#disney worlds in kingdom hearts

[hollowwhisperings]

KH4 Spec: Disney Worlds & Emotional Vulnerability (for boys)

A key part of any Kingdom Hearts game is the use of Disney (& Pixar!) films as Microcosms to the greater Macrocosm of said game (& often the Series as a whole). The Disney Worlds act as easily recognisable Settings, toyboxes if you will, to convey concepts otherwise difficult to "fit" within the limitations of the JRPG genre.

(even then, KH does tend to rely on Monologue Heavy Cutscenes & Collectible Texts to direct players toward All Those Emotions & Reactions That Are Happening)

Societal Preconceptions of what stories can be told with a Young Male Protagonist actively sabotage the KH series in its efforts to show the emotional experiences of its young male characters: Sora needs the Framework of a Disney Princess in order to express and recognise concepts traditionally Denied to his gender. Players need Very Explicit Parallels and Dialogue, often repeated & rephrased across several Worlds, just to prevent their Dismissing Emotional Text (let alone Subtext) out of hand because "JRPGs/Action Heroes/Boys don't feel Scared/Sad/Insecure".

Emotional Depth is not "masculine", especially for Male Protagonists and Male Antagonists because "Feelings" are "feminine".

KH actively subverts this false perception of [How Brains Work] by very pointedly removing its "Token Girl" from the most Emotional & Introspective moments in the series.

Kairi's whole PURPOSE, in the greater scope of the KH series narrative, is to "Not Be There" when she "should" be: when Sora feels overwhelmed by the enormity of his quests or feels scared of Failure, it is never Kairi who magically pops by to do the Emotional Heavylifting in Sora's Stead. Sometimes Sora is able to articulate his feelings by recognising them in the Stories of the Disney characters (most of them Female) but as "Story" characters, the emotions and memories that are being Expressed are, by default, those of our Male Protagonists (Sora & Riku). The Disney Worlds act as framing devices for a Young person struggling to articulate whst they Feel & for a Male Protagonist to Recognise his own emotions even as his "own" World (the society he grew up in, the societies of We Players) has preconditioned Sora to "grow out" of Feeling emotions, let alone Expressing them.

Kairi the UnCharacter

Kairi's function within the greater narrative of KH ("the Coming of Age of a young boy named Sora") is to Be Female and to Not Be Where She Is "Supposed" To Be.

In most works with Male Protagonists, especially those of the Shōnen or action genres and ESPECIALLY in the videogame medium, a "Token Girl" functions as an Emotional Outlet for the Male Characters.

Has the (male) Protagonist just experienced something Frightening, suffered Loss or become Lost after the Peacefup Setting of the game's Tutorial?

The Token Girl will be there to Recognise and Express feelings of "something sad and scary" having happened to the Protagonist, of how "shaken and out of sorts" the Protagonist must be. The Token Girl will then act as an Outlet for these emotions, a Comfortable Vehicle to Focus on (to "redirect" the negative emotions to masculine "action") via becoming Someone To Protect or Someone To Impress. Or, if the Token Female is Dead By Tutorial, grief for "Her" is an Acceptable Emotion... to then be directed to the "more acceptable" method for dealing with Males Having Emotions via Monologues To The Setting ("talking at the scenery") or Promises To The Dead.

These emotions are, subsequently, Never Brought Up Again except as Character Motives or within the "acceptable" outlet of a Romantic Sideplot or an Epilogue Montage/Cutscenes. Sometimes games will use character commentaries in item descriptions or story logs to Remember The Plot Device but since these Expressions of Emotion are hidden within optional reading, players & the game's cast can Dodge any further acknowledgement of Having Feelings or anything resembling [Emotional Labour].

Kairi, the "Token Girl" of KH1, exists to "not exist": as the Designated Female in the lives of Sora and Riku, Kairi's absence is Glaring and, for some, Uncomfortable.

When Sora is at his lowest, when he feels scared and overwhelmed... Kairi is Not There to do his [Emotional Labour] for him. When Sora feels insecure or has a sudden understanding about himself or his relatio ships with others... Kairi is Not There to be Sora's ("Acceptably Female") Emotional Outlet. When Sora feels inspired or moved by his experiences... Kairi is Not There to say Sora's emotions for him, she is Not There for him to confide in, Not There to serve as a "purpose" for Sora "Having An Emotion".

Sora is a Very Emotional character: he is in a Coming of Age Journey, he is constantly put into the emotional stories of Disney films, and emotional introspection is a fundamental component of his setting's [combat mechanics]. Sora spends most of his games with Disney characters as his companions, his mentors, his confidants: when each KH game has its Emotional Climax, removed from the Disney settings & characters who had subconsciously prepared Sora (& players)... Kairi is Not There.

The emotions in Sora's Story are HIS emotions: his to experience, his to recognise in Others, his to express and articulate.

And, when removed from the comforting framework of Disney, who does Sora share his emotions be they positive or negative?

Riku, the OTHER Male Protagonist.

Kairi is Not There for Riku's emotional experiences either. Kairi, whose "purpose" in most works is to be Designated & Acceptably Female Emotional Outlet, is Not There. When Kairi is conveniently nearby either boy when they have an Emotional Revelation... Kairi is left in the background. The KH games COULD include Kairi, the Designated Female most "convenient" for its Male Protagonists to Emote At... yet, at every opportunity, Kairi is Not There. Kairi Not Being There is Deliberate, it is Pointed: it is the KH series saying "here is where you expect Emotions to come from & go to" and "we will not be doing that".

Kairi is Conveniently Female so that the KH series can Actively NOT USE THAT CONVENIENCE: Sora's Coming of Age Journey is emotional, as all such stories are, and it is SORA'S. Sora's to feel, Sora's to act upon, Sora's to recognise through Disney Parallels, Sora's to come to terms with, Sora's to express to whomever Sora most wants to express them to.

Now that the KH series has "retired" Kairi from her Role as "Convenient Female We Actively Never Use For Convenience", she might be allowed to have an opinion and perhaps even Have A Personality! I fear, however, that Players will need even more very pointed instances of Kairi Being There & Female and how Pointedly Unused she is when Sora needs to do something "feminine"!

Because KH is about deconstructing the "gender" of emotions: it is about exploring how feelings affect and influence our memories, our behaviour. How our identities, our relationships, require us to engage with our emotions. How refusing or ignoring what we feel leads to pain, isolation and sometimes tragedy. How each generation's relationships with emotional expression affects the generations that follow them, shaped by beliefs of predetermined suffering: how younger generations, if given the tools and context for such trauma-shaped beliefs, can show us all that these cycles of suffering are not inevitable or destined. That it takes all of us engaging with our emotions honestly, respecting each other's emotions as being as important to them as yours are to yourself... and, together, we can share our emotions (our Hearts) and find grounds for reconciliation (Connection). How we can only become stronger by embracing our ability to "feel" and by respecting how important and natural emotions are to us all. Emotions ("hearts") and the tools we use to understand them (stories, friendship, introspection) are not solely "allowed" to "children", to females or within the bounds of romance. Emotions are human and limiting who is "allowed" to express them or how they "should" be expressed? That harms us all. So open your hearts, connect with the hearts of others, and heal the hurts we have done unto ourselves & each other.

[goldensunset]

when people refer to canon story-relevant kingdom hearts games as ‘spinoffs’ it makes me sad not only for the obvious reasons i always say but also bc like man i WISH this series had spinoffs. imagine what they could do if they had permission from nomura to truly go off the rails and ignore the greater canon for a second and just do some fun whimsical plotless thing in an alternate universe. imagine a fishing/boating game on destiny islands. kh fighting game. it is an injustice that we have been deprived of kingdom karts. can anyone hear me

[gummi-ships]

World themed command menus in Kingdom Hearts 2

[corfidbizna]

KHIII Chapter 34 (Eng): https://www.mediafire.com/file/chzljkfluz4zcey/KH3_Ch34.zip/file Chapter List

Sora's missed a few memos.

[kmtapia-art]

[ashlaf99]

A Princess with a Heart of Pure Light

Pics taken by my friend!

I give these updated photos of my Kairi cosplay from KH3 that we got at Animal Kingdom on Pandora! I fully believe that Kairi would go to different worlds and universes to find Sora 🫶🏻

Please tell me what you think!

[lilyginnyblackv2]

So, Luca and Alberto are basically confirmed canon.

(Official art above of Luca and Alberto kissing, cuddling, and holding each other. The art is by Kenna Jean Harris, a co-director at Pixar and the story lead on Luca). Below:

Along with the artwork of Luca and Alberto kissing under an umbrella we get this bit of info: "i had a whole sequence in mind of Luca and Alberto reuniting for four summers in a row, culminating in a kiss."

Strange World has an official, openly gay teen character and shows him having a crush and being in an actual relationship...

So, maybe...

Just saying, Disney and SE...You could just...allow the series to go there.

[writebackatya]

I have a small pin collection, but I just HAD to get these

[mzminola]

Keyblade wielders Dick Grayson & Cassandra Cain.

Princess of Heart Tim Drake.

[glitteringstardust]

♡ Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade at the Magic Kingdom (2023)

[minijenn]

Let It Go/Love Is An Open Door

Finally, the cover for my favorite Disney world in all of Keys to the Kingdom! I saved the best for last with this one (though this isn't the last one of these world covers I'm gonna do... :3). But yeah, I'm still so proud of the Frozen chapters, because not only did I actually make Frozen good as a Disney world (lookin at you, KH3 T_T) but I also was able to tie in some really strong themes and explore some really fun dynamics, especially the friendship between Elsa and Sora. Boy collects supportive older sibling/parental figures in Keys like crazy, man I love it.

[hollowwhisperings]

How Unreality Could Expand the KH Multiverse: KH4

I've seen a lot of fans talk about Quadratum as a FF-inspired setting, as a tool for narrative existentialism, as a "pitstop" before returning to Disney Crossovers & the Foretellers Plotline.

But... KH4 isn't "just" set in Quadratum. It will feature "layers of reality", likelythrough dreams and datascapes, but the setting of KH4 is not just Quadratum: it's a Second Reality, a [universe] of "Fiction".

The KH series has ALWAYS used its ability to include & reference the settings it can "crossover" with: while I don't think 'Unreality' will have Disney Worlds for Sora (or Riku) to literally travel to via Gummi Ship... I DO think that Unreality or 'Quadratum' will have Other Worlds within it, Worlds that our protagonists can travel to & learn from.

They just won't be Disney ones: they'll be Square Enix ones.

But, uh, Disney Worlds will feature in KH4 too. Not only through the universe traversed by the "Guardians of Light" (King Mickey might finally be playable outside Dying!) but hrough books, dreams, datascapea and "near-death experiences" in Unreality/Quadratum.

Square Enix's Final Fantasy series is referenced throughout the KH series, largely through game mechanics and the odd character cameo but a "Final Fantasy" or "Square Enix" World has not yet appeared. Until Quadratum.

Now, forgive my limited knowledge of Square Enix titles outside KH but I do recall that the FF games have crossed over with each other before, for the purposes of a cosmic conflict between the forces of "Good"[/Light/order?] and "Evil"[/Darkness/chaos]: while some characters from the Dissidia FF games have already been "established" as living in the "Disney" side of Reality, is it not Plausible that their "fictional" counterparts could reappeat, now in their "original" settings?

Will KH4 allow its players to meet "Squall" as the Unreality Counterpart to Radiant Garden's "Leon"? What FF games could act as Worlds for Sora to learn from, with themes that share or expand on those of the Disney Worlds? I genuinely do not know and I am very interested to find out.

[dullahandyke]

one thing i love about kh 'family tree' diagrams is it rlly drives home how little of the confusing 'who is who and there's two copies of this guy' stuff is related to family, which is i feel where a lot of that stuff comes from in other stories. you don't have a long lost dad, you've been possessed by this old guy. oops! there's no family legacy but you ARE a clone so gl with that! bbs eraqus situation obviously exists but even then it's not blood ties. the fact that blood ties almost universally mean fuck all is actually rlly endearing to me

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 3 - The Caribbean

[xiiiwayfinders]

And if I said kh3 had the best Disney worlds?

[robotsafari]

“I’ve been alone so long that having someone else around is a little… overwhelming.”

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO MY FAVORITE INVERSE DUO MOMENT