EA and Respawn’s Apex Legends Character Roster Features Two LGBTQ Characters and an Interesting Robot
EA and Respawn recently announced their new battle royale game, Apex Legends, which they hope will take on the juggernaut that is Fortnite. The game is set in the Titanfall universe and takes place 30 years after the events of Titanfall II. The roster for the battle royale game currently features eight characters, and at least a quarter of them are LGBTQ.
In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Apex Legends’ community manager Jay Frechette revealed the game is trying to move away from “military dudes with helmets.”
“We want to keep that grounded, functional world, but at the same time keep it fun. Getting away from military dudes with helmets and having a more diverse, colorful group.”
He would go on to reveal that Bloodhound is a non-binary character. Rock Paper Shotgun’s Nic Reuben writes, “I mention Bloodhound, a tracker character sporting futuristic plague doctor garb, and Frechette confirms that yes, Bloodhound is non-binary, or at least non-specified, in terms of gender.”
Frechette goes on to discuss why having a diverse cast of characters is important:
“Our studio is comprised of a diverse group of people, the playerbase of battle royale is comprised of a diverse group. Having a diverse cast is super important. You want everyone to have someone they can connect to.”
Bloodhound isn’t the only LGBTQ character. The game also features Makoa Gibraltar. In the official description of the character on EA’s website it indicates he has a boyfriend.
“However, he only began to understand the value of protecting others when he and his boyfriend stole his father’s motorcycle, took it on a joyride, and got trapped by a deadly mudslide.”
The game is also taking a cue from [easyazon_link identifier=”B07CQKKFKB” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Solo: A Star Wars Story[/easyazon_link] which hinted at Lando Calrissian being a pansexual or the idea that he has relations with his robot L3-37. The game features a character named Pathfinder who is a Mobile Robotic Versatile Entity. He’s basically a robot. Frechette seemingly confirmed that the robot has sex, “He’s been around for a very long time. I’m sure he’s got his stories. He’s seen a lot.” Rock Paper Shotgun took those comments as confirmation regarding the robots sexual behavior stating, “the robot canonically f****.”
The rest of the roster includes professional soldier Bangalore, toxic trapper Caustic, combat medic Lifeline, holographic trickster Mirage, and interdimensional skirmisher Wraith. The game includes three males, three females, one robot, and a non-binary character.
EA reported they had over 2.5 million unique users already play the game with close to 600,000 at peak in the middle of a Tuesday. EA CEO Andrew Wilson divulged the numbers during an Electronic Arts Q3 2019 Earning Conference Call.
“[I]n the first 24 hours, we’ve had over 2.5 million unique users, training fast toward 3 million unique users, and nearly 600,000 peak and current users in the middle of a Tuesday, so it’s very early, but the response to the game has been very, very strong. We’ve been the No. 1 viewed game on Twitch since launch, and player sentiment seems to be very, very high right now.”
What do you make of Apex Legends roster of characters? Have you checked out the game, do you like it?
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