Helldivers 2 players are famous proponents of the bit. Since the day the game launched, players have loved roleplaying as the nameless soldiers in the nightmarish galactic war that has been unfolding within it the last several months. At first, this spawned a number of funny videos and skits in which players pretended to be bright-eyed soldiers whose hopes get dashed by the crushing realities of war. They especially took to Malevelon Creek, a planet whose jungle setting and flame-throwing robot foes brought on a number of comparisons to Vietnam. Now, the roleplay and wartime parallels have gone a step further and the community has adopted a collective girlfriend: Eagle-1.
In case you’re wondering, Eagle-1 is an unseen character who provides players with aid via stratagems that can be called upon in Helldivers 2. These stratagems are often the deployment of missiles or ships that bombard your enemies, and a number of them fall under the Eagle moniker, which denotes Eagle-1 and her ship, the Eagle Fighter. When you call for an Eagle stratagem, you will often hear a voice line from Eagle-1, and now players have latched onto her.
Eagle-1, like many of the characters in Helldivers 2, is fully democracy-pilled. You’ll call for a bomb via an Eagle stratagem and she’ll deliver a line like “Eat Liberty.” The spunk and rambunctious attitude with which she delivers these lines, as well as the effectiveness of her ordinances, made a great impression on players. It started with memes which celebrate her utility and ability to keep players alive in Helldivers 2’s otherwise grueling missions. Things eventually snowballed, and now players have fallen head-over-heels for a character they never actually see in the game. Like soldiers who’ve been at war for far too long, Helldivers 2 players started getting a little too horny for the one woman in proximity to them. Then the fanart started dropping.
As far as I can see, the first major piece of Eagle-1 fanart landed in the Helldivers subreddit within a few weeks of the game’s launch. The post, which is titled “Call Me,” was immediately upvoted like crazy, which is no surprise given how popular the character was becoming, how clearly seductive Eagle-1 was intended to come across in that title, and also how clearly busty the artist made her underneath all the Helldivers gear. A not-insignificant portion of the piece is dedicated to her chest. The top comment on the post reads, “It took 17 days and here we are. Let the eagle pilot thirst begin.”
To the credit of some of the commenters on that post, it wasn’t all unabashed horny-posting. Folks were certainly aware of the optics, as well as Helldivers 2’s satirical tone, and steered into it. One commenter stated, “The Armored Core sub got real weird last year, looking forward to the rapidly escalating sexualization of literally any object in the game,” while another responded to the original post saying, “Jokes on you cadet! From the first time I heard ‘an eagle never misses’ I knew I would be requisitioning 2 copies of the ‘Ladies of Liberty’ calendar this year.” Another far more crass comment says that Eagle-1’s got “two huge 500kg bombs on her.” One post even called for a body pillow of Eagle-1. That was when I knew the bit had gone far enough.
Not all of the Eagle-1 fan art has been as horny, but that opening salvo definitely defined the nature of the conversation around her. Another piece depicts Eagle-1 defending a meager Helldiver and serves as a parody of the “no pickles” meme. The post that the official Helldivers 2 Twitter account shared today was another blow from the horny contingent though, and the developers are certainly aware of it, telling fans to keep their “eyes up and focused” and joking about her relationship status.
I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. This is the internet we’re talking about, after all. Last year, the internet’s thirst for the award-winning Baldur’s Gate 3’s freakishly horny cast was palpable and it hasn’t exactly let up. Gamers are down demonstrably bad, and want to fuck apparently. I just worry in this case that the Helldivers 2 community would be better served with someone they’ve actually seen and met, rather than a voice coming from the earpiece in their helmet. I want better for y’all, and I just don’t think Eagle-1 is quite it.
