#I’m a big Zelda fan!

[chokkokat-art]

The Poe Sisters ❤️💙💚💜

Linktober 2022 - day 6 - ghost 👻

[larrytheflute9]

CoH Shadow Zelda and Link

[gamingstar26]

Yes, you are exactly right about totk!! A lot of my own complaints come from the story (or lack thereof). To be honest, it's a rare LOZ game that has a particularly complex or nuanced story, but in my opinion, the best ones more than make up for it with their characters.

My favorite game that I've played is Skyward Sword, and I desparately want to play Wind Waker, because the both of them have such fun and compelling characters that I don't really mind the simplicity of the narratives (and Wind Waker even hints at nuance the other games won't dive into!)

Tears of the Kingdom tries to use plot driven storytelling, but... expects us to be far more invested than most of us ever really are. There's hints of character driven story in there, but it all just falls flat in the end and feels really superficial, ESPECIALLY when you look at how they treat the women in this game. Zelda is JUST the sacrificial maiden (again) whose only autonomy comes from choosing to give up her autonomy. Mineru is JUST the smart character who magically technobabbles the solutions. Purah is JUST the scientist that tells you where to go. Most indicative of Nintendo's attitude in this, to me, is with Riju. The way they treat her, it's clear they want her to fill the role of the sexy one, but they know that won't go well if they go all out because she was canonically a young child in the last game. Still really gross, Nintendo you're not subtle.

All this to say that TOTK thinks it's more clever than if is, and fails to pull its own weight in any meaninful way.

All of this!!

I’ll add a bit more that I forgot to add:

Yea usually zelda games have simple plots overall (with some expectations of course) but they do make up for it with memorable characters, etc, etc…

My favorite zelda game is Ocarina of Time cause of the lore (also gameplay of course) and the how interesting it is to me and the overall themes it goes into being tragic and relatable, even tho the surface story is simple overall.(the hero of time games being my favs cause of the story driven nature yet also have fun gameplay) Also other games like skyward sword having a good engaging story with good characters (Groose is the best), wind waker being a simple coming of age story, but also having the king and ganondorf both cling on to the past, etc.

Like you said totk thinks it’s clever and fails to deliver on making us invested in a meaningful and exciting narrative, in a way it’s using tropes from previous zelda games like oot, botw, SS and link to the past without even knowing why they worked in the first place. While failing to reuse tho tropes in a more unique way like previous games have done. It’s true there are hints of character driven story it’s just ignored or mentioned in a half assed way.

Also like I said in the post the lack of consequences with the main story at the end, like Link’s arm just being restored even tho furry rauru had said it was beyond saving, and zelda being recalled back to normal, so her “sacrifice” was not worth it at all (master sword is also worse somehow like wtf zelda)

I’ve also noticed the way totk treats the main women it’s very not good, like you said with zelda she’s just sacrificial maiden turned into a dragon, mineru being exposition dump lady cause that’s all she does tbh, also has the worst Sage ability in the whole game, etc.

zelda being the worst one. (Tbh botw/totk zelda is mixed overall she’s overrated) cause she’s dumb as hell didn’t even recognize that Ganondorf and Calamity Ganon could be related, she does nothing until furry rauru and sonia are dead. Also being a terrible princess, she didn’t even do any meaningful things to hyrule’s rebuilding efforts other than build a school and some small memorials and fuck around doing whatever the hell she was doing pre totk. Also she stole links house damn it.

there’s also the way the gerudo are treated in the zelda series as a whole, but that’s a whole other topic others have done better at that. Like with totk and botw (mostly totk) being helpless yet also warriors needing help from hylians to even survive in their own home?! Like how ingame they explain that zelda of all people was the one to help them get to know the desert and how to survive better wtf? And the secret heroine side quest end, how it’s just some random hylian guy to be the hidden 8th. (There goes the 7 sages and the 8th being the hero of time theory)

Also the way the botw events are treated. they just pretend that none of the ancient tech never existed at all and refuse to mention anything about botw, only in small passes. And the side quest with the Hateno school mentioning the original calamity.

The depths having potential to be better but we’re just empty and massive instead, I like the bargainer statues those are cool as an concept. And the sky islands being boring and copy paste the same few islands throughout.

Holy shit this game makes me write entire essays of complaints. I’m sorry if I repeat myself I’m terrible at explaining stuff at times.

Now I’m going to play the zelda games I’ve never finished to cleanse myself of totk.

[st-hedge]

I said a while ago that for totk’s one anniversary I would write a weird little review of the game in which I throw roses at it while simultaneously slandering it. So I made an attempt which is very abbreviated

Disclaimer: I’m not telling u how u should feel about totk or what’s the right way to feel about it, I’m just trying to make sense of why the game frustrates me and putting it into words. It’s completely fine if u disagree with me, I’m not pitching an argument but just putting words on paper

Totk is one of the best games I’ve ever had the opportunity to play. The mechanics, the music, the designs, the revised world of hyrule, makes me want to curl up on the floor and cry. It is stunning and done with so much love. Where botw had lacked, totk has improved and gone above and beyond. It had frustrated me that botw only allowed us to explore the ground surface, but botw was an exploration into open world games which allowed for totk to happen. The caves, the boats, the islands, and the depths add so much to already such a vast world. I only wish there was also diving but beggars can’t be choosers beh

Although it still doesn’t make too much sense to me why all weapons are suddenly corrupted, I do love the new weapons system. I love how it gives more variety to explore. Materials which previously sat unused in the inventory are now key and nothing feels like a waste to collect. Even rupees have found another use. I’m not the biggest fan of the zonai devices but the addition feels like a love letter to the creativity of the fan base and it feels at place. They help to traverse an otherwise huge and intimidating world. But at times I feel like they give too much leverage and break down too many boundaries and leave little to solve and explore. What im basically saying is fuck the rockets.

I feel that totk doesn’t have enough progress boundaries that make u pause and explore what u have at hand. I found myself just pushing and pushing, forgetting and leaving behind areas I barely touched. It felt too easy getting into the sky and returning to the islands and they lost some of their mystery to me. I think this would have been a great opportunity to reintroduce the loftwings from skyward sword. I’ve talked before about how much this would make sense for totk. The loftwings could be a means to cross boundaries and explore new territories, but it takes time to catch and tame one as a companion. But like horses they should have their limits, presenting new boundaries u need to overcome again

Where the totk’s hyrule begins to confuse and disappoint me goes hand in hand with my main issue (confusion?) with the game. Although botw felt incomplete (the world was a little sparse and one dimensional), the story was comprehensive and clear. Meanwhile, totk has a complete and lively world but it doesn’t have a story to carry

Totk’s story doesn’t have an identity I can grasp and understand. It’s like it doesn’t know what it wants to tell the player, what story it wants to direct them to. On one hand, it seems to want us to know about the origins of hyrule and the mysterious landmarks and characters that are permanent fixtures in this world (castle, ruins, dragons) but at the same time it suddenly wants to do a retelling of OoT and about the sages and these secret stones. But the game never completes any of these stories. Maybe it wants to tell us these stories through the environment, but there is just not enough embedded into the world to grasp and tie together into a narrative. Which is ironic considering how big the world is

We begin to be told the story of the dragons, we suddenly understand how they came to be (the secret stones). But we are never told about the events of their creation (an act of desperation, like Zelda’s) and we are never close to understanding them. Then we are told about the sages, but meeting them tells us nothing new. No new cutscenes, no new items or lore directly related to them. The new sages are found, but didn’t we just discover the divine beasts with them? Suddenly another layer of importance is added to them which makes the ties between legacy and the current sages muddier. I wish there had been focus on them creating their own legacy instead

I think totk could’ve had a very interesting story to tell if it chose what it wants to focus on. Maybe the secret stones were introduced just as a way for Zelda to become a dragon? I dunno

There are so many new places that feel like fantastic opportunities for moments of pause and to uncover lore, unearth memories. But instead they’re brisk puzzles or empty sites. Like the graveyard underneath the desert, the forge islands, the factories, and the fucking poe statues. Tell me as much as u want that I can’t read environmental story telling, but I’ll just keep saying there’s nothing to read into cuz the game doesn’t know what it wants to say. There’s no thread to follow in the way there was with, for example, the graveyard at the spirit temple in OoT. We could’ve been just left with a strange well and a graveyard and told to figure it out, but a thread is laid down that these are the skeletons in the royal family’s closet.

Totk does have amazing moments, like Zelda meeting her ancestors and giving up her identity to become a living legend to revive the master sword, the discovery of the ancient temples, the story of the zonai and their origins. But these are just pieces with many loose ends around them that go nowhere. Even Ganon is left as a loose end where there was so much opportunity to say something worth saying. He seems comically evil with bogstandard bah I want to rule the world lines. If u want to make a case for evil for the sake of evil, u can at least show me a character repeatedly making horrible choices which lead them to the current predicament. Just like totk’s hyrule, he is lovingly designed but he tells absolutely no story

If the reason behind the lack of story is that the devs/writers wanted us to make our own story out of this, then I think this is a case where it was a poor choice. The fans can make theories, hcs, pick up pieces and make AUs, but we also love the stories told by the games and it’s what inspires us to uncover more stories (hey wanna talk about tp and why we hear Malon’s song at night, or what’s up with the empty desert)

I’d love to see totk from the perspective of someone who had never played or known botw. Did it really help to remove any traces of sheikah tech besides the labs and the guardian limbs in the towers. Although the zonai devices and the sheikah tech are from different time periods, totk was a perfect opportunity to marry the two elements together. The shrines and the divine beasts could’ve collapsed into the depths, but instead they have just vanished like erased history

Totk’s story doesn’t have an identity in the same way botw’s does. Even though botw’s hyrule was much smaller and emptier, we found stories there cuz we knew what that game was trying to tell us. If totk is about making sacrifices, then this message feels obsolete by the end. U should make sacrifices, but u will only be happy again if it all goes back to exactly how it was before

As happy and sweet the ending is, it made all the worry and sadness I felt seem pointless cuz of course everything would reset back to the norm cuz how else would this game have a happy ending. What was there to worry about. Yeah so what that Zelda became a dragon losing herself, she was just asleep the entire time and effortlessly she becomes her normal self. So what that link lost his sword arm, of course he would miraculously get it back even though it took him 100 years to recover from a mortal wound. No trace of the things they withstood and lost, no mark, nothing.

I loved the final battle and spectacle of the dragons struggling against each other in the sky. The battle went from the deepest depths to the highest reaches of the sky and I thought it was perfect. But once again how the story concluded and the logic behind it me made me feel like I was chewing on sand and the idyllic ending just made me look about in confusion

TLDR; totk is an amazing game with a stunning world that lacks a comprehensive story to tell

I hoped that I would get a better understanding why I’m so frustrated by totk, but instead I just feel even more confused by it and I think that’s just how I’ll have to leave it

[arecaceae175]

In response to the Linked Universe patreon:

I am in full support of it. I’m so happy Jojo has taken this step because she has provided us with years and years of completely free content and I want to be able to give back!

I’m also happy she is still going to post the updates on tumblr. That way people who can’t or don’t want to subscribe to the patreon can still see the updates!

I’ve seen a lot of people worried about fandom division, and that’s been on my mind too. So I wanted to share my plan: I am not going to post anything on tumblr about new updates until the updates are released here. No one share anything about extra sketches that are just for patreon or repost them because that is stealing and wrong.

To be able to still capture the adrenaline rush of new updates and sharing my thoughts, I am going to write my thoughts in a tumblr post and save it in my drafts until the updates are released on tumblr. That way, the fandom will still have the special feeling of screaming about the updates with each other :D

Since Jojo isn’t very active on tumblr anymore, it’s easy to forget she’s just a person. She’s a Zelda fan just like the rest of us. We shouldn’t bring negativity to her posts any more than we would another smaller comic creator. If you want to talk about any negative feelings you have regarding this decision, the reblogs or comments of her post are absolutely not the place to do that. Jojo absolutely has the right to ask for payments for her content, and she will still be giving it to tumblr for free! You will not be losing your comic.

I will admit I have been guilty of this kind of thing too. Since LU is so big, it’s easy to treat it as source material and do things like post screenshots without credit. I have been working on doing better about that- I have gone back and added (Photo Credit to linkeduniverse) with a proper tag on all screenshot posts I’ve made. And I am trying to not do things like that in the future. That will include not sharing patreon content anywhere else.

So yeah. I am happy to be able to support Jojo and I am still hopeful for the fandom. :D

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

Should the dev team have committed to Zelda's draconification being permanent and have her stay a dragon at the end, and would that have made for a more honest and poignant ending than the one we got? Some fans think that the ending we got renders her sacrifice completely meaningless and devoid of impact.

The dev team absolutely should NOT have committed to Zelda’s draconification. It would have ruined the entire story and narrative for Zelda’s character and Hyrule itself.

Some people think it made the sacrifice meaningless and devoid of impact. . . But it didn’t. Her choice was her own and it was a statement of dedication to Link and Hyrule as a whole. It was also utterly tragic that she had to do this in order to heal the Master Sword. I am still in utter distress whenever I play the game and watch the memories, despite knowing the ending. Because it’s the tragedy she endured willingly that makes the sacrifice meaningful, not the permanence of it. The sacrifice would hold no value had it been a choice Zelda made knowing she would be reverted.

She didn’t. She thought it was permanent.

And I’m honestly tired of some of these fans just not wanting a happy ending for her character. She deserves peace and a happy life. That’s what she got, which is absolutely justified. And those who think of a story so plainly and only at the big picture miss the details and narratives that point directly towards the ending we actually got.

Let’s talk about if she didn’t turn back.

Firstly, we can start with simple things that personally can be reworked in the future but would create a hurdle for the devs in the future— Zelda would never die as a dragon, she is an immortal being. The Zelda series is quite literally founded upon a reincarnation cycle between Zelda, Link, and Ganon. And only one of them is linked through blood: Zelda. That would cause a bump in the whole reincarnation foundation.

Beyond that, Zelda’s character development would suffer with this choice becoming permanent.

Any fan upset by the ending doesn’t understand the implications of Zelda being granted a second chance. She dedicated her entire life before the calamity to training and praying, only to have her magic awaken AFTER the champions, her father, and nearly Link are killed. Her efforts for the next century keep her body suspended in time and keeps Ganon at bay through her light power. When she wakes up, she is granted a ‘second chance’. In reality, it is simply the life she fought for and rightfully deserved.

So after she made Hyrule her home again, unifying the scarcely populated land and invigorating its culture, she is once again forced to sacrifice everything. This time, she does so as a leader and as one who holds such strong power. Her journey as a Queen leads her to become the very leader she WANTS to be, not the one she was constantly reprimanded to be by her father and the old kingdom. And she learns this throughout her time in the past, with Rauru as her guide.

And that leads us to this point: the belief that to rule is to give up everything.

But where others are punished for this choice (despite Zelda’s warnings, Rauru’s ignorance of Ganondorf’s power leads to Sonia and his own death), Zelda is REWARDED for her choices.

Because she did not just claim that another will defeat Ganondorf and seal him away until present day like Rauru.

Zelda did much more. She raised the sky islands, made a promise with Mineru, solidified the aid of the sages, collected the Master Sword and chose to give LINK the best chance he could have against Ganondorf. Zelda did every single thing she could to ensure Ganondorf would be defeated. She even aids in the final battle, as her will is to end that evil and grant Hyrule the peace she herself will (presumably, to her own knowledge) never experience.

So when she is rewarded for her efforts, by being bathed in sacred light and her body reversed to its previous state. . . It is entirely in line with the narrative thus far. Additionally, Rauru and Sonia present themselves as a ‘second chance parents’ for Zelda. A supportive, patient father in Rauru. A guiding teacher and mother in Sonia.

Tears of the Kingdom mirrors Breath of the Wild in terms of Zelda’s development and story. To give an ending where Zelda remains a dragon. . . It would have been tragic and dishonest to the story that we got.

If you want to read something more in depth and not written by someone with one eye open, this post grants a well rounded answer to this question.

[fangirlingpuggle]

Very dumb BOTW AU idea with Dad Teba.

Link wakes up early from the shrine of resurrection Zelda doesn’t notice as not expecting him to wake up for good few years, Link somehow ends up at Rito village with no memories and no idea what’s happening.

Teba finds him and is like ‘Whose feral child is this?welp guess mine now’

Link spends years in Rito village until when he was actually meant to wake up.

Zelda communicating with the shrine of resurrection only to find it empty 'you must save hyrule you..Link?...Link?...WHERE IS HE? ‘

Link eventually finds out about his mission and that he is the champion

Teba: No way you can’t go fight the divine beasts that would be insane!

Saki:…

Saki:Yes! Who would be stupid enough to do that

Teba:…um

Link frees Vah Medoh and realises he has to defeat Gannon and doesn’t want his dad to get hurt again so he goes off alone…. Or he thinks alone Tulin snuck into his pack. He wanted to help.

He and Sidon have the my big sibling is the best competition, and the I’m Link biggest fan competition.  

Saki and Teba figure out their kids have gone off and so they go off after them.

Link is fighting another Divine beast

Link: Oh man I am dead

Saki in the distance: YOUNG MAN YOU ARE SO GROUNDED

Link:…

Link:OH I am actually dead

Mad Mom is much angrier than divine beasts or any of the blights

Revalink Bonus: Link gets his memories back/remembers feelings for Revali (Now that he knows more Rito customs and a better understanding realises Revali was flirting/courting him)

Teba finds out and is now trying to figure out how to give a shovel talk to someone whose already dead?

Bonus: Revali comes back and doesn’t realise link knos all the rito customs and so starts doing courting stuff and doesn’t realise Link knows what he’s doing now

[habken]

Off the top of my head, I recall you being into MHA, MP100, and ATLA. What other media are you into? Do they have acronyms of their own?

Also, are you open to recommendations via asks?

Big fan of soul eater ! And skyrim/elder scrolls, hades, legend of zelda, pokemon, star wars, tmnt, jujustu kaisen (jjk), witch hat atelier (wha), chainsaw man (csm), madoka magica (pmmm), and a million other things lol

I’m totally open to recommendations!

[pocketseizure]

I’m a big fan of 2D Zelda games, and I loved the Link’s Awakening remake for Nintendo Switch. The dungeon-building minigame in Link’s Awakening was flawed, but it had potential. I’m thrilled to see this potential realized in its own dedicated game, and I think it’s marvelous that Zelda gets to be the hero. Solving navigation puzzles by means of Animal Crossing style furniture placement is a neat mechanic, and it plays to Nintendo's strengths as a developer.

Given that the Switch is nearing the end of its lifecycle, Echoes of Wisdom seems like an interesting experiment with the series formula that might lead to even more intriguing experiments in the next mainline 3D game. I'm excited to see the Legend of Zelda series developing in a new direction!

[thebastardjetrocks]

I do have a big question (which I assume will be answered), which is why are so many of the NPCs we’ve grown to love being seemingly removed from the season?

Ayda & Aguefort are off on a ‘holiday’ through time.

Zelda & Tracker have both broken up with their respective Bad Kid love interest. And honestly? A part of me assumes that the only reason Ayda is MIA rather than having also broken up with Fig is because Emily was already so tempted to retire Fig entirely so she could have her ‘happy ending’.

Gilear and Halariel are off on a cruise. And Cathilda is, seemingly MIA?

Aelwyn has moved out and gotten a whole ass job in less than a year (which like, while I love that for her, it does feel kind of unrealistic? Everything else at least somewhat makes sense imo).

I just, idk. I trust that Brennan (and presumably the rest of the cast to an extent) had good reasons for doing all this. It seems like the point of a lot of this season is to tear the bad kids out of their own comfort zones and see how they cope, at least based on the preview we got for next week. But idk, I’m just kind of sad that it seems like we’re not going to be seeing much - if any - of so many fan favourites

[ganondoodle]

Oh man I saw your totk issues post and I agree 100%!! Those are all things that have really bothered me about playing totk, and things that made playing it not nearly as fun (the dungeons, the shrines, the building, etc).

Especially the map!! When I tell you I was so disappointed by the maps on totk, I was hoping for something new! It really just feels like a modded botw, not an official sequel.

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the concept of “what if they had sent link to the past instead”? So the surface map would feature huge differences in the land forms and buildings that exist, and we’d get to see more ganon whenever he visits Hyrule, or go out to the desert to see Gerudo town, etc.

If they really wanted no sheika tech, they could also just have it being newly built? And you could introduce the new characters and such, etc etc.

(I also think the past champions are such a missed opportunity? If botw is about grief and loneliness, and finding hope in the hopeless, and Totk is about coming together despite that, it could have been really interesting if Link had gone to the past! They could have used the past setting as an eerie reminder to what Link and Zelda had lost when the Calamity struck!)

THAT BEING SAID: I’m not as familiar with the legend of Zelda lore, and haven’t played totk very much! I wanted to know your thoughts on this because you seem to have a lot of story and game mechanic knowledge that could explain why this could be a bad/good idea!

(Plus, your discussions are always super interesting to read, as is your custom totk lore, so I’d love to know what you think🩷)

I’m sorry if you’ve already answered an ask like this! If that’s the case, feel free to point that out and I’ll go through your ask tag if you have one:) I hope you have a great day!⭐️

Hi!

im glad you enjoy my rants, i often feel like im being overly mean but tbh were else could i just rant as much as my heart desires without getting spammed by annoying people (certainly not on twitter lol)

i have talked alot, and i mean ALOT, about totk and my issues with it, both lore and gameplay wise, i dont claim to be an expert on any, though i am an old zelda fan and aspiring gamedev, i really only talk about what i feel about it, what i think about it, and by all means im biased as hell xD

if you dont know yet, the "ganondoodles rants" tag is where all my rants go, so if you are interested in reading more on my totk thoughts thats the way to search (given tumblrs search in blog works ..)

and to answers your question, i have touched on it briefly, sending link back in time before the shiekah tech existed would have been an easy way to excuse how they jsut got .. rid of it, bc they didnt, it literally didnt exist yet- and for reusing the map- though that argument falls a little flat bc ... they coud have already done that in present totk, like i brought up in one of said rants, things like flooding gerudo desert, collapsing death mountain, drying out zoras domain etc, and changing the location of the main populations would have already done alot without having to redo the map in its entirety;

the little changes to map itself really wouldnt that big of a deal if they didnt also send you to the EXACT same locations AND repeat the SAME LOCATIONS AGAIN but in the underground, like thats a fact i have talked about multiple times bc its so illogical in every way, anywhere theres a settlement on the surface theres a bigger mine below, its so stupid, the shrines conenct to a lightroot, the same, again, you dont need to explore bc theres nothing TO explore (its also extra weird bc theres one below taburasa (tarrey town) which .... link literally build with dumsda (hudson) a few years ago .. unless that got retconned too idk wth do i know anymore honestly- AND it makes the sonau extra weird bc why the hell do they have a bigass mine under every settlement ESPECIALLY UNDER GERUDO TOWN like, that just adds to my suspicions towards them)

anyway, link to the past was the point and yes, it could have solved a few issues (mainly shiekah tech and the whole "story" taking place AGAIN in the past completely disconnected from you the player) i personally am not so much a fan of it, but that mostly comes down to me just not liking time travel, i dont like going back in time, i want to play and do things in the here and now, i want to repair the damages of the calamity, find out its origins, maybe fix that too, i love to learn about past stuff too, but that more in text, no literal flashback (unless done well), i want to connect to the past but it also holds alot of mystery that maybe shouldnt be touched upon, some mysteries and unkowns are much more interesting when left as such, i want to THINK about things and come to conclusions that are logical and makes sense in hindsight even if it wasnt clear at the start, i dont want information and what to think about it told to my face over and over like im stupid

after botw i really didnt care much about the past, maybe about the acient hero who alot of people specualted to be of gerudo origin due to its red hair- which also got a monkeys paw curled bc in totk they do sth with but its so stupid and insulting that i do not accept it as canon, say what they want, there are no dog people anywhere in the past nor present botw/totk wtf is that i hate it- and its not even .. why is that the reward for that, it has literally NOTHING TO DO WITH TOTK ITSELF I COULD YELLLL AAAARGH

main point is that really, i wanted to explore the past .. in the present, i hoped to find broken old shiekah structures, old labs and maybe some left over damage and records from when the old king persecuted the shiekah for their tech, i wanted to know where the ancient energy the shiekah used was coming from, what the boss arena in the middle of hyrule castle really was- so many things just discarded and acted like they never happened or mattered; i dont want to travel into the past, i want to discover whats left of it, piece it together, discover dark secrets you can ask no one about bc all that knew about it are long gone- thats what intrigued me about botw, it felt like there was so much left to discover only for totk to throw it all away and just do its own thing .. but not commit to that hard enough either so its neither its own thing nor a sequel-

.. that wasnt really what you wanted to know was it? xD sorry i tend to ramble on if someone seems to give me permission to

to sum it up, i think it COULD work, sending link to the past instead, if done well, but so could canon totk have been, it could have been done well but wasnt for reasons i dont know and tbh even fear bc i worry its sets a dark future ahead of zelda; i personalyl am just not a fan of time travel so i dont have that much to say to it :O

[theriu]

By a stroke of unexpected blessing, I acquired an actual in-store copy of LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom! Behold!

And the natural first thing to do was inform my niece and nephew who are also avidly awaiting it. This was quickly followed by impromptu arrangements for a Cool Aunt Sleepover including said niece and nephew and also another niece and nephew. We took turns playing through the intro and exploring the first map and completely lost track of time! And now, slightly out of context potential spoilers under the cut as I recount our reactions and my favorite moments of the night:

[Link crawling on the ceiling like a lizard while Older Nephew searches for Clues] Zelda: Oh! Link, the master sword is glowing! [Link back on the ground, but tbf she totally could have noticed the sword glowing while he was crawling on the ceiling]

“[Older Nephew], can you PLEASE keep moving?” “I need to click Zelda a fifth time to make sure we got all the dialogue!”

Awwwwww ZELDA IS A LIL HISTORY NERD BLESS HER HEART

“Those rocks are definitely patterned like breakable rocks. I bet we can come back later and break them.” “Yeah they are you’re probably right.” (We were not right.)

Older Nephew: “Just what is Ganon smoking for there to be so much? He must have horrible lung problems.”

Me, totally nervous about upcoming creepy scene: “[Younger Nephew] you’re gonna need to leave pretty soon, this next scene is probably gonna be SUPER CREEPY” (It was indeed creepy but nowhere NEAR as creepy as I expected from the trailers, altho I did close my eyes for the one head-turning part, dont judge me)

Older Nephew: “Yeah, dead Ganon. Ganon without water. Dehydrated Ganon.”

“SO THAT’S HOW THEY RESET HIS STATS”

[Everyone to Younger Nephew] “You can come back in now!”

“Where did his shirt go?” “Magic” “Why are his PANTS gone?” “No idea”

[After finding pants] “Did we miss his shirt?!” [The quest for a shirt continues]

“The portal is down there—“ “I KNOW I’m EXPLORING”

Link really just walked up to a giant drop into open air without his parasail and went “Time to yeet,” no answers given and no questions asked. Classic.

“Giant lilypads!”

“I found a STICK!”

“NEW MUSHROOMS!!!”

[Everyone while Older Niece was breaking pots] “Destroy ancient relics! Demolish personal property for cash! Commit vandalism!”

Older Niece decides her talents are better served livetexting our progress on Discord.

Younger Niece is delighted that the new fuzzy race have big wing-shaped ears like her original character and is now calling Rauru her grandfather.

“I bet you can ride the emus!” (You can’t and I’m still mad about it)

[While I am searching a tree for eggs] Older Nephew: “Are there any eggs? Do we get to consume a bird’s children-to-be?”

Younger Nephew ends turn early because he hasn’t learned how to hit yet and there is an enemy robot RIGHT OVER THERE. Understandable, really.

Older Nephew slides down to explore dangerous ledge hovering over the abyss. Younger Nephew, repeatedly: “This is dumb.” Me: “Yeah, it is.” Older Nephew: [finds a hidden chest] Me: “Never mind!”

Older Nephew has dubbed first hand power Magic Superglue. I don’t remember what it’s actually called, so apparantly it stuck (ha!)

“THE KOROKS ARE BACK!” [cheering]

The children cheering me on as I fuse six giant blocks into SUPER BRIDGE

Accidentally glueing comically small-by-comparison crate to the very corner of Super Bridge

Younger Niece gets jumpscared by an emu BOLTING out of the trees RIGHT AT THE SCREEN. Gameplay paused while room recovers from laughing fits.

“We can FUSE STUFF INTO NEW WEAPONS?!! This is the BEST THING EVER!!!” [Older Nephew and Younger Niece conduct rigorous experiments resulting in some actually cool weapons, a stambulb arrow, and an apple stick.]

REVENGE OF YOUNGER NEPHEW: Comes out of shrine and destroys a robot in two hits with Boulder Sword.

[After 2 1/2 hours] “WE FOUND HIS SHIRT!!!” [cheering]

“You hit the fans to make them work!” [Older Nephew forgets to unequip ax and obliterates half the raft]

Utterly delighted over discovering the glow seed arrow trick myself while ineffectively trying to kill a robot.

Younger Niece: “How come you always find the eggs?” Me: I’m just that good. It’s because I own birds.”

[Group hilarity] “MINE CART SHIELD!”

[Group insanity] “MINE CART HAMMER!!!!”

And that’s when I looked at the clock and realized it was 1:30 in the morning, so we wrapped up and went to bed. AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

[bizabumblebee]

tell us about yunobo

why's he ur funky lil guy

id love to hear why

This is a very good ask I don’t think I’ve ever actually told anyone why I like Yunobo so much

Preemptive spoiler alert for both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom by the way

(Also this turned into a bit of a character analysis on Yunobo I’m so sorry it’s so ridiculously long lmao)

Personally my favorite Zelda “race” or whatever has always been gorons, huge fellas who mine rocks and eat rocks and are rocks, just big ol walking boulders with kind souls, I think they’re very silly and cute. But I really like Yunobo because he’s not really like any of the other gorons (He’s not like other girls!!), because he’s so much more… emotional? I guess? In each of the Goron race’s appearances throughout the Zelda games they’re portrayed pretty much the same way, either tough and brave and heroic (Like Darunia, Daruk and Darmani), or chill and generally nonchalant (Like… pretty much every other goron). Though they are kind and playful, they’re also tough and unmoving as stone. Yunobo (on a surface level), is neither of these things. When you first meet him in BotW he runs and yelps in fear, and a great portion of the fan base calls him a coward because of this. He’s very unsure of himself, and unsure of a lot of things in general. In the artbook “Creating a Champion”, his description is as follows:

“Yunobo is the grandchild of the Champion Daruk. He has an adult body but still has some growing up to do. He is easily frightened by monsters and isn't exactly what one might call brave, but, driven by thoughts of protecting his people, he gathers enough courage to aid Link in quelling the Divine Beast Vah Rudania. He is earnest and naive, readily believing nearly anything anyone tells him.”

So yeah. He’s a scaredy-cat. He’s a pushover. He’s incredibly naive and a bit childish.

AND YET.

He helped save his people, and the entirety of Hyrule… TWICE. Because he is brave. Bravery is not an immediate heroic desire to face any danger for the sake of the greater good.

It is action in spite of fear.

He is afraid. He’s unsure, and he’s flighty, and he’s defensive. But he swallows these fears and chooses to act in spite of them, helping link to take back control of Vah Rudania, and saving his people. For me, seeing the journey Yunobo takes to find his courage is a lot more satisfying than if he were just already a brave go-getter from the moment you meet him.

And then things get even more interesting in the second game (again, spoilers for TotK ahead).

After he helps Link take back Vah Rudania and Calamity Ganon is defeated, Yunobo goes right to helping his people recover from the the post-calamity craziness. He’s incredibly devoted to them. He’s a helper through and through, willing to do anything it takes for the sake of others. His loyalty knows absolutely no bounds. But unfortunately, this can get the better of him.

Like when his good friend “Zelda” shows up and gives him some weird mask and tells him to put it on.

Honestly, when I saw Yunobo for the first time in TotK, I was one of the many people who was terrified that Nintendo might have made him an asshole for no reason. I mean, they gave Sidon a wife so people would stop shipping him with Link, I wouldn’t put it past them (totally backfired though lol, now they’re just a polycule).

But instead they had actually put him into one of my favorite character tropes: self-conscious but good-natured character easily susceptible to corruption (See: Luigi [SPM], Bolin [TLoK], Locksley [AS:TNC] -they’re all also green for some reason? Crazy). I really like this particular trope because it shows the very real (and frankly scary) way that those with the best intentions can most easily be led astray. As someone who’s kinda struggled with having a people-pleaser personality (incredibly susceptible to peer-pressure, neglecting my own needs over the needs of others, not able to set boundaries, etc), this trope is a relatable cautionary tale for me. Those who just want to help more often than not end up helping those with bad intentions without realizing.

Buuuuut I won’t go too far into all that (it’ll get sad fast eugh)

My main point is that Yunobo is brave, kind, and loyal (even to a fault), and for me that’s a wonderful formula for a character as nervous and dopey as him. Yeah he’s got rocks for brains, but he’s got a heart as big as a lynel’s. I don’t throw this term around liberally but I would say he could definitely count as a himbo.

Ugggghhh this is getting too long ffs. I’ll just list a couple more reasons why he’s important to me specifically.

He is… very large. Ahem. I like big fellas. You know how it is. ANYWAY

He’s a bit dopey but he’s definitely not incompetent. He’s the president of a highly successful mining company and he’s helped save Goron City (and the entirety of Hyrule) TWICE. That’s pretty cool. I’ve seen a lot of people shit on him in the first game for “always getting spotted by the drones” but like. Dude that’s your fault. He told you he would come when called and stop when told to, it’s on you if he walks into a searchlight.

He’s got very intriguing lore (to me at least), that leaves a lot of room for speculation. Like, he’s the “grandson” of Daruk, but how does that work?? Gorons are born from the mountain itself, they don’t give birth. There’s a pair of Gorons in TotK that call themselves “brothers” (still a bit confusing since most gorons throughout the series call each other brother anyway), but they explain it was because they were born in the same cave at the same time, so they’re like family. Does this mean Yunobo was just born in the same cave Daruk was, and therefore inherited his “genes” and his magical abilities? Maybe! Maybe it’s a really cool special cave, right at the summit or something, where his whole lineage was born all the way back to the first sage of fire. Cool stuff to think about!

He’s not the leader of his people, in either game. That job belongs to Bludo. In the second game he’s definitely got a lot more influence and does occupy a position of leadership, but he’s not the chief. He’s just some Goron. The role of aiding link in both games is thrust onto him entirely because of his lineage. But he takes responsibility for it. He understands the power he holds, both as a champion’s descendant and as the Sage of Fire, and he steps up to the role. He feels a responsibility to his people and his city, even despite not being its official leader like the other champion’s descendants. That’s pretty cool.

He’s very sweet! I’ve talked about how kind and caring he is already but there’s a difference between doing it with a stoic sense of heroism or duty, and doing it with a big dopey grin and a genuine care for those he cares about. He’s often unsure and self-conscious, and yet he’s surprisingly optimistic about most things a lot of the time. He has a big smile (most gorons do), but he has an absolutely heart-melting laugh. I often tear up during the cutscene in which he sees the spirit of Daruk reclaiming Vah Rudania, him laughing and waving with such genuine joy and excitement, aghhhh it’s too much. Joe Hernandez certainly did a great job putting authenticity into Yunobo’s (and Daruk’s) emotions, this cutscene especially.

He has the best secret stone ability (gameplay wise). You cannot change my mind. Tulin is great for mobility and the other two are fine for tactical combat stuff, but none of them even come close to the versatility and power of Yunobo. Don’t have any good rock-breaking weapons and don’t want to use up bombs or zonai devices? Yunobo! Using a control stick-operated machine and can’t pull out your bow to snipe that pesky aerocuda? Yunobo! Wanna separate a big group of enemies from each other without wasting bombs? Yunobo! And don’t even get me started on the fact that when he’s on a vehicle, he’s got zero cooldown. You can hop on a hoverboard and decimate a molduga just by dribbling Yunobo on its head like a basketball.

All this being said I certainly think Yunobo is too often overlooked by fans for “being a coward”, or just… being a Goron? Gorons in general have often been a bit neglected in favor of the other more serious, conventionally attractive and *cough* slimmer *cough* Zelda races. It’s a bit disheartening seeing the amount of fan artists who don’t even have a clue how to approach drawing Yunobo or Daruk, simply because they don’t know how to draw bulky, fat or muscled characters. But I won’t preach too much on the subject, haha.

Long story short, I love Yunobo a whole lot and I’d love to give him a big hug and a smooch. That’s about it :))))

Also here’s a little sketch I made of him as a bonus for reading all that haha

[cerame]

I’m a really big fan of mask because my favorite game is majoris mask so could you please Draw him some

Yes of course!

Mask might be in his edgy teenager phase, but he’s still pretty dang cool.

A few notes on Mask:

Is legally required to be friends with his Zelda

Spends most of his time at Lon Lon Ranch

Has had the same hairstyle since he was a kid

Still has the masks and very much respects them

Alternates between the biggoron sword and the gilded sword in combat, depending on the situation

He lost his eye sometime after the events of Majora’s Mask

Knows very few dances, but Kamaro’s dance is definitely one of them

[campbyler]

this is part of a longer ask and we didn’t want this response to get lost in the sauce, so here’s a separate post about it! brought to you once again by thea who is the only #gamer #girl 😵‍💫

mike: mike is Such a nintendo fanboy to me and a big fan of the legend of zelda series! his favorite entries are breath of the wild, tears of the kingdom, and twilight princess. he also is a big fan of the story of skyward sword! i don’t know if we will ever mention it in acswy, but he is in the middle of his totk playthrough as the fic is progressing, so he does spend a lot of his free time with his switch! i think he also plays mario games and a firm metroid enjoyer!

will: animal crossing mostly! he likes to watch other people play video games more than he likes playing them himself, especially horror games. i think he has also dabbled in pikmin, kirby, and yoshi games, but gets stressed out easily as the player, so he doesn’t play them a lot!

max: biiiig big fan of the last of us entries and red dead 2 but also like. all the bratz games. duality of woman

el: Any Farming Sim. loves stardew and story of seasons the most! and sims 4. i also think she likes puzzle games like unpacking and a little to the left! and 2 me she is a surprisingly formidable smash opponent.

lucas: final fantasy and kingdom hearts for sure! and the spiderman entries for ps4/5. i also think he played tekken and timesplitter as a kid. if he’s playing nintendo it’s mario or yoshi! mike begs pleads cries and throws up for lucas to play zelda but atp he won’t budge just to annoy mike 💙 he will watch mike play tho and look up a walkthrough for him if he needs it!

dustin: i think dustin loves classic platformers like crash bandicoot and spyro and is a big fan of the fire emblem series bc it’s very strategy oriented. he’s definitely more into pc games than the rest of the party as well! i’m not a huge pc gamer myself so i’m not gonna throw out any specific titles other than obviously minecraft LOL he also strikes me as a banjo and kazooie and jak and daxter fan. also chibi robo bot!

[zeldadeservesabreak]

I thought people would be smarter about the news of a Zelda movie, but nope… we are descending into Mario Movie levels of hysteria over nothing.

And I do mean nothing. Miyamoto just announced they’re beginning development on it. Not production… development. That’s industry code for pre-pre-production. No one has been cast. No one has been enlisted to make the costumes, sets, visual effects, or even script yet. This is literally just the beginning talks about how and what they want to do.

Nintendo is a very SAFE company. They don’t generally take big risks if they can help it. That’s exactly what they did with the Mario Movie. They played it safe. They got big name actors who all played their roles as safely as possible, and the film made a BILLION DOLLARS. They did the same with Detective Pikachu. Not a bad movie, but a bit of a sleeper hit.

And that’s what we are going to get out of a Zelda film. Big name actors, fantasy special effects and cgi, Link will talk and he’ll sound completely normal, and the writing on par with other Nintendo made films. It will be a solid B+ to A- film at its worse, and a A++ at its best.

This is being produced by someone who helped work on Into the Spiderverse and it’s being written by someone who wrote Detective Pikachu. Nintendo has favorable relations with both parties already, which is why they trust them to work with. This is what I mean about Nintendo playing it SAFE. They’ve already worked with these people before so they know what to expect and what they’ve produced has been good.

Remember that producer and writing credits are not quantifiable metrics. The guy who wrote Superhero Movie and The Hangover also wrote Chernobyl and The Last of Us.

And for those people freaking out about Marvel and Tom Holland… stop it. No, seriously STOP it. No one has been cast in this film yet, but because you dumb-shits are having aneurisms about Tom Holland all of the news ai bots are picking up on your chatter and reporting it as news. And if enough of those reports get picked up by news outlets, Tom Holland’s agent will probably submit him as a contender for real. So if you REALLY don’t want him to play Link… STOP MANIFESTING IT TO HAPPEN!

I’m so annoyed right now.

I’m annoyed at the internet and it’s ability to cause people to freak out over nothing and turn what should be a good thing into a nightmare for no good reason.

I genuinely don’t understand how fans of Nintendo can’t see beyond the last 5 minutes. ANYONE with a basic knowledge of Nintendo’s history will understand that this is 100% completely on par for them. There’s nothing to worry about. You’re repeating the Chris Pratt is Mario freak out all over again, and that ultimately turned out FINE.

So please….Stop it.