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Molblin's Magic Spear
Once upon a time the world was a place of magicand monsters . The land of Hyrule was ruled byPrincess Zelda , who used the magic of her Triforce
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
24 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 26, 2023
Didn't know this existed until today! Great illustrations, a shame more weren't made to finish the story.
8/10
8/10
December 23, 2023
Maybe I'm just padding out my reading challenge at the end of the year with a bunch of kids' books, art books, and comics, but frankly, I'm having too much fun knocking out so many short titles at a breakneck speed. So, I'm just going to keep reviewing these forgotten gems I mined from my parents' basement.
There's a certain degree of storytelling silliness and bad-guy ineptitude that can only exist within the realm of 80s cartoons and licensed books like this one.
We get a very brief intro to the story as Ganon kidnaps Zelda, and Link sets out to save her, as you might expect the legend to go.
While sailing on his raft, Link spots an old man surveilling him along the riverbank. In a leap of logic, he manages to sneak around the old man, who just moments ago was staring directly at him. As Link approaches, the ground gives way, and he falls into a hidden pit.
As it turns out, the pit is actually a shop, and the old man is a salesman. The man explains this whole pitfall ruse was just a clever business tactic; a way to get people in the door. Nobody knows his hole-in-the-ground shop exists, so he has to resort to this rather elaborate and predatory business model. Just to break down the ridiculousness of this situation, for his plan to work, the old man needs to wait by the riverbank for someone to float by, hope they notice the glowing eyes in the bushes, and pray they'll decide to try and sneak up from behind, despite the fact he's already staring right at them, and walk to the exact spot where the pit is hidden. Then after all that, there's a pretty good chance the potential customers will be so angry they won't want to do business with him anyway. Hasn't this old guy ever heard of putting up a sign?
Link buys some bombs and heads out, eventually running into one of Ganon's followers, 'Molblin,' who I guess is an individual's name in this book and not a race of creatures. Molblin, who looks like a blue bulldog bodybuilder with knee pads, starts hurling spears and immediately face-plants into a tree, the result of his piss-poor eyesight. "That gives me an idea!" says Link.
So what's his idea? The logical course of action would be to just run away from this nearsighted klutz, who would inevitably just fall and hurt himself again. Instead, he comes up with another contrived trap, this time using the bombs he purchased and some branches to make a Link-shaped dummy. "This is no head! This is a bomb!" He cried. Molblin is blown sky-high, but luckily he had a parachute, or something, because the story makes sure to point out that it took him 3 days to find his way back. You didn't expect someone to actually die in a Golden book, did you?
With Molblin neutralized, Link is free to continue his journey, which unfortunately ends rather abruptly on the next page. Despite the story being so shallow and full of video game logic, the book managed to make me laugh (not intentionally, but a laugh is a laugh.) and I've always been a sucker for vintage fantasy art and nostalgia trips. I've probably spent ten times the amount of time writing this review as it took actually reading the book, so it must've struck some kind of chord with me, if only because I felt the urge to make fun of it.
There's a certain degree of storytelling silliness and bad-guy ineptitude that can only exist within the realm of 80s cartoons and licensed books like this one.
We get a very brief intro to the story as Ganon kidnaps Zelda, and Link sets out to save her, as you might expect the legend to go.
While sailing on his raft, Link spots an old man surveilling him along the riverbank. In a leap of logic, he manages to sneak around the old man, who just moments ago was staring directly at him. As Link approaches, the ground gives way, and he falls into a hidden pit.
As it turns out, the pit is actually a shop, and the old man is a salesman. The man explains this whole pitfall ruse was just a clever business tactic; a way to get people in the door. Nobody knows his hole-in-the-ground shop exists, so he has to resort to this rather elaborate and predatory business model. Just to break down the ridiculousness of this situation, for his plan to work, the old man needs to wait by the riverbank for someone to float by, hope they notice the glowing eyes in the bushes, and pray they'll decide to try and sneak up from behind, despite the fact he's already staring right at them, and walk to the exact spot where the pit is hidden. Then after all that, there's a pretty good chance the potential customers will be so angry they won't want to do business with him anyway. Hasn't this old guy ever heard of putting up a sign?
Link buys some bombs and heads out, eventually running into one of Ganon's followers, 'Molblin,' who I guess is an individual's name in this book and not a race of creatures. Molblin, who looks like a blue bulldog bodybuilder with knee pads, starts hurling spears and immediately face-plants into a tree, the result of his piss-poor eyesight. "That gives me an idea!" says Link.
So what's his idea? The logical course of action would be to just run away from this nearsighted klutz, who would inevitably just fall and hurt himself again. Instead, he comes up with another contrived trap, this time using the bombs he purchased and some branches to make a Link-shaped dummy. "This is no head! This is a bomb!" He cried. Molblin is blown sky-high, but luckily he had a parachute, or something, because the story makes sure to point out that it took him 3 days to find his way back. You didn't expect someone to actually die in a Golden book, did you?
With Molblin neutralized, Link is free to continue his journey, which unfortunately ends rather abruptly on the next page. Despite the story being so shallow and full of video game logic, the book managed to make me laugh (not intentionally, but a laugh is a laugh.) and I've always been a sucker for vintage fantasy art and nostalgia trips. I've probably spent ten times the amount of time writing this review as it took actually reading the book, so it must've struck some kind of chord with me, if only because I felt the urge to make fun of it.
November 29, 2020
(I don't play Legend of Zelda games)
Mario and Sonic and even Pac-Man have a collection why not add Zelda? But then why only one?
Cover
I do like this cover though. It's quite intimating and dynamic design. Almost to a fault. But the back ground is better than the interior design. (They battle in a dessert like area rather than forest.)
Interior
Story
The pacing and story flow is a bit busted. The first problem is that the overarching plot is sped through in the first and last page. (Analyzed in After Thoughts)
The Story isn't bad but I did notice a couple of strange changes. Such as Molblin instead of the common Moblin and Rubies instead of rather than Rupees. The choices are a bit unusual since anyone reading it would know the terminology from the games.
Illustrations
Before I criticize anything in this book I did my research to see how loyal to the game the art is. All the main are true to the true designs.
(I really wanted to question Impa unusual design and why Zelda looks more like Princess Peach in the book but that's loyalty to the game.)
Not many but a couple of them look a bit cut and past of background. Mainly the one that uses the Moblin and Link from the cover looks a but off in the picture.
I don't know if the little background critters in the pictures are from the game but they are really unusually and creatively strange.
After thoughts
I'm convinced there were suppose to be a lot more books. Gannon shouting at the end that more perils were to come.
I think the biggest clue was to throw then entire game plot into the first two pages so to create an over arching story running through book after book.
Mario and Sonic and even Pac-Man have a collection why not add Zelda? But then why only one?
Cover
I do like this cover though. It's quite intimating and dynamic design. Almost to a fault. But the back ground is better than the interior design. (They battle in a dessert like area rather than forest.)
Interior
Story
The pacing and story flow is a bit busted. The first problem is that the overarching plot is sped through in the first and last page. (Analyzed in After Thoughts)
The Story isn't bad but I did notice a couple of strange changes. Such as Molblin instead of the common Moblin and Rubies instead of rather than Rupees. The choices are a bit unusual since anyone reading it would know the terminology from the games.
Illustrations
Before I criticize anything in this book I did my research to see how loyal to the game the art is. All the main are true to the true designs.
(I really wanted to question Impa unusual design and why Zelda looks more like Princess Peach in the book but that's loyalty to the game.)
Not many but a couple of them look a bit cut and past of background. Mainly the one that uses the Moblin and Link from the cover looks a but off in the picture.
I don't know if the little background critters in the pictures are from the game but they are really unusually and creatively strange.
After thoughts
I'm convinced there were suppose to be a lot more books. Gannon shouting at the end that more perils were to come.
I think the biggest clue was to throw then entire game plot into the first two pages so to create an over arching story running through book after book.
Want to read
August 5, 2022Also
The Legend of Zelda Gaiden: Kwoku and the Fairy Queen
The Legend of Zelda Gaiden: Kwoku and the Fairy Queen
January 28, 2026
Just like Link to fall in a hole and go shopping when he’s supposed to be rescuing the mf princess.
February 11, 2026
I didnt know this book was thing. it ended on a cliff hanger too, yet I cant seem to find another book
September 4, 2015
The Goodread's title for this book was missing a letter, as my copy bad guy was named Molblin. This was an OK read (Link's on his way to rescue Zelda and had to fight a spear thrower) and I liked the art work, but it also had about 1/3 as much story as a good comic book would.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews