When Fortnite started, the Item Shop was a small place with just a few offerings. As time went on, it became more creative, introducing a battle pass, inventive skins, and specially themed seasons. Once the Fortnite money-train arrived at the station, plenty of other companies decided they hop aboard Since then, we’ve seen massive collaborations with properties like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Dragon Ball Z, and so on. Companies whose MO for marketing to kiddies in the 90s and 2000s would've been action figures knew full well that this was the new realm to be in.
With the massive uptake on collaborations and an ever-growing wardrobe of skin options, Epic soon found that people were a little short on locker loadouts. So, they increased the locker to a whopping 100 presets where you can mix-and-match your cosmetics. When you look at what Fortnite has accomplished with its various collabs and zany original outfits/skins, it becomes clear that Fortnite didn’t just offer consumers cosmetics, it actually reinvented the action figure.
I was a spoiled boy with quite a lot of action figures in my time. I had a big trunk full of Ninja Turtles, every kind of Spider-Man you could imagine, Dragon Ball fighters, and a whole bunch more. The great thing about action figures is that they tickle the young imagination. I had Goku and Spider-Man team up. I combined whatever my heart desired because all of my toys were on the same playing field that I created.
Nothing had to make sense. That’s where Fortnite excels. It doesn’t matter that Goku has never touched a gun in his show. You can put him on a team with The Joker, Geralt, and The Predator and have yourself a grand old time. Fortnite is a big playground where people bring their favorite action figures from the toybox and smash them together in a great big Battle Royale.
That brings me to the next wonderful thing about action figures. Accessories! Yes, all of those wonderful little components just begging to be lost. I would keep them in little bags so that I could use anything from any play set at a moment’s notice. Throw a Batman cape on a Ninja Turtle? Why not? If it fits, it fits. While there are a few exceptions where accessories are bound to a single character, it’s mostly a free-for-all. My John Wick uses Batman’s cape for a glider. He wields Michonne’s Katana as a harvester. He sometimes has a puppy for a backbling. If mix-and-match isn’t your thing, just use the accessories your outfit came with. Just about every outfit or skin is part of a set where everything is meant to match up perfectly.
While players generally use guns to win matches in Fortnite, the game regularly offers special abilities and limited time events. Most recently, players saw the Flying Nimbus and Kamehameha from Dragon Ball Z in the game. Of course, it feels awesome to see your Gohan come to life with a wicked Kamehameha blast, but it’s just as satisfying (and silly) to see someone like Fortnite’s banana mascot, Peely, throw out a beam-of-death.
When lightsabers came to the game, it was the prime time to play a Jedi for some people. Me? It was the perfect time to see Batman wield a lightsaber. That’s the beauty of what Fortnite has done by creating this enormous offering of digital action figures for everyone to use in Epic’s personal playground. Every week my friends and I scoop up our favorite toys and smash them together with other players like clumsy children while yelling over microphones.
The other thing Fortnite has accomplished is the idea of the “hot” toy. A new skin hits the item shop, and it’s the new 'It' thing for at least 24 hours. Once the item goes away, you never know when it’s going to come back. Sometimes an item returns a week later, while other times an item can be gone for a year or more. If you want the hot toy, you need to act fast. Instead of capitalizing on the scarcity of quantity, Fortnite capitalizes on the scarcity of time. This is especially true for battle pass characters. While they’re available for the entirety of the season, battle pass characters never return or go to the Item Shop. Once they’re gone, that’s all folks.
With a new season beginning today, March 10, we’ll see a whole new line of these digital toys come out. This season will bring all-new cosmetics, abilities, and map changes for players to enjoy. Our playground will be revamped, we’ll get some shiny new abilities, and once again we’ll smash our Hulks and our Fishsticks together in the heat of combat. Therein lies the beauty of it all. It doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to make fun.