World of Warcraftteamed up with Taiwanese puppet and animation company Pili to create a fantastic rendition of Arthas Menethil’s journey to become the Lich King. This short animation showcases the iconicWorld of Warcraftcharacters using the unique style Pili is known for.
Pili International Multimedia is a Taiwanese company most well known for their glove puppetry show,Pili. Originally released in 1985,Pilistands out from other puppet shows for its use of CGI, especially during action sequences. This unique style of animation has ledPilito become one of the most popular shows in Taiwan.
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World of Warcraftvice president and executive producer Holly Longdale recently shared the collaboration between Blizzard andPilifor the launch ofWrath of the Lich King Classicin Taiwan. This incredible project showcasesArthas’ journey duringWarcraft 3andThe Frozen Throneas he struggles against his demons both literal and figurative. The dramatic retelling of his story shows his decision to take up Frostmourne, only to turn it against his people and become the Lich King. Though the audio is in Mandarin Chinese, there are English subtitles available as well.
Though incredibly popular in Taiwan,Pili–sometimes localized asThunderbolt–is not widely available overseas.Pili Fantasy: War of Dragonscame to the west in 2019, butwas removed from Netflixin July 2022. Despite this,Pilistill has a strong cult following outside its homeland, with small communities in corners of Reddit and Twitter.
It seems Pili also developed a puppetversion of Alexstrasza for the release ofDragonflight, though she did not appear in the recent animation. It is not known whetherWorld of Warcraftand Pili will collaborate on similar projects in the future, though it is possible. In the meantime, players interested in seeing more from this collaboration can watch the behind the scenes video shared with theWorld of WarcraftPili short.
There are plenty of exciting things forWorld of Warcraftplayers to dig in to right now.Wrath of the Lich King Classicplayers can benefit from the Joyous Journeysexperience buff as they wait for the Ulduar raid to unlock next year, whileDragonflightplayers are currently tackling the new raids and Mythic+ dungeons in Season 1. While these in-game activities will certainly keep players busy, few would object to seeing moreWarcraftxPilicrossovers, especially if they were to make a full-length show likePili Fantasy.
