Blizzard did Zenyatta dirty, let's talk about it

General Discussion
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Who was expecting Zen to get an anniversary skin? I feel like it was most people right? This is of course ignoring Reinhardt, Roadhog, and D.Va who have been entirely left on ice (as if Blizzardworld skins count, they don’t because it’s a one time thing, not an event).

So idk I thought Zenyatta was going to get something. All of his skins look cool but none of them really… fit his character? The whole genie/Egyptian god vibe isn’t him, neither is a scary Christmas doll which is half mouth, and Cultist is great but at the end of the day it’s just negaZenyatta. They look good but they don’t preserve the integral aesthetic of his character.

I’m out here (I guess by myself?) hoping for something junker or overgrown (see: Griefhardt) style: something rusted, something kinda just scrapped together, maybe throw some moss on go wild. Something that looks like Zenyatta but different and interesting. Like… the junker skins alone have the potential to be super cool and I really want them to do more in the series (last was Ana’s Wasteland/Wadjet which isn’t ‘officially’ a junker skin but it’s the same scrappy apocalyptic style) and who’s better for the rusty scrap look than? the actual robot heroes. Instead we’ll probably get something for the summer event with waterballoons? Definitely appealing and all but not what I was looking for rn. I could talk about how disappointing some of the hero choices this time were (R E I N H A R D T) but I won’t.

Also before anybody dull and asinine comes @me like ‘skins don’t matter kek stop complaining when ranked is broke maxlol n00b’ I want you to realize how dull and asinine your needlessly superior opinion is. I really like character design and the whole ‘self-expression’ kick Blizzard is going for with this stuff and it’s a game - ergo designed for having fun right - and skins are fun? They’re just chill fun? So yeah that’s why I’m allowed to be disappointed by them, as if I have to justify that.

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I wouldn’t say that nutcrackers doesn’t fit zen character, it mean it litterally draws inspiration from a story were a mechanical toy gain become sentient and express feelings, pretty fitting for zen if you ask me.

I don’t think that blizz team chosed that skin purely so they could have him throw nits.

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Whatever the reason it may be for Zenyatta’s Nutcracker skin… you gotta admit that Zenyatta throwing nuts at people is hilarious.

SPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE THE GOLDEN NUTS

This image is me whenever I use Zenyatta because I have the Nutcracker skin.

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ttps://i.imgur.com/SzOhXdt.jpg

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Zen didnt get a skin??? This event is CANCELLED

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I really hoped Zen and D.Va got skins from this event, but I am fine waiting for a summer games skin.
also,
skins don’t matter kek stop complaining when ranked is broke maxlol n00b
/s

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I mean you’re not wrong it’s funny it’s just… creepy… It’s a creepy creepy face.

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See I feel like this is meant to be sarcastic but honestly? yeah

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YES THANK YOU!

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Trust 3 op, pls nerf

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Yeah it fits him THEMATICALLY but it doesn’t fit him AESTHETICALLY. It doesn’t LOOK like Zenyatta or something he would wear. All of the other hero’s skins maintain the face or general style of the character. Zenyatta’s are all total reimaginings that only look like him because they’ve all got the same base model hitboxes to work off.

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I wanted a new zen skin uwu

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Okay glad we’re on the same vibe here U_U

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The Djinnyatta and Sunyatta, along with their recolors, are meant to be references to mythologies and magic, something very in line with Zen’s character as a mystic monk, who is not only spiritually unbeatable but probably steeped in the history and mythos of times past.

More absurd skins, like Nutcracker and Cultist, I think are supposed to communicate that Zen has a silly side- which he absolutely does. Doing a Junker skin might be difficult since Junkertown is a real place that forces real omnics to fight to the death- or meet death fighting. Makes it a little hard to attain spiritual enlightenment, I’d bet.

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Are you the guy that makes the character design analysis videos? You sound pretty similar.

Trust me as someone who designs characters, and someone who really likes mythologies and magic, I understand and appreciate the source material here. By junker I don’t literally mean a member of Junkertown - within the (abysmal) lore that’s an impossibility. I’m speaking from an entirely stylistic perspective: I want Zenyatta to look beaten up and patchwork like D.Va’s Junker mech (same palette in case any designers are reading :eyes:).

Like I said I appreciate what these skins represent thematically for the character - and I want every hero in the game to have a culturally associated skin - but I dislike how they make him unrecognizable. There are only a few other skins in the game that entirely deviate from the core aesthetic of the base character, and sometimes that works (Wadjet, but even then you could argue it lines up with Shrike, which is technically a component of Ana’s intended base character in-universe) and sometimes it doesn’t. Even if his skins are well designed and look really cool, I’m just not much of a fan and I think with Zenyatta and Orisa especially they could stand to play around with that robot aesthetic the Omnics afford them. Look at Bastion with his Steambot and Antique skins, as well as his Overgrown. They maintain the feeling of the character and play off subcultural archetypes, and Overgrown - only ever replicated in Griefhardt - is just cool. The rust and nature combination is really visually appealing, which is why I think they should approach the other Omnic characters with similar designs (it could be said that devalues Overgrown as an Origin’s skin but there are base game skins better than Origin skins AND base game skins which expand Origins ‘skin series’ e.g. Blackwatch, younger versions etc.).

So yeah junker (apocalyptic scrap) or overgrown Zenyatta please. Will take steampunk if I have to.

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"SPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE THE GOLDEN NUTS"
I laughed at this way harder than I should have.

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If you mean T.B Skyen or Gaijin Goomba, I am neither :rofl: Just a humble lover and creator of art.

I think an overgrown skin would definitely do, if you want to see a somewhat ravaged Zenyatta, I’d get it in a heartbeat. I see what you mean.

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Now we just need a petition or something. That’s how people communicate with faceless corporations right? Petitions?

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They should give him a Duke nukem skin and the sentecne “balls of steel!”

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I’ve never understood this stand-point.

Event Skin or not, the hero still received a skin. Its not like the same heroes receive a new skin every event. The distribution of skins is different every year.

Event Update, Eichenwalde Update, Blizzard World Update alike, heroes are receiving new skins nonetheless.

That being said, Zenyatta is one of my favorite Heroes in OW and any excuse to see more Zen skins is okay in my book!