By now, most of us have seen our fair share of Master Sword replicas, whether authorized like the recent version from Proplica or the not so authorized. Either way, most Zelda fans probably have a version of the Blade of Evil’s Bane somewhere in their collection. Today, though, we’re going to talk about a not so common version, the Twilight Princess Master Sword & Hylian Shield 1/6th Scale Replica from Master Replicas.
Master Replicas is a website that hosts a variety of different pop culture products that revolves its offerings every few weeks or so. If we rewind back to 2006, during the time of the release of Twilight Princess, you may have been able to find this bundle at an electronics store or in the electronics section at a department store. Personally, I found mine at a local Target store and they were simply laid across the base plate of the accessories area… which is ironic since the blister pack plastic that it was encased in had a molded hook.
Once you’re able to wrench the box (hopefully undamaged) out of the seriously unbreakable plastic, you’ll find that it’s not exceptionally large, only about 7 x 5 inches (17.8 x 12.7 cm). Keeping with the Zelda theme, the gold box has the printed gilded look along with the Twilight Princess logo proudly emblazoned on the front. The back gives a picture of what the two items look like, along with the content list of the rest of the pack. The spine even gives us some official artwork of Link, battle hardened and ready to go.
The lid opens up to reveal the Master Sword and Hylian Shield nestled together in a flocked plastic tray to keep them secure and free from scratches. The underside of the lid even has a brief synopsis of the plot of Twilight Princess with a repeat of the logo and Link art from the spine.
In addition, below the tray, you’ll find a certificate of authenticity printed on thick paper stock. Along with the gilding, the statement reiterates that the replicas were produced in association with Nintendo and is stamped with both company’s copyrights. Strangely, it is also ‘signed’ by Shigeru Miyamoto, which most of us know as the creator of The Legend of Zelda series. I say strange, though, as the signature makes it look to the uninitiated as if he’s the president of Nintendo.
Moving on to the sword and shield themselves, they are both wonderfully crafted and highly detailed. The chrome on both is highly reflective (and prone to fingerprints), and the Hylian Shield has a matte paint finish with the classic motif of the Triforce and red falcon crest. Yes, I know it’s a Loftwing, but at the time of the release of Twilight Princess, we didn’t know that yet. The hilt of the Master Sword is a molded plastic which actually continues onto the blade a little with the gold filigree embellishments that were added to this incarnation of the sword (the grip and pommel is removable). The Hylian Shield’s brace and grip, called enarmes, are both made from molded plastic as well (the grip is also removable).
As an unexpected bonus, the pack included the ‘Official Soundtrack’ as well. The quotes are there for a reason, as this should have really been titled a ‘sound sampler’ as there are only six tracks. The Twilight Princess HD bonus had the decency to call itself a ‘Sound Selection’ as it only had 20 tracks, whereas the official Official Soundtrack is made up of three discs with over 100 tracks. Either way, it is definitely a nice, albeit brief, bonus. The CD sleeve gives us the iconic duality of Link with his human form on the front, and his wolf form on the back. The disc itself is almost blood red with the Twilight Princess logo and a partial Hylian Crest. Of the six tracks, I believe the standout to be “Midna’s Theme”, but the orchestra piece is a nice addition since the actual game was still dependent on MIDI outside of its intro demo loop. Here’s the actual song listings:
- “The Legend of Zelda: Orchestra Piece #2”
- “Hyrule Field Main Theme”
- “Kakariko Village”
- “Death Mountain”
- “Midna’s Theme”
- “Ilia’s Theme”
So, if memory serves correctly and this random search is right, this retailed in 2006 for $39.99 USD. A quick glance on eBay shows that you can still get it in varying degrees of used from $25-$70 USD (dependent on whether it has the sampler and certificate). You can even find a few unopened for around $100 USD. Honestly, whether it held its monetary value was never really that important to me as it’s a generally nice piece that was affordable at the time.
The funny part is, I was gifted the Master Sword and pedestal letter opener a few years back, and they are eerily similar. Can you tell all the differences between the two?
