Overwatch 2’s My Hero Academia collab proves hero favoritism is holding Blizzard back

With another Overwatch 2 skin crossover being revealed, it’s safe to say that Blizzard’s favoritism towards certain heroes is starting to hold them back creatively.

On September 26 during Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show presentation, Blizzard shared the announcement that a new skin collaboration with the hit manga and anime My Hero Academia was coming on October 17.

While some of these heroes received the perfect skins for this type of collab, there are some huge missed opportunities that show a stark lack of creative freedom and ingenuity that could’ve made this crossover shine if it wasn’t plagued by the same old characters receiving skins.

What went right, what went wrong

Blizzard

Fans got a good look at a short teaser during Xbox’s presentation for characters such as Tracer, Juno, and Reinhardt receiving skins for the characters Izuku (Deku) Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, and All Might, respectively. We also got Reaper and Kiriko as the villains Tomura Shigaraki and Himiko Toga.

When analyzing what Blizzard got right with this crossover, Juno as Uraraka is the standout pick. Not just personality-wise, as both are young, heroic girls, but Uraraka’s Uravity outfit looks incredibly similar to what Juno wears. They also have practically the same haircut, and they both have gravity-related abilities.

Otherwise, while all the outfits looked almost identical to the manga characters they’re emulating – to the point where it was hard to tell who some of the Overwatch heroes were under the costume – certain heroes have become Blizzard’s favorites when it comes to picking characters to create skins for.

Take Reinhardt, for instance. Just two weeks prior to this crossover announcement, Blizzard revealed a World of Warcraft cosmetic bundle for Overwatch 2, and players were tired of seeing the Tank hero Reinhardt receive yet another skin, let alone a collaboration one.

Kiriko was yet another hero who was chosen for a skin, and she has yet to escape the allegations from many fans that Kiriko is Blizzard’s favorite self-insert hero. While the Toga skin does look nice, there are a total of 41 heroes now in Overwatch 2, and the balance of skins between heroes is certainly off kilter.

What could have been

Xbox

It didn’t take long for players to rush online with their own, clever ideas of who would be better for the My Hero Academia crossover. Instead of Reinhardt being All Might, what if it were Ramattra? After all, All Might has his weak, normal form, and his heroic form. This would go perfectly with Ramattra’s double forms, as pointed out in this Reddit post.

It didn’t stop there, as I’ve spotted posts from fans showing how Junker Queen would be a perfect Miriko, as they’re both strong, muscular women. There was even one user who pointed out how Eijiro Kirishima could work as a skin for Venture, as his power is to harden and sharpen his body like a rock, and Venture, well, likes rocks.

While some of these posts have been mostly just memes, a lot of the ideas were actually creative and outside of the box, while some of Blizzard’s final choices for this collab seemed to play it safe. Of course, Reinhardt has the personality and build of All Might, but wouldn’t that be so easy to do?

Neglected heroes leave neglected fans

Blizzard

Another point of contention is the fact that the imbalance with how certain characters have dozens of skins, while others have only a few. Most heroes never get touched for crossover skins as Blizzard sticks to the same few. It makes it hard for some fans to feel that Blizzard still cares about their hero and are instead chasing skins for the most popular characters to generate revenue.

Having to juggle 41 heroes with unique backstories and the hope of a bright future in Overwatch’s lore is difficult, for sure. But, while Juno fans may be eating this Uraraka skin up, Venture lovers have continued to be left behind. Venture skins are promised to be released sometime in Season 14.

The unfortunate thing is that Venture was released back in Season 10, meaning they haven’t had any Legendary skin releases. And, with them only having one Rare shop skin ever released for them – which was essentially just a recolor – how can fans not feel a little betrayed when they don’t get the nice cosmetics that other players’ heroes do?

Kiriko, meanwhile, has been in three crossovers despite being a relatively new hero that was introduced in Overwatch 2. Blizzard is clearly playing favorites here.

Overall, the latest My Hero Academia skin collaboration for Overwatch 2 certainly has some nice looks, but it’s another obvious example of how Blizzard could go above and beyond for these crossovers to give neglected heroes the skins that they deserve. And right now, that just isn’t happening.