#I'm used to Wind Waker style stuff

[mayo-is-an-instrument]

This damn manga and its characters have me in a chokehold

First time drawing Shadow Link in both traditional and digital, trying to find a good style for Four Swords stuff

[multbasa]

The reason why I don't mind that Zelda doesn't wield a sword in Echoes of Wisdom is because I never cared for having a "female Link".

Some people in the past have told me "why play Princess Zelda when Nintendo could just make the main character customizable or have a female option", and honestly, I hate that idea. I think it devalues Link as a character to just make him like the Pokemon Trainer or Squid Kid, and I personally enjoy Link being a more androgynous character which Nintendo really leaned towards in BotW and TotK. If Link is divided into "boy Link" and "girl Link" then that androgyny gets discarded. Not to mention that BotW/TotK made him so bland in so many cutscenes where he barely emotes at all despite having a lot of personality in the rest of the game: making him a generic self insert will just make him more bland out of necessity so people can project onto him. I much prefer Link having his own personality like in Skyward Sword or Wind Waker etc.

I want to play Princess Zelda because she has her own cool powers throughout the series. I don't need to play a female character because it's a female character, I want to play Princess Zelda or other versions of her like Sheik or Tetra because they're unique.

Furthermore, I do enjoy having unique gameplay styles. I'm really interested in Echoes of Wisdom because it is different. The 2D Zelda games don't really have much going on in the sword fighting department compared to the 3D games: they're very straightforward. It would be interesting for them to expand 2D sword fighting in the future somehow but I don't really know what they would do besides "swing sword, block with shield, attack weak point". The ability to summon minions to fight for you and to spawn all sorts of things sounds very exciting to me personally because it's going to be a very different game than past 2D Zeldas.

I hope that in the future we see more and different Princess Zeldas to play, and personally I would love some co-op titles where I can play with someone else. (It was my hopes and dreams for both Link and Zelda to be playable in TotK when it was first teased. Running around Hyrule with someone else like my twin would have been an absolute joy especially if Zelda had her own unique moveset.)

I just prefer variety. I don't play each Zelda game because I can swing a sword, I play it for the Ocarina of Time or the Wind Waker or the Minish Cap or the masks in Majora's Mask or all the other unique aspects of each game. The sword—besides Skyward Sword—is a method to hit stuff with but it's not often the star of the show, and I am usually disappointed when other items are not useful outside of their respective dungeons. I like how Nintendo is trying to incorporate abilities into the broader gameplay rather than specific uses like in the past because it gives me more options that just "identify the specific item needed in this situation" or "hit the weak spots like this with that".

That isn't to say that there can't be criticisms. For instance I noticed that spawning something with the staff is done by pressing the Y button and there's the whole scroll through items thing. I worry that only having one button assigned to this ability means that there will be a lot of menuing. I am hopeful that Zelda will have more options for different items besides the staff because the other face buttons are free for other things. The D pad icon also leaves space for 3 different things on the left too, so I am interested to see what other abilities Zelda will have available to her. Nintendo is not a stranger to hiding things about upcoming games, so I think there is a good chance that there is some else besides the staff in this game.

Anyway, I just wanted to get this off my chest. I am a female tradesperson, so I don't appreciate anyone insinuating that liking the different playstyle is tied to sexism and the idea that Zelda can't wield a sword (she did in Twilight Princess). I just don't think that a sword and shield is something that every game needs especially in a 2D Zelda where the other abilities are generally more interesting to me.

[skyloftsword]

Ranking Zelda stories because I am bored

Happy Easter and Trans Visibility Day! I'm bored and wanted to rank the stories of the 3D Zelda games. Spoilers of course. Ranked from favorite (top) to weakest (bottom). I also won't be including WInd Waker because I never beat it (not the game's fault, I bought HD during the Switch's lifecycle and got tired of the Wii U gamepad). A lot of my problems are just personal gripes and not really criticisms.

Tears of the Kingdom: Controversial placement, I know (I have been literally harassed SEVERAL times over this take, I am disappointed in humanity). It has its issues, but like, what thing DOESN'T have flaws? Everything is flawed, it came free with your entertainment. The plot beats for Tears of the Kingdom are absolutely insane. The Imprisoning War and the events leading up to it all felt connected and relevant to each other and the events in the present. Not to mention watching stuff like the Molduga memory and the Imprisoning War itself was extremely hype. Seeing the interactions between Sonia, Rauru, Zelda and Mineru got me really attached to these characters. The events in the present also feel meaningful and urgent. Your friends from the previous game are ACTUALLY in trouble in this game and not just being stalked by a giant robot that's doing nothing. The Sages also felt more connected than the Champions ever did. The camera not being locked behind a backtracking quest this time was cool too. Overall, this game's story hit the hardest, especially with the Dragon Tears quest.

Skyward Sword: Great story with a great cast. Backtracking is a bit of a pain and could have been handled better, but I love the events of the game. Groose's character development is truly excellent. Link and Zelda having a connection also assisted in making the adventure hitting harder.

Twilight Princess: As a former Twilight Princess hater, I would like to apologize to this game. I had a biased hatred against the game because I thought it was just TP fans that were toxic when in reality its just the Zelda fanbase as a whole that has a massive toxicity problem (not all Zelda fans are toxic). The whole beginning segment with Ordon Village and the Twili Realm sets up Link's quest perfectly. The story as a whole is really great until Ganondorf. Ganondorf in this game is genuinely really weak as a character, same with Zelda. They at least have the manga to help them but still...

Majora's Mask: I love the concept for this game's story and for the most part its really well done. Its just short and a lot of the interesting stuff is in the side quests. This is totally fine because it helps get me invested in the world, but most side quests are just... meh. Anju/Kafei, the grandma stories and the Romani Ranch quest lines (including the Ranch Race with the Gorman Brothers) are really great though.

Breath of the Wild: Man... This game's backstory is SO, SO, SO GOOD. Like wow is it good. I just HATE how its told. Stuff that would be cool to see is NEVER shown. Like why not show us Zelda and Link vs Calamity Ganon? Not to mention the Camera backtracking quest... I will say, at least it made the Champion's Tunic plot relevant. TotK should've made the Leathers important. Also the Divine Beast quests just don't sit right with me (outside of the Gerudo one, that one was really great). The Divine Beast fights are incredible though, they make up for the atrocious dungeon bosses.

Ocarina of Time: Too boring and unoriginal for me. Yes, TotK takes a lot from BotW's style of story, but it at least builds upon it and has unique aspects like Crisis at Hyrule Castle and Mineru's entire questline. I do like how Ganondorf mocks Link, especially in the Forest Temple, as it makes him more relevant. Ganondorf waiting until Zelda gave Link the Light Arrows just was incompetent though.

Alright, that's my ranking of each 3D Zelda story I have an opinion on. I very much expect disagreement (especially with TotK) and that's fine, just please do not attack me over this stuff. Its just opinions. I've been harassed way too much over my takes on TotK, its tiring.

[damianwho]

Okay I'm just gonna put some Tears of the Kingdom overall lore thoughts and opinions out into the world cause I've spent to much time bothering @prosebushpatch with them.

I've done the whole story of TotK except the final battle against Ganondorf (which I assume is the end of the story but maybe there's more)

This is just an incoherent list. Feel free to embellish them with your own posts or whatever. Develop your red circle clickbait theory videos. Or, just argue with me about them in reblogs or comments. See them after the see more.

The Dragons look like Zonai. like with their face and ears and stuff. Maybe they are other Zonai that ate secret stones? Maybe Din and Farore and Nayru were Zonai?

Maybe Valoo was a Zonai? I could see him being the "Wind Waker" style version of a Zonai (comparable to WW Rito and BotW Rito)

The Rito Sage really just makes timelineing TotK impossible without just saying Zonai times also happens after everything which doesn't really make sense to me. Could the Rito just have existed and then died out and then came back? That feels also like reaching.

The amiibo hero clothes being in the Depths and signalled by the treasure maps that you get in the sky island make them real canon in a way I was fine with them not being in BotW when it actually was just from amiibos. Timeline theories are weak if they ignore them now imo.

The bargainer statues and the Gloom Resist armor, kinda look like Zant, I think. Maybe they are Twili? Or related to them?

This is not very well examined or supported but, I could see like, other realms being bridges to the different timelines. Like, imagine there is only as single Twilight Realm and every timeline accesses the same one. Maybe that's why the Bargainer Statues can sell you amiibo weapons and clothes.

I think that might be a way to formulate a merged timeline theory using the amiibos clothes as evidence instead of ignoring them.

Some people might have problems with putting the Zonai times part of TotK before Ocarina because of it meaning that "two" Ganondorf's were around at the same time, but the literal first two games in the series have two Zelda's so I'm fine with it. If I was the cosmic law arbitrating when people get reincarnated, I'd get bored watching people sleep.

Why does Beedle exist in the same karmic cycle as, like, Impa and Zelda and Link??? How is he at every stable simultaneously even though complains like he just walked there??? What is he cooking???

Do we think the Eight Heroine is supposed to be an incantation of Link? Or maybe Rauru, or just some other Zonai? or maybe even another Ganondorf? Careful reading of the tablet at the end of that quest gives me evidence for all three I think. Literally saying "the link is severed," talking about light and bravery (but not Courage or Power), implying it's related to the voe ban, plus talking about ears and listening. Just something to think about.

The awakening armor being "canon" is weird cause that implies Hoholint has some sort of metaphysical existence. Similar to Majora's Mask and Termina but harder to swallow.

[solidandsound]

Annual~ video~ game~ retrospective~~~

My goal for this year was to beat every game in my backlog from the year 2004, having already cleared out everything prior to that. I did succeed at this goal as it was set... but since then I have also added a bunch more games to my backlog, thanks to my partner and I buying up a bunch of stuff before the Wii U virtual console store closed. As a result, I'm setting the same goal again: to beat everything in my backlog from 2004 or earlier. As a subgoal, I'll try and get a head start on 2005 as well, as that year is packed for me!

In terms of numbers, I only beat 26 games this year. That's a fair bit fewer than last year's 33. I blame some of the meaty titles I tackled this year, as well as the stuff I played a lot of but can't say I'm done with. If I want to boost that number, I may decide to play more tiny indie games next year.

I went on a bit of a Fire Emblem kick this year. After doing my second playthrough of Three Houses, I still wanted more, so I tried Shadow Dragon for the first time. I'd always dismissed the game for its art style and knowing that it has a more bare bones story than other games in the series. Both of those things are true, but it ended up being such a blast to play regardless, and so interesting to see where the famous Fire Emblem permadeath mechanic began. I then went on to (re)play Fire Emblem (GBA) and Sacred Stones, and thought a lot about the pros and cons of FE's approach to permadeath and how it's changed as the series progressed, and ended up taking some notes on how I would approach it in a game of my own. And I closed off the year with a replay of Fire Emblem Echoes to top it all off!

I also went on a bit of a Zelda kick to prepare for Tears of the Kingdom. Unlike a lot of folks my age, I only got into Zelda as an adult, and there was still a lot of the series I hadn't gotten to yet. To remedy that, this year I played Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, and Skyward Sword. MC was charming. I loved Twilight Princess! It had such strong imagery, intense vibes, and Midna is possibly the best character in the series. Phantom Hourglass was kind of awful and I ended up dropping the game; they took the basic Wind Waker art style and then decided they didn't need to do any actual work on making the game look good. Skyward Sword was a mixed bag and ultimately feels pretty low-to-mid for the series; it's competent enough but excels at very little. And then, of course, there's Tears of the Kingdom, which I mostly loved. It's an impressively dense game with a world that feels very lived in, and it makes some smart balancing changes coming from Breath of the Wild. I wasn't too fond of the ending, though.

I went on a bit of an Etrian Odyssey kick, too. After Untold 2, I was really craving more, so I made the jump into the more traditional side of EO with EOIV. I had so much fun building my party and coming up with their personalities and backstories.

Here are some more highlights from the year:

Hades. Supergiant doesn't miss!

As a side adventure to my FE obsession, I played Dark Deity, an indie FE-like. It was quite fun early on, but became more tedious later, as well as much buggier. I eventually dropped it, but I'll be curious to see how the sequel turns out.

Voice of Cards: the Isle Dragon Roars. This game has a card-based aesthetic where you flip over cards to reveal the world map. It was great to play on the Switch touch screen, and I'll be sure to check out the other VoC games in the future.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I've been chipping away at this game on and off since last year. There's a lot of great stuff in here, and I can see why it's considered an early SRPG classic, but it also feels clunky and underdeveloped in places. Still, it's a Matsuno game, so it has an excellent sense of place and politics.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. My second Matsuno game of the year! Starts off strong, but eventually the story pacing slows and you run out of new abilities to learn, so I did kind of rush the ending after a while.

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright. A much meatier game than I expected from a crossover title, this is probably one of my favourite Layton games. I do think the villain got off easy, though.

Resident Evil 2 Remake. This was my pick for Spooky Month, and it was a good one!

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. My third Matsuno game of the year, and the best game I played this year. I've attempted it multiple times before but always got stuck somewhere or other. I suppose I'm finally old enough to wrap my head around its mechanics, and I'm so glad. I was truly blown away and could not stop thinking about FFT for a week after beating it. That ending!!

I also continued my quests through the Yakuza series (Kiwami 2) and Higurashi (chapters 4 and 5), replayed the excellent Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy for the first time since I was a teen, and put hundreds of hours into Splatoon 3 and dozens into Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. The latter is part of why I moved FFXII and FFT up my list, so I could have greater appreciation for their soundtracks while playing TFBL.

I'm likely to go on a bit of an SMT kick again next year with SMT V, Soul Hackers 2, and/or Persona 5 Strikers. I've also been wanting to replay Fire Emblem Awakening with new context, as well as do my third run of Three Houses. Other than that, I have a lot of Wii U virtual console titles to get to now. That'll include my first forays into some classic Nintendo series like Metroid and Pikmin, so it should be a good time!

[ilikeyoshi]

best moments in the entirety of the legend of zelda:

adult arc in oot because of sheik's guidance, who is zelda. also the final boss fight.

2/3rds of wind waker because of tetra's involvement, who is zelda. also the final boss fight.

final boss fight in twilight princess.

first hour or so of skyward sword.

literally the entirety of spirit tracks because zelda is as close to WITH YOU the entire adventure as we've ever gotten and i am SOOOOO ANGRY THEY FINALLY DID THIS IN A THIRD SEQUEL ON A HANDHELD WHERE EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG KNEW ONLY A FRACTION OF THE FANBASE WOULD PLAY IT AND NOW CAN PULL THE "WELL WE MADE ZELDA MORE CENTRAL AND IT DIDNT SELL" CARD FUCK OFF YOU RIGGED IT YOU CHEAP SPINELESS SHITHEADS

first ten minutes of totk. also the last phase of the final boss in totk.

LITERALLY all of the botw hyrule warriors spin-off.

LITERALLY. and i am not joking. the cd-i game where you get to play AS zelda.

and like u will notice this hardly lines up with my feelings about the games in general bc botw isnt even ON this list despite giving us THE most developed, compelling zelda EVER, AND YET i'm counting fucking the cd-i games on this list.

bc literally zelda is the coolest, most involved character, who has worked her ass off in almost every game, certainly EVERY game since oot, and without her the world ENDS every time—but she's undermined and done SO dirty by the fact that, less and less, she's FRONT AND CENTER AT ALL. she hasn't participated in the final battle in TWO back to back major installments, an irl time period spanning over 10 years!!!!! ((yes i know you're about to tell me that's wrong, but before you do i need you to understand i am carefully wording this so as to not cause spoilers. if you know you know. if you don't, this statement is still true.))

anyway it just makes me insane. i love all these zelda games (and to be completely honest with you i think i'd love the cd-i game too, at least for the parts of relevance to this post) to death but GOD i wish they'd actually just make zelda a consistently central character. active in the game we are PLAYING instead of always delegated to the background (even though everything she does in the bg IS COOL, but like, what i'm saying is she could be doing the cool stuff IN THE CENTER OF THE GAME WITH US), like, and actually COMMIT to that. it's not like this hasn't been a huge ask in the fanbase for decades. y'all KNOW a game where zelda is WITH US (NOT EVEN PLAYABLE, JUST WITH US, ALTHOUGH YOU SHOULD MAKE HER PLAYABLE TOO) would sell like CRAZY if you didn't hide it in a "low risk" game just to pretend any statistics you gained from that game mean absolutely anything in the greater convo. my GOD.

i am vouching hard for PRESENT AND WITH US NPC COMPANION ZELDA SPECIFICALLY because it makes their whole "but what would link do?" argument irrelevant. but ALSO, if nintendo DID design the games' stories to keep link and zelda adventuring TOGETHER, it would literally be effortless, from a narrative perspective, to make zelda playable. "what would link do?" he'd STAY WITH ZELDA, the same way she'd STAY WITH LINK, because the plot already mandates they NEED TO WORK TOGETHER AND TAKE THE SAME STEPS TOGETHER.

you could do so much fun stuff with this!!!!! the ability to swap between them at will to solve different puzzles—link would be needed for his various gadgets like his hookshot, and zelda would be needed for her magic! or just the resident evil style ability to pick one of two characters to play out the story with, where the other is simply an npc companion who still fulfills all their roles because the story is DESIGNED to keep them together.

we could have it ALL!!!!!!!! NINTENDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

never forget that botw/totk zelda is the best zelda of all time. she is SOOOOOOOOO PRECIOUS I AM FURIOUS SHE WAS WRENCHED 100% OUT OF THE CENTER STORY TWICE

[arecaceae175]

Hi :)

Daily Clicks For Palestine

Call me Ace, xe/xem/xyr/xyrs/xyrself, fish/fish/fishs/fishs/fishself

(pronouns page) (guide to neopronouns)

🖤🤍💜 ��🤍🖤 🖤🤍💚🤍🖤

I'm Arecaceae on AO3. I also have a writing account @acewrites175 if you just want to see my writing stuff and not everything else

For any new LU fans, I made an LU Character Guide that you can find here!

AO3 accessibility tips

You can support me on ko-fi if you want :D

Loft stim board, Wake stim board

I have another account @lu-novelization where I do image descriptions and novelizations to try to help Linked Universe be accessible to people with low vision! It is very much work in progress.

[Header ID: Screenshot from the Oracle of Ages game. It is pixelated art of a simple sailboat on the ocean. The clouds are fluffy in the sky and there are nine birds flying near the ship. In the bottom right corner, the words “The End” are written in large orange font. End ID.]

[Icon ID: drawing by @wolfy1298 of Linked Universe Sky in a cutesy animated art style. He is smiling up at the camera with his eyes closed and his sailcloth (white cloth) is wrapped around his body like a cape. There are sparkles surrounding his head. In the bottom, the words say “would fist fight god.” End ID.]

My stuff:

Fav comics for easy access: @linkeduniverse @heroesspirit @bonus-links

Last updated: March 2024

LoZ Game List: (hours played in parentheses)

Currently playing (3/26): Adventure Of Link, Cadence of Hyrule, Phantom Hourglass

Beaten (11/26): Breath of the Wild (680), Skyward Sword (90), Minish Cap (30), Link’s Awakening (20), Tears of the Kingdom (265), Twilight Princess (80), A Link To The Past (30), Four Swords (4), Oracle of Seasons (25), Wind Waker (151), Oracle of Ages (20), Echoes of Wisdom (55)

Played a some of (3/26): Majora’s Mask, Ocarina of Time, Triforce Heroes

Not started (8/26): Legend of Zelda, Four Swords Adventures, Link’s Crossbow Training, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, A Link Between Worlds, Hyrule Warriors, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Played Games Ranked: BOTW, EOW, MC, SS, TOTK, TP, WW, ALTTP, OOA, MM, OOS, LA, PH, TFH, OOT, AOL

LU Analysis Posts

Tag: #ace’s lu analysis

Autistic LU chain headcannons

Smiling Compilation: use tag #smiling compilation - update link

Dawn 1:

Warriors and Wild analysis and why they're missing

Teaser update:

What is going on update analysis

Sunset 14:

Warriors character analysis throughout the Sunset Arc

Sunset 13:

Four & Wild character and plot analysis

Legend character analysis

Bonus Links Analysis Posts

Tag: #ace’s bl analysis

Most of these posts are analysis of comic updates that I put in the reblogs of the update

I love loft essay: part 1 here

Prompt Fill Events

2023 Whumptober and Flufftober info here :D

Febuwhump 2023 prompt fills: (30/30) Lu drabbles for febuwhump 2023

Febuwhump 2023 favs: Flinching (Time), Forced to Hurt a Loved One (Warriors & Time), "That's gonna scar" (Wild), Knife to the Throat (Warriors),

Whumptober 2022 prompt fills: (31/31) LU drabbles for whumptober 2022

Whumotober 2022 favs: Shaking Hands, Silent Panic Attack (Warriors), Cornered (Twilight), Adrenaline Crash (Time), Repeatedly Passing Out, Head Lolling (Time & Warriors), Take My Coat (Time & Wind), Screams From Across the Hall (Legend, Four, and Time)

Linked Universe Long Stories

Authenticity: (24/?) Wild POV, Autistic Wild because I'm autistic and he's my comfort character

Summary: Wild knew he was… odd. He experienced the world differently than everyone else. No one seemed to feel as deeply as he did, about the things he did. Sometimes he would interact with people and it would just feel… off. It was as if everyone else had a rulebook on how to be a person but Wild was left watching and guessing.

And the thing is, Wild knew his friends knew it too. But these new friends, they were different. They didn’t treat him like he was different, or broken, or a burden. They just took him in stride. Wild didn’t know how to put into words how much that meant to him.

In which Wild is autistic because I’m autistic and I want him to be.

Gratitude: (3/9) Sky fluff!

Summary: 8 times Sky receives a gratitude crystal from the chain + 1 time he gives some away.

In Defense of Honor: (4/9) Badass Sky appreciation, Sky-centric with individual chapters for the others

Summary: 8 times Sky defends another member of the chain + 1 time they all defend him.

Only the Wild Ones (are the ones you can never catch): (5/5) Wild & Twilight centric Wild meets the chain

Summary: At 6, Link visits Castle Town for the first time and meets some strange men in the woods. At 12, Link pulls the Master Sword and sees his imaginary friends again. At 14, Link is appointed as the Princess’s personal guard and is grateful to have old friends on his side. At 16, the Calamity strikes, and Link has never felt more alone. At 16, Link dies.

At 117, Link defeats evil incarnate and saves Hyrule. At 117, Link meets eight peculiar heroes for the first time. Or, at least, what he believes is the first time.

Twilight thinks the Goddess Hylia has a cruel sense of humor and needs to leave his cub alone.

Favorite LU Oneshots

Sentiment: Warriors and Time have a disagreement. AKA two traumatized heroes don’t know how to handle emotions and then they try to have a healthy conversation about it

Delirium: Sky’s whittling slowed, hands lowering into his lap. His gaze was locked on Wild, as it had been for most of the afternoon. Wild wouldn’t stop twitching. Sky couldn’t figure out why. Based on kikker-oma’s art.

Welcome Home: The chain arrives at Lon Lon Ranch, and Malon’s words trigger a memory.

Bouquet: Wind, Wild, and Hyrule are planning a prank. They're quite obvious about it, but Time lets it happen anyway.

Find all my oneshots for LU on my AO3 here!

Heroes Spirit Fanfic

Space Bugs: Bugs In Space: (1/1)

Summary: Cori teaches Eras how to identify insects. Space AU.

Swamp Bugs: Bugs Not In Space And Not Quite On Land: (1/1)

Summary: Cori takes Sky, Twilight, and Sailor to look for bugs. Tensions are high.

Land Bugs: Bugs Not In Space: (1/1)

Summary: Cori and Agitha lead the second official meeting of the Bug Squad.

Bonus Links Fanfic

Loft Gets To Have One (1) Nice Day: (1/1)

Summary: Loft and the very good extremely nice day. Featuring Groose, Zelda, and a board game.

On Our Best Behavior: (14/14) (3,002 words)

Summary: Short Bonus Links Prompt Fills for Flufftober 2023.

Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom Fanfic:

Affection: (6/6) BOTW

Summary: Five times others make assumptions about Link and Zelda plus one time they figure out what their relationship means to them. Or, Link and Zelda in a QPR.

More: (1/1) BOTW

Summary: Link and Zelda bond over flames and Zelda has a lot of feelings about it.

Speaking to the Wind: (1/1) TOTK

Summary: Link updates Zelda on his progress. She isn’t there to respond. AKA Link is lonely and is having a lot of big feelings.

Falling Through the Air: (1/1) TOTK

Summary: Link discovers her.

Skyward Sword Fanfic

Shapes in the Clouds: (1/1) GrooZeLink fluff

Summary: Groose finds Link looking at the clouds.

Tags

#ace writes : my stories

#ace’s lu analysis : my LU analysis posts

#ace's bl analysis : my bonus links analysis posts and my thoughts on the updates

#art for my fic : amazing art based on my writing!

#three sentence prompt : ask game where you submit a word and I write three sentences of a fic based on it (it’s always longer than three sentences)

#lu incorrect quotes : instead of studying for finals I created over 100 incorrect quotes for LU XD they can be found under this tag

#authenticity : my autistic Wild story

#idoh : tag for my story In Defense of Honor

#gratitide : tag for the gratitude crystal story

#autistic chain : all my LU autism stuff

#ace has polls : my polls. They’re fun

#good art : reblogs of art I really really like (also artists I reblog from a lot each have their own art tag - it’s “artistname art”)

#lu fic recs : other people’s fics I really really like

#the lu boyos : stuff with all the links (boyos is gender neutral lol)

#self care : unrelated to LU usually. Just general self care tips!

#Zelda!!! : my cat

[editoress]

the gay pirate flag show~, legend of zelda, unsounded, suitor armor, star wars + pick your poison

From this most dangerous ask prompt. Salt for each under the cut. Half thoughtful attention to my favorite medias and half proof that I'm simply contrary.

Our Flag Means Death

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Sadly, fandom has largely trashed my appreciation for Steddyhands (the ot3, you know). When I first saw it, I was instantly intrigued! They looked so happy; I wanted to know more! But the majority of what I found at the time was 'perfectly healthy Ed/Stede where they have to housetrain that awful Izzy,' and that was such a turn-off. I have found just enough good content since that I don't immediately scroll past the stuff, but it remains dire out here.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

It's the deadly combo of the way people make Izzy out to be the very devil with the way they make BLACKBEARD out to be an uwu sad boy who can't help his own actions. This comes as a package deal more often than not, and I can't stand any of it. Can't they just be a couple of homicidal assholes?

Legend of Zelda

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

This Hylia and Demise stuff? Would be gonzo. Wind Waker probably had one of the best, most heartbreaking approaches to the cycle, and I want to keep canon along those lines. Less ancient spirits manifesting as people to duke out their cosmic battle. More people born into roles they struggle to understand and resist. Zelda as a smart woman who questions her own destiny. Ganondorf as a Gerudo, in a way where that context informs his actions, not where he's just some incarnated demon disguised as a Gerudo.

Unsounded

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

DUANE ADELIER FUCKS. HE FUCKED THEN AND HE FUCKS NOW. AND I WOULD FUCK HIM

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Probably all of them. Cope just makes baller characters that I love to see, excepting the occasional 2D hate-target like Starfish. In particular: people can't wrap their minds around Bastion's mad scientist morality, but the fact is he's fantastic both as a character and as an entertaining, badass drama queen; and several people got nasty at Leysa for remarrying, but she ALWAYS has my full support. She's always done what makes sense for her, and she is full of love.

Suitor Armor

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

Honestly? The protagonist is on thin ice. And it's not because she's a bad character; I'm having a great time writing Lucia in my ongoing fic. It's the protagonist bias in the story. We get so few scenes away from her, because only what Lucia does matters, yet she does so little. It's a slow court romance story. Not a lot of plot. Which is fine, but it means following one person around gets boring, and giving a single person all the narrative weight in a fantasy court setting is a weird move. Most of all, I'm getting impatient with the way the narrative supports everything she does as absolutely correct, no consequences to be found.

23. Unpopular character you love?

The villain, of course! Every single time he shows up, I think of the line, "Have you thanked a villain for your plot today?" He's fun. He has style. But most importantly, he's carrying the plot on his back and I'm grateful for some juicy conflict in between the scenes of pining. A lot of fans hate him because they think a cartoon guy should be judged on real life morality. You've seen the type of fan

Star Wars

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I never hated Reylo, but fandom definitely cannonballed me from casually liking it to actively, deeply enjoying it. 99% of my dash became utterly obnoxious whining about how Reylo, the basic baby's first enemies-to-lovers, was scandalously abusive, etc. Out of annoyance, I really dug into the themes and AUs, and I super enjoyed myself!

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

If I ever meet Dave Filoni and His Cronis, they will all pay for the pacifist Mandalore arc.

[triplechain]

[July 26th, 2022]

I'm not entirely settled on Phantom's design but this was also sort of the test run for Spirits's new design. I should also probably finish Spirit Tracks before doing a TON more design stuff with Phantom and Spirits but it's fine (��‿。 )

Some notes on Phantom in particular!

Ear cuffs are supposed to be reminiscent of Phantom Horns; possessing them so much means the lack of additional "weight" feels stranger now

b/c of the amount of swirly designs on phantoms (and for variety's sake) her hair is curlier now

>>> genuinely I still don't get why Wind Waker (as her "true" self), Spirit Tracks, and Minish Cap all use the EXACT same design. like i can sorta get ST!Zelda looking like WW!Zelda, that's her descendant, but Minish Cap has no reason. not even "oh it's the toon style" cause Four Swords has a different design!!

Feather/wing-like things that were behind her ears in OG design are now on belt

bigger/more complete crown cause she's gonna be crowned queen (no longer just a princess, oohh)

Somewhat regularly still has out of body experiences. Being separated from her body has severely messed her up. There are days when she has to be reassured that others can still see her and hear her and that she's not a ghost again, even if things feel numb and she feels like an outsider looking in at her own being.

>>> Paired with that, there's a permanent... emblazonment, really, on her back of the Hylian Crest: another holdover from her time possessing the armor. It serves as a constant reminder of what happened.

she also gets a vest because i feel like Pirate Queen Tetra would keep hers and it just becomes like. a thing in the following generations.

also inspired by @/pluviatrix with the idea of zelda epithets (and maybe others?? i could've SWORN someone had ideas for everyone but i can't find them), Phantom's would be Zelda Herma (like Hermes, who's known for a lot of things but the important one here is his role as a psycopomp. he guides the souls of the dead. also commerce is probably part of the reason behind it in-universe and travel which are both HUGE in the spirit tracks time :P)

[itsamepatches]

Pros: * An attempt was made to give Linebeck a background story (having a connection to the Ghost Ship) * The fact that it received a manga adaptation unlike Wind Waker (they had a 4-koma collection) * The way the manga has Linebeck looking like a dumb gremlin cat at times and then other times he looks kinda cute? * The gag where Linebeck didn't have to go down the same path as Link to get to the cannon shop because he had a pass ("Not available in the game" written at the bottom of said pass) * The huge, two page spread of Link shouting at the top of his lungs for a cannon for the ship * Random human Ciela(?) design * Oshus reading the story of, essentially, Link to the village kids with a storyboard - akin to what Niko did at the beginning of the game * An attempt was also made with giving Bellum a "voice" and, as far as we know, motivation. Bellum has been a bit of a tough topic to talk about because we have no clue what he wants besides word of mouth from Oshus. * I can tell that they wanted to add some non-action interactions betwen Link, Ciela, and Linebeck, and I appreciate it in all honesty * Linebeck thinking Jolene wanted to kill him was because he stole her squid jerky (I wanna headcanon that it was the reason why she was after him because it's hilarious) * Linebeck attempting suicide while fighting Link as Bellumbeck was pretty big, how the heck did I forget that?

Cons: * There...is a bit of an art clash (it reminds me of "Witch's Wish"). Despite how Akira Himekawa attempted to follow the Wind Waker art style, they...did not follow that for Astrid and Jolene (for the latter, they drew here in the style *once* when she was a reveal character at the end of a chapter) because they're...women, I guess? They had to be drawn in the default art style Himekawa used for other Zelda manga, which then begs to question: why not draw the whole manga in that style? Why would you chicken out with Astrid and Jolene but then continue to draw everybody Wind Waker style? We get pretty anime ladies Astrid and Jolene walking around but then we've got cartoon-y Linebeck, Link, and Tetra? C'mon, man... * It's one volume, way too short to retell any Legend of Zelda game, honestly, so this could be applied to most of them except Twilight Princess and 4 Swords to a lesser extent * Because of its 1 book length, god, things feel rushed especially worse here, it seems like. One page, they're dealing with one situation, and then they're suddenly done within two pages or even one without a breath * Sometimes, it feels like the humour from the game is missing in the manga? I'm definitely not saying the manga doesn't have humor, but there are silly snarky moments from the game that aren't too present in the manga (like stuff between Ciela and Linebeck)

Overall: It has glaring issues (pacing, clashing art style, perhaps portrayals of certain characters? I think that was a comment I saw someone make?), I still find the manga charming in its own right. I don't think it's better than the game in certain aspects, but for the original ideas thrown about in the manga, it's entertaining as a...supplemental or an addition to the game itself :B

Here's a post where you can share your thoughts about the Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass manga! ⌛️

Pros, cons, general thoughts - go crazy

[error403hrd]

[Image description: three figures are shown. The one on the left is floating in the air, he has dark tan skin and tons of freckles. Scattered on his skin are light green swirls, circles, and dots. His eyes are a bright green. He has an orange bandana, a light blue vest, an off white shirt, light brown pants, an orange strip of fabric tied around his waist, and dark brown shoes/short boots. Beneath him is written: "Waker, God of Winds, Age 10 (468)". In the middle, standing barefoot, is a boy with curly blonde hair and golden eyes. His skin is a healthy pale, and he's dressed in a dark blue robe with light blue trim, decorated with small golden hourglasses. Above him is written: "Sand, God of Reality, Age 12 (1728)". The last person has long blonde hair, flowing over their shoulder with silver clasps to keep it out if their face. Their eyes are a bright teal and their skin is a deathly pale. They wear a black dress shirt with a tiered ruffled skirt. The skirt's band is a dark purple, and the skirt alternates between dark turquoise, dark purple, and dark turquoise again. They're wearing high heeled black boots. Above them is written: "Phantom, God of Souls, Age 19 (935)".]

I drew this and i'm super proud of the skirt.

Phantom uses they/them, Sand doesn't care but defaults to he/him, Waker uses he/him.

So this is for my fic, the one with the super cool unreleased artwork. I changed Scribe's name to Sand because I changed the story to add in two more God!Winds

Here's a rundown of their powers and backgrounds and stuff:

Waker: When he died, the wind waker merged with his soul and Zephos and Cyclos claimed him and made him a god. He's more powerful than both of them because of the wind waker and the triforce. They trained him to use his powers, so he's the most well trained of the three God!Winds despite being the youngest. He can manipulate air in every way: he can make it solid, manipulate its flow, cause harsh storms, and even speak through it. He'll survive the merging of his timeline, Zephos and Cyclos won't. He's a bit of a showoff, and also rather childish, but he knows when to behave: he was a king after all!

Sand: Oshus shattered the remains of the Phantom Hourglass, killing himself on accident. When Wind died, his soul was spirited to the Inbetween, and he was confined to the Temple of the Ocean King, even when all of Oshus's islands disappeared. All that remained was an incomprehensible void. The hourglass chains him to the dais, he can't be more than five feet from it. Without Oshus he doesn't really know the extent of his powers, he can see all timelines, start timeline merges, and see the future under certain circumstances. Through the course of the story he learns that he can time travel and manipulate the sand itself into whip-like weapons and solid objects (which means all three God!Winds are capable of flight in their own way lmao). He has yet to realize that he can create false realities like Oshus, and consequently create false souls. He also has the ability to merge fantasy and reality, which would understandably cause chaos. He can also dream walk, but it's kinda useless so I doubt he'll ever find that out. He has a lot of mental issues, and he's tried to kill himself a lot, without success. He's the only god that literally can't die because of his job as the "timekeeper." He's very depressed and does his best to drown his depression in science and learning. It doesn't always work. He also has attachment issues because he knows he'll inevitably be alone again, but he can't help his gushing and talkative nature when around people he likes. He needs therapy very badly.

Phantom: When they died, their soul reacted with the Spirit Flute, a recently discovered artifact that they'd been studying. They'd been able to see ghosts after the Bellum debacle (all Winds can do that), and the Spirit Flute was in tune with their magic and soul because of it. One thing led to another, and Phantom accidentally became the God of Souls (thanks in part to the blessings from Zephos and Cyclos). Zephos and Cyclos did their best, but they couldn't really do much to teach them. It took a while, but Phantom figured out that they could change their age, physical gender, clothing, hair length and style, and that they could turn into a ghost at will (though the lack of taste, smell, and touch unnerves them so they don't do it very often). They can also tell when and how someone is going to die, and they can see every single memory and feeling that person felt if they wish (though the invasion of privacy makes them uncomfortable). They can change how someone dies, but only if it's a murder or accident, because illness and old age aren't exactly easy to fix. They also have the power to exorcise ghosts, but they only do it to violent assholes that refuse to move on. Their job is to make sure the ghosts can move on and do their best to hurry up the process. They've got a quiet maturity about them. They've been around a long time, but not long enough that they've started to develop issues (like Sand, though he was alone for nearly 2000 years, so). They quietly fulfill their duty, leading innocent children and heinous villains alike to peace. They don't really know what happens when a ghost achieves peace, but they know it has to be better than endless wandering. They're a kind person, but they've got a fair bit of sass. A mom friend, essentially.

So yeah. I love them all very much. My babies. Feel free to use them.

It's 4am....

[trial-run-tiefling]

I made a bunch of fancy renders of my musical mascot: The Wry Wizard!

I spent about a week in total getting them all rigged and skinned and making different hand poses and figuring out new techniques for displaying facial features and stuff. I'm basing the design and animation mechanics very heavily on old video games, but especially Wind Waker and Majora's mask style animation. I even did some physics simulation on the bottom of their coat! All this is going towards my honors thesis project as I get ready for my senior year at college. I'm currently drafting a slice of life story that'll be told using late 90s-early 00's era video game style visuals

[ekkusu-remade]

Can you tell me about your favorite games? Why you like them, your favorite characters, what you like or not about the story, that kind of thing? (I'm sorry if this sounds boring or annoying, I couldn't think of anything else, but you don't have to reply if you don't want to! I also hope that you'll feel better soon. Take good care of yourself, you deserve it. ❤)

Nono not boring at all! Thank you so much for sending an ask 💙hmm that’s an elaborate one! My ultimate favorite game is Persona 3 but we all know that already so I might ramble a bit about Okami and Wind Waker insteadAs for Okami I have to say the gorgeous art is really what makes me love it - it’s so stylized and unique in a really beautiful way. Specially when you’re running around and stuff; The whole brush mechanic can sometimes be stressful if your remote isn’t calibrated but tbh the whole journey thing on learning all the techniques and using them as you’d prefer to defeat enemies is just lots of fun. The story is captivating just like the characters, and the attention to even small details is just lovely. Bonus points because we get to feed cute creatures Wind Waker was one of my first tloz games so naturally it holds a special place in my heart. Toon Link is such an adorable dork and the open world thing is really fun - because even though in other Zeldas (before botw of course) we had a relatively open world it didn’t give you as much freedom as WW did, I’d say. I got the HD version when it came out and I couldn’t be happier because the cartoon-ish style is just so lovely. The colors are so bright and captivating it makes it a really feel-good game. The number of sidequests is really fun too - when I was trying to get all of the quests and achievements when replaying it it took a while but it was tons of fun. The story has a nice pace, makes me genuinely care about the characters and I can’t really think of any dungeons I don’t really like. And don’t get me started on the soundtrack because just like in other Zelda games it’s amazing~Sorry it got long!