re: Official WoW - Mists of Pandaria Expansion Thread

Obvious ripoff

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Disney completely ripped off the idea from Blizzard.

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LINK

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1. Pandaren reveal trailer

Here is a comparison of the Pandaren reveal and an international poster for Kung Fu Panda 2:
LINK

The only major difference in stance is that the left leg is back instead of forward. The sun is in the same location. The temple is on the right instead of directly behind, but uses the exact same coloring (which is far from the most common, especially for temples). The environment is likewise similar. Obviously it's not identical, that would mean lawsuits. But it's undeniably similar.

A company like Blizzard does not *accidentally* make a major product preview so similar to another major product preview of a similar theme. They have entire departments devoted to ensuring that does not happen. Unless you believe that Blizzard is utterly incompetent, you realize that - at the very least - they were aware (beforehand) how similar their reveal would be to KFP and decided to keep it that way.

2. Racial traits remove any doubt

Gourmand/Epicurean: Po loved food and ate in excess (which is the exact definition of Gourmand). He was also a cook. There's really no argument here. Blizzard did not pull those traits out of thin air and just happen to have them match KFP exactly while having nothing to do with the WC3 Brewmaster.

Inner Peace: Inner Peace plays a large, mentioned-by-name role in KFP, with Po told that if he finds it, it will lead to a drastic improvement in the speed of his training. Herp derp, rested exp. Again, exact reference to KFP, yet has absolutely nothing to do with the WC3 Pandaren Brewmaster. Unless you consider a drunken haze to be Inner Peace.

Bouncy: Some may have initially thought that this was some sort of reference to cuddly bears or something, but think back to how much bouncing around Po did and the actual source of the name becomes clear. This also has nothing to do with the hardy, drunken-brawling, never-falling WC3 Brewmaster.

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Merely having a Panda-like creature in WC3 does not get Blizz off the hook for the similarities, especially not when the Pandaren revealed have much more in common with KFP than the WC3 Brewmaster. Again, this thread is not meant to be criticism of that fact, just to point out how the similarities are blatant, and too many + too exact to be coincidence. I don't know if it's a marketing tactic (pop culture reference = instant wider appeal) or if they were just looking for inspiration to flesh out the idea, but it's there and it's undeniable.

Please stop saying that the comparison isn't valid unless you can explain the above similarities without arguing that they are a series of big, logic-defying coincidences that Blizzard's legal and PR departments mysteriously missed.

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1. Pandaren reveal trailer

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Other than the fact that there is a panda standing in a martial arts stance (*gasp* monk pandas standing in martial arts stances. what a ripoff ), I don't see the similarities.

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Gourmand/Epicurean

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eh, maybe. Pandas are known to be large, round, and spend lots of time lying around eating. Just because KFP popularized it doesn't mean Blizz ripped it off. I guess Disney gets credit for inventing the panda altogether.

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Inner Peace

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This one is just dumb. The pandaren are a race full of monks. Meditation, chi, inner peace, and all that jazz were long associated with monks before KFP came around. I guess Disney invented monks too...

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Bouncy:

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alright. ya got me. Blizzard made a pop-culture reference. They do it all the time. Harrison Jones. Haris Pilton. Professor Putricide.

No way its better than the movie

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The Panderan Brewmaster came out in Warcraft III: Frozen Throne (2003) -- Kung Fu Panda came out in 2008.

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I heard that they planned on releasing Kung Fu Panda in 2003, but Blizzard stole their thunder.

They had to wait until the panda-monium died down and released it in 2008 instead.

That's just what I heard through the bamboo.

can we make this not about the kung foo panda crap and keep it to the worlds of warcraft expansion please?

i'd like the thread to be stickied and update with unannounced features once it's released.

well that needs to stop because this is an official thread.

What class is everyone going to play?

Panda Hunter here

Is that a new class and race?

is GW2 alliances or hordes?

oh

i just googled it. is it new? it looks pretty amateurish.

I did a digital pre-order.

It's already downloaded so that I'll be able to go live once the servers come online.