The Postman

It's about time I did a proper Zelda character that people are more likely to recognise so here's the Postman from Majora's Mask. Now the timing of this is awkward because Ninjatoes has released his own version, though in a different pose and with props for a diorama. Different versions of the same characters are always welcome, though I recommend you check his version out, as his models are consistently high quality. With some hindsight I can say his template and instructions are better than my Postman, although mine has a PDO file, and a 'true' lineless template.

The Postman is a dilligent worker in Clock Town, obsessively sticking to his schedule, even though it soon conflicts with his urge to flee as the moon threatens to annihilate Termina. Eventually Link can earn the Postman's Hat off him, which allows him to check the mail boxes around the town. His strange attitude and voice sound effects ("Ya!") always made him one of my favourites, plus he's a very good example of how the time system of Majora's Mask really adds depth to the game. Like many characters he had an alter ego in Ocarina of Time, the unbeatable Running Man who you could 'race' as adult Link.

I'd like my next model to be free of problems in testbuilding. This one set me back a few times, but I feel I've fixed the major issues I encountered the first time(s) around. For whatever reason I've built his head three times and his body twice now! (Also his pose, though not complex is tricky to get a decent photo that shows him best.)

Parts of the head and body are quite detailed, but in my scale, he's actually quite tall, with a large head and hands which makes things not as bad as they had potential to be. Still experience is probably needed, and I always stress that Pepakura Viewer helps a lot too!

Stands ~24.0cm which is tall for my standards!

Difficulty: 6.5/10

Download here!

Elegy of Emptiness Zora

It's been a while, due to problems in testbuilding, plus I'm working on another big Fire Emblem craft but here is the Elegy of Emptiness Zora! (For lack of a better name)

In Majora's Mask by playing the song, Elegy of Emptiness inside Stone Tower, Link can 'shed a shell' of himself to create a statue of his current form. Described as a souless image, these are used to solve a variety of puzzles later on. Wearing the Zora mask the statue produced is a ghastly white eyed Mikau, the soul from which the mask was derived.

The Zora statue I think is the most creepy (tough competition if you look at the Link one) due to his blank eyes and shouting expression. In the age of N64 graphics and blurry CRT televisions, it was difficult to discern all the detail, and for some reason when I was younger I thought that the neck tattoos were actually a stitched up wound on his throat. :S (though neither sound pleasant!)


This is a harder model than some of my others because of the way the limbs tend to merge into the body. The legs for example are merged down to the knees and again at the feet. So some experience and use of the PDO is recommended.

He stands quite stable at ~22.0cm (not including ~7mm stand) and has quite a lot of detail, especially if you build the fish guitar.

Difficulty: 7/10

Download Here!

Elegy of Emptiness Deku

This is the second model from the Elegy of Emptiness series. In Majora's Mask by playing the song, Elegy of Emptiness inside Stone Tower, Link can 'shed a shell' of himself to create a statue of his current form. Described as a souless image, these are used to solve a variety of puzzles later on. The image created depends on what form Link is in at the time. Wearing the Deku mask the statue produced is a small sad looking Scrub.

Since the Zora and Goron statues appear as Mikau and Darmani (the souls which reside in those masks), it is believed that the Deku mask was derived from the Deku Butler's missing son. This is hinted at during serveral scenes in the game.

Oddly enough, the Deku statue is too light to press floor switches down, so has no real use in the game.



~15.4cm tall without the stand, which adds another ~7mm, though the height will strongly be influenced by how straight the leaves are. It's very top heavy so weighing it down inside the little legs is required else he'll tip over backwards. Fairly large pieces, so nothing too complicated. You must cut the eyes and leaf shapes out yourself.

Difficulty: 4.5/10

Download Here!

As usual thick paper or thin card should be used, plus the PDO file with Pepakura Designer or Viewer (see links section).

Haar

The second of my Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn models, Haar is available for your scrutiny! Being more complex, these take a longer time to edit than N64 content. Hey isn't this called Hyrule Papercraft, like Zelda stuff? Well...yeah but I have a great passion for FE games too! :p




















Haar is a veteran Wyvern rider who has served many nations in Tellius. In the events of Radiant Dawn he joins up with Queen Elincia to halt the Crimean rebels, and later follows Ike in the fight against Begnion, possibly with his own desires to bring down his corrupt former commanders and senators. His trademarks are an eyepatch, perpetual tiredness and a no-nonsense attitude.

As a Dragonmaster he combines high hit points, strength and defence with impressive maneuverability for such a heavy unit. Equipped with axes he can smash through most enemies and withstand heavy combat with ease. His low resistance makes him vulnerable to magic, especially Thunder Mages which do double damage to Wyvern units.

(One of my favourite and most useful characters too!)

This is a hard model, no doubts about it, experience in papercrafting is a must. It is quite tall but has 21 pages and many small parts. Elements of the face and hands are particularly tricky. Use of the PDO is a must to see where parts go. Please look at the Read Me, template info and instructions, though don't be restricted by my order of building, as everyone's method varies.

Download Here!

Difficulty: 8.5/10

Best built in the smooth method, with a few exceptions mentioned in the instructions. Use of thicker cardstock is essential. Printer paper will not work!

He doesn't have as many accessories as Nephenee, but he's still a detailed model that looks great when done. My hat's off to Fire Emblem RD's character designers!

Elegy of Emptiness Link

I return from elsewhere with a new craft! Now I've not actually given up, just in the last months I've had a bunch of models which just never made it to the building stage.

Elegy of Emptiness Link is here (though you may wish he wasn't)! In Majora's Mask by playing the song, Elegy of Emptiness inside Stone Tower, Link can 'shed a shell' of himself to create a statue of his current form. Described as a souless image, these are used to solve a variety of puzzles later on. The image created depends on what form Link is in at the time. As a Hylian (not wearing a transformation mask) the statue produced is a surreal, rather warped parody of Link. I always found the statues quite disturbing and an obscure piece of the darker world of Termina. (No wonder they used him for that fake haunted game story recently! Granted, I made this before his bizarre popularity spike)



15.7cm tall without the stand, which adds another ~7mm. The large head makes it top heavy so weighing it down inside, or even glueing to the stand is necessary. Other than closing the hood and some important valley folds, it's a simple model.

Difficulty: 4.75/10

Download Here!

As usual thick paper or thin card should be used, plus the PDO file helps a lot!

(Wryly smiling at folks here because of that haunted game stuff. People'll believe anything huh?)

Christmas 2009

Best wishes from Hyrule Papercraft!

Happy random gift exchange day! ;)

Nephenee

A long term model I built in September-October but needed to edit the template and spend ages re-unfolding. So eventually she is available for release and your scrutiny: Nephenee in her halberdier appearance from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn!

Nephenee is a young girl from the Crimean countryside and in the events of RD, joins up with fellow villager Brom to suppress a local rebellion. After the Crimean rebels against Queen Elincia are defeated, she travels with Ike and the Greil Mercenaries to assist the Laguz Alliance against the Begnion Empire.

As a halberdier, she is a very well balanced unit with good strength, skill, speed and defence. This allows her to perform well in sustained combat due to having few real weaknesses. Though her individual stats will likely be exceeded by those of specialist units later on. Other classes may be better at specific jobs, but she remains a flexible and very useful all-purpose unit throughout the game.

This model is not for beginners! It's the most complex one I've edited yet with 28 pages and quite a few small parts. Use of the PDO file will be a great help as my photos of the first version are slightly out of date. The legs, body and head can be built in any order since they are all self contained pieces, though the part numbering reflects my rough order of building from the bottom up.

When complete she has an awesome amount of detail and will look impressive standing guard with shield and Steel Greatlance in hand.

Difficulty: 8.5/10

Best built in the smooth method, except for a few places mentioned in the instructions.

Download Here!

Grog

Obscure Zelda NPCs are one of my favourite categories for ripping. Grog is no exception and after some messing about in the last fortnight he's now available in papercraft form!

Grog is an idle and depressed young man who can be found under a tree in Kakariko village at night. He readily shares his views on people and his parents, all of which are "disgusting" to him, and even suggests that Link is too! His father is Mutoh, the boss of the carpenters and from their dialogue, the two don't seem to get along very well. In Majora's Mask, his alter ego looks after the Cuccos in Romani Ranch and sports a new spiky haircut. (Though this model doesn't include that)



He sits on a box at 16.1cm and has an optional bag for a mini diorama feel. Technically in game he has three bags so you can go nuts and print more if you want.

The model is very average in terms of construction, the only hard parts being the hands, which are very thin and flat near the thumbs. Also there are many important valley folds on the body that should be done cleanly.

Difficulty: 6/10

Download Here!

The tension of the paper at the joints means his pose could vary and be more 'open' than what you see in Pepakura. That said, I still recommend you use thin card/thick paper, otherwise he might be a saggy mess (even more so!).

Stalchild

Another semi-simple model, this time it's a Stalchild! These undead skeletons rise as pairs out of the ground at night in Hyrule field to attack those who wander off the main paths. However they are quite slow and easy to outrun and will vanish at sunrise. In Ocarina of Time, they only appear in Link's childhood, which is odd considering the initially corrupted state of Hyrule when Link emerges as an adult. In Majora's Mask they appear, but as the footsoldiers of Ikana awaiting orders from Captain Keeta.



Like the Poe, the original state of this model could not be built as a papercraft. There is an unedited version on the internet but I didn't believe it could be a good model at all. So I've merged, chopped, added and re-posed various parts to get this. Unlike the Poe, this is scaled to my other guys, and stands ~18.7cm but will depend a lot on your build. He may need weighing down inside the feet with something to stand.

It relies a lot on glueing surfaces of pieces together, so I recommend a strong liquid glue. Any will do, just don't use glue sticks! Also a few 2D parts are quite shaky so thicker paper is a must. If you use printer paper, you might get a saggy, gibbering wreck. The way the legs and arms glue on, might mean people's poses will vary. It can be customised I guess, but try to get a position where he stands up! ;p

Just glue well, and wait for it to dry and actually this is pretty easy.

Download Here!

Difficulty: 4.75/10