Hypnopompia

One of the highlights this Christmas was a joint project my mother, my brother and I did to create a special gift for my son, Ethan. Ethan is 3 years old and loves video games. Especially Zelda. For Ethan's first Halloween, he dressed up as Link and it has stuck with him. To this day, he loves to pretend that he is link with his cardboard shield and cardboard wrapping paper tube. (He's never even read Penny-Arcade, so I don't know where he picked that up from. Must be a natural boy thing)

So this Christmas I thought it would be cool to get him a Link related present. I looked around and couldn't find anything really good. It was too close to order anything from Ebay, and everything that was available seemed pretty weak. That's when I got an idea to make something myself. After I decided on making a Link doll, I knew I wouldn't be able to do it alone. My mom has made dolls before, so I asked her for help.

My mom loves Zelda as much as the rest of us. In fact, she was the first one to introduce us kids to Zelda when she brought home a rented copy of the first Zelda for NES. After we played it a bit, she went and purchased it. She liked to watch us play more than play herself though. She was onboard with the idea from the start. Plus she loves her grandson.

I had no idea how hard it is to create things out of fabric. We tried numerous times to create a head for Link that didn't turn out looking like an animal head, but in the end, I think my mom really did a good job. She made Link and his clothes and did all the sewing. I designed and cut out the pieces for the shield. We had my brother, Weston, come over to paint the face and the Triforce on Link's hand.

We let Ethan open the gift on Christmas Eve so he could take it to bed with him while he waited for Santa. He loved it. All night he was throwing Link into the air and making 'High-Ya!' sounds. He would run around and attack all of the family members with Link's sword (which was permanently sewn into Link's hand). Once in a while, Ethan would make a beeping sound and Link would have to drink a potion.

I posted a few pictures to my Picasa album, so click on the picture below to see the rest of them.

Labels: link, zelda