Wednesday, August 13, 2014

The Trolls Scare Me

Blizzard released some new artwork for the trolls today, which I believe basically finishes off what we can expect to see outside of some more touch up work, and I must say that the male trolls are, in a word, disturbing.  Lets take a moment to look at them.

Is that a banana on your face or are you just happy to see me?
The noses on the trolls are just out of line in my opinion but none more than the one we see in the lower right hand corner of the image above.  As soon as I saw it the first thing that popped into mind was Malcolm McDowell from A Clockwork Orange.  Have you ever seen A Clockwork Orange?  If you have not I would highly recommend it.  It is a fantastic movie on many levels but it can be a bit disturbing at times for some people, apparently just like the male trolls.

There is a scene in the movie where the boys break into a house wearing masks that look like they have a giant penis on their face.  Ladies and gentlemen, the troll in the lower right hand side of that image has that mask on.  That is not a nose, that is a penis.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.  A funky looking flapping one made of rubber just like the masks the boys in A Clockwork Orange wore.

Is this really the intended design?  I know blizzard has a lot of hidden sexual innuendo in game and there is nothing wrong with that.  It has its place and at times can be quite humorous and even more so for the teen boys that laugh at anything even remotely sexual.

Does anyone remember the dailies for the Hodir in wrath?  The hidden innuendo with the dailies like polishing the helm, thrusting hodirs spear, blowing hodirs horn, and the like.  So it is not the first time there were penis jokes in game but this is the first time there was a penis joke on the face of one of the character models.

For as much as I love A Clockwork Orange and I love a good play on words like polishing the helm, this is going just a tad bit too far even for a game intended for teenagers and older who would, or might, get a laugh out of it.  Unlike the hodir quests however which were a passing joke this is on the face of our characters and I do not want that.  A joke is a joke but if I have to walk around with that joke on my face I really will not want to play a troll.

The thing is I love trolls, always have.  They are my favorite race or at least tied for it.  Perhaps that is the reason I am so upset with the change made here because it feels like they are making a joke at the expense of a race I like to play.

The thought came to mind that I will just make all my trolls female but then when looking at the females, while not as bad as the males, I am still left thinking where are the options?  You get to choose between, ugly, uglier, horrible and downright frighting.  Is that a choice?

Babysitter for hire:  Babies taste good.

Call me weird but I always found the female trolls the most attractive of the horde females just the same that I always found the troll males the most attractive of the horde males.  It is why I liked playing trolls.  The looked okay, they were a decent height that made the game feel as if it were designed for them and armor looks good on them.  Even if the artwork does not matter to me, so to speak, for the very little I see it I don't want it to look horrible.

Blizzard really did a number on the poor trolls.  They went from one of the better looking horde races to one of the worst.  Thank goodness for goblins or they would be the worst looking horde race now.

Just take a look at that one in the lower right hand corner here.  Would Thrall let her baby sit?  He would come home and walk into his hut saying, what smells good, and she would say, orc stew, want some?  This looks like the type of person that would eat your children.  Not only is it beyond ugly, it is scary ugly.

The top right one and the middle right one made me think of blood elves, not in appearance of course, but of the joke that there is only one sex of blood elf, female.  Well, looking at them it seems there is only one sex of troll now, male.  With the exception of the one in the middle that seems to be the most direct update from the old model, they rest do not even look female.

For me I can see myself having to spend a fair deal of cash on race changes or sex changes and if I did do the sex change all my trolls would have to end up with that one female face in the middle because the others are just downright frighting.

I was against the character remodels from the beginning and I have made it no secret.  I believe that they have done a fair job making them look better but over all seeing the end results and measuring it against the amount of time they spent on it, it really does not equal the results.  They are not as good as they could have been and in the end will be looked back on the same way I look back on the old world redesign in cataclysm, a complete waste of resources that could have been used to release the game faster.

I have said on more than one occasion that I love warcrafts artwork, it is one of the things that keeps me attached to the game.  It is simplistic, easy on the eyes, and no bad looking even if slightly dated, but it was good.  I wonder why they decided to change so much and lose the feeling they originally had.  I have read so many posts on so many blogs and in so many threads on so many different forums with people all saying that the new designs do not look like their characters.  I never so much minded personally because I do not really care much.  At least I never cared much until they presented us with the troll male model with a giant rubber penis on his face.  Come on blizzard, you can do better.

Added for Bonus Fun:

Check out this video of Steve Martin from the Movie Roxanne where he talks about his big nose.  This is the second thing that came to mind when I saw the troll nose.  Link here.

28 comments:

  1. Oh yes, those trolls are terrifying...ly awesome! If I was horde I'd be all over them mon.

    Well... would, now you've pointed out the phallic resemblance the male trolls do take on a new sinister tone. But still, from an art style point of view, these new models nail the concept art. Love it.

    And maybe its because I'm from the north of England but the females look ok too. Its rough up there ;)

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    1. Those troll women scare me.

      I will have to sex change my male troll druid and hunter however. No way am I going to play with that "thing" on my face. Not in a million years.

      If the local women in your area look like that I feel sorry for you. lol Well, unless you are into that sort of eat your babies look. ;)

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    2. Menacing trolls, while not great for sex appeal will at least scare the life out of Alliance on the battlefield.

      "Run, they're try bugger you and each troll can do 2 of us!"

      Oh the humanity

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    3. Good thing young children do not play this game, it would give them nightmares.

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    4. Hey, let's see - north of England... hmmm... HEY! That's me homeland you are jabbering about - Scotland! Now, in Wales, I could see or even around Cornwall about the wee women, but not me homeland. Be faster than ye trolls, mate.
      -roo

      GE - Pssst - to me, male trolls have always had a penis for a nose. One of the reasons why I don't like them. Now they have become worse. Oh, thank you Blizzard.

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    5. Before it was kind of "hidden" as in you could consider it like that buy it wasn't designed to be in your face, no pun intended. This time around there is no questioning it.

      The thing is it looks like that flappy rubber nose from a clockwork orange. That is what gets me.

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    6. Not really, if I was able to see it back then. It was there and folks just didn't mention it. But it really did keep me from playing trolls.

      As far as the masks, the same that I thought when I saw the troll noses with the blue/purple tats on their faces. :)

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    7. It is just more pronounced now.

      I still love trolls however. They are great.

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  2. Their phallic innuendos went completely out of control with Warlords of Draenor, just looking at random armour sets is enough to ruin your day. Before it was a poop joke here, dick joke there. Now, it feels like they have artistic Tourette syndrome and their tics are drawing genitals to whatever happens to be in their hands.

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    1. But to put it on someones face.... that is just wrong.

      What they call bathroom humor is all fine and dandy, I laugh at it too, but I think they are pushing it a bit far now.

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    2. I do agree with Astalner, it is more than bathroom humor. With all succeeding add-ons, the jokes are becoming cruder and cruder.

      And, yes some folks do like them. But it is more than high school males that play this game. The offensive behavior, me thinks will find that Blizzard is going to be in for a rude wakeup.

      -roo

      Just my half of a cent of thinking. (you can get back change!)

      -roo

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    3. Blizzard has been getting a lot of crap for being the "all boys" group lately from many people in the community and I am sure that this could, if pounced on by some of them, make it even worse of them. Don't get me wrong, even adults and females can find this stuff humorous at time, but there is a line when it goes from innocent humor here and there to over doing it.

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  3. I dunno, those noses don't look like dicks to me. Too triangular, and too small.

    :)

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    1. Maybe they belong to a guy with a minor deformity. :P

      They really do look like the face masks from a clockwork orange however.

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  4. They don't look like dicks. Trust me I know dick.

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    1. But they do look like the rubber masks that have fake ones on it, and that is what I am comparing it too. I can imagine it flopping around just like they do in the movie.

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    2. so they vaguely resemble a mask that vaguely resembles a phallus... okay I get it but its a stretch and fairly unfair to the artist IMHO but I get it, a dick joke post gets views.

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    3. Not about post views. I don't care about that. I am just saying that when I saw it it reminded me of the mask in the movie with the rubber dong flapping around because that is what it looks like. No comment grab there, just an observation about what it looks like.

      Or if you would prefer, it looks like one of those funny eyeglass and huge nose halloween things with an extremely oversized nose made of rubber that flaps around. Nah, just does not sound the same.

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    4. I really doubt they will flop around I think they will stand firmly and ridged. see what you have done.

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    5. I agree, I really do not think it will flop around. But that does not change the fact that looking at the image that is what came to mind.

      It looks like something made of rubber, not skin, and the image was humorous and I thought I would share it.

      That is what blog posts are for. There is no difference from me writing "I think that was the worst tank I ever saw" and "I think the new troll looks like the guy from a clockwork orange wearing the penis mask". It is just my opinion about something. If you do not see it you do not see it but you can not change my opinion because you do not see it.

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  5. Now that you've said this... I just really hope the male troll's nose doesn't flop in game. I've never seen the movie in question and to me they don't look enough like dicks that I couldn't get around it as long as I avoid the face paint. But if they flop I just don't think I can handle that. I am mostly okay with the female trolls, though I notice they didn't do the one face that so many female trolls (including mine) use. I will have to reserve final judgement until I can actually see that one, and trolls in general in game, because I was thrilled with draenei until I saw mine.

    On another note I can't decide whether I am miserable or relieved that my two favorite things to play are apparently going to be the last done. I've been waiting anxiously for ages to see the male night elves. Male blood elves, well I really think delaying them was the right thing, just hope they'll be good when they get there.

    As for the juvenile humor and things, I did comment to a friend the other day that sometimes I'd swear they think nobody but twelve year old boys even play this game.

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    1. When I saw it that is immediately what popped into mind, the nose flopping around as it ran. Admittedly it would be quite humorous to see it but it would get tired fast.

      I hope there are a few more female troll faces as well. Mine is not there either.

      I think anything they do to male night elves would be an upgrade as they are freakishly ugly as it stands. They are by far what I have the most of so I would like to see an upgrade. I hope they do bring back the fangs and claws however, to make it closer to how they are supposed to look.

      You nailed it. I think they believe only 12 year old boys play the game.

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  6. The troll noses do remind me of this song by Ray Stevens:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsXC_3Kk4nc

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    1. Have you ever seen the movie Roxanne with Steve Martin? It reminded me of that too.

      I am going to edit my post and add that clip so everyone can see it.

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  7. As someone whose main used to be a female troll, I think these are great. I think mine even had that exact same old face they used in the preview. Trolls are supposed to be scary. :)

    Incidentally, I think they used the same female troll face in all the shots, it's just doing different emotes. If you're fine with the one in the middle just don't emote and you can keep your neutral expression. :P

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    1. Artwork is about as subjective as you can get when it comes to peoples opinions. While I do think they look good, I also think they look ugly. They can be ugly and good. I am just going to miss what I believed to be attractive trolls but I do understand most people did not view the female troll model as attractive before. To each their own.

      I believe you are right about the two troll. Same hair and earrings mean it is quite possible. I know the early images all suffered from same face syndrome so they are using different faces now. So not way to be certain until they are live.

      Good thing the only time you will ever see your own character is on the selection screen. Otherwise all you will ever see is the back of its head. And with the way I play with my camera angle so far out it might as well be on a different continent it should not make much of a difference. In the end for me when I get to play them is if they move the same, as natural and fluid as they used to. If they do, quite honestly, I do not give a crap what they look like. But they are scary.

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    2. Well, assuming that they stick to their promise of making sure all the new faces properly resemble the old ones, you should still be able to have your new version of the "pretty" face (the one which people either love because it's pretty, or hate because of its vapid expression).

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    3. It seems like the roar on the forums about same face syndrome has gotten their attention. They look like they are adding more expressions but most people are still upset about it because their face is still gone.

      I think they are doing a good job with the art over all but I think it was over emphasized because it hasn't come close to what they said it would be. At least not if you ask the vocal masses.

      Have you see the human face? Ever see those so simple a caveman can do it commercials? Yeap, that is him.

      My favorites are the tauren and gnome ones. They look amazing.

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