lenaperseveranceoxton

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

No reason why the next Overwatch character can’t be a Greek Orthodox priest

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I'm NOT mad that my Lemon Tea headcanons were shot down yesterday. Please don't put in the newspaper that I got mad about my Lemon Tea headcanons being shot down yesterday.

HOWEVER, I just realized... how did Lena and Emily start dating when Overwatch was out of commission when Lena says they want to return to Cuba with her during Storm Rising?

Because there is nothing platonic about this.

(I would’ve noticed this sooner if it wasn’t for the initial shock of “Aw, man, so they met after The Slipstream,” I swear)

Okay, on second thought, I am mad. The Overwatch logo should be placed next to “inconsistency” and “contradiction” in every dictionary everywhere.

Hire people who actually know what they’re talking about or put this game’s sorry excuse for character writing and world building out of its misery already. 😭

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I love how Lena is drawn in the new comic, but since it's too much work to save screencaps of every single frame they're in, I'll do it for Emily instead!

LOOK AT HER!!!

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I was already going into the new comic considering it as "not canon" to ME, because in my rewrite, the Overwatch story missions we currently have take place in April-ish of 2077, so it's like, let's not skip time already. (Even in Blizzard's canon, though, Winston ended Reflections hopeful for the new year, Overwatch 2 gives us an inexplicable two-year time skip, and now, we're wrapping up another year with no closure on Null Sector's invasion or Talon's resurgence? That's a bit cringe, isn't it?)

Still, yeowch. There goes my entire headcanon of Lena and Emily being secondary school sweethearts. Blizzard's idea of Tracer and my idea of Tracer grow further apart by the day, and at this point, I think they're doing it just to spite me in particular...

Ah, well. I've checked out of following canon to a tee long ago. Your work holds as much weight to me as fan fiction, Blizzard, so I'll just take whatever you give me and make what I want out of it. These are MY original characters from MY original universe.

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I just finished reading the (very long) seventh comic for the OLD class-based shooter I used to play and have since grown to dislike, mostly because of its community. (If I name names, they will come for me. Said comic did provide some pretty nice closure, though.)

I was debating on making a post with that "People who be DESPERATE for attention" GIF captioned "That one game posting its long-awaited comic on the same day Overwatch Reflections released" and everything (as a light-hearted joke, of course), and then, I immediately find out we got an Overwatch comic today, as well??? WITH ANOTHER LEMON TEA KISS???

I'm going to cry. What?????

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

Happy International Lemon Tea Day to all who celebrate!

Personally, I will be spending all day trying to blow lesbophobes up with my mind, and I encourage you all to do the same.

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

You know, I shouldn't have just expected my previous post to not gain attention after saying "MORE PVE MIGHT BE ON THE WAY???" I'm mostly just here to scream into the void, but now, here I am, forcing Maximilien fans to read through my incessant yapping about Tracer to get crumbs for their boy.

This IS a blog for Tracer only, though. If I was a full-blown Overwatch content creator, then I might've compiled all of Maximilien's voice lines into one video, but alas. That doesn't mean I won't leave you all empty-handed, either!

If you want to see/hear the voice lines for yourself, the file extraction tool can be found in the #tool-releases channel of the DataWatch Discord server. (https://discord.gg/XM93ZdB) There are two ways to extract files, one of which is using DataTool, but for our current purpose, you'll want to use TankView. Disclaimer, though: You can only use the "Only view new files" option if you used the app previously. The tool can't tell what's new by scanning the game's files, it just stores a cache of everything from the previous update you used it for in your AppData folder.

To save you all some scouring, I'll write out some lines I found interesting so that you don't think I'm talking nonsense: Here are some lines that sounded like he was giving heroes upgrades before a match: "A friend of Akande's is a friend of mine." "Miss Chase? What a welcome surprise." "Nothing but the best for Akande." "Ah, Lacroix. A pleasure, as always." "This is my most exclusive stock. Have a look." "Tell me... what are you in the market for, hm?" (I understood that reference!)

Here are some other lines that interested me, though some make more sense to me than others: "I remain thankful for Lacroix's failure." "I'd expect no less from the Voice of Rio." "Now I understand Ramattra's fondness for you." (RING RING RING! RAMMAX ENJOYERS, EAT UP!) "Talon is right to fear you! Heh." "Let bygones be bygones, hm?" "When we escape, I'll pay much more than thanks." "It's good being on the same side again, isn't it?"

Okay, so after I made the initial post, I did some thinking, and it IS strange they randomly published an entire story centered around Maximilien without an explanation not too long ago, right? One that reinforced the idea that the water's getting too hot for him to stick around Doomfist?

Let's assume this IS for a PvE mode. I'm really hoping it is. Would there be a Story Mode and an All Heroes mode like older events? Because when you remove the lines for Talon heroes, it does sound like Overwatch is helping him escape, no? That last line HAS to be for Baptiste, too, right?

Don't mind me. I'm just biting at the bars of my enclosure right now.

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I thought I heard a new Tracer elimination voice line on Sojourn while playing a Competitive match on the first day of Season 14 (December 10th), but I didn't post about it here because I saw it was already added to their quotation page on the Overwatch Fandom wiki, which I read was last updated on December 7th.

Well, I downloaded the recently-updated file extraction tool, sorted by new files, and saw it there, so I guess my instincts were right. I must've just misread the wiki page's history or something, but frankly, I was foolish to doubt that I hadn't memorized every pre-existing Tracer voice line by heart.

(The line was "Clocked out for the day, Sojo?", by the way. How many times have they called her "Sojo" now? I've lost count, but it never gets old.)

In more interesting news, I sorted by new image files first, and I saw two pictures of Maximilien.

At first, I thought "Whoa, is he finally going to be a hero?" Then, I realized Season 14 just started, and they're not going to be teasing Season 16's hero for a while.

As I skimmed through the voice lines, however, I first started hearing voice lines where he seemed to be granting certain heroes upgrades, and I thought it was for something similar to the recent "Junkenstein's Lab" and "Kingmaker" events. Then, I started hearing lines like "Get to cover-- quickly!", "They're behind you!", "I need to be revived!", and "Help me up, agents..." and started JUMPING OUT OF MY SEAT! ARE WE FINALLY GETTING A NEW PVE MODE AFTER THE LAYOFFS?

I say this because it's weird for him to tell the players to get to cover. It's weird for him to say "They're behind you," rather than just "Behind us!" if it was some sort of PvP escort mission. It's weird how many lines he has that, in a PvP environment, could lead to an overload of auditory stimuli. (That's why they removed very important lines like Soldier: 76's "You fought with honor, kid" and "You won't be forgotten" early on into Overwatch 1... very important to me, anyway.) It's all just WEIRD. This CAN'T be another one of my delusions. It just can't.

Now, back to the important matter at hand: Lena "Tracer" Oxton. Tracer has gotten four more voice lines in this update, which I guess are for this potential PvE mode? "I'm not giving up!", "Keep it going!", "Cheerio!", and "One down!"

(I thought "Cheerio!" could've been a rare Goodbye voice line like their rare "What's crackin'?" Hello voice line, but after spamming Goodbye in the Practice Range for less than a minute, I don't think that's the case.)

Unfortunately, while Maximilien also has lines thanking some heroes for saving him, it doesn't seem like he has one for Lena. He does say "Merci, Mercy. Merci," however, so I find it strange the writers felt the need to make a "Haha, French funny!" joke but couldn't write a line or two directed towards any members of the strike team that took him into custody all those years ago. It also would've been funny for him to make a jab about Lena protecting him better than they protected Tekhartha Mondatta or something, but it's fine. French funny, I guess.

Anyway, before I go, I need to keep a certain tradition on this blog going. I saw someone count that there were 54 new conversations in this update, and guess what! Lena and Jack STILL won't talk to each other!

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I absolutely adore the single Lena crumb we’ve gotten from Season 14 today. (/gen)

They’re so cute when they’re actually portrayed correctly, and given the art team’s track record from Season 6 and on, I’ll take two hundred more little pieces of official content like this over one skin anytime.

Now, where is she? Where is Emily Overwatch? I don't know how many more "It's okay, she's the one taking the picture :)"s I've got in me.

Also, while I'm here and complaining, I sure do love how many intricate living beings they've modeled for victory poses and highlight intros.

(Murphy is a good girl and all, though, so this is directed more towards Doomfist's random serval from two seasons ago than anything else.)

Can we get a victory pose of Lena with Emily already? PLEASE?

I SWEAR, IF HAZARD GETS SOMETHING WITH A FULLY-MODELED SUZY FIRST, I WILL LOSE IT!!!

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

is this overwatch (i owe u my life keith ferguson)

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

🎵 It's a hard-knock life for us 🎵

Filing this under "Blizzard Entertainment's Long History of Homophobia"

Thinking about how Jack Morrison is ALWAYS in the trenches in Overwatch lore

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

Fortnite's new "Kicks" cosmetic type sure is cool!

@BlizzardEntertainment @EpicGames @Crocs @FBI @POTUS

Make it happen. Now.

Tracer do you get teased bc your shoes resemble crocs?

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I just realized with my canon rewrite nonsense that Overwatch: Declassified says the United Nations forced all Overwatch agents to turn over their weapons and technology, with the life support technology of agents like Lena, Genji, and Vivian being the exception.

Sure, that makes sense! I am saying they grant Winston some leniency, given he could help them in the future while also needing to help Lena with their chronal accelerator, explaining his laboratory in the Recall cinematic, but that's beside the point. The point is...

How does Lena have their pulse pistols and pulse bomb in the Alive cinematic? Vivian likely had her in-home armory from the Calling cinematic built before Overwatch's disbandment, I'm saying Genji has his blades and shurikens in Zero Hour because he "disappeared" after the destruction of the headquarters but before the Petras Act hearings, but Lena stuck around until the end, and I can't see them hiding their weapons somewhere, too.

In Issue #1 of the London Calling comic, they don't have their pulse pistols tucked away in their vambraces wherever they go, and in what was likely their first gunfight in years, they need to snatch two guns from the hands of their omnic attackers. To me, this means the writers were aware they had their weapons taken away.

Thus, Lena using their arsenal against Widowmaker in the Alive cinematic could've been retconned and passed off as a time when the writers were still getting a feel for the universe. Instead, they just inexplicably have their weapons again. No, they did not open their package from Mr. Paceape yet, but even if they did, do you think whatever Winston sends isn't monitored by the proper authorities? He was not sending them spares!

Now, I have no idea what to do. I was going to say Lena would take an earpiece, the same one they use to shout Mondatta's in danger, from an incapacitated sniper they find before spotting Widowmaker, so what, do they take their sniper, too? Hit Widowmaker with the ol' 360 no-scope before she can take the shot on Mondatta?

Let's say I make Lena use their weight (what weight?) to send Widowmaker crashing through the window behind her and have them continue their fight with their fists, focusing solely on buying Mondatta's security enough time to escort him to safety. What about their pulse bomb?

Initially, I was going to say they would throw their pulse bomb between themself and Widowmaker in a last-ditch effort to keep her away from the edge of the building, stopping her from getting a shot off on Mondatta, rather than randomly tossing it at her like they do in the cinematic. Either way, Widowmaker still would've shot it and sent Lena flying off the side of the building, giving her the chance to shoot both the former Overwatch agent and the omnic monk behind them.

Now, though, older and wiser, I realize they CANNOT have their pulse bomb, period! I have to find an entirely new way for this British twink to put themself between this baguette-loving blueberry and Robot Gandhi, and that's on top of already needing to rewrite the rest of this fight from top to bottom! Grr, I hate this game, I hate this game, I hate this game!!!

I could've hyperfixated on anything else, but alas, I am in a hell of my own creation.

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

New surveys dropped, and...

Blonde hair, check. Exposed stomach, check. Extremely short shorts, check. Thigh-highs, check.

We are NEVER going to get a good Tracer skin ever again. 😭😭😭

I included Lúcio because I love them, but it's also a good opportunity to point out that, like the RED° TOKYO TOWER collaboration, Overwatch's new artists only seem to know one way to design characters they perceive as femme and characters they perceive as masc. (Speaking of, why'd they take Lúcio's locs away in the concept above?)

I hate being negative, I really do, but seeing this on top of a certain new hero's appearance and gameplay, my gripes with his backstory aside, I just have to wonder…

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

It's time I let the cat out of the bag after alluding to it for too long. Since the release of Overwatch: Declassified, I've been working on an entire rewrite of Overwatch's canon. While setting it up on a Miraheze wiki, I've also been writing a story for Lena on Archive of Our Own that fleshes everything out to a highly unnecessary extent, and it has over 22,000 words so far. The story is more self-indulgent than anything, so I don't expect anyone to read it, but it's been easier to write to my heart's content and condense everything for the wiki afterward.

(If you only read the wiki, then you'd be missing out on a lot of Lemon Tea and Dad: 76 fluff and angst, as it is my rewrite, after all, but that'd be your loss.)

I have no idea when I'll make these two projects of mine public, if ever, but as of right now, I've written all the way up to the start of London Calling #2, so it might not be so far off. (This is why I was talking about Lizzy the other day!)

What I'll make public now, however, is a screenshot from the last update I made on Lena's page.

Realistically, I can't release anything until I finish writing the timeline of at least the major overarching story between Overwatch, Talon, and Null Sector. For reference, though, Mondatta died on March 15th, 2076, Zero Hour takes place in late February of 2077, and Overwatch 2's Story Missions take place in mid-April of the same year, making Lena twenty-seven in the present day. (I just really hated Overwatch 2's two-year time skip.)

The "Early Life" section I've written isn't the cleanest it could be, but I have no writing experience, and Lena being a teenager is pretty vital to their character, I'd say, so cut me some slack. The idea was that Lena would enlist in the RAF as soon as possible with forged documents and get accepted on the spot because the RAF has been struggling with a lack of interest from the public, and they would only fly the Slipstream mere months later because the RAF bribed someone from the UN to make it happen. Here, take a screenshot of something I wrote on Jack's page as a note for my plans for him, as well, to make things easier.

I liked this idea because-- you know what? Have another screenshot, this time from Archive of Our Own! Wow, I am just full of surprises today.

All right, all right. Why am I sharing all of this? Well, dear reader, I implore you to take note of when I revised Lena's wiki page. Now, imagine my reaction when I read this description from Hazard's story yesterday:

(My reaction:)

Now, imagine my shock when I saw this page:

(My shock:)

I get it isn't exactly an unheard-of trope, but SERIOUSLY?

Now, I have my Overwatch heroes I don't like all too much, but I've never had a hero I've outright hated. This guy, however? He took everything from me. He straight-up does not exist in my canon. I do not perceive him.

The Phreaks can still exist, even the members introduced in his comic because they're cool, but I guess the Oasis subplot will just never happen without Hazard. (For that, I hope it doesn't have massive ramifications on Blizzard's canon and overarching lore, or else it'll get real messy for me.)

On the bright side, I suddenly don't feel bad for completely deleting characters in my perception of Overwatch's canon. It is NOT looking good for Kiriko right now...

(EDIT: I thought my excuse for Lena making it into the RAF on the spot with forged documents was bad, but according to a thread I saw on Bluesky, Hazard joining the military to pay for his education doesn't make sense, either-- not in a pre-Omnic Crisis world, anyway. Granted, the early life I've written for Lena also accounts for the fact that these military branches went through what was practically World War III, but you guys are the official writers! You can't just leave us with that glaring issue with no explanation! That being said, after some cooling down, I'll probably keep Hazard in my canon, after all, and let him grow up with two Omnic Crisis veterans who met on the field for parents, neither of whom will die. That way, they could push him to join the military after secondary school amid their low enlistment, and he would then continue the cycle of upholding their "system" before eventually losing his limbs to an IED while raiding the hideout of some infamous criminal with ties to Talon, I guess. Once the military leaves him out to dry, he would feel like he has no choice but to deal with The Phreaks, only to realize that he's no better than them; they'd all been wronged by the system. Additionally, meeting Susannah and Revel could be a character-defining moment where he learns to respect omnickind, which he'd been taught to hate his entire life. I think Susannah deserves better than Hazard, but fine, I'll begrudgingly allow their canon relationship to persist, as well. As for Kiriko, I'll say it: her age aside, her fox powers are also ridiculous. While the powers of The Iris deserve to go unexplained, I'm pretty sure the old writers also said Zenyatta's kit is not canon. Kiriko, meanwhile, uses everything in her cinematic. Her fox shrine lets her eat as many donuts as she wants. Ugh, I hate most of Overwatch 2's heroes' writing. Maybe it's for the best that Venture doesn't have any. Don't ruin them for me, Blizzard.)

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I wasn't gonna drink tonight, but man… I'm missing Lena "Tracer" Oxton's original ear piercings from Overwatch (2016) like a MF 🙏🕊️

Now, tell me. Who do these two men think they are?

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I think Tracer's mythic weapon should just be made out of Mondatta's remains, and whenever they flourish it, Mondatta will pass his wisdom onto them, only for them to hysterically cry that they're sorry in the heat of battle.

Or Mondatta could just hum "Disturbia" by Rihanna instead.

Winston: Those Mondatta pistols aren't real, Lena! They can't hurt you.

Those pesky Mondatta pistols: