May 1…May 1….what happened today?
Oh yes! I started playing a The Most Beautiful Shaman in the World, Mataoka!
And her best friend, Tome, gave her a wonderful gift – young talbuk: (the best kind of gift, a just-because gift)
Happy Birthday my earthy shaman: you have brought me much joy.
Happy Year of the Sheep/Ram! Goat?!
With funk-it-up dance moves:
Oh my sweet baby murlocs.
I completely understand, Renee.
Stupid, stupid media! Never understanding when a female ages, pic apart every single pore or alteration. This scrutiny is never casted on male actors, oh no! But the other day when I was still trying to tweak Mataoka’s face, my friend Señor told her she looked tired.
Tired?
Mataoka has always had the deep lavender/brown skin tone. I succumbed to the dark forces that is skin tone change, and made her blue. You have no idea how conflicted that made me.
Dammit, Blizzard, I really hate this. Going under the knife and changing her skin, that’s fairly extreme. Maybe I can get Russell Brand after Blizzard to fix human females and female Draenei. That run, for Velen’s sake, that run is an abomination!
This is Mataoka–Mr. Snerguls is judging the Miss Murloc contest down at the Steam Pools (though I hear it’s rigged–he has a preference for Miss Elwynn Forest girls) and my human doesn’t know I took over her computer while she’s at work. Humans. So trusting. So slow to respond. I understand that in one of your epic wars…never mind. Put your seal on that bloody order, Varian!)
I’ve been keeping track of the story as best as I can – much of it was told to me as a child, and seemed like ghost stories of shadowy spirits and beasts. The Orcs represent betrayal to us, and death. But the winds have changed, and the colors shifted, so it’s time to understand these stories as a grown Draenei. Do I hate the Orcs? Hate the entire Horde? I cannot, and will not. But I need to know who wants me, and mine, dead.
Part 1: Kargath
Part 2: Grommash
Part 3: Durotan
Part 4: Kilrogg
Part 5: Maraad
There are some who understand how I feel. That I do not paint all with a broad brush, though many would of me. With Love From Draenor is one place where those who seek friendship over blood go.
Where I’m from? I am from Azuremyst. I am from hope over death, and light over darkness. I will never understand those who seek power over life.
Never.
…the closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you’ve ever seen….
just a little mental postcard to remind me of why I love to spend time in Azeroth – pure fantasy….
Today’s Random Tuesday Morning Thought is brought to you by the letter P and the feeling of O, as in, “Oh, I am really anxious about this.”
“Personification” is one of my favorite figurative language terms. So simple in definition, yet provides so much richness to our imaginations. Whenever illustrating personification one of the most accessible ways is to think about the characters in Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Each tea pot and candlestick has its own personality, every feather duster and door knob. It’s magical.
Even Carmen from Art of Carmen puts her own spin on Azerothian characters. They tend to be salaciously sexualized and entertainingly sinful: note the little “devil’s tail” in the smile of the Draenei below:
My dear friend Plaid Elf much more kindly pointed out some of her disappointment, too.
We were all so excited, but what we got was Low Budget Beasts. Scratch that. Low Budget Beasts have character and grit, even if ofttimes poorly executed cosplay. At least they try!
When many of us saw the ‘sketchbook’ if you will of our new characters we were delighted. All except me, who immediately saw the dead-eyes, too narrow of jaw, and sexless, plastic lips– to me, the new Draenei female models look like they’ve been on a three-day bender of Botox and Velen sold their souls to Illidan. Am I that unhappy? Yes. When I showed the Beta model of the female Dwarf, with richness and vibrance to the art, that is what I was pointing to, what I wanted. I feel that this is somehow Blizzard’s passive-aggressive means to take two of the most beautiful female races (Draenei and Night Elf) in Azeroth, and instead of making ALL races rich, vibrant and…looking for a word here...they did what they always do: break the good in an effort to level some imaginary playing field. Now – I’m going to try to say this next thing as carefully as I can, but I’ll probably get misunderstood: Tauren, Troll, and Dwarf females were often thought of as not the “beautiful” races. First, I disagree. Big time. But Blizzard did give them a richness and nuances that served to enhance their natural beauty. (We haven’t seen Troll yet, but I am betting the farm they are ‘new and improved: even the Forsaken has left us feeling forsaken.) Careful framing, shading, and line work that only added to their beauty. I wish the good and talented artists at Blizzard would take a step back and go study the artists of Disney, Hayao Miyazaki, and Pixar. Heck, even Tim Burton would add some grit. Let him redesign the Forsaken! And second, shame on Blizzard if that is their plan, to somehow make the “pretty” girls “ugly” as a way of compensating for something that didn’t need to be paid.
Now maybe I can get the word to Blizzard. I know they keep saying it’s just the Beta, and not providing me any mental relief as far as what the future holds for my Draenei and Night Elf clan. I will say I’ve been delighted with the addition of a Dwarf shaman named Mollei. Remember Mollie MacBallbuster? She is all kinds of delightful. Sometimes I have error speech on, and when she says in her little Scottish accent, “I’m oot of mann-ah!” I crack up, as her braids twirl with every spell. At least I can count on her to stay beautiful, inside and out.
Look, I have no business being here or in Azeroth right now. I took a much needed mental-health day (don’t think that’s a thing? Don’t believe me? The Internets say so, so it must be true.) and this quick question just popped into my head: Are there things that are unique to your specific class/race/specialization that are not on any WoW Insider or Icy Veins, etc., sort of “tip” information?
Example: I really need to knock-out Mataoka’s rep with the Drunken Fish so she can start to finish her reputations for both the Beloved title, as well as the guild achievement. Reluctantly, (and I’m not sure why) I dragged my mouse and clicked on her character. Off she when to say hello to Ordos for the 459th time, and on her merry way she stopped to pick the flowers and Sprites (yes, picking their little mean eyeballs right out of their heads) and ‘she’ accidentally popped her wolves. Not one to waste a good spirit wolf, she immediately attacked a mob of one over on a grassy knoll, quietly picking flowers or looking at ant hills (what are those Yaungol doing anyway when they are kneeling down in the grass? Tying pretend shoes? Looking for a lost contact lens?) Lost-contact-shoe-tying Yaungol done, wolves happy and fed, and onto Ordos. No loot, of course, because RNGs forbid she get a treat for her time.
So yes, Enhancement shamans sometimes pop wolves by mistake but try to not let them go to waste. What things do your characters do that are off the ‘books?’
Sugar&Blood 
