Posts with tag parody

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

School's out! Busy hands are happy hands, so get those crafts started now. We want to share what you're making: artwork, knitting, music, crafts, fan fic ... Let us know what sparks your imagination!

First up this week: The Horde scarf shown above is no ordinary Horde scarf. This Horde scarf was created to be equipped during rare-spawn, cold weather action in Costa Rica. "It all started when there was a cold wave a few months back in my country (Costa Rica; such cold waves are actually very rare), and my only scarf was actually a keffiyeh I'd wrap around my neck," writes Cambalache of Ragnaros (US-H). "So, since my wife's hobby is knitting on various styles ... she offered to knit me a scarf of my choosing, and as a true Horde player, I went for the symbol." A tauren after our own heart!

Join us after he break for an update to the WoW tattoo gallery, plus a small collection of music by and for WoW fans.

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by e-mailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

The atmospheric listening music for this week's World of WarCrafts comes to us from Rehmaar of <Knights of Valiant Fury> on US Destromath-H. This original, orchestral-style composition, "Knights of the Valiant Fury Overture," is dedicated to the composer's guild. "We are a radical bunch on the Horde side of Destromath, but we have an awesome time playing together and this is my gift to them," writes Rehmaar. "The piece captures what it means to be a member of our guild and depicts the struggles and glory our characters face in Azeroth." How's that for some faction and guild pride?

Join us after the break for two entirely -- and we do mean entirely -- different musical takes on Azeroth.

First the legal crackdown on fan-made iPhone apps, and now this: German-based webcomic Shakes and Fidget, a longtime sight in our Sunday Morning Funnies column, has apparently been smacked with a cease-and-desist by Blizzard. Our German isn't that great (and we've reached out to the comic's creators for further comment), but a translation of this forum page tells us that Activision-Blizzard's legal department suggested to them that there was enough similarity between the official game and the unofficial comic to cause a problem, and while they believe that they're covered under parody laws, they decided to take the "offending" comics offline anyway, and are apparently currently working on editing them so that they can be put back up without any issues.

Obviously, since the comics are offline, we have no idea what material Blizzard objected to -- you could argue that depictions of certain gear created by Blizzard artists in the game or specific names are under trademark and thus could be protected under copyright law. But even then, Shakes and Fidget is one of many, many fan-made webcomics to obviously depict World of Warcraft and Blizzard-designed items specific to the game, and we haven't yet heard of any other webcomics that have been approached in this way.

Still, as they might say in Germany, wir riechen eine ratte. Without knowing the exact nature of the comics that Blizzard had an issue with, this seems like a complete overreach on their part, especially considering that it's some of their biggest fans who are making these comics, and that many artists have portrayed many videogames in webcomics without anyone confusing the issue of whether they were official or not. We'll keep an eye out for more information (and we've also contacted Blizzard for comment) -- if you know of any other webcomics or fan artists who've been approached by Blizzard in this way, definitely let us know.

Thanks, Henry!

Warning: This song has a few very mild sexual references but definitely some scantily clad character models.

We've not covered Sharm much before, who goes by the user name taintedlore over on YouTube. She's a UK artist, and has been racking up an impressive body of work. She does mostly parody videos, and seems to be expanding on the machinima quality in her songs. Her early work was mostly about the music, but the video aspects have been getting much stronger as she goes along.

The Womanizer Song isn't about what you might think at first. The song is focused on those chaps who choose to play female characters. The video is light fare, and Sharm's singing is catchy and convincing. I don't have any opinions on the subject, but I don't think Sharm is necessarily looking to haul out the pitchforks and torches on the "womanizers" as much as she's just looking to make a joke about it.

The video itself is great for the genre, though. The fast scenes, quick cutting, and overall lighthearted tableau make for easy smiles. I don't think stylizing the models any further would have been helpful. I do like the occasional still photo behind a moving actor, though, since it sets up a nice surreality to the video.


If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ..

Fake Twitterers are all the rage these days -- you can sign up on the microblogging service Twitter.com as just about anyone and shoot out some parodic little "tweets," as they're called, for the instant amusement of anyone who wishes to follow you (I'm personally a big fan of the Mad Men characters tweeting). But now, the WoW community has its own fake twitter personality -- apparently the Lich King has found some time in between knighting Death Knights and plaguing the world to start up his own Twitter account.

No idea who's behind it, but I know a few WoW bloggers who twitter pretty often, including a few WoW Insider contributors. Whoever's tweeting for Arthas, they're doing a nice job, promising "cold deaths" to everyone, and steadily counting down the days until his Wrath is upon us.

I'm kind of surprised this is the first fake NPC twitterer we've seen -- sure, you'd think Thrall or Jaina would have tons of time to Twitter, and Kael'thas, assuming he's not quite dead yet, seems made for such an enterprise. If you are on Twitter, don't forget to follow our own WoW Insider account as well -- we won't offer you a cold death, but we will occasionally tweet about important posts and our own experiences with the game.

Drop of Blood: The Collection Pt. 1 is a twin set of parodies and it's the first machinima by a 15-year-old kid named Morten from Denmark. He's remade the openings of the old Spider-Man and Scooby-Doo cartoons set in Azeroth, including setting them to music of The Simpsons take-off for the former and the original music for the latter. (Apparently he's a student of ancient television history?) It's quite silly and fun; it will make anyone who used to watch those old shows smile.

Let's help out Morten by giving him a few pointers. (Constructive criticism for a new guy on the block, please? I know you guys can do it!) Some of the action is tied to the music very well. The Spider-Pig pops in to "scare" us right on cue with the music. On the other hand, when he leaps through the trees, there was an opportunity to hit the last "Look out!" with the pig zooming off screen, but instead he flies away too slowly. Also, even on the high quality version on Youtube the title fonts look a bit blurry. It could be poor font choice multiplied by Internet sizing, but it's something to watch out for when you make movies to be viewed online. On the last tilt up to the top of the mountain with Spider-Pig looking over the valley takes too long. Instead, I'd consider using a faster tilt with push into the pig at the very end of the scene. The main issue I have with the Scooby-Doo parody is that we never see a WoW version of Scooby! Rut-ro! I think Scooby would be a Shaman in Ghost Wolf form, but maybe that's not goofy enough. Any other ideas?

[Via The WoW Portal]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

(Warning: This machinima contains insinuations that will probably offend you. While nothing outright is dirty, we'd like you to approach caution when viewing this video. Also, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day!)

Ahoy, me Moviewatch beauties! We have a special treat for all you land lubbers out thar. Mike "Spiff" Booth, the scurvy scaliwag that he is, has created a new music video for the Paul and Storm song, "The Captain's Wife's Lament".

Spiffworld be no stranger to controversy, havin' been a key player in the V-Day Riot o' '08 (Very NSFW). However, comparatively, this music video looks like a Disney film. If you enjoy Seamen everywhere, though, then you'll definitely get a kick out of it. Arrrrrr!

[Thanks, Joshua!]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

Check out the video after the jump ...

While we're waiting for the final results of the WeGame machinima contest, I thought I'd take some time to dig into the viewer submissions. The boys at Dirt Dog Gaming, of Eradar, have flooded my inbox. It's an interesting strategy that worked, but just this once. I previously wrote about their Christmas and New Years songs with a WoW spin on them.

This time around, Mirabell and Barenger have parodied the infectious Katy Perry song, I Kissed a Girl. Their take, Tanked a Boss, isn't the best machinima by any means. The aspect ratio is way off and it sometimes jumps around. However, the song itself is worth it, and they get bonus points for the creative ways they give fellow guildmates shoutouts throughout the video!

[Thanks, Infamy, Barenger, Brendan, and Gump for your various submissions!]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

It looks like Nyhm has a new competitor, Coma Niddy. Last month, he released an audio parody of NERD's Lapdance (Not safe for work), RFC for Free. Yesterday, he came out with the video, which does a pretty faithful job of representing the attitude of the song. Mystrana, the female voice in the chorus, submitted the video to us.

Yddin, the star of the video, laments about the fact that, since he's level 70, everyone wants him to run through Ragefire Chasm. While the editing is pretty good for his first video, some of the timing and delivery of the song itself feels off. I really enjoyed it, though!

[Thanks, Mystrana of Demon Soul!]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

Here's two bits of literary fun for your Saturday afternoon.

First, earlier this week, I saw this nice little piece of fan fiction over on WoW Livejournal. I'm not usually a fan of fan fiction, but this one just explains so much. And I really do hate those things, too.

And then yesterday, swampers put together this terrific little Shakespearean parody in the World of Warcraft style. "To quit, perchance to /afk" -- that's great. "Out out, brief arena match -- life's but a walking Shadow Priest, a poor player, who struts and QQs while the tank goes down, and then runs OOM."

Great stuff. Literary humor is always fun, and mixing it in with WoW makes it even better. Laugh and enjoy.

Nyhm of Hard Like Heroic, Ni Hao and Pretty Fly for a Draenei is back with a rapping parody about that guy we all know. The guy who has nothing better to do than grief other players out of boredom. The one who spams trade channels with nonsense. As with most of Nyhm's work, some content may be NSFW!

[Thanks, Selserene!]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

It's only been about a week since we posted Gnomechewer's last machinima, Back In Your Head, but he's already back with a new one! There Will Be Cannibalism could be the closest thing to PvP that I'll ever enjoy posting here. It is a parody of There Will Be Blood, with Daniel Day Lewis, set to the disturbing sounds of a Britney Spears tune, Toxic. Given Gnomechewer's track record with the crowd, and his ability to produce quality entertainment consistently, we're thrilled that he abandoned Age of Conan and came back to WoW.

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

Before there was Nyhm, there was a guy, sk3uled, and his Avril Lavigne CD. What did he come up with? A parody video, Healer, to her song, Girlfriend. You can thank (or curse!) Baron Soosdon for this submission. At least it wasn't a Sir Mixalot Rickroll.

The lyrics are probably the best thing about the video. The "singing" is monotone and the aspect ratio isn't consistent. Believe it or not, this is the better version. His previous attempt, made over a year ago, was recorded with a bad microphone and what looks like a bunch of pictures thrown into a slideshow program.

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

Television parodies seem really popular for WoW machinima! WoW-TV is the work of a fairly new machinimator, Mindless2164. While not the greatest production, he recently went on to win second place in the Blizzard contest for Rogues Do It From Behind!

WoW-TV starts out by recreating a Jenny Jones-type talk show, then goes through various other skits. Some are definitely better than others, but overall it's not a bad video for a beginning effort. This is just another example of how artists improve and go on to better projects.

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...

The Onion, a popular news satire site, has played off the World of Warcraft before with articles such as "Baby, you mean the World of Warcraft to me," but now they've taken it to the realm of video. The Onion News Network reports on Blizzard's latest (fictional) release, World of World of Warcraft. In it, you create a real life character and guide him or her through the process of playing World of Warcraft, helping them navigate the reading of the EULA and making sure they keep rested and fed with Hot Pockets and Soda.

As usual with an Onion article that targets one of my personal hobbies or lifestyle, I'm never 100% sure whether to laugh or be offended -- but in the end I pretty much always err on the side of laughing. Actually, looking the "game" closely, it almost looks a bit like The Sims. You have a character who's modeled after a modern real life person, and you have to keep them happy, well-fed, rested, and entertained. And really, WoW is a pretty legitimate form of entertainment, I'd say. In that case, maybe The Onion is just looking forward to that day when all games are connected in some sort of seamless on-line mishmash of characters and personas. Then again, maybe it's just a funny video. Anyway, go watch it.