azeroth-chopper
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Today's the last day to get your Horde chopper
If you're reading this before 11:59pm PDT on September 30, 2014 then you still have time to log in to your Horde character, thus enabling yourself to get the Horde version of the Azeroth Chopper when it's released. If you don't log in, then you won't get it for free. So... go log in! It's that simple, and time is running out.
Spend your gold to get the Alliance Chopper in Warlords
In a move that will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, the losing bike design from Azeroth Choppers will in fact be added to the game. Currently, the winning Horde-themed bike will be given, for free, to any account that logs into the game before September 30th. The Alliance bike, however, will be added to the game sometime after the launch of Warlords of Draenor, and be available for in-game purchase. Blizzard is being coy on the subject of cost, but their article emphasizes that it will cost "a pretty hefty sum of gold," so if you want it, best start saving now.
Azeroth Choppers: Series recap, voting closes tonight
In case you somehow missed the series run of Azeroth Choppers, Blizzard has put together a brief recap of the show in its entirety. I have to admit, I wasn't sure what to expect with this particular foray into web entertainment, but the prospect of getting a new mount is always good news -- and we've never had a mount introduced in quite this fashion before, nor have we seen Azeroth's various pieces of engineering construction built in real life. Although personally, I think the show missed the mark on highlighting all the details of the construction process, it was still a pretty fun, lighthearted series. However, voting for the winning chopper ends tonight at 12pm PDT -- and episode 8, coming later this week, will supposedly announce the winning vehicle. We know we're getting a free mount either way, so why not have a hand in the decision making process? Cast your vote for the chopper you'd like to see added to your mount collection on the official site -- and stay tuned for the announcement of the winning team. Ed. correction: Voting for the chopper has closed.
Azeroth Choppers: Horde behind the scenes footage
As expected, Blizzard has released more behind the scenes footage from Azeroth Choppers -- this time, it's the Horde's turn. While I really liked the Alliance footage we were shown yesterday, I have to confess I'm not nearly as impressed with what the Horde team has to show -- I was hoping for a look at how they created material we hadn't already seen. But it's still cool seeing how they took one image of an orc with some massive plate shoulders and re-created that in bike form. It's big, bulky, and has just the right touch of unbridled menace. I do wish we'd seen footage of all that emblem-cutting, though -- I can't imagine carving the Horde symbol into metal is a particularly easy task. There's still time left to cast your vote for either Team Alliance or Team Horde at the official site. But you better hurry -- voting ends at 12pm PDT tomorrow night. Make sure you get your vote counted, and may the best chopper win!
Azeroth Choppers: Alliance behind the scenes footage
Now this is my kind of footage. Azeroth Choppers has released a behind the scenes look at the construction of the Alliance chopper, including construction and positioning of the "swords" that make up the handlebars of the bike. I was hoping we'd see more of this in the actual show, but I'll settle for behind the scenes, too! While I like the above footage, I have to admit that after seeing the final chopper and that gorgeous leather saddle, I was hoping we'd see the designs for that, and maybe a mention of who did all that leatherworking -- there were plenty of tiny details on both choppers that were complete surprises. Hopefully we'll see some more behind the scenes glimpses over the next couple of days -- I'd like to see more on the Horde chopper construction as well. Voting is still open to pick your favorite bike to be re-created in game, so make sure you cast your vote for Team Alliance or Team Horde while you still can.
Azeroth Choppers episode 3 now available
In the third episode of Azeroth Choppers, we get a little bit of background into the members of Team Alliance and Team Horde. It's understandably less in depth than the interview that went up on the WoW official blog last week, considering the episode's time limit, but it's nice to get some face time with a few of Blizzard's developers. We also get a glimpse of the engineering process behind the bike design--the builders touch upon some of the logistical problems they face in trying to bring the Horde and Alliance chopper visions to life. Personally, I always find that stuff to be the most interesting, so I'm glad it's there. As for the bikes themselves, Team Horde had a wrench thrown into things when one of their builders, Mel, had to bow out of the competition for a family emergency. The situation seems to have left the teams somewhat behind schedule, and to Mel: we hope everything is well with your family.
Meet the teams behind Azeroth Choppers
You're probably already familiar with the two main faces of Azeroth Choppers -- Alliance-side captain Chris Metzen and Horde-side captain Samwise Didier are both well-known faces of Blizzard Entertainment. However, you may not be so well acquainted with the other two members of each team: Terran Justice Gregory and Monte Krol of the Alliance, and Gary Platner and Jason Hutchins of the Horde. To help rectify this situation, Blizzard recently put up an official blog post about the teams, including mini-interviews with the team members about the show itself. Terran, Monte, Gary, and Jason all answer questions about their connection to the factions they're representing in the bike build-off, and their answers may surprise and delight you! They also detail the artistic process behind consolidating designs for the bikes. There's encouragement for fans of both factions, and an interesting discussion about how the winning bike will be implemented into the game. There is also, of course, some tongue-in-cheek trash talking on both sides. The whole interview is a neat behind-the-scenes glimpse into the folks behind Azeroth Choppers, and a good bit of fun.
Azeroth Choppers premieres first episode of new webseries
Episode 1 of Azeroth Choppers, the new webseries featuring Paul Jr. of American Chopper is now officially available. As the premiere epiosde in the series, it's a pretty good introduction to what we're going to see -- two unique bikes being built, one Alliance themed, one Horde themed. At some point, players will get to vote on which design they'd like to see officially placed in World of Warcraft. While the initial reaction from myself was a resounding "What," I have to say I'm pretty excited to see where the series is going to go. I like shows that highlight building things, or even restoring old antiques back to their original beauty. That said, I wasn't expecting much from the premiere episode, and I got pretty much what I expected. First episodes are usually just an introduction to what we're going to see down the line -- and that's exactly what this is, an introduction. However, the episode did manage to surprise me with some shots of frames that had already been built. Honestly, I'm just wanting to see the actual production and construction itself -- which isn't something you can really just jump into point-blank in one short web episode. But hey, at least I'm looking forward to next week, right? Take a look at the full episode above, and hit the official website if you're wondering exactly what we're going to see out of Azeroth Choppers in the future.
Azeroth Choppers is a real thing that's happening
What? That one word encompasses the length and breadth of the WoW Insider team's reaction to the newly announced Azeroth Choppers. World of Warcraft and American Choppers is not the kind of marketing cross-over we expected anytime soon, but when you really think about it, it isn't all that much of a shock considering Blizzard's Chris Metzen and Samwise Didier. And it isn't quite as weird as Mr. T and his obsession with mohawks. Azeroth Chopper is a webseries/competition wherein custom chopper designs will be created for both the Horde and the Alliance by bike experts hand-chosen by the famous-to-some Paul Jr. Players will vote on which chopper becomes an in-game mount, which is an odd approach considering whichever faction loses the battle is likely to miss out completely. Perusing the Azeroth Chopper website, it appears the webseries will run for eight episodes, the first of which is debuting next week. Personally, I'd have preferred an American Pickers crossover. I have a whole lot of World of Warcraft junk (or treasure, depending on the day) piled up in my office closet and I'm not very good at bartering. Prime target, I say.
