I was going to make a more open post discussing some of the reveals about Revenant and Echoes that caught my attention but instead the launch trailer for Echoes has seemingly confirmed my biggest fear regarding the future of the Vex. While the reveal event showed that these new Vex seem to have addition protrusions to mark them from the regular units, the launch trailer for Echoes has revealed their purpose by having the Vex attempt to collar Saint-14 with a similar device for the purposes of controlling him. Meaning that by extension these Vex are being forcibly compelled by this new antagonist as opposed to them being an actual leader within the Network. With Maya Sundaresh undoubtedly being the big bad for this Episode this marks yet another time that the Vex have only been story relevant when they are enslaved by an external force. The Sol Divisive under the Witness has been the biggest example of this, but Splicer was another example where the Vex found themselves under the control of Savathûn. Bungie seem to have utterly given up on evolving the Vex as a species without relying on other characters to elevate them. It’s a sorry state of affairs when one of the main enemy factions has a completely lack of character or interest. This isn’t to say I don’t think the narrative in Echoes will be good, in fact I think introducing Maya as an antagonist and leaning on Saint-14 as a character separate from his new experiences with the Eliksni is going to make for a banger, definitely an improvement over the launch seasons we’ve gotten in previous years. I’m simply reiterating a frustration I’ve had since the failure of Curse of Osiris.