I? Oh, right-the custom Mando has generated some appreciation here and there. The right-side variant in the picture says “peoples’ choice” with a comment following that says “The right one all the way!” with a robot arm emoji. And then there are some other people complaining that they thought the tweet was about a “new Batman skin” and so they got hyped for nothing-classic case of reading too fast, I guess.
The weirdest part of all is that every Fortnite skin reveal tweet instantly turns into an interrogation of which other skins will possibly land in the game soon. The players are already posing questions about the Peacemaker collab, Metal Gear Solid wave 2, the return of Grogu’s Back Bling, and when PAC-Man might bounce back(One replied jokingly, “he will appear in 5 yrs.” This single thread on “when zombie super-hero returns” has suddenly mutated into “when will you wake up?” – how does that even tie into anything?). These Fortnite players are just something else.
The affiliate code saga never gets old. ShiinaBR drops her code in the tweet to support themselves (“use code Shiina”), and there are some people actually saying “I’ll use your code,” which is very nice. Others say, “bro’s really out here saving the world one code at a time,” which is pretty hilarious. Content creators gotta eat too, you know?
This, in the middle of both and contrasting opinions surrounding Fortnite cosmetics, is more telling. There’s a faction of players that think the skins are fire, and there are those that find them just a little bit mid. Some are pleased to grab the new looks; others stand with piles of V-Bucks, waiting for something worthy to buy. That constant bickering is what makes the Fortnite item shop I don’t know what.
The reality is that Fortnite is releasing cosmetics on a daily basis, and the following that is still dropping their cash on it all-the while complaining about it. The wave goes on. While from my perspective, that custom Mando looks quite nice. The armor detailing is sick. But yeah, the item shop is in dire need of some exciting new drops that heat up the playerbase to drop some money instead of just tucking away those V-Bucks. Here’s hoping for some good stuff next week? God knows nowadays.
