Fuse and Bloodhound’s Apex Legends love story, as told by VA Ben Prendergast
Respawn / EAThe Apex Legends community melted down when Fuse and Bloodhound, one of fandom’s favorite couples, finally got together. Voice actor Ben Prendergast opened up to Dexerto about that experience, the heirloom, and the importance of LGBT representation.
Apex Legends has a reputation for pioneering diverse LGBT relationships in AAA gaming.
On release in 2019, Bloodhound was a breath of fresh air for non-binary representation, something that has since become more commonplace in gaming. Accompanied by Gibraltar, an openly gay man, Respawn worked diversity into its opening cast with a fervor not really seen in live service games.
Since then, more LGBTQIA+ people have found a carve-out in the Apex Games to see themselves in. Loba, Valkyrie, Fuse, Seer, and Catalyst have only expanded the confirmed cast of gender and sexually diverse representation in the battle royale. Fan theories take that much further.
As far as relationships go though, Fusehound is the big one on the Outlands. First it was the animated clip in October 2022, the two fighting arm in arm before embracing for a kiss. Then it was the anniversary gift in Season 18 — a guitar for Fuse with the initials “WF
That second series of teasers culminating in the heirloom sent Apex Legends fans wild. Solidifying the relationship between the explosive pansexual Aussie and the enigmatic non-binary tracker was a huge win for diversity in gaming.
And for Fuse’s voice actor Ben Prendergast, it was quite the news to keep close to his chest.
“Obviously the whole social sphere was like ‘What’s his heirloom going to be,’” he told Dexerto as hype built for Fuse’s heirloom. “Would it be his old arm? Knuckle dusters? A flail? The Bowie Knife?
“When they called me in and were like ‘Okay we’re going to do the voice lines’, I was like ‘But you’re going to show me what it is first, right?’ They had some concept art — it wasn’t what came out — but it was a guitar that looks like his acoustic guitar, this guitar that’s more of an axe, and more.”
The lines were a hit from the moment Prendergast saw them. It was “super fun and super Fuse.”
However, the reaction online still took him by surprise.
“We were at some Mexican Day of the Dead festival, sitting there with my family, and my phone went nuts,” he laughed. “I was like ‘holy sh*t did someone die? Did I miss a session?’
“I think they always knew it was going to be the first official couple, so to come back to the heirloom and know that Houndy had given Fusey that heirloom, and to have them mark the weapon with the [love heart], that was lovely.”
Representations of LGBT relationships in the media often bring dissenting voices. Homophobia and transphobia in gaming spaces is still an issue.
Prendergast takes a very pragmatic approach to it though. He knows the importance of seeing yourself in a character. A flourishing relationship between Fuse and Bloodhound, bringing pansexual and non-binary people joy, isn’t taking anything away from anyone.
But the more communities who can find a corner to occupy in gaming, the more inclusive the community becomes.
“This is a game that has some longevity, and is quite an aggressive game when you really look at it,” he explained.
“Rather than preaching to the converted and saying ‘this is fair, this is how it should be,’ I really applaud Respawn going head-on into ‘okay let’s change some minds here. Let’s be a bit more liberal with how we treat sexual politics.’ Especially in gaming where there are toxic elements that need to have a whack across the face.
“You really see it when someone who is maybe edging into the toxic area online, crosses the line somewhere, and then the fanbase comes down on them and they apologize or they rethink their position, and I think it’s super healthy.
“I see people talking about ‘don’t shove this down our throats’ and I’m like ‘well it’s not being shoved down your throat.’ If you open your eyes and you weren’t in your own echo chamber, you’d see this happening across the world.
“They’re like ‘don’t come for my game’ and I’m like ‘mate. Did you not see Season 1? Where all this lore was coming from?’ So I think it’s super important that it’s represented in this way, and I’m super proud to be a part of it.”
Bloodhound voice actor Allegra Clark has echoed this sentiment online since the release of Apex Legends. At release time, their pronouns came into question. That permeates discourse to this day, even as Apex nears its fifth anniversary.
It’s a funny thing for Prendergast to look back on. As this relationship has blossomed in game, it’s rubbed off on the voice actors out of game in their friendship.
“The original cartoon [in 2022] was the first time Allegra [Clark] and I recorded together,” he said. “Being able to be in the booth, working off each other, went back to some theatre stuff for me — being able to respond truthfully to each other. That’s why it impacted people a bit differently.
“Allegra and I have this offscreen friendship that’s deeper now because we’re literally a couple [in game].”
The diversity in game also has an impact on player behavior. Prendergast noted the gender diversity in Apex’s streaming scene was much stronger compared to other games. Beyond that, professional Apex players have long been outspoken on issues surrounding misogyny in gaming and trans rights.
Fusehound’s relationship isn’t stopping here. Prendergast hopes for more opportunities to share their wonderful spark in game. Given the live service nature of Apex, all it takes is one call from Respawn back in the booth to share new tidbits of lore.
And he’ll be waiting for that call to bring the avuncular Aussie to life, with Houndy in tow.