If you’ve played Destiny 2 lately, you may have seen a new emote in which Guardians suddenly sprout a pair of neon horn-rimmed glasses and a prodigious mustache, and then proceed into the most rigorous series of finger-guns variations witnessed by mortals. It’s called Unbridled Enthusiasm, and it’s a nod to a specific Bungie employee, FX artist Dave Samuel.
Bungie recently tweeted a short video of Samuel himself coaching a motion-capture performer on the Unbridled Enthusiasm emote. It turns out the new exotic emote, now available in Destiny 2’s Forsaken expansion, is aptly named – even mid-performance, Samuel’s enthusiasm is unbridled to the point of infectiousness. He and the mo-cap performer square off, shooting imaginary rays of joy and lasers at each other.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” growls Samuel, and then they both break down into giggles.
Like any interview with Samuel you may have seen, it’s completely charming.
Samuel’s talent as a human sound effects machine comes through in the video as well – he provides all the pew-pew sounds and explosion noises himself, as usual.
Here’s Bungie’s tweet, with the video clip.
100% authentic Unbridled Enthusiasm straight from Dave Samuel himself. pic.twitter.com/36RefcBjbm
— Bungie (@Bungie) September 12, 2018
And here’s how Unbridled Enthusiasm looks in-game, courtesy of YouTuber JawsomeJess:
Whatever issues Destiny 2 players may have had with Bungie over the course of the game’s life, Dave Samuel is widely regarded as a mad hero within the company, someone they can’t help but love.
His emote’s in-game text reads “Get excited and like things,” which by all appearances is Samuel’s guiding philosophy in game design.