AFR #253 – A little perspective

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It amazes me that there are still some people out there complaining that the pandaren “don’t have any basis in lore” or “are just an April Fool’s joke.”  At this point in the game, the pandaren have a stronger place in the lore of Azeroth than even humans do.  They have a much richer backstory and a more complex culture than any other race in the game, and their culture and story are all there in the game for us to experience without having to read novels or comic books to understand it.

Now, that’s an entirely separate question from whether you like the pandaren or not.  You are completely free to like or dislike anything in the game and no one can tell you otherwise.  I’m not all that excited about the pandaren myself.  De gustibus non est disputandum and all that.  But no one can say that Blizzard has not done an amazing job of developing and realizing the pandaren as a race.

AFR #223 – Wise guy

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Looking at the comics I’ve made since Mists of Pandaria came out, you might think that I hate the pandaren.  I don’t.  I really don’t. Honestly, I think the pandaren are the most interesting, complex, well-realized set of characters Blizzard has ever created.  For some reason, I just find it really amusing to make all the the pandaren in my comics into total dicks.

AFR #221 – Mad Panda

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I get what Blizzard was going for this expansion, but it’s really hard to have a philosophical meditation on the tragic consequences of war and aggression in a game that is entirely based around killing things and taking their stuff.  They did their best to make us feel awful in Jade Forest, with everything from the Shado-Pan showing up to ninja-scold us for releasing the Sha, to Lorewalker Cho’s after school special about how Violence is Not the Answer, to Yu’lon being not angry with us after the destruction of the jade statue, just very very disappointed.  After going through all of that, it’s a little shocking to move on into later zones and have Pandaren tell you: “See those guys over there?  Yeah, go punch them in the face until they pop open like pinatas.”

Happy panda dance!

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It’s official!  All those months of sacrificial offerings to the great crab god paid off.  Come the next expansion, we get to be panda people.

AFR #152 – Waiting for Po

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By the time you see this comic, Blizzcon may well have come and gone and we’ll know whether our panda-shaped hopes for the next expansion will soar over the skies of mist-shrouded islands or be crushed under the steel-plated boots of Blizzard development.

As delightful as I find the pandaren, I won’t be too upset if we don’t get them as a playable race.  I don’t know if I could handle the cognitive dissonance of having an adorable, big-eyed panda person gank my lowbie alt, teabag my corpse, and call me an anal n00b.  At least crazy cursed wolf-men and conniving goblins were believable being the kind of jerks that we all know players can be.  If I have to get used to my fellow players being pandaren, too, it’ll take some adjustment.