Well, its 5:30 in the morning and theres no guarantees I’ll be around at all today after this, so I hope a few of you wake up and check the comic today!
When I was at Blizzcon, I was excited as anyone else when they announced the new class combinations. I was sitting with about 10000 other people watching the video that announced Tauren Paladins, and I don’t think you could sit anywhere in that room without someone making a HOLY COW joke! I’d bet money (if I had any) the name Holycow is taken on EVERY server…And I’m sure this joke has been made a few times as well. I’ve seen it in relation to the class combo paladins we have now, but it takes on new meaning with the introduction of Tauren Paladins. I’ll also bet we’ll see a few macros like this when they use Avenging Wrath!
Personally, I’m really excited for Tauren Priests. I have a love affair with priests, and I have 5 of them on several different servers at several different levels. I plan on playing a Worgen Priest on my off time, as well as changing my currently retired Lv 71 Undead Priest to a Tauren when that is unlocked. I’m hoping that they will release the new class combos before the Cataclysm expansion, because I don’t want to have to have levelling to 85, levelling a Worgen AND levelling a Tauren Priest all on my plate at the same time. Blizz has been really good at releasing certain content right before an expansion before (like unlocking the higher talent points before the expansion) so I’m hoping they will do the same for the new class combos as well.
So I had the intention of writing a blog post on Tuesday, but as with many of you I’m sure, I ignored my responsibilities to indulge in the 3.3 content patch. I got a cute Baby Corehound Pet, I tested out the new Dungeon Finder Tool, and made my first steps into ICC 25 man, and the heroic 5 mans. I gotta say, 3.3 has probably been the smoothest content update I’ve ever experienced for me. Everything seemed to work, I didn’t have any lag, all of my pugs were really good, none of my mods broke, and the content and lore is really neat and fun to play.
However, my intended blog was not about 3.3, nor was it even WoW related. Forgive me if you all will, I’d like to talk about something that has nothing to do with WoW at all.
Those who know me, know that one of my passions is animation. I am a classically trained animator, and I grew up with a love of animation that never died, and because of that people encouraged me to make it my career. I never really believed I could do it, but it ended up that I did, and I love doing it. However, when I was in school, I bore witness to Home on the Range, also known as the movie that killed Disney. HotR was the last traditionally animated movie to make it to the big screen.
This movie really was terrible. I saw it with my (now) ex-husband when it came out, and after the movie he turned to me and said “if you weren’t here, I would have walked out.” And frankly, I couldn’t come up with an argument that didn’t justify his comment. It really was just bad…I have other things to talk about today, so I won’t go too deeply into it, but it was really sad to see Disney go out under this movie.
After it flopped, Disney pulled the plug on thier direct to theatre 2D projects, and instead focused on Direct to Video traditional animation (Bambii II, Brother Bear II) and 3D direct to theatre movies (Meet the Robinsons, Bolt). On the one hand, those Direct to DvD movies were of MUCH higher quality in animation than its predecessors because the most talented animators working on the movies were now working on the DvDs. Bambii II is gorgeous to look at. And I’m not putting down thier 3D projects either, I thouroughly enjoyed Meet the Robinsons and Bolt. But it doesn’t have the same lustre for me that 2D animation does. I missed traditional animation…badly…But now…
I’m sure a lot of you saw this coming. Words cannot express how excited I am to see The Princess and the Frog. I have been waiting for the triumphant return of Disney Animated movies with bated breath for a long time, and as soon as I heard this was in production, I was just…beside myself. Not only that, but the trailers look amazing. This movie looks like it will be just visually stunning. I can’t wait to not blink for 70 minutes.
The only thing that I worry about is what killed Disney 2D movies in the first place. Storyline. ANY good animator will tell you its not the medium, its the story that makes the movie. When Pixar made thier name back in the day, many people thought it was because it was this new animation art form, 3D that made Pixar amazing. But it wasn’t. It was the story. The people at Pixar KNOW this and embrace this, and work thier stories to be the best they can ever be, and then pair it with stunning animation and techniques. Not everyone saw it this way, and just looked at the numbers. You know, the ones with the $ symbol in front of them and said, THATS WHERE THE MONEY IS! And it was the beginning of the end for 2D. After the last couple of 2D animated films didn’t bring in the money, least of all HotR (*shudder*) they had no choice but to shut down the studios and focus on the 3D.
HOWEVER! The executive producer of Princess and the Frog is John Lasseter who helped create Pixar into the amazing studio it is today. When Disney purchased Pixar in 2006, he was named Cheif Creative Officer of Pixar AND Disney animation studios, and made it his mission to bring back the glory days of 2D animation. It was he that made this film possible and because I am confident that he understands what it takes to make a great film, Princess and the Frog will have a wonderful storyline.
Princess and the Frog comes out today, and I’m crushed that I won’t be able to see it opening day. I have a prior engagement that will keep me busy all day, but I will go see it as soon as I possibly can, and if its all I hope it will be, several more times after that as well. I encourage everyone to go see this movie, at the very least to relive your childhood. If there is a Disney movie that would be worth seeing in theatres, this would be it. The visuals look stunning, the creative team is amazing and know what they are doing, I really don’t think this movie will be anything like the train wreck Home on the Range was.
Also, I know a girl who worked on this movie *jealous!* Clio Chiang. She was in First Year animation class when I was in my Second Year. Shes probably one of the most talented people I’ve ever met, and also amazingly nice when I knew her. Its no surprise to me to hear she worked on this movie in one form or another!
OMG, great strip today. I am glad my roomate was at work as I would have to explain why I had the RL LOL.
Thanks! :D Glad you found it so funny! And were home alone! ~_^
Heh, well, a bit old, since that joke has ben floating around since the announcement that Tauren would become Paladins (along with a crapload of “holy cow”-like jokes).
This is however masterfully drawn, the tauren’s expression is simply priceless. Great job!
I appreciate that! I actually hadn’t heart the joke until a couple weeks ago, and was like OMG that’d make a great Daily Quest, and just had to draw it!
NOOOOOO You used the name! Thats what my moocow pally was gona be called. Man now EVERYONES going to be grabbing that name! It wont be funny anymore ;.;
Mwahahah! My evil plan has come to fruition!!!
Actually, sorry ^_^;; It will still be funny though!!!
What name, you mean Retbull? I made 1 lvl characters on most EU servers with that name within the hour the rumors of tauren paladins popped up at mmo-champ — long before Blizzcon. So, don’t blame Kelly for that. :)
Lol, woah, thinking ahead there!
Most of the Tauren Pally jokes are really overplayed, but my personal favorite has been Bulls on Crusade. I really want a Tauren-only guild with that name.
Lol, that’d be great!
Even if the joke has been done, this comic is still great! I love the expression no the Tauren’s face. I think part of what I enjoy about your work so much is the facial expression. So keep it up! <3
Thanks so much! A few people have said that to me, and it means a lot! I hardly notice it I think…Yay! Something that comes natural to me!
Wonderful blog post. I’ve been following the sad fall, and hopefully slow rise of Disney’s 2D department. Now that movies are being made by people like Lasseter and Glen Keanne – REAL artists, not some BS corporate entity – I’m hoping we’ll enter another golden age.
I was lucky enough to find time to see it today. It really does feel like it will herald a new generation of 2D animated films. It was wonderful. Will see again! And again!
I really just wanted to say – HUZZAH FOR 2D ANIMATION.
Also, huzzah for the movie being enjoyable…I too saw the awful Home on the Range (how did that even make it into production?) and am glad the Princess and the Frog was more like the movies made in the early 90s.
He looks so omghappy to be a Tauren pally, haha
Who wouldn’t be!
I wouldn’t. The whole idea of making cow pallys is ridiculous to me.
I’ve also been really excited for princess and the frog. I’ve missed all the 2D animation Disney used to do.
Me too. But this was almost worth the wait! LOVED the movie!
Tauren pallies would be awesome, but I think we need tauren mages. That’s what I joined “Interracial Humanitarian Association of Tauren and Everyone in WoW Against Race Limits On Choosing Kinship with Sorcerers”, or IHATEWARLOCKS for short. Credit to Christian Belt on wow.com for making that.
As I said on Twitter /bow @ the comic. Think we had a double lol in the room at that one, me and the bf ^^
On the movie, Omg! Didn’t know Disney were bringing back 2D animation! I miss those, they were the best Disney movies by far, I absolutely love Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast. If only I had somebody to see this with.
This is *hilarious*!!!! I love it!
I have not yet seen the Princess and the Frog but I received glowing recommendations from my sister. Looking forward to it!
Love it!
Nice to see another Calgarian WoW player, too.
I’ve found more than a few actually! Even learned the other day that another guy in my guild is from Calgary.
I’m looking forward to the Princess and the Frog myself. I’ve always been a fan of New Orleans and was very disappointed I wasn’t able to visit it the last time I was in the U.S., and the visit prior to that New Orleans wasn’t ready for visitors yet. Cajun cuisine is also my favorite out of all American dishes, so the whole milieu of the movie really, really appeals to me.
On the note of the comic… oh man! RETBULL!
Oh, and you Flash users are badass. Apparently, the other Kelly uses it, too!
My real concern about the the rise of the “new 2D” Disney department is if they are going to outsource most of the animators/writers. Outsourcing is what eventually killed their 2D department, for my aunt has worked on many Disney movies.
Her Imdb profile is here.
She was tossed aside during the transition in moving their 2D studios to Korea. She was told to learn 3D animation or don’t come back. Most of the American 2D department left with her because of this.