Aliens.
That was basically the entire vibe when the Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 7 battle pass dropped in June 2021. It was weird. Honestly, after the "Primal" era of Season 6—which a lot of people low-key hated because of the clunky crafting mechanics—the Invasion theme felt like a massive breath of fresh air. It wasn't just about the skins, though. This specific pass changed how we actually progressed through the game by bringing back Battle Stars, a system that felt nostalgic for OG players but worked totally differently than it did back in the day.
If you weren't there, you missed out on Rick Sanchez doing the Renegade. It sounds like a meme, and it absolutely was, but that's exactly why this specific season sticks in the collective memory of the community.
The Return of Battle Stars: Choice or Illusion?
The biggest mechanical shift with the Chapter 2 Season 7 battle pass was the death of the linear progression system. Before this, you just hit level 10 and got whatever was on page 10. Simple. Boring, maybe. Epic Games decided to shake it up by introducing a tiered "page" system where you spent Battle Stars to unlock rewards in the order you actually wanted them. Sorta.
You couldn't just jump to the end and grab the Tier 100 skin on day one unless you bought levels. You still had to reach a certain level or unlock a specific number of rewards to open up later pages. It gave players a sense of agency that hadn't existed in Chapter 2 up to that point. If you really wanted a specific banner or a loading screen before a back bling, you could finally make that call.
Most people just hoarded stars to get the skins faster.
I remember the subreddit being flooded with people asking "How do I get more stars?" because the XP grind felt a little steeper at the start of the season. Epic eventually tweaked the numbers, as they usually do, but that initial scramble to unlock Kymera was real. Kymera was the "customizable" gimmick skin of the season, and it was a grind-and-a-half.
Kymera and the Alien Artifact Headache
Every season needs that one skin you can obsessively tweak, right? For the Chapter 2 Season 7 battle pass, that was Kymera. He was this lanky alien guy that you could give different head shapes, eye colors, skin patterns, and armor tints.
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To do any of that, you needed Alien Artifacts.
These things were scattered across the map in purple glowing canisters, or you could find them in Cosmic Chests. This is where the frustration kicked in for solo players. Cosmic Chests required a squad to open. You had to take turns hitting the weak points of the crystal while your teammates stood there. If you played primarily Solos, you were basically locked out of a huge chunk of Kymera’s customization unless you spent hours hunting the static spawns. It was a polarizing move. Epic wanted to force social interaction, but for the introverts just trying to finish their pass, it was a bit of a slog.
The Crossover King: Rick Sanchez and Guggimon
We have to talk about Rick. Seeing Rick Sanchez in the Chapter 2 Season 7 battle pass was the moment a lot of people realized Fortnite was officially the "everything app" of gaming. He was the Tier 100 skin. Think about that for a second. The ultimate reward for months of grinding was a cel-shaded scientist from an Adult Swim show.
He looked... okay. Cel-shading in 2021 was still a bit hit-or-miss in the Fortnite engine. Sometimes Rick looked like he belonged there; other times he stuck out like a sore thumb against the more realistic lighting of the Island. But the "Butter Robot" back bling? Pure gold.
Then there was Guggimon.
Most players had no idea who Guggimon was. For the record, he’s a "synthetic celebrity" from Superplastic. It was a weird, corporate-feeling inclusion that signaled Fortnite's shift toward becoming a marketing platform for digital brands, not just movies or comics. People were confused, but the skin itself—a creepy rabbit with a mask—actually saw a decent amount of use in competitive circles because of its slim profile.
Superman: The Hidden Hero
While Rick was the Tier 100, Superman was the "Secret Skin." Except he wasn't secret at all because he was on the loading screen and the trailer.
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You couldn't get Clark Kent right away. You had to wait about 65 days into the season before his quests went live. It was a classic "complete quests from NPCs" type of deal. What made this version of Superman cool was the built-in emote. You’d start as Clark Kent, use the "Secret Identity" emote in a phone booth (or just standing there), and transform into the Man of Steel.
It felt high-effort. Compared to some of the later secret skins that were just... guys in suits... Clark Kent felt like a genuine reward for sticking with the season.
The Full Skin Roster
The variety was actually pretty wild when you look back at it. You had:
- Kymera: The customizable alien.
- Sunny: A punk-rock alien sympathizer who had a song that actually played on the in-game radio.
- Guggimon: The weird fashion rabbit.
- Joey: A character that looked like a generic mercenary but had a built-in emote to reveal they were an alien in a human suit.
- Zyg: A big robot that came with a little alien buddy (Choppy).
- Doctor Slone: The lore-heavy leader of the IO (Imagined Order). She was basically the villain of the season, and her mythic pulse rifle was an absolute menace in matches.
- Rick Sanchez: The smartest man in the multiverse.
Why the IO Tech Changed the Meta
The battle pass wasn't just about cosmetics; it was tied directly to the "Invasion" theme that introduced IO Tech weapons. If you were rocking the Doctor Slone skin, it felt right to be carrying a Rail Gun or a Recon Scanner.
The Rail Gun was controversial. It could shoot through one solid build. In a game where "building is your cover," a weapon that could snipe you through a wall felt like cheating to some. But it was the perfect counter to "turtling." The Recon Scanner, meanwhile, was basically a legal wallhack. It launched a projectile that marked every enemy in the radius.
Combined, these items made the Season 7 gameplay loop feel frantic and high-tech. It moved away from the "bow and arrow" vibe of the previous season and went full sci-fi. Even the Rail Gun's charging sound—that high-pitched whine—is enough to give Chapter 2 veterans PTSD.
Looking Back: Was It Actually Good?
Usually, people remember the "OG" days of Chapter 1 with rose-tinted glasses, but Chapter 2 Season 7 is one of the few later seasons that gets a lot of love in retrospect. The Battle Pass was a big reason for that. It felt cohesive. Everything from the loading screens to the pickaxes felt like it belonged to the same story.
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There was a real sense of escalation. You started with these weird alien artifacts and ended with an alien mothership hovering over the center of the map, eventually leading to the "Operation: Sky Fire" event where Slone basically betrayed everyone.
The value proposition was insane. For 950 V-Bucks, you got Rick Sanchez, Superman, and enough V-Bucks to buy the next pass. That's the standard Fortnite model, but the quality of the "extra" styles (the Silver, Gold, and Prismatic versions) was top-tier. The Prismatic styles, in particular, were some of the best-looking "super styles" Epic has ever produced. They had this shifting, oily sheen that looked incredible in-game.
Misconceptions and Forgotten Details
One thing people forget is that the Chapter 2 Season 7 battle pass was the first time we saw a real push toward "built-in" everything. Built-in emotes, built-in transformations, built-in gliders. Some people hated this because it meant you couldn't use Superman's cape on other skins (for "lore reasons"), which started a long-standing debate about cosmetic restrictions that still happens today.
Also, many think the mothership was just a background prop. In reality, getting "abducted" was a core mechanic where you'd play a mini-game inside the ship to earn high-tier loot. This made the pass feel more alive; the world was reacting to the characters in your locker.
Actionable Steps for Collectors and Fans
If you're looking back at this season and feeling the FOMO, there are a few things to keep in mind regarding how Fortnite handles these items now:
- Battle Pass Exclusivity: Unfortunately, Rick Sanchez, Doctor Slone, and the rest of the Season 7 crew are locked behind that specific pass. They won't return to the Item Shop. This is the "old way" Fortnite did things before they recently announced that future battle pass items might come to the shop after 18 months. Season 7 does not fall under that new rule.
- Item Shop Alternatives: If you missed Rick, you can sometimes find "Summer Rick" or other variants in the shop. They aren't the same as the C2S7 version, but they're close. For Slone, different versions of her (like Winter Slone) occasionally rotate in.
- The Lore Connection: If you’re a lore hunter, pay attention to any mention of "The Last Reality" or "The IO" in current chapters. The events of the Chapter 2 Season 7 pass set the stage for the destruction of the Chapter 2 map and the eventual arrival of The Herald and the Chrome in Chapter 3.
- Check Your Archive: If you played during this time but haven't logged in for years, check your locker. Many players "archived" their Kymera because they were annoyed with the unfinished styles. With the new locker UI, it's worth digging those out to see which Prismatic styles you actually managed to snag.
The Chapter 2 Season 7 battle pass wasn't perfect—the Alien Artifact grind was a chore and the Guggimon inclusion was weird—but it represented a peak for Fortnite's "themed" content. It took a big risk with Rick and Morty and changed the way we progress through the game forever. Whether you loved the Rail Gun or hated it, you can't deny that this season had a personality that a lot of modern seasons struggle to match.