Participation Prize Deadline TONIGHT~!

Just a reminder that if you want to qualify for this round's prize for participating, finish your entry and email it before the end of tonight! (Sept 16, 2012.) I'm off to reply to the most current emails so, if you've sent one in, and haven't heard from me soon: email me at the contest email again.

If you haven't heard about the contest yet, or would like to join us in this collaborative event to make a free, downloadable, Zelda calendar for next year, please see this info thread! It has everything you should need to know.

The Arrival of Demise by Ebillan
'When the gods of old left the world they created, they trusted their ultimate power, the Triforce, to the hands of Hylia so that she could protect it. She did so throughout the Era of the Goddess Hylia until one day a crack opened up in the earth and the Demon King Demise and his demonic hordes came forth from the fissure...
In order to prevent the great power from falling into the hands of Demise, Hylia gathered the humans and sent them skyward with the Triforce, beyond the reach of evil forces wrecking havoc upon the surface world.'

Contest Update!

Contest Entry: The Rebirth of Ganondorf by Jujulica

All the new entries for the fanart calendar contest have been added to the gallery! If you don't see yours there, please email me and resend. There were some amazing ones... but!

We need more entries, there were only 10 sent in the past 2 months. Please join us to help make an amazing (free) calendar for all fans! Also, prizes! You can win stuff! I'll be adding more prizes soon and a participation prize is going to be given away to someone who has a valid entry in by this Sunday (the 16th) --but the real contest doesn't end until the end of November! More info here.

Also, if you missed my past note on this: I've been fairly ill lately so I'm pretty much only going to be able to focus on the contest and not a lot of the other stuff I wanted to get done. Hopefully I'll be able to fit other little things in as well, but I have to take it day by day. Replies will basically be slightly slower.

The Zelda Project: Lon Lon Ranch and Hyrule Field Shot

The Zelda Project has begun to release their Lon Lon Ranch and Hyrule Field photos. The first one is already beyond amazing, ~be sure to keep an eye on their site for more! You'll also be able to find them on Adella's DA account, here's the link to this one over there.

Doujinshi: New Spanish and French translations added!

Finally! I'm so happy to be able to post these. Clyde1914 was kind enough to come along and help me out by typesetting these ~because the translations had been sitting around for far too long!

French: Let's Sparta was originally translated from Japanese to English by Rinael, and then translated into French by Mamandine. I cleaned the pages, and Clyde1914 edited in the text for this version.

Spanish: Mori no Sasayaki was originally translated from Japanese to English by Rinael, and then translated into Spanish by Nintendraw. Feri-san did the localization and helped the translation as well. I cleaned the pages, and Clyde1914 edited in the text for this version.


Hope you enjoy! And, if you don't follow us on Facebook and Tumblr, please do! I often update Facebook far more than I do here. I also noted there that I've been getting sick on and off- (I think it's a mix of my thyroid acting up and my dog being gone, I was probably only "up" for about 6 hours this whole weekend) -So, apologies for the prolonged absence and the lack of replies from me. Everyone is incredibly understanding, I just wanted to let people know I am here, and am slowly chipping away at them. (But don't be afraid to ask if I got your letter! Sometimes the spam box grabs them and eats them)

Calendar Contest Fanart Feature

Last year's calendar contest winner for this month of September! Perfect for the changing seasons. And a reminder that this year's contest is still going on! A prize will be given away soon (below) if you have an entry in. For info on this years contest/collab, to create a free, downloadable, calendar for 2013, find go here for more info.


Artist: Kaos, "Deku Autumn Festival"

It's the Deku family (and monkey) from Majora's Mask celebrating the coming of autumn. I started my entry back in February, but couldn't think of a composition I liked for the longest time, so I kept starting and scrapping my entry. I finally forced myself to get it done and not half-ass it this past month. Considering how much I struggled with this, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.


More contest entries from last year, and the full 2012calendar, go here.

"It's Good to be the King." Yup! It's a LoZ Valiant Comic You've Never Heard of Before!

So, this was on History of Hyrule when we launched, but it's still not on any Zelda Wiki or site that I can find (other than mentions on old-school comic book sites,) so... I'll just go all hyperbolic and say "NEVER BEFORE SEEN!"

If you didn't know, there are different versions of each issue of the Valiant Comics. When old friends-of-the-site, Chechi and Kitty, got a couple of issues of the comics off ebay; they wanted to send me the high-res scans so better images could be online. Little did we know the versions they got were the original versions, and the comics contained within were a bit different than the ones already on Zelda sites. And this one? From Volume 4 version 1? 22 years after its release? It seems it has never been online at all. So check it out, marvel at some of the "new" awesomely ridiculous images, and remember: It's Good to be the King

Majora's Mask 3d? Rumor has it:

Apparently Nintendo is expected to make an announcement tonight on Nintendo Direct about new titles, but not for the WiiU, and then... a Eurpoean game site lists MM 3D for sale and promptly removes it. It's most likely a coincidence, or a joke so evil it was made by the mask itself, ~but I can always hope.

fan-made cover image used for illustrative purposes only

Nintendo Globe via Zelda Universe

New Doujinshi Added: In my Life, That Time Was Not by Gantanshijin

I didn't realize how long it had been since I added a new doujinshi to the site! Well then, that's easily fixed. Here's a cute little one for Twilight Princess. I don't know much about the author so, if you do, please tell! Go read it now!

Fancraft: Book of Mudora by Sarinilli

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: In my opinion nothing would be a better cover for Hyrule Historia than making it look like the Book of Mudora. This awesome fan-made version just makes me all the more certain.

Zelda Wiki Trivia: "Mudora (also known as Medora) comes from the ancient Greek language, which means "holder of knowledge", "tutor" or "holder of high wisdom", and the Book of Mudora indeed is "a holder of knowledge" that teaches Link the ability to translate the ancient Hylian language."

Sarinilli is also the Font Master General of the Zelda community, check out the official and fan alphabets she's pieced together while you're at it.

Art Feature: Winged Ceremony by Queen of the Cuttlefishes

Just wanted to give a little love to some of the other awesome pieces from last year's Calendar Contest, and I really loved this one. It's adorable and it's great to finally see so many Ritos together! Artist's info is below!

For info on this years contest/collab, to create a free, downloadable, calendar for 2013, find more info here: http://melorasworld.com/zelda/theforest/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=863

Artist: Ganea-Rebecca
(Name was changed to Queen of the Cuttlefishes)
Website: http://queenofcuttlefishes.deviantart.com
Link to the Original Work: http://queenofcuttlefishes.deviantart.com/art/Winged-Ceremony-256053154

Summary: "Winged Ceremony."
For my picture I wanted to use the Ritos, as I really like them and I think they have so little fanart out there. I also found them to be for good use for this contest. As they're very related to the wind and all that jazz, I decided that the ceremony shown in this picture is supposed to be some kind of wind-ceremony. Valoo was supposed to be in the background, but I never managed to make him fit well with the picture. However, some adult Ritos are selected to dance while having their wings spread to honor the winds and the guardians of it. While the rest of the tribe watches and plays music, using flutes and drums mostly. But of course I put Medli and her harp into the picture too!

Description:
The theme was a festival with music. I feel bad for not including so much music. I only included the harp, vocal song, drums and flutes. And well, I guess the dancer’s steps can count as some kind of song as they’re supposed to dance in a rhythm. You can see there’s only 3 official character in this picture: Medli, Komali and the Chieftain. Sadly no Quill, I’m sorry!  Also my character Koolin, appears in this. He’s the boy to the left, next to the old lady and the flute-playing girl.  And you can notice that all the official one’s look has changed. Well the Chieftain has only gotten more white on his beard. While Medli and Komali are now adults. I’m not sure what this little event is supposed to be. Well my fisst idea was some celebration for Valoo. But I guess it’s still something similar. Maybe just a celebration for the wind? Or the ability to fly? Who knows? I honestly don’t have so much more to tell about this. Like, I’m pleased! And I hope you guys will enjoy it! And I also hope I’ll manage to win a place into that calendar! Wish me luck! And if you have any questions, just ask! Koolin and artwork © Me. Drawn by hand, coloured in PhotoShop Elements 7.0. PS. as always, sorry for the ---- shading and light =n='''


More contest entries, and the full 2012calendar, can be found here: http://historyofhyrule.com/fanworks/0_2012calendar.php

3 New Zelda Figurines from Medicom for the History of Zelda

From AmiAmi via the Video Game Memorabilia Museum via Kotaku there's news of new Zelda (and Mario) Figurines!

And they're REALLY awesome. I want the old-school Link so badly.

"Each figure is approximately 2.5" and was sculpted by Yohei Kaneko.
The set is scheduled for release late January in 2013." -VGMM

Sales page for: Classic Link

Sales page for: Wind Waker Link

Sales page for: Skyward Sword Link

A Special Treat: Never Before in English; Part 1 of a Manga for the Original Legend of Zelda Game.

I'm so incredibly thrilled to finally be able to post the translated pages for the first part of the Ran Maru manga for the ORIGINAL Legend of Zelda. A huge amount of gratitude is due to Brigette for translating this, (and for continuing to translate the rest,) to Ingie for helping smooth out the incredibly difficult dialog, and to Beno for making these awesome "English" covers for me to use.  It took me a while to clean and type-set it, but I certainly think it was worth the effort. While you're at it, check out Ingie's epic fanfiction Fortitude!

In my opinion, it's one of the best Zelda comics there is. -Coupled with the 3 volumes by Ran Maru for The Adventure of Link, it's a great series! They're incredibly dark and more true to the games than most of the works by other authors. Continue to flip through past the English and you'll see what I mean. Don't let Link's old-school 80's appearance fool you into thinking these are nothing but cute.

Nintendo Power Ends its Magnificent Run

Okay, I lied, one more brief post... via Kotaku: Nintendo Confirms the End of the Nintendo Power Era

Nintendo can confirm that Future US will end the production of Nintendo Power magazine with the last issue slated for December 2012. For Nintendo Power subscription inquiries, please visit nintendopower.com/customerservice. Check out Nintendo at nintendo.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/nintendo or on Twitter @nintendoamerica

Bummer.

Hyrule Histoira: The Most Important Developments

Kotaku got an exclusive first look at Hyrule Historia in English. I'm so happy to see it's essentially the same book. That was my first hope. My second one? Looking at the 10.2x7.2 for the Japanese version versus 12x9 for the English version: it does appear that the art is going to scaled up. Thank god. A small part of me was worried they'd just leave the images at the same size and just make the text area bigger; even though it was clear from the original pdf's released by the publisher Shogakukan that the route they're taking would be an easy route. All the art was overlayed and scaleable in those.

The other great thing? Because the aspect ratio isn't the same, it looks as if they've moved some of the art around ever so slightly. This means that parts that were covered by an overlapping image in the Japanese version might be able to be better repaired with the help of the English version. You can see what I mean about that below, with Link's foot being in different places on the red piece of art.

That's it for me: I came online to fix some layout code, did that, so I'm off again. I still got a dog to cuddle.

I'll be gone a while, my dog is on her way out; a small favor:

I might be gone for a while. My dog has anywhere from 12 hours to a month to live, so I'm going to be hanging out with her. She's the most awesome dog I could ever have, and I'm going to miss the s* out of her. She's like my freakn' familiar. My soul mate of a dog. On Friday she was fine, on Saturday she was acting a little off, on Sunday I knew it was dire. Today, Monday, they drained 1.5 liters of fluid out of her chest and said there was more. It's most likely a reaction to cancer in her blood. Treatments for that are not an option for her because of other conditions. We might get lucky and be able to drain again, I have to play it by ear. So I might be gone for a few days, I might be online sometimes, just whatever I feel I need to do not to lose it. We're going to go hang out in a mountain meadow and eat steak and cheesecake I think. 

It's been a rough year and, I know this sounds dumb as hell BUT, if you could do anything for me: please enter the fanart contest. I started that thing last year to cheer me up because, hell, if I can't draw I sure as hell want to see you draw. I want to see your beautiful art; it distracts me, it makes me happy, it makes me feel like a whole artist again. So, as trivial and weird as that request sounds: it really means so much to me and it's awfully depressing if it fails. But, I'm so physically exhausted from the little emotional roller-coaster of the past few years that I'm having a hard time promoting it. Could you guys help me make sure it doesn't fail? Help me make something really freakn' cool happen? I would love to come back from this and see the giant  collaborative work that it could be. I need something to look forward to. It doesn't matter how good you feel you are or aren't as an artist. Don't be so silly - It's not about it being a contest, (there's a reason I put up my own money for the prizes,) it's about encouraging artists to create awesome art they have FUN with. I'd rather think of it as a collab: but I like giving stuff away. So, please, have some fun for me, push yourself a little, and then I'll have something fun to look forward to when I come back from this ordeal. Zelda rocks, and so do all of you.

Much love,
~Melora