Fortnite's New Crocs Crossover Is Far From Its Weirdest Collab
Basquiat and flossing, together at last.
Fortnite is the king of gaming collaborations. This week, its reign continues with Crocs Classic Clogs being added to the game’s expansive Item Shop. The addition of the divisive (but admittedly comfortable) footwear is the competitive battle royale’s latest fashion crossover, and one of the most unexpected yet.
But as odd as Fortnite Crocs are, it’s far from the strangest item players can unlock. We’ve waded through eight years of Fortnite add-ons to find the biggest outliers, from strange game modes gone wrong to forgotten one-off inclusions. If you’ve been saving your V-Bucks, here’s how to deck out the weirdest character ever.
Segway Tours
In 2022, about 20 years after it was relevant, the two-wheeled, self-balancing Segway unexpectedly returned as a Fortnite emote. When it was revealed in the early 2000s, the Segway was marketed as the next big evolution in personal transportation. While the technology within was impressive, the Segway’s $5,000 price tag and surprisingly steep learning curve prevented it from replacing bikes and scooters. The company is actually still chugging along today, but it’s making devices that have more in common with traditional personal vehicles.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Basquiat in Fortnite was odd, but it likely exposed a new generation to the late artist's influential work.
The fact that Jean-Michel Basquiat is featured in one of the biggest games ever is wild, but not in a bad way. There’s a good chance that the first time many kids heard about the influential neo-expressionist artist was via two Back Bling cosmetics based on the New Yorker native’s work. And that’s pretty darn cool, even if it was completely out of left-field.
Houseparty
Remember Houseparty? The social video chat app was all the rage at the start of quarantine, as it allowed up to eight friends to play simple games like pop culture trivia and Heads Up remotely. At a time when everyone needed a bit of social interaction, Houseparty was a pretty fun way to do it.
What you might not remember is that Fortnite integrated Houseparty functionality. Rolled out in November 2020, a few months after the app’s relevance had peaked, the integration allowed players to video chat with friends during matches in a Twitch-like overlay.
When you consider that Epic Games acquired Houseparty for $35 million a year before the pandemic began (talk about a fortuitous purchase), it’s not the strangest crossover Fortnite’s ever had. However, its functionality was an odd, niche feature even at the time, and the synergy ended when Epic shut the app down in October 2021.
Balenciaga
The Balenciaga event is one of the oddest fashion crossovers in Fortnite history.
Turning back to fashion, the inclusion of Balenciaga was another collaboration players never saw coming. When it comes to its actual, real-world clothing items, the high-end fashion brand isn’t targeting kids or gaming adults, but Fortnite’s popularity supercedes the brand’s intended audience.
A variety of fits, backpacks, pickaxes made of the brand’s sneakers, and event gliders were added to the Fortnite Item Shop in 2021. Thankfully, these skins and cosmetics were a lot cheaper than the $700 Fortnite hoodies Balenciaga was selling offline.
Jack Sparrow
It’s hard to not think of disgraced actor Johnny Depp when looking at Jack Sparrow.
Look, Jack Sparrow is a Hollywood icon. The drunken sailor charmed his way across the Caribbean seas and entertained millions in the process. From a pop culture perspective, this made perfect sense.
But the timing of Sparrow’s addition to Fortnite was weird. Just two years after the conclusion of the controversial Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation case, it seemed odd for one of Depp’s most iconic characters to be featured so prominently in-game. Sure, the character model looks less like Depp and more like a royalty-free version of the character, but it’s nearly impossible to separate the character from the disgraced actor who brought him to life.
Tenet
Just in case Tenet wasn’t confusing enough.
Considering Christopher Nolan doesn’t even have a smartphone, the last place you’d expect the auteur filmmaker to debut a movie trailer is in a video game as insane as Fortnite. Yet, in 2020, that’s exactly what happened.
Our first look at Tenet, Nolan’s heady take on the spy action thriller, happened in the same place you can floss next to John Wick and an anthropomorphized banana. It made sense, given how big Fortnite’s audience is. It’s just weird that it happened — and tragic that no one recorded Nolan’s reaction.
Martin Luther King
The strangest ever Fortnite addition was August 2021’s March Through Time event, essentially a virtual museum tour recounting and celebrating the work of Dr. Martin Luther King. In it, players are teleported to the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall, where Dr. King gave his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech.
The collaboration between the Emmy Award-winning Time Studios, the DuSable Museum of African American History, Dr. King’s Estate, and other relevant organizations was done with the right intentions. In a vacuum, the event is surprisingly tasteful, and features educational photos of real-life racial injustices.
But the illusion is immediately broken when you remember that most Fortnite players are dressed as fictional characters like Rick Sanchez. It also didn’t account for trolls hopping into the mode to spam inappropriate (and racially insensitive) emotes. Then there’s the fact that Fortnite is a game centered around gun violence.
What started as a sincere virtual ode to one of the most important figures in American history ended with Dr. King’s daughter distancing herself from the project. Points for trying, but we probably won’t be getting a Fortnite/Harvey Milk follow-up collab anytime soon.
