You can never quite tell what media property will end up with a fandom. You need to hit that popularity sweet spot: likeable characters, but not so much detail that it would be pointless to write fic. Apex Legends has just the right amount of space to fill in its lore, and fans are flocking to Tumblr to express their enthusiasm.
Apex’s characters have enough relatable traits for players and fans to pick favourites and extrapolate how they act with each other, just like Overwatch before it. There are character blogs, which are Tumblrs dedicated to reblogging fanart or memes about a specific character.
There’s also ships, and a few breakout characters. Mirage seems to be the most popular so far, though if there’s another character that could outpace him, it would be Bloodhound. In fact, some people ship Mirage and Bloodhound (some people like me). There’s only just over a hundred fics on fanfiction site Archive Of Our Own, and Mirage/Bloodhound fics account for about half of them.
This makes perfect sense to me. Mirage is a wiseass loud mouth. Every time I see him I think about an article my boyfriend sent me called “Where Are The Male Weed Thots Of Instagram.”
Like Prompto, Guzma, and many a real-life man I have loved in the past, there’s something about an incorrigible dumbarse that is my ultimate weakness. Mirage looks like he spends a minimum of a half hour on his hair and I think that’s beautiful.
I also really get why people love Bloodhound. They’re mysterious, covered up from head to toe, and Allegra Clark does some lovely voicework that imbues them with an intriguing personality. Unlike Mirage, who has the barest bones of a personality, Bloodhound is a blank canvas for players to project their desires on. Some people are already trying to imagine what their face looks like, and a common shared interpretation of the text in fandom, or head canon, is that Bloodhound is blind.
I really like that head canon, but the popularity it’s gaining makes me wary about the future. When fans start to collectively agree on head canons, it’s because they’re aren’t getting enough fiction from the author – in this case, Respawn.
When a fandom decides on a character’s traits independent of official game lore, any new material from a developer changes the fandom’s collectively accepted parameters for that character. As a result, new lore can feel tacked on or nonsensical, especially if developers don’t follow through to flesh it out.
I’ve played a tiny bit of Titanfall 2, so I know that Respawn is capable of creating interesting political dilemmas and strong character relationships. I also know that battle royale games aren’t the best-suited for disseminating lore. You do get great storytelling in the game, but it’s through individual gunfights, not an ongoing storyline.
I just hope that as Respawn expands the game’s world, they’re able to keep that balance so that the fandom has plenty to work with.
Comments
11 responses to “I’m Cautiously Excited About The Stories Apex Legends Fans Are Telling”
fans are flocking to Tumblr to express their enthusiasm
Ew.
Nothing makes me cringe more.
Not to worry. Tumblr is porn free.
Tis spear heading the great British war against porn! Spiffy! By Jobe!
Why do people put so much effort into imaging which characters bang each other where it does not matter?
The apex characters have no backstory.
People just pick a character and play.
“I’m going to pick this character in apex legends because he bangs other dudes, His sexuality is relevant to the gameplay experience” – Said no one ever.
Shippers gonna ship I guess?
People are weird. We like to read video game websites, peruse the comments and post incessantly, others use that mental energy elsewhere. I’m sure the same vexing attitude you expressed over this, others express at people that play video games regularly, thinking it’s stupid. *shrug*
Shipping is basically what happens when you mix your fanfiction with your erotica.
I kinda get why people do it… But I see it as a way of just setting yourself up for disappointment/anger if the characters are progressed in a manner that doesn’t fit the narrative you establish.
wait, Bloodhound is a chick? I always thought he was a dude
‘They’ are both or neither or something, whatever non binary is supposed to mean.
I had to google non binary 🙁
Man I feel old.
Yeah well a new term is added every week that people seem to claim they were all along. I mean i dont particularly care about what any of them do with their lives, but far out they do like to keep making up new terms