Well, well, well, Fortnite players. An Epic Games collab bomb just dropped, and all the wrong things have been said about it. Tron Ares now enters the game as portrayed by Jared Leto, and the reaction can only be called “mixed to say the least.” This very skin represents the character of Jared Leto in the new Tron, neon-lit suit and all, supposedly with a helmet style option that many are desperately holding on to.
The immediate responses to the announcement tweet show a fully divided community. Some are truly excited- one user even said, “He’s so cool holy shit,” which, okay, cool I guess. But just a tiny scroll down the feed, and all of the drama starts to pour in like a storm surge during a hurricane.
Several replies wasted no time going after Jared Leto’s… why not say it? Complicated public persona. One user chillingly called it a “sex offender fortnite skin.” Another accused Epic of hypocrisy: “They put a pos cult leader in the game but removed the peacemaker emote?” referencing the recent controversies where Epic removed some controversial content whilst adding this. These few mentions about the removed Peacemaker emote exploded as players expressed their frustration about Epic’s seeming inconsistent decision-making.
Then there is the Morbius of it all; because you cannot say Jared Leto without seeing public outcry for “IT’S MORBIN TIME!” Multiple responses referred back to his much infamous vampire flick. One user joked, “At last, morbius is in fortnite,” while another went, “He will forever be Morbius,” as if that were a curse that shall haunt him throughout all of eternity.
The timing of that release is now seriously getting a side-eye from the community. With Fortnitemares 2025 supposedly starting this week, according to several replies, players wonder the reason behind Epic dropping this skin right before what is typically one of their biggest seasonal events. One user calls it “sale suicide” while the other bluntly asks, “Is anyone genuinely going to buy this Outfit before Fortnitemares 2025 starts…?😔 Which is a fair question, honestly.
But wait; that’s just the beginning of the drama! Some players point out this skin got revealed before Doja Cat‘s second skin, which apparently is regarded as a betrayal way down the Fortnite collab hierarchy. Like people have their priorities straight and actually see Doja above Tron? I honestly don’t know the deets, but one thing’s for sure-the passion is real.
The design of the skin just can’t escape the ridicule. “Holy shit it’s so ugly,” commented a user bluntly, while another for some reason compared it to WWE wrestler Seth Rollins. Helmet style seems to be the saving grace of many, with one grateful soul proclaiming “Thank GOD there’s a helmet style bro” – probably so they don’t have to stare at Leto’s face whilst gaming.
What’s really interesting is just how split players are on the actual concept. Some have piqued their interest with finally getting a proper Tron movie character instead of generic suit skins, while others are in outright refusal of buying anything related to the actor. One user perfectly encapsulated the whole thing: “The skin is dope af but i won’t be buying bc of the actor,” which says a lot about how a large chunk of the player base feels.
Alright. That… other thing. Several replies went the opposite direction with some serious allegations about Leto; with terms like “pedo groomer” and “predator” freely tossed about. Whether these claims are true or not, they have, for obvious reasons, tainted the player’s perception of this collab. One user even tacitly pointed out the irony that “y’all hated on KPDH but this literal predator is fine huh,” thus revealing that the community has its own… interesting moral calculus for deciding which controversial figures get a pass and which do not.
So where does this leave us? Jared Leto returns for yet another collaboration with Epic, but between his controversial standing, the questionable timing just before Fortnitemares, and trading jaded thoughts about waking new skins over game fixes, this might just be one collaboration to silently sneak out if not sell through with a whimper. Then again: this is Fortnite, and I’m pretty sure folks are gonna buy the heck out of this one out of fear of missing out; plus, that helmet is pretty slick. So maybe keep that helmet on all the way!
