Hey, it's the first one of these skins I've seen used in the game before reviewing the toy! Sorry, person using it, for shaking you down and letting my teammate eliminate you.
Epic Ghoul Trooper outfit.
Wow, that description says nothing! Yeah, the other bios aren't exactly brimming with information - it's not like Crackshot's package told us he was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day or anything - because they're just the item description from when they're for sale in the item shop, but they generally at least say something funny or sly; all this does is restate the name of the skin. That's... uninspired. And speaking of, why is she a Ghoul Trooper and not a "Ghoul Scout"? Then they could have written some kind of joke about cookies. "Ghoul Scout - One tough cookie!" "Ghoul Scout - here to watch you crumble." There, I just created content for you, Epic Games. Money please!
She even looks like a Thin Mint! Ghoul Trooper's deal is that she's a zombie, so in addition to her black clothes, her skin is teal - very nearly a minty green. Of course, real Thin Mints aren't green inside, nor are they covered in big ghastly wounds - that would probably slow down the sales a bit. The rips in her flesh are just painted on, not sculpted, which presents an opportunity.
If you, like me, are too poor to spend real money on imaginary money to buy imaginary outfits for a real game, then you're left
with the "default" skins; when you start a game, you're randomly assigned one of eight plain soldiers. Jonesy is the most famous of these, but there are seven others - four male, four female - and they're all used as the basis for the more exotic skins. For example, that's the Jonsey model inside the Rex and Rabbit Raider and Skull Trooper skins. Anyway, the basis for the Ghoul Scout Trooper is a skin named "Ramirez," a cute girl in lightly tactical gear. The Trooper trades those for unobtrustive black military fatigues, a tank top, dog tags, a bandana around the right arm, gloves, pants, straps around the right thigh, kneepads, boots, and a single plate of armor tied to the left shin. A few rips on the shirt and pantleg allow her blue-green skin to show through.
The Fortnite Legendary Series has good articulation,
and clearly that extends to the female figures as well. (This is our first one.) Ghoul Trooper has a balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, pectoral hinges, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged fingers, a balljointed chest, swivel waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel shins, swivel/hinge ankles, and hinged toes. Every joint of that is precisely what the boys get, too; how egalitarian! The head is limited slightly by the ponytail, which is an issue unique to her, but it's hardly a deal breaker. At least, it shouldn't be. If there's anyone out there who's mad at this toy because of its ponytail, they're not actually mad at it because of its ponytail.
After Beef Boss and Tomatohead, it's nice to return to figures with alternate faces. This groovy Ghoulie gets a neutral face in the package, plus alternates
that are happy or angry. They've all got the same face paint (which, once you learn her name is "Ramirez," really begins to feel like a Dia de Muertos/La Catrina thing), with a black nose, exposed teeth on the left side of the mouth, and a pink tear beneath the right eye. That's /ter/, not /tir/ - her skin is ripped, she's not crying. Even on the game model it's clear this is all just makeup she's wearing, not actual damage, so it being painted on the toy and not sculpted works.
The zombie girl comes with a few thematically appropriate "spooky" accessories, but we'll start with the more mundane ones: a Tactical Shotgun and an Infantry Rifle, both of which we've reviewed with other figures. That's okay, because she's also got the Pumpkin Rocket Launcher,
a seasonal reskin of the rocket launcher that only shows up during the "Fortnitemares" event. It fires jack o'lanterns instead of rockets, and is bright orange. Cool! Her Harvesting Tool is the Ultra Scythe, a device which looks like it's made from black bones and has a purple glow along the blade. Finally, she's got the Bear Brained backpack, which was sold bundled with the Ghoul Trooper skin. It's basically a zombified version of the Cuddle Team Leader (who also happens to be a Ramirez skin! [Correction: it's closer to Snuggs, a different bear costume --ed.]
It's nice to finally get a female figure from Jazwares, but as to that opportunity we mentioned before: imagine if Jazwares did "close to plain" versions of all eight Defaults, then a big gift set with them in their actual default looks: green fatigues, human skin, all that. It'd be neat, especially for those of us who see them all the time. But that's beside the point - today we're here for the cute zombie girl.
-- 01/22/21
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