Collection Oddities: Zelda Bootleg Crossbow Toy

 Let me start off by saying this is NOT an official Legend of Zelda item. It is in no way associated with Nintendo or any other company that owns a license for making Nintendo products. Normally we do not support companies or individuals who deal in "unofficial" merchandise, but occasionally we see something that's completely unlike anything available officially (often for good reason, see the Sailor Moon Car Pencil Box) and we add it to our collection.

That in mind we bring you the Crossbow Training Crossbow.

Completely Generic (wink,wink) Crossbow Training!

 Now with the above "this is a filthy dirty nasty bootleg" disclaimer in mind, you do have to give this a bit of credit. It doesn't actually have the audacity to claim it's in any way associated with the legend of Zelda franchise. It just happens to have a blonde elf like young man in a green suit on the package, who just happens to be posed similarly on the official product. Most of us have probably encountered someone's Original Character creation who looks surprisingly similar but absolutely IS NOT LINK. (Kind of like how this character absolutely NOT Vincent Valentine from FFVII) It could also just happen to use the same lettering as the official release of Link's Crossbow Training on the Wii. So it's possible that the link between this item and the Legend of Zelda franchise is all our heads...but probably not. Regardless it's time to take it out of package.

Gun + Bow = Crossbow!

So here it is in all it's glory along. Though I forgot to take a shot of it with it's "quiver" of arrows, but there's not a lot to see there, it's a piece of plastic that holds plastic arrows yay! There was some assembly required, but it mostly consisted of turning the bow part sideways and sticking it onto the gun part. There was also a piece to help keep the bow straight on the gun, but I broke mine trying it put it in. It didn't seem to effect the performance at all though.

It's made of super lightweight cheap plastic with a weathered bronze metallic finish. It has surprisingly detailed and attractive molded designs all over it. Though as a point for the "this is an original creation, completely unlike Zelda." argument, the designs look like some sort of low brow steam punk knock off rather than the Crossbow link actually uses in the game:

Link's Official Crossbow

Functionally speaking it works, but it's not great. First to set an arrow you have to hold the trigger pull back the bowstring and the release the trigger while you're holding the string back to lock it into place once you've done that you can slide the arrow in, just make sure it's completely in it's proper groove or it will split the bottom and top pieces of the gun, like you'd expect with any quality piece of craftsmanship such as this. Once you've carefully set the arrow, you have to hope that all that nonsense about arrows being useless at point blank range is completely fabricated because you have about a 5 foot range and even then it flies pretty slowly, so you'd probably have trouble taking out anything stronger than a Keese made of paper. On that note, for a crossbow "training" toy, it's conspicuously devoid of targets or other training aids, so you probably will be making those paper Keese. Or you could always shoot at your friends and loved ones provided you aim away from the face and they're willing to stand approximately 5 feet away from you.

Locked and loaded for point blank mayhem!

Overall, it's an interesting oddity, but once it's out of the package it has zero identifiable connection to the Zelda franchise or link. Leaving you with a so/so cheap plastic toy. These have been floating around eBay lately for cheap, so if you're enchanted by the novelty of a Zelda bootleg that's not just a crappy rehash of an official item, get one. For most collector's though, it's not going to be worth the space it takes up on your shelf.

~Stephanie

Don't forget to stop by our shop:

Notes on Demise from Zelda Skyward Sword

There are totally spoilery things in this entry, but if you've read anything about Skyward Sword you've probably seen anything that's going to be covered here as I don't plan on going into too much of the plot line.

I'm aware that I am totally late to the "my thoughts about Skyward Sword" Party. I had the game pre-ordered and got it right away and started playing it right away, so theoretically, I could have done this back whenever every other Nintendo fanboy/fangirl  was doing it, but I didn't because I kept getting bored with the game and finding other things to do, I've gotten to the end finally so I feel like I can appropriately make my comments now. I'm not going to go into all my various grievances with the game as a whole (at least not right now), I just want to talk about one little element, Demise.

Demise is your main antagonist in the game and while he has the common decency to stay in one spot and start trouble rather than following you from temple to temple, it pretty much always comes back to demise. Now my problem with this is that demise starts off as  The Imprisoned. As far as I'm concerned, it's cute, not terrifying. I mean look at this thing:

The Imprisoned

Sure he's got big pointy teeth, but they just add to the cuteness. I mean look at those little wiggly toes. My first encounter with him, was not upsetting, it just made me giggly. In spite of their obvious design differences his armless largely faceless appearance reminded me of the Mome Raths in Alice in Wonderland. While the Mome Rath thing might just be me, clearly it's not just me thinking it's cute, if this plushie and it's responses are any indication.

The imprisioned form of Demise does go through a few "upgrades" and while once is grows arms it does remind me less of a Mome Rath, it does not get any less cute. In fact it's arms are so gangly and silly looking it might actually be cuter.

The Imprisoned 2nd form

 Later on it even flies, but it's basically as the same as the arm one only with a halo.  In spite of the fact that each of these subsequent incarnations causes bigger and more annoying problems for Link, it was hard to take him seriously at any point. That being said I could live with demise being perfectly silly after all the game take great pains to let you know that he isn't at full power in any of those incarnations. So basically that it's an adorable big bumbling monster, is something to be thankful for, not mock.

However as one would expect that's not the final word on Demise. Eventually Demise gets all his unimaginable power and becomes Akuma from Street Fighter.

Demise from Skyward Sword

Now it's possible you've been living under a large rock for awhile and don't really know much about street fighter or Akuma.  This is Akuma:

Akuma from Street Fighter

Still not convinced? Here's the handy split screen version:

Demise and Akuma are totally the same guy

I think the Split Screen version is pretty irrefutable evidence that Akuma got tired of being Dragon Punched and Cannon Drilled and decided to take out his demonic rage on what would become Hyrule. Which if it were the official story of the game, I personally would enjoy. But there's a whole contingent of people who argue, sure maybe he kind of looks like Akuma, but it's clearly supposed to be a precursor to Ganon/Ganondorf. I admit the game certainly makes it seem that way, except well, this is Ganon:

link to the Past Ganon

And if you're not as old school, this is Ganondorf (different from ganon if you buy into the human beast form having 2 different names thing):

Ocarina of Time Ganondorf

And this is Ganon, and this is Ganon even this is Ganon, and well I could go on for quite awhile, but I won't because the point is the Demise to Ganon thing doesn't work for me. Demise is clearly an Akuma who wandered into the wrong game universe.

So basically Nintendo brought me and the other Zelda fans an antagonist who starts off cute and becomes an escapee from another game franchise. This would be annoying in any game, but Skyward Sword was touted as the definitive back story of the whole Zelda saga, making it especially heinous. Would it really have been so hard to create a legitimate demon precursor to one of the most important and well known characters in all of gaming History?

I don't say this that often, but I'm really disappointed in you Nintendo. I feel like you've done a great disservice to the franchise.

~Stephanie

[NOTE]

Since it came up in a comment, I'd like to point out A) I don't actually believe Nintendo stole Akuma's character design, I think it was more giving him a generic "demonic" character design. B) I'm aware of that particular generic design has some roots in Japanese folklore. For more on either of those things I left a pretty lengthy reply to anon comment to this entry.

Don't forget to stop by our shop:

Collection oddities: Mario and Zelda II Halloween Decorations

It's October 30th so it's quite and understatement to say we're a little behind on doing Halloween themed posts, but I've got a good one today: Some super vintage Mario and Zelda II Halloween decorations. We spotted these on auction a few weeks ago and HAD to have them.

This is an official set from 1989 with the official Nintendo seal of quality so you know you're getting only the finest crack approved by Nintendo. They're flocked too so you can finally fulfill your fantasies of stroking Mario's Velvet-Soft Pumpkin.

First up the Mario 2 side:

I'm a little disappointed that it's clearly just the same art we always see from Mario 2 merchandise stuck in with some Halloween themed stuff instead of new art. However, that being said Mario + Halloween=Happy Nerd , so I'm still thrilled with the concept enough that it's OK that it's old art.

Naturally there are some things I'm not as OK, like why doesn't even freaking Nintendo know that Bowser wasn't in Mario 2?

Dressing up Bowser like Wart does not make him Wart nor does it mean he was in the game. Wart was a frog if you played the game you know this, if you've forgotten here he is for reference:

Note how that's a frog and not the demon lizard turtle we've all come to love. The Bowser in Warts clothing problem plagued a lot of the merchandise from this period possibly due to Nintendo of America's inablity to make a frog character look like a frog instead of various other green creatures, but that's a long rant best left for another time.

Moving to more positive things, my favorite part is The Ninji with his little basket full of stars.

I never got stars for Halloween, but maybe it's because I never dressed as a Ninjii. I'll work on that for next year.

Next up the Zelda side:

As you can probably tell from many of my previous posts. I LOVE the Zelda series, I'm a little fanatical about it honestly. So I was even more excited about getting Zelda Halloween decorations than I was the Mario ones. That being said they're kind of a disappointment. They just used straight up Zelda art here they didn't even bother trying to incorporate random Halloween stuff. No I'm not saying that Stalfos aren't a creepy skeletons or that it's isn't an impressively rabid evil Goya.

But c'mon would it have been so hard to put Link in a pumpkin for me? Really?  Also not that I'm sad it's there, but is the Zelda II logo/title really an appropriate Halloween decoration? What's that supposed to say to the trick-or-treaters? Don't bother stopping here, the occupant is too engrossed in Zelda to care about candy? I can't see that there's really one highlight to this set, they're all great and full of Zelda-y goodness. Though if there's one thing I must point out it's that Link's tights are flocked which naturally just invites stroking, our set of decorations is sealed so I can't partake. However, I'm sure somewhere there's some fanfic which will allow me to live vicariously.

 Mostly though this set just makes me wish that Nintendo still made decorations so we could happily display these for a festive mood rather fiercely keep them in the original packing intact like the nerds we are.

~Stephanie

Be sure to stop by our shop:

Collection Update: A Work in Progress Version 2

So last month I posted that we had been spending a lot of time going through our collections and properly organizing/displaying/loving them and while we've been greatly delayed due to some family things that needed attending to we've gotten a lot of work done on our collection room. It still needs a lot of work, but we're getting there.

First up, the doorway, because well, it's a small room so even the doorway needs to be utilized to display stuff.

In this Picture is: A Mario Brothers 2 clock, The Mario Brothers TV tray, The Link Mask, A Mario Transitor Radio, Rare official Nintendo promo pixel graphics,  A vintage (though unofficial) final fantasy 7 poster,  Nintendo Power Backpack with Mario and link (there's also a matching folding inside), Metal Gear 2 complete set of McFarlane figures, Kyo plush from Fruits basket, a unicorn puffkin, Some random unicorns plushies, a stuffed octopus and Matel Legend figure set of Matel and Emeraldas. Off to the left side you can see the first shelf which I'll be describing next.





Now on to the first Shelf MWA HA HA HA!

A LOT more geekery after the jump