Are we feeling festive yet? With the very welcome return of the Winter Express game mode, all the cosmetics are back in the store with some interesting new additions. But which skins will look best when boarding the train?
Gibraltar Brudda Bear 5/5
We do love a bear. This would be a comedic skin if it wasn’t so stylish, cohesive and didn’t make so much sense for Gibraltar to have. We know that Gibraltar’s body type is that of a bear so why not show it off? The white fur texture, the little feet and the cartoonish head give a tongue-in-cheek impression of that. This skin really pops with the extra long scarf that hits the ground. The blue bow on the arm and back and the little Christmas hat bring it all together. The attention to detail in the sledge arm shield is really special. Overall this is another really great skin for Gibraltar and a change up from the kind of skin he usually gets.
Crypto Hack Frost 5/5
Honestly I completely forgot about Jack Frost even being a thing! What a good match for Crypto! The elements and styling of this are on point. The blue and silver colour scheme represents that iciness that Jack Frost to bring. It brings out Crypto’s frosty personality. The jacket is definitely a statement piece. The sparkly effect on it look like ice crystals. Just touching it would give you a shiver! The jacket collar is upturned and looks like a star- a Christmas theme while framing the head. The hair and makeup add a haunting quality to this skin. The pale blue makeup is ghostly, the chin strap almost looks like decay and the brushed back chunky white hair as if he’s come straight from the Tundra. The gold jester idea around the neck really pop while reminding us of Jack Frost’s connection with elves. The boots add the final touch of festive freeze. Another really strong skin for Crypto, though it’s not gonna be great for camouflage when the snow melts!
Wattson Shocking Stuffer 4/5
Another great skin for Wattson. There’s a lot going on here but it all goes really well together. This is obviously Respawn’s take on the elf and all the core elements are there. This is somewhat of a festive suit. There’s a shirt moment with buttons and collar and her jacket over the top as in her usual silhouette. There’s the matching yellow and green elements in shirt, jacket and bodysuit. This is broken up by some red lining on the zips, collar and hood. The yellow has some glitteriness to it that seems festive while the choice of yellow is not obvious. The candy cane knee-length socks break up that colour scheme a little so it doesn’t look like literal vomit from the yellow and green. I’m not sure what the knee pads are but they look cute. They look like Easter eggs somehow and I enjoy the asymmetry. The red hood with the white snowballs is a real statement. I’m not sure about this white layer around her face. I like her simple makeup of just the two red dots high up to accentuate her cheekbones. Overall, this skin is a lot of colour but it works all together. There’s a cool suit idea that matches her tomboyish character and there’s something cute about how put together this skin is.
Mirage The Wisecracker 4/5
Finally a good Mirage skin! I love this. It’s so clean and put together. Similar to Wattson, it has this uniformal idea to it rather than being costumey. There’s real consistency in the colour scheme from the red top with white straps down to the white bottoms with gold lined chaps. This jacket is constructed so well with the shoulder pads and fur lined sleeves. The hat lined with gold and the makeup with the handlebar moustache and beard and red rosy cheeks really set the whole look off. The only thing is the blue belt as it really doesn’t fit. Otherwise, this skin is very aesthetically pleasing in it’s symmetry and simplicity. The nutcracker fits Mirage’s jovial character.
Revenant Frost Ancient 4/5
Apparently Game of Thrones isn’t over yet because we have a straight up white walker skin coming to Apex in this event. I love that this skin is nature, ice and horror all in one. It’s primarily wood with blue icy accents that really put the idea across of this skin. It’s less obvious and helps this stand out from the more obvious white and blue ice looks. The head is a certain grey that makes it look like a skull while the black eyes and dot of blue really look haunting. The way the ice and wood weave against each other with two icy horns on the head really are a highlight. The only thing for me is that the white armour underneath looks a pristine and a bit of dirt would’ve worked a little better. There is a clear story with this skin and one that I haven’t seen much for Christmas events.
Octane Dasher 4/5
This skin is bonkers. This is so comic and so Octane. It looks like a Reindeer onesie with enough belts and straps to give it shape for a full look. It’s a clean colour scheme of browns with that red nose Rudolph reference. The nose itself is cheeky pushing through Octane’s character. The googly eyed googles are hilarious and the little antlers are functional and funny. The placement of the bells are pretty cheeky too. This skin is hilarious and somehow works for Octane’s character? He has had better but this is still a great skin for the festive season.
Pathfinder Joyfinder 3/5
This skin isn’t bad but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I don’t understand why there’s a second Santa. I would’ve preferred they just went for a candy cane idea with this skin. I love the white stripes on red frame that allude to candy canes without having to have big blocks of white. There’s a little change in his shapes in the rounding off of some edges in a more cubic idea that make him seem a little more child friendly. I like the change in his chest avatar to this gingerbread idea. The yellow glow adds to the idea that it’s a portable oven. Maybe if the candy idea was went with more this would’ve worked better? I really dislike the green elements as it clashes with what could’ve been a really clean colour scheme. I like the little trees on the back but maybe crackers would’ve worked better? The beard is constructed well and gives a comedic idea but I don’t understand. I just wish this could’ve been something else.
Loba Crystalline Perfection 3/5
After a long time requested finally the first legendary Loba skin. This is ok. It gives me drag queen in the way that it’s very put together but with really fierce makeup. The minute you look at this you get the theme. It’s like an ice debutante. The statement snowflake on her chest that continues on the shoulders is clearly the main feature. The fur is nice. Her icy crown is fierce but overshadowed by the fierce eye makeup and pigtails that look wrong. I do like the pink lips against this though. The legs are ok, they balance out the heavy accessories on the top. Overall this skin is nice but it doesn’t really take it any further. Her character comes through but if there was some more edge or some more elegance it would’ve worked better. Maybe some kind of crystal tear idea would’ve worked better. I’ll wait for another Loba Legendary.
Caustic Claustic 3/5
This skin is Santa, it does what it’s supposed to do. That spectacles are accurate. The fur is in all the right places. The construction of the cloak is good with that flap and the gold buttons symmetrical along the edges. There’s a little asymmetry with the green elements but it doesn’t really work. The one green arm and those two green straps again this huge body and overwhelming red just look strange and unbalanced. The gold mask is ok and the gold rope is fine. The boots are a little plain. Most noticeably, where’s the hat? Overall it’s very classic Santa and it does the job but it doesn’t really take it any further.
Bagalore Stay Frosty 2/5
This skin is way too much but I do like a lot of the ideas. I like the centre piece of the angry snowman and the matching shoulder and knee pads. I like the Russian hat idea with the ribbon and bow going across it. I like the Santa dress and the Christmas wrapping paper for the trousers. I like all of these separately but together it’s a mish mash of too many ideas that just blends into a red, green and white mess. The ugg boots are underwhelming on their own but I don’t want another statement on this already busy skin. I like that they tried a lot of different ideas on this skin. This just needed a little editing.
Rampart Deep Freeze 2/5
First Rampart event skin. It’s not the best. This is going to the trend of underwhelming epic skins. In this event, there’s a lot of icy skins with the white and blue colour scheme. This feels like that with no other prevailing theme. The moving print is a very basic hexagonal shape and the movement is the same falling motion that we’ve seen time and time again. The frosty neck moment is interesting and realistic as if she’s really gone out in the snow. The hair idea is there with the grey. Overall, it’s lazy again. The skins she got in her season were far superior to this.
Horizon Absolute Zero and Bloodhound Solstice 1/5
Now you thought the Rampart skin was lazy? These are literally just the base designs in blue. Bloodhound has some nice snowflake patterns and the brown is nice but the crow doesn’t match at all and these features are quite small. They have icy legs that harken back to season three but overall it just feel like a lot of different ideas thrown together for the theme. Horizon’s skin is just shades of blue that honestly look more aquatic that anything else. The blue hair is too much and the moving pattern is minimal and can barely be seen. Compared to the number of recolours that Bloodhound has and the number of skins that Horizon recieved this event, these skins just don’t cut it. The only excuse is that they’re free. Having said that, why does this mean that they have to be absolute minimum effort?
Lifeline Snow Crystal and Wraith Wreath 1/5
The only reason that these are here is because I physically can’t give lower than a one on this scoring system. This is no effort. Lifeline is just green with blue hair and a generic swirly print. Wraith is slightly better with the snowflakes but honestly these are just plain. These are just filler skins for bundles.
Crypto Cool Operator and Azure Glaze 1/5
Why three Crypto skins for this event? The new blue skin is a totally uninspiring filler skin that doesn’t deserve to be talked about. The green skin has a nice hair idea but just another recolour. A better idea for epics in this event would’ve been to do what Overwatch did in their first year and just stick hats on everything as with Tracer, Mei and Lucio. Again, two more filler skins.
There’s been a lot of controversy about this event to do with the bundles and the way they’re mismatched. This means that for those who want matching gun and character skins, they have to pay for both bundles. Usually, the more desired skins are matched with less popular skins. This is a legitimate sale tactic. In retail, you’re going to want to clear stock and so deals will be done with items that sell less well over more popular items. Having said that, there’s such an issue with pricing in this game to begin with and when these skins feel like they’re being made to bunk up these bundles over actually adding content, it comes across as stingy and abusing a fanbase that want to support the game. That’s no reason for people to attack developers or designers but it’s something that needs to be talked about. That’s not through shouting. There’s ways to have a discussion and get to an answer at the end of it that benefits both parties. Otherwise, it’s just a screaming match at the end of which both sides just switch off.
Bringing it back to a lighter topic, this collection is one of the best in the game for sure. A lot of icy additions this year so it’s a good thing we’ve got the rest of the year to recover. I didn’t expect any new legendries after the Halloween event but the Revenant skin is really great and the Loba skin is ok too. Hopefully these collection events keep returning because I NEED Iron Crown for those Lifeline and Wattson skins. Maybe even newer legends getting skins for past collections. Image a Rampart System Override! Either way, give my next review a read on the End of Year Sale where I talk about The Old Ways and Voidwalkers skins that are coming back to the game. Above all, let me know what you think! And don’t get lost in the snow…
