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WoW Moviewatch: Welcome to the Deadmines
It's been a rough day, so when I reached into the archives of WoW machinima, I wanted something good. Something wholesome. Something that brings a smile to my face, reminding me of all the joy and wonder and incredibleness there is to be had in the game and in the world. I wanted today's machinima to be something awesome. Just really awesome. Welcome to the Deadmines. Tied with Boom-de-yada for one of the best pick-me-up videos of all time, Welcome to the Deadmines combines music, visuals, and voice acting for an irreplaceable WoW experience. So this one's for everyone having a bad day: at least we're not in the Deadmines. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
World of WarCrafts: Welcome to X-Cross' Deadmines
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 emailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. You're bound to have seen the ebullient Welcome to the Deadmines here already, in WoW Moviewatch, spicing up a WoW Rookie article or linked in an enthusiastic reader comment. What you haven't had yet is the chance to meet its talented 17-year-old creator, Swedish machinimist X-Cross, a.k.a. Adrian Drott, or Tìnkle of EU Argent Dawn-A. We spoke with the young winner of Blizzard's World of Warcraft Movie Contest: Rise to Power to learn more about his creative process, his collaborators and where we might see him pop up in the future. World of WarCrafts: Winner of Blizzard's Rise to Power contest -- and you've only just turned 17! How long have you been making machinima, Adrian? X-Cross: I started with machinima in the early summer of 2008, and back then I was 15 years old. The first machinima I did was made together with my cousin and a friend of mine. It was a horrible WoW parody of Pokémon that for some reason a lot of people found quite entertaining and funny. After that, we decided to continue making the episodes but stopped after the third, since I wanted to go over to a bit more "serious" machinima making after all the great feedback.
WoW Moviewatch: A Day In the Life
We've featured X-Cross more than once on Moviewatch, and he's often proven to be a fan favorite. With that in mind, we offer him our most heartfelt congratulations on winning the BlizzCon 2009 machinima contest. His entry is titled A Day in the Life. The movie was inspired by this comic by Keydar. Basically, a kobold goes through his daily routine. He wakes up, gets ready for work, and kisses the wife goodbye. He goes into the Elwynn Forest, and with a primal yawp, delcares that "You no take candle!" I won't spoil what happens from there. I found the scene of the kobold lighting the candle on his head adorable.This movie was absolutely amazing. X-Cross brought the visual to life in a beautiful, compelling way. The voice acting was perfect. I truly believe this movie will stand the test of time, and will be something new WoW players will be laughing at years from now. Congratulations, X-Cross!You can see more of X-Cross movies on Moviewatch by clicking here. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: Herpi Derpi I was bored
Everyone can have slow days, even machinima authors. It seems X-Cross had one of those days, and he was feeling less-than-entertained. Out of those idle hands, he authored Herpi Derpi I was bored. I'm featuring it today because X-Cross has created quite of bit of good work, so something by him is relatively newsworthy. And, even though I'm not proud to admit it, it somehow made me laugh.As you might expect from the title, Herpi Derpi I was bored isn't exactly a groundbreaking feat of storytelling and fine-tuned graphics. It's a quick, short sight gag, followed by some relatively standard anti-elf ranting. This probably isn't the most high-brow comedy we've ever feature, but I enjoyed it.So, while this video was funny, I hope X-Cross has relieved his boredom, and will be back around with a more fully developed piece soon. I'm particularly anxious to see Fi5ve. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: FI5VE - Deleted Opening
X-Cross has been building a new machinima series, titled FI5VE. As an author works on this kind of thing, there are myriads of outtakes. These aren't always mistakes. Some of the scenes they build, film, make all pretty, and then simply decide that the final product doesn't work our for them. This deleted opening is exactly such an out take. X-Cross ultimately decided that it was too long to open each episode.But it's still an awesome piece of video. FI5VE is about five gnomes with unique, special powers. Well, unique and special to gnomes. The five superheroes have managed to become the five classes gnomes cannot be in game. (Those five classes are Priest, Paladin, Druid, Shaman, and Hunter.) This sounds like a really cool project, so I was excited about this deleted opening. The animation and character work looks really great. X-Cross has managed to squeeze a lot of personality into these few seconds. And, of course, getting to see a gnome turn into a druid cat has long been a wish of mine. Click here to check out FI5VE's deleted opening!
WoW Moviewatch: Tinkle's New Year
Hopefully, we all had a pleasant night last night. X-Cross, the same chap behind Kippos, put this together to wish all of us a happy New Year. It's just a short shout out, with a few jokes along the way. And, of course, a male gnome in goggles and a dress, which can be quite the little humor in and of itself. It'll fit in nicely with some other pieces to help us get our holiday spirit going in the future. The piece only took X-Cross about 5 hours to do, and he's up front about not considering the animation or the soundtrack to be his finest. All that being said, it was still a nice little "Happy New Year!" which makes it perfect for today. Tinkle is already making the rounds among my email list. If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
