The Legend of Zelda: Bokoblin, Shadow Link, Breath of the Wild (Wii U)

The Legend of Zelda

Bokoblin, Shadow Link, Breath of the Wild

Bokoblins are prevalent enemies in The Legend of Zelda:  The Wind Waker.  They are smaller offshoots of the classic Zelda baddies, the Moblins.  They don't go into the evolution (or de-evolution) of these creatures in the flooded future of Hyrule (*see the convoluted timeline of Zelda games), but it really doesn't matter.  They may be smaller, but they still work for Ganon...and now they are nautical pirates!  Cool!

They are smaller, but a bit bigger than the figures here.  These are a little undersized as they come from the World of Nintendo 2.5-inch line...I'm just fudging it to stand in with the 4-inch line.
They're pretty nice as far as the smaller figures go.  They have movable arms and heads, and ball-jointed tails.  The only disappointment here is that their hands are molded as if they should be holding something:  swords, torches, or sticks not included, unfortunately.  At about $4 a piece, I bought 3 to give my Ganon figure some backup on the toy shelf.

Another item I recently picked up, on a similarly Zelda-ish theme, is Shadow Link.

Shadow Link may be a repaint, but he's also a completely different character that has appeared in several Legend of Zelda Games.  This version is from Ocarina of Time where he is the only saving grace of the horribly designed Water Temple.  This figure is a Spencer's Gifts exclusive priced at $19.99.  He comes with the same sword and shield accesso...what?!  Spencer's Gifts?!!  Twenty bucks?!!   Aside from the bizarre choice of retailer, that's a huge markup for a line where figures range from $8-12.  Would it have killed them to have thrown in a Biggoron sword or something?

Ah, well...he is evil incarnate after all.  I only got this one because I scored a couple bucks off on Amazon with a damaged package warehouse deal.

Wait a minute...the packaging said "Shadow Link," but the Zelda Wiki said he is not to be confused with "Dark Link"... the character this toy actually looks like.  What?  So an officially licensed product got it wrong?  Way to go, Big N!  Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder. (*pushes up nerd glasses*)

And finally, in this all-Zelda post...

I purchased Breath of the Wild on its release date for Wii U.  I didn't preorder it (as I kinda hated the last Zelda game, Skyward Sword), but glowing, early reviews gave me the itch.  I stopped at almost every one of the nine Walmarts and (I don't know how many) Gamestops before I found a single copy for Wii U left on the shelf (at the scabbiest Wally in town).

I get that they want you to buy the new Nintendo Switch on its launch day, but that's ridiculous. There were plenty of copies of the game for Switch at every store.  And I understand that Wii U was a lackluster system -- but it's no secret that this game was developed several years ago for the Wii U....and now Nintendo deliberately short supplies it for that system?  *Sigh*...They make it really hard to be die-hard Nintendo fans.

Anyway, it is as good as all the reviews made it out to be.  The big, open world...freedom to choose your own path...exploration blah blah blah.  It's great.  However, I do have a few nitpicks. The boss battles (various forms of Ganon) are pretty weak.  Weapon durability and food crafting can be tedious, at least starting out.  There aren't proper "dungeons" and most everything is on the surface world.  But hey, they couldn't give us all that in one game...what would they have left for next time?

Minor gripes aside, it's definitely worth the sticker price.  You could explore the world for months and months before taking out Ganon and still not experience everything the game has to offer.   I probably put in about 70 hours before I called it quits.  Not that I was tired of it, I just wanted to leave something for the next playthrough.

Also, it's worth mentioning that I suffered from withdrawal for a week or so after I put down the controller...and that's a good thing.