I partially agree on this point. Ana shows her job in her first comic (Legacy) and is clearly told about her so she proves her in her killer routine. Instead, I absolutely agree that a flashback about how pharah felt when she was young was quite a duty to empathize with her more.
is my biggest fear that no one is admitting: Cole Cassidy is a retcon, and the name change is not an event that happens at some point in the lore. We will have the definitive proof when there is the next event archives: Who will be the cowboy of Retribution? Something tells me “not McCree”, and it will be definitive that we are in a retcon and not in something canonical.
Here I have warned you: There will not be. This will “break” something in our reading, and it’s one of the worst fears I have about OW so far.
They mentioned that mcree was his cowboy alias. So maybe theyre leaning towards the “while he was working at overwatch everybody knew his as his real name, cole”
Or everybody couodve known it was cole all along but decided to call him cree based off him not accepting himself. Idk
Thats what my side project aimed to achieve, to write a “canonical” explanation for McCree’s change to Cassidy. I halted it because I assumed New Blood would explain it.
That’s kind of a stock telling, and somewhat bad narrative writing. I’m talking something like this:
After successfully evacuation off of the compound, Ana takes a shaky breath to steady herself, but something—someone—within the crowd makes her unease: a young girl whose eyes are transfixed on her. Ana doesn’t need the full details, her intuition is enough confirmation. “How many lives are changed from the actions of one?” Ana asks herself, “That man may have been evil and showed no signs of stopping, but to take a child’s father from them… Is this really the right course of action…?”
Something more intimate to show that she regrets her decisions, and is haunted by the faces of relatives of her victims, and the victims themselves.
That doesn’t really feel like good storytelling to me. That just feels like such an easy out. No one’s said his actual name in the entirety of this issue so far—Pharah said it in a thought bubble which made me bring to light the problem.
Until a verbal, in-world conversation is brought up, the issue with McCree-Cassidy is left unresolved.
no, because that wouldn’t explain why pharah thinks he’s calling him Cole in the story instead of McCree.
As I said, I think we will seriously see retcon when Archives comes next year. I can say with absolute certainty (I have verified) that in the game they have also eliminated the voicelines of Moira, Reyes, Genji and Pilota Blackwatch that say “Jesse” or “MCCree”. I often hack into Overwatch internal files like the YT Overwatch interactions channel, and those voicelines dedicated to Archives disappeared after Cole Cassidy was made official.
(Note: the voicelines of all events always remain in the game files. Only in rare cases are they permanently deleted in the game folder)
New Blood was slated to be released soon after Summer Games 2021, before being abruptly discontinued and replaced with Malevento. Andy B confirmed that NEw Blood has nothing to do with McCree>Cassidy’s name, nor does he intend to explain it. here
But the retcon problem remains. many cling to a narrative gimmick that seems to be completely nullified through the censorship of the McCree name in new products and (probably) in Retribution coming soon. Editorially, however, Jesse McCree exists (Reunion and Deadlock Rebels) so … there is no way out, in my opinion, it is unfortunately retcon.
They could’ve just done it to where McCree is the name used for the hero’s past (Deadlocke, Blackwatch, Overwatch, etc.) that his enemies use to torment the hero (Reaper, Ashe, Moira, Julian, etc.). Cassidy is his new name to distance himself from his past, a past that he accepts and acknowledges.
Then why does she have regrets and is haunted by the faces of her victims and her past? If it was out of necessity, then what was said in this issue is grossly out of character for the hero… Honestly, she just needs an actual instance where taking a life left her scarred so badly that she regrets it to this day. Unless, what happened in this issue was out of character for the hero…?
would anything really satisfy you tbh? they had to change it for corporate stock reasons, i think they can live with people questioning the lore about this.
there is no way to handle this that would have looked good, they just made the change and moved on
Yes, but that doesn’t line up with her “lives taken” phrase. The phrase implies that when she took a certain life (lives) she deeply regretted it and can vividly see the faces of those she killed that haunt her in her twilight years.
As a lore enthusiast and aspiring writer, it pains me to see narrative inconsistencies… Then again, it also gives me material to practice with…
There’s always a way, it just depends on how hard you look and how much you’re willing to invest. The side project I had aimed to rectify this issue when it first started, but that was merely one proposal and viewpoint, so it was subject to opinions. I put it on standby when New Blood first arrived 'cause I thought it would at least explain the name change in an understandable way that would consistent with the overarching narrative?
This is just the start of an inconsistent narration. Wait until Retribution after they reworked the lines that mention his name. They might not even use cowboy, and just outright call him Cole. They really should have just retconned it instead of this silly lore plot device that they clearly pay little attention to.
Agreed, it wasn’t that intense at all, and the damage to Pharah from the rocket should have been more severe. Also did her clothes magically repair themselves also?
The Ana and Pharah reunion scene was handled better in some of the fanfics I read sadly. They really should have explored an alternative story for Pharah joining Overwatch and having dialogue with her Mother. The Toronto story mission would have been an excellent point to introduce Pharah to Overwatch as her and Ana have a valid reason (Sam) to defend Canada from a null sector invasion. Ana could have been an npc helping you from the shadows. Healing you when you’re critical, sleeping a big target or giving you nanoboost at the last possible moment. She’d be disguised too, and very hard to see. But the player would know it is Ana and that her actions show she really cares about Pharah. Then you have a good set up for an intense reunion.
What we got was a 6.5/10. Above mediocre, but below great.
True, you can’t please everyone, but something has to be better than practically sweeping the issue under the rug?
For example, in my side project, I had it where McCree gets word through rumors that a renegade is impersonating him as they pull off heists, prompting McCree to find this impersonator and bring them to justice. It would be a story where McCree faces his past both figuratively and literally as he comes to the conclusion that if he wants to start over fresh, he’s going to need a new alias that signifies he’s a new man. And what better alias than the name he had previously discarded in his youth? Finally coming to terms with his roots and coming out of it with a new perspective and a new identity.
What bothers me a lot is that the Deadlock Rebels book has not been announced for publication in other countries. Now, in America we can ignore as much as you want the “foreign translation as non-canonical”, but for us Europeans (I am Italian) the consistency of things is quite important. if it already annoyed us that in the Italian and French dubbing of Recall the Petras Act is defined as stipulated in “a specific year” (but Michael Chu has already confirmed to us that that dubbing is not canonical and should be considered only the original American one), the same does not it applies to any alterations of the Cassidy / McCree name in publishing. The European edition will also be a point to watch if McCree was changed to Cassidy as a full-fledged retcon, not just the dubbing of Retribution.
We can say it clearly: there are no signs that the cowboy suddenly decided to call himself Cassidy in the lore, and Retribution will be the confirmation of this, even in the artificiality in which they decide to use terms like “boy”, “Cowboy” etc. throughout the mission. that Twitter announcement is more … a corporate announcement than a lore announcement.
the problem is this: we can’t pretend it’s a real counterpart to Wrecking-ball / Hammond, Reyes - Reaper etc. because there are no assumptions that suggest it. Nor can we accept that it is a retcon until Blizzard admits it.
But you know what? I prefer Blizzard to admit it’s a retcon. They will be hated for it (and maybe I will hate them for it too), but it’s probably the truest way to keep writing the “McCassidy” lore. it is very subtle to pretend that there is no such detail as if it were a Diablo Cow Level. Nor is it fun to ignore it intentionally as the cow level.
But as I said, Retribution in Archives 2021 will prove the truth about how they decided to manage this double nickname.
It’s not going to happen. The name ‘Jesse McCree’ won’t ever appear in any new Overwatch material ever again. Team 4 doesn’t want to be associated with the guy.
I guess I could pull a Thanos and, “…do it myself”? At the very least, it would provide some form of headcanon… Now to find the time to write it out, though…?
Pharah has connections to Tracer, Reinhardt and Brigitte. That’s how she can contact Cassidy if/when she decides to join.
Or was the question how the person at the end found Cassidy. In which case yes, the answer is Sombra almost certainly. Sombra is probably also the reason Talon is there in force.
Oh, that’s not what I meant. I’m not talking about Pharah. I assumed the OP didn’t want to spoiler who pops up at the end of the comic, and “???” is meant to refer to that person.
Here I have warned you: There will not be. This will “break” something in our reading, and it’s one of the worst fears I have about OW so far.