Fortnite season two chapter five is coming to a close this week as we slide into chapter six. This season featured so many popular skins and emotes that players surely don’t want to miss out on. Now that it’s the season end, Epic has opened up its shop, featuring full sets of skins sure to help any players catch up on the collections they missed.
Currently, the shop is featuring its Icon Series. This series pays tribute to some of the biggest content creators around the globe, so fans can play as their favourite streamers. Most come with their own emote, pickaxe and back bling. Usually the skin and its add-ons can be purchased as a bundle for a deal, saving around 800 V-Bucks, but all the pieces can also be bought separately, so you can mix and match your favourite icons!
The end-of-season shop is featuring five of the Icon skins for a limited time. The most notable skin right now is likely Ninja. The blue oufitted skin comes with two edit styles, one a little ghostly with no face and glowing eyes. The bundle features dual blade pickaxes, a back bling blade holster and a popular dance that will forever be associated with Ninja himself. Ninja was a competitive eSports player before he gained his fame playing Fortnite. He is currently the most followed Twitch streamer with over 16 million followers, so he definitely earned his spot as a Fortnite Icon.
We have our blue icon, so we obviously needed a red one. That slot goes to TheGrefg, a 23-year-old streamer from Spain. His skin features two edit styles, one being entirely red and slightly demonic. His pickaxe, the Staff of Control, is a gaming controller on top of a long staff. His back bling is a ring of electric black and red balls and his emote features the skin dancing alongside their animated controller. His platform of choice is YouTube where TheGrefg has over 15 million subscribers.
Moving across the globe, the next Icon is an Australian streamer, Lachlan. This skin is what I call the pretty-boy of the bunch. He has a Zack Morris vibe with his strong jaw and bright blonde hair. This skin only has one edit style, but to stand out, both the skin and lightning bolt back bling react to eliminations, covering them in yellow electricity. His emote is a take on a superhero back flip with an electric punch and his dual pickaxes follow suit being forged entirely of electricity. With over 14 million YouTube subscribers I’m sure I’ll be bombarded on the Fortnite battlefield by blonde balls of electricity in no time.
Epic seems to have favoured the down under as they have another icon from Australian. Loserfruit is a female an Australian Twitch live streamer and is also quite popular for her YouTube channel. Loserfruit — or Lufu — is the most colourful skin of the bunch. Though she has no extra edit styles her outfit glows and swirls with all the colours of the rainbow. Her fruit filled back bling and shish kebab pickaxes are just as bright and her emote shows her bringing her “loserfruit” to life. With a combined 6 million followers on YouTube and Twitch, Loserfruit is one of the top leading ladies in gaming.
The latest instalment to the Fortnite Icon Series is Lazarbeam himself. Epic really did this one well, right down to his upper lip fuzz. Another Australian YouTuber, Lazarbeam is 26 years old and doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously. This skin brough us back to extra edit styles, one featuring a bright yellow construction outfit. His pickaxe is a giant mallet, which I am interested in seeing in game, and his emote titled “lunchbreak” features him sitting down for a little snack. Most notable though is his back bling. It pays homage to my favourite back bling in the game, Merry Munchkin, an angry little Gingerbread man that sits on your back and judges everything you do. This set has him stuck to your back like a stuffed doll with a little construction hat to match. I’m in love. Lazarbeam leads the Icons with over 18 million YouTube subscribers, which begs the question, what took so long?
They have made smaller gestures to other Icons as well, rather than full skins they have released emotes for popular content creators like pokimane, who was thrilled to perform it for her fans. The game also pays tribute to musicians and celebrities with Marshmallow and Travis Scott who both have skins and have been featured in live events. There are plenty of emotes featuring popular music from the past and present, Fortnite always seems to find a way to stay relevant.
Currently, the item shop is also featuring two big name skins, Kratos from God of War and Master Chief from Halo. These are two instantly recognizable characters, even to someone like me who hasn’t played either game. I think my favourite thing about Fortnite is that I’ve never seen them choose sides. With Kratos being a PlayStation exclusive and Master Chief being an Xbox exclusive, Fortnite and Epic strive to reach fans on all platforms, rarely playing favourites. We see them do this kind of crossover with Marvel and DC as well, two franchises that people are extremely passionate about being mixed and matched out on the island.
Last week Fortnite featured all the Marvel skins that have come out this season. Captain America, Blade, Black Widow and Ant Man were just a few of the many skins available for players to purchase. Star Wars was another huge feature this year, with The Mandalorian himself as the battle pass skin, along with the chance to score the Baby Yoda back bling. The game manages to create collections to please any fandom and I can’t wait to see what else they come out with.
Fortnite and Epic have done something really amazing with this Icon Series. They have found a way to pay tribute to their fans and promoters in a really unique style and it will continue to benefit the company long term. With the much talked about comic, Batman/Fortnite Zeropoint #1 coming out in April, fans can only begin to speculate what the new season has in store. Rumours are swirling of more DC skins since The Flash and Green Arrow have been featured this season, with Batman, Catwoman and more already in the Fortnite family. The game keeps finding new ways to get people involved and keep them talking and I’m sure with Season Two Chapter Six on its way on March 16, there is plenty more to look forward to.
