On January 24, Apex Legends released their first video for the upcoming Season 12 lore expansion “Defiance.” Another “Stories from the Outlands” cinematic revealed the upcoming playable legend as the familiar face Margaret “Mad Maggie” Kōhere. Her formal confirmation comes after a few days of strange clips and rumors in game-chat lobby recounting a strange end-game event on one of the shores of World’s Edge.
Show the angles right @PlayApex ! Mad Maggie’s Full dog fight #ApexLegends pic.twitter.com/aUe1iw0HeS
— spence💜 (@mayor_of_apex) January 21, 2022
As excited as I am, I just want to note that I’m going to refer to her simply as Maggie to avoid ableist language. It’s not like there is another character she could be confused with, and the quick-paced nature of the game will likely result in her name being shortened in-community to “Maggie” anyways.
During Season Eight, Apex Legends introduced Maggie into the game lore as a non-playable character to build up Fuse’s background. Both childhood friends on the planet of Salvo, Maggie sharpened her skills fight off the imperial Syndicate Alliance of Free Worlds (a.k.a. the Mercenary Syndicate). In contrast, Fuse fought for the love of duking it out. When Salvo joined the planet, Fuse took this as an opportunity to increase his kill count legally, as we saw in “Good as Gold.”
New 2022 Stories From the Outlands trailer
While Maggie is a resident of a fictional land called Salvo, she is ethnically a New Zealander. Voiced by New Zealand actor Nicola Kāwana, Maggie is now the second Pacific Islander character in Apex Legends (the first being Gibraltar a.k.a. Gibby, of course).
Ka mau te wehi! How awesome is this?! Another example of māori making moves in this space!! Its beautiful, that we get to see our people in the games we play!! Who is ready for the new character mad maggie? @PlayApex https://t.co/IX5VEWVAnQ
— Ngāti Gaming (@NgatiGaming) January 24, 2022
In this clip, we see that Maggie is on trial for many crimes, primarily in connection with the Season 8 launch trailer (which came out three days after the “Good as Gold” cinematic back in late January 2021). While she’s fighting for a good cause, Maggie essentially headed a terrorist attack upon Fuse’s public entrance to the Apex Games.
pov you’re maggie#ApexLegends pic.twitter.com/BKDeJNfrH8
— MΔDDiE (@_miyann) January 25, 2022
The CEO of Silva Pharmaceuticals is the influential person in the green-tinted glasses (Mr. Silva) who chose to move the needles of Maggie’s fate. Father of Apex Legends character Octane, Eduardo Silva (sometimes referred to as “Durardo”), decided to send Maggie to the same exact location as Fuse for a reason currently unknown. We’re looking forward to seeing Fuse and Maggie’s in-game interactions, seeing as the last time we heard her voice, she offered a bounty on Fuse’s remaining arm.
Maggie’s abilities and hierloom
Because Maggie’s introduction to the game was a point of discussion weeks (if not months) before the trailer dropped yesterday, so have been her abilities. It’s easy to see her in the cinematic and assume she will be an assault character. However, Maggie’s class will depend on her abilities. There’s no confirmation whether she’ll be labeled assault, recon, defensive, or healer.
There’s also a possible leaked image detailing Maggie’s passive (shotgun kick, which requires ammo and increases speed), tactical (standard flashbang), and ultimate (concussive breaching charge). While she may be hiding a shotgun boot, she doesn’t have one in the cinematic, so that doesn’t hold much weight. Also, Apex Legends players have spoken against flashbangs in the past and the ultimate is too close to Crypto’s—only it’s worst because this action can’t be done remotely.
Some Redditors found code data that showed Maggie’s emote dive with “_knifethrowing_” back in December. This may be a red herring, as Respawn has done in the past leading up to releases like the bait and switch to announce Revenant. However, I think the knives might be involved, seeing as how prominently they rest on her belt. Or they could just be an heirloom. My genuine interest lies in her images with the whip and shield-like weapons that look like an ult to me!
Mad Maggie’s abilities on @PlayApex will either consist of a Roomba Robot Vacuum cleaner & Whip or a straight up Beyblade. pic.twitter.com/AUxRbv4abU
— afflixtions (@afflixtions) January 24, 2022
As far as the heirloom is concerned, we won’t know much until we know more about her abilities. (Hopefully, this will happen on January 27, when Apex Legends drops the “Defiance” Launch Trailer.)
However, based on her lore alone, it could be that golden grenade from “Good as Gold” or something involving the freedom fighters group she’s a part of like a flag. A flag doesn’t look like it would hurt, but if you’ve never been in color guard or hit by a spinning flag during band practice, you just don’t understand. They pack a punch.
(images: Respawn Entertainment)
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