Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, a remaster of the James Gunn and Suda51 cult classic 2012 game, launched tomiddling reviews from criticslast year, who were upset to see many “notable effects missing from the original”. But it sold surprisingly well — enough torevive the long-dormant hack and slash serieswhere a high schooler carves through zombies to the beat of Skrillex and Five Finger Death Punch.
As reported byAftermath, just a few months after its release, Nada Holdings Corp. has announced, in partnership with Dragami Games, that a sequel and anime adaptation are currently in development. While that might be exciting news for fans who have waited over a decade to see a new Lollipop Chainsaw, there are a couple of sticking points in the press release that aren’t going down well.
The big one is that there’s no mention of James Gunn and Suda51, who,much like with the remaster, don’t appear to be involved. The second is that the press release stresses that these new projects will stay “true to the distinctive tone and spirit of the original work, without imposing excessive creative restrictions in the name of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).”
“I Foresee Failure”: Lollipop Chainsaw Fans Aren’t Taking The News Well
In light of this news, fans have been sharing old interview snippets from James Gunn, pointing out that he purposefully objectified Nick, i.e. Juliet’s boyfriend, by turning him “into an accessory” and “a commodity”.
“Nick is not only emasculated, he is SUPER emasculated,“Gunn explained. “He thinks his girlfriend is this demure cheerleader, and then discovers she is a thousand times tougher — that is, more traditionally ‘masculine’ — than he’ll ever be.”
Fans,like @Im_Jayes, argue that the series is inherently “woke” and that the press release misses the point; “Companies and gamers alike just refuse to understand Lollipop Chainsaw. It’s woke, it’s literally just pulpy woke. But people see sexy girl protag and just refuse to see it as anything more than that …which is literally something the game’s message is about”.
You people don’t care about the original game, Lollipop Chainsaw is very feminist —@RabbitRadicals.
For others, the lack of Suda51’s involvement alone is enough to put them off any new project. “No James [Gunn] or Suda and by the people that fu**ed up the remaster,"@nofuturenocry said. “Can y’all just give the IP back to the people that actually made the original game,"@TonyAstroVEVO replied. “I’m not interested unless James Gunn or Suda51 is involved,"@Detective_Roo put it simply.
“Without Suda51 or even involvement from James Gunn, what’s the point?“asked @Skullgrin140. “You’re going into a project half-cocked & unprepared, DESPERATELY chasing after money & banking on something that came out 13 years ago. The party’s over & everyone’s gone home”.
There’s no word on when we can expect the sequel or anime yet, but without even a glimpse at either project, the future of Lollipop Chainsaw is already proving incredibly divisive among fans.
