#;;v: & san fransokyo

[milihamada]

•CaVoyd: Hamada's Life (Fanfic)•

Chapter 1:

*How Cass and Karen Meet After The Events Of The Second Film*

*In Coffee At The Hamada's*

H: Aunt Cass We're Back From Metroville Trip

*She Hugs Her Nephews With Happiness*

C: Ohhh Hiro... Tadashi... How Good You All Came Home Safe After The Mission In Metroville

T: Yes Aunt Cass

H: There in Metroville We Meet New People At Deevtech and New Heroes and Friends Too

C: How Good Hiro

H: So, Aunt Cass....You Are Pleased With The News ?

C: Yes Hiro

*Then She Finishes Hugging Her Nephews We Start To Explain How Tadashi Survived That Fire and How We Became Heroes in Secret*

C: Well I Know I Understand You Two, After You Found Your Brother in Metroville For a Long Time It Was Thanks To Honey Who Found You, Right Tadashi ?

T: Yes Aunt Cass, It's Been a Long Time Since I've Seen You Two and My Friends and Honey Too.... And I Don't Want To Be Separated From You Again.... I Love Her.... Because She Brought Me Back Tô San Fransokyo and You Two Too....

*He Cries Emotionally and His Aunt Cass Consoles The Boy*

C: I Know Tadashi You Went Throught Those Difficult Times Back In Metroville and Now That You Are Here Alive We Are Happy That You Came Back To Us

H: Yes Tadashi, I'm Also Happy That You're Around You Again and Thanks To Mr.Deavor and Our Teammate Too

T: Thank You Guys For Your Support

*After The Conversation Between Them, The Three End Up Hearing The Arrival Of Their Friends At The Coffee Shop, My Nephews Go Down To Talk To Their Friends, During The Meeting With Hiro and Tadashi's Friends Colleagues I Was Still Upstairs Making Breakfast For a Few Hours, The Two Were Talking To Their Colleagues Along With Baymax and The Girl Who Was Between Them and When I Went To Serve Breakfast and She Saw Me We Each Other For The First Time a Young Girl With Light Blue Hair and Turquoise Green Eyes Anxiously and It Was Like That At Moment Exchanging Looks And Her Name is Karen Fields*

C: Ready Guys, I Already Made Breakfast

K/V: "Oh My Gosh.....Wow She is Beautiful She Reminds Me a Lot Of The Elastigirl"......(Admiring The Girl)

C: Hey Darling, Everything Aright ?

K/V: Yes I'm Fine on Good....Terms With My Colleagues and...You Are Hiro and Tadashi's Aunt ?

C: Yes I'm Their Aunt, But You Already Know My Nephews ?

K/V: Yes I Know The Both, I Thought You Were Tadashi and Hiro's Mother ?

C: It's Okay, Dear, Sometimes a Lot Of People Get Confused and I'm Actually Their Aunt

K/V: So....I Thought You Were Very Similar To The Elastigirl and You Are Actually Tadashi and Hiro's Aunt ?

C: Exactly

K/V: I Liked You More Before I Introduced Myself.....Hi My Name Is Karen... Karen Fields What Is Your Name ?

C: My Name Is Cass...Cass Hamada You Can Call Me Aunt Cass

K/V: Ok Aunt Cass

C: So You Already Know My Nephews Colleagues, Hiro and Tadashi Right ?

K/V: Yes, Already Know These Two and Their Colleagues Too And.....

*The Young Girl Felt Something Under The Coffee Shop Table, Which Was Mochi That Was Rubbing on Her Legs, He Really Wanted To Get Her Attetion*

K/V: Oh How Cute What Is His Name

H: Karen This Is Mochi, He Is Our House Cat

K/V: And Why Is He Between My Legs ?

G/E: I Think He Liked You

HL: It's Normal He Will Get Used To You Right

K/V: You're Right Honey Lemon, I'd Going To Adapt For The First Time in San Fransokyo When I Was Moving To Metroville and I Arrived Yesterday Morning and I'm Living in The GoGo House's Kitnet With The Two Of Them and Little By Little I'm Going To Get Used To It Here With You And.....

W: Ok Karen, We Already Understand, We're Going To Help You, Okay

K/V: Okay Wasabi

T: Karen, As You Are Very Anxious We Will Show You Some Places Here In The City Of San Fransokyo and Baymax Will Help You Control Your Anxiety With The Scanner and Your Personal Heath Agent

K/V: Thank You Tadashi

T: You're Welcome

F: Guys, How About We Go To The Square And Enjoy a Walk Among Ourselves

HL: Good Idea Fred

F: So What Are We Waiting For Let's Go

K/V: Aunt Cass Wants To Go With Us On The Walk in The Square ?

C: Well, I Don't Know, I Have a Lot Of Things And......

H: Come On Auntie Quickly, We'll Be Back With Things At The Coffee Shops Soon, Let's Go

C: Okay, I'II Go With You, But This Time Just Today

H: Yes

K/V: What Are You Waiting For Aunt Cass Let's Go

*And Thanks To Fred's Invitation To Take a Walk In The Square, When Karen Invited Me For a Walk In The Square, She Took My Hand and Looked At Me With Her Beautiful Smile and We Went Together For a Walk In The Square Of San Fransokyo And That Was The Beginning Of Our Colorful Friendship Between You And Me Karen*

Continue.......

[cffabioblog]

Greats Moments SG 16

1.-

With the "Super Snoobs"'s Protagonisths (Shope, Tyler, Kevin and Roach), visits and talks with Mario at the studio

2.-

With Duke (from The Secret Life Of Pets) affirm the music sheet with the orchestra director Valentín Trujillo. The Britain singer Tom Jones sings inthe program.

3.-

With a participant a "Carozzi's Contest".

4.-

In the famous segment "El Chacal De La Trompeta", in this occation, various personalities of the Latin American Animation world sings. One of the participants, is the Director of the chilean animation festival "ChileMonos".

5.- In a other SG episode, the singer and composer Albert Hammound Sings "The Air Tat I Breathe / El Aire Que Respiro" And "When I Need You / Si Me Amaras" with band and orchestra at studio.

6.-

In a finale episode of the show, With Ponyhead affirms the music sheet of the orchestra, Palito Ortega sinings his songs... "Cae La Lluvia", "En La Fiesta De Mi Pueblo", "Ché, Que Hacés Esta Noche" and " Vamos Con Alegria".

7.-

Spongebob, Mr. Krabs and Squidward, celebrates the Partick's Birthday at the studio.

8.- In a other constest of the program.

9.-

At the studio, Lady Gaga sings and presents a mini concert for the program. Don Francisco talks about the tour.

10.-

Live, in direct from the Robotic's Lab of The SFIT (San Fransokyo Institut Of Technolology), with a band and Hamada affirms the music sheet, with the orchestra director Horacio Saavedra, The Italian composer and singer Franco Simone sings various songs, in special, in forme bilingual the song "Tu E Cosi Sia / Tu, Siempre Tu".

9.-

In the humor sketch, in the "666 Comisary", Vilches, Cardozo, Donald Duck and Disi plays illegal poker room, while the office Wilde (Nick Wilde, from the film Zootopia) needs helps.

10.-

With the audience at the studio, Mikoto Misaka and Kuroko Shirai expalns to the audience the powers and learns to Mario.

11.-

With a Disco's Music's Dancers (Gumble, Hill and Arblucke), the Argentinean singer Sandro sings "Piel De Febrero", "Ha Llegado Una Postal" and "No Creas Que Esto Pasara".

12.-

Don Francisco, with the winners of the classical vals contest,

in company with the famous director Andre Rieu and his

orchestra.

13.-

A Nerd winns the car at "the car game". The two Honey Lemons

(of the film and the comic) presents the new car.

Copyrights

Sábado Gigante

© Canal 13 / Mario K. Alls Rights Reserved.

Don Francisco

© Mario K. Alls Rights Reserved.

Honey Lemon / Hiro Hamada / SFIT

© Disney / Marvel / Man Of Action / Claremont / Nakayama. Alls Rights Reserved.

Nick Wilde Cotton Hill, Barney Gumble and Donald Duck

© Disney.  Alls Rights Reserved.

John Arbluckle

© PAWS / Jim Davis. Alls Rights Reserved.

Mikoto and Kuroko

© Kazuma Kamachi / Motoi Fuyukawa. Alls Rights Reserved.

Spongebob characters

© Nickelodeon / Steven H. Alls Rights Reserved.

Pony Head (from Star VS The Forces Of The Evil)

© Disney / Daron N. Alls Rights Reserved.

Duke

© Illumination Studios / Universal Pictures. Alls Rights Reserved.

Super Snoobs Characthers

© Scott Fellows. Alls Rights Reserved.

The Songs.

Cae La Lluvia

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_6Kmp…

En La Fiesta De Mi Pueblo

-  www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcjVcz…

Ché, Que Hacés Esta Noche

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfkdVQ…

Vamos Con Alegría

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMhhXm…

© Ortega / RCA / Sony Music. Alls Rights Reserved.

----------------------

The Air Tat I Breathe 

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5lk85…

 El Aire Que Respiro

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc3xPe…

When I Need You

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8AxQJ…

Si Me Amaras

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gRi9H…

© Michael Hazelwood / Carole Bayer Sager / Hammound / CBS / Sony Music. Alls Rights Reserved.

------------------------

Tu E Cosi Sia

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO3RtJ…

Tu, Siempre Tu

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kJm8t…

© Simone / CBS / Sony Music. Alls Rights Reserved.

--------------------------------------------

Piel De Febrero

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPyA_r…

Ha Llegado Una Postal

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2G12g…

No Creas Que Esto Pasara

-  www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFk73d…

© Sandro / Anderle / CBS / RCA / Sony Music. Alls Rights Reserved.

[heartcracked]

THE SCYTHE CUTS through the air in a wicked arc, its pink electric blade crackling and pulsating with an energy that doesn’t belong on this planet. Spinel wields it expertly, like its just another extension of her shapeshifting arms, her every movement fluid and practiced. Getting the hang of it was surprisingly easy in the end — turns out a Gem like her could have strengths beyond being just a COURT JESTER after all, she’d thought bitterly at the time. Maybe if she’d learned a skill like this before, maybe if she’d changed her form back then and made herself TOUGH, hard, just like she is now — maybe, maybe, maybe then Pink wouldn’t have . . . 

NO. SHE BLOCKS that thought out before it can make itself at home in her head, focuses instead on the kid blocking her way. He’s not Steven Universe after all, but he does seem equally determined to throw a wrench in her beautiful plans. She’d been looking for Pink’s kid, had told herself all this time that her vendetta wasn’t against the whole world, just this one family in particular . . .but the longer she spends here, the more she resents every single second she’s on a planet that her BEST FRIEND ended up choosing over her. And maybe she DOES want to make them all hurt a little, even if it’s unfair. Even if they didn’t know and don’t deserve it.

SHE’S JUST GOTTA take care of this little shrimp first.

❝ I REALLY GOTTA hand it to you, kid, ❞ she says, a harsh, disjointed laugh punctuating her sentence, ❝ those are some SWEET gadgets ya got there! But just give it a rest — you’re no match for me ‘n my Injector! And hey, ya might not be a Gem, but this here — ❞ she slashes the scythe through the air again, to emphasize her point, ❝ can still pack a wallop when I use it on a human! ❞

@hamadaxfighter​ liked for a starter!

[perrypixel]

Woah bro... Karmi 😳

Got a lil crush on you know who huh?

[inhumanistic]

@hamadaxfighter​ said: "No matter how many hits I take, I always find a way to come back."

           He nodded his head in response, admiring the other’s persistence, his ability to fall down then get back up. The Beast had trouble with such a concept himself, while stubborn, he wasn’t always determined — - but give him something to fight for, a reason, and he could become extremely single-minded and just as relentless. This was one of those times. He couldn’t give in now, not with everything on the line. His own world was swallowed by darkness and Belle was stolen by heartless. He would search every world until he found her again, until he could free his castle and his servants. Still unsure how he traveled, by might ? By hatred ? It didn’t matter, he would continue to fight. At least in this world he wasn’t alone.

          He didn’t mind having a partner in Hiro. Fighting alongside someone else was beneficial for both, it meant less time and energy exerted, but attacks still took their toll. The Beast was ready to continue on alone if other needed a break, but his insistent attitude was enough for cursed prince to reconsider.       —- -    ❝  Then we will keep going.  ❞

[experimentjr]

Here I come with a commission!!! This time for an amazing person: @bubblymilkart

They commissioned me to design their OC Reece Black’s super suit and it was so much fun to work on him.

Reece Black is a teenager, relative of Gogo and a painter, that loves to go on rides with his korean cousin and dreams in painting a mural in San Fransokyo.

When not in art class or painting by himself, Reece is a super hero, spraying his enemies with the paint of defeat >:v

Equipped with many unusual weapons, He is a great threat to any villain dumb enough to face him. From paint bombs to paint grenades, from toxic to corrosive to explosive paint, he is ready to paint the town red. And this wont wash off easily.

[zombeegutz]

Axe: Fuck it, vtuber AU

Mainly follows the Big Six, Tadashi and Bobby + a couple of others, mainly my headmates Luca and Edgar, @wrath-bob-aken's headmate Wrath (Bobby in this au is based around the actual headmate as well), and Axea

There are no heroes. No villains. Just people with funny little anime avatars. They're all in a vtuber agency similar to VShojo or hololive called V-SCI. It's San-Fransokyo based and talent-first, mainly focusing on scientific knowledge but other talents are also accepted, hence how Fred is in there since he can draw and does just a leetle bit of singing.

Bobby, Tadashi, Wrath and Luca are all gen1 V-SCI members, the Big Six and Axea are all gen2

Edgar is the only one who's not part of V-SCI, he's independent and is only really close to the other V-SCI members through Wrath and Luca.

Extra stuff (usernames i've come up with, relationships, etc.) under the cut!

Usernames:

I'm taking suggestions for those who don't have usernames!

V-SCI Gen1-

Bobby: RottenGothGhost

Tadashi:

Wrath: GhostlyWrath

Luca: SHOCK_N_AWE

V-SCI Gen2-

Hiro: RoboBoy

Baymax: Baymax

Honey Lemon: chemcutie

Gogo: Speed-Queen

Wasabi:

Fred: THE_LIZARD_KING

Axea: HPPYPLLS

Unaffiliated-

Edgar: Painted_Thorns

Lore bits + Relationships-

Everyone in V-SCI is connected by the facility their avatars canonically work in.

Bobby and Axea are siblings in their respective lore, as are Tadashi and Hiro.

Axea was Frankensteined together by an unknown scientist. Bobby found her in the scientist's abandoned lab and took her in as an assistant initially, but he started seeing her as a sibling as time went on.

Tadashi and Hiro's avatars are blood siblings, though.

Baymax is Tadashi's creation, but due to a bug in his programming he doesn't remember it.

Wrath is Bobby's clone, created by the same unknown scientist that created Axea in an attempt to kill and replace Bobby. However, Wrath went against what his creator wanted and now he's seen as a sort of twin to Bobby.

Honey Lemon and the provider of Axea's head are childhood friends in their lore. Axea is fiercely protective of HL.

Honey Lemon and Gogo are dating both in their avatar lore and real life, as are Luca and Bobby, and Eddie and Wrath.

Wasabi and GoGo went to high school together in their avatar lore

Fred was originally a lab animal, but he got into a project that Axea and Honey Lemon were working on and now he's a human-sized bipedal lizard.

Fred is also the lab's honorary pet lizard.

Luca and Bobby consistently work together, since Luca isn't much of an ideas man after his accident

Eddie and Luca are friends in their avatar lore, despite Eddie not being in V-SCI.

Other Bits:

Baymax, Axea, and Fred are the only people who's avatars do not look exactly like their real-life counterparts. The person with the most similar avatar is Axea.

Honey Lemon and Axea are present on lots of merch together, and are the two most popular out of Gen2.

I don't plan on doing anything with the real-life counterparts. Vtuber behind-the-scenes life is private!

[brainyxbat]

A Spooky Birthday Ch 2

🎃🎂🦇

Pairings:

Vesabi (Venus x Wasabi) ⬅ Lots of fluff!

Honeygo (Honey Lemon x Gogo)

Fredashi (Fredzilla x Tadashi)

Hints of Chiro (Hiro x Carrie Francess)

Carrie belongs to my friend, @divinejusticespiritual!

A Spooky, Scary Birthday

Ch. 2

-

October 8th, 2032

Before long, when nighttime loomed, a certain theme park area came in view. When the vehicle slowed to a stop in the parking lot, Tadashi made the three-word announcement they were all waiting for, interrupting makeout sessions between two of the three couples inside.

“Here we are!”

The group immediately filed out with their luggage, Venus shoving her game console in her hoodie pocket. “Now will you guys tell me where we are?” She playfully griped. Strangely, they seemed to try to stay in front of her, obscuring her vision. It helped that she was among the shortest in the group, only second to Hiro by an inch.

“Actually,” Tadashi smirked, “We'll just show you.” He and Fred dramatically stepped back to let her see ahead; the lit-up Sleeping Beauty castle!

Her green eyes widened, as her jaw dropped in shock. She couldn't believe it; they had taken her to Disneyland, for her birthday! Just like she had wanted for years! A wide smile grew on her face, before screams of joy escaped her throat, as she hopped up and down with excitement. Her friends and boyfriend watched with wide grins, glad she was happy; even Gogo managed to smirk. Venus hugged everyone in turn, thanking them profusely. But when it was Wasabi's turn, learning he mainly had the idea to come out there for her special day, she took a different approach; she ran and pounced on him, though thankfully he wasn't seriously hurt, and he landed face-up on the concrete, with her on top of him. Before he could say anything, she started covering his whole face with quick, ecstatic kisses. The others watched in amusement, as Wasabi laughed, and playfully shook his head. “Okay, okay, let me breathe,” He chuckled, sitting up with one hand on her shoulder, “We're really glad you're happy, Sunshine.” He kissed her tiny lips for a moment, “Was the wait worth it?”

“Definitely,” She giggled, and helped him back on his feet. He had purple kiss marks all over his face from her lipstick. “Where are we staying?”

“Right there!” Honey pointed to the back of ��The Disneyland Hotel” in front of them.

“Awesome!” They all headed for the hotel, dragging their luggage along. Venus smiled at the beautiful area; the gorgeous blue lighting from the two buildings, the palm trees, the tiki bar, and the swimming pools surrounded by lounge chairs made it very cozy. “Wow,” She breathed in awe, and took her phone out of her purse to get a picture, her other hand holding Wasabi's.

He smiled when she perked up at the sight of the Fantasia Gift Shop. She was so cute. “After we check in,” He whispered, and kissed her temple. She blushed, and nodded with a little giggle, and rested her head on his arm. They all walked inside the lobby; it had a “Small World” rug in shades of purple and blue, ivory walls and floors, blue lighting at the front desk, rod chandeliers, a purple plush couch and armchairs, and little tables in front of them. “I'll check us in,” He offered; Hiro and the remaining couples sat on the chairs, getting comfortable fast.

“I'll go with you.” Venus walked with her boyfriend to the shortest line, looking around the beautiful lobby.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long. “Hello! Welcome to the Disneyland Hotel!” The female cast member kindly greeted them. “How can I help you?”

“We have a reservation for a one-bedroom family suite,” Wasabi replied; he stifled laughter at Venus' gasp and jaw drop of surprise. “It should be under Woods, for the birthday girl.” He held her close by her shoulders.

The woman typed and scrolled on her computer, then nodded. “Ah, yes! Here it is. Your suite is ready for you; I'll have a bellhop come for your luggage.”

“Okay, thank you,” Wasabi nodded, then returned to the others, “Our suite is ready; they're getting a bellhop out here.”

“Sweet!” Fred pumped his fists in the air. “You excited to be here, V?”

“Very!” She giggled. “I can't believe you guys did this!”

“Believe it,” Gogo smirked, “You're not dreaming.”

“This is real!” Honey hugged Venus tightly, lifting her off the floor for a moment.

The birthday girl felt her airways blocked for a moment, before they were opened back up. “Thanks so much, all of you. You're the best friends anyone could ask for!” She hugged them one by one again, then turned to Wasabi. “And the best boyfriend ever.” She hugged him tightly, goofily shaking him for a second.

He laughed, and hugged her back. “Anything for you, princess.” He kissed her blushing cheek, ignoring Hiro's gag gesture. He chuckled, and held her when she bashfully burrowed her face in his chest, her dark hair draping like curtains. Her shyness was so adorable; it was one of the many things he loved about her.

Just then, a bellhop with a luggage cart entered the lobby from one of the elevators. “Woods?”

“That's us,” Gogo raised her hand, as they stood up.

“So, we're having a birthday tomorrow?” The friendly man tried to make conversation, as the cart was loaded.

“Yep,” Wasabi nodded, “My beautiful girlfriend, Catherine.” He patted her back, as she unveiled her face. “We drove 6 hours from San Fransokyo to come here for her special day.”

“They didn't tell me, until we arrived a few minutes ago,” She giggled, “The wait was worth it.”

“Good! How old will you be tomorrow?”

“19.”

“Oh, you're 18 right now? I thought you were first entering your teen years,” He admitted sheepishly.

“It's okay,” She giggled, “I get that a lot. I'm so excited to be here!”

“I'm glad!” He nodded, as they headed for their suite. “The Halloween décor is beautiful in person, the treats are amazing, and the merchandise is all fun. Plus, the Haunted Mansion has a Nightmare Before Christmas makeover.”

“Yep,” Venus confirmed, holding Wasabi's hand as they walked, “I'll be riding that, definitely.”

Before long, they arrived at their destination. “Here we are!” The bellhop opened the door for them, then handed Wasabi the key. “I hope the suite's to your liking, folks.”

They looked around the living room in awe, and amazement. The tan carpet had lighter colored swirls, and the beige walls had darker, vertical stripes; it was the same in the bedroom. The drapes by the huge window were brown and blue plaid, and the tan furniture looked very cozy, while the dark wood tables were beautiful. The couch was in front of an adequately-sized TV above a dresser. A round table with 4 blue striped chairs was by the window, and photos of various attractions adorned the walls.

The bathroom had ivory walls, a pair of lamps held by Mickey hands at both sides of the sink mirror, and tan hard floor, while the bathtub had a horizontal row of blue tiles. The beds had gold metallic skirts, white sheets and pillows, and over both beds was a dark wood castle portrait with fireworks.

When Hiro turned it on after the bellhop left with the emptied cart, everyone watched as the fireworks lit up. “Wow!” Honey's eyes lit up with ecstasy. “So pretty!”

After it ended, Venus made a beeline for the bed closest to the window. “Dibs on this bed!” She giggled, and dropped down on the mattress, leaving her sneakers on the floor.

“I guess we're sleeping there,” Wasabi joked with a snicker, and joined her, as the others explored the suite. He grabbed his girlfriend around her shoulders, and fell back on the bed, taking her down with him; she squealed in surprise, and laughed with him, laying on his chest. “You're too precious for this world, Sunshine.” When he noticed her short hoodie was ridden up just a bit, he smirked.

Venus yelped, and burst out laughing, her legs kicking up when he playfully tickled her flat stomach for a second. “Don't!” She giggled.

“Don't what?” He played dumb, teasing her.

“Don't tickle me!”

“What, like this?” He tickled her again, this time with both hands.

Venus squealed with laughter, and squirmed harshly in his arms. “Wasabi! St-stop!” She tried to hug herself for protection, but his shifting hands were in the way.

Wasabi grunted, and laughed when her elbow jabbed his ribs in her struggle. “Okay, okay, I'll stop,” He chuckled, resting his hands at her shoulders, as she caught her breath. “Sorry; you're just adorable.”

Venus blushed, and giggled. “Okay, I forgive you. Thanks; but if you try that again, you'll get elbowed somewhere else, buster.”

“Message received,” He went along with her joke, knowing she wouldn't hurt him on purpose. “So, you like the suite?”

“I love it,” She nodded, “It's beautiful. Can we check out the pool?”

“Sure,” He smiled, “Everyone ought to like that. We all brought swimsuits.” He kissed the top of her head.

After a few minutes of snuggling, Hiro came in the room, agitated. “What's wrong?” Venus asked him.

“Fred, Tadashi, and the girls are all making out in the living room,” Hiro bemoaned.

She heard the subtle noises, and stifled a grin. “Ah. Well uh, we're going to go to the pools, if you all want to check them out.”

“I think that'd be fun,” Hiro nodded, “Anything to keep the loverboys and lovergirls from exchanging saliva.”

Venus giggled. “When you and Carrie are older, you'll understand. But yeah; they oughta have boundaries outside the suite.” She slid down into her shoes on the floor. “I'll tell them our plans.” She walked in, and smirked. Hiro wasn't wrong; both couples were quite engaged. Fred and Tadashi were on the couch, while Honey was in Gogo's lap, in one of the chairs. She could see why Hiro felt awkward. “Hey, lovebirds!” She exclaimed, getting them to separate. “We're going to go down to the pool. You guys want to go?”

“Yeah! Sounds fun!” Honey agreed.

“Okay,” Gogo added.

“Sounds awesome!” Fred nodded.

“Let's do it,” Tadashi chimed in.

“Yay!” Venus cheered, and ran to her luggage in the bedroom to change in the bathroom. The bikini that Honey helped her pick out made her look like a Gothic mermaid; with a black shell halter top, and black scales super high-rise swim bottoms that covered her belly button. After tying a black celestial sarong around her upper chest, she emerged from the room. She stashed a black starry skeletons coffin-shaped towel in her creepy tree drawstring bag, along with her phone and wallet from her purse. “I'm ready!”

Once the rest were changed into swimwear, they exited their suite, Wasabi keeping the key card safe in his wallet, which was in his girlfriend's bag. He was wearing a green floral button-up t-shirt with the Millenium Falcon, and R2-D2 from Star Wars subtly added in, a pair of dark blue swim trunks printed with green pineapples, a kelly green tie-back headband holding his dreadlocks from his face, and black sanuk sandals. He also had a Baby Yoda beach towel slung over his shoulder.

“I love your swimsuit, Honey Lemon,” Venus complimented.

“Thanks, V!” Honey beamed brightly. “I convinced Gogo to match with me too!” The tall, blonde Latina was wearing a one-piece with a skirt-like ruffle on the waist, and a Sally patchwork printing all over. She had white wedge rhinestone flip-flops on her feet, giving her 3 more inches of height.

“She wore me down,” Gogo admitted. Under her dark blue velour dolphin shorts, and black studded muscle tee, was a grey two-tone striped bikini with small Jack Skellington heads, and black/white striped trimming. Her shoes were purple Nike high-tops.

“That's cute!” Venus gushed.

Fred wore a pair of red Hawaiian swim trunks, and a matching cabana shirt, handed down by his grandfather, along with a white and black Captain Fancy graphic ringer tank top, and red Converse high-tops. Tadashi, meanwhile, was wearing black Star Wars galaxy swim shorts, his white and black ninja ringer t-shirt, and light green Converse high-tops.

Hiro was in Spider Man swim trunks, his usual red robot t-shirt, and grey sneakers with yellow laces. “Look at you, in your big boy swim trunks,” Tadashi jokingly smirked.

“Ah, shut up,” Hiro swatted his arm, as his older brother snickered.

“Tadashi, don't tease him,” Honey scolded, “He looks adorable!”

“Okay, Honey,” Gogo urged her to stop, as Hiro facepalmed.

They arrived outside, and made a beeline for the pool with the monorail water slides, all lit up for the night. “Wow!” Venus' eyes brightened. “It's beautiful!” She got another picture with her phone, as did the rest. They gathered at the lounge chairs, and had a seat, the couples sitting together.

When Venus removed her sarong, Wasabi couldn't help but stare, his cheeks flushed; her swimsuit showed her petite, gymnast body build quite nicely, without being too revealing. Evening out the playing field, he undid all the buttons on his shirt, letting his toned chest peek out. She turned to him, and blushed a deep red; he was so handsome. She admired, and appreciated his effort to look good without going too far. She hated for his health to deteriorate.

After a few minutes of relaxing, she stood up on the tile floor, keeping her shoes off. “Hey, Hiro! Want to try the water slides?”

“Sure,” He nodded.

“Yay!” He pulled off his shirt, lazily discarding it on his chair, and ran with her.

The group stayed at the pool for over an hour, having an amazing, relaxing time. Venus and Hiro, alongside Fred and Honey, had turns on the two water slides, all of them having a blast.

Afterwards, they all returned to their suite, tired from the long drive, and their pool time combined. While Venus rinsed the chlorine from her hair to keep her green streaks vibrant, her friends and boyfriend changed into their pajamas. Honey wore a white long-sleeve pajama top with black polka dots, yellow accents, and Minnie Mouse on the left breast pocket, and matching boxer shorts that showed off her long, tan legs, while Gogo went with “Not a Morning Person” black bat pants, and a matching blue tank top. Though having her own hair streaks, she was waiting for her turn in the shower.

Tadashi changed into black and white plaid lounge pants, and a blue Flynn Rider t-shirt with “Can't Stop the Smolder”. Fred had a pair of black tropical Mickey Mouse PJ pants, and a purple Captain Fancy t-shirt. Hiro was in blue Spider Man sleepwear, with a t-shirt and long pants.

Before long, a wet-haired Venus opened the door, wearing one of the white bathrobes provided to them. It was quite baggy on her tiny body. “I'm done! Your turn, Gogo!”

“Thanks.” The tough girl disappeared into the bathroom soon after the birthday girl was out.

Venus sat on the bed, and admired the view from the window; she smiled and blushed deeply when Wasabi sat next to her, wearing only green Star Wars: Last Jedi icons pajama pants. No shirt. She leaned into him when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You having a good time so far?”

“Yep,” She nodded, “And we haven't even been to the parks yet!” She giggled.

“I'm glad,” He smiled, “You being happy is what's important.” They shared a kiss for a second. “This is actually my first trip here.”

“Really?” Her eyebrows raise in surprise. “Well, we've gotta make tomorrow special for you!”

“You don't need to,” Wasabi shook his head modestly, “Tomorrow's your birthday; it should be special for you, babe.”

“It'll be special for both of us,” She insisted.

“Okay,” He gave up with a chuckle, “I know you won't take no for an answer.”

Later, everyone was ready for bed. Hiro had sent a goodnight text to Carrie, and waited until she responded, before going to sleep. Venus wore black boxer shorts with a Disney Villains icons printing, and a grey t-shirt with Maleficent, Ursula, and the Evil Queen (Grimhilde) on the front, and “Bad Girls Have More Fun” in purple letters. After changing, she crawled in the bed, and under the covers, up to her boyfriend. She flopped down on the mattress, feeling exhausted. “Ready for bed?” She asked him.

“Yep,” He nodded, and held her close to his chest. She blushed again, and laid her hand by her face, at his neck. “Excited for tomorrow?”

“Very,” She giggled, “It's going to be the best birthday ever! Heck, it already is.” They had their traditional goodnight kiss, feeling drowsy from the insanely comfortable bed. “G'night, handsome.”

“G'night, my birthday queen.” He kissed her forehead, then drifted off to sleep with the girl he loved more than anything.

By then, everyone was out, deep in peaceful slumber.

-

Pinterest Links:

Vesabi

Venus Lipstick: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575864558994/

Venus Swim Top: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575860808510/

Venus Swim Bottoms: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AQ65xeRCrYFCdwM09LczcJllo6hM9NU4_TyJah4Mx0LcbP1suUUSKTw/

Venus Sarong: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575860875971/

Venus Towel: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575860484229/

Venus Bag: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575864660129/

Venus Pajamas: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575860486408/

Wasabi Shirt: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575864507308/

Wasabi Swim: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575861768237/

Wasabi Headband: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575861508681/

Wasabi Shoes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575864586141/

Wasabi Towel: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575865273587/

Wasabi PJ Pants: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575865276189/

Honeygo

Honey Swimsuit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575862094698/

Honey Shoes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575863836843/

Honey Pajamas: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575855394248/

Gogo Shorts: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575864406748/

Gogo Shirt: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575864063822/

Gogo Swimsuit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575865273659/

Gogo Shoes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575861509154/

Gogo Pajamas: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575865275977/

Fredashi

Fred Swimsuit/Shirt: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575863605092/

Fred Tank (style, no graphic): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575865273755/

Fred Shoes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575857517833/

Fred Pajama Pants: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575855320867/

Tadashi Swimsuit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575863951842/

Tadashi Shirt: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575857523761/

Tadashi Shoes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AXHsUt6L6Ia9TNx9XVzR-MV76gYBTQG9VGW-ZM-T6A_G6e6spRBo-8g/

Tadashi Lounge Pants: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575861012227/

Tadashi FR Shirt: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575857839840/

Hiro

Swimsuit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575865273895/

Shirt: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575863693699/

Shoes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575862178104/

Pajamas: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575865276173/

[marcirose]

So, earlier, I was having a conversation with one of my buddies on Discord who wasn’t happy with how the Disney worlds were handled in KH3 (Well, KH3 in general save for the combat and they said they would prefer no Disney worlds at all which I know that’s your opinion but sir why??) and it kind of got me thinking again about how disconnected Nomura is with the community.

The general consensus in the community is the story and lore about the original characters and worlds are what matter the most and the Disney stuff is just filler. And that’s. . . a really bad mindset imo.

Because, in a way, the Disney worlds are important to the story and the characters. Just not in the way people would expect.

I mean, yeah I do question some things (why there was no coliseum, why Randall wasn’t a boss fight, why Hans was even in Arendelle to begin with because he didn’t even have a single line or grunt), but in my opinion, the Disney worlds are there not for plot, but for character development. The worlds in KH3 are no exception.

Each of the worlds follows one of two themes: Olympus, KOC, and Arendelle carry the theme of true love’s sacrifice (taisetsu na hito spread the word). Toy Box, Monstropolis, Pirates, 100 Acre Wood, and San Fransokyo carry the theme of separation.

It’s explicitly stated in game that Sora has to traverse these worlds in order to regain the Power of Waking, and it was confirmed by the KH3 Ultimania that it was his heart that led him to these worlds with the phrase “May your heart be your guiding key”.

Also in these worlds (especially in the novel and character files), we get to see more of Sora’s inner thoughts, thoughts we probably wouldn’t see otherwise.

So while the Disney worlds might not be as plot relevant as they used to be, they do serve to drive character. And character is also an important factor when writing an overarching story, especially when one has gone on as long as Kingdom Hearts.

So, this is something I don’t think the community fully understands just yet, and these are just my personal thoughts so I could be wrong about why the Disney worlds are here.

Putting the narrative aspect aside, I think it also has to do with Kingdom Hearts being a Disney IP and what it was originally based on.

The general idea of Kingdom Hearts if you’re looking at it from an outside perspective and nothing further is you’re travelling through the different Disney movies and meeting your favorite characters. That’s the part of the series that gives it its charm. Without Disney, it would look like another typical Square Enix JRPG or be called a Final Fantasy spinoff.

(Also also Nomura has tried his god damn best time and time again to separate KH and FF. If you take away what makes Kingdom Hearts. . . well, Kingdom Hearts, it defeats the purpose of giving it its own identity.)

Another note is how much creative freedom Nomura has with the Disney properties. With each world he chooses, he’s given a set of guidelines that he has to work around because Walt pretty much has him at gunpoint 24/7 and will pull the trigger if he doesn’t like what he sees. Because of that, Nomura’s pretty limited with what he can do, and depending on how much freedom he has with each property is based on that. Arendelle is the PRIME example of how limited he was. Because let’s be real. If Nomura could do whatever he wanted with the worlds in KH3, it would probably be A LOT different than what we have.

(I recommend watching MatPat’s video on how Arendelle was originally going to go down and how its drastic change led to what it is now because it’s totally plausible given how. . . dull that world is.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Neau6ttz6Bk

So, point is, the Disney worlds aren’t as “pointless” or “unnecessary” as someone only looking at this series at surface level would say or if you’re only in it for the original characters and plot. While they may not have as much importance to the overall plot as much as they used to in KH1 and 2, they shifted from trying to tie into the narrative the best they can to being more character driven and allowing the characters to possibly learn more about themselves. So the plot --while still heavily important-- temporarily takes a backseat for the characters to have a breather every once in a while and possibly do something they want to do and not something they have to do.

“Yes, I have to regain the power of waking. Yes, I have to go through the worlds to find a clue. Yes, I have to stop Xehanort. But, I want to hang out with Rapunzel. I want to sail on a pirate ship with Jack. I want to help Elsa and Anna.”

I hope I conveyed this the best of my ability instead of it looking like a bunch of rambling. I just think people aren’t giving the Disney worlds enough credit.

[whitecatindisguise]

Ok, so here goes. How about a lil mashup? (TTS would be modern, to match the other fandoms) Imagine what would happen if Varian travelled to San Fransokyo for some kind of science expo and meets Hiro and Baymax there. There is a robbery at the Expo and Player asks them for help (he already knows Hiro) as it's V.I.L.E.'s doing but Carmen's on another mission somewhere else. I know it's a bit chaotic but I tried to explain idea as good as I could

Okay, took me a while. It might be different from what you imagined, but that's what you get when you ask your sister dearest to write you a story lmao.

------

“Alchemist to Zero. What’s your status?” The communicator in Hiro’s helmet sounded and the boy rolled his eyes.

“I see the target. They are entering the building. Can’t see the cargo, tho.” He replied. “And what’s with the codenames?”

“Because I think it’s unfair only Player gets to have one.” The person on the other side replied and Hiro rolled his eyes again. So childish.

“Because I have to stay anonymous.” Another voice cut in. “And remember this is only for one job. Normally I’d send Red, but she has her hands full in Seul already.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The previous voice dismissed and Hiro could hear the sizzling of acid. “Anyway, I’m in. Let’s get my stuff back and go already. I have an Expo to win.”

“In your dreams, Va- Alchemist.” Hiro corrected himself quickly. No matter what he said about codenames, he didn’t want to risk anyone hearing their real names. “The prize is mine.”

“You wish!” The other replied and Hiro chuckled.

“Guys, work now, bicker later.” Player called with an exasperated huff. “Besides, if I was there, none of you would even stand a chance.”

Hiro decided to leave it at that, opting to focus on the mission instead. He still had no idea why someone would steal Varian’s chemicals, but it was always better safe than sorry.

The Expo was an international science event, when the scientist from all around the globe met in one place to show their latest inventions and fight for the main prize, the title of Scientist of the Year. What was amazing about the Expo, it allowed both adults and teenagers like him, or Varian, compete alongside.

You never know where the genius is hiding, was the Expo’s motto. He and Varian met on the event few years ago, and became quick friends, despite being rivals in the contest.

Varian didn’t live in San Fransokyo. The boy was German and was extremely intelligent. He spoke several languages, English, French and Italian being only few of them, except for his native German. He was into chemistry the most, but also had a knack for engineering.

They often spoke online, comparing their latest inventions, sharing stories and giving advice to one another.

Player, on the other hand, was a mystery. Hiro never saw the guy, but from what he’d learned, he was only a year or two older than himself, and extremely intelligent too. He was a talented hacker who lived in Ontario, Canada, and preferred to stay at home.

He contacted Hiro on the day of the Expo (how he got his phone number, he had no clue) and told him about the upcoming heist happening at the Expo. Apparently, some group called V.I.L.E. was planning to steal some very dangerous chemicals during the event.

Player explained he’d normally didn’t bother uninvolved people, but the chemicals are supposed to be extremely dangerous in wrong hands, and his usual team was busy somewhere else.

A short talk with Honey Lemon confirmed Player’s info, so Hiro decided to help the boy, if only to stop the criminals from doing something really bad. So, imagine his surprise, when the stolen chemicals turned out to belong to Varian.

The German scientist absolutely refused to let Hiro go after the thieves alone, claiming his knowledge of what exactly the chemicals were and how to best contain them will only help him. Player agreed shortly after and Hiro gave the boy a spare communicator, so they can all communicate with no trouble.

Hiro’s scaled down from the building across the street, where he was positioned, and approached the abandoned warehouse the criminals went in. He pushed himself against the wall, stealing a glance through one of the windows.

There were only two people inside, a blonde woman in a tight suit and mask covering her face, and a man dressed like a mime. Quick conversation with Player revealed their names to be Tigress and Mime Bomb respectively.

The woman held out a hand with a suitcase. A quick glance told Hiro it contained the stolen chemicals, as he noticed the moon emblem on the front, which was the symbol Varian used to mark his property.

Hiro peeked out some more, and noticed the said boy crouching behind one of the crates in the warehouse, observing the two. Varian’s hands twitched and Hiro knew they didn’t have much time.

“Don’t do anything stupid, V.” He whispered into the communicator, which only earned him an annoyed huff. God, this was terrible idea to bring him along.

Varian was extremely possessive over his things. Sure, he let people see them, but if you try to even touch them without his consent...

“Va-Alchemist!” He called out more urgently, hoping to stop the boy from doing anything reckless.

Varian had literally no experience with criminals. Hiro met and fought with his fare share, but the German boy was a complete rookie. If he doesn’t do anything now it’s-

Just then it seemed like Varian’s patience finally reached his limit. He jumped from behind the crates with a battle cry, brandishing some colourful balls in each hand, strangely similar-looking to the ones used by Honey Lemon.

“Crap! Player, I’m going in!” Hiro called out and pushed away from the wall, running to the door.

He heard shouts and some explosions from the inside. He pulled the door open and hoped for the best, bursting inside. His eyes felt on the scene in front of him and stopped, dumbfounded.

“Zero, what’s going on there?” Player called out in his ear, but the boy was too shocked to reply. “Hiro!”

“You... just access my helmet camera and see for yourself.” Hiro sounded tired.

He heard fast typing and then a gasp of surprise, which told him Player finally had a visual. And what visual was that.

Mime Bomb was sprawled out on the floor, stuck in some pink goo, looking confused at the ordeal. Tigress was on the other side of the room, stuck to the wall with the same kind of substance, snarling and shouting in anger at someone crouching on the floor.

That someone was Varian, who frantically worked to open the suitcase, his hands trembling in fear. Finally, the lock clicked open and the boy let out a sigh of relief.

“Nothing is broken. Thank the Sun.” He breathed out and closed the suitcase. He picked it up and stood up, staring at the woman glued to the wall. “What were you thinking, throwing it like that?! Don’t you know if any of those broke it would be a disaster?! We could all die!”

“I wouldn’t have to throw it, if you didn’t attack us!” Tigress snarled back angrily and tried to pull herself free. “Who even are you?”

“I’m the one who made those chemicals, you dumbass!” Varian shouted back, not even noticing Hiro standing in the now-open door. “If you steal something, at least learn what to NOT DO with it!”

“Is Varian just... lecturing her?” Player asked. Hiro could almost see his wide-open eyes threatening to fall out of the eye sockets.

“Yup.” He confirmed, staring blankly at the scene.

“Is he normal?” The Canadian sounded shocked. Hiro shrugged.

“Is any of us?” He replied and earned a sigh and a snort in return. “Are the police coming?”

“Oh, yeah. I gave them an anonymous tip few minutes ago, They should be here soon.” Player finally seemed to shook himself awake. “Better leave before they arrive.”

“Sure. Hey, Alchemist!” He called out, sparing the trapped woman another tirade of insults.

Varian turned around and smiled.

“Hey, Zero. Got my stuff!” He raised the hand with the suitcase and waved with the other. “Easy-peasy.”

“Good, ‘cause the police is going to be here soon.” Hiro could already hear the sirens coming closer. “We gotta go.”

“Oh, right!” Without further stalling, Varian ran up to him and they left the two criminals still stuck by the peculiar goo.

They were already several blocks away, when Player finally deemed it safe enough to stop running.

“By the way.” Hiro turned to panting Varian, who rose his head in question. “What’s with the goo?”

“Oh, that?” Varian grinned, showing his bunny teeth and pulled out a pink ball from his pocket. “It’s my own invention. Sticks to everything it touches. I actually came up with it as a more humane way to get rid of the pests back in Old Corona. But it works just as well at stopping idiots from doing more harm than they already did.”

“Nice.” Hiro nodded. “How long does it take to dissolve?”

“Few hours. That is, unless you have a dissolver at hand, which I have right here.” Varian fished out another ball, this time green and cackled. “Serves them right for stealing from me.”

“Remind me to never get on your bad side.” Hiro laughed and shook his head at his friend. “Are we clear to go back to the Expo now, Player?”

“Sure thing. Thanks for the help, guys.” Player replied.

“Oh yeah! Go Team Genius!” Varian laughed and raised a fist in the air.

“We really have to talk about those codenames.” Hiro let out a tired sigh and Player laughed in his ear.

[cheekbites-moved]

Tell us about your fave movies?

my favorite movie of all time is howl's moving castle. it's a movie i rewatch often when im In A Mood cause it just comforts me? also sophie is hilarious & v relatable lol & she created love w howl tbh. 10/10 must-see to bless a life up!

my fav before i saw hmc was big hero 6 for similar comfort reasons. though i haven't rewatched it in a LONG time. but baymax is my fav disney character!! & san fransokyo is rad as hell id love to live there if it was real lol & also it handles grief the most maturely out of any content ive seen, out of both child & adult media & i rly appreciate that.

ig ill do top 3 & say my 3rd fav is love, simon bc it's the movie we gays deserved & even though it has its. problems (simon's ~friends~ 🙄) it's still a fantastic movie & incredibly important & im glad it exists & it makes me cry happy/comforted gay tears every time i rewatch it

[square-enix-headcanons]

Vexen, Xaldin, Xigbar, and Lexaeus (dad squad lol) crushing on on someone who is their opposite and not knowing what to do? Lol!

Opposite as in, opposite character? That’s gonna be fun :D (General FYI, if I get Nobody names, I’ll do the Nobodies, and if I get Somebody names, I’ll do the Somebodies. If I get both I’ll do both ^^)

And since it’s long I’ll put most of it under a read more :)

Xigbar

You’re the newest member of the Organization, and right from the start there’s something Xigbar just finds intriguing about you

So when you’re both in the Grey Area, he goes to chat with you for a bit

It goes well enough, but you instantly tell him off when he uses a nickname for you. You already have a name

Xigbar’s taken aback, but when you’re insistent, he does drop the nicknames - For this conversation. It takes him a while longer to stop using them with you at all. Larxene ended up shocking him when he did it with her

On missions, Xigbar may not slack off, but he does like to take some time to fool around. You do not.

All right, fine; then Xigbar will be a little bit more serious, too

Honestly, Xigbar himself doesn’t even notice he’s got a crush on you until someone else, maybe Larxene, makes a comment in passing

Something like “Aw, someone’s managed to put our Number Two on a leash!”. Cause, you know, Xigbar isn’t normally stopped from nicknaming or fooling around

At first he tries to shrug the comment off, but he does pay a bit more attention to his behaviour afterwards, and, well…

Obviously he still messes around every now and then, and occasionally calls you buy something else than your name, but far more rarely, and usually all it takes is an annoyed look or a sharp comment from you, and he stops or at least tones it down

Huh. Dammit.

Xigbar did not plan on getting attached to anyone, especially not like this

But, well, what happens, happens

But how is he supposed to go from here?

His first thought is some dumb, grandiose gesture he’d have a lot of fun doing, but he doubts you’d appreciate that

He could just tell you, but for once, he feels almost shy

Xigbar’s not used to being vulnerable; he tries to find a way to let you know without making himself vulnerable, but that’s easier said than done

Thinking about that obviously distracts him from his missions, and when you’re fighting dangerous Heartless, distraction just might be problematic

You’re fighting a pretty big one together when Xigbar doesn’t notice an attack in time and gets knocked out

He wakes up to you kneeling over you, the Heartless gone

And, still being a little bit dizzy, he blurts out something like, “You managed to get the thing down all on your own? Damn, no wonder I fell for you.”

Oh. Oh! Whoops. Welp, now you know

“Meanwhile, I’m almost wondering why I fell for you, Sweetie.” You wink at him before helping him up (Hey, maybe it’s not the best nickname, but you aren’t used to this!)

Still stunned, Xigbar lets you pull him back to his feet, before a grin spreads on his face and he gives you a quick kiss

(Nicknames are still reserved for special occasions only though)

Xaldin

While Xaldin is usually very stoic, you’re just the opposite, wearing your emotions on your sleeve. Crying when you’re upset, shouting when you’re angry…

He at first just feels a bit intrigued because he just doesn’t get it

Of course there’s the problem that he shouldn’t have any emotions, but he also behaved like this when he still had them

He doesn’t understand how someone can grow up to be an adult and still be this open; doesn’t it only lead to pain and suffering? Who’d choose that willingly?

Soon enough he’s utterly fascinated

And confused because his silver tongue just… Doesn’t work. He tries to sow doubts into your Heart, but you just go to your friends to confirm, because you trust them

More than once do other member have to fetch him from your world; if he’s fascinated like this, it’s easy for him to forget the time

Of course, he can’t be feeling anything but fascination now, can he?

Lexaeus suggests it might be something else - after all, he’s seen a lovestruck Dilan before, and this looks awfully similar - but Xaldin blows him off

But, well, his heart does flutter a bit when he sees you… And there is something about how open you are…

You’ll have to do the first step to make him figure it all out; good thing you’re so open all the time!

Xaldin hasn’t blushed in ages, but hearing you tell him you like him, that you’re in love with him, just… takes him off guard

He needs some more time to accept that that’s what’s happening; not only is he a Nobody, he also vowed to never love someone again

And yet… And yet…

He disappears for a few days, but (after a bit of pushing from Lexaeus), he decides to go back, considering how much he misses you

Basically sweeps you up to give you a kiss as soon as he finds you

Vexen

You and Vexen are both members of the Organization, and as such, you sometimes either have to spend time together, or it just happens if you’re both in the Grey Area

Other than that, you don’t really spend much time together; unlike Vexen, you don’t have that drive to pick apart e v e r y t h i n g, and to him, people who can’t share his enthusiasm for experiments are just. Boring.

But… He has to admit that there’s something about the simplicity of accepting things just as they are

He notices it most when you’re doing missions together, particularly in worlds like San Fransokyo. You’d point out something that caught your eye, and Vexen either starts lecturing you about how it works, or starts making plans how to find out how it works

You usually stop him at that point. “Vexen, all I wanted was show you this cool thing.”

He tends to sneer at that, but your approach does have merits - Vexen sometimes gets so lost in the details of some clues during a recon mission, he misses the obvious thing

Another difference between you two: You don’t make him feel like the dumbest man alive when you point this stuff out

With both those differences and the fact that he’s a Nobody, falling for you defies logic in every way

But when he catches himself smile as he thinks about you… Or when he has to go on missions with someone else and misses out on the things you’d have shown him…

He’s super aware that he’s falling for you, and he absolutely hates it

Not just because he’s never seen himself with someone like you (He hasn’t given romance much of a thought until now, to be honest), but also because he’s acutely aware of all the differences, all the times he’s been mean to you, and thus he’s sure you’d never reciprocate his feelings

He tries to push them down. Ignore it, keep working, hope the feelings fade

Yeah… Nope.

Pretty much the opposite, to be honest.

It annoys the hell out of him (How is he supposed to do the mission when your smile takes his breath away like this?! How is he supposed to focus when his thoughts keep drifting to you?!), but at the same time, he kind of likes this feeling

At some point during a mission, you find a single red rose and point it out to him

And for one time in his life, Vexen manages to not go into a rant, and instead just answers with “Yes, it’s… Beautiful.”

“Vexen, are you all right? Are you feeling okay?”

Sure, it’s kinda nice that he for once just appreciates it, but it’s also just weird

It’s rare to see Vexen at a loss for words, but that’s what just happened

“Well, I merely though you would appreciate it if I… tried seeing things your way.” He was this close to saying something mean again but he caught it in time

“Vexen, I like you for being you.”

????????

Vexen.exe has stopped working

For a little bit he just. Stares at you. Before he manages to ask, “You like me?”

He doesn’t notice but he’s totally blushing

You gently cup his cheek with your hand. “Yes, Vexen, I like you. A lot.”

When he doesn’t pull back, you slowly lean in for a kiss, and Vexen closes the little bit of distance remaining between you

Lexaeus

Lexaeus may be known as the silent hero, but you’re everything but that, able to talk like a waterfall

And while he’s pretty calm and collected, it sometimes feels to him like you’re bouncing all around the place

He first ran into you during a mission; he went to the world early to scout it out a little, but that meant he’d have to wait a while before he could begin

He was about to return to the Castle, but well, then you came along and started talking to him, and he decided he might as well listen

You talked about everything and nothing, while he mostly just nodded - But he was listening to every word you said

Near the start of his mission, he waits for a short break in your word flow and tells you he’ll need to leave

“Oh, okay. will you come back later? I love chatting with you.”

He’s surprised at first, since he’s not exactly known as a great conversationalist, so he just answers “maybe”

It takes a while until you two meet again, but once more, Lexaeus is perfectly willing to just listen to you for a while

Soon enough, he finds himself coming to your world just a little bit earlier, or lingering after missions just a little bit longer, to get a chance to speak to you

He doesn’t get chatty, but after a while, he does respond a little bit more than just with nods or short one-syllable answers; still, he much prefers listening to you

Lexaeus is very aware that he’s starting to fall for you. He knows it shouldn’t be possible, but he also knows that this isn’t just the memory of love

He wants to tell you, but he hesitates. What if you don’t feel the same and stop talking to him because it’d make you uncomfortable?

So for a while, Lexaeus contemplates remaining silent - after all, he’s got practice with that - so that he won’t lose you companionship

But… On the other hand, he does want you to know. So in the end, he decides to tell you.

He’s a man of few words, but he can and usually will say what matters to him straightforward

So when he meets you again, he holds up a hand to stop you from talking so he can say what’s on his officially non-existant heart

“I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I believe I’ve fallen for you. If you don’t feel the same, I’m more than willing to remain your friend, but–”

He doesn’t get much further because you wrap your arms around him and give him a kiss

[countdowntillseason3]

Review and Recap : “Something’s Fishy” (Spoilers Ahead)

Sleep deprivations dumb. I’m dumb lol. Anyway time for a R&R! Spoilers abound!

RECAP

We start the episode off with an ugly chameleon suit, which Fred wanted Hiro to design for... some reason. While trying to attempt the camouflage function on the... Fredmeleon Suit, Aunt Cass walks in. Fred activates the camouflage function. Cass asks what Hiro is doing the garage in which he says he’s working on a school project. Cass goes on and tells Hiro that an old friend is coming back to San Fransokyo, and he has a daughter named Megan who is the same age as him (all while Fred is walking around the garage, invisible). After Fred grapples into a storage shelf, Hiro leads Cass outside in an attempt to distract her. Gogo calls Hiro notifying him that High Voltage broke out of jail again. After some mishaps, Cass mentions that she set him up on a date with Megan, much to his dismay.

After the intro we pan into Mole’s comic book store, where Gogo and Fred have come to catch High Voltage who will most likely go there and steal the Orb. After a while of waiting, Gogo leaves saying High Voltage is clearly not coming.

At Sycorax, Liv Amara wants High Voltage to help her with something. High Voltage refuses, saying how Crime dancing is not normal. Liv says that nothing coming frees and that High Voltage can be normal after they pay her. Liv says she is going to call the police if they don’t help her, so they agree. Barb says that they are going to need their energy orb, but Liv says she has something better.

At the Lucky Cat Cafe, Cass is introducing Megan to Hiro. After awkwardly talking about robots and an awkward silence, Baymax mentions ways on how they can communicate, Hiro tells Baymax to wait somewhere else. Hiro and Megan try to talk, although Cass interrupts bringing them food and lemonade. They continue to talk, with Baymax and Cass hovering out the window.

Somewhere in San Fransokyo, High Voltage rob a bank, only to be stopped by Gogo and Fred. The fight starts, Gogo running towards them only for Juniper to show a new trick, the chip allows her to generate electricity on her own. High Voltage win against Gogo and Fred and run off into an alleyway.

At Joe’s Diner, Megan and Hiro talk casually. Megan talks about the time she was late and her father had the entire police force looking for her, but Hiro says he doesn’t really do much in his free time. Gogo notifies Hiro and Hiro says he has to go. At SFIT, the Big Hero 6 try to solve the question of how High Voltage got there new powers. The news mentions how the Aquarium’s Electric Eels (named AC and DC, fun science name) have gone missing, leading Fred to make a connection, saying the High Voltage is part eel. Everyone says that’s crazy. Honey Lemon also gets inspiration for something from a gum bunny (which is cute).

Somewhere else, High Voltage have finally payed Liv and start there life of not crime. Although they start feeling hungry and have a craving for seafood and decide to do one last crime, robbing a seafood truck.

At the Lucky Cat Cafe, Megan and Hiro are having a study session. Hiro mentions how he was a kid when he was going to high school. Megan says how dances might’ve been awkward, but Hiro says he never did stuff like that. Megan invites him to a dance at her school, Hiro accepts.

Meanwhile, Fred, Gogo, and Baymax are interrogating the Sea Food Truck Driver. Gogo asks if Baymax can scan for High Voltage, Baymax being unable to locate them.

At SFIT, Hiro, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon are playing a great game of tennis. Baymax notes how Hiro was acting weird. Hiro asks Honey Lemon and Wasabi about high school, noting that he sometimes thinks about how he thinks he’s missing out on stuff normal kids do.

Later that day, Hiro and Megan get ready for the dance, with Cass being the embarrassing Aunt. At the dance, Hiro is officially confirmed that he is not good at dancing. He also notices that High Voltage is there. The Big Hero 6 (well 5 not counting Hiro) come to arrest High Voltage. Barb has a wonderful musical scene about how they are going to go good. At the end they end up transforming into Electric Eel... people. Eelpeople. Juniper is sad about this, Barb tries to comfort her, but Wasabi ends up ruining that. High Voltage ends up going on a rampage at the dance, prompting a fight between them and Big Hero 6. Honey Lemon introduces a new Chemball she has that creates a gummy bunny-like suit that insulates electricity. It doesn’t last for long as the constant barrage of electricity starts to melt it. Hiro has Fred use his invisibility, meanwhile High Voltage start to get a liking towards their fish bodies and going back to crime. Fred manages to incapacitate High Voltage with the elasti-tongue of his suit, but High Voltage sets of the sprinkler system and uses Fred’s suit’s tongue as a wire and electrocutes him. High Voltage uses a total eel move of swimming on wet ground and run off.

Hiro goes back into his dance clothing and runs out the building, meeting Megan again. Megan seems elated at the fact that 2 supervillains appear at the dance, saying how it’s not normal. The police come and we meet Megan’s father, the chief of police, Chief Cruz. Chief Cruz shows a dislike towards superheroes, calling them vigilantes and how he will correct this problem.

At Sycorax, Liv Amara looks at her aquarium and the two new eels she has acquired, both being High Voltage.

REVIEW

This was such a good episode! I think Megan and Hiro will be a great friendship. And I’m glad High Voltage! Although I’m sad they never reformed and now they are ugly eelpeople! Also AC and DC stand for Alternating Current and Direct Current, nice name for eels. I love the new Chemball and Fred’s  new suit is nice. I feel like Chief Cruz is going be to important later down the line, maybe the second arc of the season is one of those “Police v. Heroes” kind of things. Overall, 9/10.

[u23art]

A Look At Kingdom Hearts 3.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is an epilogue. 

         Kingdom Hearts 3, is sadly not the resolution we, or at least I, had hoped for. I wanted this to be a celebration of all the things that made Kingdom Hearts great, instead we got a Kingdom Hearts title that frankly is missing a few pieces.  Though there were elements in this game that I adored, it sadly doesn’t overtake Kingdom Hearts 2 in terms of the quality the best titles of the series can achieve. 

         The wait was long, the wait was arduous while fans of the series were drip fed morsels of information about the game. I counted down the days until the day of release, and on the day of release I counted the seconds until Gamestop open while I waited beside the door in below zero temperatures. My excitement didn’t cease as in addition my preorder for the limited edition PS4 Pro arrived the very same day, and since I had no internet due to extreme cold conditions I sat myself down for 3 days and played through Kingdom Hearts 3.

The gameplay, is smooth, I had my worries after 0.2 with its overly speedy movement through stages and at times “lumpy” action, but in 3 though Sora moves fast but the stages are wide and vast, and action inputs are responsive and attacks can be sequenced together with ease from keyblade swings, magic and shot lock commands. My only complaint was that I wasn’t given an option like in Kingdom Hearts 2 to turn off some of these activation commands, cause I could have done without Attraction Flow attacks popping up as often as they did.

  One cool additional feature however, was the ability to upgrade keyblades, rather than just switching to the next new keyblade after each world, each keyblade has a unique play style and you can power it up if it suits your approach to combat. I primarily found myself switching between the Shooting Star and Favorite Deputy keyblades.

The best stages to me, were Olympus, Toy Box and Monstropolous, they were wonderful to look at with tons of spaces to explore. The weakest worlds on the other hand, were Arrendale and San Fransokyo. Arrendale is white, Arrendale is covered in Snow, this is annoying when trying to differentiate areas and either find your way or find lucky emblems. San Fransokyo, is a city block, with grey buildings the blur into one another and it’s ESPECIALLY hard to find things like treasure chests. And then there’s Twilight Town, we are allowed ONE area of Twilight Town to mingle about in. Perhaps they should have put resources into making Twilight Town bigger instead of rendering music videos for "Let It Go" and......"Do You Want To Build A Snowman"......

Story wise, Sora is tasked by Yen Sid to achieve the power of waking in order to bring back Ven. Instead of being a teacher, he sends Sora out guided by his heart to various Disney worlds to get stronger and get the power of waking. Riku and Mickey on the other hand, are tasked with dropping into the world of Darkness to find Aqua.

Addressing this first, I was disappointed with the Riku segments, I expected brief adventures but instead we get two fights. I would have accepted reusing stages and assets from 0.2, we’re looking for Aqua anyway, why not go through places she did as we retrace our steps.

Going back to Sora’s story, it feels far too much like a straight line though points A through B and ect. Kingdom Hearts 2 worked as well as it did thanks in part to Hollow Bastion, a world with an expanding narrative to unravel after beating certain numbers of Disney worlds. On top of not having Radiant Gardens available to visit here, there wasn’t a single Final Fantasy character to drive its plot anyway.

I mentioned earlier that this game felt like it was missing pieces, there were signs that this would be the case when it was evident the first world would be Olympus and not an original world for the narrative to revolve around like Traverse Town, Twilight Town or Radiant Gardens. Upon starting up the game, my fears were further affirmed when I played through the entirety of Olympus’s narrative and Phil hadn’t said a single word. After visiting Olympus a second time, I was further saddened that there was no Hades cup or tournament. There are multiple instances of this throughout the game, this gnawing feeling that something is missing. Kingdom Hearts has always been known as an amalgamation of Final Fantasy and Disney, and to not have an FF character beyond some mentions of Cloud and Auron makes the whole experience feel disingenuous to what Kingdom Hearts is instead of celebrating what makes it great. There are MENTIONS of FF things, like some of the gummi ships, a cactuar and Leviathan from Final Fantasy V, but sadly the restoration committee is a no show.

One of the main selling points of this game was that the worlds are vast and seamlessly interconnected with the exception of a few points. This is cool, however without having separate areas and no brief pauses and transitions between them, the campaigns feel like they just breeze on by despite the fact that each one is a little under 2 hours. This creates a similar sort of problem that Final Fantasy XV had, where there was a focus on making vast open areas but sadly there’s no meaty substance to fill them with.

On a personal note, this game could have been fantastic-ish had they just replaced the shallow Frozen and BH6 worlds with worlds from Pocahontas and Treasure Planet.

The story should have enforced the story of Kingdom Hearts 2, which was immensely fun to play, INSTEAD it enforces THE MOBILE game which is not fun to play and personally I had quit after being sick of road blocks that kept me from progressing. Heck, this game actually undoes a lot of good KH2 did for the overall narrative. Union X stopped being especially fun since it had a habit of creating more and more questions without providing answers, a quality that has been passed on to Kingdom Hearts 3. 

Here is a list of questions that this game created without answering them.

What keyblade information did Larxene, Luxord, Demyx and Marluxia divulge to Saix?

Luxord and Demyx had Keyblades?

Axel and Saix became apprentices to Ansem to Wise to find and save a girl? 

Who is this girl, WHO are they talking about?

If Riku’s inner Riku whisked away Replica Riku to heart heaven, how could Xehanort still have the right amount of Darknesses.

When did Roxas leave Sora’s body to enter the replica body?

How did Roxas fly into battle from the sky?

How did the Norts get Xion’s heart from heart heaven to put into a replica?

How did Ansem the Wise get Namine from heart heaven into a replica?

How did Ansem the Wise conduct experiments on children and keep that hidden? That happened?

Where did Xehanort learn about the stupid requirements of 7 lights and 13 darkness to make Kingdom Hearts appear?

Where the H did Demyx go after he dropped off a replica and Ansem the Wise?

Why did Kairi shatter from Xehanort’s strike?

How did Sora save Kairi?

Where is Sora?

What rock are the Final Fantasy characters hiding under?

And most importantly, why was Phil not allowed to utter a SINGLE words the whole 2 or so hours I was at Olympus?

Ultimately I am happy that I finally got Kingdom Hearts 3, but I have a theory that higher interference kept this game hindered from being truly great.

Consider for a moment, have you notice that Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced in 2013 yet Big Hero 6 didn’t come out until 2014? 

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

[ultraericthered]

THE XIII DARKNESSES WE DESERVED, FROM THE KH3 WE DESERVED

(For reference, see this post.)

I. Master Luxu (vessel for Darxomnious) - Operates in The Keyblade Graveyard

II. Xehanort - Operates in Toy Box

III. Vanitas - Operates in Monstropolis

IV. Braig - Operates in Olympus

V. Eraqus - Operates in Realm of Darkness

VI. Saix - Operates in Twilight Town

VII. Axel - Operates in Twilight Town

VIII. Demyx - Operates in Glimmering Bayou

IX. Luxord - Operates in The Caribbean

X. Marluxia - Operates in Kingdom of Corona

XI. Larxene - Operates in Arendelle

XII. Xion - Operates in San Fransokyo

XIII. Riku Replica - Operates in Realm of Darkness and San Fransokyo

Other Darknesses not in the XIII: Ansem SoD, Xemnas, Maleficent, Pete, Hades, Dr. Facilier, Mother Gothel, Randall Boggs, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, Lord Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones

EDIT: 

However, just like in the actual KH3, Demyx does not make it to the end with the rest of the chosen, being easily won over to Vexen’s side after Vexen, secretly still loyal to Ienzo and the others, planted himself among the Darknesses in order to sabotage their movement from within. And so the thirteenth is, in this version as well, the surprise appearance of Terra-Xehanort, the original trilogy’s Xehanort but in full pre-amnesia, Master Xehanort possessed human mode!

[solidandsound]

I have a whole essay of thoughts on KH3. Let’s see if I can be remotely coherent.

Gameplay is fun. Movement feels good, and so does combat. Keyblade switching is neat, although it would be better if there were some cooler keyblades to use. I’d take Oblivion, Oathkeeper, etc over some of the silly stuff we got. Grand magic is cool. The only new mechanic I don’t like is the attractions. They aren’t fun to use, they don’t feel good, they’re just flashy. But you can mostly ignore them, so overall combat is fun. The real problem is that it’s too easy, even on Proud mode. There were a couple of tricky spots for me early on while Sora’s HP was low, but they really throw those HP upgrades at you and enemy damage doesn’t scale fast enough to continue to be a threat. Even the last boss was basically doing chip damage to me while I took out half a bar of health per fire spell. There was nothing like the Riku fight in KH1 or the final boss sequences for 1 or 2. Other KH games have fights leaving me pumped with adrenaline because they’re so good at keeping you on your toes, but KH3 never got me that worked up. Some folks cite all the powerful finishers, attractions, etc, but I think it could have still been challenging with those things if the damage scaling was better.

Exploration is fun, and I like the different approaches each world took to it, with some being large open spaces and others being more linear. It does make searching for treasure and emblems more difficult, though, and some sort of tool to help with that late game would have been nice.

The worlds themselves and how they play out have their ups and downs. You never really fight any big bads in them, so none of them feel like they have the stakes of KH2 worlds, but they don’t all need to. Olympus was a very solid world, and a pretty good setup for what Sora’s trying to do in KH3 (which unfortunately falls flat later, but in Olympus it feels good). It also sets up some intrigue with Maleficent looking for the box (which goes even more poorly later, but again, here it feels good). It’s a big, pretty playground to experiment with all the new stuff in the game. My only real gripe is Phil’s awkward silence. If you want him to show up, Square, give him at least one line. If you can’t give him any lines, don’t have him show up! This was awkward later with Aeleus and Dilan later as well. They make for such clear time/budget cuts, it breaks immersion something terrible.

Twilight Town was a huge disappointment. While it’s nice that it’s so populated (and that goes for many other worlds as well), only having a small part of what we know to exist available to explore is pretty sad. The story there sets things up so that Pence has to do some research which takes time, so I figured we could come back and go up the hill later, but of course that never happens.

Toy Box was fun. It was nice to have a world where almost all of it is just one big open area with lots of vertical space. The Gigases here were some of the only enemies in the game to pose a threat, but only because you need to also use the Gigases, which makes them and the whole world easy. The idea that the organization is doing research on inanimate objects acquiring hearts is interesting, but never amounts to anything, and the main conflict here goes unresolved until the end credits where it’s maybe kinda resolved without our input.

The Tangled world was interesting. It’s probably the most faithful adaptation of a Disney movie’s plot in a KH world in the series, down to specific scene setups, lines, framing, etc. I thought it was bizarre at first, but exploring the world with Rapunzel, which she’s seeing for the first time, and seeing her reactions to it made me feel like I was playing the game of the movie, in a good way. And of course this world had some gorgeous greenery. It also introduces the New Seven Hearts, which is interesting in theory but ends up being irrelevant and underutilized, especially since it could have fixed a problem that’s present for the entire game.

The bad guys want Sora and co to gather the seven lights. By rescuing Aqua, etc, they are playing into Xehanort’s plan. There should be some conflict about this. As it stands, there’s no tension. We’re not really doing anything to stop their plan. Of course Sora wants to save everyone, but maybe they could wonder if they can just not fight, or hide some people away, or something. But, it’s mentioned that if Sora fails to gather the seven lights, the new princesses can be used instead. That makes them leverage: if Sora and his allies fail to show up to the final battle, then these innocent princesses will be used, which of course forces Sora to move forward with the original plan. There’s conflict and tension there, where currently, in the game, there is none.

Monstropolis is interesting because it serves as a sequel to Monsters Inc, developing the lore of the Disney property in an interesting way. The factory’s a little bland but it has some fun sequences. Boo gets some cute moments. What’s annoying is that a Vanitas fight is teased here, and then ripped away from us. By this point I was dying for a good old classic KH person v. person hardcore showdown, because those are always the best fights, but alas. And of course nothing here ends up being super relevant to the main plot.

The Frozen world was fairly faithful to the movie, similar to the Tangled world, except with Sora mostly doing his own thing while the plot of the movie happened elsewhere. I actually thought this world set up an interesting theme that could have been explored more, which is Sora’s hero complex. He sees Elsa hurting and wants to help her, but it’s not something he can help with, so he has to learn to let her work through it on her own instead of coming to the rescue. Unfortunately they don’t do much with it, but it’s an interesting angle. And the New Seven Hearts come up again, which continues to be a waste of potential. The one thing that stood out as a peculiar choice to me was reanimating the entirety of the Let It Go scene. It was so bizarre I was laughing the whole time. I like the song, but what point did that serve? I actually heard a streamer mention that Elsa sings all of Let It Go when I watched some prerelease streams, but I assumed he was joking.

The Pirates world is the only one in this game based on a movie I haven’t seen, so I was a little lost as to the larger plot, but it gave some good characterization for Luxord. It’s nice that he seems to come to this world just because he likes it. I enjoyed the ship exploration and island setup, but I always do (see also: Wind Waker, Suikoden IV). Underwater movement and combat feel much better in this game than Atlantica worlds in earlier games. Ship battles got a little repetitive after a while.

San Fransokyo was one of my favourite worlds. The GTA-esque open city setup is fun, although a little small, and I love that we can see it during the day and at night, although having some chests and emblems only appear at certain times was a bit annoying. The music is excellent here. I like Big Hero 6 a lot, and the story of the world was a very interesting way to build off of the movie. I would love to watch a full BH6 sequel that’s basically the KH3 plot. It’s also a cool and interesting way to reintroduce Dark Riku as a member of the organization. Even though none of the Disney worlds really advance the plot directly, I’m okay with it because they serve another purpose, which is to slowly reveal organization members, keeping us guessing as to who the full 13 will be. Of course, it would be better if we didn’t see almost everyone in trailers, but it was fun to guess at the ones we didn’t know. What is disappointing about the Disney worlds is that Sora is supposed to be learning how to use the power of waking, but it’s obvious early on that it’s going to work when it needs to and he’s not going to figure it out before then, so that entire quest feels pointless.

In between these we get cutscenes of other plot points, and briefly play Riku in the world of darkness. I don’t like that so much of the cool plot stuff happens elsewhere. To me, that’s all the interesting stuff, the stuff I’m playing KH3 for, and I wanted to be involved in it instead of it happening elsewhere or hearing about it over the gummiphone. I did like that we get to play as Riku, as one of the things I’ve come to love about the series is seeing the different keyblade wielders’ combat styles. I also liked that, after we save Aqua, we get a fight as her. I was pumped to see my favourite keyblade master and the most badass character in the series in action again, but after the fight she gets inexplicably knocked out so that she can be rescued, which was both disappointing and out of character.

And then we go to the Keyblade Graveyard, which is where things really fall apart. First of all, the KG is a disappointing final world. It’s somewhere we’ve been before, and it’s nothing like the big, mysterious final worlds of previous games. The End of the World and the World That Never Was are two of my favourite worlds in the series, and the KG here fails to stack up. The labyrinth is a cool concept, but sorely underutilized. But before we even get there we get a very poorly explained time loop thing, and another moment where Aqua doesn’t seem nearly as capable as we know her to be, not to mention all the other great keyblade wielders with them at that point. We get some sort of afterlife, which complicates the life and death mythos of Kingdom Hearts even further, and we get an optional scene there that really should have been mandatory.

Then we go into the final showdown stuff. What was most exciting leading up to KH3 to me was this promised showdown, the 7 lights vs the 13 darknesses, all the keyblade wielders fighting together against overwhelming odds and kicking butt because they’re all great. Instead, what we get is Sora going through and systematically rescuing every one of his allies. It’s not the 7 lights vs the 13 darknesses, it’s Sora vs the 13 darknesses. What’s the point of having everyone there if Sora does everything in the end anyway? It’s especially grating to have extremely capable people like Aqua have to be rescued again. There’s also the matter of Kairi and Axel, who I was most excited to see finally fight with their keyblades. Instead they get trounced immediately and we don’t get any Kairi action at all, and then she gets fucking kidnapped. I’d understand her being less skilled than the others, but what was all that training for? And Axel may be new to the keyblade, but he’s a great fighter, much better than we see here. It’s all so disappointing. The entire section completely fails to live up to the promise of the big group showdown. We have Riku and Aqua programmed as playable characters, so even if they had been playable for their fights that would have made things feel a lot better, although it doesn’t fix everything. The Kairi issue is the biggest bummer for me.

This is where a lot of the important character stuff is resolved, too, and it’s all done quickly and sloppily. The ‘fight, stop for a cutscene, continue the fight, get another cutscene’ format is lazy and immersion breaking. Xion shows up with very little explanation. The whole struggle with her is that no one remembers her, and yet that’s brushed aside without ever really being addressed. And no one really gets the time they need to live in these moments of being reunited with the people they care about. I wanted to see more of them interacting, and more characters interacting who never have before but have clear links to each other. The way everything was quickly resolved, and the way things are set up for the future, makes me think Nomura was getting bored of these characters and wanted to get them out of the way as quickly as possible to move on to his current infatuation, which is the mobile game garbage.

It’s not as if I dislike everything the mobile game has to offer in terms of story and lore additions, but too much of that stuff bled into KH3. The thing where Sora summons the power of all the past keyblade wielders was fine, although I don’t like the 4th wall breaking of including everyone’s usernames. Still, it’s innocent enough. Making the epilogue all about the mobile game, tying the motivations of characters from earlier games to stuff from the mobile game, and introducing new mysteries that are clearly tied to the mobile game but never get resolved here lessened the quality of KH3. I expect some new mysteries and elements to be introduced each game to tease sequels. But in most games, those aspects were relegated to the secret endings and secret reports. That way you get a full game, leaving you feeling satisfied as you watch the ending, and then getting a teaser for another satisfying experience to come. For KH3, as I watched the ending I wasn’t satisfied. There was still too much left unresolved, or poorly resolved, things I needed from the game that I didn’t get. I was still looking for those things when I got to the secret ending, and of course it offered no closure. It made this entire game feel like sequel bait, when this is the game the previous games were supposed to be sequel bait for. I feel like I’m being strung along by the developers and taken advantage of.

There are some things I like about the ending. Although I don’t like the way it was shown so briefly and vaguely, I like the idea that Sora sacrificed himself to save Kairi. In multiple worlds in this game, we see characters try to sacrifice themselves for their loved ones, so when Sora does it, it makes for an interesting thematic link between the Disney content and main story content. I also like that the game seems to imply a switching of roles for Sora and Kairi, in the way the shots are framed so that Kairi is where Sora normally would be. This is the one thing that made me excited for future games: the thought that maybe Kairi could be the protagonist and go on her own journey to save Sora, that she could finally fucking do something other than be the damsel and love interest. Both KH2 and DDD suggested that she would have a more active role as well, though, and look how that turned out. So, I don’t trust it, especially with the secret ending showing Sora and Riku.

Speaking of which… Yozora. He’s clearly a Versus XIII reference, and I thought it was rightfully petty and hilarious when I saw the Toy Box scene, like Nomura was showing off how much cooler his game would have been than FFXV. Seeing Yozora in the secret ending makes me worry, though. Is he so petty that he would use a future KH game as a vehicle for the characters and ideas that didn’t come to fruition with Versus? With this and all the mobile game stuff, not to mention the general quality of KH3, I’m seriously worried about future games. For over a decade I’ve been thrilled every time a new KH game was announced. Now, though, I feel I’m going to have to be more cautious. It’s not a good feeling to have. Kingdom Hearts has never been perfect, but KH3 makes me feel like Nomura has forgotten what it is that made Kingdom Hearts great in the first place.