Fortnite players thought they would be welcoming X-4 Stormwings, the game's planes, back onto the island this week. However, when the latest update went live, neither planes nor the leaked challenge hinting at their return were anywhere to be seen. A last-minute decision made by Epic Games.
Quite literally a last-minute decision made by Fortnite's creators according to dataminer Shiina. After the update went live and players began to figure out what was new, Shiina revealed on Twitter that the decision to scrap the leaked plane challenge, and presumably the Stormwings along with it, was made one minute before the patch was rolled out.
“Planes were supposed to be unvaulted today, but Epic changed the quest that's related to planes a MINUTE before it was supposed to go live,” Shiina tweeted. The challenge would have tasked players with flying a biplane through a rift, something that would have naturally required the unvaulting of the Stormwing, or the addition of a new plane to Fortnite. Instead, Crash Pads were unvaulted, a decision that isn't sitting well with players hoping for more during the second week of this year's Fortnitemares.
Not only are there no challenges attached to the returning Crash Pads, but they've not really been gone long enough for people to miss them. Less than a season has passed since they were last in the game. The item doesn't have a connection to Halloween either, and although the same can be said of the Stormwing, at least planes split players when it came to their supposed return since their presence can change the dynamic of a match.
Although Crash Pads might not be all that spooky, Ash from Evil Dead certainly is. The iconic horror movie character was added to the game for this year's Fortnitemares complete with a subtle Bruce Campbell Spider-Man reference. Epic also put police cars back in the game after removing them back in 2020.