#probably shoulda done a readmore

[fernsnailz]

FEB 2025 SHOP INFORMATION/FAQ

i've been getting a lot of questions about the next plans for my shop recently, so i'm gonna go ahead and answer a lot of them here as to update everyone. yay

edit: putting this shit under a readmore. shoulda done that in the first place lmfao 💀💥

WHEN IS YOUR SHOP REOPENING? i'm aiming to reopen mid March, hopefully around March 15th! more details to come later.

WILL YOU BE SELLING PHYSICAL COPIES OF BORN TO FAIL? yeah. they'll be on pre-order again. i'll have some b-grades available at a discount too.

ARE YOUR OTHER KEYCHAINS/STANDEES/PREVIOUS THINGS YOU HAD IN YOUR SHOP RETURNING? yes, i haven't retired anything. however, some things will be on pre-order again and other items may be pretty low stock. the band standees in particular are REALLY low, i think i only have one team dark one left.

WILL YOU BE SHIPPING TO MORE COUNTRIES BESIDES JUST THE US AND CANADA? no. i'm really sorry, i know this is something a lot of people want but i cannot expand shipping to more countries right now. i keep shipping limited to the US and Canada to keep the scale of my shop manageable, because my shop is technically a side gig i do on top of freelance storyboard work. additionally, i quite literally cannot offer international shipping to most countries through bigcartel (the service where i host my shop) without having to jump through a million hoops to collect and remit a number of different taxes + tariffs and comply with every country's requirements for international commerce.

the EU and UK are particularly difficult to ship to right now due to the EU's new GPSR (general product safety regulations) and the UK's VAT (value added tax) (which i would be responsible for collecting and remitting since i run an e-commerce site located out of the UK). the short explanation is that even though these are the two main locations people request i expand shipping to, i literally cannot feasibly ship to the EU or UK through my current shop without facing huge legal and tax obligations.

the best way for me to expand international shipping would be to sell stuff through a different shop hosting service that either does the complicated stuff for the seller or places tariff and tax responsibilities on the buyer, but please know that i honestly just do not have the ability or time to do that right now. i'm really sorry again, but i'm not going to be offering shipping to more countries right now.

ARE YOU GONNA HAVE NEW ITEMS? yes. i already have a few things i designed for my last convention that i have yet to sell on my shop, like some bluey and mouthwashing charms.

there's also a bunch of new robot related things i really want to design (transformers stuff, nge things, misc. other robot stuff), but i haven't finished them. this is the main reason why my shop isn't opening for at least another few weeks - i haven't had time to design my self-indulgent robot merch lol

HEY IS THE TARIFF WAR THAT THE US IS WAGING ON CANADA MEXICO AND CHINA GONNA AFFECT YOUR SHOP? yeahhhhhh probably. for those who don't know: i am based in the US, and our stupid idiot shit for brains country recently placed some absolutely insane tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. this led to all three of those countries implementing their own tariffs on US imports and a "trade battle" breaking out.

the short rundown is that the US' tariffs on Canada and Mexico were put on hold for 30 days, but if this battle continues after that then it will affect anyone in Canada who orders from me. i'll likely still be able to offer shipping to Canada, but if the tariff battle continues then Canadian customers at my shop will be responsible for paying any tariffs Canada imposes on US goods. and since the 10% tariff the US placed on China is still in effect, i might have to raise the prices of my keychains and standees a little bit since that's where i get those from.

ARE YOU GONNA BE TABLING AT ANOTHER CONVENTION ANYTIME SOON? the next convention i have lined up is Animazement (Raleigh NC) in May! i'll be tabling in the artist alley there. hopefully i'll be tabling at a few other events later in 2025, but we'll have to wait and see.

that's all for now! if i get more shop related questions beyond this, i'll probably add them to this post.

[cut-content-contest]

Can you please use readmores if the cut content descriptions get too long? ;w;

I probably shoulda done that for Moonjumper vs romance route but it's too late now.

[skyward-floored]

hi you seem like a zelda expert

is Link in the wind waker actually not part of the hero's spirit?

i keep seeing so many people saying he is not and it confuses me

Ahhhh okay, this is a bit of a grey area, and subject to interpretation as well, but I’ll try to explain my understanding of it best as I can :) and no shade to anyone who disagrees with me, this is just my understanding of the whole thing.

First off, to understand the whole deal in wind waker, you have to understand first what exactly the deal is with both Ocarina of Time, and the hero’s spirit itself.

In ocarina of time, the Hero of Time draws the Master Sword but is deemed to young to wield it and defeat Ganondorf, so he’s put to sleep for seven years in order to be given time to grow. He wakes up, continues his quest and eventually succeeds in defeating Ganondorf.

Princess Zelda thanks him, and uses the ocarina of time to send Link back to the time before his sleep, seven years back in time so he can enjoy the years he lost. In doing so, Zelda causes a timeline split; Link goes back and stops Ganondorf from taking over, but the time Zelda sent him away from continues on.

The timeline where Link defeats Ganon and is then sent away is what leads eventually to Wind waker’s flood, and the events of the game.

This is why many people believe the Hero of Winds doesn’t have the hero’s spirit. If the previous hero left the timeline, how could his courageous spirit pass on to the next hero? Which leads me to this:

What exactly is the hero’s spirit?

All the different versions of Link are connected by way of all being chosen heroes of the goddess(es), generally wielding the triforce of courage, possessing a commonly referred to as “courageous spirit”, and being able to draw and use the Master Sword. It’s not really a specific thing per say, it’s a mantle almost, an unseen indication of being a Hero of Hyrule.

It’s what Demise cursed to always come back and fight against him.

It’s what makes Link Link, and not just any old guy. It’s unnamed qualities of courage that are a part of him, it’s what made him choose to listen to a voice in his head and rescue a princess from a dungeon, the reason he leapt off of Skyloft, why despite being hurt he chased after the kids he cared about after they’d been kidnapped. It’s what made a kid who’d never been away from his home island chase after the monster that stole away his little sister.

I think in a lot of ways it’s love. Laying down his life for the people and kingdom he cares about, whether it’s family or friends or complete strangers; Link acts out of love, and that’s what the hero’s spirit is.

So to answer your question, I think the Hero of Winds does have the hero’s spirit.

I don’t know if he has the original one, if it somehow hopped timelines and went to him, if he got a new one or what. But the Hero of Winds does have a courageous spirit. He’s the Hero, who fights back against Ganon, who draws the Master Sword, who fights for the people he loves.

If that isn’t the hero’s spirit I don’t know what is.