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| My Zelda Symphony Adventure | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 6 2013, 11:04 PM (348 Views) | |
| Togeshroob | Jul 6 2013, 11:04 PM Post #1 |
(Temporarily closed. ...Gwaargh!) *doo wee doo wee doo*
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Okay, well, one whole week later and I'm finally getting around to doing this. The thought of writing this thing up has been kind of daunting (even though it probably won't actually take terribly long), and I've been doing other things (totally NOT playing Animal Crossing during EVERY POSSIBLE SPARE NANOSECOND OF THE DAY), and I had some trouble getting the pictures from my phone to the computer, and... well I'm finally getting around to it. So! Let's get this started. A week ago today, I had the privilege of attending the Zelda 25th anniversary symphony - the Symphony of the Goddesses. But hey, before I go any further, I should describe what led up to it. What Zelda adventure would be complete without a little backstory? :p This has been my dream every since it was announced - way back at E3 2011 (you know, the actualy 25th anniversary year). Since then I have been subscribed to this site, getting updates about concert dates and places, wishing and hoping that I might get to go. Oddly enough, they came to Texas SO MANY TIMES. I remember when they first announced Texas dates - in both Houston and Austin. I thought that it might possibly actually happen, I might get to go! But for various reasons, during that 2012 year of the tour, I was unable to go. I was pretty dejected that I missed this apparent once in a lifetime opportunity, but eventually I became resigned to this reality. But then they started announcing MORE Texas dates - along with more dates everywhere, extending this thing way on in to 2013. Apparently Houston/Austin are happenin' places for this kind of thing! So I missed a few more Texas dates... until this one. They announced that they were bringing it to Austin - again - and on a date that worked perfectly for me, except this was the NEW season of the concert - aptly named "The Second Quest," featuring all-new arrangements alongside some of the original season favorites. I wasn't going to miss it this time. I called up a friend of mine who loves Zelda as well, and he agreed to join me. Little bit of a funny story about getting tickets, actually. I procrastinated some, and so when all was finally set to buy tickets - there were no seats left to buy! I was really scared, looking at the seat map online, and then I saw a wheelchair space and companion seat open for sale, and without thinking, I bought those two seats. Haha, I was so determined to go that I didn't care if I had to stand in the wheelchair space! Anyhow, the next couple days I began to worry about it - was this even legal? Would they kick us out or something? So eventually I called the box office and explained the situation, asking if it was okay. As it turns out, there actually WERE other seats open - the internet just didn't show them - and so they guy simply moved me to those. And these seats were fantastic! Right SMACK in the middle, fairly close to the stage. So yeah, we really lucked out with out seats. We ended up driving to Austin the same day of the concert - last Saturday - which honestly feels like FOREVER ago at this point. Me and my friend both agreed sometime beforehand that we would dress up, just... because, I guess. So I decided to go with my "Makeshift Link" costume that I can easily throw together with some shirts and pants I always wear. He decided to get a little more creative and make his costume as Skyloftian Link (before Hero's Clothes), although he ended up just putting some paint on a shirt and rigging up some socks with safety pins. So we ended up being Link WITH Hero's Clothes and Link WITHOUT Hero's Clothes :F Here's a shot of me in mah costume outside the concert place: MY COSTUME Anyhow, enough backstory! Let's get to the actual event! So we got there. Whoo! I was initially very nervous - I mean, I always am with this kind of thing, being in crowds of new people at a new place, it's just how I am. We got our tickets at the counter, and then I turned around, and - whaddya know! There was a girl with a Hylian Crest shirt! I was like "Yes, we're not the only crazy ones!" Here I thought that my friend and I would be one of the only ones dressed up or whatever. Heh, how little did I know! So we walk up the outside stairs, and pause to look around the architecture and whatnot. After I took those pictures, I turned around and OH MY GOSH, there was a little girl and a little boy dressed up as Tetra and Link! Tetra was the older, and she was holding the little Link's hand, guiding him along. It was pretty much the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. They were with their mother (or some female guardian), and... let me say now that I would soon find out that this was a common theme - families. But I'll get to that later. I really wanted to take a picture of these little cosplayers, but I was pretty sure that was illegal! So yep! Soon after that an older girl (teens?) walked out as a fully-fledged Link, sword and shield at the ready, and needless to say my initial nervousness had melted away into a pure, euphoric, nerdy bliss that lasted the rest of the night. Here are a couple of shots of the center: THE VENUE We were there over an hour early - which WE thought was super early, but there were already a TON of people there. I guess that's normal, I dunno - this was my first time ever going to anything like this. The next hour I spent walking up and down the same inside hall, over and over again, admiring all the costumes and people, and just EVERYTHING. Man, I don't even know where to begin describing all this, all my impressions and thoughts and whatever. I guess... I'll start with my most powerful impression: the KINDS of people that were there. Like I said before: families. There weren't just young adult nerds like myself. There were families. That is so totally foreign to me. My family is so... different than this. Aside from my sister (who incidentally really enjoys Zelda games), I'm the only one in my family who really does much with games or is really at all involved in this type of culture. Heh, my parental units have always pretty much hated video games, and made it indirectly clear. I mean, it's not like they just horribly mistreated me or anything, it's just... seeing these families here - fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, all united by this interest and probably many others - was a strange experience for me. I've always felt somewhat alone in my family. To be honest, I can't help but feel a shred of jealousy when I think about them, and when I saw them. That kind of camaraderie in a family would just be... amazing. Don't get me wrong: I'm not hating on my family or anything. I owe them all a lot in this life, and I'd never charge them with any wrong about this or anything. It's just.. you can understand how it must've been weird to see these people. For example: There was a dad, with a neat shirt filled with various Zelda memorabilia, with his two daughters right beside him - one dressed as Zelda and one as a fairy - and the mother on the other side. It was so adorable! What a neat family! Another thing: There were a lot of young people as well - NEW fans - preteens, especially. I think this is just beautiful. I got into Zelda as a preteen, and I know how much it really inspired me and helped me as an individual. It's made a huge impact on my life - like, it's more than just a passing fandom for me; it's done way more for me than that. I've really been inspired by various aspects of the series. So... when I see these kids, both younger and older, and see how they're into Zelda, just like I was... Well, it's like, I know they're in good hands :p It's wonderful to think that they too can experience the things I experienced, and that as they grow up, the series can help them, too. The Zelda series has always had a very personal side; it can touch you and inspire you as a person, just simply through the gameplay experience. It was so good to see these newer, younger kids enjoying the series too. Speaking of which, there were a LOT of fans of the newer games, which I thought was awesome! Here on the interwebz, sometimes all you hear is praise for the old nostalgia games (OoT, MM, ALttP, etc) and hate on the newer games. But I saw so many representatives of the newer games - people with Spirit Tracks shirts, people in Wind Waker clothes and costumes (like the Tetra), people with Ezlo hats, lots of Twilight Princess stuff, lots of Skyward Sword stuff. And the best part? The majority of this newer game stuff was represented by younger fans - kids and preteens and teens. A lot of us here grew up with the likes of OoT and MM and ALttP, and so we think those are the best, but these kids... heh, like Daphnes says in Wind Waker - they're living for the future! It goes to show you that, even though the internet elitist fans like to hate on the newer games, these newer games are STILL having on impact on people like the older games! It was such a neat thing to see. Speaking of people, let's get to the COSPLAYING: There were quite a few costumes, ranging from the cheap-but-neat (like mine and my friends) to the extremely impressive. I'll just start with pictures. One of the very first ones I saw inside was a very impressive Skull Kid and a very impressive Link. Both were drawing quite a lot of attention in different areas, and eventually they happened in the same area for an unanticipated photo shoot. I, of course, got a picture: LINK AND SKULL KID Another of the first ones I saw was a really, really impressive Zelda (TP inspired). She soon joined Link and the Skull Kid for some pictures, and then, well, I just couldn't help myself! I joined with them so my friend could get my picture. A lot of people did that, said: "Hey can I get my picture with you?" So I did too :p ZELDA AND I JOIN THE CREW I kinda felt like, you know, THAT ONE really annoying fan. The one in a cheap costume, who goes around all super excited and totally buzzed OMIGOSH LOOK ITS SKULL KID OMIGOSH ITS ZELDA!!!11 I mean, I wasn't quite THAT bad, but man I was so excited I just kinda lost all my reservations! I was all crazy giddy and excited and everything the whole time :F I actually got to talk to a lot of these people! That awesome Zelda up there; apparently her mother (who was there with her) actually MADE the costume over the span of four days (working ALL day) the previous year for Halloween, and they were happy to be able to use it again. Again with the families! The Skull Kid was a woman who seemed like she had done this kind of thing before. And I got to talk to the next one, too... DO YOU HAVE MY MASK? ^This guy was easily my favorite cosplayer. He just NAILED the Happy Mask Salesman. I was just walking around, then I saw him in line and without thinking exclaimed: "the Happy Mask Salesman!" a little too loud. He heard me, saw me, and so I walked up to him and complimented him. He used a backpack with some kind of blanket for his pack, and he made all the masks himself. I asked for a picture, and there ya go! He asked me if I had his mask, and I was like, "No, but that guy down there does!" referring to the Skull Kid, and we laughed :F He actually met up with the Skull Kid later, and I got their picture together: HE FOUND HIS MASK And at some point I saw my second favorite cosplayer there, dressed as one of my favorite characters in the franchise: THE LEGEND OF GROOSE He pulls off Groose really well, and his friend pulls of Skyloftian Link really well, too  One more thing about the pre-concert stuff: SO MANY STREETPASSES. So many. It was insane. Seriously, where I live, Nintendo and DS's and whatever aren't TOO popular, as it's not exactly a big city, so there's not many people involved in this kind of culture. So I was SO surprised at this. Like at least HALF of the people there had their 3DS's out, it was so neat! They were standing there, some alone, some together, playing Find Mii or Puzzle Swap or Animal Crossing or Fire Emblem, or whatever... As soon as I realized that the 3DS can only have 10 streetpasses at a time, I shot to the Streetpass plaza to clear up space for more. So I played Puzzle Swap and Find Mii with that first 10... and before I was even finished I already had 10 more! So I played with THOSE 10, and as soon as I was done, lo and behold ANOTHER 10 were waiting on me. This went on for awhile, until I eventually got so tired of slaving over streetpasses that I just decided to stop for awhile. It was going so fast that eventually I stopped playing Find Mii - I just did Puzzle Swap, then moved on to the next batch - as Find Mii took too long. I made SO much progress in Puzzle Swap. Stuff I never thought I'd ever finish in my 3DS-sparse town I finished in just an hour. Crazy! It was like an entire Nintendo subculture, or something... which was something, IRL, that was totally foreign to me. We were all there for the common purpose of Zelda, but then a ton of us had 3DS's and Animal Crossing (got a TON of HHA houses in my town now) and all that stuff. It was really something else. OKAY, SO. Now that you've trudged through all that, are you read to read about what I actually went there for in the first place? Well good, 'cause I'm already writing a novel here and I'd like to move on :\ Just a few minutes before the thing actually started, me and my friend went inside and found our seats. Man... so excited. Like I said before, the whole night I was just buzzing. It was such an amazing experience - and of course, the music and production was the best part! While we were sitting there waiting, they played various songs from the franchise over the speakers while people were milling about. All kinds of songs, too - popular ones like Zora's Domain, and obscure ones like Train Training. Anyhow, pretty soon the production began! Now, all the arrangements played were WONDERFUL, and while I don't think I'll just go onto a huge rant about each and every song and what I particularly liked about how they showed it (unless someone asks me to...!), I will point out some of the highlights and neat things about it. FIRST OF ALL - a poor quality picture of the screen and orchestra before the performance! They had this really cool stone Hylian Crest with light filtering down before, after, and during waits: THE ORCHESTRA As most of you probably know, the set up is like this: orchestra playing music, synchronized footage (gameplay and cutscenes) plays on screen. Like I said, this was the "Second Quest," not the original performance. So they had a lot of songs that were not in the original performance - a lot of curveball kinda stuff, awesome stuff you didn't necessarily expect. Honestly I was really happy about this, even though I never got to go to the "Original Quest." I had already heard a good portion of the original music thanks to that CD that came with Skyward Sword. The only ones from the original that actually stayed for the Second Quest are the four symphonic movements (OoT, WW, TP, and ALttP) and, of course, Gerudo Valley - everything else was new and awesome! I mean, I can listen to Fairy Fountain whenever I want with that CD, so I was really glad to hear some new stuff. Well, lemme talk about some of that new stuff! They started off with an overture, which... come to think of it was probably in the original season as well. Anyway, after that they did a really touching piece on - of all games - Link's Awakening! I was so excited; I love that game. I think it's one of the most thematic games in the series; it tells a surprisingly powerful story for an 8-bit game. Anyhow, the music and the video really did the game and its story justice - from the shipwreck in the beginning to Link's tragic discovery of the truth to the conclusion. It was really neat. The next one REALLY surprised me - it was Spirit Tracks! Say what you want about the actual game (I thought it was pretty great), but there's hardly any arguing that Spirit Tracks has one of the best soundtracks in the series. There's so many great original songs in Spirit Tracks, and it's a shame that a lot of people don't ever get to know any of it because they're too busy writing off the game! Anyhow, they played most of the great ones - including one of my absolute favorite songs in the series - [url=lhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh3LIzwYWhw]Train Training[/url]! Needless to say, I was really glad to see Spirit Tracks get such love. I won't talk about most of the rest of them, for the sake of time and space (I'm probably really boring y'all by the point), I'll just touch on some random points in a list - OoT symphonic movement - The thing that struck me the most in this one is that, with the on-screen footage, they REALLY put emphasis on Link and Saria's relationship, which I thought was just beautiful. Saria has long been my favorite character in the series, and I love hers and link's special friendship. From their moments together in the forest, to their parting, to their meeting in the Chamber of the Sages, the screen showed it all. I thought that was awesome. WW symphonic movement - as this was my first Zelda game, this part of the show was really touching to me. It reminded me of those old days, all those old feelings, old thoughts, old ideas, old dreams... I'll come back to this later, though. ALttP movement - just wanted to say that this was really cool. It was the last movement in the symphony, it as such, it was very finale-like. Now see, I don't ever go to things like this, so I didn't know this, but apparently at concerts they often to these things called encores. Which I had thought meant, you know, ENCORE, where they simply played one of the songs they already played again. But apparently it doesn't work that way - it's better. So they finished with ALttP, and they acted like they were all done, and I was a little disappointed there wasn't more, but I was happy for what I heard. BUT THEN! The guy came back in and was like "lol jay kay guize there's moar!" Then he said, "Put your happy masks on..." and a roar went up in the crowd :p So next they did a Majora's Mask piece! It was really neat, though since it wasn't actually a movement or anything, it didn't have a lot of the great songs from the game (like Song of Healing). It focused on Clock Town and Link trying to stop the moon. The part with Clock Town was really cool, there was a great transition from happy to desperate. After that they pretended to be done AGAIN and I was fooled AGAIN. He came back in and said they were doing one more - and it was Dragon Roost Island. This one was kind of a blur to me, but it was definitely new (a different arrangement from the original season. And then they did it AGAIN - and this time it was something that I had seriously hoped but doubted they would do - Skyward Sword! He said that in the original season, Nintendo didn't let them do it because it was too soon after the game was released, but NOW they could do it! And it wasn't just the same ballad of the Goddess from the original CD - it was a totally new piece. It had Ballad of the Goddess, of course, but then... from out of the blue came FI'S THEME - another of my great, great, favorites in the series! And that was actually the last song :| Okay, well, looks like I ended up saying something about most of the songs, anyway :\ ONE LAST THING AND I'M DONE, I PROMISE GOSH It made me sad. The whole production. Especially the ones like OoT and WW - stuff that I played several years ago, with a totally different mindset. It made me remember everything. It brought to mind all my innocent adventures in Hyrule when I was younger, carefree days of innocent Zelda fandom, playing the games over again, posting and reading on the Internet, fascinated by the lore and world of this new (to me) series... and it really hit home that that's all behind me, in the past. I'm basically grown now, and though the series has come with me for several years, things just aren't the same. While I love the games to death - that hasn't changed - but there's a certain pure, carefree innocence that some of these games embody to me, and seeing them and hearing them at this concert really reminded me of that. Yeah... but I must move on. Dwelling on and wishing for the past is a dangerous, unhealthy thing. I miss out on the present and the future. Wind Waker taught me that ;D ...Ironic, no? The very game that embodies these emotions for me beckons me to set them aside and move forward. ^If anyone actually read all of that... congratulations and thank you very much for your time. I should reward you with a heaping pile of Bells in New Leaf :| tl;dr It was a fantastic experience for me personally, and I am extremely grateful I had the opportunity to go. If any of y'all are able to, y'all should DEFINITELY go. Here's their current schedule for 2013 if you need to know. They've got dates all over, even some in Canada! Okay, okay... I'm done. It's over. Leave. Go home. *goes to sleep* Edited by Togeshroob, Jul 6 2013, 11:18 PM.
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| Liongirl | Jul 7 2013, 01:36 AM Post #2 |
Always tl;dr
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Man, that was great to read. I'll create my full reply upon my return home. Thanks for that, Shroob. |
 Unsound M is the best for making my sig/avatar. | |
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| Togeshroob | Jul 7 2013, 07:49 PM Post #3 |
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(Temporarily closed. ...Gwaargh!) *doo wee doo wee doo*
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No, thank you for taking time to read that mountain! I really appreciate that, and look forward to your reply :D (This way you don't have to edit or double post) |
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| MetaZora | Jul 9 2013, 04:08 PM Post #4 |
Resident Smile Enthusiast
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Alright, so first thing, that happy mask salesman cosplayer is FUCKING AWESOME. I did a fist pump in the air when I saw that. Next, I am completely amped for you and your experience Shroob, that seriously sounds so freaking amazing! You might have mentioned this in your post and I just didn't see it (I promise I read the entire post, but I lost my glasses so I probably just didn't do a very good job of it) but how far did you drive to see it? Like was it relatively close or was it a few hours away? These things always interest me. I'm seriously considering making a trip up to San Jose in December to go see it now. Hearing that they did a MM piece AND played Fi's theme made me excited as all hell! That's something like an 8 hour drive though from me, so I'll probs try to enlist a couple homies to go with and make a trip out of it or something. Maybe. I'm glad you went though Shroob, I enjoyed reading all about it! Oh, one other thing, did they have any sweet Zelda merch there?? |
 The ever fantastic Daniel created the above signature that just made you gump your ass off. Twitter/Tumblr/Youtube 3DS Friend Code! Other Sigs
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| Pyroll7 | Jul 10 2013, 08:27 AM Post #5 |
Dark Samus
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This was a very interesting read shroob, I read the entire thing. You sound like you had a lot of fun. You talk about families and how your family isn't like the families you saw there. I can see how seeing all those families would make you feel that way. Although, you said that your sister plays Nintendo but she's not that big of a fan? When I was growing up me and my siblings always played games together, at least most of the time, and we were all hardcore about Nintendo and games in general. If I had been the only one in my family who played games it would have been a lot different.... However, my parents didn't play video games. My father has no interest in video games. He's really big on movies. My mother loves games but she mostly just plays games like Plants And Zombies. You know, games like those that you play on the computer. However, I think if someone was to show her a game like Portal 2 or the Mario games she'd become addicted......she'd be blown away. She probably wouldn't be interested in anything like Call Of Duty, but anything like Mario or anything that involves puzzles she'd be hooked. Which gets me thinking......why didn't I show her any of these games? Like Mario... Actually.....I do remember that when I was a kid I did get her to play Super Mario Bros. 3 with me a few times and she seemed to have really enjoyed it. I guess me and my siblings hogged the NES too much though and she never tried playing it by herself. But I've always wished that every kid could have a childhood like I did, if not better. Edited by Pyroll7, Jul 10 2013, 08:27 AM.
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| Togeshroob | Jul 10 2013, 09:17 AM Post #6 |
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(Temporarily closed. ...Gwaargh!) *doo wee doo wee doo*
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@Meta Yeah, the Happy Mask Salesman was awesome. He seemed like a pretty cool guy too, talking to him and hearing him talk. I overheard him saying to someone else that getting to be all creepy and weird was the best part :p As for my drive, it was about 5 1/2 hours or so. Not quite as bad as your 8, but it was a good drive anyway. But yeah, you totally should see what you can do about going to that one in San Jose! I checked and the schedule said that one is a Season 2, as well. Bringing "a couple homies" would be a great idea too - like I said I brought my friend, and I was actually going to try to bring a couple more, but they couldn't make it. And YES, there was merch, though only a T-shirt and a poster (albeit a huge, really pretty poster). My friend ended up getting both right off the bat, but myself, being a tad pickier and more practical, wasn't going to get anything. But then at the very end after everyone was leaving they were like "We still have stuff for sale, come and get it, last chance" and my friend persuaded me to cave and buy a shirt :| @Pyroll Wow, I was really glad to read your take on the whole families thing. Yeah, well, it's more like my sister USED to play video games (the same ones I did). We pretty much DID grow up playing games together - like Mario Party and Animal Crossing and some of the Zelda games - so I'm thankful I've had that, for sure. But I have two older siblings who, while they did play when they were much younger, it wasn't for very long at all. Seeing as that was kind of my THING, I never really could use it to connect to my older siblings much, but like I said, I did with my younger sister. And then, like I think I said before, my parents have typically pretty much opposed games. I've always had to play in relative secrecy so as to not get them started :p But see, I think it's pretty cool that your mother likes games - even the stuff like Plants Vs. Zombies. I wonder if she'd like Animal Crossing :F Anyway, I don't want to make it seem like I was deprived of anyone to relate to as a kid or anything, as I always had my sister, and I am very thankful for that. It's just that the rest of my family was never very open about it. |
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| Pyroll7 | Jul 10 2013, 07:34 PM Post #7 |
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Dark Samus
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You have to play in secret? Awwww. I know my mother didn't care that we played games and I'm guessing my father didn't care as he had bought us our NES.
Edited by Pyroll7, Jul 10 2013, 07:36 PM.
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| Togeshroob | Jul 11 2013, 02:25 PM Post #8 |
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(Temporarily closed. ...Gwaargh!) *doo wee doo wee doo*
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Well, no, it's not that I have to play in secret - I've just learned that playing in secret is better, because in the past they really haven't liked to see me playing games very much. If they saw me playing games, it was always like: "You should go do something else," or "only 20 more minutes, ok?" - stuff like that. Stuff that really just drove home the fact that they don't like video games :p But I mean, I don't take it offensively, really. I don't feel like they've done me a disservice or anything. Edited by Togeshroob, Jul 11 2013, 02:26 PM.
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