North Texas

North Texan's Sketch Turned Into Fortnite Skin

What Connor Foust, 9, called a funny chicken skin is now famously known as the Tender Defender

Having a personalized Fortnite video game character is a dream for a lot of kids. Connor Foust in Melissa saw that wish come true, and his reaction to seeing his own avatar was captured on camera.

Soaring in popularity among all age groups, Fortnite continues to take over the world of video gaming. Foust, 9, wanted to take it to another level.

“I wanted Fortnite to add a skin, and I was thinking what should the skin be,” recalled Foust. Since June, Foust had been asking his dad, Tyler, to tell the developer of Fortnite, Epic Games, about a skin they needed to add.

“The Tomato head and the Derberger head, both those skins gave me the idea of making a skin with a chicken head, but I decided that I should just make a funny chicken skin,” Foust explained.

That funny chicken skin is now famously known as the Tender Defender. But, how do you go about getting the attention of one of the biggest online gaming developers in the world?

Don't give up.

“After a while, he basically gave up on that formal request, and he ended up writing a letter,” said Connor's father. Connor planned to have the letter mailed to the gaming company. Tyler found that letter, took a picture of it and posted it online to a forum for Fortnite fans, while at the same time, trying to keep it a secret from his son.

"Put the caption that my son had been basically asking me to submit this idea, and so here you go," said Tyler.

And almost overnight, the post got traction with more than 40,000 votes and, eventually, the attention of the gaming company.

“And then later on, about a month later I got a quick email saying that they wanted to release it on Thanksgiving,” said Tyler.

This was the moment Connor discovered that the Tender Defender made it onto Fortnite for users around the world. For Connor, this is the ultimate Christmas gift.

Both said the response has been far reaching. Media outlets have reached out from as far as the UK about his Tender Defender.

The Guinness Book of World Records is also in touch with the young creator, saying it may be the most requested skin on Fortnite.

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