#but kh3 did such a good job bringing him back and actually trying to do something with it that i find it very respectable

[bluerosesburnblue]

I voted kh3 because I didn't play DDD, Sora seemed stupid compared to in 2 imo, he also came across as whiny at points, like the scene in Olympus after Pete mocks him, he felt more so 10 than 15

Ahh, that is interesting! I hadn't considered the idea that KH3 Sora would look different to someone with no knowledge of how DDD's story is all about tearing Sora down. How his good nature and desire to help people is ultimately how Xehanort draws him in and leaves him more vulnerable than he's ever been, ultimately causing him to lose in the end with Riku being forced to bail him out

Part of what I appreciate about KH3's portrayal is how it manages to recover from DDD. It's actually one of the few times I can think of in the series where Sora is allowed to carry over some development from a previous game, in this case having him carry over how much DDD shattered his sense of self-worth, especially when compared to the other Keyblade Wielders. Of course Sora is testy when Pete mocks him in Olympus, because Pete is directly calling out what happened in DDD! Sora failed spectacularly, lost most of his abilities because of it, it's so obvious that even Pete sees it, and because of it he's getting shafted from the "important" duties with nothing he can do about it other than run these side missions while Mickey and Riku do the saving

But if you don't have the context from DDD, that won't hit. Because you don't know that Sora feels like he let everyone down by being tricked by Xehanort and KH3 to him feels like he's trying in vain to catch up to Riku. You're missing the entire point of his characterization in KH3 without DDD

And if you thought KH3 Sora was stupid, you prooooooobably shouldn't touch DDD

[thecupcakewritesmorethings]

Amgry Kingdom Hearts Theory: Fox in a Box

Hi I’m mad.

I’m mad because of Kingdom Hearts. I’m aLSO MAD BECAUSE I THOUGHT OF THIS THEORY AND IT MAKES SOME(?) SORT OF SENSE.

Caplock rant over, crackpot theory Under The Cut.

Before I actually talk about the theory itself I have to establish a few things that lead me to believe any of this is a plausibility aside from how it’s Kingdom Hearts; and it’s just like though.

.Basis.

First of all, I am running with several theories here which haven’t been outright confirmed, though it’s pretty blatant a few of these things are meant to be implicitly deduced, not downright explained. Whether it’s because Nemura may decide to re-neg on some of these or not is anyone’s guess.

I’m running with the ideas that Ava is The Traitor, Is Darkness, and is also the Disembodied Keyblade Wielder in the final world at the end of Melody of Memory. Also, I feel like I should note that Ava is technically alive/has the chance of becoming a force in later games.

Ava, however, NOT Subject 0. Such an honor belongs to Skuld... For reasons you may already be guessing.

In fact, I’m going to do you a solid. The only game events you need to know in order for this to make sense is the general plot of Union X, The Kingdom Hearts 3, and Melody of Memory. Or even just the general plot of Union X, the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, and the end of Melody of Memory.

In Union X we uncover the general back bone of the theory. When we get through the entirety of the Keyblade story foam we come with the pieces of evidence we really need to back up this theory.

Time Travel works, but with limitations (Tm). Everyone from the Original Keyblade War is saved to the Book of Prophecies all USB style,but this doesn’t stop people from potentially dying. WHEN SOMEONE “DIES”, or more precisely their heart gets destroyed, their body vanishes (in the case of Strelitzia). 

WE ALSO know, in the case of Luxu/Braig that bodies outside of this Data world still age. This is why Luxu has apparently hopped multiple hosts, and also why Braig’s body ages when he’s a Nobody.

I also would like to propose another tag-along theory that doesn’t ultimately change what I am about to say; but Braig and Luxu are very much so aware of each other and while Luxu is riding passenger on Xigbar’s consciousness; they are in fact separate people. Xibar/Braig will just do things for Luxu when Luxu asks. It’s not super important, but I think it does add another layer of depth to the role Luxu had since his only job was to observe, and he chose to observe through Braig’s eyes. Braig/Xigbar is entirely at fault for his actions which led him to becoming a Nobody/Nort.

Get it? Got it. Okay. Moving on.

.Schrodinger’s Fox.

The overwhelming problem that is in Union X that isn't in the other games is actual consequences one would normally think of when considering wars: death and permanent injury.

In the span of the series we have seen ONE person die for real, and despite how sad it is; Strelitzia is likely never going to come back. The good news is for everyone playing Union X after KH1-KH3 (ish) is that this sets up the stakes of the game perfectly. The fact she hasn’t miraculously re-appeared due to some Keyblade Miracle really sets the stakes for that time period. When people die; they stay dead in Union X.

This provides the foundation of the problem. The Master of Masters KNOWS a war is going to happen due to the use of No-Name, and the efforts of Luxu passing from body to body in the future. This is also why I believe Braig/Xigbar has agency and isn’t just possessed. Either way, he knows a lot of people, potentially great and revolutionary Keyblade wielders, are going to die.

Whether or not his motivations are noble, just, or even at all reasonable: MoM sets out to try and stop it. By sending Luxu forward to do his observations MoM has a direct lay-line to the future which allow him to make the book of Prophecies... Which, as we all know from playing Union X, act as databases that the participants of the Keyblade war are stored to... Or maybe just their memories? It’s rather unclear.

Basically the people died but their memories were backed up, giving them a potential chance to live on in memory. Just... You know. Literally.

However, this is not just some grand gesture. MoM uses the Foretellers to set up his data world and keep the proverbial fires stoke while Luxu and the Traitor (Ava) confront each other.

This is where a lot of speculating begins. If Ava is that soul in the Final World; then she must have lost her body at some point, right? Well. She did.

MoM, knowing Ava is the traitor and she will inadvertently set of the war herself, travels into time to go and retrieve her body before she totally fades away and stuffs her into a device devoid of time, space, light, dark, and meant to keep her body functioning without perishing. Luxu doesn’t seem to have realized that Ava perished, or hasn’t realized he’s carting around her life support.

Anyway, MoM returns to the past, and he gives the box to Luxu, and tasks him to keep it safe and never to open it. The reason WHY it’s crucial the box is never opened is because Ava’s heart is in the Final World chilling with the people who died in the Keyblade war. If he were to open the box without going to the final world, Ava would actually perish.

Luxu probably suspects that Darkness is Ava, which is true, but that’s not the entire picture. In order to keep Luxu from figuring out too much, MoM makes a backup copy of Ava and names her darkness. This is something he could have easily done in the Data World, since he basically did this to create it. We also see data copies of Kingdom Hearts characters later in the series.

.Scientific Revelation.

Anyway, we jump forward several games. We could stop at Birth By Sleep, but aside from Braig appearing canonically for the first time not much happens here to serve the theory. All we do know is that Luxu and Braig are DEFINITELY rocking the same body by KH2 (not a phrase I ever thought I’d say). At the end of Kingdom Hearts 3 Luxu pulls the other Foretellers out of the Data World from the book of Prophecies.

There has to be a reason for this; and I propose Luxu’s goal was to wait and observe until the ability to bring people back from the dead/ bringing people out of the data world became a possibility they could achieve.

The Xigbar and Repliku fight was the second big fight in the maze, and I gather that Xigbar/Luxu chose to back off then because of Replica Riku’s sacrifice left him speculating something big may have been happening.

And lo and behold, something did. Xion is back and Xion has a heart? Old Xemnas becomes Tera again? ROXAS EXISTS AGAIN AND HAS A HEART? Yeah this has to be the sign he was looking for. He packs up his box, goes to the Keyblade Graveyard and summons/waits.

It is unknown whether or not he knows that Namine is walking around, but at this point he knows what he knows. Sora and Co can now bring people back from basically thin air, even giving life to people who shouldn’t exist, provided they have a vessel.

.”Ava had her own Mission, and she carried it out”.

I would say FAMOUS last words, but these weren’t Luxu’s last words. At least, I don’t think they will be. It seems rather uncharacteristic of Xig/Luxu to let things be, and even if Luxu’s task is done Xigbar lives for chaos. I doubt either of them will be gone.

Anyway, Ava did complete her task. By being duped into becoming the “Traitor” and having her body and heart separated, she was able to take care of the memories in the Final World, where the Fairy God Mother takes Kairi to meet at the end of Melody of memories. It’s unclear if she knows her body is in the waking world stuffed in a box, but I’m going to say she doesn’t, just like Luxu/Xigbar.

.”Like a Seeds of a Dandelion, Let them Fly to the Another World”.

I would like to cycle back to the beginning on this... Why Ava? What makes her so special out of the other Foretellers, barring Luxu? Something must have made her specific for this role, and it may have been Ava’s own good nature that made her the candidate. After all, if any of the other Foretellers took her role, it’s entirely possible that Ava could have quelled any infighting among the Foretellers, especially if one of the more hot-headed Foretellers was put in the box instead.

Another possible theory is that it was a fail-safe. When MoM speaks to Ava he’s not as dramatic as he is with the other Foretellers, so it would not surprise me if there was a large grain of truth to what he said to her. He told her that she was the last chance of hope for Light, but unfortunately that may have lead her into the box. Ava was tricked into being the traitor, but by becoming the traitor, she actually managed to land herself a very safe place. I think that the Master of Masters wanted her to be revived if his plan didn’t pan out. Just to be sure that Light survived.

[thefinalkey16]

KH3 Re:Mind spoilers/Reactions

So Xemnas gave the order?? To find the box?? But why??

So did Xigbar actually lose the box? YOU HAD ONE JOB

Oh we’re starting HERE HUH

I forgot how pretty the graphics are

Why is Riku so pretty???

Nomura really went “this DLC is about SOKAI and I’m gonna make sure you KNOW IT.”

Nomura really cares about his ship and I appreciate it so much

LETS GO SAVE OUR GIRL!

Heck yeah REMIND TIME

I love the music in this game so much

YES WE GET MORE MOM

Why does MOM adopt smol children lol

It bothers me that MOM has no actual face behind the hood. It’s like Ansem’s original form

So Xehanort is where Xemnas’s confusion of the heart comes from lol

OH THIS IS PREMASTER XEHANORT

I’m sorry, Xehanort is more powerful than darkness?

I’m sorry MOM is too scared to take off the coat???

MOM is a psychology teacher who gets exasperated by his dumb students

OH THATS JUST RUDE NOMURA

LEMME KNOW HIS NAME

A lost..Master?

Well we know where Xehanort got the hands behind the back walk from

OOO A NEW THEME

OH I LOVE IT

I’m 100% sure that MOM told him his name was “Noneya,” and it took a few decades before he realized what he actually said

DID THEY TELEPORT TO LOOK COOL ON THE ROCKS

I’m sorry they have holograms??

Did they actually call him Riku Replica lol

Wait they were actually nobodies

XEMNAS AND XEHANORT WERE REPLICAS?

“Why we have assembled here,” because Xemnas and Sora destroyed your sick castle

Poor Terra got possessed TWICE?

Demyx! You get Demyx!

I’m sorry 20??

No. I

Oh so they don’t actually remember Xion

Does.. does Xigbar remember Xion?

Wow they got Vexen just to get his daughter in their gang. How rude

Xehanort fell asleep while they chatted I’m cackling

Crazy old man

Now when do I get to save Kairi? :3c

YAY ITS TIME

YAY ITS CHIRITHY TIME

ITS MY SMOL KITTY

“Back so soon?”=you died again?? You’re lame

Chirithy is a mood

Sora you watched your GF get shattered

Oh so that’s why Sora dies

IS SORA SAILOR PLUTO

Oh my god he’s Sailor Pluto

Lose powers? He’s done that so many times 😂

Getting banned from one world? He had a phone and friends with gummi ships lol

ARE WE GONNA SEE EVERONES HEART STATION??

NOOO VEN That still hurts to watch

AWW SORA TRIED TO CATCH HIM

Wow he’s a ghosty ghost

Oh I love Ven’s heart station so much

Wow Vanitas really said that Ven is Baby

YAS GIMME VANITAS

Also wow Vanitas is protecting Ven’s heart and I love that

OH NO NOT THIS GUY

I beat him by using Meow Wow. meow wow is best boy

Oh no oh no it’s this pet

Gotta love Big Bro Lea

I forgot they call him Axel

ITS THE HUG

It’s Donald’s Safrifice ;-;

Donald Really channeled his inner Molly Weasley and said “Not my son you WITCH.”

WASTED

Also aw Sora got to see what Donald did for the first time

AQUA’S STATION IS SO PRETTY

Poor Aqua ;-; this is the moment where everyone hates her for

Also aww she trusts Kairi to protect them

We love Big Sis Aqua

YES WE GET ANTI AQUA FIGHT AGAIN

NAMINEEEEE

I’m literally screaming and I scared my grandma

Oh my god She lost Kairi and she immediately went to Sora cause she knew she’d be safe there ;-;

Namine’s Really here bringing everyone together

Agsisgsjdg I forgot Terra can do the keyblade whip thing lol

AND the cannon

Wow they’re really fighting in the sky

Anyone else getting Star Wars vibes

AWW HE JUST WANTS TO PROTECT HIS FAMILY

I still hate Terra’s pants

Imagine your heart crushing your body. Like really

NO LINGERING WILL

HECK YEAH SORA YOU KICK THEIR BUTT

Wow Sora you’re so cocky

LINGERING WILL NO

OH MY GOD

I forgot that Marluxia is an Ouran Host Club character

Wait, that Mickey finisher was new, wasn’t it?

Okay but I still have no idea what Xemnas did to Luxord

Cards: *Appear*

Sora: PTSD from watching his friends get destroyed from the cards in the manga

Mickey: *is captured*

Sora: PTSD intensifies

I’m really happy that we get to replay all of the Organization battles, they’re so much fun!

I’m so soft for Replinami ;-;

He loves her so much, and all he wants is for her to be safe and happy ;-;

Ven: we aren’t the same. You’re Edgy. I’m Baby

Aqua when Sora appears: TWO Baby’s :0

“If I’m a traitor, then Kairi’s the trump card.” LEA DRINKS RESPECT KAIRI JUICE

Aww Kairi’s so confused. She doesn’t see how she could be a trump card ;-;

HE STRAIGHT UP FLEXED

AWW XION REMEMBERS

Ohhh Isa’s jealous.

YES THW CHAKRAMS

LETS GO

Jealousy mode has been activated in Isa

WHAT WAS THAT RUN

OH MY GOD THAT SCREAM

YES KAIRI GO

PROTEXT YOUR BRO

“Yup” Kairi really just wants this over with so she can go home 😂

The way Kairi’s face lights up at seeing Sora gives me life.

Wow Xemnas was really hurt by Axel’s betrayal. Frankly? I’m shocked.

XION’S HAND IS SMOKING

HER HAND IS BURNING BECAUSE SHES GRABBING THE BLADE

Xemnas does NOT drink Respect Xion juice

ROXAS KEPT XION’S MEMORIES SAFE INSIDE HIM

AND SHE HAS HER FACE BECAUSE HE GAVE THEM BACK TO HER

Lea cares about the small girls he adopted as his little sisters

AWW THE THREE OF THEIR HEARTS ARE CONNECTED

NO XION ISNT ON HIS HEART ANYMORE

YES KAIRI’S HERE TO KICK BUTT

Wow Nomura really got tired of people dissing Kairi so he amped her up with cool stuff

“Oh? Tired of Kairi not doing anything?” Heres her literally overpowering Xemnas and him having to restrain her with a stop spell and magic to stop her

KAIRI IS THE SCARLET WITCH AND XEMNAS IS THANOS

Oh and in case you think she’s weak? Here’s the same thing for Sora too.

God I love Nomura

Oh my god she’s in so much pain because of the darkness

OH MY GOD SHES IN SO MUCH PAIN BECAUSE OF THE DARKENSS

SORA LITERALLY FAINTED AFTER 2 SECONDS BUT KAIRI’S HOLDING ON OH MY GOD THE STRENGTH

OOOOOOOO ROXAS TIME

The MUSIC

THEIR ATTACK IS CALLED “THINKING OF YOU” BECAUSE THEY REMEMBERED XION I CANT

I can not believe i was forced to relive watching Kairi die

SHE WAS CRYSTALLIZED?? SHES NOT DEAD??

I love Donald and Goofy so much ;-;

They aren’t gonna leave their son alone

Also wow Xehanort was just staring there forever

I FORGOT WE GET TO EXPLORE SCALA :D

KAIRI?!?!

Getting KH1 vibes with this

“The heartless that is radiating light” how is that possible??

Okay but this is such a good parallel to the first game, with him saving Kairi ;-;

Except for the fact that HEARTLESS SORA DIDNT GET BEAT UP

Okay so her heart is a thassala shell. Will we have to collect the pieces to make her wayfinder?

Oh my god I see the thing at the top of the screen. We totally are making her wayfinder ;-;

THAT MEANS SHE LITERALLY GAVE HIM HER HEART SO HE COULS RETURN IT TO HER OH MY GOOOOD

Okay so I love the puzzles they have here

XEHANORT?!

I’m sorry you hid her heart? What are you, five?

What do you MEAN almost out of time?!

OH NO KINGDOM HEARTS

Oh no not these guys again

So many keyholes

IM SORRY IS THIS WIZARD OF OZ

Oh my god Lea is so overwhelmed lol

SGAKSSGE ROXAS CAUGHT XION

Okay so for the team ups, I love how all of them were mix and matched from the trio’s

I loved Terra and Riku, the Master and apprentice

I loved Ven, Roxas, and I can’t remember who else was in it. “Thanks Roxas.” “Youre welcome. You’re not too bad yourself.” THAT WAS ADORABLE

Xion, Aqua and Mickey being mages and protecting everyone

Aqua and Lea, him trying to talk and Aqua telling him to shut up and focus

MICKEY’S STRUGGLE TO SAVE HIS FRIENDS BROKE MY HEART

We now present: Kingdom Hearts 3: connect he dots

Connect. Connect the dots. Get it?

KAIRI’S HEART MADE A FLOWER

THE KH2 THING

“SORA :D”

THEIR HUG

HE JUST HOLDS HER CLOSE

TIME FOR PLAYABLE KAIRI BABBYYYYYYY

“I can do this.” YES YOU CAN

I’m sorry you think I want to play as Sora? After waiting my whole life to play Kairi? HA

KAIRI IS THE MOST POWERFUL

Seven wishes saved me in that fight

ONE HEART

THEY HAVE ANGEL WINGS

OKAY YALL HAD YOUR SORIKU ATTACK NOW WE GOT SOKAI :D

Now we just need Rikai and Sorikai and it’ll be complete ^^

AGSKSGSKDGSJS CHIRITHY

“I was trying to give you some privacy” awwww

CHIRITHY IS CRYING

THEYRE GOING ON DATES

Chirithy has my soul and I love it

Every scene with Chirithy adds 7 years to my life

Afsjsgsajg Sora DONT PUSH THE CAT

NAMINE

THEY WERE THERE TO FREE HER HEART

Aaand he’s gone and I’m crying again

LIMITCUT EPISODE TIME BABBYYYY

GAJSGSJDG RIKU AND TERRA ARE TOGETHER

Oh my god Riku and Terra being bro’s are my favorite thing

Wait what are they gonna do

ARE THEY SEALING THE WORLD

OH MY GOD THE ARMOR

HOW DARE THEY NOT SHOW US THE FRONT PARTS

OH they’re going to search for Sora!

IS RIKU IN CHARGE OF THE LAND OF DEPARTURE

ONE YEAR???

Agajsgsjdg MERLINS HOUSE

CLOUD

PRETTY BOY

YUFFFIIEEE

AERIITH

CID

OH MY GOD THE GANGS ALL TOGETHER

THEY WENT TO THE REALM OF DARKNESS WHAT

“The Twilight Town gang” ITS OFFICIAL

OH NO WHAT HAPPENED TO KAIRI

WHY DOES HE LOOK SAD

NO WHATS GOING ON WITH KAIRI

They’re searching her heart?

SHES BEEN ASLEEP FOR A YEAR?!

Riku’s been all ALONE

DATA SORA??

Battalion oh my god lol

I’m mad about Kairi being asleep for a year though

AGSJSGS WE GET TO EXPLORE

Wow. A video game inside of a video game

I spent the rest of the day failing the Data battles and making funny Data Greeting pictures. Hopefully I’ll be better st the battles tomorrow!

[nadziejastar]

I do agree with the gist of the video. I played KH2 (and all the others) not too long ago. And most of the time spent in the Disney worlds felt unconnected to the larger story. It is a valid complaint. KH1 does a better job of making each world feel like it contributes to the main plot. BBS does a better job of making the worlds feel like they add to the individual characters’ development.

Personally, I think there were two big issue holding back KH2′s pacing in the Disney worlds. One was its scope. Back when vanilla KH2 first came out, there was no guarantee there would be more games. KH2′s story was written as if it could be the last one. This wasn’t the case with BBS, Days, KH3D, etc. All of those games were leading to KH3, so they weren’t as self-contained as KH2. KH2′s concern was resolving the loose ends of KH1 and Sora’s reunion with Riku.

There’s also the issue with Sora as the main character. He doesn’t develop too much. I’m fine with that, because he’s meant to be a pretty simple character. The main idea with Sora is that he can connect with everyone. But he’s not the most dynamic or interesting character. When you play as other characters like TAV, Roxas, Riku, etc., the plots in the Disney worlds often feel more interesting, because those characters change more along the way. I think the subsequent games in the Xehanort Saga did a pretty good job of retroactively connecting the Disney worlds in KH2 to the overarching story. Mainly because those games involved other characters besides Sora.

Olympus

For instance, Olympus. In KH2, it was pretty close to just a standard retelling of the movie with Sora resolving the conflict.

But, once the larger story was envisioned, Sora’s trip there had more relevance. The Wayfinder Trio now had a connection to Hercules.

When you go there in KH3, it’s connected to the main plot of Sora trying to unlock the power of waking. After this world, Sora adamantly says that he’ll be the one to save Aqua. That’s Ven’s heart inside of him talking. Ven’s heart was inside of Sora even in KH2. So, it has retroactive significance.

Agrabah

In KH2, this world feels like pretty standard filler. It’s just another place Sora stops to look for Riku, then he resolves the conflict, which was based on The Return of Jafar. It’s not bad. It just has nothing to do with Organization XIII and Sora doesn’t really develop there.

When Roxas goes there, the themes brought up offer him a lot more character development than with Sora. Roxas and Xion learn what a best friend is in this world, which has lasting effects on the main plot. The whole damn story is about the meaning of “best friends”.

Roxas’s trip there also provides Axel with character development.

The theme in Agrabah is that best friends are people who place your needs ahead of their own. They worry about you. 

Roxas passed out in Agrabah while he was worried about Axel.

Later, Xion passes out in a similar way. Roxas found it strange how Axel seemed so worried about Xion. This catches Axel off guard and he reassures Roxas that he worries because they are best friends. Roxas was unsure why Axel said it at that specific time, but he was happy.

On that day, Xion insisted that she tag along, even though Roxas wasn’t sure if she was ready. She was tired of feeling “useless” and relying on Roxas all the time.

When she passed out on the mission, she had a dream of Kairi giving Sora the lucky charm.

Kairi also felt useless. She wanted to tag along with Sora, but he wouldn’t let her. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t do anything and would just get in the way. They needed to separate because it was too dangerous for her to come along. But Sora said they’d still be together.

It’s pretty close to what Axel said when he was talking about best friends. When I read between the lines, I see a lost backstory concerning Axel’s past with his best friend. Lea didn’t want Isa to come along somewhere with him because it was too dangerous and he would have just gotten in the way. So, they had to separate like Sora and Kairi. This is what Axel was remembering on Day 75.

Isa was very worried about Lea, but he returned safely. He was very thankful to Lea for protecting him, and relieved that he was okay. Axel was remembering this on Day 96.

Isa wanted to show Lea his appreciation to Lea by fighting alongside him. He desperately wanted to be useful in some way. So, Lea reluctantly let him come, like Roxas did when he reluctantly allowed Xion to come. But something very bad happened. Lea was very worried about Isa and blamed himself. And this is what Axel was remembering on Day 193. It was deja vu. Which is why he was so mad at Saix.

Beast’s Castle

In KH2, the themes in the Beast’s Castle are very interesting. But they aren’t that connected to the main plot, or Sora’s character development. Xaldin tries to turn the Beast into a Heartless, then Sora saves the day and beats him. That’s about it.

But the themes in the world have a lot to do with Axel, so this world was included in Days.

If you read between the lines, you can tell that the theme of “love” was going to be very important to Axel.

He was a lot like the Beast. He had something he held very dear. Something he loved.

I don’t see why the story would be written like this if Axel didn’t have somebody he loved that was going to be important to his character arc.

It seemed like the story was hinting that he was in love with his best friend. And no, he was not in love with Roxas. The theme of love is important in general. Love is what allows you to use the power of waking. Days made it seem like Lea would have to use the power of waking on someone he loved. And it wasn’t Roxas.

KH3

KH3 gets criticized for its worlds feeling like filler, which I find sad. They do feel like filler and the pacing of the story is god awful.

But the worlds in KH3 actually were a lot more connected to the main plot than KH2′s worlds. At least in theory.

Monstropolis had an interesting connection to Vanitas’s return.

Almost all of them involved the power of love...

...and its ability to bring someone back to life.

In canon, this world seemed to be about the hunt for the black box, which is irrelevant to the plot of KH3. My theory is that the organization thought the Kraken was a potential candidate for a vessel because he could exist without a heart. Kinda like how the Beast was a candidate for the old Organization XIII. And that’s why Luxord was in the world looking for the chest with his heart.

Overall, I think the world choices in KH3 were excellent.

They all had a thematic connection to the story, even if it didn’t seem like it based on how it was written.

[perfectharmonyloveschaos]

Kingdom Hearts Theory : The Master Of Master’s (possible) plans

(Just an FYI, this kinda ties in with my previous theory so... yeah) This has spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III and, given some people still haven’t played it, i’ll just put the actual theory below the cut.

Okay so, to refresh on my first theory for the ending on the game - I think Xigbar/Luxu purposely convinced Xehanort to kill Kairi (and all of Sora’s friends too, now that i think about it) in order to force Sora to use the Power Of Waking enough times to make his heart collapse into darkness and end up ‘disappearing’ or whatever happened in the ending.

Xigbar/Luxu ( I’m gonna call him both since I don’t really know which yet) wanted Sora out of the picture so that when the Foretellers were revived/drawn into the present, Sora wouldn’t be an immediate threat to whatever he’s planning.

[This is where I change some of those details at the introduction to the Secret Ending.]

After watching the secret ending a few times (like, six times just to get my head around it) I am certain that the mysterious cloaked figure is the Master Of Masters. If not for his signature pose of crossing his hands against the small of his back, then the quirk of shaping his hands to form a heart over the moon definitely convinced me given his ties to Kingdom Hearts in Backcover.

But this brings up a ton of questions.

Why is the Master of Masters here? Where is he? Does he know Sora is there too? Is he watching Sora? Why did Sora and the MOM end up in the same city (i assume it’s Shibuya or something)?

And I have a theory explaining this that ties into my other one.

Xigbar/Luxu not only made it so Sora would be out of the picture in the realm of light when the Foretellers returned, but it was also his plan to have him and the Master of Masters end up in the same place.

The Master of Masters wanted Sora to be isolated from his friends, lost and confused. He needed him to be alone, desperate to get back to his friends.

Because both he and Xigbar/Luxu knew that Ava wouldn’t return with the other foretellers.

The Master of Masters needed five keyblade masters come to the present, with ties to the dandelions, for whatever his plans are.

The Master of Masters is going to replace Ava with Sora.

Sora is very similar to Ava; they are both young and good-hearted, both tied to the Dandelions and their leaders - Ava gave them their job, Sora was connected to Emphera and the keyblade wielders in the Keyblade Graveyard to help turn the tide, nevermind Ventus, Lauriam and Elerena (Marluxia and Larxene, I have no idea if I spelled their Somebody names right)

Do I think that Sora could be connected further to Ava? I thought about it. Could they be related? Possible reincarnation? Possibly, but I won’t go into that yet.

I think that the Master of Masters is going to be a ‘friend’ to Sora, he will introduce and possibly save him to earn his trust, supposedly help him with getting back to his friends and playing on his festering doubts concerning his abilities and rank as a Keyblade Master that were very prominent in KH3.

Sora has proven himself worthy of becoming a Foreteller in the MOM’s eyes and will use his isolation to try to win him over, much like Maleficent did to Riku in the first game.

He will be a playful master who can show Sora the way.

Who doesn’t doubt him and sees his potential.

Who isn’t like boring old Yen Sid, or Mickey or Riku or any of the others who always saw him as weaker.

Who can help Sora get stronger.

Help him get a grip on his darkness.

Who can help him keep everyone safe.

Who would treat him like an equal.

The Master Of Masters would be everything he’d try to convince Sora that the guardians aren’t.

And he’d persuade Sora to train with him, to let him make him stronger and use both light and darkness.

He’d play on Sora’s insecurities and doubts.

That Sora is strong.

That he is worthy of the Keyblade.

That he deserved to be just as much a master as Riku.

And perhaps, as time went on, Sora would start to believe him.

Sora could be the next Foreteller. 

Could help keep everyone he cares about safe.

Who could make sure Kairi never gets hurt of left alone again.

[beanmaster-pika]

@xan-xus Lae I owe you my life ty for enabling me

OKAY SO Subject X doesn’t disappear, but Lea and Isa still go with the ‘become Apprentices’ plan bc they’re Dumb Teens. Fast forward and Xehanort has everyone in the lab (including the LITERAL BABY I’m so sorry they did that to you Ienzo) all “hm yeah we should totally experiment on our own hearts nothing could possibly go wrong!” and Lea and Isa are like “wh. what the fuck. are we in a cult is this what a cult looks like”

Spoiler: it is

Now, one scene I have envisioned very vividly is a change in Saix getting his scar. I’ve read posts that suggest he got it before he became a Nobody and that’s why it didn’t disappear like Axel’s tattoos did (OR MAYBE THOSE WERENT TATTOOS. MAYBE THEY WERE CLOWN MAKEUP), so I figure it happened right before he lost heart. Why? I dunno! Maybe Xehanort realized that he had a lot of darkness in his potential to get unhealthily jealous and went “hoo hee that’s prime real estate!” and decided to set the groundwork in advance! But because I am a sucker for characters bodily shielding their loved ones, X fuckin jumps in the way of the second slash so she and Saix end up having Inverted Matching Scars. I’m contemplating having it being over her eye and giving her an eyepatch and her being really salty about matching with Xigbar bc who’d want to.

Xehanort just rolls with it because if those three hold each other dear then that’s just more material to work with in the future, kinda like when one gathers a bunch of art supplies one has vague ideas for but never ends up using, so Nort Prep™️ doesn’t happen and he turns them all into Nobodies.

Also Lea’s unconscious for all of this because of my hc that the Radiant Garden squad’s numbers go in ascending order based on who got killed first. Ya boi’s just chillin in the back, his heart floating over his body.

Anyway they’re all Nobodies now, right? No feelings, nothing. They just want their hearts back so they can become Somebodies again. Since X is right there with them, they don’t need to worry about getting Saix up the ranks to find her. They just need to carry out their missions competently enough that they don’t get turned into Dusks. A lot changes when you take the search for X out of the equation—Saix loses his hungry ambition, Axel slows down. They don’t have to fight to get ahead; they just need to stay afloat. They lose that desperate edge that ultimately knifed them apart, and it’s only the scramble for kingdom hearts that drives them now. Much of the stress and pressure they dealt with in canon is gone. So what now?

It’s these two plus X. They don’t have emotions, but they do have their memories. X’s freedom was all they had hoped for, and ironically now that she’s got it none of them have the literal heart to be happy about it, and you can bet I’m lifting that line straight into my fic probably. They know that they were friends, though they can’t feel it now, and they know that they cared deeply for each other, so logically they stick together. They even have ice cream time on the clock tower.

Here’s the fun part: regrowing their hearts. With an actual circle of friends—though it’s small—their hearts actually start to regrow healthier, like how Axel’s did once he started hanging out with Roxas and Xion. Sure, Xemnas tries to interfere because “excuse me what are you nincompoops doing that’s my future vessel” but do you think they give a fuck?? No way!! I also buy into the “X=Skuld” theory, and one of her biggest personality traits is wanting to keep her friends together, and I don’t think amnesia’s gonna change that (at least I’m pretty sure she has amnesia. Ven, Marluxia, and Larxene sure do >:0). Xemnas wants to snatch away one of her friends for Evil Business?? Try it, bitch, she’ll cUT YOU. Xemnas has appearances to keep up so he doesn’t out and out start a fight with the Teenage Girl™️ but he’s lowkey pissed but whatever.

So with that fucked up end to their teenage years they grow into adulthood, not normal but far less shitty than what could have been. Saix still becomes Mission Man because he’s got to have some administrative skill if he got the job in canon, but despite how closely he has to work with Xemnas the Norting is unsuccessful—he’s got Axel and X stabilizing him. It’s a three-way positive feedback loop with people who don’t have anything else to do or worry about, and it keeps him safe and their new hearts keep slogging on with that regrowth, unacknowledged but doing their damn best.

Now let’s talk about Days. Saix still assigns Axel to train Roxas during his first week, and Roxas still has to train Xion for memory or Keyblade reasons I think?? But things go a little differently for them this time.

Axel doesn’t do assassination in this AU—no need for it—so it’s Xigbar sent off to Castle Oblivion instead to deal with the traitors. Saix doesn’t really care since he doesn’t have a personal stake in the situation. Axel never meets Sora, but he does hang out with Roxas more, so Roxas ends up growing to be a bit more of a little shit than he is in canon. The formative weeks are very important for a new Nobody with no memories, after all. Axel doesn’t have that desperation for a real friend that pushed him to befriend Roxas in canon, but he does have a more developed partial heart and it won’t allow him to just toss this poor kid to the wolves. He brings him up to the clock tower for ice cream time and Saix is like “why is he here this is our thing” and Axel has to go “be nice he was born yesterday” Roxas is just spacing out and figuring out how eating works. Axel adopts Roxas almost immediately, X does so in good faith, and Saix eventually comes around because the other two already did it. Then there’s the whole Xion situation, and all three of them are like Axel was in canon—a bit confused, but they got the spirit. Roxas likes her, so they do too.

OH YEAH ANOTHER IMPORTANT PLOT POINT IS THAT SAIX DOESNT REFER TO A CHILD AS “IT” :)

They don’t have to sneak around as much when Xion has Keyblade problems—the perks of having an actual friend in power—and from here all I really have planned is a whole lot of the radiant trio doing their best to look after these disaster children while stubbornly denying that they themselves have hearts and emotions pushing them to do so in the first place and it’s really wholesome and also maybe theres a pinch of Axel and Saix’s redeveloping hearts leading to redeveloping but unacknowledged feelings for each other and X and the kids try to wingman them (with a side of X being a little salty because the only woman her age in the organization is dead now and also was too mean to date in the first place) because I’m biased and still high on kh3 leaisa rights.

Eventually they decide “fuck it we may not have hearts but we’re doing fine, why don’t we just uhhhhhh fuck off to some far away world with the kids so they can have an actual childhood” but before they can everything goes to shit with the whole Sora situation and now he has THREE desperate Nobodies after him trying to get their son back, and they all disagree on which method will bring results and have a huge falling out and X has to watch helplessly as one of her best friends goes rogue and the other ends up being Norted and it’s painful. 🙃 But everything gets resolved a la KH3 and that’s the AU.

[echodrops]

My KH3 Fix-It Dream

(Warning, long post is long because part way through I just started writing bits of the actual fic, oops.)

There’s a lot of people complaining about this and that with the KH3 plot, but I honestly don’t have too many complaints because the story we were given was about what I expected (did anyone realllyyy believe that Kairi was going to become a badass Keyblade wielder? Search your heart, you know you saw this travesty coming), except on one front: Vanitas was tragically under-utilized. After being hyped up so much in the trailers, you’d think that he would have at least had a go in the game that was worthy of his character. But KH3′s Vanitas was little more than a shadow of BBS’s, and that’s a darn shame.

So, I present to you: a fix-it fic plot bunny that fixes several things at once:

1) Vanitas doesn’t die. Okay, actually, it still works fine if he does die, but we’ll take his “I’m always with you” suggestion literally--Vanitas is a heart of Darkness wrapped in a body made of bad feelings, and that final battle was one brutal attack on the feels after another. The fear, anxiety, horror, and desperation the Lights, especially Sora upon witnessing what happens to Kairi, manifests as so much accumulated negativity that Vanitas--even though he actually wants to!!--can’t stay dead, and his heart, which naturally lingered with Sora and Ventus even after his defeat, gets shoved back into another body made entirely of other people’s suffering and pain, now even more unstable and dysfunctional than before.

2) The final battle happens. Kairi is saved, but Sora disappears. While the finally-reunited good-guy crew are busy coming out of shock planning how they’ll inevitably rescue Sora, they’re also struggling with another major issue: what to do about Vanitas, who is as comatose as Ven was at the beginning of BBS, a broken heart in a broken body.

3) Nobody wants to say “mercy kill”... The idea is there, but none of the gang is really willing to do it barring maybe Roxas, whose practicality is actually alarming (”You’re not going to be feeling so sympathetic when he wakes up and stabs somebody, you know. Don’t say I didn’t warn you”). Even Aqua, who knows as well as Ven how much of a danger Vanitas is, can’t really convince herself to attack someone who's completely helpless. But what to do, if not that? He isn’t waking up, and anywhere they leave him, he’ll have to be guarded around the clock--he still, technically, has the ability to trigger the apocalypse if left unattended to chase hearts of light, you know.

4) It’s Ven’s idea to take him to Destiny Islands. That was Master Xehanort’s plan for Ven, after all, when they were first separated: let Ven’s empty body waste away, forgotten, in a backwater world. Instead he’d made contact with Sora--and nobody wants to say that either, that maybe there’s the tiniest bit of hope: somehow, some way, maybe Sora can still be reached, maybe the call of yet another heart in need will be irresistible enough to make the unfailing hero claw his own way back from the brink...

5) What really happens is this: Sora’s mother has had MORE THAN ENOUGH. Spaceships start dropping out of the sky, the deserted play island is somehow brimming with grown men and women running around, she sees Kairi of all people wandering right back into town as if she hasn’t been inexplicably absent for months... So where is Sora? Where is Sora and why is he not coming home? Finally, after three days of radio silence from Kairi and Riku (Riku’s been gone for years, and now he’s suddenly here, without Sora? When has there ever been a such thing as Riku without Sora?), Sora’s mother prepares a scolding on the level of God casting humans out of the Garden of Eden and indignantly rows her way out to the play island. It seems there’s a whole crowd gathered at a bonfire down the beach, but she never makes it there. Because there’s Sora right there on the paopu island, there’s Sora, only everything’s wrong--who let him dye his hair like that, what is he wearing, why won’t he wake up--”Sora? SORA!”

6) It’s Riku who tells her the truth. That Sora is gone, in the wind, not even a body to bury except this one, this boy who’s wearing the face of the son she hasn’t held in her arms in ages--maybe never will again. This is what he looks like now, Riku says, but this isn’t him. (How? How is this not her son? Under his bangs there’s the same freckle at the edge of his forehead she used to give good night kisses to--)

7) They make several attempts to stop her (”Ma’am,” the man with brown hair and guilty eyes says, “Ma’am, you really can’t--he’s a danger to--”) but none of them stopped her son either and if they’ll stand by and let the light of all the worlds extinguish itself, let’s be honest, they’re just not that good of guardians. She takes Sora the boy named Vanitas home. In Sora’s old bed he looks comical, the only time, maybe, that he’ll ever look tall, and the shadow of the toys and clutter she hadn’t had the heart to clean (not after the day she remembered that the room up the stairs wasn’t just sealed up storage, that a boy had lived there, that his worn clothes were still strewn across the floor, that she’d had a son at all, Sora, for a whole year she’d forgotten the name, the sound, the jut of his lip in a pout--) falls over his face. They say he’s not her son.

8) Well, she thinks, we’ll see about that.

And lol I know that was a million words but like that was the prologue and the actual rest of the fic goes like this:

Sora’s mom takes care of Vanitas’ comatose body because hey, she’s a pediatric nurse, that kind of thing is literally her job. Riku and Kairi try to bodyguard her for a couple weeks, but the longer Vanitas stays asleep, the less and less often they come around--they’ve got to find Sora, after all.

The longer she takes care of Vanitas-not-Sora though, the worse her loneliness gets, until the deep vein of Darkness sadness (she lost her son not once, not twice, but three times) resonates with the shattered remnants of Vanitas’ heart and she forcefully because Sora got his busybodiness from somewhere generously connects with him enough to wake him up.

(“Go away,” answers a voice without speaking.

“Why?”

“You’re annoying me. I’m tired.”

“You’re hurt.”

“That’s what I said.”

No it isn’t.

There’s a certain sort of sadness only people who’ve lived through losing the light of their lives will ever know. There’s a kind of kinship in surviving separation. Her heart aches, goes out of her all at once, reaching--

“I made my decision. Leave me alone.”

"Did you make that decision because you were alone?”)

Only, you know, Vanitas doesn’t want to be awake or even alive now that he has absolutely no purpose, no master, no X-blade, no mission, nowhere to go, and no chance of ever reuniting with Ven--so fuck off, he’s not going to eat those home-made muffins and he’s not going to go take a bath even if he does stink, and he’s not going to talk, and he’s not coming out from under the covers for anything less than the sweet release of a swift execution.

...But that’s so boring.

So he insults her instead. And threatens her and mocks her and knocks over the water glasses she brings and lets the Unversed chase her out of the room and picks out all the stitches on this ugly hand-sewn quilt and asks her why she’s got a room full of toys but no kid to go in it.

No sell: she’s a pediatric nurse and dealing with sick, miserable, screaming children is what she does every day. And anyway, from seven to eight Sora threw a year of temper tantrums that make this boy look positively mild.

There’s one more thing working in her favor: he’s still curious. She learns: he’s never had a fruit smoothie, read a comic book, or slept in sheets fresh from the dryer. Sora’s old action figures aren’t played with so much as dismembered in effigy (is it that Vanitas is vindictive or that he’s jealous?), but the new electric toothbrush somehow wins grudging approval. The vacuum cleaner startles him the first time she turns it on, but one night when she goes for a drink at 3am, she discovers he’s been teaching himself to use the TV. Finding out the water can come out of the taps already hot buys her a whole seven minutes of intrigued silence, but the existence of ice cube trays might as well be a mortal offense. (”Don’t tell me you people actually wait for the water to--?” Given that he then summons a block of ice longer than the dining room table out of thin air, she thinks on this occasion he might be right though when he leaves said ice block to melt, her charitable feelings dry up.) He has to watch her pick herbs from the garden and cook with them before he can be convinced that the “weeds” are food. In short, he’s barely half way back from feral, and if the man who made him wasn’t already dead, she’d happily go kill that piece of shit herself.

It turns out, with spit, polish, and proper motivation (read as: bribes, read as: hot pot and honey castella), he’ll do the things she asks (sometimes). When he actually commits himself to a task, he’s focused to an alarming degree, meticulous and self-critical, and he stubbornly refuses to give up until he’s content with the results, which means that sometimes on her way to work she finds him where she left him the night before, still glaring, bleary-eyed and bratty, at the broken stand-mixer or mantle clock or book spine that she hoped he could fix with magic. If he spitefully tracks mud all over the house after he relentlessly weeds the whole garden, well, she’d say the benefits still outweigh the costs.

The hoard of creatures that follow him around (”They’re my feelings,” he says, and kicks one without the slightest hesitation) take getting used to, but it’s easier to share space when they make themselves so useful--sometimes even when he can’t be badgered into work, he’s willing the boss the underlings into action: the crooked door on the backyard shed finally gets rehung thanks to a towering brute with a banana peel on its head, and once she opens a jar in the kitchen she doesn’t remember buying and finds it full of rich, warm apple pie.

He gets... better. It’s not linear. They have bad days, days when he breaks things without warning and won’t talk except through stinging barbs, one day so bad he let a flock of his worst feelings pound enormous holes in the living room walls, burns up her favorite rose bush--but they have good days too. Some days he laughs and it isn’t malicious at all; some days he eats with her at the table without even being asked; some days she comes home late to find he’s still awake, ready to poke fun at the tired way she toes off her shoes, and it takes everything she has to keep from saying You really didn’t have to wait up for me.

One day he smiles for no reason at all, and she thinks: The boy’s going to be okay.

(But how in the world is she going to explain all this to Sora?)

And there’s sooo much else I want to write but I can’ttttttt, I don’t have time, so here’s a bullet list of “also featuring:”

Vanitas being a natural Heartless deterrent because none of them want to mess with the biggest Darkness on the block.

Ven, Terra, and Aqua sniffing around trying to figure out whether they need to take Vanitas back (just to make sure he’s properly under watch, of course); Sora’s mom giving them the politest “Fuck you” this side of the universe.

Kairi and Vanitas friendship. Vanitas doesn’t even know it’s happening. Kairi is devious. Vanitas taking over Kairi’s training even though they can’t physically spar because they’ll literally end the world if they fight lol. Kairi taking advantage of Vanitas’ lack of interest in social cues to get him to do things none of the other boys will do with her like clothes shopping.

Kairi and Axel friendship with Roxas being the weird middle man who doesn’t know why they can’t just text each other instead of sending handwritten letters back and forth through him of all people.

Vanitas and Roxas reaching grudging levels of respect because sarcastic bitches gotta support each other.

Roxas and Sora’s mom being hilariously awkward because Sora’s mom doesn’t know if she should also be claiming responsibility for this child too and Roxas is absolutely clueless about the concept of having parents in the first place.

After many chapters of redemption arc, Sora’s mom taking Vanitas with her to work at the hospital so he can turn the sick children’s negative feelings into Unversed and then defeat them. She doesn’t know this hurts him and he sure as fuck isn’t going to tell her.

Everything going to shit when Chirithy shows up, insisting Vanitas is its master and calling him “Ven.” Vanitas was getting better--he was getting over the fact that he’d never be “Ventus” again--

Discovering memories of Daybreak Town and the first Keyblade War with Chirithy’s (and Namine’s!) help. Remembering the existence of old friends--Ephemer, Skuld, the other Union leaders--and the realization that they might still be alive, trapped in a timeless world of sleep.

Vanitas and Riku teaming up after someone (Mickey? Yen Sid?) suggests that Sora’s heart may have returned to the place where all hearts eventually go--the core of light that lies sleeping in the deepest depths of the realm of Darkness. Realm of Darkness road trip! (This is just my excuse to wax philosophical about how being made of Darkness doesn’t actually make anyone evil.)

Finding out that saving Sora will mean finally, actually opening the door to the true Kingdom Hearts, which can only be accessed via Scala Ad Caelum, or, more specifically, the ruins of Daybreak Town that lie beneath it.

Insert some Nomura-esque convoluted plot here about how the clock of Daybreak Town isn’t actually a bell tower but the mechanism for protecting the original X-blade and the door to Kingdom Hearts, and Daybreak!Ventus’ very existence was somehow tied to this clock tower--that’s why Ventus’ and Vanitas’ Keyblades form the two halves of a broken gear: they’re maybe literally the gear that turns the hands of time in the world that once lay closest to the heart of all things. The bell, the sword, the door--they’re all linked, and the only way to save Sora--to save everyone, including the sleeping Dandelions--is to reunite (to wake) their fractured dream of Daybreak with reality, restore the X-blade, and retrieve Sora’s wandering self with the power of Kingdom Hearts’ connection to all worlds and all hearts.

In short, like Nomura, I don’t actually know how I’d ever make it make sense, but the X-blade would get forged by Ven and Vanitas in a safe and sane way (this is just my excuse to give Vanitas a scene where he finally recognizes that he is content to be a separate being from Ventus; that he wants to stay his own person)... Kairi wields the X-blade because fuck you KH3, and everyone gets the damn happy ending they deserve--but most especially Vanitas, who gets to be the big damn hero to finally bring Sora home safe to their mother.

Like guys, I just need Vanitas’ narrative arc to feel coherent and complete. I need to know why he and Ven have a gear motif. How they’re connected to the Dandelions. Whether or not Ventus and Vanitas could ever both simultaneously be at peace despite remaining separate people. Whether Chirithy would have recognized Vanitas. Why Ventus alone had the power to forge the X-blade by reuniting with his other half when it would otherwise have taken 13 Darknesses and 7 Lights. What Sora’s mother would say finding out her son has like five clones now. If anyone would ever recognize that Vanitas had never been shown basic fucking human kindness.

Nomura. Plz.

[tompen94]

Ranting about Kingdom Hearts (cuz I just got into it)

Oh boy... where to begin...

I guess I should start by saying I wasn’t a fan of this series. I had barely heard of it growing up (try being a nerd in Portugal, it’s the worst) and by the time I did all I was hearing was about how convoluted the story was and how it had Disney characters with JRPG ones and I just thought it was weird af.

It wasn’t until the hype for KH3 started building up and one of my friends started showing me trailers for the thing that I got interested myself. As such for the last couple of weeks I took it upon myself to catch up with the series lore-wise. Now I’m caught up (not really but fuck if I have to go through that mobile phone game), so I have some thoughts to spew out.

I should note that KH3 will be my very first experience in gameplay of the series. I only went through the story of the other games, watching their cutscenes. (All-in-one does sound like an appetizing package but I wasn’t willing to spend 100+ euros on something I wasn’t even sure I was gonna like).

I will be going on a game-by-game basis.

Kingdom Hearts

When you wak away~ you don’t hear me say~ (God this song is so good)

What I took from this game is that despite the ridiculous looking premise, it works. I don’t know how putting a FF-looking dude along with Sora and Goofy works, but they made it work. Bravo.

The story was pretty straight-forward. I like that Riku and Sora have very much the same goal throughout the game, only that Riku ended up hanging out with the wrong people and had to pay the price for it.

I really like the scene where Kairi is revived, almost like a reversal of the beginning of the game. She goes to grab Sora and he poofs out of existance. It actually hits pretty hard.

I love that they kept Mickey to just one cameo. They build him up so well and in the end he just appears and basically solves the situation. Great stuff.

Also did I mention how good Simple and Clean is?

Kingdom Hearts - Chain of Memories

This is where some questions start popping up. The rigmarole around Sora’s memories was a bit confusing to me.

Other than that though, this was pretty harmless. Namine is a nice addition to the cast and I like how Sora and the Riku-replica argued over things.

I also like Sora’s final decision to go back to how he was.

Kingdom Hearts - 358/2 Days

Yes, I went through this game before KH2. No I don’t regret it.

I really like Roxas, Axel and Xion. Probably my favorite trio as a whole in the series. They spend a lot of scenes together and they really sell the friendship between them.

Yes they’re always eating ice cream but why is that bad?

Kingdom Hearts II

Omoidasuka~ Haruka harukaaaa~ Mirai wa~ (God this music is so good)

Oh my god this game was looooooong.

I almost forgot the non-plot stuff of this game completely. It’s not to say that it’s bad, but that it is a lot of stuff to remember so I chose to keep the plot-important stuff. Thankfully, that plot-important stuff is really really really good.

I think the final world is worth every pound of a full-price game on its own. I mean, seriously. Kairi and Namine’s escape and rescue by Riku. Ansem’s sacrifice. Xemnas’  questioning (and his voice, so soothing). Sora’s reunion with Riku. And how about that final battle. Oh my god the hype.

I do have a question though. How did Riku obtain his keyblade? It looks like his old bat wing sword so I thought it had been turned into a keyblade, but then in DD he summons the sword so he still has it?

Still, probably my favorite entry in the series.

Kingdom Hearts - Birth by sleep

This one kinda felt like the Star Wars prequels, what with Xehanort constantly goading Terra into using the darkness.

This game’s pacing was weird. One minute we’re trudging through the remaining worlds not explored in KH1, then suddenly Eraqus is attacking Ventus and we’re on the path to the Keyblade Graveyard.

This was the game that started interconnecting the plot too much. There’s no need for Mickey to be here, much less in the finale. Kairi now ended up Destiny Islands because Aqua gave her a charm or something. Sora and Riku got the Kingdom key because Riku was bequeathed by Terra now. The only one that kinda had to happen was the rigmarole with Sora’s and Ventus’s hearts, in order to explain Roxas’s appearance.

Still, the finale was pretty good and it did a good job of setting up Xehanort as the series’ big bad.

Btw, Aqua’s VA was shit. It really distracted me... Like can you at least pretend that you care? Really bad performance.

Kingdom Hearts - Re:coded

Apparently this one’s important to the plot now.

My least favorite entry in the franchise so far. Most of the game is inconsequential, it goes on for too long and for no good reason.

There are a couple of good moments between Data!Sora and Data!Riku, and I like that this game actually gave Sora a goal to achieve in KH3, that of rescuing every other MC trio, but those points are not enough to redem this game.

It felt like a chore to go through this one.

Kingdom Hearts - Dream Drop Distance

This one was mostly fun, but it is also responsible for the meme-status of the franchise’s story. Oh my god...

I actually don’t mind the complicated exam. I also like the idea of a mishap turning Riku into Sora’s guardian angel. However it’s when the Xehanorts start running amok that the plot starts to literally fold in on itself.

It does a decent enough job of setting up KH3 and hyping it up, but this really was where the story started to get convoluted. Before this point it was actually pretty easy to follow for me.

I’m also not fond of the retcon on Organization XIII’s goals.

Also I guess Riku is more special than Sora now? Not that I’m complaining.

Kingdom Hearts - 0.2 Birth by sleep -A fragmentary passage-

This game fixed Aqua and ruined Mickey. I mean, it’s pretty. And Aqua is life. But what the hell did you do to Mickey, Nomura?

You mean to tell me that Aqua was there the whole time and Mickey didn’t try to get her out of the Realm of Darkness? WHAT?! He was there with Riku, and Mickey didn’t even so much as mention Aqua to him? She’s literally there on the beach!

On the other hand though, Aqua’s VA now does a pretty decent job. Aqua herself is given a lot more to do and think about. Her character really benefits from this title. She’s not my favorite character, but I totally get why she’s a fan favorite.

Also terrible excuse to get Sora back to Lvl 1 is terrible.

Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover

On its own, I actually like this. It’s a pretty solid story on how the Keyblade War first sparked.

Yes, the foretellers are idiots who were obviously being played by the Master of Masters, but I think the way they fell out is nicely told. I also think that was the intent of the story. To show how dependent these guys were on the Master and how incompetent they were, so much so that the moment the Master disappears everything goes haywire.

I am a bit reluctant on this as a piece of the Kingdom Hearts story though. More specifically when it pertains to the Dark Seeker Saga. I don’t like how this was shown to us before KH3. Because even though I’m new to the series, I can tell a crazy storyteller when I see one. And Nomura’s incessant need of referencing every single piece of content in KH will rear its ugly head in KH3.

This shit is gonna matter, but it clearly has no place in the story told so far. Yes, it shows the beginnings of the Kayblade War, which is Xehanort’s end goal. But now we have ANOTHER bad guy to look out for in the Master of Masters and what the hell is in the black box, cuz I can assure it will appear in KH3. Isn’t this a bit too much to tack on just before the release of the game that supposedly ends the saga?

And don’t get me started on the fuckton of continuity problems the whole mobile game shabang brings.

Looking onto Kingdom Hearts III

On the whole though, I’m getting this game. If I had to equate it to something it would be to Infinity War in how it is going to converge all of the currently ongoing plotlines. Everything is leading up to this.

That in and of itself is good enough to generate hype, but there are other things that I’m looking forward to in the game.

- The gameplay (again, haven’t actually played any of the games yet, this will be my first experience)

- Playing as Kairi (wasn’t particularly happy with her lack of screentime despite her status as a MC)

- Sora’s goal to help Roxas (and I believe the others connected to him by extension)

- Visiting the Pixar worlds (this stuff looks so good, it looks exactly the same as the movies)

- The epic team-up of all the trios

- The music (of course)

- And probably some other stuff that I can’t remember right now.

May your heart be your guiding key

[the-archetype-of-civilization]

I saw a Kingdom Hearts concert today.  It’s funny, because I wasn’t expecting to go to it at all.  My friends had asked me many months back if I could, but I didn’t have money at the time because I was low in funds and I refused to let them buy it for me so I could pay them back later (which wasn’t foreseeable to me).  Apparently my friend’s brother couldn’t make it, so he asked me last minute today if I wanted to see it.  I did.  And so I went into the city and watched it with my good friends.

It was breathtaking.  Yoko never ceases to amaze me with her beautiful music and KH is truly her tour de force.  I was spoiled on KH3, but I didn’t have enough investment to really care all that much anymore.  The series burned me out a long time ago when they refused to make the third game for all of these damn spin-offs that you HAVE to play.  Either way, I enjoyed it and loved the whole symphony.

I hated when it was over.  Because then I returned to the real world.  My reality.  My awful and garbage rock bottom that I’ve found myself in these past few months.  Actually, that’s not true.  I’ve felt worse now than I have months before.  I’m just...there.  I feel so hollow and emotionless now.  I’m like a zombie.  The concert was enough to make me feel again, but after that I just flat-lined.

My friend asked me what I’ve been up to, since I haven’t been in contact with them all that much and haven’t seen them in a while.  He’s really one of the few friends that actually cares and asks if people are all right.  He truly is my best friend and I wouldn’t change him for anything else.  I don’t talk to them because I didn’t want them knowing about my situations these past few months.  Although, I did tell them that my relationship is gone now and they were (more or less) supportive...marginally (understandably so considering how I treated her, though).  I did tell him that these last few months were pretty shit, especially after the break-up.  He said that if I needed to talk to him, I could.  His Uber, as if right on time after he said that, came by and picked him up.  We parted ways and I walked to the subway.

Waiting for the A train was hell...three trains came by going uptown, the exact opposite of where I needed to go.  I think I waited about 15-20 minutes for my downtown train to come, listening to some Led Zeppelin on the way with my Turtle Beach headphones because I need something to drown out my inner thoughts and think about anything else but her and how awful I was to her.

Needless to say, it didn’t help.

After a long train ride, I made it to Times Square hoping that the shuttles were still active.  They weren’t.  So, I walked out to Times Square and decided to walk back to Grand Central.  I walked out and saw a family doing the Orange Justice dance.  A part of me felt disgusted (I hate Fortnite), but my hollow nature simply acknowledged it and walked off.  I saw a bunch of posters for the show “Euphoria” starring Zendaya.  I remember seeing a bunch of commercials for it and it looked depressing but real as hell.  Considering that the posters showed Zendaya looking off in the distance, with a purple hue over her face, and a sparkled trail of a tear going down the side of her cheek, I assumed it was about wanting to feel something, to be loved.  I couldn’t help but understand that all too well, considering the present circumstances.

The tag line?  “Feel something.”

On my way down to Grand Central, blasting “I Want To Break Free” by Queen, I saw a huge group of girls (I mean like school field trip huge, like two whole classrooms worth) walking down the street cheering at anything and everything.  High school age, most of them appeared to be.  I couldn’t tell because I was behind the band of them, and I didn’t care.  I figured that since I had time to kill, I decided to stop by McDonald’s and have some food.

I didn’t get to eat anything for most of the day leading from the time I left the house and to where I was now (about 7 hours).  Two homeless men were standing outside the McDonald’s, one on each side of the double doors.  One of them opened the door for me.  I was feeling depressed and I thought that maybe by trying to make myself feel better or less of a shitty person, I gave some loose change that was in my pocket to the man that opened the door for me.  It was a bunch of pennies and a dime, I think.  After I went in, though, I felt bad for the other guy that was standing opposite to him (though I wasn’t sure if maybe he was talking to the guy as a normal person or he really was homeless, but looking at his Dunkin’ Donuts cup, he most likely was to me at that point).  I looked back at him and pointed at my wallet and then at him.  He nods.  I go back outside and give him the rest of my loose change.  I gave him a few pennies and several quarters.  It was imbalanced charity and I felt worse that I gave one guy more money than the other, the one that was nice enough to hold the door open for me.  But, I didn’t care anymore.  The damage was done.

As I was standing on the line, mistakenly blasting “Lovers Rock” by Sade and trying so hard not to think, I saw a group of people being drunk as shit talking and laughing loudly with each other.  That’s what the headphones were for, as far as I’m concerned.  Besides, I had my own problems going on.  They took a while to get their orders in, but I managed to get mine and waited as the drunk people left and it was just the other people that were quietly waiting on line or at the food pickup like me, and my music.  I picked up my food and walked back to Grand Central.

Once I got inside, I was walking through to the center (where the giant star map is on the roof) and saw a few people calling to a guy named “Francisco” and (most likely) wanted him to come with them to get tickets at the ticket machine.  He turns and looks at them, having glasses, long black hair, and I believe a Filipino look to him (I’m not good with physical looks by nationality) and points up to the star map.  Didn’t even say a word and they said “Oh, okay.”  I guess he liked looking at the star map?  I don’t know.  I walked past the information booth smack dab in the center of the terminal, a group of black women asking for information on their tickets I assumed.  I walked past a couple of MTA workers hanging outside the entrances to the Metro North platforms, one of them saying to the other “keep that shit out of” something.  I assumed the work place, I wasn’t sure.

After taking my seat, I thought about writing this.  I thought why I should, what the point of it was.  Was it supposed to have some great meaning to it?  Was it trying to paint myself as this tortured soul that couldn’t find emotion or “feel something?”  Was I just people watching and realizing just how kooky this city can be?  I wasn’t sure, but I felt like writing it anyway because I felt like it.  Maybe it was all of it.  

As I started to eat my McDonald’s, two men (who I had assumed were a bit drunk or at least were mildly obnoxious like my friends are) took a few seats nearby and were chatting.  One of them said “[blank], welcome to the Metro North.” First time going on, surprisingly.  He asked the other what he should text to his friend, whom I assumed was trying to check in on them.  The other said “I ain’t no bitch walking,” his friend repeating the line and sending it on his phone.

The man that sent the text pulls something out of his bag, looking like a bagel or something (I wasn’t spying, I just caught them doing stuff every time that I looked up).  He said that he was afraid that the bagel or baked thing was “upselled” to him, like he was cheated with a cheap piece of food.  It did look cheap, honestly.  He takes a bite and it takes him a moment and he says it “tastes exactly like what he ordered.”

After I finished eating, I pulled out my Switch and started playing Smash to avoid wasting battery life on my phone.  I played until I got off the train.  The two men were pretty passed out, but one of them woke up as I made my way down the car and to the train door.  He asked if I dropped some sunglasses, where I turned and looked to see a pair of sunglasses on the floor near where I was sitting.  I didn’t bring any, so I said “No.  Thanks.”  I got off, drove home, and ended up here.

I don’t know why I wrote this.  I’m not trying to put meaning behind this.  Maybe I’m writing it to show how empty I felt the whole time, how emotionless I’ve become.  Maybe I’m writing it because, in some ways, I do love this city.  It can be crazy and with its quirks, but it’s enjoyable.  And I might not see it again if I land a job in California.  Or, like I said, maybe it’s both.  Maybe I just enjoy writing and describing the lives of others, lives that seem much more interesting and worth while than mine.

I don’t know.

I don’t know anymore.

[slowbladed]

here it is folks. my kh3 review/rant/thing

im gonna disclaimer and say that i try my damnest not to compare games to another, but in this case I am (at least SE made titles) because for as cool KH3 was I felt it took a few steps back.

First off, I enjoyed the game. It is not my favorite game for miles, and not my favorite KH game (Re:CoM), but I had fun with it. 

The environments were amazing, I had fun looking through them and just taking in the scenery. I had some fears of KH3′s models looking weird but they did a pretty good job (sometimes it does look like clay though). The enemy designs were clever, and I love how the Nobodies look weird. Though the Unverse were not too good design wise. Bosses were ok,. However the ending boss fights was.. underwhelming.

I understand expectations tend to be different than what is given, but in this case my expectations for the boss fight was shattered then stepped on. Should have I expected each Organization member to have a cool transformation sequence? No, but for characters like Xemnas? Ansem? YX? Marluxia? Maybe. For Xehanort himself? Yes, I think I am just to think so. And I think Xehanort’s boss fight was underwhelming and frankly I was very disappointed in it. In fact, I thought we were going to have four forms, one the multiple armor battle (which I thought was cool), the normal armor battle, then Xehanort turns into some dragon or whatever, then a good on head to head battle. Well. No turning into some monster. Ok, thats fine, as long as his ending battle has some cool movesets and stuff you have to get out of based on all the Org13 members that would be coo- oh I’ll just go rage form I guess. It wasn’t hard. It wasn’t even that fun. I think I tuned out as soon as I went to the underwater section. Keep in mind, I went into this thinking that Nomura was going to crash my PS4 with the amount of big he was going to make Xehanort. I mean, Ansem turned into a ship, Xemnas turned into a LITERAL DRAGON which you fight THEN you fight his armor formed merged with the dragon AND you run to him getting buildings tossed to you AND you-- well you get the point. On a purely gameplay point? Come on. Even Marluxia had a cooler boss. I mean, even BBS had a bigger build up to Xehanort which was literally fighting Xehanort THEN YOURSELF??? IN TERRA’S STORY?? but KH3 just.. was that.  i guess.

Which brings to... HOOO the story. A few parts they did good. Those parts? Sea salt Trio. Thats IT. FUCK wayfinder trio, FUCK the organization, FUCK everything. There was NO build up to the new organization. I was expecting to fight them in these worlds, as you do in KH2 to build up the hype and make you think WOW these guys mean something! but instead we are all thrown a boss rush and for PLOT reasons I GUESS but at the same time it felt so.. bland. There were no stakes! You fight Vanitas ONCE and then he goes “ok im out” to fight later. Which would have been a cool build up if they did that with the other members but instead we see them once? They say something weird? Ok bye??? I’ll fight your Nobodies now???? I guess I’m racing Luxord now??? eeehhhhhhhhhh??? Overall the story felt so disjointed. I mean in KH1 it made sense you tried to protect the princesses of light, they came back later for the story. It made sense you went and beat up the Org in KH2, they were trying to bring people to darkness. But in KH3 it felt like they were just there to be there? Ok we are getting the power of waking OH it doesn’t matter anymore I’m just going to go to the realm of darkness anyway. And yes, I know that disney worlds tend not to be the biggest points in the series but in BBS? Hell I never would have thought to ship Cinderella/Aqua but you know what Nomura did it. And he did it Well. There was no build up to the final boss, there was nothing that connected everyone together, it felt like everything was there to be there. What happened to Demyx? What about that data twilight town? Some things were NEVER brought up ever again! If you’re not going to bring it up or have an overall meaning to the story then DON’T PUT IT IN YOUR STORY. I feel like if they just cut out explaining a bunch of stuff that was already established in past games then the game would have been better. And, yes its FF14 YES I KNOW, but FF14 does a better job in explaining past events that happen via just mention or actual dramatic sequences that has bearing with the plot. 

Characters? Vexen had the most character development in that entire game. Hands down. I mean, I really don’t know what else to say. I felt like Sora took a few back in what was already established in previous games. I mean, you go from Sora screaming and yelling at Xemnas for lying to Org13 for lying to them about having no hearts then you turn around and call Marluxia a has-been? We spent an entire game, the entire KH2, talking about how Nobodies just wanted their hearts back, how they wanted to be whole, how they wanted to BE SOMEONE, you slam that nail in the coffin shut with DDD, then you make Sora turn around and say “well you work for xehanort even though you probably are being forced haha!!” YIKES! It kind of made their deaths a little disjointed? You go from Sora not caring or even trying to reach out to these Nobodies to ‘so those emotions huh?’ I’m not even going to get into Kairi being just a damsel in distress, or Namine coming in for .2 seconds at the end.. but man... you done did it.

Gameplay? uhhh hhhgeeeh ghgughghghgg. it was fun? I felt overwhelmed with all the stuff happening though. You put everything from previous games into one and... it worked out but it didn’t? I don’t know. I think its fun but it wasn’t hard. There was no real tactics in it. It really became a press X to win game. Ariel Recovery and defend are busted which makes me REALLY salty but hhh . Overall it was ok, I think KH1 still is the best with battle mechanics, but that’s just me (please bring Goofy’s old stats I’m begging you SE). 

Can I say I’m happy with some of the plot? Sure. I guess. I’m glad Xemnas had his moment. I’m glad Marluxia had his. Same with RepliRiku. I’m happy marlar became canon bay bee. But uh, as far as Vanitas goes? mmmmmmmm yeah.... not... really. As far as Xehanort being a good guy all along? I can’t really say what I feel about that. I’m conflicted. If nomura was going for that, good on him. 

overall? 7/10, maybe 6.5/10. Not my game of the year but hey, it was fun.

[rxcusant]

Lol explain Kingdom hearts to me. Like all of it. Cause I'm confused as fk. Not KH3 tho cause I'm still going through it.

buckle up lads

so theres a buncha keyblade masters called foretellers and theyre all runnin round like headless chickens cause their master disappeared and nobodys telling each other anything so they all start fightin (except this one guy luxu voiced by max mittleman, he grabbed a box and high tailed it outta there) and then it sparks a keyblade war for all the light in kingdom hearts i think ??? and then i legit forget what happens from here because i hate ux with every fiber of my being but it made this cool place called a keyblade graveyard, its pretty dope.

fast forward 1000 years and we got the cool wayfinder trio all living in land of departure about to take their mark of mastery except terra doesnt pass because Mark Hamil Said Darkness Sucks. also we meet this old guy Xehanort he kinda sucks a lot. theres these enemies called unversed rolling around and mark hamil tells aqua and terra to go stop them but ventus said HEY IM COMING TO and ran after terra so aquas left to be the mom to bring them both home idk and its revealed ventus is made of pure light and xehanort literally split the darkness form his heart and it made vanitas-- hes responsible for all the unversed, he sucks, we dont like him but we love him-- in an effort to forge this thing called the X-Blade (PRONOUNCED LIKE KEY BLADE I HATE THIS SERIES) that will open the door to kingdom hearts, and the x-blade can only be made when pure light and darkness clash, and like... restart the keyblade war and bring about balance?? idk. And xehanort wants to live long enough to see this happen so he literally possesses terras body. Cool! Just what the poor guy needed. Ven and vanitas fight and ven sacrifices himself so he goes to take a Very Long Nap and vanitas just dies like the bitch he is. But ven’s heart finds his way to baby 5yo sora who decides HEY ILL HOARD YOU IN MY HEART FOR THE NEXT 11 YEARS and thats why roxas looks like ventus. Aqua yeets him in the land of departure and then like..locks the world up and it turns into castle oblivion.  meanwhile terra and aqua punch each other and terras about to fall into a darkness pit but aqua sacrifces heself to get him out and so she ends up trapped there for 11 years and terra??is now terranort and has amnesia and this old dude Ansem The Wise finds him and adopts him and an apprentice. yeah. bet he wont regret that decision ; )

10 years later kh1 happens and sora and riku and kairi are chilling on destiny islands until it explodes and riku fucks off to the darkness and kairi fucks off to soras hearts -- i hope she said hi to ventus in there-- and sora ends up in traverse town where he meets donald and goofy. YOU SEE king mickey of disney castle also fucked off because worlds are disappearing to darkness and he left donald and goofy a note to go find The Key cause thatll help. so they do and they journey around with sora and become good buddies i love the trinity trio so much. eventually they meet riku at hollow bastion again and hes been posssessed by this dude Ansem whos not Ansem the Wise but is actually Xehanort’s Heartless (i hate this fucking series) and they find kairis comatose body chillin in the corner and they have a fight scene thats engraved in the memory of Everyone whos ever played PS2 KH1 KAIRI! KAIRI! OPEN YOUR EYES! ITS NO USE. THAT GIRL HAS LOST HER HEART. SHE CANNOT WAKE UP. oh my god why didnt they add a skip scene button. anyway they punch the possession outta riku and sora stabs himself with the keyblade to release kairis heart BUT it also releases his own heart which created his nobody, Roxas, who got vens heart???who thats why he looks like ven?? and it created namine who is kairis nobody because??i honestly forget i hate this goddamn series. anyway soras a heartless for a few minutes but kairi got her heart and life back and wanted to get some sweet sweet screentime and so she saved sora and restored him Thank you kairi. so sora dumps kairi off at traverse town and goes to give Ansem / Xehanort’s Heartless a good ol ass whopping ad they win and restore the worlds but kairi and sora are separated again I’LL COME BACK TO YOU, I PROMISE! I KNOW YOU WILL! WHEN YOU WALK AWAY YOU DONT HEAR ME SAY PLEAAAAAAASE OH BABYYY DONT GO oh also riku and king mickey and sora closed the door to kingdom hearts and trapped riku and mickey in the realm of darkness, that was a thing.

and then chain of memories happened. theyre in castle oblivion!!! whoa!! we meet the organization for the first time! whoa!!! we meet namine!! whoa!!! so like namine has sora-memory powers and can tinker with his memories and the memories of everyone hes connected to (AND HOLY FUCK IS THAT BOY CONNECTED TO A LOTTA PEOPLE NAMINE IS VERY POWERFUL) and the organization is making namine rewrite soras memories as he progresses throuhg castle oblivion to turn him into marluxias pawn so he cna use sora to like..overhtrow the organization, i think?? i hate this seriees. but it all works out in the end except soras memories are so scrambled he decides to sleep for a year to get all the right ones back. MEANWHILE RIKUS IN THE BASEMENT OF CASTLE OBLIVION and hes fighting his own demons i mean darkness i mean ansem i mean xehanorts heartless and he meet up with mickey a few times and then he meets DiZ and he also meets a replica of himself--yeah by the way the organization is making replicas, That Sure Wont Ever Be Referenced Again : )-- and its this game that rikus like YEAH I CAN USE THE DARKNESS AS POWER AND STRENGTH and HES GONNA WALK THE ROAD TO DAWN and then every riku rper put dawn in their url and i got confused trying to keep them all straight lord please help me im a little ol sammi

then we have 358/2 days for the DS which i never replayed cause it was tedious af which is all about the organization and roxas’s time in the organization and meeting his best buds axel and xion and saix standing in the corner being a jealous little binch PLEASE SAIX JUST BE NICE THEYLL GIVE YOU ICE CREAM TOO IF YOU ASK POLITELY Xion is another replica except shes a replica of sora but something got messed up and she got his memories of kairi which is why she looks like her but with black hair for whatever reason, i think nomura just wanted a cool goth girl to add to the series and we all thank him for it, and she and roxas become so close they kinda start influencing that weird memory shit going on and xion keeps trying to leave the organization to set things right but axel always gets stuck with the icky jobs and we got the iconic GO ON YOU JUST KEEP RUNNIN BUT ILL ALWAYS BE THERE TO BRING YOU BACK and i think around this time roxas is also super fed up with the organization and decides FUCK YALL IM DONE and punches saix and leaves. but xion finds him and they have a cool boss battle sequence got i love you xion you are a POWERHOUSE but roxas defeats her and she dies and its the saddest thing in the world AND NOBODY REMEMBERS HER WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT ABOUT!!!! anyway roxas decides hes gonna punch kingdom hearts next cause it was xions last wish but riku, who is sporting a cool blindfold for edge, is like HEY WE NEED YOU TO WAKE UP SORA and roxas is all SORA THIS SORA THAT I DONT GIVE A FUCK and tey fight! and riku loses cause roxas has two keybladees! OBLIVION IS THE BEST KEYBLADE IT LOOKS SUPER COOL I LOVE IT SO MUCH WOW but riku rips off his blindfold and summons the darkness and he takes on ansems, xehanorts heartless, appearance and he squeezes roxas until he passes out and then they yeeted roxas into a data twilight town for a few days.

so enter kh2 with the 6 hours roxas tutorial in the data twilight town until he goes to find sora and returns to him. SO FINALLY AFTER AN ENTIRE YEAR sora wakes up with all his proper memories and so does donald and goofy and theyre like COOL LETS GO FIND RIKU AND KING MICKEY and they go journeying around the worlds again to stop the organization. meanwhile axels gettin desperate to see his best friend for life roxas again and kidnaps kairi but shes like HEY I AINT HAVING THAT and runs off and ends up in twilight town but axel finds her and kidnaps her anyway but then saix kidnaps her to the world that never was. and so soras like WE GOTTA GO SAVE KAIRI AND RIKU NOW cause by the way earlier like midpoint of the game maybe Mickey was like SAY FELLAS DID SOMEONE MENTION THE DOOR TO DARKNESS and its one of my favorite quotes in this hell franchise, so like THYE KNOW KING MICKEY IS OK that just leaves kairi and riku and stopping the organization. so they find kairi and they find riku and sora cries a bit and im just happy the destiny trio is together again. And DiZ showed up again, hes actually ansem the wise, and he talks about computers and hearts and research and xemnas, the organizations leader, is likeI WAS YOUR APPRENTICE! BUT YOU DIDNT LET ME DO ILLEGAL HUMAN EXPERIMENT SON HEARTS SO I KICKED YOU OUT AND RREMOVED MY OWN HEART AND THATS WHY THERES A HEARTLESS AND A NOBODY OF XEHANORT and ansem the wise is like YEAH BITCH and he explodes and riku turns back to normal but he also really needs a haircut. so they go punch xemnas in his zebra coat and riku and sora chill in the realm of darkness for about ten minute son the beach, i guess aqua was hanging out somewhere else, and they get a message form kairi in a bottle and the door to light opens and they go home and it was literally!!!!! a better fucking ending!!!! than kh3!!!!!!!!! thats my tea!!!!!!

so then we have KH3D, dream drop distance, which begins telling us ‘hey when you kill a heartless and a nobody that person is gonna be recompleted so uhhhhh xehanorts coming back Thats Not Good, make sora and riku do their mark of mastery test in the realm of sleep to get the power of waking’ and thats the whole game but its great because flowmotion! dream eaters!  TWEWY TWEWY TWEWY T W E W Y!!!!!! playable riku!!! fun worlds!!! soriku!!! except KH3D’s fatal flaw is THEY INTRODUCED TIME TRAVEL INTO THIS FUCKING COMPLEX HELL HOLE I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THEM FOR THAT. anyway rikus been doing a great hecking job!!!! except sora ended up in twtnw and kept chasing the dreams into the deepest pit of slumber and the organization broke his heart so they use him as one of xehanorts vessels [gesutres to my blog with will smith arms] yeeah babey. and riku is understandably like HEY GIVE ME MY FRIEND BACK and xehanort is like FUCK OFF TWINK and mickey and donald and goofy and axel, whos been recompleted as lea, arrive and steal comatose sora back form xehanort and xehanort monologues about the X-Blade split into 20 pieces- 7 of light, 13 of darkness- and so hes gonna make 13 vessels of darkness with his heart inside them and the guardians of light gotta gather 7 lights to clash and bringg about the keyblade war or bring about kingdom hearts, i-- i literally hate this series so much Why do you think i went on a year long hiatus??? i needed to calm the fuck down-- either way xehanort yeets off with his darknesses and soras STILL comatose and rikus like I WILL DIVE INTO HIS SLEEP AND SAVE HIM BECAUSE DEARLY BELOVED IS PLAYING AND if i continue this joke someones bound to get mad at me for ‘’’pushign a soriku agenda’’’ BUT YKNOW WHAT, RIKUS A REAL MVP AND PUNCHES A NIGHTMARE VEN AND SAVES SORA AND SORA HUGS HIM AND ITS GREAT AND I LOVE MY SONS SO MUCH and the kh3d ends with them saying ‘hey look kairis gonna do something!’ but Little Did We Know.

and thats your summary of what the fuck happened in kingdom hearts. i hate this game so much.

[phoenix-downer]

Oh yeah, forgot. Which character(s) in KH are you most interested in seeing saved? Most fans are either excited to play as Sora to how Roxas and/or Aqua get saved. But there's also Xion, Terra, Namine and Ven who called out to Sora and we have no clue either how they're coming back.

Hmmm. great question anon! (and yes I’m still gonna get around to answering your other questions, too!)

Here be serious KH3 spoilers that include the most recent promotional material.

Not gonna lie, because of Blank Points and because of Sora’s connection to Ven, I am pretty excited to see Aqua’s rescue. I’ve been meaning to write a post saying why Aqua’s rescue has been set up so well (and why Sora should be the one to do it), but it’s gotten put on the back burner a bit. Can you imagine her looking in the eyes of the boy who has done so much for the worlds, the boy who made her smile and cry, smiling and crying at her because he’s so happy she’s safe? Because he longed to save her and Ven inside his heart longed to save her, too? KH3 is going to leave me an emotional wreck, you guys, because this has all been set up so well.

Also, she looks like she’s turning into a Heartless (a Darkling, to be exact) in the most recent promotional material. Sora has been a Heartless. He knows exactly how she feels, and that means he’ll have a good idea how to help her, too.

But Sora wanting to save Roxas has been set up really well in Re:coded and DDD, too, and in that Famitsu article from E3 it said that Sora will be doing everything he can to rescue Roxas. Xemnas and Ansem tempt him to give into the darkness in several trailers, and that temptation would mean nothing if Sora didn’t care deeply about Roxas and about saving him. I can imagine it now, Sora torn between doing the smart thing and doing what his heart is begging him to do. Roxas’s fate hurts him deeply, and he is not okay with his current state and will do everything he can to fix that. So I’m pretty excited about that rescue, too.

And Sora has his promise to Naminé to thank her that’s been a thing since KH2. When he tried to in DDD, the anguish in his voice, the emotion - argh, I know I want to see him rescue Naminé, too. I want him to remember her as well, if that’s at all possible.

As I’m saying this, though - I want to make it clear that while I want Sora to have a role in saving all of them, I don’t think he’ll do it singlehandedly. He will absolutely have the help of his friends, and that’s the whole point. I don’t think him saving them will rain on Riku’s parade or make him seem incompetent or unworthy of his title of Keyblade Master. I’ve seen some concern that Sora will steal Riku’s spotlight, and all I can say is, we actually know surprisingly little about Riku’s role at this point, other than that he and Mickey initially search for Aqua, at some point he gets a new Keyblade, etc., etc. I doubt the deuteragonist of this series, who Nomura has done a great job of developing thus far, is going to be pushed to the sidelines :) And Kairi is… well, pretty much required to save Naminé, since Naminé’s heart is inside hers and all. No, this won’t be a solo effort, not at all :)

Anyway, continuing on. I also want Sora to rescue Xion because he would be so touched by her sacrifice. Sora really gets what it means to sacrifice yourself for the sake of someone you love, having firsthand experience and all, and I just get the feeling she would be so precious to him? He loves all his friends, of course, but I think he would have a special place in his heart for Xion. 

And Ven. Ven, his oldest friend, the person he’s known since the day he was born. Ven has shaped Sora into who he is today, and Sora literally does not remember a time in his life without him. I don’t think he even knows yet that Ven is inside his heart, but once he does, you better believe he’ll try to save him. And Ven has such a special bond with him, the part where he smiles at the end of DDD as Sora is playing with the Dream Eaters is just such a parental thing to do and it warms my heart.

Terra is the real wild card here. We’ve seen a few milliseconds blip of him so far and we have no clue as to how he might be rescued. I think he and Sora might bond over the fact that they failed to achieve the Mark of Mastery on their first go around, that they have to deal with this darkness inside of them. If anyone gets a critical role in saving Terra besides Sora, it’ll probably be Riku, since they already have that connection.

But then again, Young Xehanort did use Terra-Xehanort’s chess piece to checkmate Sora’s… hmmm…

I think we’ve seen so little of Terra because his rescue will happen near the end, if not last. If we assume that he is still Terranort after Xemnas and Ansem SOD were restored, un-norting someone sounds incredibly difficult. Like… how are they going to get Xehanort’s heart out of him? Xehanort isn’t going to willingly release Terra, that’s for sure. Either Terra is going to fight it and free himself or Xehanort is going to change his mind and release him. I don’t think the latter would happen unless someone strikes a bargain for his freedom. 

Or I could be totally off base and Terra’s rescue happens early? I don’t know though, of all the characters, Terra seems like the most difficult to save. Xehanort has his claws sunk into him and he is not about to let his prized possession be snatched away. Terranort is the body he wanted to use to see the future. He doesn’t even see Terra as a person anymore, just a tool.

Since we really don’t know about Terra yet, I’m pretty curious to see his rescue… and what it might cost the Guardians of Light.

So to answer your question, anon, I’m looking forward to seeing all of their rescues :) I think we’re in for a real treat with KH3, because we have watched these characters that are so near and dear to our hearts suffer and feel despair, and now it looks like we’ll finally get to watch Sora, the character we’ve witnessed grow into the dearest one of them all, save them and bring them hope and healing.

Thanks for the ask!

[dontblamedisney]

Kingdom Hearts: The Keyblade War

Hello everyone, its time for your second lesson in Kingdom Hearts Lore. If you’re new please visit the first lesson and return here [Story]

Now before we get started I want to warn ya’ll that I am angry (about non-Kingdom Hearts related events) and I need a distraction so in addition to giving you today’s lesson, I am going to be drinking heavily. So there will be cussing. Momma’s had a hard fuckin’ week

Also spoilers, obviously

And now onto the lesson!

The Foretellers

See these masked hotties, see something familiar? Here’s the story of the world of Daybreak Town. In an era known as the age of fairy tales.

Now you might be confused about how KHI made it seem like Sora our beautiful sunshine boy was the only one who could hold the keyblade. you fuckin’ casuals

But sorry children Sora was lied to! 

We were ALL lied to! 

He ain’t no chosen one, he the chosen 100,011,003! 

The keyblade ain’t exclusive, she a hoe! 

The keyblade went up to Sora and said “Baby you the only one for me.” I mean look at this shit!

These are the keyblades of children who died fighting in a war that they had no business prepping for.

And it’s all his fault!

This guy in the iconic coat is known as The Master of Masters. He is the teacher of The Foretellers, and a Keyblade Forger, an OG, if you will. Now The Master had to disappear but before he did he left his students with their keyblades forged from their hearts. He gave his pupils a copy of the Book of Prophecies! [insert guitar riff] Speaking of pupils let’s talk about Luxu. (loo-shoo)

Who?

Him!

Luxu was tasked with taking that keyblade up there around as he observed the events of the universe.

Do you see that glowing sphere? That’s the Master’s eye! The Master’s beautiful orb is capable of seeing while outside the body and that helped him write the Book of Prophecies [guitar riff]. So Luxu sets off, leaving his friends and carrying around a trunk he’s not allowed to open. If we’re being honest he’s so fucking lucky that’s his job, because after he leaves shit gets cray.

Let’s talk about Master Ira (ir-rah):

Mmmm, that jawline! Master Ira is the new leader of The Foretellers, and he’s trying his best! After Ira was given his new mission he founded his union Unicornis.

Let’s explain unions.

Each of the following Foretellers, (including Master Ira, but excluding Luxu) formed unions and became teachers of their own faction of Keyblade Wielders. These new recruits trained by going into virtual reality simulators that replicated what battling Heartless was like and honing their skills. The whole thing was kind of treated like a competition between the unions. They needed to collect lux.

Lux = particles of light that The Foretellers made their students collect in an effort to keep away the impending darkness.

However this competition ends up going to some heads.

Heads like this one

This is Master Aced (ah-sed) and I hate him. Aced is in charge of the union Ursus was supposed to be Ira’s second-in-command, it was his mission from The Master. The Master specifically said TO HAVE IRA’S BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!

All Aced had to do was back Ira up when ever Unicorn Hottie made a decision, but could he do that? No! Instead he had to be a whiny bitch baby complaining about how daddy didn’t put him in charge. Then he has the audacity, the absolute gall to try and go behind Ira’s back. Who did he try to establish an alliance with, you ask.

Introducing Gula (goo-la):

Gula is one of the younger members of The Foretellers, and is in charge of the Leopardus union. He was tasked with figuring out who the traitor among his friends is. {feel free to gasp} So in trying to carry out his part of the mission he agreed to join Aced’s little alliance since he was suspicious of Aced anyway since Aced sucks at hiding how inadequate he is feels. Also considering to join the alliance is this cutie

This is Master Ava (ah-vah), leader of the Vulpes union and she was tasked with creating an entirely separate and secret union called the Dandelions. The Dandelions were the best keyblade wielders from all of the unions who had string hearts and who would help restore the universe after the apocalypse (Remember the Master told his students that the end of the world was coming, but he never said how. They had to look for it in their books of prophecies [guitar riff], but they still weren’t completely sure what was going to go down) So Ava creates The Dandelions promising her secret warriors would be reborn should they die in the apocalypse (spoiler alert, they all fucking died) Because she does this in secret it also makes her candidate for the traitor (and honestly we still don’t know who the real traitor was). 

Now when Aced tried to form his forbidden alliance he was stopped by Master Invi (en-vy)

Invi leads the Anguis union was tasked with being the group’s peacekeeper. She kept an eye on everyone and made sure fights didn’t break out. (Remember: Keyblade Wielders are like Jedi, the use of emotion is what can help or hurt them. Negative emotions make them susceptible to corruption of Darkness.) Invi acts as Ira’s true second-in-command because she actually respects Ira and doesn’t whine and get angry just because she wasn’t promoted a job she didn’t deserve. Overall, we like Invi, she’s trying her best, but she was basically tasked with being neutral while the world burned.

So now we know the adults, but hold on to your asses because if this was already too many words for you, go get a drink and kiss your sanity good-bye! We’re finally getting to why everything went to hell in a laundry basket.

This is Chirithy

Cute right?

Chirithy is a mass produced companion that joins keyblade wielders (The Foretellers’ students) on their missions to gather lux.

Chirithys and their wielders are connected and when a wielder starts giving into darkness it shows in their Chirithy who slowly becomes evil and sometimes they die!

When The Foretellers are alerted to the presence of a corrupted Chirithy in Daybreak Town they have to figure out who it belongs to, even going so far as to accusing each other. On top of the corrupted Chirithy and potentially corrupted keyblade wielder running around the kids are on steroids! Okay not drugs, but they are using power bangles which at first The Foretellers aren’t too worried about, but like I mentioned before the competition between the kids is getting intense to the point where the unions are fighting each other. This is a problem because even though everyone is separated into groups they all have the same goal. Collect lux to prepare for battling Heartless and other forces of Darkness (by which I mean the Disney villains and others, but this isn’t about them). These tensions only get worse because some of the kids are recruited by Ava while their friends aren’t. Meaning that once the war has ended those kids who aren’t Dandelions won’t be resurrected, and well...that’s so fuckin’ sad. These are literal teenagers we’re talking about, young teenagers. Like only freshman in high school teenagers. 

Its so fucked.

Aced meanwhile, is going around harassing the kids and egging on the competition making members of his union turn on the other wielders and basically raising a bunch of assholes. #baddad

So, we have our overall conflict, now lets talk about the next generation of foretellers and murder.

See these here children? They are the next generation of Foretellers. I can’t go into too much detail about them because so far they’re only in the mobile game and I haven’t logged in in awhile even after the update, but I’ll tell you what I can. These guys are meant to share the responsibility of fixing the universe after the Keyblade War and resurrect the fallen Dandelions, but this time only one of them is allowed to look at the Book of Prophecies [sad guitar riff].

See some familiar faces? Have some concerns? Yeah, so do I, but I’ll discuss them later, but first I want to let you all know that one of these kids doesn’t belong.

DUN DUN DUUUNNNN!

Let me introduce this sweetheart:

This is Strelitzia, she was supposed to be a future Foreteller too, but she was killed and whoever killed her took her place among the rest of the group. (I bet you all are wondering who did it. I have a guess and I hope we get answers in KHIII. Does the pink haired one seem familiar? he should). So we have two groups of Foretellers both with a traitor who has yet to be revealed and one dead girl. Be prepared to revisit this story one day.

The Keyblade War

I can’t remember if I ever established a timeline for the Kingdom Hearts universe, well friends let’s just say, this is an old AF problem.

The Keyblade War happened 100+ years before the events of Birth by Sleep. BBS takes place before and during Sora’s birth and ends when he’s 5 years old. Kingdom Hearts takes place ten years later when Sora is 15 then Chain of Memories, 365/2 Days KH2, and Dream Drop Distance take place within years of each other and in KH3 Sora should be seventeen or eighteen.

Got it memorized?

Okay so like I said the Keyblade War was bound to happen despite The Foretellers attempts to stop it. This brings us to the X-blade {also referred to as the chi-blade but pronounced keyblade you know how this anime/video game bullshit be}:

“This X-blade will open a door-one that leads to all worlds! Then, Keyblade-bearing warriors will flock here from each and everyone of them, to battle for the light within Kingdom Hearts! And just like the legend says, the Keyblade War will begin!” Ventus-Vanitas, Kingdom Heart: Birth by Sleep

The events of the Foretellers and the Dandelions happened in what is referred to in the games as ‘the age of fairy tales”. Remember Kingdom Hearts is what gave life to the worlds, and people sought its power and wanted it all to themselves in a sick attempt at becoming a god. (they don’t say that in the games, but that’s basically what Xehanort wants). The X-blade is what can truly open Kingdom Hearts and when people started to covet its power their greed spawned Darkness.

A big thing about the Keyblade War is that it wasn’t a 1 v 1 fight. It was basically a four way civil war. Those who protected light fought against those who were corrupted by darkness, and those who just wanted balance to be restored fought against power seekers. In a way it’s more like a 2 v 2 situation and honestly the only outcome is that the X-blade ended up being broken into 20 pieces. 13 shards of Darkness and 7 shards of Light. Adds up to a lot huh?

The Keyblade War caused thousands to die, including the world of Daybreak Town. and Kingdom Hearts was practically extinguished. The only thing that kept Kingdom Hearts alive was the light in the hearts of children throughout the universe. This is why there are so many different worlds you have to explore in the modern era. Kingdom Hearts couldn’t fully reform so its fragments became their own worlds, and those worlds are fueled by Kingdom Hearts.

That is all I can tell you about the Keyblade War, I tried to simplify it as best I could, remember these games aren’t going to stop any time soon. KH3 is supposed to be the end of phase one of the franchise. Ending the Dark Seeker Saga; which is just a way of saying the Xehanort story arc will end. Allegedly...

I will cover Xehanort/Xemnas/Ansem in the next lesson.

I’m not nearly as drunk as I wanna be, so I’m gonna fix that and continue to disappoint my mother. See you next time!

[yasuda-yoshiya]

I haven't delved much into KH lore, but I think there's something wrong when the main character is shoehorned into a plot that's essentially the same from the previous arcs repetitively along with a character that seems to be the love interest, while several others you never got to play as (or very temporarily playable), gets much further characterization and their new resolutions. The only ones that are interesting in Sora's party is Donald and Goofy btw. Anything about Riku and Mickey though?

Hmm, well, strictly from a storytelling perspective, I think I basically agree with you! Pretty much all the really interesting plot developments and character moments in KH3 are completely divorced from the person whose PoV you’re stuck inhabiting for most of the game, and Sora pretty much spends the whole game doing absolutely nothing of any importance while all the actual plot progression happens away from him. And in terms of what makes a good story, yeah, that’s basically terrible, but I honestly feel like I can basically understand why they did it because frankly, Kingdom Hearts as a series is in a very weird position at this point. The main appeal of the series to the vast majority of the casual audience is its supposed “Disney magic” and getting to explore the worlds from various Disney movies, but the actual main plot of the series at this point is an absolutely impenetrable and convoluted mess of original characters and plot threads that’s about as far away from any kind of “Disney magic” as you could possibly get.

With that in mind, it pretty much makes sense to me that they’d want to just shove the main plot out of the way entirely for most of the game and just focus on Sora’s random adventures in Disney worlds, because it’s honestly gotten to the point where the presence of the main plot actively detracts from the supposed central appeal of the game for most people. It allows KH3 to be enjoyable as a stand-alone experience to the average person who doesn’t give a crap about the overarching mess of the Kingdom Hearts plot and just wants to enjoy some Disney fanservice (and let’s be real, this probably describes at least 80% of the people who actually bought the game). Games like KH1, Days and BBS could manage to do a passable job of integrating some characterisation and plot development into the Disney stuff without being too jarring to the casual audience, because those games told basically self-contained stories. You don’t need to be a KH Lore Maniac to follow, say, Ven’s character arc through BBS. But KH3? KH3′s plot is all about tying up loose ends and resolving the stories of various characters from other games. Nothing about KH3′s plot makes any sense or has any real impact as a standalone, and it would probably be a fool’s errand to even try to make it work as one, because it just has way too much baggage from the ongoing series-wide plot that it has to resolve. So rather than trying to give Sora a quest that actually ties into the main plot in some way, they just decided to put the plot to one side and lean into unapologetic filler instead. I can sort of respect that.

The way I see it is… well, let’s put it this way. As a Kingdom Hearts fan, I could totally draw up an alternative outline for KH3 that has Sora making more of a meaningful journey and progress throughout the game, and integrates the main plot into the Disney stuff better. The focus of KH3 is about Sora saving the hearts and healing the pain of the people connected to him, the people whose pain was forgotten until now. So why not make the plots of the Disney worlds focus more on having him come to understand these people better, to get more of a focus on why it’s so important to bring them back? Let’s have the Olympus Coliseum chapter involve a subplot where, say, Sora finds out from Phil about the time Roxas spent training there in Days, and Phil talks about how much potential he showed and how he really misses the kid. Let’s spend more time explicitly drawing a connection between the toys having hearts in Toy Story and the way Xion developed her own heart despite being an artificially created puppet. Let’s parallel Rapunzel’s situation in Tangled with Namine’s in CoM, and make the plot of that world about Sora regaining the memories he lost from CoM (heck, Marluxia’s even right there and briefly brings this up in the actual game already!), reminding him of just how much Namine suffered and how much she deserves to be saved. And so on, and so on.

And that would probably make for a much more solid and cohesive game, and give the overall plot a lot more weight… but could you actually realistically present that kind of plot in a way that wasn’t totally alienating to the casual audience? Are you really going to be able to give enough emotional context for the average uninitiated player to grasp and care about all these different plotlines just through flashbacks and exposition? Are there really that many people who actually want to see the plot of Tangled used as a vehicle to revisit the plot of a 2004 GBA game, or are people just going to be frustrated at these hugely popular Disney movies being taken over by weird anime OCs they don’t care about? Professional reviewers are quite understandably panning the game already just for the very minimal intrusions of the convoluted main plot into the Disney stuff “breaking the magic” as it is, so it’s hard for me to imagine that any more of that would really be well-received by and large, however much the story might technically benefit from it. This is the sort of problem we run into when a game has to try and simultaneously appease two distinct audiences with entirely different priorities. Giving the main plot a very minimal presence for most of the game and then shoving the entire resolution into the last few hours is an imperfect solution, but I’m also not really sure what else they could realistically have done, given the setup KH3 had to work with.

In the end, I’m basically content with the compromise. I think they did a decent job of making a game that stays mostly enjoyable and accessible as a wacky Disney adventure for the casual audience, while still tying up most of the big overall plot threads that needed to be tied up in a reasonably satisfying way (a few very questionable writing choices aside… but it’s Kingdom Hearts, what else is new). It would have been nice to have had more build-up and substance to these characters’ resolutions, and to actively focus more of the game on them, as you suggest - but the more time the game spends pandering to overall series fans, the more time it also spends alienating everyone else. I think in the end we just have to accept that the build-up and context for their resolutions was in the previous games, that the people who really care about the series’ story will have played those games already, and for the people who haven’t, it just probably wasn’t worth devoting too much effort to trying to make them care within KH3 itself. That’s my take on it, at least.

On Riku and Mickey... hm, well, aside from them obviously being OTP material as always, neither of them really got to do much in this game? So I don’t really have much to say about them in particular. I thought the idea of Riku feeling a personal connection to Aqua’s plight as someone trapped in the darkness was sweet, but then they didn’t really do anything with that or let them actually interact at all in the end, so it felt like wasted potential. The BBS characters in this game were just a big disappointment in general, really! They could easily have done much more with them than they did, without even changing the structure of the story much... but, uh, I’m talking about Riku, sorry. I feel like Riku’s never really done much for me as a character, beyond like, KH1 and maybe CoM. I can see the outline of his arc on paper, and it seems fine and potentially interesting, but the execution has always felt pretty by-the-book and lacking in nuance to me. They talk very generally about him “falling to darkness” and such, but they don’t ever get beyond that into actually having him wrestle with his guilt over specific things, like his time working with DiZ or kidnapping the princesses or contributing to Roxas and Xion’s sacrifices, so it all feels a bit too broad to particularly connect with - and it’s sort of hard for me to really give weight to things like “I wore a blindfold for a whole year because I couldn’t stand looking at myself”, when that’s juxtaposed with him flipping right back to being a perfectly functional and confident hero without much apparent struggle or lasting difficulty after just a few platitudes from Sora. It’s sort of like they flip between being broadly melodramatic about his issues and shrugging them off completely? So he’s never really clicked with me, personally.

Meanwhile, Mickey is kind of hard for me to take all that seriously as a character beyond the memes, since... I mean, he’s Mickey Mouse, so there’s a big mental block there, lol. But even if I put that aside and look at his writing in KH in isolation, he never really felt like a particularly deep or interesting character or anything, I think? His relationship with Riku is very sweet, though!

[nadziejastar]

“You’re next, Roxas. I have to make you part of me, too. Don’t you see? This is why I was created…!” Xion flung away her cloak.

And there stood…a puppet? Is that Xion’s true form? No—this can’t be—The puppet reached out and opened a dark portal that swallowed up everything—and Roxas with it.

Well, I really, really hate the fact that a core aspect of Xion was just swept under the rug in KH3. She wasn’t JUST a replica. And she was NOT just Kairi with black hair. She was created with a specific purpose. She was a weapon wearing Keyblade Armor. Just like “No Heart” and Xemnas’ armored form.

Saïx couldn’t fathom what Xemnas’s true objective might be.

“Sora or Xion—it matters not. But we need one of them under our control. Bear that in mind.” Saïx nodded, and a serene smile came to Xemnas’s face. If that smile meant anything, it was beyond him.

We never really learned the full truth about Xion or Saïx’s berserk state, so I don’t even really know how I feel about Xion’s ability to copy it. But she was actually very similar to Saïx in many ways. Which might have been why he hated her. What Xion was going to do to Roxas may have been done to Isa. He knew her true nature and purpose, unlike Roxas and Axel. He didn’t see Kairi when he looked at her, either. So, he was probably justified in his hatred of her. Xion’s true nature was meant to harm Roxas.

“Keep an eye on Roxas.” Without answering Xigbar, Xemnas made himself disappear.

“Yeah, do your best now.” Xigbar followed after.

Xigbar was constantly making fun of Saïx, especially for his inability to “see” Xion, and his lack of a heart.

“Both Roxas and Xion are by nature influenced by Sora. Everything will be fine if we have control over either one. Whether things continue as is and Xion absorbs Roxas, or whether Roxas defeats Xion and gets the power back, our plans don’t change. Either way, Sora’s power is ours.”

“Understood, sir,” Saïx replied, and Xemnas disappeared.

“…Well, do your best. The best a kid without a heart can do, anyway,” said Xigbar, and he too disappeared.

And one of the ways he did was by telling him to “do his best”. But he specified that might be difficult for a kid with no heart. And Xigbar made this comment when Xemnas was telling him they only needed one of the two---Roxas or Xion. Saïx replied obediently, and then Xigbar made fun of him.

The members of the Organization each had their weapons, but this… Was this the Keyblade? Roxas touched the key to the treasure chest, and it opened with a burst of light.

No question. That’s the Keyblade, all right, Axel thought. What did Xemnas call him the day I brought Roxas to him…

“The Keyblade’s chosen.”

Did that mean Roxas was a Nobody who could wield the Keyblade? But Axel had never heard of a wielder becoming a Heartless. Roxas took the potion from the treasure box, and the weapon in his hand disappeared.

Whenever the ability to wield the Keyblade was mentioned, the novel would always mention the organization’s weapons and how not just anyone could wield them, either. It was mentioned the first day Axel took Roxas out for icing on the cake after he did a good job.

All the members of the Organization had their own weapons. He had never heard of anyone using someone else’s. The Keyblade returned from Xion’s hand to Roxas’s.

“Xion, I didn’t know you could use the Keyblade,” said Roxas.

“Yeah… Neither did I.” She smiled, a little bit awkward.

He had never even entertained the thought that someone besides him might be able to wield it. In his hand, the Keyblade glowed and vanished, as it always did after the fighting was done. It gave him an odd feeling. This was new to him—ending a mission with the exciting sense of discovery.

It was mentioned again when Roxas took Xion out for the icing on the cake after she did a good job.

The members of the Organization each had their own distinctive weapons that didn’t exactly cooperate if someone else tried to use them, but Keyblades were even more particular. If someone else so much as tried to pick it up, a Keyblade would simply return to its wielder’s hand. Or so Xion had heard. But when she grasped it, Roxas’s Keyblade stayed in her hands. It didn’t disappear.

And it was mentioned before Xion used Roxas’ Keyblade and it felt like she was holding his hand.

Reaching the castle, Axel collapsed with Xion still in his arms. Xemnas, who had watched over it, picked Xion up.

If that means her power won’t cut it, then we’ll make her stronger. Right now, we need either of them in my hands. I’ll make Roxas and Xion merge together, it doesn’t matter which is left. And then, in the end, I should even get Kingdom Hearts.

Xemnas’ armored form resided inside the artificial Kingdom Hearts. It could use the fallen organization members’ weapons after they “returned to the void”. This is very similar to Xion’s final form which tried to absorb Roxas to be “complete”.

“We don’t need them both. Just one. And pretending won’t change it.”

We, who? Axel wanted to ask, but he held it in, along with a bitter laugh. He wasn’t sure if that “we” meant Organization XIII or just Saïx and himself.

“Think about that.”

Oh, I am. And I’m sick of it. I’m even desperate enough to ask you if there’s another way.

The words nearly escaped him, but Saïx was already walking toward the Grey Area. The set of his shoulders told him plainly what the answer would be. Axel realized how great the rift was between how he remembered their past and what he saw now.

Why am I even here? I don’t know anymore. What am I trying to do?

The Replicas function very similarly to Xemans’ armored form. It’s never explained what Replicas actually are or how they were created.

Given the right memories, the Replica could mimic the powers of the original. Which meant that if he were implanted with somebody else’s memories, he would, hypothetically, gain other powers. Somebody’s—or maybe even a Nobody’s.

He had one particular Nobody in mind. All the members of the Organization were still influenced by the memories of their human lives.

“Isn’t it about time he was getting back?” Axel wondered. The Replica had no response. “So do you have any idea how you absorb other people’s powers?”

“…I devour their strength by defeating them. That’s what Vexen said.”

Axel and Saïx knew about the Replica Program even though Xaldin didn’t. And Xaldin was a founding member. When Vexen was killed, everyone assumed it was Saïx who ordered Axel to do it. Roxas and Xion were supposed to destroy each other, and merge together. Axel tried so hard to prevent it from happening. He ruined his friendships with Roxas, Xion, AND Saïx by choosing this route. Saïx was extremely upset with him for trying to save Xion. But he never really acted that way about Roxas.

She answered plainly. “I’m going back to where I belong. That’s all.”

“You know, I always thought that’d be for the best. But it still bugs me. Something about this is just wrong.”

“It’s the best thing for everyone,” said Xion.

Everyone? Everyone, who? For us? Or…for someone else?

“How do you know that?” Axel demanded. “Everyone thinks they’re right…”

“This is right,” Xion said firmly. “It’s better this way.”

Axel hated that argument. Nothing was better any which way. All it came down to was what you wanted to do and what you didn’t. He’d learned that lesson back when he had a heart.

“So it’s better for you to disappear?” he protested.

Axel even admitted that he thought Xion going back to Sora was the best thing from the very beginning. He made the choice that Roxas’ well-being was more important than a dangerous Replica’s. But he still couldn’t bring himself to let Xion destroy herself. He knew that the organization was going to make them fight. And he knew that by bringing Xion back, she would be forced to destroy Roxas. Roxas was forced to kill Xion with his own hands because of Axel’s choice. That’s the very thing Axel was trying to prevent.

“Worse than that. They’ll skip right to destroying you.”

He said it like he didn’t care, and something in her chest ached. Xion looked at the cold white floor. “Because I’m useless?”

“I didn’t say that.” Axel shook his head again and took her arm, pulling her to her feet. “Just go home, Xion.”

He just couldn’t bear the idea of someone being sacrificed because they weren’t useful anymore. Especially when they willingly accepted it. Saïx couldn’t understand what Axel was trying to protect.

“Because they copied my powers, the Keyblade’s power, and then they didn’t need me anymore—is that it?” Roxas spat.

He couldn’t bring himself to confirm it.

“I guess you felt the same way, huh, Axel?”

At those words, something wrenched in his chest, and he could hardly breathe. No, not me. I wasn’t thinking like that. I would never. “That’s not true. You—you’re my best friend.” The words spilled out of him.

Axel was always embarrassed about being too open with his feelings. He seemed to tell Roxas and Xion they were his best friends mainly for their sake, and to emphasize that he cared abut them. The first time he said it was to emphasize that best friends worry about each other. The other time he told Roxas that he was his best friend, it was in response to Roxas thinking Axel wanted to get rid of him because he wasn’t useful to the organization anymore. Axel had an immediate gut reaction to this and the words just spilled out of him. Best friends would never think that.

“I guess…it does,” she murmured. After so long, the weight of it was somehow strange in her grip. She thought she could feel the warmth from his hand lingering in the metal.

The day Xion got her Keybalde back she treated Roxas and Axel to ice cream for helping her. She also felt like she could feel his hand when she wielded his Keyblade. This was important enough to mention in both the novel and the manga. She wasn’t just using Roxas’ Keyblade. She was connecting with his heart.

“I’ve become a part of their heart, just as they’ve become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then, if they don’t forget me… then my heart can’t disappear.” Sora stood ready to fight with the wooden sword. “I don’t need a weapon. My friends are my power!”

When Xion lost to Riku, she had a memory of Riku throwing the wooden toy sword to Sora. When Sora got the Keyblade back, it was because his friends were his power. They apparently went with this same idea for Roxas and Xion. Sora and Riku had to fight over who got to wield that particular Keyblade. 

“But it all ends here. There can’t be two chosen ones.” Riku smiled faintly.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let the Keyblade choose its true master!”

Roxas and Xion could share Sora’s Keybalde as long as they remained in balance with each other. But they wouldn’t be “complete” unless they merged together.

“It’s not like they’re actually joined at the hip. What’s it mean?” Xion was staring at Axel, too, as if he had all the answers.

“Well, I think you can be inseparable, even if you’re apart,” said Axel. Roxas and Xion shared a look.

“Really?”

“It’s like, if you feel really close to each other. Like best friends.

Xion gained her Keyblade back when she felt Roxas fighting beside her. And that’s a lot like the concept of best friends, too. They are inseparable even when they’re apart. 

Axel had said his hand was forced when he attacked Xion that time. Roxas remembered the flat certainty of the reply when he protested that Axel didn’t have to do that to her. 

“Didn’t I?”

But still…he refused. He wouldn’t fight her.

He tried to get away, and Xion chased him down. What could he do? She’d said she would make him part of her. Was that true? What for? What would happen if she did? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe he would rather let that happen than fight his friend.

I think there was a similar theme going on between Lea and Isa, right down to being forced to fight each other. Saïx’s berserk state may have even played a role in why they had to fight.

Roxas and Xion were like a pair of mirrors, reflecting each other back and forth. But was that all? Xion was just a vessel, an empty disk to hold a copy of Roxas’s “powers.”

Nobodies derived their personalities and abilities from memories of their human lives. But what exactly were those abilities? What gave rise to them? The answer that came to mind was the presence of memory itself. They were chained by their memory, and in those bonds was power. So it was probably fair to say that Roxas and Xion were bound by the same memory.

I’ve heard a lot of people criticize Axel as a manipulative liar for not telling Roxas the truth about anything. And it’s true, he did lie a lot. Of course his lying doesn’t come across sympathetically unless you realize that he didn’t want to tell the truth because he had been through the exact same thing before. How could he tell an innocent kid like Roxas that he would have to kill his best friend or else she would have to kill him?

“…Such a pain in the ass,” Axel muttered, the face of the person he should be informing of all this floating before him. It was so much fun back then. Why did it end up like this?

The heart I remember sizzles with pain. Breaking a friendship was this painful, was it? I lost my heart, so I don’t really know.

“Don’t wanna get up…”

On Day 298 ~Fracture~, Axel was thinking about how Roxas and Xion were acting like mirrors. Once again, there’s a comparison made to the organization members’ weapons. Then Axel complained about the breakdown of a friendship being painful, and he was obviously talking about Isa.

“We’re supposed to be best friends.”

Axel brushed Roxas’s hands from his collar. “This isn’t about friendship.”

Roxas raised his head. The glare in his blue eyes was sharp as a knife. Axel had never seen that from him before. His chest twinged, just a bit. He let out another sigh. “Listen, if that’s all, I gotta go.”

Roxas wilted again, and something in his expression weakened Axel’s resolve slightly.

I just did what I thought was the best thing at the time. For Roxas, for Xion, for the Organization—and for Isa. But most of all for me.

He turned away from Roxas and made himself walk away.

When Axel fought him in the KH2 manga, Axel used a similar move on Saïx that he did on Xion. And after Roxas confronted him in anger for using force, he said he was doing it for everyone, and mentioned Isa by name for the first time.

“I’m going. You know, don’t you, that you won’t stop me except by force? And even if you tried, you would fail.” Saïx went on his way. Memories informed him that he hated this kind of thing.

Before Saïx fought Roxas, Axel tried to stop him. He said that he’d only stop him by force and his memories informed him that he hated that kind of thing. 

What’s happening? Roxas thought, but he could see that even in the brief moments of his confusion, Xion was gaining still more power. And her attacks were whittling away at his strength.

If he let this go on, he would be done for.

Do I really have to fight her…?

He had no idea what to do. But he couldn’t let himself fall here. He still wanted to find out who he was—it would tell him something about Xion, too. He took a few slow breaths, gathering his resolve.

So I have no choice.

Eventually Roxas realized he had no choice but to fight Xion.

“What are you saying…? Vile traitor!” The great Claymore took shape at Saïx’s back.

Axel didn’t waste a second grabbing his chakrams. But his body was reluctant somehow.

I don’t want to disappear… But still, it wouldn’t be so bad if I did. Not here.

Axel felt like Roxas did. He wanted to disappear when he faced Saïx. In the manga, Axel chose to knock him out rather than try to kill him. And he said he still had the same holes in his defenses.

Still, he refused to hesitate. He had to force this path open.

He wanted…to find hope—the hope that Sora and Riku had.

Saïx gave him a cruel grin. “You will lose everything!”

And then the Claymore pierced Axel’s chest.

I don’t want to disappear. I can’t disappear now. I shouldn’t have to disappear at all. Why am I doing all this? Who is it for? For Roxas… For Riku, for Naminé… And for myself. There are still things I should do. Things I have to do.

Although Axel thought Saïx was knocked out, he woke up quickly and stabbed Axel in the back.

Day 151: What Makes Us Different

I ran into Xion in Twilight Town. I guess she messed up a mission pretty bad the other day, and it's been bugging her. We went up to the clock tower afterwards. She said me and her are different—which is pretty obvious if you look at us, but I don't think that's what she meant. A lot seems to be on her mind, and it's not the same as what's on mine.

He said they were different after all. No mistaking it. Whatever that meant.

Why had she avoided him like that anyway? What was she afraid of? She stared down at her fingers.

“I…I messed up a mission really bad.” Her hands were cold. “Did you hear about that guy pretending to be one of us? But I lost a fight against him. And then Saïx called me a ‘failure.’”

After Xion failed the mission with Riku, she felt like a burden. When Roxas loaned her his Keyblade, she felt the warmth of his hand. This time her hands were cold. And she said she and Roxas were “different”.

“I’ve been having the strangest dreams,” Xion added.

“Really?”

“I can never remember what they’re about. I just…wake up scared.”

She had been having terrible nightmares that were scaring her. 

“We may both be special…” Xion stood up and gazed at the sky. “But, Roxas, I don’t think we’re the same.”

“Xion…”

He took her hand in his. And—she saw something.

Red…a sky at sunset… I remember. A path stretching on and on. A crossroads… A brilliant moon. A moonlit sky…?

“Let me go.” Xion wrenched her hand away. Roxas cried her name as she left, but she didn’t even look back.

She apparently saw a scene of the Keyblade Graveyard when Roxas grabbed her hand. Since Roxas had Ventus’ heart, it makes sense that she’d be able to absorb some of his memories, too. 

That wasn’t it—no. That wasn’t what he was trying to say. It doesn’t matter that I’m scared. This is something much worse.

“I may have to fight Vanitas after all. If I do, guys…”

He was afraid to voice the rest. What if it actually came to that? What exactly would happen next? Ven let out a big breath, his gaze still lowered.

I have to tell them. I have to make this request.

Ventus was also a weapon, and that might have something to do with why he and Xion were made to fight. Xion was a weapon that eventually looked like Sora, and so was Vanitas. Xemnas was obsessed with finding the Chamber of Waking with Ventus’ body in it. I’m sure all of this was supposed to be important to the plot of the Dark Seeker Saga. But now it’s nothing but a giant plot hole.

“I’m asking you, as a friend…Just…put an end to me.”

Aqua stood back up, visibly saddened, while Terra continued to stare at him. At that very moment, an unusually strong gust blew against the three of them. And within the resulting cloud of dust were none other than Master Xehanort and Vanitas.

Ventus also wanted his friends to destroy him if he became the X-Blade. He was terrified of this more than anything.

“I mean, when I think of losing you and Xion, or my memories of you…to forget what it’s like to be with my friends…It is scary.” It was like a cold breeze had found its way under his cloak. Roxas shivered. The mere idea made him so afraid. Afraid…? Scared? What does that mean anyway?

“Fear’s an emotion. It doesn’t exist for us.”

“But…I am feeling it. I’m scared right now.” Axel and Xion ceasing to exist—the thought was even more frightening to him than his own termination. Roxas didn’t want to dwell on it at all. 

Axel looked away into the distance. “Something in you probably does remember what it’s like to be scared. So you think you’re feeling it now.”

There was a cold breeze when Axel and Roxas discussed their fears on Day 150 ~Fear~. Axel looked away in the distance. He knew what that type of fear felt like.

“Axel…are you hurt?” Naminé jumped up, and the rest of the ice cream fell to the floor.

“Don’t worry—it’s no big deal. The bigger deal is that.” He gestured with his chin toward the dark rift. “If you go through there, it’ll take you straight to Kairi. Hurry.”

“Got it. Let’s go, Naminé.” Riku started toward the rift, looking back at her.

“But Axel is…” Naminé’s anxious gaze didn’t stray from him.

“Just gimme your ice cream and get out of here.” Axel took it out of her hand, grinning at her as she stood there. “Get going, will you? Don’t you want to meet Kairi?”

After Saïx dealt Axel a fatal blow, and said they were “different”, Axel escaped.

Naminé nodded weakly. A tear slid down her cheek. “What about you?”

“I’ve gotta make sure Sora and his sidekicks get there.”

She reached for Axel’s hand, the one that held the ice cream, and clasped it in her own. His hand was too cold.

“Thank you, Axel…” She smiled softly at him. “See you.”

He nodded. “See ya, Naminé.”

And when Axel returned to the hideout, Naminé was worried about him. She said his hand felt too cold. They also said “See ya”. Lea and Isa say this to each other in KH3. I think the scene with Naminé was similar to something that happened between Lea and Isa in the past. Axel also said “See ya” when he said goodbye to Roxas and cried for the first time. There was SO much more to their backstory than we ever will learn.

Vanitas burst out laughing. “The χ-Blade is made of your heart, too, idiot. If you destroy it, your heart will vanish forever.”

“Whatever it takes. Anything to save Terra and Aqua.” As long as his two best friends were safe, Ven wouldn’t mind being lost.

“Hmph. It’s always about your friends, isn’t it?” Vanitas spat with annoyance.

“At least I have some! I’ve become a part of their hearts, just as they’ve become a part of mine. My friends are my power…and I’m theirs!” Ven cried with conviction, then leaped. He felt them—Terra’s and Aqua’s hearts. And the hearts of the many friends he had made on other worlds, too.

I’ve become strong, but that strength isn’t mine alone. It belongs to everyone. That’s why he won’t beat me.

The entire time Xion was trying to kill Roxas, she was desperately hoping Roxas would destroy her. Nomura said that Xion was the reason the Roxas could wield two Keyblades, and also the reason Roxas felt compelled to toss Oblivion to Riku during their fight. 

When Kairi’s encouraging murmur reached Sora’s ears, he realized something and asked her, “Say, Kairi… Where’d you get that Keyblade?”

“Huh…?” She looked down at the weapon in her hand, then up at Riku.

But Riku gave a tiny shake of his head as if he didn’t quite know, either.

It was supposed to be a means of “passing away” memories. And Riku was the one who summoned Kairi’s Keyblade for her. Memories are tied to abilities. Kairi’s ability to wield the Keyblade was probably the result of her experiences as Xion in 358/2 Days. Her heart grew exponentially as a result.

“Xion is marching right into the arms of destiny but to destiny’s own time,” Xemnas told him. “All we must do is watch with caution and patience.”

And Kairi’s Keybalde was called “Destiny’s Embrace”. She ran right into its arms. Everything about Xion and her true nature was pretty much tossed in the trash for KH3. She was SOOO much more important to the plot than just being a black-haired Kairi.

Saïx: Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose Inevitably, they destroy themselves.

Deep down, Saïx probably felt the same way as Xion did. Isa wanted to be destroyed rather than be used as a weapon. I have no idea when Saïx got his weapon or what the backstory was behind it. It seemed to be important, though. Strangely enough, there are two Claymores that look just like Saïx’s right next to Xemnas’ throne. That Claymore governs his Berserk state.

[disneydreamlights]

So, while most of the Norts in the MMO AU follow the rule of "personality traits through the filter of Xehanort", Terra-Xehanort would be different, due to Terra/Eraqus and Xehanort constantly struggling for control. That, combined with his amnesia, would result in Terranort developing a split personality. One is how Terra views Xehanort, which would later become Ansem, and the other how Xehanort views Terra, which would later become Xemnas. Extracting Terra's heart wouldn't fix this.

...Which would explain why neither Ansem SoD or Xemnas aren’t a lot like Xehanort at all. I’d imagine it must’ve driven Xigbar crazy though. (Good.)

So, what keeps the Dandelions from being total gamebreakers once they're freed is that they are, for the most part, pacifists. This means that they'd just serve the in-universe explanation for where the other players in Multiplayer come from, unless there is an in-universe explanation for them to be more involved in the plot. Additionally, I imagine most of them would hang up their Keyblades to live normal lives after being freed. And to be frank, I wouldn't blame them.

I wouldn’t either given all that the MMO AU puts them through.

As for the Keykids running the Ice Cream shop, they'd both be Dandelions due to being from different Unions and not wanting to have to fight each other. They would not wear their ice cream uniforms at the Dandelion meetings, since they're not on the job, and the ice cream is more of a hobby. They would both wield Sweetstack though, even when off the job. All the Sweetstack Materials would be Ice Cream ingredients. Strelitzia and Mog were their favorite customers.

As for how the fact that they're siblings would be revealed? After you ask them about Ven's whereabouts (which wouldn't be easy seeing as they change what World their located in every day), Black Hair would remark on how surprising it is that they get along despite being in different Unions, while White Hair would bring up that they're twins. Cue the flood of angsty oneshots about them fighting and killing eachother in the Keyblade War until they're revealed to be Dandelions.

As for why they're running an ice cream stand? It was the family business, and they both want to keep their family's legacy arrive. They open up the shop whenever they both fill their Daily Quotas. And I just now realized that I accidentally created two OCs with a cute yet angsty backstory while trying to come up with an excuse for Sweetstack to be in the MMO AU. Although I kinda wish I knew how to draw because I just realized my imagined uniforms for them aren't in the canon game.

Ice cream twins you’ve got me sold I am now invested in these characters.

As for where the Ice Cream Vendors would run their shops on what day? Dwarf Woodlands outside the mines on Monday, Wonderland by the White Rabbit's house on Tuesday, Agrabah's Bizarre on Wednesday, Olympus Coliseum by the stands on Thursday (In the Underworld near the entrance in October), Beast's Castle in the Courtyard on Friday, and Daybreak Town in the park on the Weekend. They'd sell ice cream to the spectators during your matches in Olympus Coliseum, just to give the tournament more flavor

Can we buy ice cream while we watch matches or is it just the NPCs and they’re just there to add more character to the Olympus Coliseum stands and as a cute Easter Egg.

You know, after COM put forth the idea that death was the best possible ending for Repliku and that beings like himself could never be happy because they're not real people, I'm REALLY glad that the future games that remember he existed treated his demise as something tragic and not some kind of "mercy kill". His death always made me so mad because it was ultimately POINTLESS to the plot and a great example of a WASTED character. There's a reason I NEVER go down the same route canon did with him

That’s because it wasn’t really a mercy kill. Repliku shouldn’t have existed, it’s true, but once he did he also didn’t really deserve to die. He deserved a better life than the one he got, and its why the fact that he had to face Riku and die all the more tragic.

You know what, can we just have an AU where Namine stops Riku and his Replica from fighting to the death so that Repliku has the chance to be his own person and go on a journey of self discovery? Although I feel like he'd be relieved if Riku got a Keyblade and he didn't just because that would be one difference between them both. He'd probably also style his hair differently from Riku as part of that "forging my own identity" thing. It would be difficult and painful, but at least he'd be alive.

So I don’t quite have that at my disposal, but:

How do you feel about a 500+ chapter AU in which we get to see Repliku saved on the brink of death and shoved into a completely new universe where he is the only Riku? Because I can supply that for you it’s basically the starting point of one of my favorite fics.

Okay so, in KH3, while Roxas would have grown alongside Sora, Ven would not have aged a day while he was in the Chamber of Waking. This means that Roxas would look older than Ven. Vanitas would also look younger than Sora, due to not aging while his Remnant survived through sheer force of hate. Poor Ven, he's ancient but looks younger than the 3 year old.

This is one of the most hilarious things I have ever heard rip Ven.

I imagine Back Cover would be where all the vitriol that was once directed at Brain would then be redirected at Lauriam. Because once you see a 14-15 year old flashback to how he lost his sight and friends just days after the fact, and witnessed someone murder their closest friend, it's kinda hard to not rethink things like that.

I mean all my hatred towards Blaine if I had any would be immediately redirected towards Lauriam once Strelitzia is dead so I don’t even think I’d need Back Cover to hate him, assuming she’s revealed before Back Cover releases at least.

Laurie would lie about Aced killing Strelitzia before 2.8 released. In Back Cover, the famous Case of Luxury scene would be shown when Ava asks Luxu if he's the traitor, and cut back with the implication that he told Ava what the Master told him. The fun-sized Chirithy Ava squeed over was totally Nightmare Chirithy. Invi and Ira would be fighting during Ava's confrontation we Luxu.

Hey Lauriam don’t blame my son for my daughter’s demise.

Anyways, I’d like that transition more. Tbh I kinda wish we did get to see the Keyblade War unfold. It’s one of the only things I don’t like about BC is that it doesn’t follow X to its conclusion.

Okay so, in the MORNING AU, I imagine that the Mango could continue past KH2 depending on why the Manga ends there. As such there would be a Manga Adaptation AND Novelization of KHX. The novelization would have the default male protagonist, while the Manga would have the default female protagonist, and have her be part of Anguis. They'd also be characterized differently, the novel protagonist being more timid and the Manga protagonist being more snarky.

So yeah, the protagonist of the Manga would have Lauriam and the Keyblade Wielders from the Neoshadow Arc as party members until the Neoshadow Trio become Darklings. She'd leave the party after Lauriam blames her for what happened to their three party members. The Novel protagonist MIGHT be an Ursus Wielder, not sure yet. Aced would terrify both of them, since neither could defeat Ava when she was holding back, and Aced would actually be trying to kill them.

SNARKY FEMALE MANGA PROTAGONIST I AM ALL FOR THIS SHIT.

If they’re part of Ursus, I doubt they’d be afraid of Ursus. If you ask me, I think novel protag should be a member of Leopardus though. Creates good contrast versus Ava, and could create a lot of interesting arcs.

Both would have Medals in the "Toon Medal" deal. The Manga protagonist would have a Power-type Medal while the Novel protagonist would have a Speed-type Medal. The first time we hear either say their names would be when Ephemer is introduced. Neither protagonist would talk much, though the Manga protagonist's thoughts would serve as narration. The first time the Manga protagonist speaks would be to tell off Lauriam at the end of the Neoshadow arc before leaving his Party.

So, the Novel and Manga protagonists would both have Medals in the "Toon Medals" deal. The Manga protagonist would have a Power Medal while the Novel Protagonist would have a Speed Medal (if in Ursus) or a Magic Medal (if in Leopardos), in accordance with the idea that all the Keykids are the type that their Foretellers are strong against. They'd be the closest thing we'd have to Medals based off the Player, though both would be treated as distinct characters.

I think there should be a KHUx Toon Medal deal later on actually, where you can get Player and the five Foretellers, since in Ux they’re dead and could be used as medals.

So, MMO AU 0.2 would be virtually unchanged, save for the more intense version of "The End of a World" cutscene that I'm already forming a new idea for in my head, but that's a story for another day. But there would be one other change. You'd actually be able to see what abilities Aqua has on the difficulty you're playing on. Aqua'd have Treasure Magnet on both Beginner and she and Mickey'd both have it on Critical. There still wouldn't be prize drops in Critical, it's only there to taunt you.

...Wow, that’s cruel. Good thing I don’t play Critical because I’d cry I think.

So, in the MMO AU, starting up Back Cover in 2.8 would play a "spinning heart scene" like in the game. Unlike the games, the little screens would depict moments from past Kingdom Hearts games instead of moments from Back Cover. The music that plays over the spinning heart would be "Ventus". The credits themes would be "Case of Foretellers" and "Cavern of Remembrance". I'd probably keep the cutesy recap opening, just without the annoyingly formatted text layover. That was just BAD.

Actually maybe "The Dream" would be more appropriate than "Ventus". Anyway as for how I'd change "The End of a World" from my original idea would be to have the Keyblade Graveyard get absorbed by Kingdom Hearts. THEN Kingdom Hearts explodes, vaporizing the entire universe save for Luxu who survives by hiding out in the Realm of Darkness before Kingdom Hearts can absorb him. I mean, escaping from that to fulfill his role would be kinda difficult.

Honestly please change the entire intro. Maybe keep some of it but that intro could’ve been done so much better than they actually did.

Wow, honestly poor Luxu. Hiding in the RoD to survive doesn’t sound like it’d be fun.

So, I've lost track of what all I've sent you over the past couple of weeks, but I did have one idea that could be cool: imagine if there had been a movie based off the fall of Radiant Garden. I imagine that Xehanort would start out as the main antagonist until he splits between Ansem and Xemnas, at which point one of them would take over the role. I don't actually have as many ideas here as I do for the MMO part of the MMO AU.

I don’t need as many ideas make it a full length movie collaboration between Disney and Squeenix and I’m sold.

So, Sora would be conspicuously absent during Strelitzia's solo game as well as during the Epilogue DLC is that for the final phase of the final battle against Xehanort, Sora would trap himself and Xehanort within Kingdom Hearts. While the final clash would only be about as long as the battle against Xemnas' final form, outside of Kingdom Hearts, an entire year would pass during that duel. Fortunately, Sora would escape as soon as Xehanort is defeated, unscathed save for losing his powers again.

Damn...Poor RIku and Kairi. THey’d probably be searching for ways to rescue Sora the entire time instead of doing anything involving the other characters.

I kinda can't help but notice something mildly amusing about the MMO version of Back Cover. Mickey Mouse (or rather, a holographic double of him) is basically a herald of the apocalypse. I mean, his appearance is what tells the Foretellers that the people in the Book of Prophecy's Holo Worlds can leak out into the real world, explaining where the Heartless came from. Lauriam and Ventus just confuse them, because they KNOW they're not holograms.

GUYS THE WORLD IS ENDING CAN’T YOU TELL IT’S BECAUSE OF MICKEY FREAKING MOUSE. XD

So yeah, Invi basically accuses each of the other 4 Foretellers of being the traitor throughout MMO!BC. First she accuses Aced when he tries to kill her for talking Gula out of their alliance. Then she assumes it's Gula upon learning that Ira thinks that's the case. Then she accuses Ava upon learning about the Dandelions. Then, upon learning of Aced's true role, decides that IRA must be the traitor. The fact that Ira intends to wipe out everyone who fights in the Keyblade War doesn't help.

Okay so, Invi is kinda like Aqua in her devotion to the MoM, save for the fact that she LITERALLY worships him. That's kind of why her last words implied she was okay with the World ending, she had pieced together that the MoM WANTED the apocalypse to happen, and who is she to defy his will? The MoM is, amused by her worship of him, and he probably could have told her his true goals without her lifting a finger to stop him. It's Ava he's worried about.

So yeah, the reason he's so uncharacteristically serious around Ava is because he needs her to get Ven and Lauriam into the Unchained State. He needs Xehanort's plans to end a specific way in order for his eye that he placed in his Keyblade to end up in Kingdom Hearts, while Xehanort needs to drop Ventus off at the Land of Departure to notice the darkness in Terra's heart. Ava and factors he knows he can't control (the Gazing Eye doesn't see everything), could make everything fall apart

You know given how Invi was meant to invoke appearances related to Aqua with color scheme the fact that she parallels Aqua is really fitting.

Him being super serious around Ava makes sense if she’s the biggest threat though. Taking her more seriously means she’s less likely to mess things up for him.