Rialto is super pretty and looks so well researched and such – which is a really wierd contrast with ‘we accidentally based Dorado on one of the cinque terre towns cause it’s the first Google image result for Mexican town’ and ‘everything we know about Australia is from a Mad Max film’
Overwatch speculation that’s really more ‘i wonder if blizzard will release more lore for the rest of the year’ than anything else.
I still really want to see some follow up/what happened next to retribution, I think it’s…reasonably likely with some wishful thinking we might get something at the end of the event/close to that that’s either:
Mccree continuing his ‘thats where it all started to go wrong’ narration from the end of the event talking about how it kept going wrong/why he left and why he stuck around after Venice (cause if they play what Gabriel’s doing straight Jesse stuck around a good long time out of hope/loyalty before he couldn’t take it anymore) and, probably guven the format of the latest shorts, whether he’s going to answer the recall and come back. And this would be a logical place to put this and continue their ‘answering recall’ shorts.
Or
The debrief dialogue from the trailer/teasers is from something larger and wasn’t only recorded for promotional stuff. If it’s this (and I almost think that’s more likely cause we may have already seen stuff that clues us in to it existing) I would think it would have some sort of ‘reveal’ in it that somewhat explain why although blackwatch goes under investigation (cause that ship has sailed) Gabriel seems to obtain some personal forgiveness and remain on good terms/technically operating blackwatch even though they are “suspended” by the time of uprising.
To my mind that’s either likely to be: figured out Moira is a spy and did the only thing he could to get them all out without her realising he’d sussed her (as laid out in @segadores-y-soldados great post here). Or. ‘moiras been helping me with this genetic stuff and I think a side effect is the urge to murder people’. I’m interested to see what they do over the event (I could see us getting a small debrief file off genji and Moira at the week/2 week mark if they were leading up to this)
Obvious third option: no more lore until next year’s archives event.
I love this thing Tumblr mobile does where I get a notification and the push notifications shows me a random different notification I’ve already seen…
Things from the retribution voice lines datamining I really hope go together:
Moira: and here I thought we were supposed to be the quiet ones, next thing you know we’ll have Lieutenant Wilhelm on the team
McCree: We could use a tank
–
Reyes: I’m never going to hear the end of this am I?
Something that was supposed to be kind of a sketch but really got out of hand and is now a fully fledged thing lmao (from that one panel where they asked matt what voiceline he’d like his character to have :))
Pretty much all of Moira’s interactions with McCree involve her putting him down in some way – though always with the ‘plausible deniability’ of a joke, or teasing or ‘oh no that wasn’t sarcastic I promise’. Coupled with her conversations with Gabriel which come off as you say as putting pressure on him or getting under his skin or even sucking up to him in a ‘i understand you, I’m on your side’ way. It could be possible she’s trying to drive a wedge between the two of them, as a longer term goal and going in for the kill when they are arguing by trying to exacerbate that argument.
(Gabriel playing up the ‘I lost my temper’ angle so Moira doesn’t twig he’s clocked her and Jesse (probably inadvertently) helping him do that because Gabe predicted his reaction perfectly is a great idea btw)
These are great points, especially the part about Gabe trying to “joke around like usual” so that Moira doesn’t clue in to what’s happening.
He’s stuck – if he ousts her then and there, it is almost certain his team will die. He has no healer for McCree and Genji other than her. He can heal himself, but slowly/in small doses. If he says anything that makes her know that he suspects her, Moira will leave/flee. He does all that he can to play his “rogue, renegade” operative act (which…hmm, sounds like what he “becomes” as Reaper), all while trying to let Moira think she’s totally “getting to him.”
ooh yeah, it’s totally the same angle he’s playing as Reaper.
The more I think about this the more I’m impressed by how much he’s handling at once here cause he’s managing Moira and her not figuring it out, McCree and his reaction (while also using it to help convince Moira, cause he also needs Jesse to stay calm enough to shoot straight, so he tests the water with some jokes and subtle reminders that they trust each other – and more directly with stuff like “you should know by now I’d ever lead you wrong” etc) and…tbh I’m not sure how his interactions with Genji help him here he basically needs Genji to keep killing things, which he’ll probably do anyway without Gabe bringing up his brother and annoying him seems kind of a risky move, but still. And obviously the more direct keeping people from getting shot things that’ll get people killed as well.
1) The wording in her Hero Profile is just vague enough to imply she is a Talon agent at the time of the Retribution mission.
“The shadowy Talon organization had already been supporting her for years, aiding her experiments in exchange for utilizing the results for their own purposes.”
2) Moira’s interactions with Reyes during the Retribution point to her egging him on, pressuring him, or attempting to “get under his skin”. The most notable one involves Moira saying she wishes she could go to rhe masquerade (of Venetian Carnival). Reyes says he is surprised because she doesn’t seem like the kind of person to enjoy that.
Moira replies, “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
3) The major bosses utilize technology or “enhancements” that are originally from Overwatch agents.
The Heavy Assault Tank: uses Rocket Charge. Originally from the Crusaders. Canonically used by Reinhardt in animated shorts and comics.
The Assassin: uses what appears to be Blink and/or Recall. The chronal accelerator technology was specifically made for Tracer by Winston. If this is true about the Assassin, it also severely limited the time range of Retribution. Canonically appears in multiple shorts and comics (by Tracer).
The Sniper: uses a form of Shadowstep and/or Wraith. Canonically appears in multiple shorts and comics by Reaper.
The last one is the most interesting because it is unique to Reyes and his biotic “enhancements” that he accrued during SEP.
However –
There is one other person who has access to Reyes’ biodata – and the technical knowledge and ability to manipulate and recreate that in other ways (Biotic Grasp, Fade) – to make new technologies, enhancements, and abilities out of that.
Moira.
4) Related to Point 3, Moira has canonically stolen technology from Mercy. We are also told by Geoff Goodman during Moira’s Blizzcon panel that she took Wraith from “Reaper” and “improved” it. Moira has no qualms about taking other people’s research, property, or abilities and then redesigning or reworking them for her own purposes.
5) Moira is the only person who appears HAPPY during the intro video. The later statements she makes where she tells Reyes that he did the right thing by killing Antonio are shady as all hell.
Both of these appeared to be “coincidentally” tied to the sudden rise of Vialli and Maximilien, and Akande overthrowing Akinjide in the wake of Antonio’s death. This becomes significantly less “coincidental” if you consider that Moira may be a Talon agent, or be getting financial support from one (or all) of them.
6) During Reyes’ debriefing with Morrison, Amari, and Lacroix, there are images of two Talon operatives – a Trooper and a Heavy Assault tank.
The third image is of Moira.
(Comparison image)
Remember, Blackwatch continues to operate while suspended. Whatever occurs between Gabe, Jack, Ana, and Gérard during Gabe’s Retribution debriefing isn’t enough to make him leave, nor enough to make McCree leave in the immediate aftermath. Both Gabriel Reyes and Jesse McCree go on to help the Overwatch Strike Team by recovering intel on Null Sector during Null Sector’s Uprising. Genji stays on the team as well, and eventually helps arrest Akande Ogundimu, who is now the third Doomfist.
However, we do not know what happens to Moira after Retribution.
Speculation/Guess: in my opinion, the entire Retribution mission – and Gabriel’s motivations – make considerably more sense if you look at it like this:
The mission WAS intended to grab Antonio, run, and interrogate him later. It does not seem like Gabriel was lying here. In fact, MCCREE originally wanted to kill Antonio, but is told by Gabriel that they’re not going to do that.
However, Antonio reveals: 1) that he was anticipating this move by Blackwatch, 2) that he expected his “friends” to help him walk free from Blackwatch a week later, and 3) that he expected to hurt Blackwatch/Overwatch again.
This is the moment when Gabriel realizes –
He’s been betrayed by one of the three Blackwatch agents in the room with him.
(Note who else is “in frame” but out of focus during this moment).
This is not a sudden turn-about in motivations by Gabriel Reyes –
But instead, the clear and distinct realization that he has walked right into Antonio’s (and Talon’s) grasp.
And letting Antonio live is the LEAST of his worries.
The far bigger threat is the person IMMEDIATELY behind him.
And she knows it too.
In addition:
Pretty much all of Moira’s interactions with McCree involve her putting him down in some way – though always with the ‘plausible deniability’ of a joke, or teasing or ‘oh no that wasn’t sarcastic I promise’. Coupled with her conversations with Gabriel which come off as you say as putting pressure on him or getting under his skin or even sucking up to him in a ‘i understand you, I’m on your side’ way. It could be possible she’s trying to drive a wedge between the two of them, as a longer term goal and going in for the kill when they are arguing by trying to exacerbate that argument.
(Gabriel playing up the ‘I lost my temper’ angle so Moira doesn’t twig he’s clocked her and Jesse (probably inadvertently) helping him do that because Gabe predicted his reaction perfectly is a great idea btw)
fearlessstateofmind backup 