Accompanying every reaction from one end of the spectrum to the other, the other went wild on the internet for this extraordinary Fortnite skin with the Los Angeles Spurs star Heung-Min Son created by Epic Games. The South Korean football icon made his way to the item shop today, half upset, “Who dis?” and half already mocking Street Fighter for stealing his thunder.
The release was very abrupt; you know Fortnite doesn’t go that way—and the bundle came with all the locker-must-haves: outfit, back bling, pickaxe, and so forth. It is now available in the shop, while leaker HYPEX, who broke the news, is giving out a creator code for anyone who wants to support him while picking up that Son drip. But the timing is just very bad because the Street Fighter items JUST got back into the shop, and let’s be honest…Chun-Li’s thunder-worthy thighs hold viral power more than your average soccer player.
Reading through the replies is basically some kind of live cultural clash. The game people of Europe and Asia say, “bruh how do you NOT know Son??” while the American bunch snarks back, “LOL sportsball who?” Somebody was serious with a “2 sales maximum,” which seems pretty much like, “Ouch! Are you kidding me?” But the facts are the facts—Son really is big in the football world, having taken home the Premier League Golden Boot just last year and now being treated on the same level with Neymar and Lebron.
The chic insight comes in: Perhaps they’re gauging how far they can take more football skins. Multiple comments asking for Ronaldo or Messie, of whom I discovered is somehow already in the game, while some are joking that servers will literally break once CR7 drops for real. There are also totally out-of-the-blue requests for BTS and Blackpink collabs because…well, Fortnite hasn’t been tying itself down with logic lately.
In a lagging mess of chaos, at least one player reported experiencing lag spikes immediately following the patch. That probably will be what the heaviest item shop grievances are about: Remember when shops had just a handful of really dope items in them instead of 50 things nobody really wants? Yeah…those days are gone.
The Street Fighter faction is flexing hard by the way; multiple replies admit to outright purchasing the SF stuff without even glancing at Son’s skin. One said, “I feel bad that he got released at the same time SF came back,” which, well, same. Timing is everything, and it’s an unfortunate shadowing contest with Chun-Li’s kicks.
Will the skins sell, though? Oh, surely; football goes big on a global scale, and Son has those hardcore fans. Then comes Fortnite classic-style discourse: far more entertaining than the actual cosmetic. If you will excuse me, I must find out if that emote features Son’s celebrated celebration; that just might be worth a hundred V-Bucks.
