Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? ...not anymore.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.

Once upon a time, there was a world.


And it was pretty damn nifty. People frolicked and played to their heart's content. Leeroy Jenkins was abundant and plentiful. Ragnaros was downed. More DoTs were needed. And stay the F**k away from the whelps!

But like all worlds, there were problems. Pretty damn big ones. How big, you say? As big as your average american football player with padding in most cases. Great for a Warrior (...debatedly) not so good for a caster. The male models for a lot of races looked a little ridiculous due to their 'macho' overly muscled nature. It got to the point that a lot of people rolled female characters just because those models actually looked presentable, at least. Granted, a little too presentable judging by the Nelf Female's hidden racial that apparently gives +150 to all resistances if you strip down to your underwear.

People got used to it in time, but that underlying problem was always there. The male models looked stupid, the female models were either normal or just plain hyper-sexualised. And then it started to get worse. You can't so much as glance at Goldshire without seeing at least one naked nelf female nowadays. People RP sex. People ask anyone who hasn't rolled a nelf female why they bothered making such an 'ugly' character. The underlying problem in making nothing but beefcake guys and cheesecake girls grew.

But then, a shining ray of light struck the land when The Burning Crusade Expansion was announced and screenshots followed after. The noble heroes of Blizzard delivered unto the people the Blood Elf. Magically addicted, evil little casters who fought for the Horde and looked great doing it. Finally, in the form of the skinny, slender but not unrealistic models for both the male and the female of the race, there was a variation from the same old, same old. A little splash of spice in an otherwise bland, homogenized stew that only seemed to cater to one group's tastes.

Videos were released of dances, animations and various other tricks the Blood Elves had up their sleeves. Some awesome audio for emotes got out. And a lot of people loved it.

And then changes came...



So. It was brought to Blizzard's attention by some players in the American BETA that the Blood Elves didn't look fierce or imposing enough. And Blizzard looked at the race from a conceptual and aesthetic stance and changed them, increasing muscle mass in the arms, thighs and chest, adding facial hair and taking away a hairstyle or two. The officially stated reasons were that the original models looked too 'feminine' and that to bring them more in line with the Horde they needed to look 'stronger' and 'more threatening'.

The problems people are having with this are legion;

Firstly, there's the fact that a lot of people just plain don't like the look of the new models. They look ludicrously bulky now and take away the slim, sinister, cunning look the race originally had.

Next up, it doesn't fit lore wise. When it was announced that Blood Elves would be the one race out of ten that wouldn't get Warriors, it was widely acknowledged that whilst magic aided them in their fight as Paladins they just didn't work as Warriors. They were too magically inclined and a little too frail for it all and their bodies reflected that. Now, they look bulky and beefy enough to tank far better than any gnome or undead. ...but they're still magically inclined and not cut out as warriors.

Third, there's the message these changes send. Having looked at the US BETA forums and the posts complaining about the Blood elf's skinny appearance, it seems that a lot of them can't go a few sentences without throwing in how 'gay' it all looks. They think that the loot animation makes it look like they're 'bending over to... recieve something...' and that the casting animations make them little better than mincing ballerinas. So, for starters we have the idea that 'skinny' and a lack of overwhelming muscle mass = femme, not-manly and 'gay'. Then we have the idea that somehow differing from stereotypical 'macho' ideals is wrong and doesn't make one strong enough to fight alongside the Horde. And then we have Blizzard turning around and validating these ideas by catering to these complaints. The message in that is pretty damn worrying, if you ask me.

After that, there's the fact that original complainers aren't even happy now. They feel that Blizzard made a good start by bulking the boys up but there's other things they can do to get rid of their 'flamboyant' nature. Nix the animations, especially the jump. Get rid of the silly emotes and their way of talking. In short, make them red, blond Night Elves. It seems these people won't be satisfied, but Blizzard are scrambling to try anyway. ...whereas a lot of us will be satisfied with just this one little change.

Finally, there's the time issue to consider. People are dying to get to Outworld. They're dying to start getting to level 70. And of all the things Blizzard needs to do between now and the release date, they waste time with this? From what I've heard, now that the model has been changed, most of the animations look stupid and don't fit with the new anatomy. ...will Blizzard have to push back the release date to address that? Will they have to push it back again if there are still complaints from BETA once they've done that?


For those of you who saw all that and thought 'tl;dr', I'll sum up. We don't like the changes to the model. We'd like to see Blizzard go back to the old ones. We feel that by making these changes, the company is sending a pretty damn scary message that validates homophobic and sexist thinking. We've made a Petition to reflect how we feel. We hope that by voicing our concerns and views now, they'll be some chance of rectifying this problem in the months before TBC hits stores.

If you agree with any of the problems I listed above, please sign the petition.
If you have friends who play WoW, please show them this community and the petition.
If you go anywhere that discusses WoW, please link to this comm.
If you know anyone who might be concerned by these changes and what they reflect, please link them.

In short, let's bring our Belf Boys Back!