Fortnite might be adding a 'Chicken Trooper' skin conceived by an 8-year-old

"The Chicken Trooper" appeared on Reddit a couple of months ago, shared by tfoust10, the parent of an eight-year-old lad named Connor who drew it as a suggestion for a Fortnite skin. Shortly after that, another redditor by the name of Etsyturtle2 cleaned up the design, added a few features, and christened it with a new name: The Tender Defender. And now it looks like the flightless feathered creature with the googly eyes and the egg whisk axe might actually be coming to the game.

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For one thing, as reported by Fortnite Intel, dataminers have discovered an unfinished skin in the upcoming 6.30 patch that bears a striking resemblance to the fan-made mockup called "tender_defender," as well as a Chicken Glider and a Whisk pickaxe. A "Chicken Trooper" hideout, with feathers and fried chicken legs, can be seen in a Lonely Lodge watchtower. And maybe most important of all, Etsyturtle2, who converted the original concept into the more usable format, confirmed it.

"Oh yeah," they wrote. "The skin is coming." They said in a followup that they'd been paid for the work as well.

In kind of an ironic twist, tfoust10 said he didn't share his son's Chicken Trooper idea on the Fortnite subreddit until a couple of months after he'd made it because "I did not understand what he meant by a 'skin'," they wrote. "However, after he spent some of my money (with my permission) on a skin, I investigated further and realized that skin meant outfit. Forgive my ignorance, I apologise for this hiccup."

In a more recent post, they said they're not going to tell Connor about how his idea blew up unless and until it actually appears in the game.

Thanks, VG247.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.