After weeks of feverish speculation over what would be included and how Lucioball would be changed, Blizzard has officially released its Overwatch Summer Games 2017 event on Tuesday and a cavalcade of unlockable character skins along with it. The event, which runs until August 28, adds more than 50 new seasonal items, returning gear from last year’s Summer Games event, and even more reasons to enjoy the great indoors this August. Without a doubt, one of the best new skins for the online multiplayer shooter is Grillmaster: 76, a BBQ-ready, dad-tacular variant skin for everyone’s favorite surly DPS character Soldier: 76.
Wearing a socks-and-sandals combo guaranteed to embarrass any child, a blue apron reading “Raise the Steaks,” some knockoff Oakleys, an assault rifle reading “A Salt Rifle,” a tactical spice array, and an assortment of grilling tools, Grillmaster: 76 looks ready to meat your expectations. However, there’s one detail in particular that should not go overlooked because it contains a hilarious in-joke for anyone who was a fan of the British cult classic comedy The IT Crowd, a sitcom about an understaffed and overworked IT department in London.
The easter egg, which was spotted by eagle-eyed redditor xSociety, can be found on the side of the item model for Soldier: 76’s Biotic Field, a small canister–here rendered as a can of soda–that deploys an area-of-effect healing boost to the player and any nearby allies. If one looks closely at the barcode, they’ll see a familiar number: 0118 999 881 999 119 7253. That number is a reference to a fake commercial from The IT Crowd for a new “easy to remember” emergency services number, which is particularly clever given that this item also has healing properties.
(via Imgur)
Here’s the clip from The IT Crowd that it’s referencing:
After running into a hail of enemy gunfire, you’ll likely need to call emergency services yourself, which is my euphemism for frantically and passive-aggressively mashing the “X” key to let the nearest Mercy, Ana, Lucio, or Zenyatta know that I need healing. You should try it sometime. They love it. But since they likely won’t respond to your desperate cries for help, press the E button and drop this summery new version of Soldier: 76’s trusty Biotic Field and get these jokers off your point already!
What do you think of Soldier: 76’s new skin? What other easter eggs have you spotted in Overwatch? Let us know in the comments below.
Images: Blizzard
