All About Frank (and a Little About Transmog)

Ok, first of all, I’m sorry for being a slacker and taking so long to post anything.  I have a bunch of reasons (or excuses if you prefer), but I’m not going to bore you with them.  Instead, I’m just going to dive into the post.  Ready?  Here we go.

Frank’s Glorious Defeat

You might remember from my last post that I’d entered Frank in Round 4 of the Mog Madness competition.  Sadly, he came in 7th, which was not enough for me to move on to the fifth and final round.  (You can see the results and other entries for Round 4 here.  Round 5 and the final results are here.) I was a bit disappointed, but mostly relieved.

In all honesty, I was getting a bit tired of the contest, especially with having to work with items that I didn’t like.  Frank’s character developed as a way to personify my own negativity and subvert the entire transmog beauty contest thing at the same time.  In that sense, Frank was a roaring success.  Frank gave me a way to have fun with the contest after I was past the point of having fun with it.  He also really did take on a life of his own, and creating an outfits to suit his personality was an interesting and challenging experience.

Frank also surprised me by becoming something of a fan favourite.  There were so many positive comments about him from the other contestants, including a few people who thought he should have won the round.  I was shocked, because I really didn’t expect him to do well and I certainly didn’t expect other people to fall in love with the character as much as I had.

The Alternate Round 4 Outfit

The first outfit I made for Frank was actually a standard “cool” transmog design.  However, I abandoned it and started over because it didn’t look like “Frank” — didn’t suit his personality at all.  While I realised that the “cool” warlock look was actually more likely to win, it didn’t serve the subversive purpose that I had intended, and the character was completely lost while wearing it.  Nevertheless, it’s a nice look, so here it is:

• Tabard: Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari.
• Head: Green Lens.
• Shoulders: Nemesis Spaulders.
• Chest: Elder’s Padded Armor.
• Hands: Darkmist Handguards.
• Belt: Cord of the Patronizing Practitioner.
• Legs: Prideling Down Leggings.  These only work with this outfit on an Undead Male model because the break where the bones shows through hides some elements that don’t look very good with the rest of the set.
• Feet: Serene Echoes.
• Weapon: Scalpel of Unrelenting Agony.
• Off-Hand: Bouquet of Ebon Roses.  This was a placeholder off-hand.  I had intended to find something better, but then abandoned this outfit to create the one I actually entered.  Still, I like them with this look.

I also choose a wand to go with it, since wands will be main weapons in MoP:

• Wand: Bonecreeper Stylus.

There’s no cloak because I didn’t like any of them with this set.

Can’t Keep a Bad Undead Warlock Down

I originally rolled Frank on a random server just to use as a transmog model.  But really, he’s far too awesome to languish away at level 1, unloved and forgotten.  So I deleted my level 5 female Undead Warlock on my main server and re-rolled Frank.

Well, of course, all possible permutations of the name “Frank” were already taken, so I wracked my brain trying to find some way to keep his name.  I figured giving him a last name would be the easiest way to do it, but which last name should he have?  And then it struck me.

Frank Oz, of the guild Electric Mayhem.

Too perfect, am I right?  To my delight, it was available!  So now Frankoz is cheerfully running around the Kargath server, leveling up and bringing his terrible fashion sense to the masses.

Of course, it didn’t take long to discover that he has some competition in the mushroom farming business.  Someone named Hamlin Atkins is trying to muscle into Frank’s turf.  How dare he peddle his obviously inferior fungus to the residents of Brill!

Well, Frank was not going to stand for this.  He lured invited Mr. Atkins to the nearby cemetery to chat a little business and introduced him to Mr. Thogphog, one of Frank’s minions investors.

Don’t ask what happened next.  Let’s just say they managed to reach an agreement that was best for all parties named Frank.

Frank also hates heirlooms.  They’re too pretty for him.  He spent the first 16 levels refusing to wear any, but I finally wrestled him into them.  I’ve promised him that as soon as he’s old enough to wear regular hats and shoulders we’ll transmog the heirlooms into something that better suits his personality.

Frank Goes A-Courtin’

Another unexpected outcome of Frank’s Mod Madness entry: He has an admirer.  He caught the eye and the fancy of Tome of the Ancient’s female Undead Warlock, and she’s been longing for him ever since.  Poor TotA has had no peace, what with all the crying and the pining away, but all efforts to convince the young lady to approach Frank have failed.  She’s just too shy to make the first move.  So I agreed that I would pass the message on to Frank and see if I could convince him to pay her a visit.

At first I don’t think he believed me.  He’s definitely not used to being an object of affection, and I think he thought I might be making fun of him.  (It’s a good thing I vastly out-level him, because making fun of Frank is not a wise life decision.)  It probably didn’t help that I had to admit that I think the name of his admirer is Sasche, but I’m not entirely sure.  I just directed him to TotA — she’ll be able to introduce them.

Of course, then Frank started mumbling all kinds of excuses.  Yes, I know spring is a busy time for farmers, but you can’t possibly be in the fields 24 hours a day.  Besides, I know he likes to moonlight as a Warlock, and if he can find time to play with his demons he can find time to date a girl.

Then he complained that he wasn’t sure how he should approach her.  So I told him to dress himself up a little and maybe bring her some flowers.

Perhaps I should have been more specific.

Frank… is that… are you… Are you wearing a tuxedo shirt under your overalls?  And is that a pine cone?  A pine cone with a… demonic red eye?  Oh, lordy.

Well, maybe this is for the best.  After all, she’s going to have to love you for who you are, if she’s going to love you at all.  Best of luck, Frank!

In case anyone out there is crazy enough to want to use this outfit:

• Head: Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat.  I’m so farming this up for him at the earliest opportunity.  It just screams “Frank”.
• Shoulders: Feline Mantle.
• Back: Tumultuous Cloak.
• Chest: Blue Overalls.
• Shirt: Tuxedo Shirt.
• Gloves: Skitterweb Glovelettes.
• Waist: Willow Belt.
• Legs: Foreman Pants.
• Feet: Durable Boots.  Because we all know about Frank’s love of sensible footwear.
• Staff: Conifer Cone Staff.  Just… why, Frank?  Why?

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