When you’re a kid, everything seems bigger. Adults tower over you when giving you directions or scolding you, pillow forts turn into cavernous castles, and even a video game as simple and small as the original Legend of Zelda can seem to hold an adventure that continues beyond the farthest horizon. Through her Spirit Tracks art, Nijicx presents us with a version of Link still in this time of his life when the adventures inside his mind and his imagination seem endless.
In the piece of art, a young Link sits right in the center of a circular track containing both the Spirit Train and the evil Demon Train. Going from the outside inward, there are multiple interesting things to note about the trains themselves. The Demon Train has tremendous detail, capturing both the repulsive fury of Malladus as well as the fiery inferno spouting from its smokestack. The large gout of blue flames calls to mind the hair of the infernal Hades from Disney’s Hercules and invites comparisons between the angry outbursts of that character and the speedy pursuit of the demonic train.
As it should, the heroic Spirit Train that Link is playing with has even more details than its evil counterpart. While the Demon Train seems to be mostly just a very detailed plastic or metal toy, the Spirit Train has the added benefit of being able to emit steam or smoke from its smokestack. This tiny addition adds not only another element of play similar to a karate chop or chip-activated voice clip in an action figure, but it also makes the toy seem more real. It almost seems like if Link were to move his little hand, the train would continue onward to its own adventures. A few other small details make the Spirit Train model even more special. On the side of the cannon is a tiny triangle reminiscent of a Triforce, and the train’s caboose holds a teeny Princess Zelda ready to remind Link that she has her own opinions about how he could be driving the train better.
Continuing our journey to the center of the art, we see our tiny Toon Link. He’s wearing the Engineers Clothes from early on in the game though the gloves look a little big on him, reminding us that he’s still a kid. Looking at his face, it’s clear he’s having an absolute ball. He’s got a tremendous sense of joy beaming from both his eyes and his smile hints to us that while we can only see the adventure unfolding on the tiny track in the art, through his imagination, he is seeing a titanic battle between two powerful locomotives. The other interesting thing is that the only train Link is interacting with and actually controlling is the Spirit Train. Where kids will sometimes have two toys in each hand in order to make them battle or kiss, Link is only controlling the Spirit Train. This creates a connection between this tiny hero and us, the player. Just as he is only driving the Spirit Train, the player also only controls this singular engine. Both Link and us can only conduct the one train to get through the adventure. Our enemies, like the Demon Train, remain an ever-advancing threat beyond our control. It’s OK though because, under our control, the Spirit Train will never be defeated!
Through her art, Nijicx puts us back on track to remember the joys of childhood when our responsibilities were much smaller and the world of adventure that lay before us was much, much larger.
