I feel like many people forget that Blizzard’s main way of adding new lore is through comics (which we need more of) - most shorts expand on what we already know.
We knew that Balderich died - it mainly showed us how that came to.
We knew that Mei’s crew died - it showed us how she escaped.
And we knew that D.Va was a soldier fighting omnics that were adapting to the SK army’s tactics - it showed us how she feels towards the situation.
Agreed - the animated shorts have never seemed very heavy on delivering us lore itself. The soldier short showed us everything we already knew, we already knew everything in the Widow/Tracer one - the only one I think that gave us any surprises that I can remember TBH is the Sombra one, where we got to see the origin of her “Boop!” line and that she’s double dealing Talon.
Exactly! Shorts deliver on the past, and enrich the current story through visuals. If we were to get a Lucio short, for example, it would probably be about his fight against Vishkar.
Almost all the new lore has been added through events or comics, and I think people are now just realizing:
Shorts have not added as much new lore as people think.
And people don’t give the short enough credit - it deepens D.Va’s personality - now she’s much more than the dorito crunching gremlin with a squeaky voice. She’s a passionate soldier trying to carry her country on her shoulders while juggling her career as a celebrity at 19 years old.
I’m 19 and I could never imagine myself in her position.
A five minute flashback Mecha battle on its own would have done nothing to expand the character or the world the game resides in.
Both this cinematic and the Retribution event did nothing to further advance the story of Overwatch, it just minirly expanded upon the backstory of some certain characters, minorly.
I honestly really enjoyed it because before she seemed like one of the most unrealistic characters to me - her and Lucio. I don’t understand how celebrities would be the ones fighting the war at the same time.
That said, with this new short I can totally see how skilled and talented people in this world seem to take on a sort of otherworldly or godly status, unlike our universe in the Overwatch world being smart seems to typically go hand in hand with building amazing technolgies, abilities, etc. (Exagerated in a fantastical way, but understandable) Taking that into account, if you had the ability to do something this amazing in the face of the Ominic crisis, coupled with late stage capitalistic values being obvious with merchandising and endorsements and all that - it seems far more believable to me now.
And on top of that we got to see a very realistic reaction from a girl that is used to winning videogames suddenly being forced to grapple with the reality that life is NOT a game, despite how many years she’s spent acting like it was. I think that the last battle in the flashback was Hana’s first time realizing that they could lose, and when they lose in real life it won’t have a respawn timer. Those will be her real friends, really dead, and that’s a lot to handle.
Yeah? Okay the other animated shorts had issues too in terms of writing.
Beautiful to look at but once you bite into it you realize its a wax replica.
Look you can write a story or you can create a journey. An excavation. An adventure.
They had a chance at doing this but instead we got was a gallery of fast paced action bright lights and explosions.
The audience wants to be immerse. To take it all in and absorb it. To be there and understand what it was like in the universe.
It didn’t hold weight for being a story. So they can write a story. Or they make it into a quest to see it through to the end.
Thats the big difference.
So no. Half and half of a reaction means it failed with its audience. That is box office failure for any movie.
No it did not delivery. What we needed was lore. Not the fact that she was a helpless mechanic that was in charge of a whole city.
No the side character barely got anything. He complained and was there to be something for Dva to interact with. He didn’t even get rewarded for sticking with her.
No it did not entertain. It was seven minutes of questioning things left and right.
No it did not have a moral value to follow or a lesson for all. In the end all we get is Dva is awesome her city is weird and her boytoy of a pal literally got nothing. No reward hey thanks but you held me back type of deal.
Some friend hana is. Can’t even spare of of 100s of tickets she gets for being a celebrity.
The fact that you keep bringing up that a superfluous character ‘didn’t get anything’ is just… So much for me. Telling, and I think I’m just gonna leave it at that. You’re entitled to not enjoying the short, thanks for the discussion, have a nice night!
Lmao it’s literally the d.va short, not the d.va and daehyun short
You too?
Meh. This could have gone better. I mean come on. That dude is a hero just the same as Hana.
Why are we denying he should have gotten something out of it. Even the news screams Dva’s name no one elses!
Wild, right, that the D.va short would be about… D.va… >_>
I mean - I’m genuinely not trying to be mean, but it’s sorta obvious what that is, right? To everyone else?
edit: I’m trying SO HARD to be ‘more civil’ online and be better about being nice to people, so I’m really really really not trying to stir the pot, but it just genuinely seems like this guy seems super bent out of shape about D.va not fawning over the dude in the short and him being the star of the short.
He got more than Brigitte did in h&g… And Brigitte is a playable character
I’m like 98% sure he got more talking time/lines than she did and maybe even more screen time. The focus may have been ‘about’ her, but he was certainly featured a LOT for a secondary character that we don’t even know.
Edit: which I’m fine with, because he was clearly being used as a storytelling tool and a vehicle to give us information about Hana and who she is, her life etc. It totally worked. But he was hardly sidelined or treated poorly, either! They clearly are buds, and she treated him like gamer buds treat gamer buds. I don’t think anyone could argue against that.
Your right.
nows she a serious 19 year old gremlin with a sometimes serious but squeaky voice with occasional ptsd and she doesn’t need no man.
that’s about it 
o and her parents probably got killed by the kaiju omnic.
if not there should be not reason for the ptsd and will short change the impact of her ptsd and make it feel like bad writing and wont be easy to retcon like starcraft star gamer d.va ;p
Posted this earlier.
Name a short that has given us a significant amount of new lore that didn’t expand off anything we didn’t know - infiltration doesn’t count.
Comics give new lore, shorts expand on what we know.
They played similar roles–to spur the main character to do or think about something. Taehyun takes on Brigitte’s and Balderich’s role because he does help but he also incites flashbacks/memories that help D.Va decide what to do. He got plenty hahaha.
This is probably because an animated short requires SO much planning and time, whereas a comic can be done in under a month and is able to be edited easily. If you want to retcon something from a comic book it’s going to be a hell of a lot easier than doing it from a 3D animated short. The amount of effort and detail and planning put into an animated short probably is what makes it an unlikely avenue for new information, IMO.
Well if thats your case they should have done more than show off her combat skills.
Like I said missed opportunity here. Where is the character’s essence? I did not once felt anything for Dva.
It didn’t help me appreciate the hero or make me want to bond with her. It was just there and we were expected to just watch it.
Yep - most comics have given us significant portions of lore. With that being said, not sure why we can’t get more of them. They are definitely easier to produce and put out as opposed to a fully animated, 7min or more short.
Well you’re entitled to feel that way. I disagree, I think that there was plenty of character, her essence was expanded on and made more nuanced, and I got to see part of the daily world in which she lived. I enjoyed it and thought it added to the character in a positive and entertaining way. Sorry you didn’t like it, maybe you’ll enjoy the next one.