2024 Renegade Raider Skin Boycott / Respect the OGs

Submission 39

Part of a series on Fortnite. [View Related Entries]

Overview

2024 Renegade Raider Skin Boycott refers to a campaign among original ("OG") Fortnite players who were upset by the 2024 re-release of the Renegade Raider skin which, up until then, only season one players could theoretically own. A campaign to Respect the OGs by not purchasing the skin was launched in protest of the update. The controversy sparked viral memes and discourse among players. Notably, a Renegade Raider Copypasta surfaced amid the backlash. It came from a tweet posted by YouTuber Formlua in December 2024, which read, "Don’t buy the Renegade skin if you respect OG Fortnite players. It’s more than a skin; it’s a symbol of their early commitment and grind. Let them keep their exclusivity. Show your respect by appreciating its rarity, not owning it. Some things are better left untouched." It was widely mocked akin to many contrarian reactions to the outrage expressed by OG players.

Background

On December 18th, 2024, a leak revealed that Fortnite was re-releasing many skins from the game's OG season, including Renegade Raider.^[1] The news was spread to Twitter / X^[2] by user @HYPEX, amassing over 50,000 likes in five days (shown below).

Online Reaction

In the following days, many OG Fortnite players reacted to the news. For instance, on December 19th, 2024, X^[3] user @hitechbottle posted a video of him and his friends reacting to the OG skins in the updated season, amassing over 19,000 likes in four days (shown below).

My honest reaction to renegade raider coming back to the shop. #OGFortnite pic.twitter.com/sR7IMKsbmW

— hunter (@hitechbottle) December 20, 2024

Also on December 19th, X^[4] user @magikbones tweeted a GIF to represent Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, being unbothered by the outrage, amassing over 20,000 likes in four days (shown below).

On December 21st, 2024, TikToker^[5] @lospollosclipssss posted a clip of streamer LosPollosTV reacting to the return of Renegade Raider. LosPollosTV was upset by it because he was an OG player. Over three days, the video received over 2.5 million plays and 358,300 likes (shown below).

Also on December 21st, TikToker^[6] @osly.fn posted a clip of many streamers and OG players reacting to the Renegade Raider re-release, including Nick Eh 30, amassing over 1.7 million plays and 101,600 likes in three days (shown below).

On December 20th, 2024, TikToker^[7] @hallalujah44 posted a clip from the Grown Ups film franchise of the characters laughing, adding a caption about making fun of the calls to "respect the OGs." The video gained over 199,700 plays and 43,800 likes in three days (shown below).

On December 22nd, TikToker^[8] @mwd_seeker posted a skit in Fortnite about confronting a Renegade Raider skin with "stolen valor," receiving over 4.2 million plays and 673,600 likes in a day (shown below).

Renegade Raider Copypasta

The Renegade Raider Copypasta refers to a tweet^[9] shared by YouTuber Formula on December 18th, 2024, reading, "Don’t buy the Renegade skin if you respect OG Fortnite players. It’s more than a skin; it’s a symbol of their early commitment and grind. Let them keep their exclusivity. Show your respect by appreciating its rarity, not owning it. Some things are better left untouched." The tweet was widely mocked in the following days.