This post on Hammond being a rabbit test subject got me going because it is totally POSSIBLE.
We never DID find out where she worked BEFORE she was recruited to Blackwatch.
Lucheng Interstellar has always been shady for their experiments on great apes, many of which are protected or endangered species.
Winston and Moira also have a new interaction where Moira gets VERY angry:
Winston: Overwatch had good reason to shut down your research!
Moira: I shouldn’t be surprised at such a narrow opinion coming from a jumped. Up. Ape.
We know other genetic scientists had problems replicating Moira’s research, with the implication being that Moira experimented on humans (including herself). However, experiments on great apes would be borderline impossible to replicate as well because primate experiments are highly regulated.
…On Earth, of course.
This is one of the wildest theories yet but holy hell, if Hammond IS the rabbit in Moira’s Origin video, that would be a greay excuse to bring Lucheng into the main plot. Lucheng has always been on the “fringes” of the story (outside of their funding of Horizon), but making them Moira’s old employer would be a huge plot move.
Yes I 100% HC that Moira worked on the Lunar Colony. I think maybe a stretch to say she worked on Winston but was involved to some degree. Her Lab in the origins trailer is much more similar to the lunar map than Oasis or Gibraltar.
From their new interactions, I don’t know if Moira and Winston knew each other personally, but Lucheng conducting highly unethical and advanced genetic experiments on great apes, other mammals, and possibly other humans is exactly Moira’s pre-Blackwatch/pre-Talon ideal.
Agreed that her Origins video lab has a lot of the aesthetics of Horizon (especially after the update). Moira also goes wherever she thinks she needs to in order to do her work (Blackwatch, Talon, Oasis, etc). She would have relatively little qualms about moving to China or even the Moon for her work.
fun fact: in france, they also have bake off, and almost everything is the same except it’s called ‘le meilleur pâtissier’ (thé best baker) and it’s 2 hours long (because france). but weirdly they don’t have the rights to the bake off soundtrack, but you know what bbc soundtrack they do have rights to? doctor who. so you get people yelling in french to the fucking WOOWEEWOO interspersed with dramatic shots of opera cake and honestly? mood
everything about this is fucking hilarious. i’m sorry, random pompeii man, but your death was some looney tunes bullshit and the framing of this photograph isn’t helping.