Click The Plane Ticket

Today I learnt that the ski mechanic in Nancy Drew: White Wolf of Icicle Creek is mechanically from 1991's Skifree.

Image/Video Source: Death Sandals via YouTube

@drewtober

day 19 - HAU

A fan of the Nancy Drew games, who is also a graphic designer, went through each game and recreated EVERY. GRAPHIC. that they liked.

First of all: holy smokes at the TALENT! Secondly: Wow wow wow to see games summed up like this 😍 I’m getting a blast of nostalgic memories!!

FIN is kind of a unique case bc - other than the magician ad posters - all the art that appears in the game is also used in other games. so i won't lie, i was less motivated to put actual effort into this post.

#1- Fruit and Flowers by Paulus Theodorus van Brussel, 1789

#2- Road Along The Loing Canal by Camille Pissarro, 1902

#3- Man in a Turban by Rembrandt, 1632

#4- Zodiac by Alphonse Mucha, 1896

#5- Folies Bergère Liane de Pougy by Paul Berthon, 1896

#6- Two Sisters (On the Terrace) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881

#7- The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals, 1624

#8- Le Mage by Alfredo Edel, 1891

I think that the signs in Fiona’s room are supposed to be a thematic hint that Brendan worked for the axis, or at the very least that we are supposed to consider him a war criminal.

He wanted Fiona to stay silent about his work and not spread information around, hence the pleas to “see not what you see” and maintain a “silent mouth.”

But Brendan was making weapons of war. Even though the jetpack was adapted to be a toy for Fiona, the jetpacks were still weapons and at the end of the game the military confiscates them to use them as such. The sheer violence and evil that the jetpacks and rockets could be used for cannot be understated.

Therefore, the lab explodes. The sign that says “evil returns to the evildoer” was probably meant to scare Fiona into saying silent. It’s an old-fashioned version of “snitches get stitches.” However, in the context of the game’s themes, it shows how evil does not go karmically unpunished. Brendan the war criminal dies at the hands of his own creation. Evil returns to the evildoer and the truth comes to light. After all, “truth speaks even though the tongue were dead.”

the tapestry is a version of the same design as one found in TRT, though with a slightly different border. it's an 18th century design by Jean Pillement, originally produced by the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris. this particular design combines two trapestry trends: verdure ('greenery'; tapestries that emphasized plants and the natural world) and chinoiserie (french term for art or furniture of western manufacture inspired by Chinese or other Asian art/style/patterns).

the prints on either side of the tapestry are from the Activities of the Twelve Lunar Months series, painted by anonymous court artists during the Quing dynasty, probably completed in the 18th c. the ones on either side of the tapestry are the 7th month and the 9th month, and the 12th month can be found hanging above the fireplace

.

now, the bird-and-flower paintings. while i was able to track down the images, I couldn't find much legitimate info or sources, boo hiss etc. I was able to find a copy of the picture on the left in a National Palace Museum article on museum labelling practices of all things! if your chinese is better than mine (mine is nonexistent) you might be able to make something of it.

the tapestry next to the bed is an example of a more traditional 'verdure' design: lotta emphasis on the natural world, lotta different tree/plant species, very very green. and... I couldn't find the original image. however since I've spent approximately a thousand hours looking tapestries I feel comfortable enough wagering a guess. based on the composition, stylization and border design it seems like it's most likely a 17th c. flemish design - for comparison see the three examples of flemish verdures from that period below.