WoW Moviewatch: Thunk Leaves Home
by Michael Gray 
Sep 23rd 2009 at 12:00PM
Oxhorn's newest machinima is Thunk Leaves Home. It's an interesting tale about the ogre Thunk who is forced to leave Dire Maul after being mocked and outcast by his peers. As he wanders the world, he encounters a Night Elf. Thunk saves the elf's life, only to be scorned for food choices. After yet another encounter in which Thunk is spurned by a gnome, our ogre protagonist heads to Orgrimmar to get a little help from the Horde, only to be considered not monster enough. Lastly, Thunk finds a home with some unlikely trolls.
I think Oxhorn definitely had parables in mind as he created Thunk Leaves Home, but the morals are far enough below the surface not to distract the audience. The voice acting by Oxhorn and Jesse Cox are awesome as always, and Oxhorn's trademark musical ending rounds out the entire piece. Thunk Leaves Home is definitely the longest Oxhorn piece we've had for a little while, and I think he took the time to make sure it was viewing time well spent.
The closing credits are almost a separate piece of work. In it, Oxhorn philosophizes a bit about J-Pop, and then performs a parody piece in that style. If you like the closing credits, you can pick them up on Amazon.com. I'm not sure it's my speed, but I'm always happy to help a machinimator out by supporting their work.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rithgor Sep 23rd 2009 12:12PM
Nice
Dread Sep 23rd 2009 12:41PM
The 'vegetarian nelf,' 'affirmative action orc,' 'gnome against religion.' So he doesn't like the archetype images of leftist people. Nonetheless, it was a really well done video and I don't mind too much of people expressing their ideas through wow videos.
Extrox Sep 23rd 2009 1:20PM
I was thinking that myself but then towards the end I was it struck me as more of a reflection of WoW players.
"Log into a game where we fit in rather than a world were we get hammered for our beliefs/opinions*, incidentally it's populated with a general vulgar/wild crowd/politically incorrect population that does more mother jokes and enjoys themselves than worry."
The trolls in particular (the race fittingly enough) kind of gave me this impression.
Frankly, I'd take the trolls of WoW any day over the headache and bad blood that is generally politics (some people enjoy politics but it's just not my cup of tea).
* This refers to anyone and everyone, it's not a reference to the movie itself so much.
McRaider Sep 23rd 2009 1:01PM
Ugh... the hippy elf...
Lemons Sep 23rd 2009 7:32PM
"I hate violence! I'll kill you!"
Made me lol...
Alverian Sep 23rd 2009 1:14PM
Turkey, Turkey, turkey for everyone....
Bimmicus Sep 23rd 2009 1:21PM
Might have been a cute short without the retarded strawman "political satire."
Adam Sep 23rd 2009 2:06PM
That poor lamb.. that'll have me laughing for far too long today.
Agony Sep 23rd 2009 2:15PM
After 5 minutes of that nonsense, I turned it off. There's no real humor in it (and I usually like Oxhorn's work).
This is just more "let's use the same incredibly old and tired stereotypes about liberals/democrats/people from California/whatever".
I get enough of that crap from the news headlines every day.
And while I don't mind people using machinima to make political statements or express religious views, this one just really got on my nerves.
Disappointing.
Sammalamma Sep 23rd 2009 2:26PM
The conservative/libertarian satire was nice until the religious bit with the Gnome, and the end credits didn't help. Brandon is a smart, talented guy- it's just a damn shame he licks the boots of Christ. I'll probably try to ignore this one and stick to The Great Kodo.
Eleph Sep 23rd 2009 2:27PM
Haven't made it past the first twenty-two seconds yet....
"There once was an ogre named Thunk...."
THUNK.
LMAO.
Jason Sep 23rd 2009 2:32PM
I feel like Oxhorn's latest movies have become a little preachy, or filled with messages about society.
Gannar Sep 23rd 2009 3:06PM
I didn't find the movie very funny at the beginning, but i stuck with it to see if i'd change my mind later. I still didn't find the movie funny when it ended. The most amusing part of the movie, i thought, was his "attempt at J-pop" in the ending credits. The rest was just, quoting Jason above me, preachy.
Keyra Sep 23rd 2009 3:15PM
So, the moral of this story is that we should be accepting of everyone...unless they're different, slaughter and devour anything that walks on all fours, completely do away with any form of programs designed to create equality in the workplace (admittedly, the current affirmative action situation needs a severe overhaul, but...), do away with technology and pray to Jesus.
Does that about sum it up?
Alas, poor Oxhorn. I knew him well, WoW.com. A man of infinite jest.
I think it's time for Oxhorn to (paraphrased) put down the Bible and pick up the Pwn!
Sammalamma Sep 23rd 2009 3:30PM
I second this notion what with the not preaching and the pwning and such.
Mennoknight Sep 23rd 2009 5:56PM
A lot of people are saying that he made this to "preach" against liberals. I didn't see this.
He was cast out of his home community because he was "different"
So he went to a local charity, but they told him he got nothing because he wasn't "different enough."
Then he went to gadgetzan, where someone offered to give him a job, until they found out that he believed in "the great slug" (which has closer ties to some form of evolution than his faith) and as soon as the gnome knew that, he called the previously hirable Thunk a simpleton.
So then Thunk found a group of crass, totally un-PC people who not only accepted him at face value, but didn't really care what he believed. The Trolls deff. Didn't represent a Stereotypical conservative (as he would create one)
Remember thunk also offered his food to a Nelf (a group that Oxhorn HATES).
I think the "moral" of the story was more to show that sometimes those "open-hearted" organizations aren't quite as open as they first seem. That it is better for us to be accepting of everyone, and that sometimes the people we find "rude" can be the most accepting of all.
Did traditionally "liberal" stereotypes bear the brunt of the humor here? Of course. but he was more attacking the hypocrisy that exists in those groups rather than the groups themselves.
Long story short: Be kind to people, but make fun of their mothers.
Extrox Sep 23rd 2009 3:33PM
Alas, it seems a lot of readers here don't understand how to look for deeper meaning in things. After a second viewing it only reaffirms my thoughts that it's more of a "WoW Player in Society" type of thing. The trolls are essentially a dead give away.
Perhaps if he'd used High School stereotypes (jock, goth, nerd, etc.) it would have been easier for people *shrug*
As for Oxhorn, honestly, I've got a LOT of respect for him. He sticks with what he believes. One of the things I've always been impressed with is that he's not afraid to show he believes in Christ and that fact that he doesn't back down even with how "cool" it is to rag on religion these days.
Lemons Sep 23rd 2009 7:22PM
Argh...what? Is this vid in super HD? It's taking for-fucking-ever to load for me :(
uncaringbear Sep 23rd 2009 8:01PM
Word out to Oxhorn, a fellow hordie from Silver Hand.
I think a lot of folks are reading too much political and religious themes in this machinima. I would agree that some of his previous pieces may have been heavy handed in that department, but this one is less so. Even if it were, so what? Last I checked, there was no law against expressing your political or religious views in a creative manner. If I disagree with someone's view, I can choose to ignore them, or god forbid, weigh the merits of their arguments.
At the end of the day, it can be argued that the themes in this short are more universal than political, and align neatly with the general lore and archetypes found in WoW.
Tokkar Sep 23rd 2009 8:31PM
Wow...
I guess you aren't permitted to say anything negative about Oxhorn here.