Well shit, it's Christmas Eve, Fox News is tracking Santa Claus, and the US government is already strategizing on how to shoot him down because President Elect Tangerine couldnt build a wall high enough to keep him out.

Happy Holidays, folks!

So this is really freaking bugging me. A good friend of mine always has some of the most gorgeous characters I've ever seen, and she occasionally sells a few of them. She has had a few bad experiences on DA and I'm always telling her "FA is better, we don't pull that kind of shit..." Well, slap in my face...

Some guy purchased a character from her and then a few days later had Paypal forcibly remove the money from her. Naturally, she reclaimed ownership of the character. I mean, it's common sense. If you DO NOT PAY FOR SOMETHING, you DO NOT OWN IT. Well, the dude actually used the character in a YCH and did not pay the artist the $80 that she was owed, so the artist contacted my friend because her copyright was on the character and found out that he didn't own the character in the first place. So not only was the artist out of $80, but my friend was having the character used against her permission by this guy!

Well tonight, he tried it AGAIN. He erased the copyright from the picture, reposted the character, and said that he owned it. My friend asked him to remove it and he tells her "Fuck off cunt" and blocks her. And anyone who said anything to him, he hid their comments and blocked.

It's just so frustrating to feel so helpless to right the wrong being inflicted upon someone I care about...

So I've been doing the Ultra Beast post game story line for Sun & Moon over the past couple days. Just finished off the UB 03 portion a moment ago, and I just have to say, Xurkitree got a decent laugh out of me.

The extra work I do at my job is as the organization tech guy. All the time I spend crawling around under counters and arranging cords, tying them to look nice and neat, often after I've already worked a regular shift and am kind of tired and irrate. Sometimes it almost seems like I'm being attacked by the mad tangle of cords.

Then we have Xurkitree. At first glance, it's really weird looking. Then you notice, the main torso is some kind of spiky central electrical nerve. The five limbs are composed of eletrical cords held together by cord ties, with the feet and tail ending in plugs and the hands being frayed wires. To top it all off, even the name is a pun of the word "Circuitry"

*Head desks* What a weird Pokemon to speak to me...

So as anyone who has dealt with me a lot can testify, I've never been an especially happy person. It doesn't help that I seem to unintentionally surround myself often with pushy, hateful people.

I've been able to bottle everything up and mostly suppress it for a while now, faking a smile when possible and just getting a little "emo" for lack of a better term when not possible. But it's recently become a lot harder for me.

It really shattered me when I discovered that, despite several years of trying and giving, compromising and surrendering, I could simply be tossed aside like garbage and blamed for everything in a situation where it honestly felt like I was shouldering a majority of the weight. To be replaced the very next day by a "superior" person and then to be labeled as a bad person simply because I could no longer give money to a source that I had been giving and sacrificing so much to for so long... I haven't been able to recover at all. I can fake a smile and find some spark of happiness when I have someone in close physical proximity, but it soon fades and leaves me as bad, if not worse than I previously have been. I'm sure that it makes certain people extremely happy to see me suffering for whatever crimes they believe I have committed.

I know I'm not the best person. I've been attacked, often rather savagely, by the "sweetest and most caring!" people simply for failing to bend the knee or relinquish my freedoms and rights. I know there are some who attack and penalize others for being my friends simply because I did not allow them to be verbally abusive towards me without standing up for myself. And no, I'm not perfect, I know I can be an asshole and quite aggressive myself when I feel like someone I care about or I myself am being pushed around or wronged. In addition to all of this, I also find myself in negligent friendships where I'm "so special and mean so much!" but video games and role playing take far greater priority than I ever could.

I will admit, I have been dwelling in a dark place for a while, thinking thoughts that would probably get me in some trouble and disappoint and upset those that actually do care. It's getting harder, especially around the holidays, between the stress and torture of work, unreasonable customers and co-workers, immature selfish family members, and the undeniable fact that if you do not play the Blame Game, you become the primary target of it.

I have bit my lip and bottles this up for the longest time because I know there are people who would be happy to see me like this. And if you really do take joy in the misery and pain of others, I sincerely hope you receive what you justly deserve as life progresses forward for you. But for now, I will say, I do need help. I do not like feeling this way, I do not like seeing how feeling this way affects those that actually do care for me. Someone recently told me "You can't get over this, you need to go to a doctor and get pills!" But it is a terrifying thought to imagine bearing the labels that accommodate this, as well as having the admit it to people that I have to look at without the filter of an internet screen. I don't even know where to begin, the steps I need to take, or if it would even bear fruit in the end, I just simply do not know. But the way things are currently cannot continue; something needs to change or break.

So I bought a cake pan and want to make a cake for Thanksgiving. The cake pan in question is this:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/152e/?srp=14
(If you want one, check GameStop. Only $10 instead of $20)

So i need to know what flavor cake to make. Not a huge fan of chocolate. So need opinions on that.

Also, I'd LIKE to do icing of one color on the dragon and a different color on the eggs without going hog ass wild. Anyone with any baking/cooking experience have any tips, tricks, or thoughts?

Tl;dr: what flavor cake and any decorative icing tips?

Even with all the gloom and doom of the Presidental Election, it was nice to have a couple days off to spend in Morganton with for his hatchday. Now to return home to something that equals Donald Trump in destructive capacity... my black fluff ball of a kitten....

You get a trip to a Giratina ball sac!
And you get a trip to a Giratina's ball sac!
And you get a trip to a Giratina's ball sac!

Everyone else, look under your chairs! You all get... brand new trips to a Giratina's stomach!!

PassionateInferno is holding a contest of sorts. He's a super adorable vore artist with some great work and a sexy necromancer raccoon that totally needs to be in my belly. *cough* Go here, read the rules, and enter!

>>>>> https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7891398/ <<<<<

So you meet all sorts of colorful people over on DeviantArt that you just don't find here on FurAffinity. I don't know why, but all the people with an opinion seem to migrate over there.

This girl named MeowMeowNekoMaid joined DA yesterday and her first course of action, obviously, was to make as many friends as possible. How does she do this? Simple, she posts a stamp and goes on a long explanation about how vore is sickening,vore is for scumbags, and if you like vore, you don't deserve basic human rights because guess what? You are no longer human.

I love these people, I do. For minimal effort, you can troll the ever loving shit out of them. Seriously, ever stuck a stick in a bear trap just to watch it snap so you can giggle? Same basic concept. So I like her, she accuses me of raging at her, and a few pokes later, she blocks me. I don't know about y'all but this is the point where the victory music from Final Fantasy 7 starts playing for me. Seriously, can I get a sword to twirl?

Well, back in March, a fellow known far and wide for being a drama loving asshole approached a friend of mine and just immediately got insulting, then talked shit about her for being insulted by his insults. Yeah, makes my head hurt too. Anyway, I made a shout for this fine dumbass and I've left it on my page ever since. It's seven months old at this point.

Why am I bringing this up, you ask? Well, just because she raged and blocked me, Neko wasn't done yet. Stalking me to my profile, she reads this SEVEN MONTH OLD STATUS MESSAGE and proceeds to post another comment on her page. She states that she knew I would post a status message about her pretending I had won, that I am a fucking dumbass, and of course she knew what she was doing wasn't polite, she was trying to be rude.

...Duuuuuuuude, you call me stupid when you think a seven month old comment that doesn't reference anything you said or did is directed at you? I mean, I knew she was dumb as hell when her logic was "You like something I hate, please die" but when you can't read the damn date something was posted and want to call a person stupid based on your inflated sense of ego refusing to allow you to see you're clearly wrong? Come on...

MeowMeowNekoMaid, my hat goes off to you and I raise a toast in honor of your high performing intelligence!

So about a month and a half ago at work, all the leaders of my workplace had a meeting. One of our younger leaders decided to declare "We will never be respected by the employees if we do not grow up and mature. We need to stop treating them like friends, watch each other's backs, and make them do their jobs or leave." Great point, absolutely phenomenal.

Well, the next day, guess who was getting buddy buddy and ignoring her duties to hang out with an employee? Fine, whatever... I was raised that if you were in a race on a horse with three broken legs, you make it happen and win that race.

Last Sunday, an employee called it and my coworker allowed it. I disapproved and told him he needed to at least let the manager that was going to be short know, who happened to be the girl that says we need to watch each other's backs. Well, I immediately set out to find her another employee so she doesn't struggle and he lets her know. Her response? "If you guys don't replace her, I'm not coming in." So MY COWORKER let the employee call out, I AM TRYING TO FIX THE PROBLEM, and she would fuck ME over to prove a point. I let her have it in as polite and gentle manner as possible when she came in. You know, trying not to be an asshole

Saturday, as you know, I burned the shit out of myself. I'm sitting here, barely able to move my right hand, I'm in a ton of pain, guess who I'm working with. So I tell her, "Look, I need to go, I can't do this job right now, can you stay an extra hour until my replacement comes in?" We need to watch each other's backs, right? Nope, she won't stay, I need to tough it out, and if she has to stay, it will take her too long to get to the beach where her partner is waiting for a night of debauchery. Finally, I just left.

So now we come to today, I get to work, still hurting but I have the next two days off so whatever... She is coming in to relieve me at 8pm so I can rest. Well, guess who texts me? Turns out, her buddy at the beach got put in jail and doesn't have any form of ID... So guess who has no idea when she's coming in? And guess who is stuck here....

We need to grow up and mature? Please, lead the way.

God, I fucked up so hard. Was wiping off a cooking vat like I always do. Slipped and dipped my right hand in 300+ degree oil. Then my dumb ass yanked my hand back and splashed it up the right side of my face. Damn it.

There's nothing like walking through Walmart and seeing all the Christmas shit already for sale for that realization and depression to sink in

That you're going to spend the holidays alone
Because nothing you did was good enough
Because you couldn't give enough to be worth someone else's time
Because you're trash
Because you're garbage
And why bother waking up in the morning...

So, due to nature of my employment, customer satisfaction is a priority and we measure it via an online survey. So I started thinking during a slow period today, what if ALL businesses required these online satisfaction surveys? I mean, who doesn't want to go online and fill out a form scoring your hooker for the night based on Overall Satisfaction, Speed, Friendliness, Quality, Interior/Exterior Cleanliness and my personal favorite "Please indicate all other hookers you have visited in the past 30 days, then indicate how your hooker compares to other hookers in the area."

I'm sure that survey would have some interesting comments....

So I've been pretty absent from Skype, Discord, and every other form of online communication since Friday and I apologize. The reasoning is that I had someone I care for over and was hanging out with them.

Things have been pretty rough for a while since I was dealt a pretty serious and depressing blow. Outside of a couple days immediately after the occurrence (sadly still tarnished by depression and other darker thoughts), I haven't really gotten to hang out with anyone I care about. It was honestly very nice to just have someone physical there for me and to help deal with some of my rampant self-doubt, now that the worst has passed.

So things are a lot better now, I feel a good deal happier and more relaxed (despite work's best efforts!) and am looking forward to talking to the people I missed over the weekend, while still enjoying my memories of my time with a very sexy draggy. <3

So I tried getting on Skype tonight and it says "Cannot Connect". Updating doesn't work, restarting doesn't work, not sure what else I can do. Any thought?

So time and time again, my co-workers and I are told that we are rude. This comes in the form of phone calls, 1-800 calls, and Satisfaction Surveys. And against this, there is no defense.

Just five minutes ago, a man comes in. I smile and ask him how I can help him as he is pulling a coupon out of his pocket. He proceeds to shove the coupon so close to my face that I lean back out of instinct and I still can't read it without looking at it cross-eyed and goes "Double Cheeseburger, extra pickles. Nilla shake." I successfully keep my composure and go "What size Vanilla Shake would you like, sir?" He proceeds to shove the coupon at my face AGAIN and goes "I said nilla shake!" I take the coupon from him and it specifies small, so I complete his transaction, make his food, and hand it to him. Without a thank you or anything, he turns, walks again, and says "Gonna be one of them days, you dumb motherfuckers can't fucking listen."

So again, my thought here is WE are called the rude ones?

So remember when I said everything bad happens at once? I was more right than I even knew! In addition to work and personal life, my home has decided to fuck me over as well!

So Saturday, I was walking to the kitchen and there was a big wet spot in front of my pantry. I thought it was cat urine; I'd just bought her a new brand of cat litter and obviously she was making her dislike known. So I cleaned it up, sprayed it with some Nature's Miracle, and scolded her. Well...

The carpet in front of the pantry is soaked
The carpet in front of the air conditioner is soaked
The carpet in front of the bedroom door is soaked
The corner of the bedroom adjacent to the area is soaked FROM UNDER THE WALL
That entire side of the closet is soaked FROM UNDER THE WALL.

This isn't cat urine, something is leaking somewhere, and bad. Luckily, only one box in the closet got destroyed and it was full of trading cards. That could be a disaster, right? Cardboard and water do not mix. Through some twist of fate, perhaps the only positive in this situation, when I packed that box, I put all the metal tins on the bottom and all of the cardboard containers on top of the metal tins... Thank you, Pokemon & Yu-Gi-Oh!

Personal life AND work life decide to fuck me over at the same time. Yay for not getting to come home at night AND not being in the mood to deal with people!...

So I did a dry run of a new team I was experimenting with last night and accidentally popped the boss in the face for 25,000,000+ damage. Unfortunately, the Guest Leader I was using was a random guy and he hasn't popped back up... So if anyone has a good strong Light Monster and plays Puzzle & Dragons daily, please leave me your number here and I will add you. It would be preferred if your leader is either Guardian of Metropolis, Superman or Fervent Monkey King, Sun Wukong. But anything that gives Light a nice strong attack boost is welcomed. And no Ras, Sakuyas, or the likes because the team only runs three colors and they require a minimum of four to activate...

So I occasionally have to do some work for... well, work at home on my computer. In order to do this, I have to use a very specific site. No surprise there, I suppose. But this site is just completely and ungodly complicated and annoying. The main cause of this annoyance is the wonderful, amazing Java. How is Java causing this issue, you may ask? Well, it's simple.

Step 1: Attempt to open site.
Step 2: Site says Java is out of date, click here to install latest version of Java!
Step 3: Install latest version of Java, Java website asks to run a program to verify successful installation, installation was successful and Java is up to date!
Step 4: Attempt to open site.
Step 5: Site says Java is out of date, click here to install latest version of Java!
Step 6: Repeat steps 3 - 5 until "Fuck it, I'll do this shit at work."

Even more frustrating is the fact that fixing this issue will result in it occurring again in two weeks... Freaking hate this shit...

Happy Fireworks day to everyone. Try not to blow yourself up and if you fall on the BBQ, please make sure you're properly seasoned and I am in the area... Especially any eels, wolves, or dragons...

So this fucking jackass just left my workplace. He was bitching and screaming over 14 cents. FOURTEEN CENTS, NOT EVEN A QUARTER. I asked him to stop cussing and he says he'll break every bone in my hand if I point at him again. So I asked him again to stop cussing and stop making threats or I'll call the cops and he says he's going to call the cops on me for being loud and threatening.

Ok.... What's more threatening to you?
A chubby white guy who's 5 ft 11 and is being slightly loud
Or the muscular large white guy who's well over 6 foot tall and threatening physical violence?

If you feel THREATENED BY ME, please check your dick in at the door and grab a pussy.

So my idiot mate, thinks he's going to be the next Ross. If you want to know why, play his course "Thread the Needle!"

ID: 64E1-0000-0239-195E

Currently completion rate is 1.67%. There may be a reward upon proof of completion, or you can just smack him upside the head after playing it. Your choice.

It was a good movie, very enjoyable. If you like action, it delivers. If you are familiar with the source material, some of the surprises won't be that surprising, but there's still some changes thrown in that will, in my opinion, impress you. I'm not sure why the row in front of me was filled with grandpas and grandmas, but hey, everyone loves action and fantasy. If you go to Rotten Tomato, don't let the 26% scare you, the Audience approval is a whopping 82% and I think that should say more to you than what a bunch of stuffy film critics have to say.

For the sake of trying to be positive, I'm going to talk about something that makes me happy. Warcraft! Yaaaaaaaaay. So anyone who knows me knows I'm too into this franchise and I've spent hours upon hours upon years dissecting the lore and thoroughly enjoying it. Naturally, when I heard there was a Warcraft movie coming, I realized this was a double edged sword, as it could be amazing or it could be horrible. My friends and I caught a quick viewing before work today and I wasn't disappointed. So, without further delay:

My thoughts as a movie goer
Holy crap, if you are unfamiliar with this franchise, I can see this movie being a bit confusing. I don't agree with the 26% Rotten Tomatoes gave it, but hey, we know they're a bit harsh. A lot of names come at you fast, as well as a few plot elements. There's some references thrown in there for loyalty Warcraft fans, and the movie goes back and forth between the human city and the big wizard-y tower A LOT. Why couldn't we just stay in one place? Oi. But once the action starts rolling, there's a lot of high action moments and some big surprises for people not already familiar with the story. If you can keep up with everything, you'll enjoy it. One big huge moment that got ME as a Warcraft fanatic and I'm sure would completely fuck with a brand new face? The entire movie goes "Lothar! Lothar! Lothar! Lothar! Anduin! Lothar! Lothar!" At no point do they tell you that his full name is Anduin Lothar. There's just that one random scene where suddenly they're yelling at the dude named Lothar and calling him Anduin.

As a totally biased dragon lover
DAMN IT THIS IS FUCKING WARCRAFT ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU COULDN'T FIT A SINGLE FUCKING DRAGON INTO THE FUCKING MOVIE? HE DIDN'T EVEN NEED A NAME WHAT THE FUCK BLIZZARD???????

As a Warcraft Fanatic
Okay, there's a lot to cover here...

YES, THEY CHANGED THE FUCKING PLOT. Some of it was for the better! So all the lore whores can stop shitting their pants! But more on that later...
Species Diversity
Azeroth, as any Warcraft player can tell you, is home to a wide variety of species of all shapes and sizes! This movie showcases that beautifully! We have... orcs! And humans! A handful of Blood Elves! A handful of Dwarves! More humans from an unnamed kingdom that don't agree with the main humans! Horses! Wolves! A group of unnamed blue horned aliens that die at the beginning! One gryphon! One murloc! A gnoll offscreen somewhere! A golem! ....okay, maybe there wasn't a whole wide variety of characters that show off the diversity of Azeroth... At this point in the Warcraft story, we aren't even aware that there's more than a single continent on this planet, so I GUESS I understand? But still, it's kind of disappointing...

The Humans
Most of the humans are pretty standard characters. You have Khadgar and Medivh, Lothar and Llane, some unnamed soldier dudes, and the mages of Dalaran show up eventually. Yes, Dalaran is ALREADY flying. I know this isn't supposed to happen for another 15 years. Get over it, it's a fucking city of mages! The human characters suffer from 'Player Character Syndrome'. You see humans getting killed off left and right, and then Lothar and Llane show up and start singlehandedly killing orcs.

Lothar has a son that killed his wife during childbirth who exists JUST for this movie. We start to see their strained relationship and how the son is struggling to make daddy proud, but this really just sets up the 'final boss' of the movie when Medivh accidentally pulls an Anivia on Lothar and drops a wall of electricity in his face so he can only watch helplessly as Blackhand murders his son. Lothar then slips into the all too well known role of "depressed > drunk > only guy that figures out the truth > hero who saves the day" but hey, it's Anduin Lothar, and he's a badass. Apparently, he's so badass that he drops Blackhand in one shot at the end of the film, a MOMENT WE ARE SHOWN IN THE COMMERCIALS.

Llane is actually pretty accurate to his game persona. He warms up to Garona and starts trusting her insanely quick, and he's the wise cool headed king who just wants what's best for his people. He doesn't see the true villain of the film.... you know, now that I think of it, I don't think he EVER knew that Medivh was batshit crazy and evil. His death is changed to make more sense for the film setting. In the game, Garona's mind control kicks in and she stabs him to death in the throne room. Here, he makes a final brave stand at the Dark Portal and then commands Garona to kill him so that she can look like a hero and thus survive her 'betrayal'. His wife plays a somewhat minor role, and we even see Varian as a young boy before Llane marches off to his final battle. Nice little name drop (especially considering the Legion trailer played before the film, showing us Varian's final battle.)

For the amazing badass that Khadgar becomes, he really serves as this film's comic relief. He is the bumbling overly nosy apprentice mage who comes into his own at the end of the film and saves the day by killing Medivh. We're never told WHY he abandoned his duties as Apprentice Guardian or even really told what he's done in the past. In the books/game, he actually serves under Medivh for a long while while the events of the first game take place. He really fills in sort of a 'little brother' role to Lothar, with Lothar warming up to him over the course of the film.

Medivh's destiny in the first game/book is to be the unknowing vessel of the spirit of Sargeras, summon the orcs into Azeroth, and eventually be slain by his best friends, Lothar and Llane, along with Khadgar's help. He's definately still a badass in the movie, but we're never even told Sargeras' name. In fact, he's not even really possessed in the first place! We find out that Medivh doesn't remember it, but during his six year absence, he made contact with Fel Magic, was corrupted by it, invited the orcs to our world, and then suddenly he's fighting against the orcs without any memory of his past doing? I mean... this definately could be summed up as possession, but don't you have to kind of tell us that? Over the course of the movie, he grows progressively more and more exhausted, even collapsing at the worst time (see the lightning wall that prevented Lothar from saving his son), and finally just gives in to the Fel. He confesses his sins to Moroes, murders his loyal butler, sets up some lies for the final conflict, and then takes his place in the battle at Karazhan, becoming more and more demonic until Khadgar teleports his clay golem so that it falls on top of him and kills him. Few things about this. I would have been pissed had they used an existing demon for this, but Medivh's demonic form was actually pretty sweet. It had a few touches of Dreadlord in it, some Orcish features, and then the rest was entirely new. In the novels, he is beheaded by Lothar and Khadgar during a moment where he gains enough control to hold Sargeras' spirit down and render himself vulnerable. This is one of the changes I love, as Medivh regains control while he lays dying and actually saves the day. With Llane absent from this scene, the king is able to die never knowing that his friend betrayed him. Other than that, of all the characters we could have had a shirtless scene from, I did NOT expect it to be Medivh. Dude be fucking CHISELLED for a mage.

The Orcs
Is it name dropping if we never learn the character's name? Grom Hellscream shows up in this film, but I don't think he ever speaks or is named. Gorehowl, his signature axe, is VERY recognizable. Kargath Bladefist shows up in this film, but he never speaks or is named. As expected, The Bladefist, his signature fist weapon, is VERY recognizable. Other than that, like the humans, there are VERY FEW named orcs. These monsters come busting onto the battlefield, just utterly wrecking shit until the named characters show up, and then they start dropping pretty quickly as well.

Durotan and Draka, Thrall's parents, play huge roles in this movie. Well, Durotan more than Draka. We don't know too much about what they did during the original invasion until they actually die, but in this film, Durotan and his Frostwolf clan are pretty much actively against Gul'dan the ENTIRE TIME. We're supposed to see them as super loving parents but Draka hides her pregnancy until traveling through the Dark Portal actually causes her to suddenly give birth to a DEAD Thrall (YES, THRALL DIES IN THIS MOVIE). Knowing that Fel Magic is powered by death, they just stand there and watch as Gul'dan resurrects the dead infant by murdering a deer. And rather than getting the hell out of dodge, they actually set up camp in the middle of Gul'dan's encampment and CONTINUE working against him. Durotan's death is changed A LOT, with him challenging Gul'dan to a Fist Fight to the Death (which he would have won if villains didn't be cheatin'), but Draka's remains similar to the original with her setting Baby Green Jesus' cradle in the river to float away (What, he's Moses now? Come on, Metzen!) and biting the throat out of her attacker only to be stabbed to death with her own knife. Part of me sees this paralleling Llane's death to the knife his wife gave Garona, but damn, kinda thought a badass warrior chick would NOT throw down her own weapon when being pursued...

There's not much to say about Orgrim Doomhammer... He's described in all settings as Durotan's best friend, but he betrays Durotan when the Frostwolf Chief tries to forge an interracial alliance to defeat Gul'dan, he watches Gul'dan drinking the Fel Kool Aid, and then he frees Durotan saying that NOW he's seen that Gul'dan is a problem. I guess watching a dude do something bad in front of a thousand of your buddies isn't the same as watching him do it while you're sitting across from him?

They changed Blackhand quite a bit, but I think it was for the better. His character is summed up in two words: battlethirst and honor. In fact, I think all of the nameless orcs are summed up in these two words. He immediately comes off as a powerful warchief and then he's brought down in the first conflict by Lothar blowing his hand off with a pistol. Gul'dan tries to sentence him to death for failure, which Blackhand AGREES WITH, and Durotan saves his life. Does he repay Durotan for this? Eh... maybe? He does let Durotan become a prisoner after the orc's betrayal instead of executing him on the spot, but seeing as how Gul'dan needs strong souls to power the portal, he probably would have done this anyway... They build up the conflict between Blackhand and Lothar quite a bit, especially with the whole murdering Lothar's son thing. I'm not sure if they were trying to make corpse tossing his thing, as he tosses Lothar's son's corpse and then later he tosses King Llane's corpse, but eventually the big badass is forced to partake in the Fel Kool Aid by Gul'dan and has a final honorable duel to the death with Lothar. Instead of being stabbed in the back by Orgrim, he's sliced in the crotch by Lothar, rendering him helpless as Lothar walks up and impales him with his sword. I did like the whole "wearing entire raptor skeletons as shoulder armor" bit though.

Garona is a very tragic character, which they sort of portray in the movie. We see her being led around on a slave leash by Gul'dan in the very beginning, but other than that, her history as Gul'dan's slave and personal toy is only briefly touched upon in a single conversation. We never find out that one of her parents is Draenei (you know, the nameless blue people murdered in bulk at the beginning?), and we are told her mother was burned to death for birthing her and Gul'dan gave Garona one of her mother's tusks for wear as a necklace. She doesn't seem overly conflicted and comes to the human side rather quickly, and instead of spending a MASSIVE amount of time with Medivh, and eventually mothering his child, she hangs out with him for a few minutes, and then he gives her a blue magic flower, tells her she obviously loves Lothar, and teleports her away. It's almost pathetic to see her whimper that Lothar is going to hate her because she supported the peace treaty with Durotan. The ambush that killed Lothar's son while TARGETTING DUROTAN'S FORCES AS WELL, was totally her fault and she knows the man she's had a crush on for all of two days is going to hate her for this. The final kick in the teeth comes from Lothar's ignorance at Llane TELLING GARONA TO KILL HIM TO SAVE HER LIFE and Lothar, retrieving her dagger from Llane's neck, jumps to the conclusion that "I guess we didn't know her that well at all, and it cost us!" In the game, Gul'dan's mind control magic forces her to murder Llane, sparking young Varian's undying hatred of orcs, but for the film universe, I guess we'll just have to settle with her boyfriend-hopeful thinking she's a traitor and wanting to kill her.

Gul'dan
Ok, I was a HUGE fan of "Into the Badlands", so the casting choice of Daniel Wu for Gul'dan was REALLY odd to me. For those of you who don't know, Daniel Wu plays the hero Sunny in "Into the Badlands", a martial arts sword wielding master assassin of amazing skills. Gul'dan is a Fel magic wielding demonic warlock of untold brilliance. There's... a bit of a stylistic difference there. Regardless, Wu pulled it off beautifully.

Gul'dan is a master con-man in this film. He starts off with mass genocide of the Draenei people, and then immediately thereafter pops a Warlock Battle Res on the dead Thrall while Blackhand screams and bitches that Draka being pregnant has dishonored his warband. So on one hand, mass conqueror, on the other hand, messiah to the orc people?

We are never told how Gul'dan comes into the Fel Magic. In the original source, he comes into contact with the demon lords of the Burning Legion and willingly gives himself to their service. Here... Khadgar traces a picture that shows a robed figure beckoning to the orcs over the Dark Portal? I guess they went for simplification and just cut out the Legion altogether from this film.

Gul'dan doesn't show up too much in the first half of the film after this, which suits his role as the puppetmaster behind Blackhand. Part of his ominous presence was kind of destroyed when we see him and Orgrim discussing Durotan's betrayal and Gul'dan keeps sucking the life out of a human prisoner in the same way a normal villain would drink from a goblet of wine.

The next time we see our big bad warlock, he has been challenged to a Honor Duel (fist fight to the death) by Durotan. He tries to have Blackhand just kill Durotan, but Blackhand tells him that tradition and honor are paramount, so the warlock hands Blackhand his staff and gets ready for a bareknuckle brawl. At this point, we have a nice "Oh shit" moment as Gul'dan strips off his robes, revealing the giant spikes are PART OF HIS BODY, and the wrinkled old man straightens up to show us he's still a motherfucking orc. Of course, Durotan holds his own and Gul'dan starts getting his ass beat, only for him to start cheating and spamming Drain Life like a bitch. The orcs recognize he's cheating and bitch at him, but otherwise do nothing as he murders Durotan. There seems to be a civil war beginning to brew but, oh wait, the humans attack and Gul'dan is instantly at the helm again, Fel-Raping Blackhand as the orcs charge into battle. After losing most of his prisoners and welcoming Garona back into the Horde for her 'betrayal' of King Llane, we see Gul'dan gleefully watching as Blackhand stops Lothar's 'corpse retrieval mission' and challenges the human commander to the Honor Duel they've been setting up all movie. Once the triumphant Lothar starts doing the slow "I'm a badass" walk away from Blackhand's corpse, Gul'dan starts yelling at all the orcs to stop saluting Lothar and kill him, until Garona tells him "Shut the fuck up, honor duel, bro, respect it." Between this and the orcs recognizing that Gul'dan cheating against Durotan, I'm left wondering why the orcs would EVER follow this dude again. I guess we'll find out in the next movie...


Overall
I really enjoyed this movie. I would recommend seeing it if you want a good action fantasy film, and if you love Warcraft, you DEFINATELY should go see it. There's changes, most of them for the better in my opinion, from the original source, but I really don't understand all the rage that I see on forums in regards to this film. So grab your closest gamer friend and go pay the world of Azeroth another visit.

COOKIES IF YOU FUCKING READ ALL OF THIS. OH MY GOD, I AM A FUCKING NERD