In an early version of the 1.02 patch notes for the fighting game MultiVersus, it appeared that the developers had patched out Velma’s controversial police car attack. Instead, the detective would call Mystery Inc. to take the baddies away in their Machine. So rather than having the police unquestioningly kidnap you, you’d be taken away by a gang of teenaged vigilantes. Or so it seemed.
Previously, Velma could call the police on her foes if she accumulated enough evidence with her “Snooping” passive. Although the ability isn’t foolproof, the opponent could potentially be removed from the match entirely — something that players had raised as not being exactly the most comfortable of features. The Mystery Machine would presumably work in the same way.
This is where the story gets weirder: This information was obtained from a video of the patch notes taken roughly 12 hours ago. Right now, the official patch notes page for version 1.02 doesn’t reflect those changes. It’s unclear whether the previously included change will actually take place, but Kotaku reached out to Warner Bros for clarification (and did not receive a response by the time of writing).
Here’s the exact text from the video:
Instead of calling the police, Velma now solves the mystery and calls the Mystery Inc. gang and the Mystery Machine to take the bad guys away.
Well! I guess it’s an improvement if Velma “Karen” Dinkley stops calling the police on her suspects. One Velma player initially felt conflicted about her summon ability.
I am enjoying Velma in Multiversus but maining a character who’s special move is calling the police on her enemies definitely don’t sit right with me as a black man lol pic.twitter.com/kvtfHwM3OC
— he who vibes (@NgObscure) August 1, 2022
It still feels a little awkward that criminal suspects are being taken away by a van full of white teens. That doesn’t historically end well for black and brown men who are just trying to exist in public. But if Warner Bros goes through with the changes, the Mystery Machine would definitely seem less threatening than a literal cop cruiser.
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