Like a river's flow, it never ends - Kingdom Death Legend of Zelda Homages

So, it's been quite some time.

I don't know how frequently I'll be doing this, but I'm starting my blog up after a dry spell, because I know I could use something a little lighter than what's become my day-to-day that, like everyone else's, has been pretty derailed these past weeks.

I'm starting off with some nostalgic homages to my favorite ol' N64 game, plus a note about my absence.

If I wasn't hooked back in... whenever it was... when Kingdom Death's first kickstarter was running, their Messenger of Courage homage to Link certainly caught my attention. I think it's a pretty nice model, minus the bizarre window... I dunno what you guys like, but personally I don't need to see the 2mm cleavage of the sex-swapped version of my favorite character as a kid. Either way, I touched mine up when I painted mine.

But, inevitably, I ended up wanting to do a more traditional Link. I've actually done a few Links over the years, including a commission request to make a (chaos?) space marine version, and the one that remains my favorite, a Wind Waker iteration. The Kingdom Death one saw a fair bit of work, and I'm pretty happy with the shape. (Also, if/when we ever get scenarios involving the Messenger series, he notably has the same gear as the Messenger of Courage gets during the boss rush.)

I decided to do a bit of a reversal, changing Link's primary weapon to his Light Arrows. Complementing him, I used the Knight model as the base for my take on Zelda. Unlike Link, who's pretty much just based on Ocarina of Time with some creative liberties, Zelda is I guess a little closer to a mix of Ocarina and Twilight Princess (fittingly, I guess). I considered giving her the Flower Knight's Vespertine Foil, but I decided that I preferred the heft of her oversized... whatever it is.

About Time (or, "About Time!")

Apologies, followers, about dropping out of communication without any real notice. This was never the intention.

Without going into too much detail, my miniatures work has gone from often my main activity in any given day to occasional projects when I have time, which isn't a lot.

I have a now-toddler in my life, and a parent died, and of course we're now dealing with this pandemic, which is a lot of why I've disappeared.

However, my main work now is as a doctoral student in the University of Oregon's Comparative Literature program. I may someday go into more on this, but the short version is that the "Literature" part of the title has become very, very broad these days, and I've been pretty actively working with comics and prints (as forms and as literature, not as pop/culture), while incorporating the discipline's methods, philosophies, linguistics, media analysis, and ethics. It's been beyond taxing, and worth it. I may eventually publish on board or video games, but right now my academic reach is mostly staying closer to art and literature.

So... hopefully this will be the first post reviving my blog while we all have a little more time at home. I hope you enjoy!

PS. If by any absurd chance any of you attend UO, I'm a GE and have been teaching for Comp Lit and German; I'll probably be moving to the English department for a couple years. Obviously, games won't come up often but, hey, they might.