It's That Edgelord Thing

Something that's been bothering me about the "new" login screen for Retail are the faces that the Humans make when you select them. 

I honestly have no idea who approved those facial expressions, but compared to the "old" versions those facial expressions tend to be all angry for some reason or another.

For example, here's what Cardwyn looks like in Retail in the login screen:

But here's what she looks like when she's not selected:

Pretty much a normal facial expression.

And if you watch her cast in Retail, that "normal" expression is what you'll get:

Now Linna, on the other hand is not only angry in the selection screen, but also is angry when attacking:

But compared to Classic Era (I used Era because I wanted to quickly attack something near Stormwind without worrying about it dying instantly):

I simply don't get it. Why have your toons look all pissed off? Because Blizz wanted them to look edgy or something?

I mean, have they seen what Goldshire looks like on Moon Guard-US?

It's kind of hard to look edgy when you've got mounts and gear and whatnot like that around, and I'd bet that's what it's like (only 10x more so) at the endgame watering holes.

I just look at it as a pure miss on Blizzard's design part, changing how players look for no really good reason, especially when, say, the Blood Elves look much more pleasant:

It could be an Alliance vs. Horde thing, since Kaldorei look similar to Humans in the anger department:

As for me, I think I prefer the non-committal version found in Classic WoW. They're not as emotive as teenagers, and I prefer my MMO toons to look more adult and mature in nature. 

#Blaugust2025