As you all remember, I'm sure, the Overwatch hero Tracer was confirmed to have a girlfriend in last month's Reflections Comic, and while most of the discussion in the media was focused on Tracer's status as the game's first official LGBT character, the die-hard Overwatch fans had a different question about the image above.
Where is Tracer's Chronal Accelerator?
For those of you unaware of the in-depth back stories of each Overwatch hero, Tracer's Chronal Accelerator is the blue circular light she wears as part of an over-the-shoulder harness. After testing a new technology went wrong, Tracer was left floating in and out of the present time until Winston created the Chronal Accelerator to anchor her to the present, as it were. You can think of the Chronal Accelerator like Iron Man's Chest Piece – she can't survive without it.
So how could she have taken it off for that now-infamous Christmas kiss? Originally, this was easily explained away with one Tweet, with the official Overwatch account saying that the Chronal Accelerator only needs to be near her – a simple explanation that would eliminate any controversy.
But this controversy was given new life on the Overwatch forums today, when Lead Writer Michael Chu said that Tracer does, in fact, need to wear the Chronal Accelerator to keep her from getting lost in time. But, "in certain locations," Tracer is being Anchored in time "using a different method," suggesting that the Chronal Accelerator simply being near Tracer is not sufficient, contradicting the statement on Twitter.
Suspiciously enough, Chu lists these locations as Emily's apartment and Winston's Lab, which are the only two locations in the Reflections comic where Tracer is seen without her Chronal Accelerator.
Because Chu did not elaborate on the nature this "different method" of anchoring Tracer, it seems a lot like a too-convenient work-around, and die-hard Overwatch fans are – at least in this moment – not satisfied.
