Spock Found the Triforce

I recently started watching the original Star Trek movies. They're pretty awesome, but ultimately not relevant to a Zelda journal. However, while watching "The Search for Spock", I noticed something during the recap of "Wrath of Khan".

Spoiler Alert for Wrath of Khan!

I took a screenshot of the moment when Spock died. Spock is inside the engine room of the Enterprise. Notice the signage on the right side of the screen that includes none other than the Triforce! I can't believe I caught this on the recap and not from the actual movie. Well, I can excuse myself 'cause I was probably focused on Spock dying and not on wall designs.

Now I'm not a Trekkie (I mean I saw the movie 29 years after its release), but this choice of symbolism seems odd in the movie. I don't think there's much symbolism in the Star Trek movies although I could be wrong. Perhaps it was just a techie-looking symbol to put in a room that houses a nuclear reactor. For such a dangerous room there should be more signage. But overall the walls on the Enterprise are barren, so the Triforce looks a bit out of place. And to boot, it's included in a highly emotional scene. What could it mean? Maybe a more appropriate question is: Does it mean anything? Probably not.

There is almost certainly no relation of this to Zelda. "Wrath of Khan" came out in 1982, four years prior to the 1986 release of the original "The Legend of Zelda". The movie even came out a full year before the Famicom system was released in Japan. So the movie came and went long before development of Zelda started.

So this becomes merely an interesting tidbit. Here's another Triforce spotting from the end of "The Search for Spock":

Awesome garb... they're for a Vulcan ceremony. There's a plain triangle on the back too. This should be what the sages wear in Zelda. Or just recreate this screen in a Zelda game. The Vulcans with their pointy ears can pass for Hylians.

The End of Skyward Sword

Oh, that feeling once you beat a great game. A sense of wholeness and satisfaction slowly overcome by sadness that it's over and a thirst for more. Because we can never truly be satisfied, right? I finished Skyward Sword last night. Well, not completed as in 100%ed, but I beat the final bosses. All in 64 hours of play within 35 days. I had hoped it would take longer, and I did try to spread it out and take my time. Overall I am very happy with the game and it leaves me oh so hopeful about how the next Zelda game will improve upon its core gameplay. I'm over these motion controls though.

Well I guess there's nothing left to do but play it to completion. I'm missing 3 whole hearts and at least one story of gratitude crystals. I don't think I'll play there Hero's Quest yet. I'll save that for my hardcore 100% runthrough.

Watch Me Play

Winter break... I haven't had one for quite a while, especially not for over two weeks. But this means that I can bunker down and play Skyward Sword and perhaps even some Ocarina 3D. The game timer is closing in on 50 hours and I just finished sealing The Imprisoned and getting the true Master Sword. I think the lull in the storyline has turned me off a bit. For various reasons I'm disinterested in the minor characters. The story hasn't advanced much after the initial rush of information. I've even lost that sense of adventuring. That may be because we're revisiting the areas and I'm the type of player to look for every detail the first run through. And also because I'm taking my sweet time so story advancement takes longer than it should. The volcano dungeon was very fun though, and had the feeling I expected from the game.

I wonder how much longer this game is. I am getting kinda excited about finishing and finding out how everything ties into the timeline. Like where does Ganondorf fit into all this? I have a feeling that it won't have the epic impact on the timeline that I hoped. It would be very interesting if Zelda never woke up until Adventure of Link. And since I'm on that subject, I'm disappointed that after all the buildup between Link and Zelda at the beginning of the game, Zelda is predominantly MIA.

And where's all the Skyward Sword merchandise? I doubt they'll have it but I'm hoping for action figures and trading cards. With the game in higher definition, figurines won't look very good. A Ghirahim statue? That would be totally creepy ugly.

Too Big to Fit Under the Christmas Tree

Good day today. Props to global warming for a December day in the mid-60s. I spent today doing a lion dance, cable car pull, and ripping off and replacing the siding on the house. But that's not what this entry is really about. In the middle of it all, I dropped in Best Buy and got a hold of the Skyward Sword promotional display standee. I could not stop smiling as I carried it out. All the Gamestops already had their displays claimed, or the employees gave me the runaround. I was already dejected and had given up, but a couple weeks ago I found myself in Best Buy with Art. To my surprise, no one reserved the display there and I gave the games manager my contact info. Dropped by today just to see if it was still there, and it was! Took a long time to get it home, but at least the bus wasn't crowded. Yes, I took that huge display on the bus.

In terms of quality, this thing is awesome. There is absolutely no damage other than some wrinkles at the bottom middle section. No bends, dents, marks... I don't think anyone other than me and the assembler has even touched it. Initially I thought it was put together wrong, but the thing wasn't designed to be symmetrical. I think the problem is that Link wasn't glued on the exact right position, so everything else is thrown off a bit. I'm nitpicking. No one but me will ever notice.

I've spent quite a while trying to fit it in my room. It's quite large and provides little shelf space. Sitting behind my desk, it brings the room together and draws focus on my Zelda collection. I think that's the whole point, right? All this fussing over a display, and I haven't played the game itself today. I've only just started looking for the sacred flames and spent 25 hours on it.

This may very well be the apex of my Zelda geekery.

... I hope.