Blizzard made fan art of a kid’s Overwatch original character

#MakeBirstCanon2k16

Here’s something cute to kick off your week: Blizzard has created fan art of a young girl’s Overwatch original character, after the father shared it on Twitter.

Birst is a boomerang-wielding, laser-firing, poison-wing-flying healer that can, to quote creator Ava, “jump soo high”:

@PlayOverwatch hi team! my daughter created a new character.Her name is birst. She’d love to know your thoughts pic.twitter.com/b31YWUPqSs

— Shane Hickey (@shanehickey) May 20, 2016

Overwatch artists obviously took a liking to Birst, and so replied to the Ava’s father with some fan art of their own:

@shanehickey Our artists were so inspired by this that they created their own fan art! Hope your daughter loves it! pic.twitter.com/c1ToeH1MJF

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) May 21, 2016

Since then, Overwatch fans have been making their own detailed breakdowns of Birst, as well as hammering Blizzard with requests to put her into the game for real. I’m not quite sure of the legality of using a child’s fan art to make an actual character, but hey, we can live in hope. 

Gaming, particularly online gaming, can be pretty cruel to kids sometimes, so it’s nice to see how the Overwatch community has accepted and run with Birst with almost universal enthusiasm.

Oh, and Ava’s reaction to Blizzard’s art is lovely. Long live Birst, may she reign supreme.