Originally Posted by
Kaleredar
I'm going to address this now, because it's getting somewhat tiresome...
Irrespective of the whether the Pandaren are childish or not (which I don't believe they are,) you CANNOT say that Pandaren did not appear as "outwardly childish and silly" to many, MANY people. If you are claiming that they didn't, you clearly weren't paying attention when MoP was announced/released. Are Pandaren childish and silly? No. (So you DON'T have to respond to me trying to prove otherwise.)
But the simple fact of the matter is that they were very clearly viewed as "childish," and as unfortunate as it is, outward appearances are very important for drawing in new people, especially in video games. Compare that to the "cow people," which are essentially Minotaurs, or the "space goats," which are Aliens... Minotaurs are a classic fantasy mainstay, and "alien" can be used as a way to smooth over all manner of things... also helpful was the fact that the male Draenei were your typical fantasy body builders, while the female draenei were your typical fantasy lithe, curvaceous, seductive maidens.
But frankly, the large part of Pandaren being seen as "childish" was their connection to Kung Fu Panda, plain and simple. Again, I know that Pandaren came first, so you don't have to try and "assert" that point at me. But people instantly read it as "lol dreamworks rip off." Unfortunate? Yes. There are still a handful of people around here that despise the Pandaren (and usually make a point of it to state such.) But that's the way it happened. In fact, I'm sure that 99% of people that "hate" or "hated" the Pandaren wouldn't have given two figs about them if Kung Fu Panda wasn't a thing. They would have gone "Oh cool, the Pandaren finally made it in the game!" And gone about their merry way.
But I digress.
Now, as for the "no murlocs, they're childish/silly/stupid" point... I see the argument as being twofold. Weaknesses as a race both on a superficial and intrinsic level.
1) Murlocs are pretty damn silly looking. They're two feet tall, they run around gibbering and flailing their limbs and speaking in broken english. And they certainly aren't well known outside the WoW universe as being as "integral to WoW" as they debatably are.
2) They're basically GAGS within WoW itself. As I stated in an earlier post, they're basically the "punchlines" of "completely-incompetent-and-stupid-but-still-pains-in-the-ass" hall of lesser villains (shared with Kobolds, Gnolls, and troggs.) They're the cannon fodder enemies you just let out a discontented sigh over every time you have to deal with them. Moreover, they have no "culture" of which to speak, their greatest settlements are a few flimsy wooden hovels, and they have no ties to any of the races other than serving as "annoying thorns in their sides" from time to time.
Drawing any sort of comparison between Murlocs and the inclusion of the other various races doesn't address all the points evenly, and is therefore quite the false parallel. Pandaren were never "jokes" within WoW any more than being an inside reference tossed around prior to their release; they were "mysterious for the sake of being mysterious;" that was the joke. Worgen, prior to Cataclysm, may have been slavering, witless monsters, but they were just that- MONSTERS. Werewolves are yet another classic fantasy mainstay. Goblins may be "jokey," yes, but they are integral to the Horde's endeavors and possess powerful technologies and trade empires. But Murlocs get the short end of EVERY stick there. They're a Blizzard inside joke, but for being stupid and random. They're slavening, witless beasts, BUT aren't a classic fantasy trope. They're all around "jokey," but they don't have any race connections and no "mass culture" or "gravitas" behind it.