As fleshed out and detailed as Mauga seems to be in the Baptiste short story, I do not think he will ever become a hero.
Here is why:
For the in-game Baptiste event, Baptiste has been given a good 4-5 new sprays that involve Mauga. At least 2 of which feature Mauga ALONE. These sprays would not make sense as Baptiste sprays if/when/once Mauga became a playable hero, as they would make more sense as Mauga sprays (seeing as every hero has many sprays of themselves and themselves alone).
I cannot off the top of my head think of any hero who is already in game that possesses even ONE spray of another sole hero (in the spray) who either was or later became playable.
I can think of Pharah, Ana, and MAYBE Torb+Brig having a spray or two each that includes BOTH heroes in the “hero family”. I don’t even think Genji and Hanzo have a spray that includes the other.
Summary:
I don’t think Mauga will be a playable hero on the basis that Baptiste was given multiple sprays of Mauga, including multiple sprays that feature Mauga alone. Said Mauga-only sprays would make more sense as Mauga sprays if he were playable, but would come across weird as Baptiste sprays WHILE Mauga was also a playable character.
If lore exists that entwines 2+ heroes, those aren’t reflected in sprays either.
No Widow/Tracer sprays.
No Rein/Brig sprays.
No Genji/Mercy sprays (or Genji/Zen).
No Sombra/any Talon member sprays (or Talon/Tallon).
Etc.
Seems like if they wanted Mauga to entwine with Baptiste lore and be playable, then they would not have included him in Baptiste’s personal selection of sprays.
(For the post above mine) I mean sprays are where Blizzard highlight a lot of the character and personality and what not aspects of each hero when it comes to cosmetics. It doesn’t seem that farfetched to use sprays as a theory basis.
The event sprays are tied to one specific short story (the image of Mauga is straight up copied directly from there), and they’re limited time, they will not be obtainable once the event is over. I don’t think you should take this as anything.
A counter argument would be that Arnold Tsang is credited for the illustrations of Mauga and the short story in general, and he’s the [playable] character concept artist at Blizzard. If he gets credit for it, it means the hero is most probably designed for a playable character.
Mercy and Moira have counterpart sprays, Reinhardt has a spray of him and Brigitte, Brigitte has several sprays of her and Torbjorn or Reinhardt, reaper has a spray where he’s stepping on Winston’s glasses, Hammond has a spray of him and Winston, and there are several other counterpart sprays with junkrat/roadhog, pharah/reinhardt, Ana and 76, etc.
@Wrath They may be event and short story tied, but I still think they should count. Out of the 5 sprays for Ana Bastet Challenge, only ONE contained any other OW universe people. The spray included Soldier and Vincent. Again that is only ONE spray featuring another playable hero. Mauga has like 3-5 in this challenge/event for Baptiste. That is too much representation for a future and playable hero. It would be different if the Mauga sprays were subtle and focused on Baptiste, but when you have multiple sprays on Mauga alone, it doesn’t feel like he will ever be playable.
@DarthWinston They each have sprays that go together but you completely missed what I was saying.
Mercy is in HER spray while Moira is in HER spray. But you do not have a Mercy+Moira spray in ONE for one or both of them. Mercy is not in a Moira spray nor vice versa.
As for those other pairings, it is ONE spray, and again, the sprays feature the hero they are given to, not the other hero that is passively represented in the spray (Winston is not the focus of the Reaper Spray where he smashes the glasses.)
Okay, but
Torbjorn and Reinhardt are in Brigitte sprays.
Brigitte is in Reinhardt sprays
Winston is in Hammond sprays. You’re putting in some unnecessary caveats.
I do think Mauga being standalone in baptiste sprays is a pretty big indicator he’s not going to be next, unless it’s a red herring. But there are a ton of pairing sprays
I do not think the sprays are really a problem to be honest. But I do have reasons to believe he won’t be Hero 31. But I also think he might become a hero later. If you’re interested:
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think sprays alone can be indicative of a character’s hero candidacy. Especially with how fleshed out Mauga is in the story
There is, however, one particular item that does disqualify a character for candidacy. An Icon of that character without them being a hero.
One of the standard three icons with a new hero is always the Hero icon, not having that, or having one added without the associated character feels like a nail in the coffin then.
Which is why I’m convinced Max will never be a playable character
Perhaps they included a few Mauga sprays within Baptiste’s list of sprays as a red herring to throw people off the idea that he’ll eventually turn into a playable character.
