Epic Games has announced the Fortnite Ninjago Kai skin and the online community is… In fact, the online community is having a very noisy and completely divided moment. The news came through the usual leaker channels, showing a not-so-plastic version of the fiery ninja from the Lego series, and the players have already given their mixed reactions. Some call it cool, others very burnt. A classic Fortnite collab chaos, indeed.
Let’s dive into the skin analysis. The skin illustrates Kai in a kind of suit that looks armor-like and is influenced by the different Ninjago seasons. He is wearing the mask and has the primary red color scheme. But what stands out is the fact that it is a human face and not a Lego minifig. This is what has caused all the arguments. One player, Baron_Kouba, even went so far as to call it a horrible-looking figure. He stated that it was a mixture of the ‘Crystallized’ suit and ‘Dragon Rising’ having such a masked that he had to use the vomit emoji. Very tough critic, but allow the man, he is still very passionate.
On the other hand, the bad comments do not make up the majority. There are some gamers who are falling in love with the new skin absolutely. Fortyniteuk shared on Twitter they were quite neutral to the partnership until they spotted the Fortnite version, which they called super. Another player, I_yeet_people, said they might be the only one who thinks it’s good, and added that they can’ totally envision a human Kai looking like this.’ Hence, there is a faction of players that is willing to trade their V-Bucks for the new skin.
Strange and chaotic was the next turn of the debate. RukasuLoenhorst, a user, made changes to the skin in order to give Kai a more… how should I put it, pale look and posted it. This initiated an entire war of words over whether it was racist or not, which can become quite a serious debate in the realm of a video game characterization when it is about a fictional character’s skin color. AkiraKurayami1, however, stated that it is not a racism issue while talking about non-real characters and mentioned having been glad that some ‘Ninjago fans left the series after 2018.’ Another user, DgardsGaming, pointed out that the Fortnite skin color ‘is not Canon anyway,’ which is a very strong argument. The whole discussion turned very hot, with hints of having rendered the character ‘jaundiced’ and much more. Quite a lot for a Tuesday, right?
The others mainly grumbled about the skin details. Emmanue93534578 claimed that they don’t like the way the hair comes out of the mask, but they think it is fire otherwise. ThisWRLDisCrazy was let down by the fact that they didn’t even draw Kai’s accurate eyebrows, which is an extremely specific criticism that only a devoted admirer would have. And Alecpheonix07 saw it lacking some traits that would have made it more distinctive as Kai, but still considered it quite good-looking. Thus, there is a spectrum of views going from ‘this is almost perfect’ to ‘this is an abomination.’
With any skin revelation, the next step questions are sure to come. CapsirusYT, for example, asked if they are only doing Kai or if other characters will also be included. LordCard2126 simply pondered, ‘what would the others look like.’ That’s a big one, right? If they create Lloyd or Zane, would they face a similar reaction? Most probably. Scaryknoght wished there was another style for him, but even if there isn’t, they would still purchase it, as the skin looks great anyway. That’s the way to go!
What was I saying? Oh the chaos. The skirmish is not solely centered on the skin issue. The_Drifd took the skin reveal as an opportunity to call for the return of the John Wick skin, which is a completely different issue that Fortnite players have been dealing with for years yet keep asking about. flareonsightt was quick to remind that it was the players’ fault for not buying it during the many times it was available. It is somewhat like a therapy session for the community, but with a lot more screaming.
In the end, this is what Fortnite excels at, Virtual reality! It takes a beloved franchise, does its own quirky thing, and lets the players fight it out in the comments. Some people will appreciate it, while others will revile it, and a significant number of them will be discussing the ethical side of changing the skin color of a digital character. It’s just that the skin? It definitely conveys a particular vibe. It aims to bridge the gap between the clunky charm of Lego and the intricate, human aesthetic of a PlayStation or Xbox character model.
