Did Kung Fu Panda exist before the Kung Fu Pandaren? Short answer, yes.

[Ryuukon]

Even for those who didn't play WC3, there was a reference in WoW where Blizzard did an April Fools joke called Pandaren Xpress in 2005, where they said you could order chinese food in game.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Pandaren_Xpress

That alone predates Kung-fu Panda by 3 years.

[Holy Diver 1980]

What animal could depict the japanese people?

[Wolfsage]

WHO CARES?!

What does this matter so much to some people, are they afraid that their maturity will be insulted? Isn't it immature in the first place to be afraid of that?

[Weirdbear]

What animal could depict the japanese people?

Foxes and turtles??

Tanuki??

Rabbits??

On topic... The whole discussion about pandaren being childish or copy is old and boring. The truth and facts are out there. But the ones hating are to blind or ignorant to see.
Looking forward to beat the crap out of the haters with my beer drinking killing machine!

[Mekh]

I'm sure the Chinese will be thrilled to play in a carricature of their culture, mutilated to be palatable to a western audience.

Next expansion: Shadows of Eagleland.

[Wolfsage]

I'm sure the Chinese will be thrilled to play in a carricature of their culture, mutilated to be palatable to a western audience.

Next expansion: Shadows of Eagleland.

Can we expect playable Arrakoa-Eagles ?

[Mekh]

Can we expect playable Arrakoa-Eagles ?

For Freedom!

[Kryos]

I'm sure the Chinese will be thrilled to play in a carricature of their culture, mutilated to be palatable to a western audience.
Next expansion: Shadows of Eagleland.

Sounds awesome. Oh wait, we already had Northrend full of eagles. Including bald eagles you killed for quests.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Quest:Eagle_Eyes

[Pickynerd]

Other than that.

Sam Wise had been drawing his family as pandas before Kung-Fu Panda right?

[Mekh]

Sounds awesome. Oh wait, we already had Northrend full of eagles. Including bald eagles you killed for quests.

But Northrend had no stereotypical fat population, Goblin Burger Joints and overt patriotism! The raids will be against a new race called the Qual-Aida and take place in desert environments.

[Weirdbear]

You already got a parody of american citizens. And they are called goblins. A more capitalistic, greedy, un-enviromentalistic, selfish race is hard to find in the Warcraft Universe.

[Mekh]

You already got a parody of american citizens. And they are called goblins. A more capitalistic, greedy, un-enviromentalistic, selfish race is hard to find in the Warcraft Universe.

I'm sure, there's an 11 on that scale, if you just crank it up high enough.

Point is: Whoever thinks Pandaren are supposed to appeal to the Chinese deserves to have their heritage misappropriated in the same way.

[Ryuukon]

But Northrend had no stereotypical fat population, Goblin Burger Joints and overt patriotism! The raids will be against a new race called the Qual-Aida and take place in desert environments.

...

Why do I even bother visiting these forums anymore when just about any thread posted is trolled with anti-American sentiment? Or is that the next new fad? Like wearing red-white-and-blue shoes that burst into flames on command?

[Mekh]

...

Why do I even bother visiting these forums anymore when just about any thread posted is trolled with anti-American sentiment? Or is that the next new fad? Like wearing red-white-and-blue shoes that burst into flames on command?

No offense intended, only satire. I like your country, but if Eagleland was an overtly positive image of America it would hardly get the point across of Pandaria being a carricature, no? Those were the most heavy-handed stereotypes I could come up with from the top of my head.

[Holy Diver 1980]

Maybe cats colud be a good animal symbol for japanese.

[Mekh]

Maybe cats colud be a good animal symbol for japanese.

According to wikipedia, the national animals of Japan are the koi, the raccoon dog, the red-crowned crane and the green pheasant.

[Kryos]

But Northrend had no stereotypical fat population, Goblin Burger Joints and overt patriotism! The raids will be against a new race called the Qual-Aida and take place in desert environments.

Sounds cool. Since they already made fun of Germany (where I'm from) I wouldn't mind some sterotypical Americans.

[Nindoriel]

WHO CARES?!

What does this matter so much to some people, are they afraid that their maturity will be insulted? Isn't it immature in the first place to be afraid of that?

Kung Fu Panda is awesome.
And Blizzard gets inspired by lots of different things, so it wouldn't bother me if they took inspiration from KFP.

I just don't see it.

As to whether people care - why do you care, why they care? Why do we care about anything?

[Yig]

Look at the copyright date on this image and be silent.

[Kathranis]

I'm sure, there's an 11 on that scale, if you just crank it up high enough.

Point is: Whoever thinks Pandaren are supposed to appeal to the Chinese deserves to have their heritage misappropriated in the same way.

And I suppose you are qualified to speak on behalf of Chinese people, are you?

I don't see one thing that's offensive about this expansion. Certainly no more offensive than dwarves or humans or worgen, or any of the other races in the game, all of which pull inspiration from various real cultures. Hell, a good 80% of this game is based on European architecture and fantasy. All of a sudden adding Chinese architecture and fantasy elements is racist or misappropriated?

If we're gonna talk about how similar Mists of Pandaria is to Kung Fu Panda, let's talk about how that Kung Fu Panda 2 is the highest grossing animated film of all time in China, and prior to that the title was held by the prequel.

Literally the only complaint I've seen from Chinese WoW players was that a few of them thought the written pandaren language looked more like simple Japanese kana than complex Chinese hanzi.