Destiny’s got fashion, and to celebrate that fact Bungie recently announced official Guardian fashion magazine Threads of Light. But it seems discerning Destiny fashionistas aren’t too impressed with Bungie’s selection—a response that isn’t sitting well with the studio’s tastemakers.
Yesterday, Bungie posted three cover looks for volume 2 of Threads of Light, featuring players Vanquish, Twisty, and Dawsonson. They’re fine, I reckon, but maybe not what I’d call the strongest examples of Destiny fashion. Some commenters were a fair bit harsher, mind, with replies and quote-retweets blasting the selection.
Tough feedback hurts. And in a later tweet, community manager Griffin Bennet felt the mean-spirited comments were so rough that it might cause Bungie to rethink running these kinds of community shoutouts entirely.
If the reaction to these spotlights continues to be toxic and negative while putting down others’ creations we’ll stop doing these all together. Be better. https://t.co/AY5VhsP3JFNovember 9, 2021
“Fashion is art,” Bennett wrote in a follow-up Tweet. “Taste is subjective. Imagine coming into the replies and insulting someone’s art. Mind bogglingly inappropriate.”
It is, perhaps, something of an overreaction. But it’s also easy to see why Bungie may be hesitant to continue a project that seems to be drawing so much vitriol—especially when that backlash may end up targeted at the players featured by Threads of Light. If getting featured means having your character’s look mocked by hundreds of Destiny players, fewer people will bother submitting their transmogs.
But as Bennett writes, taste is subjective, and daring fashion has always attracted controversy. Hopefully, the Destiny community can learn to be a little more tactful in its criticism, lest this genuinely fascinating showcase of Destiny’s true endgame be scrapped.
