It should probably get old, at some point, to note the ways that Epic Games’ online sensation Fortnite smooshes together all of pop culture in ways that renders entire universes of beloved entertainment as just so much more grist for the content mill. (This is, after all, the game that made headlines recently by sticking the ghost of James Earl Jones’ voice into itself so that players could “talk” to “Darth Vader.”) Still, there’s something weirdly irritating about the internet shooter’s new promotional Father’s Day campaign, which tosses three well-loved TV cartoon dads into the mix: Bob Belcher, Cleveland Brown, and [insert your best Mike Judge “Bwah!” here] Hank Hill from King Of The Hill.
And, look, fine: The skins all look pretty good—give or take Cleveland being weirdly stretched out, not unlike the previous Peter Griffin skins—with Fortnite doing that cel-shading-y animation technique that makes the characters look like actual moving cartoons. (Also, you can buy a group emote where you and three other players drink “energy drinks” together while The Refreshments’ King Of The Hill theme song plays in a pop-up alley; we’re not made of stone, that seems pretty cool.) Our biggest irritation, honestly, is the video announcing the promotion, which appears to have had a lot of contributions from Bob’s Burgers‘ H. Jon Benjamin and Family Guy‘s Arif Zahir, and absolutely none from KotH co-creator/star Mike Judge. (They’re pretty clearly just running a few canned lines.) Even worse, the content of the video shows Hank abandoning his friends and partners in a moment of need by going AFK at a critical juncture, which feels distinctly not in keeping with the Arlen Longhorns spirit.
(We were going to go off on a rant about the goofiness of Hank playing Fortnite in the first place, but then we were reminded of 11th-season King Of The Hill episode “Grand Theft Arlen,” in which he gets addicted to a violent video game where he’s basically playing himself. Still, the idea that he’d leave Bob to his death simply, like that boy, ain’t right.) Anyway, happy Father’s Day: We got you the ongoing concept that every character you love is just a little more meat to feed into the IP grinder. Hope you like it!
