The first time I clapped eyes on Pathfinder in Apex Legends he immediately reminded me of the titular loveable robot from Neill Blomkamp’s seriously underrated 2015 movie Chappie. It seems I wasn’t the only one to make this connection, either, as fans began a petition on the r/ApexLegends subreddit to get him added to the game as a custom skin.
That post currently has 16.4k upvotes and has reached such a critical mass that Blomkamp himself has weighed in now, saying: “Lotta people asking me this. I am down yes.” Soon after he posted that, Vince Zampella, CEO of Respawn Entertainment and key creative force behind the game also chipped in, saying: “I am also down.”
Now, Blomkamp’s clearly something of a gamer, having recently released a short movie promoting EA’s Anthem, being repeatedly connected to a Halo movie (and directing a Halo proof of concept short) and repeatedly professing his love of the medium in interviews. Given his tastes, I think there’s a decent chance he’s playing Apex Legends right now, so it’s not surprising that he’s in agreement that Chappie should make the cut.
Thing is, on release, Chappie wasn’t exactly a critical darling. I absolutely loved it ( and I’ve enjoyed every film Blomkamp has put out to date) though it must be said you need to have a certain tolerance level for Die Antwoord in order for the film not to drive you completely crazy. Perhaps fan campaigns like this indicate that it’s due a critical reappraisal though, and creating a skin for the hottest multiplayer shooter of the moment would certainly be a cheap way to get more eyes on the movie.
Still, I’m guessing that final approval lies with distributors Columbia Pictures, and they might have bigger fish to fry than untangling the legal status of a flop release from a few years ago. Regardless, fingers crossed that we see Chappie make it into Apex Legends sooner rather than later.