sinistersundown

[sinistersundown]

in a recent ask game i got a question about something xigbar has done that i cant get over. well. this is my answer.

[Video ID: A cutscene from 358/2 Days for DS, with high-resolution models. Roxas unsummons his keyblade and says, "Mission accomplished. Xigbar looks up and says, "Or is it?" Roxas says "Huh? Oh, come on, quit playing ar—" Xigbar shoves Roxas away, then jumps out of frame to avoid an attack by an off-screen Heartless. Roxas says, "Whoa!" end ID.]

this one moment is so important to how i think about Xigbar's characterization, in this game, in every game, that i feel the need to. write an entire essay about it lmao

The context here is that Roxas is sent to rendezvous with Xigbar in Halloweentown to destroy a giant Heartless. Just before a fight with a distinctly medium-sized Heartless, Roxas says, "Looks giant enough to me!" and Xigbar laughs and says, "Right. Just keep your head on straight." This cutscene immediately follows that.

After the actual boss fight, Roxas is mad that Xigbar let him think the other Heartless was their target, and Xigbar's like "well you learned a valuable lesson, and I did tell you to keep your head on straight." So there's the moral of the story. Roxas nearly got hurt because he jumped to conclusions and let his guard down.

But if that was the point...why did Xigbar shove Roxas out of the way of the attack, evidently narrowly avoiding getting hit himself? If the story of the mission was Roxas learning this lesson, wouldn't it be scarier and more dramatic if he'd gotten hurt? If Xigbar wanted to show Roxas some tough love, wouldnt he have let Roxas get hurt? What is the game trying to communicate about Xigbar in this scene?

It's not that it'd be tonally inappropriate; the game is absolutely willing to have other characters directly hurt Roxas in order to teach him things. In Lexaeus's mission, when he teaches Roxas about Limit Breaks, he seriously hurts Roxas to get his health low enough to use a Limit Break. At the end of that mission, Lexaeus tells Roxas that the only person he can trust is himself—I think implying that this was another thing he was trying to teach Roxas when he hurt him. Not to mention the several characters who arguably treat Roxas worse. The game doesn't pull its punches when it comes to characters being cruel to him.

It's not like it'd be out of character for Xigbar to stand by and watch, either! Obviously in the broad scope of his character throughout the series, and also in this game specifically. Earlier in the story, he absolutely knows that Axel is going to survive his mission at Castle Oblivion—both from how he talks about it and from his secret reports. When Roxas assumes Axel is dead, Xigbar reminds him once or twice not to jump to conclusions, but after that, not only does he let Roxas believe that Axel is dead, he makes fun of Roxas for it—he tells him it doesn't matter if people died, says things are quieter with fewer people around. He's certainly willing to let Roxas get hurt.

I guess you could argue that maybe Xigbar needs Roxas alive for The Plan, either Xehanort's or the MoM's, but...this mission occurs less than a month before Xemnas says that it doesn't matter whether Roxas or Xion lives. Roxas isn't Ventus; he isn't himself a necessary part of the MoM's plan. He's also not Sora, and in fact him dying would probably just wake up Sora sooner. It doesn't seem like there'd be a pragmatic reason for Xigbar to risk his hide to save Roxas's.

So we're just left with this...thing. This one moment where Xigbar puts himself in direct danger to keep Roxas from getting hurt by his own dumbassery, for seemingly no reason. There are other little moments in this game that can be read as sincere attempts at support or encouragement of Roxas or Xion, but a lot of the time he comes across as, like, condescendingly overfamiliar, more annoying than genuinely supportive. There is no other moment that reads this much like an act of altruism and just an act of altruism.

The people who made this game made an intentional choice here. And I think a lot about what the scene might be meant to communicate.

...And then in BbS and 3 he goes back to seeming like a complete fucking jackass. But considering what we learn about Luxu later in the series—about his motivations, what he used to be like, what he's been through—I don't think this is an isolated out-of-character incident. It's just like...this one short glimpse through a crack in the facade, a hint that there is a lot more depth to him than we realize. What's in there, old man!!

ugghghgh his characterization in this game is so fascinating to me. getting to see him in a completely different context. the only time we see him interact with a teenager who he's allied with outside of Days is in 3. and that also occupies my brain day and night.

another very specific, intentional moment. the camera brings attention to it. what does it mean what does it all mean.....................

anyway. evil little league coach. my mind it swirls and spins.

[sinistersundown]

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

Send a character + one or more of these question IN THE INBOX. Don't reply on the post!

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

11. Would you date this character?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

23. Favorite picture of this character?

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

27. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

[sinistersundown]

german keys from the 15th century

[sinistersundown]

this bitch

[sinistersundown]

but bro the self fulfilling prophie

[sinistersundown]

yayyy yay wheeee

i;m losing my mind

[sinistersundown]

for KH asks— 1. How did you get into the series? 12. Favorite platonic ship [/favorite platonic relationship]

Thank you : D !!!!!!!!

1. I didn’t grow up with kingdom hearts or even around it in any way like, I didn’t have any access to disney properties or final fantasy so no connection at all.

If I remember right I watched a playthrough of ff7 remake after sephiroth was revealed for smash and got really into that. then I watched through kh1 a little after but I mostly got invested around like chain of memories a bit, mainly 358/2days (axel 😔💜) the it took over my brain and I haven’t been the same since etc.

so I guess it’s all sephiroths fault!

12. oh man I don’t know, even outside of like my top favourites the majority of characters I like a lot and think they’re interesting enough that any dynamic that involves them I’d be able to entertain myself with for half an hour at least

For one thats focused on in actual canon axel and saix are like always on my mind though I do like to view them as romantic in some way at some point, sometimes things are more than one thing and drawing a strict line between platonic and romantic isn’t necessary you know?

Im also interested by elrena and lauriam but I still feel like I need more from them, lauriam in particular I can’t get a good sense of, and elrena I like a lot but I’m also filling in a lot of blanks with her motivations, but I hope for more from them in the future given how connected to the current story they are. And I love when they’re team rocket

i guess -semi canon they don’t have to be friends to be platonic-is whatever the hell is going on with luxu and brain I am constantly thinking about that and it’s killing me (xigbar and luxord could be included with this too unless they can’t be I don’t know that’s not my business

[sinistersundown]

~ KINGDOM HEARTS ASK GAME ~

<3 General Asks <3

How did you get into the series?

What's your favorite KH game?

Who's your favorite character?

Who's your least favorite character?

Favorite world?

Favorite song?

Which moment left the biggest impact on you?

Which moment do you think is the funniest?

Where do you think the series will go from here?

Would you change canon (past or future) if you could?

Favorite romantic ship?

Favorite platonic ship?

If you read fics, favorite fic?

<3 Character Asks <3

What was your first impression of them?

What do you like and dislike about them?

Do you like how canon treats them?

Do you like how the fandom treats them?

What's their best moment?

What's their funniest moment?

If they have multiple, favorite outfit?

What's a non-KH song that reminds you of them?

Favorite romantic ship with them?

Favorite platonic ship with them?

Do you have any headcanons for them?

A character they haven't interacted with that they totally should?

Favorite fic focusing on this character?

[sinistersundown]

what if your doppelgänger wasn’t evil it was just a person. what if your doppelgänger wasn’t trying to replace you it was just trying to learn to be a person and you were the best model it had. what if your doppelgänger looked at you with your eyes and said with your voice that it just wanted to be loved. what then.

[sinistersundown]

"OK" SO IT SEEMS AS THOUGH MY GENETICALLY MODIFIED KILLER BEETLES HAVE ESCAPED. HAS ANYONE SEEN MY FUCKI🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲OH G🪲OD🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲 SHI🪲🪲T🪲🪲🪲🪲🪲🧪AAAHHHHHHHHOOOHhh Hey. That One Learned thge basics of Chemistry . #Proud

[sinistersundown]

I’ve only had 3 hours of sleep for the last 36 hours so forgive me if this is nonsense

I think a lot about hair as an aspect of character design-the way I keep my hair is very very important to me so when looking at a characters design it’s something I tend to analyse in particular

. So for xigbars design the way he styles his hair is super interesting to me, like a character in a combat setting having very long hair could be a way of showing off,like “theyre badass enough that the inconvenience doesn’t matter”, as an example, or it could be attached to something they value (vanity/presentation/self-expression/religion/culture/power or class/taking control where they otherwise lack autonomy etc etc) as after a certain point(varies based on genetics, environment, nutrition ..) it’s an active effort to have and keep long hair, so it’s not a non-action if that makes sense.

Anyway getting to my actual post, xigbar keeps his hair tied back very practically which i think in interesting in combination with how long it is, which would have been an active decision on his part rather than a holdover from braig. It’s something that stands out a lot to me given that his designs are basically always uniforms in some way there’s not a lot of visual self expression to read into

(which makes sense with his character)(I personally see him in a non uniform setting as copying whatever his vessel would wear like if he had to new clothes or something it’d be the closest he could find to what they already had yknow? but that’s just my interpretation you could analyse bragis fashion sense as his rather than bragis if you wanted to)

and it’s styled very neatly/intentionally rather than being quickly thrown back, hed probably use some kind of product to keep it slicked like that, it’s just interesting !

I’m out of energy to get to any coherent conclusions i just wanted to share some thoughts that I’ve been spinning so anyone else may also join the thought spinning party

[sinistersundown]

Haha i De-Yassified him… put some wrinkles back on that old bitch…

[sinistersundown]

*equips poisonous pronouns to apply a poison status effect to anyone who refers to me*

[sinistersundown]

[sinistersundown]

The Goats and the Letters

i know this information has made its way to the broader kh fandom before, but i haven't seen a reference to it on this website, so i thought i'd make a post about it!

the story that luxord tells xigbar in remind, about the black goat and the white goat, is a reference to a poem called "Yagi-san Yūbin" (translated as "The Goats and the Letters", "Goat Mail", and "Goats' Letters" in different places) by the poet Michio Mado (1909-2014). this poem as well as a few others by Mado have become so popular and ubiquitous that they're not always attributed to him anymore.

the text above (translated by Empress Michiko in 1998, and fetched from the Internet Archive) is often sung as a song, repeating the two verses over and over, with each goat compulsively eating the other goat's letter because of their natural appetite.

this poem appears to be a common japanese cultural reference for goats—i found multiple cases where capricorn, for instance, is represented partially (or entirely!) by a letter, and the Animal Crossing villagers Chevre and Nan also reference this poem.

(i was unable to find a better source for the first image than this blog post, which has inaccurate information in general, but ive gone down enough rabbit holes to know that i would rather have a bad source with an asterisk than no source at all)

[sinistersundown]

"Ok, ma'am that'll be 226.03$."

I take my wallet out of my pocket and unfold it. It is empty other than a single moth that lazily flies out. The moth lands on the tap point of the card reader. There's a beat, and my payment is processed. The moth flies back into my wallet and I put it back in my pocket.

[sinistersundown]

"He would not fucking say that" but it's "He would not handle someone having a breakdown in front of him like that."