User:Alter/Wikistuff

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

- Jim Elliot (End of the Spear)

"I don't use walkthroughs- I write 'em."

- Alter (Yes, I coined the phrase.)

About Me
Hey, wassup? I'm Alter, and I'm a pretty big Zelda fan. Of course, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be here, now would I? So anyway, I work at Zelda in my Pocket (ZimP) as a content writer. Click Here to visit now, or check it's ZW page (Zelda in my Pocket) to find out more about it! ZimP focuses on the handheld Zelda games- a first in Zelda history. It's a pretty sweet job. You really should pay it a visit! I own every Zelda game in existence (including Tingle's Balloon Fight, Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, and the CD-i's). Some people collect Baseball Cards, Star Wars, or action figures. I collect Zelda. Anything and everything Zelda. Outside of my LoZ hobble, I enjoy playing and listening to music. I actually (no joke) play the Ocarina. Quite well, if I do say so myself. I can play a 6-hole through 9-hole Ocarina. I also play the guitar a bit. I enjoy making frequent edits to Zelda Wiki, including building pages from the ground up, and creating a bus-load of userboxes. If you want one for yourself, just ask me on my Talk Page!

I'm a member of both Zelda Dungeon and Zelda Universe. Feel free to send me a message on either site!

It may look to you like I'm a huge fan of Tingle. In truth, I just sort of like his character. It really gets on my nerves when people curse any game that has Tingle in it, claiming that he's homosexual. Play Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. Sure it may cost 40 bucks on eBay, but it's worth it. I never really cared for Tingle myself, but then I played his game. It changed my whole perspective on him. TRR is now one of my favorite games.

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 If you have any questions, please send me an e-mail. (You'll be able to figure out my e-mail if you're intelligent enough to send me one.)

Thanks for checking out my user page!

Do's and Dont's
__________________________________

__________________________________  These are my "do's" and "dont's". Practice them when around me. "Do's" "Dont's"
 * Do check out the website I work for, ZeldaInMyPocket.co.uk.
 * Don't bash the CD-i games- you don't know what you're talking about.
 * Don't bash Tingle, or his respective game, TRR. It's the best game ever.

Biography
The following information about me (you can call it a bio) was written by my good friend, Anon, who was a fellow staff member at Zelda Universe quite a few years back. When Duncan Ruffle started Zelda in my Pocket in 2008, Anon was also selected to be a staff member there. He was still under his old username, but I had changed mine plenty. After he realized who I was, we once again clicked. He laughed and said that he'd write a short first-person bio on me, seeing how many pies I had my finger in. So anyway, I let him. Here it is!

(note: I have removed my actual username at that time from certain parts where it gets, well... stirring. I have also reformatted the article so it would fit well on ZW. When you see a note box like this one, that is where I have inserted comments.)

Alter- The Early Years
Alter was born in a nice home in the Pacific Northwest, USA, sometime between the years of 1985 and 1990. He has never given out his real age, just because he doesn't really think that people need to know. (He also doesn't want his identity stolen.)

Alter grew up without using many electronics, for unmentioned reasons. His first games were The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, and Star Wars: Yoda Stories, which he purchased when they first came out.

After becoming addicted LA, the word "Zelda" caught his eye one day, and he found some of the old Ocarina of Time action figures. At this point, he realized that Zelda was not merely a game, but a franchise. At this point, he became a Zelda fanatic, and bought several other Zelda games

After playing through all of these games, he realized that there must be a large fan community on the Internet.

The information in this part was given to me by Alter himself. At this point, the unmentioned years begin, which I myself have tried time and time again to wipe from my memory...

(note: the following part was compiled completely by Anon, and I had no say in it. I won't tell what is or isn't true. That was part of the agreement when he wrote this.)

Zelda Community Part 1
In 2001, Alter ended up at a site that I won't mention. Basically, he joined, wrote some small guides, and was "fired" and his articles were stolen. He was quite mad about this, and he got some guys to go in there and mess up the site, spam it, replace the images with error windows, and update the site with a notice that it was shutting down. The community left, and the site then died.

(note: I have no idea how he got that info. From this point on, Alter was not my actual username)

In late 2001, he joined another site, which was know as "lozfans.com". He played a relatively inactive part there, other then occasionally making a news release, etc. I was a moderator at lozfans at that time, and that's how we met. I had created some large walkthroughs, which had quickly gotten me a staff position. I got to know him when he started posting on the forums a lot, and I shortly after recommended him for a "real" staff position, which he received without hesitation. We both stayed there for about a year-and-a-half, before realizing that the site was going nowhere.

Zelda Community Part 2
At that point we decided to join a pretty new site, know as Zelda Universe. The year had now moved on to 2003. We got staff positions as content writers, right about the time that Wind Waker was released. After he had written quite a few pages on it, the site took off. The ZW page states that they had about 15,000 visits day, but that is grossly inaccurate. It was a little closer to 5,000. At this point, we had been having quite a few disagreements with the forum mods, and a certain webmaster known as Jason Rappaport, so we decided to drop off of the face of the planet.

The ZeldaReborn Era
We both went our separate ways. I hung out at different Zelda and Mario communities, usually holding a mod position, without hearing from Alter for the next several years.

Alter went on to form his own Zelda fansite, which he dubbed "ZeldaReborn". Although small, apparently it was quite successful, and brought in a large amount of advertising revenue. He had been getting a little tired of the website, however, as ZU was "borrowing" most of the community.

Return of the ZU Terror
In 2005, Alter sold the site to Randy Sultis for an undisclosed amount. About this time, Jason Rappaport had purchased ZU. Alter returned to that site, hoping that Jason had matured. According to Alter, he hadn't. After a few more brief skirmishes, Alter left the site in an outrage, taking many of it's members with him. There are several sources that back up this information, although ZU has made no mention of it. Alter refuses to comment.

B.U.G.
(note: at this point, I changed my username everywhere to Alter.)

At this point in 2006, ZeldaReborn was simply turned into an advertising/affiliate site, and for the most part, was no more. Alter, along with well known Super Smash Bros. community member, MasterWarlord, created an all-around Nintendo gaming website know as B.U.G. The site launched with power, hosting some of the best articles around. Along the way, they picked up the Zelda and Mario community member Shellshocker, who ran most of the technical stuff.

This continued until mid 2007, when the gang decided to start an actual community, rather than an informative site. Things were going well during the planning stage, until B.U.G. was shut down for a few weeks to upgrade the entire site. Shellshocker disappeared during this period. He just so happened to be the only one who had the guides/walkthroughs/reviews, etc. It is assumed by the message that appeared on his blog that he was killed in an automobile accident.

B.U.G. had lost its technician, its data, and its domain. Yet they still tried to pick themselves up. Not being tech savvy guys, they had to with a Freewebs site. The word itself meant that they lost half of their fanbase, and when the rest found out that B.U.G. had no remaining articles, they left the website in the dust. This continued for almost a year, until they finally decided to put the site in a closed status.

ZU, Part III
Alter had kept his eye on ZU during this time period, and had waited to see where the site would go. He attempted to insert himself into the website forcefully, and had been beginning to succeed. At this point though, he realized that ZU's community was full of far more jerks than previously. He realized that he wanted to have no part with the majority of the members once he realized how corrupt the staff members and moderators were.

Zelda in my Pocket/Zelda Wiki
Alter eventually found his way to Zelda Wiki in September of 2008. After a while, he created a profile, and began working hard on the site.

When Alter visited the ZeldaWiki in 2008, he saw an ad looking for content writers for a brand new site, known as Zelda in my Pocket. The site was run by Duncan "Hylie" Ruffle, who Alter had heard good things about. I myself was decent friends with Hylie, so I had been notified about the site a while back, and had agreed to help out. Alter joined the staff, and promptly started working on the site. I was very impressed with his work, and thought that he was a great guys. One day, I received a PM in my inbox from him, asking if I had ever worked for a site called lozfan.com. I was surprised to hear this question, as that was 7 years back. I said yes, and asked him how he knew. He told me his "old" username, and I sat there gaping at the computer screen. We proceeded to discuss all that had happened since 2003, and after a while, I looked into what he had been doing. He really only gave me half the story. I spent several months trying to piece together the info so I could write this biography. After I had a good idea, I offered to write this for him. We had some terms, of course, because I didn't want this story to be censored by "you-know-who".

During his stay at ZimP, Alter found out that Hylie was good friends with Mases Hagopian, the webmaster of Zelda Dungeon. Alter had only heard slander come toward that site, but it was perfectly reasonable, as most of the past sites he had worked with had been rivals with ZD.

Shortly after, Alter and I had gathered that Hylie was having health problems. After no word for a few months, we knew that something was wrong. Alter had recently been hanging out at ZD, and offered to join the staff if ZimP fell through. In March, 2009, Alter was the first person to receive word that Hylie had passed away due to cancer from one of Hylie's close friends who also worked at ZimP.

Zelda Dungeon
Alter was accepted as staff at ZD, where he continues to work today. He also continues to remain active in the Zelda Wiki.

Wrap-Up
Currently, I just chill out at all of the different sites doing "whatever". If you know something that should be mentioned here, send me a PM at any one of my sites (my username is Anon), or if you don't know any, send one to Alter. I'll just have to trust him to pass it on (part of our "agreement").

I had a good time writing this, and am glad to be able to write the bio of one of my best online friends. I know that this is an odd bio, but it was intended to be that way. Also, I may make updates every year or so, just so I can exploit that one know as "Alter" even further.

Anon

(note: that was quite the wild ride, huh. Well, take what you will from it. I'd say it's about 85% accurate. Thanks for reading. If you like it, be sure to tell him!)

Created Pages
This is a list of page I have either created or practically created. By practically, I mean that the only thing that was there before I began was "Death Bug is a boss in the insect dunge in TRR". Yes, that is an actual example. Plus, that was incorrect info anyway.

(including most of the individual recipes and items themselves,
 * Dr. Mizumi
 * The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Courage
 * Dream Shrine
 * Insect Cavern
 * Hero's Shrine
 * Pirate Hideaway
 * Captain Stalfos
 * Death Bug
 * Beetle King
 * Arn
 * Medila
 * Paul‎
 * Old Gent[[Image:TingleGame-1.jpg|right|thumb|285px|An image I created using Paint in attempt to scare the anti-Tingle crowd. Go ahead and help spread it 'round! ;)]]
 * St. GIGA
 * BS-X broadcasting system
 * Tingles
 * Salona
 * Bodyguard Smith
 * Yamatami Tribe
 * Uura Tribe
 * Sprite
 * Fairy Garden
 * Zelda in my Pocket
 * Fairy Doll
 * Stone Slab‎
 * Stone Beak
 * Soldier Captain
 * Madame Scratchcard‎
 * Chip & Super Chip
 * Recipes

which I won't list here because they are so numerous.)

Favorite Zelda Quotes
"Ha ha ha! Do it! Do it! Do it moooore! ... ... Huh? No, it's nothing... I didn't mean it."

- Marin

"You got Marin! Is this your big chance?"

- Link

"A fake is a fake, and no matter how much you dress it up, the real thing always wins"

- -Midna

"Dude! You're asking me when we started to live on this island? What do you mean by 'when?' Whoa! The concept just makes my heard hurt!"

- Unnamed boy


 * }


 * }

Timeline Theory
'Notice: Theory is outdated. Please check out my section on the ZeldaWiki Timeline Theory's page by clicking here to see an updated version. (Don't worry- I'll soon replace this old one with the new one.)'

Many people have asked me what my timeline theory is. I've always had my suspicions, but until now, have never actually done the direct math and put pen to paper. If you take a peek at my "Important Notes" section, you will see what I believe to be some key elements. '''Please let me know if you see something that doesn't fit. I'm very open to discussion. Also, I could have made some copy/paste errors.'''

I have several different ideas about the timeline theory. Personally, I believe that there is no "split timeline", and that it just runs straight through time in an orderly fashion. There are a few issues with that thought at the moment, though. I think that it'll be resolved in time, but who can say? Until then, I have a pretty good idea as to how it could be placed with a split timeline.

Important Notes:
 * 1) I think that ALttP is the first time Ganon appears, and that the events of FS/TMC mini-timeline occur about the same time as ALttP. They could occur in any order, so long as those three are before OoT, and TMC comes before FS.
 * 2) FSA states that Ganon was transformed into a demon when he stole the Trident, during FSA. I'm assuming that this is the point where he never transforms into a Gerudo/Human again. That would be why he always has his Trident in the games where he does not take a human form. That would put this at shortly before LoZ.


 * Hmmm... I may have been on to something with this theory, but I just realized that Ganon has his Trident in ALttP. Oh well, scrap this thought for now.


 * 1) OoA/OoS are NOT in separate timelines. If you play either linked game, you will clearly see this.
 * 2) LA could take place at any point after defeating a form of Ganon. I put it in timeline A because judging by when the game was developed, there were no split timeline theory's. The developers only stated that Link knew who Zelda was, and that he was "in search of enlightenment" after destroying the Dark Lord Ganon.
 * 3) I'm well aware that the Tingle issue destroys my whole theory, but I don't think that Tingle can be looked at very objectively. In TRR, he's 35 and living alone when he first dons the green suit. In MM, he is still around his father (most people don't ever bring this up- the man at the boat rides talks about his child, and describes Tingle), and is wearing Uncle Rupee's suit. This makes very little sense, also seeing as how TRR seems to take place in timeline B, where there are several small islands.
 * 4) I'm strongly against an "adult/child timeline. It doesn't fit with the character of the game, nor do any of the game placements that I've seen add up. The oracle games especially disprove this.
 * 5) I have found evidence in the game manuals that pretty much blatantly states that TMC occurs after FS, but if you take a good look, you'll realize that there is stronger supporting evidence that the order is indeed FS/TMC/FSA. Most likely, this was a result of lazy translators who have no idea of the weight that they carry.


 * ALttP * [[Image:T_R_R_ART.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Official art from [[Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland]].]]
 * TMC
 * FS
 * OoT
 * MM
 * Timeline A (Without Flood)
 * TP
 * FSA
 * LOZ
 * AoL
 * LA **
 * OoA X
 * OoS X


 * Timeline B (Flood)
 * TWW
 * PH

* Can be placed after OoT, MC, or FS.

** Can be placed at any point immediately after destroying a form of Ganon, on either timeline.

X = Interchangeable with X