Forged Memories: Is Fuse Bait?

Season 7 of Apex Legends is coming to a close. And with that, Season 8 - Mayhem has officially been announced. As with every new season, the highlight is the brand new playable Legend. This season it's Fuse, an Explosives Enthusiast from the planet Salvo, who was revealed as the Season 8 Legend just recently.

However, things may not be as clear cut as they seem. There are many similarities between Fuse’s reveal and the reveal of Forge. Forge was supposed to be Season 4’s new Legend before being brutally assassinated by Revenant. Could Fuse be walking into a similar fate? Let’s put our tinfoil hats on and get into the conspiracy theories.

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The Forge Incident

The story of Forge is one of the greatest bamboozles in game development history. The Apex Legends dev team was a little annoyed with data miners that kept sneaking into the game files and exposing their hidden surprises. It reached a point where Respawn project lead Drew McCoy tweeted, "Leaks are the absolute worst...We spend insane amounts of time and energy to create cool surprises. Really sucks when someone wants internet points bad enough to ruin that." So, they planted Forge as a decoy. Forge, a 6’5, 269-pound Hyperfighting Federation champion was announced as Season 4’s new Legend.

Forge wasn’t just any lazy attempt to throw off data miners. Forge came with a host of original concept art and even his own Legend abilities. Data miners were thoroughly fooled by the fake Legend.

Shortly after Forge was announced, a Stories from the Outlands short was scheduled to officially welcome Forge to the Apex Games. In a shocking twist of events, Forge is assassinated by a simulacrum named Revenant. Revenant is then revealed to be the actual Season 4 Legend.

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Is Fuse Bait?

On January 18, 2020, Fuse was announced as Season 8’s new Legend. Fuse’s reveal shares many similarities with Forge’s reveal. There are just so many questions left unanswered.

A couple of ominous tweets by the official Apex Legends Twitter account really fuel this speculation.

First, Apex Legends tweeted a poster of Fuse’s silhouette that was spray-painted over with a skull and the word “TRAITOR”. If that wasn’t sinister enough, the caption of the Good as Gold short reads, “Journey to Salvo and see if Fuse makes it to the Apex Games in one piece.” Could this be alluding to something deeper?

We’re a bit sceptical of how deep of a character Fuse’s childhood friend, Mags, is. Mags is featured in the Good as Gold short just as heavily as Fuse is. A lot of effort went into Mags for her to merely appear once as a trailer character.

Mags has a similar background to Fuse; her values just fall on the other end of the political spectrum. The way the short ends, it’s clear these two are no longer friends, but rivals. Mags seems set on punishing Fuse for his betrayal. We wouldn’t be surprised if Mags somehow assassinated Fuse and took his place in the Apex Games.

The entire theme of Season 8, Mayhem, draws questions to what is actually going to go down. Season 8 is set to “obliterate Kings Canyon”. Apparently, Fuse’s entrance will completely reshape the Kings Canyon map. Something big is obviously about to happen. Will Fuse make it out of it alive?

Why Fuse Might Be Legit

Despite all of this, chances are that Fuse will make it to the Apex Games just fine. While this is far from hard evidence, it’s doubtful Respawn would release FOUR straight female Legends. With Loba, Rampart, and Horizon all releasing in a row, one would think a male Legend is due.

Additionally, Respawn seems a lot more invested in Fuse than they were with Forge. Forge met his untimely demise BEFORE Season 4 kicked off. It appears that Fuse will be around at least until the official release of Season 8. Also, they’re promoting Fuse like crazy on social media, and he’s quickly becoming a fan-favourite. Killing Fuse off and replacing him at this point could have some unwanted repercussions.

While it may look like Fuse is locked in as the new Season 8 Legend, Respawn has been known to keep a few tricks up their sleeve. Despite what’s been leaked so far, you never know for sure with Respawn. Could Fuse face the same fate as Forge? The stage is set for a massive plot twist. Only time will tell if Fuse is a real catch or just bait.

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Images via Respawn Entertainment