Overwatch’s holiday event, Winter Wonderland, started yesterday, and with it came new character skins and emotes. Widowmaker’s addition is a highlight intro in which she holds mistletoe over her head, then punches the viewer in the throat and steps on them. The fandom is having a moment with this.
Widowmaker is a character based around the tropes of the femme fatale, so it’s not surprising that her new animation begins as teasing or coy. I don’t think fans were betting on exactly how hard Blizzard was going to lean into Widowmaker’s more fetish-y roots, however.
The animation is sexy in a winking kind of way, and also not corny or over the top. A character named for the act of killing people’s husbands probably wouldn’t want to kiss someone under the mistletoe without an ulterior motive, right? While the reaction to the new highlight intro is very positive, some fans are disappointed that it’s not a more straightforward kind of cheesecake.
But for a very large and vocal segment of the Overwatch fandom, getting stepped on by Widowmaker is maybe the best holiday gift that Blizzard could have given them. And to them I say: god bless you.