Summary
Overwatch 2just revealed several cut skin ideas from the upcomingGundam Wingcrossover event, including a pilot D.Va, Tallgeese Ana, and Heavyarms Mauga and Zarya. While these skins never made it past the concept design phase, they paint a different picture of what theOverwatch 2x Gundam Wing collaboration could have looked like.
Thecrossover event betweenOverwatch 2andGundam Winghas officially been revealed, featuring Mercy as Wing Gundam Zero, Ramattra as Epyon, Soldier: 76 as Tallgeese, and Reaper as Deathscythe. Fans can pick up these skins for 2800 Overwatch Coins in individual bundles or all together for 5900 Overwatch Coins from April 29 through May 12.
That said, theGundam Wingcollaboration inOverwatch 2almost featured a very different roster of characters. During interviews withComicbookandGameSpot,Overwatch 2associate director of product management Aimee Dennett and art director Dion Rogers revealed some of the skin ideas that were cut during the development stage, including Ana as Tallgeese, Mauga and Zarya as Heavyarms, and D.Va as one of the human pilots ofGundam Wingand their mech. “You always have in your head, ‘Oh, these are obvious combinations,’ but once you see it on paper, it’s not,” Dennet said. Aspects of these skins, like Heavyarms Mauga’s weapons, looked “unbelievable,” but the complete concepts didn’t shine as much as the four who made the cut.
Overwatch 2 x Gundam Wing Unused Skin Ideas
This also made theGundam Wingcrossover the first to have four heroes who have already had skins in previous collaborations. Interestingly enough, Ana, who hasn’t been in a collab yet, was the original concept for Tallgeese, due to their similar weapons – but once compared to Soldier: 76,Overwatch 2went with the latter. “We’ve been dying to give Ana a collaboration skin,” Dennett said, “but then when you looked at Soldier versus Ana side by side, it was really clear that Soldier was the way to go.” WhileOverwatch 2isn’t against using past collab skin countsas a tiebreaker, Dennett explained that the successful execution of concept because of visual or thematic reasons trumps everything else when it comes to crossovers.
Of the chosen skins, Ramattra is the only robotic character in the collaboration, which seemed like an oversight to some players. However, according to Rogers, this was an intentional choice because “Omnic heroes are a little more difficult to be as transformative as we want it to be,” with regard toGundam. Ramattra was an exception, both because rendering the villainous Epyon was a challenge because of theOverwatch 2character’s twin forms, and because of his popularity. “I don’t think we could actually have chosen a different hero based on some of the fans,” Rogers mused.
This new philosophy is a departure from the team’s previous approach to crossovers and has led to some of the most drasticallytransformative collaboration skins inOverwatch 2’s history. “This is the first skin where we fully replaced Mercy,” Rogers said. “You don’t actually see her skin, her face is gone.” Even so,Overwatch 2made sure to retain her silhouette with her animations, staff, and most importantly, her wings. “Her wings allow us to be that transformative with her because the wings are always there. As long as we keep the wings there, players will recognize the hero.”
“This is the first skin where we fully replaced Mercy. You don’t actually see her skin, her face is gone. Her wings allow us to be that transformative with her because the wings are always there. As long as we keep the wings there, players will recognize the hero.”
Despite the quality of these skins, these other concepts do make one wonder what it would have looked like with a different lineup. Luckily, asOverwatch 2’s second collaboration with LE SSERAFIMproved, players could always see moreGundamskins in Future Earth someday.
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