The account for Fortnite news (@FireMonkey) who is the official source for Fortnite news, revealed a brand new in-game emote called “Dual Serpents” priced at 400 V-Bucks, and therefore many players were immediately confused to the extent of this mix. The emote was meant to be used in a way that would suggest “Strike ’em twice” and it was met with an overwhelming influx of negative reactions on social media alongside people questioning its price, its genre, and other aspects of its design. Such reaction indicates that the-value-and-creativity debate regarding the cosmetic items in the popular battle royale game between Epic Games and the community persists.

Okay, so like, at times the Fortnite item shop is like a roller coaster ride, right? One day, there is a great skin; the next day, there is… whatever this is. The main news bot for Fortnite the ‘Dual Serpents’ emote which FireMonkey just unveiled and I swear the timeline freaked out altogether. Not in a good way, though. The tweet was quite straightforward: a gif of the emote, the tag line “Strike ’em twice” along with the price of 400 V-Bucks. That was it. The chaos was already going on full.

The replies are truly a work of art in unrefined gamer chaos. Where to begin from? The user ‘ToastyArmadio’ simply wrote “…what the hell is this?” and honestly? Exact same sensation. That was the mood for the subsequent comments. ‘DJXGAMING415’ was like “Yo wtf is this mayne 😭😭” and ‘Alfie795397’ exclaimed “What the genuine fuck is this”. It is like one huge coalition of bewilderment. Actually, people are not mad; they are just very, very perplexed. What is the emote anyhow trying to be? A player ‘capable_of_luv_’ speculated “I’m quite sure this is a football celebration,” which could be true, right? But, then the AI Grok entered a discussion claiming it is based on a goal celebration from a player in the Kings League and he seems to be doing dual snakes attacking the air. So it is an Icon series thing? For a soccer celebration that most people have never seen? Well, that’s a choice.

In addition, the Icon Series became another matter of controversy. ‘Earth65Gwen’ bluntly asked, “Why tf is it Icon Series??” and that is indeed a legitimate question. Icon Series usually is for the most famous celebrities and streamers, right? Not for obscure football moves. ‘RomanEmpire1544’ pointed out the absurdity too: “This Ain’t an icon Emote why it encrypted”. It is almost like Epic just slapped the label on and hoped nobody would realize. ‘ThatDremGuy’ was less discreet, bemoaning the long wait for the good Icon emotes: “Over 2 weeks since the last icon emote (3 since the last GOOD one) and then they vomit this shit out”. The bitter disappointment is there, dude.

Then the price comes in. 400 V-Bucks. For this. The user ‘jenaissant8’ put out the universal feeling of the community: “Should be 200 vbucks -__-“. Moreover, ‘th3yluvv_sofie’ even more brutally suggested “ur nor a real person if u buy this.. ts should be free..😭”. Harsh, but it’s a feeling that you can empathize with. Another user ‘connorxfn’ answered this with, “I wouldn’t take that shit even if it was free”, which is practically the ultimate insult. But to be fair, ‘unknownrototo1’ did claim “I bought it and I’m real. So that’s debunked”. So… hats off to that one brave warrior, I suppose?

The ridiculous comparisons that people started making ended up being exactly that. ‘Grin0830’ posted a gif of Ben Stiller doing a funny dance from Zoolander and wrote “Same vibe”. ‘mothman_spirit’ shared a meme of a person gazing disgustedly at food in a bowl with the caption “FN rn” (f for fortnite, n for the game, and rn for right now) showing disgust. And ‘LadyGagaFan04’ went way overboard with the emoticons representing poop and asking “Who’s the Lazy Dipshit who needs to be fired for this Shit Emote”. Yikes. The intensity of the feeling is undeniable even if it is aimed at something so trivial.