Murderer’s Creed And Vanderpump Guidelines Are Bizarrely Related

Murderer’s Creed, Ubisoft’s long-running open-world RPG collection, and Vanderpump Guidelines, Bravo’s long-running actuality TV collection, are related—sort of. It’s uncommon that two of my largest, most disparate pursuits collide so spectacularly as this, however right here we’re, and it’s all due to a person named Jax Taylor.

Taylor, one of many former stars of VPR (he left/was fired after season eight, relying upon who you ask) has been claiming for almost 15 years that the face on the Murderer’s Creed I field artwork (or II, relying upon who and if you ask) is predicated on his visage. Taylor, who was beforehand a mannequin, even lists it as one in every of his (unverified) credit on his outdated Mannequin Mayhem web page.

Earlier than we go any additional, it’s vital to notice that Taylor has, traditionally, been thought-about to be, properly, um, a liar. As any VPR fan is aware of, and as a 2019 Vulture article identified, Taylor was accused of infidelity in back-to-back seasons and “each instances [he] satisfied each the present’s behind-the-camera workers and his pals that he was wrongfully accused; each instances, he was caught red-handed because the season ended.” Taylor was additionally tied up in a lie in season six, after he was caught dishonest on his future spouse (then-girlfriend) with one other co-star. There are different lies you’ll discover deep within the Bravo subreddits: that he was roommates with Channing Tatum, that he virtually bought a job working for the NHL, that he beloved the tea set Lisa Vanderpump gave him as a marriage present.

However the actuality TV star doggedly insists that he’s, certainly, the face on the duvet artwork of an Murderer’s Creed recreation. He just lately doubled down on this declare at Lexington Comedian Con, which happened within the Kentucky metropolis over the March 7-10 weekend. Taylor and several other of his former and present castmates (he’s starring in a brand new Vanderpump Guidelines spinoff referred to as The Valley alongside his maybe-future-ex-wife, Brittany Cartwright) had their very own tables on the conference, which have been adorned with photographs of their skilled appearances. On Taylor’s desk: An image of the Murderer’s Creed I cowl artwork.

Is Jax Taylor the face of the Murderer’s Creed field cowl artwork?

Now, right here’s the place issues get complicated. Taylor first claimed this online game connection again in 2012, when he posted “Me on the duvet of assassins [sic] creed II” on X (previously Twitter). The image accompanying the textual content actually appears like cowl artwork for an Xbox 360 recreation, however there are some notable discrepancies. First, the picture depicts Murderer’s Creed I, not II, and second, that image doesn’t seem to have ever been used for a bodily launch of the Ubisoft recreation. An intrepid reporter asked about this alleged cover art again in 2022, and the replies solely unearthed extra questions: It seems that the picture Taylor posted is from a web site referred to as Customaniacs, which, again within the Xbox 360 period, would share hi-res, downloadable, customized items of field cowl artwork for folks to print out and slip into the plastic shells.

On March 12, I reached out to Taylor’s PR by way of e-mail, who initially confirmed that Taylor was “on the primary season” of Murderer’s Creed. When pressed for clarification, the consultant confirmed that he was the mannequin for “the very first recreation” and “simply the field artwork.” I thanked them for the clarification.

An hour later, unprompted, Taylor’s consultant emailed me a picture that solely made issues extra baffling: an image of the duvet of PlayStation: The Official Journal’s Vacation 2009 situation, which featured the publication’s evaluate of Murderer’s Creed II. Sure, a evaluate of the sequel, not the primary recreation like his consultant initially confirmed. So as to add extra layers to this confusion cake, the PlayStation magazine cowl doesn’t depict the field artwork for any Murderer’s Creed recreation, however bespoke artwork. (Unrelated, however hilarious: the picture is clearly simply the duvet torn off the journal, the remainder of which Taylor ostensibly threw out.)

Not lengthy after my dialog together with his PR particular person, Taylor posted an image of the PlayStation: The Official Journal cowl that had been emailed to me to his Instagram story, with the caption “Flashback to after I did the duvet artwork/field artwork for #assassinscreed 2009.” He tagged the Instagram accounts for Lexington Comedian Con and PlayStation.

The factor is, a French-Canadian mannequin named Francisco Randez has been broadly credited because the face of collection protagonists Desmond, Altair, and Ezio. Randez has finished interviews about his position within the collection and has an IMDb credit score for it. In a 2011 interview, Murderer’s Creed devs focus on creating the digital likenesses of the character, referring to the “good-looking mannequin” as a “neighbor” of the sport’s producer in Montréal…although they’ve bother remembering his title and name him “Rafael.” (It’s across the 8:50 mark.) Is there multiple “Murderer’s Creed man”? Is Jax Taylor one in every of them? Is he none of them?

I reached out to each Ubisoft and Francisco Randez. Ubisoft declined to remark, and Randez has but to reply.

So, it’s nonetheless unclear if Jax Taylor is, certainly, the face on the duvet for both Murderer’s Creed I or Murderer’s Creed II. As a VPR fan, I’m inclined to consider he’s not, however what do you suppose?