I know this is a big ask since there's strain progressions and other items based off of this strain, but I think since we've done revamps of other things that don't necessarily look great (like removing the Harry Potter reference from Alexander), I think it's worthwhile revisiting the idea of changing Heartburn.

If you don't know, this is a pretty accurate depiction of a real life disease that is pretty hard to manage, used to be pretty fatal, and has no cure. I don't know if I should name it because it's kind of graphic but if you know the disease, that's all you see when you look at Heartburn. I don't know how this was dealt with back then since I was not around in 2012 when it was released but having a real life disease in a 'hehe, we're gross zombies!' event is in poor taste. It takes some of the joy out of my favourite event because I have a hard time overlooking the fact that Heartburn is based off of a real disease and I know I'm not the only one who feels the same.

I actually don't have a lot of suggestions of how it can be changed despite saying that it should be. Personally, I wouldn't mind if it turned it into something different or had more colour changes so that maybe it's oozing something unnatural but others might still want a strain that has that sort of cracking. The face is what resembles the disease the most so even if that looked less like the disease, it would be a step forward.

Honestly even its a pretty rare condition, I can only imagine what it would be like for someone who's suffered from the condition or has a child who has it. I definitely agree that its in poor taste to have a real medical condition portrayed as a 'gross zombie' :/

heartburn is also iirc consistently one of the least popular strains in terms of people both asking and biting for it, although whether or not that's due to the association with the real condition i can't say. the fact that its a real condition that primarily effects newborns (because most people born with it- at least until relatively recently- don't survive to adulthood) especially makes having it as a Wacky Zombie Skin feel... much worse.

changing the face and color along with some other details, i think, would go a long way towards making it distinct. maybe change the design to a more intentional form of scarification, leaning into the early stages a bit more. i do also wonder if it would just be better to scrap the whole thing and replace it with something totally different.

I'm in support of changing it! I remember there was a lot of backlash and disgust when it was first released, and even back then I agreed it was in pretty poor taste. It's also, I believe, the single least popular strain on the site, so I don't see any reason to dig in and keep it the way it is. I love collecting all the skins, it's my favorite part about this site, and even I can't stand to look at it. Back when there was a glitch and we got to instant unlock one for free, I used that to get heartburn so I wouldn't have to spend three days watching it.

Full support for at least changing the colors/face.

Adding support for the removal or alteration of this strain!

That skin is the main reason I don't do zombie bites, I hate it. I've known what it was in real life since before that and it's in very poor taste. It was one of the first zombie skins I got and I get creeped out every time I look at it. ("Well, just don't look at it!" How 'bout no.)

I think it's one of those cases of this is not/should not be a costume. If that makes me a special snowflake or whatever for saying so, guess so. It's still in bad taste.

"But we have fetus pops and gummy eyeballs!" Yes, and both of those you can make cartoon-y in real life or realistic. I mean, good grief, have you looked on Pinterest or someplace like and seen the charcuterie boards that are made up of a plastic skeleton and whatever else? You get there's a level of Halloween humor in there.

Not a real life horror.

Support for it being changed

I also used the free instant unlock from a few years ago on that skin specifically because I did not want to do the whole progression or even spend the required sP for it.

It always takes a lot of work to change one aspect of something (even more so when there's related items), but I think in this instance it's for the best for the reasons everyone here has already stated.

Support. It isn't the same kind of scary as the rest of the skins. If we were going to have skins based on real life health stuff, I'd rather it be a cheekier sort, based on less fatal, more common stuff. Like themes ranging from creepily exaggerated paper cuts to, hey, even a skin based on the weird visual effects migraines give me. Glitchy scotoma zombies would make me laugh and shake my fist as a migraine sufferer but I wouldn't wince.

This is a strain that received backlash on release and continues to have complaints every year. It really needs to be changed, not only because wearing someone's real life birth defect as a fun zombie skin is horrible, but it really sticks out among the cartoony, fantasy, fictional creations that are the other skins. It's very out of place and distasteful on top of it.

It would be very easy to keep the essence of the skin while getting rid of the part that imitates the real condition. I'm 100% sure the artist(s) can create a skin of a zombie killed by flames and make it look amazing. TBH I wouldn't be mad if the skin was simply removed and it's items substituted. And I'm that one person who thinks the art of the skin is beautiful. lol

Support!

This is one of the very few survival skins that I'm missing but I really don't want to get because it makes me so uncomfortable even if I'll never use it on a HA. I know what condition it's based on and it's not a loose artistic interpretation of said condition. :'| Don't get me wrong, the art is great quality. But no matter how you look at it, it's just not appropriate or fitting in the context of a silly virtual petsite holiday with zombies.

Swapping it with a new survival skin would be a very good move, IMO. The site's grown leaps and bounds since it's edgy phase back when the skin was first released.

Maybe give it cracked, charred skin and flesh, burned charcoal bits falling off to reveal the skeleton, and a flaming heart glowing from within. Have the heart ooze lava out of the chest cavity as somewhat of a nod toward the Forj Matriarch and Slaglord. Or pick a different color palette entirely! Go with a drought theme instead of fire. Go for a molten theme instead of a charred one (Terminator nod, anyone? Or Raiders Of The Lost Ark.). There's a lot of really good options for a zombie skin that matches the name.

I love these ideas a lot.

I also support changing Heartburn.

I have avoided getting that one for all the years I have been here. (I don't like things being based on real life diseases and syndromes, like this strain or the Bowl of Ebola in the Atebus Shop)

Big BIG agree with everything that's been said thus far. Support!

Thanks for responding so we at least know Staff is aware of the problems with this strain though. I just hope it doesn't fall through the cracks with the amount of other projects we have going on. I didn't expect it for this upcoming Survival when I made the thread but I do hope it's sooner rather than later.