The History of Nessie: Everyone’s favorite unofficial Apex mascot

Every Apex Legends player knows Nessie. The iconic little green dinosaur can be spotted across every game in the Titanfall universe. They adorn banner frames, charms, holosprays, and more. But what is Nessie? Where did Nessie come from? What does Nessie want?

We spoke to three developers at Respawn, Austin Arnett (Lead Lighting Artist), Manny Hagopian (Creative Director), and Moy Parra (Animation Director) on our questions about everything Nessie. They walked us through Nessie’s past, present, and future!

According to the three devs, Nessie was born before the first Titanfall game even came out in 2014. 

The story goes, on the report of the developers, “Austin made Nessie around the time when we were still developing a single player mode on Titanfall 1, and the reason was because we released a blurred image of some concept art and the Titanfall subreddit theorizes we were making a Loch Ness Monster game because of the silhouettes it made in the picture.”

“The designers were drawn to it and it became something we placed around a bunch, but we never really had time to do anything super cool with it until Titanfall 2. David Shaver made an extremely cool Easter egg involving Nessie and Mecha Nessie, from then on we made Nessie into more of a recurring Easter egg when we shipped Apex Legends. Chad Grenier hooked up the trigger on it so we could finally have some fun with Nessie for real.”

The developers added, “So does that make Austin Nessie’s father?” And we can confidently say yes, yes it does. Further confirmed by the fact it's in his Twitter bio.

Nessie fever had caught on and it was only natural that Nessie would continue to reign supreme as the preferred Easter egg in both Titanfall 2 in 2016 and Apex Legends in 2019.

Nessie is beloved by the entire fandom and by the very developers that created them. We asked how Nessie came to be such an important presence in both Apex Legends and Titanfall. According to the devs, it “happened gradually and organically”. 

“Just as fans fell in love with the little green buddy, so did our developers, who found little secret homes for Nessie to live. This is a true definition of fans and developers being similar in many ways.”

Of course, the number one fan of Nessie is Wattson, the electric Legend with whom Nessie has the strongest connection. The Apex Legends lore places Nessie as Wattson’s childhood plushie. In fact, the in-game lore reason for all the Nessies scattered around Kings Canyon is that Wattson herself placed them while exploring when her father worked on the Ring. These Nessies spread to the other maps without explanation, but maybe Wattson still hides them around during the Apex Games. 

Nessie significantly predates Wattson, so when exactly did Nessie become Wattson’s thing? For the developers, putting Nessie and Wattson together was a way to connect their new character to the established Titanfall universe.

“A key part of Apex Legends is finding immersion through our Legends, and introducing our world through the voices and stories of our characters. Wattson’s connection to Nessie came naturally during development of her backstory and the relationship with her mother who had passed at a young age.”

“Her Nessie represents the constant love she had for her mother that - despite being patched up - continues to be a part of her life.”

Nessie is a symbol of comfort and love, for both Wattson and for fans. The devs continued, “Nessie represents a piece of this universe that everyone has grown to love and continues with them throughout their journey from Titanfall to Apex, from their first main to their current. Nessie is there for us at every turn - you just have to look for them.” 

Wattson and Nessie are both iconic characters and, according to the devs, have “proven to be a perfect match.”

Obviously, Nessie is THE easter egg of Apex Legends. Recently however, Nessie has been part of an even more intense easter egg hunt in the updated Firing Range. 

We’ve laid out all the discovered easter eggs in our guide, but two Nessies still remain at large. The second blue Nessie - who has evaded capture for months - and a yellow with purple polka dots Nessie from ApexToons. The devs confirmed that this Nessie “is a very special one to us”, but so far have provided no further hints. 

Nessie is in loads of merchandise for Apex Legends. Lil Ness has been featured in beanies, shirts, cups, pins, jackets, oven mitts, extra long pillows, noodle stoppers, keychains, and a rainbow of different plushie colors. But it’s not enough. The people demand more.

We asked if the devs could tease any future Nessie merch akin to the recent Chef Nessie, and while they couldn’t confirm anything, they did put forward something they’d like to see in the future. 

“Austin would like this! It’s kind of like the nuiMOs (don’t judge - he has children) stuffed animals but like Wattson jackets for Nessie?”

We can all agree with Austin and confidently say that a Nessie plush with different Legend outfits would probably sell out instantly. 

We know you want it and we asked for it: the Nessie onesie skin for Wattson. The idea for this skin first appeared in one of Moy Parra’s ApexToons videos. Turns out, the developers want this skin just as badly as everyone else. Here’s what they had to say: 

“We’ve been championing this for so long now we’ve lost count. When the Wattson Nessie costume was first introduced it was an instant hit and so many people created amazing fan art that it went kind of viral. Some people even got tattoos of the design! We think it would be a skin that would be beloved by the community.”

Hopefully we’ll see the Nessie Onesie skin soon! (But, please don’t make it Wattson’s Prestige skin.)

Countless fan artists have been inspired by Nessie and Wattson. One of the most iconic Nessie animators (besides Moy Parra, of course) is Chettah. If you don't recognize their name, then you'll definitely recognize their dancing Nessie video which has become a popular gif.

Another major Nessie fan and content creator is Hoxdolum, who draws Nessie and Wattson in a much more chaotic way than other artists. Here's one of their best videos featuring Revenant and Nessie.

Another fantastic Nessie artist is Namjak, an artist who always draws Nessie as the cutest lil chubby version ever. And Jaetato, who depicts Wattson placing her Nessies in the best way.

Keep in mind, Nessie isn’t just a cute static plushie. Throughout the years of Apex Legends, Nessie has engaged in the Apex Games as a weapon in multiple game modes. The most well known of these game modes is the recurring April Fool's game mode, in which a Mozambique will fire out Nessies instead of bullets. These Nessies hunt down their foes, breaking down doors and savagely striking up close enemies. 

Even the recent Final Fantasy VII Rebirth crossover event featured Nessies in a special way. The special red materia in the event gave the player a Nessie companion per gun that would zero in on any nearby enemies like a missile. This hop-up gave players a huge advantage and made ratting virtually impossible during the FFVII event. 

Nessie is the Alpha and the Omega in the Titanfall universe. With Apex Legends reaching its fifth anniversary - and going stronger than ever - it's always fun to look back at the beginning. That beginning, of course, is Nessie. Here's to another five years of Apex and a future full of Nessie!

Thanks again to the developers at Respawn for answering all of our pressing Nessie questions and for shedding some light into why and how our little green buddy became the symbol of Apex Legends. Also a special thanks to Casey for helping make it happen.

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