Actress Inde Navarrette broke a One Wish Willow and wished that the character she played in Obsession, Nikki Freeman, was in Fortnite. As she said this, the monkey's paw curled. Nikki is now a Fortnite skin, but if Obsession taught us anything, is that we should be careful of what we wish for.
The new Fornite skin has caused an unexpected controversy among the community, leading to numerous heated arguments on social media. Obsession follows the story of Bear, a store clerk who is in love with his friend Nikki. While looking for a present for her at a crystal shop, he comes across a strange item: the One Wish Willow.
When broken, the magical stick grants any wish. Bear wishes that Nikki would love him more than anything else in the world. Nikki then becomes obsessed with Bear, ushering in a spiral of chaos and bloodbath.
Even though Nikki is seen as creepy due to her erratic behavior in Obsession, it is clear that she is a victim in the movie. The real Nikki is trapped inside her body, which is under the spell of the One Wish Willow, forcefully putting her in a romantic and sexual relationship with Bear. Due to its creepy atmosphere, jump scares, and dark nature, Obsession is often described as a horror movie.
That is why Fortnite collaborated with the film for Fortnitemares, the game's annual Halloween event. The collab includes a One Wish Willow sprite and the Nikki Freeman cosmetic bundle, which quickly became a source of controversy and arguments among fans. Nikki, who can be seen as the victim of her horror movie, was added for the Halloween event alongside characters such as Freddy Krueger and Slender Man.
The reason why some Obsession fans weren't happy with this is because they felt it trivialized Nikki's traumatic experience as a person trapped inside her own body. This led to disagreements among the community, as other fans argued that it's actually empowering for the character to be chosen as the featured character for a game, especially considering the number of predators and killers that are already available as Fortnite skins. Whether outright villains or victims of their circumstances, many Fortnite skins represent bad guys — Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Ghostface, you name it — and it never sparked so much debate.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
