Are Blizzard and Tokyopop going their separate ways?
by Matthew Rossi 
Mar 3rd 2011 at 7:00PM
With no official announcement from either Blizzard or Tokyopop as of this writing, the Lorehound piece and its sources indicate that Blizzard may have pulled out of the deal due to a lack of ability to properly oversee the projects. Meanwhile, Lorehound is also reporting that the recent difficulties of the Borders bookstore chain may have caused problems for Tokyopop, with several people including Troy Lewter being downsized from the company. Troy Lewter, who was the editor of the Warcraft Legends series, was definitely important in the production of the various Blizzard licensed manga.
What this means for the average lore junkie is still up in the air, but I know if it's true, I'll definitely miss the Legends series.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Lore
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Sarah Bee Mar 3rd 2011 7:12PM
Farewell Warcraft Legends, the unnoticed pinnacle of Warcraft lore. :(
Joker Mar 3rd 2011 7:15PM
If we're lucky they will start making the story take place in the game.
Amazing stories can be told in MMO's, just look at Final Fantasy XI, it has the best story out of any MMO and a better story than a lot of single player MMO's.
Mr. Tastix Mar 3rd 2011 7:20PM
That'd be pretty sweet for people such as myself but even though I don't read the comics or anything like that (I've only ever read one Warcraft-related novel, admittedly) I do think they're a big part of the Warcraft franchise itself.
Some people like the lore of the franchise without the frills of the game, the accessibility that comes with books and comics is nice, so it'll be a bit disappointing if this service becomes lost.
Pyromelter Mar 3rd 2011 7:33PM
You mean single-player RPGs?
A single-player multi-player massively online game is a bit of an oxymoron ;)
Joker Mar 3rd 2011 8:02PM
@Pyromelter. Yep, that was a typo, I was talking to my friend while typing and got distracted.
Hollow Leviathan Mar 3rd 2011 8:26PM
I heartily agree, the lore should really be happening in the game. Things that wouldn't fit the flow of questing, like Thalassian's backstory, fine. The Emerald Dream and Fandral Staghelm and Ysera doing hugely important things? Not cool at all.
Also, an obligatory give more roles to female leads plea. Tyrande, Jaina, Her Tallest, Zen'tabra: for Light's sake, do something awesome!
Kylenne Mar 4th 2011 12:58AM
@Pyro: A single-player MMORPG? It's called Final Fantasy XII. ;)
RiderGeshtar Mar 4th 2011 2:12AM
@Hollow Leviathan -
YES PLEASE WITH THE FEMALE CHARACTERS. Sweet dancing mother tiamat, TYRANDE IS A RACIAL LEADER, WHY DO THEY DO NOTHING WITH HER oh dear my capslock is stuck again and I sound like Varian.
*whack* *whack* *whack* There it goes.
Also, WTB far less of this incompetency when dealing with Sylvanas. Please. For the love of Mmmrrrggglll and Sergeant Gorth. PLEASE. Given the fact that we are told in no uncertain terms via a long questline that denying free will is punishable by Very Bad And Stabby Things for the Forsaken, WHAT IN THE HELL WITH A LATER QUESTLINE oh damn it I've gone all shouty again.
I've seen greater writing and characterization consistency within a STAR TREK SEASON. I mean, character inconsistency has been here, there and everywhere (see also: King Crankypants of Stormwind, Jaina, that damn Hellscream kid etc.) throughout Wrath and the "GET A BETA!" syndrome hasn't abated in Cata (see also: Sylvanas, Thrall in re: Gallywix, that damn Hellscream kid etc.). BC had colossal characters derail issues with Illidan and Kael but at least the derails were written with consistency. I cannot say the same for much of anything I have seen from Wrath onward. It's back and forth like a caffeinated fiddler's elbow! I keep getting the feeling no one has any idea who these characters ARE and needs to go replay the RTSes post-haste.
Oh, who am I kidding; they haven't managed to write Sylvanas with much competency since WCIII. Hope springs eternal, I suppose. :B
Omacron Mar 3rd 2011 7:42PM
Frankly, with how much they botched Shadow Wing (It was originally supposed to be TRILOGY called Dragons of Outland that was intended to come out during TBC), this isn't surprising. The fact that they cut down Shadow Wing from 3 books to 2 is telling.
Frankly, I'm not a fan of the Tokyopop manga: I'm not a fan of Japanese-influenced art in general, and a lot of them (even the Legends series) seemed to fly in the face of established lore (a particularly egregious example being the High Elves in Warrior: Divided saying they no longer practice magic, period) I'm not lamenting that the contract has been terminated.
RiderGeshtar Mar 4th 2011 2:40AM
@Omacron -
the High Elves in Warrior: Divided saying they no longer practice magic
*RECORD NEEDLE SCRATCH SOUND*
Buh!?
They - but - that's - BUH!??
- Oh hell, my coherency's gone in the face of the WTF.
othragon Mar 3rd 2011 7:51PM
I just hope the Class series won't be terminated, after all the three existing ones were nothing short of great and there's still seven classes to go.
Neodarkmatter Mar 3rd 2011 8:09PM
Tokyopop has been having issues for a while now and laying off editors and writers.
Here is just an example of their latest layoffs:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-03-01/tokyopop-employee-ranks-shrink-this-week
cygerstorm Mar 3rd 2011 8:10PM
Personally, I'm glad about this. I for one never liked the mangas. Between Kalec and Anveena being "Legend of Zelda" with a dragon instead of an elf (Anveena was the Sunwell, really? Blah) and the continuously poor Knaak/Jaw-Hwan mix of poor art and dumb storytelling, I had my fill after the first trilogy.
The art just always seemed to busy and too eager to be realistic. Part of WoW's charm is its unique aesthetic and colorful palette, both of which got lost in the mangas. The plot in the actual comic series may have been about as dumb as dirt, but the art and coloring were fantastic.
cygerstorm Mar 3rd 2011 8:13PM
Mind you, I'm an extreme lore junkie. I have every book, ever manga, ever TTRPG book (whose editors are apparently blind, those books have more grammar and text errors than a second grade book report). Less lore output is bad, sure, but even then, the less fingers Knaak has in WoW lore the better.
Kylenne Mar 4th 2011 1:45AM
The Death Knight manga was excellent, and really worth the purchase, especially for Thassarian and Koltira fans (much less Thassarian/Koltira fans kekek). The rest of them sucked ass. Sunwell Tri-lol-gy was typical shitty retconning Mary Sue Knaak nonsense, not to mention totally ripped off from Buffy. Legends was very hit or miss depending on the volume.
Still, I will give them one thing, in that the art was consistently decent. The Sunwell Trilogy, despite the abysmal story, had absolutely gorgeous art work and that was the one reason I bought it. That still puts the manga above the comics, which have shitty writing AND laughably bad '90s-esque artwork.
Anne Stickney Mar 3rd 2011 8:10PM
fffffffffffffffffffffffff
(if this means they don't do anything with Dragons of Outland I am going to be -really annoyed-)
RiderGeshtar Mar 4th 2011 9:05AM
You went and jinxed it now :( Seriously, only thing worse than 'what could possibly go wrong' when it comes it Murphy's Magnetism...
radda Mar 3rd 2011 8:43PM
Good. I greatly dislike Tokyopop. They've ruined several novel translations by thinking they can alter stuff (changing the chapter order? Really?).
Hopefully they work out a deal with Viz or Yen Press. I like them.
razion Mar 3rd 2011 11:39PM
Such insolence! Such arrogance! Must. Be. PUNISHED!
Amaxe Mar 3rd 2011 9:32PM
I never liked how TokyoPop played fast and loose with translations of manga. The utter butchering of "Battle Royale" and Ikkitousen (called "Battle Vixens") back when they first came out ticked me off because I wanted to see the original translated accurately, not see some editors rewrite it to be "hip American." So as a fair disclosure, I am biased against them.
I never bothered with the WoW manga because of those issues.