#so 1. that plotline is not something we wanted from our goofy adventure of the week show

[wavebiders]

what nobody warns you about when it comes to watching Xena is that even though it is very good when it's bad it's BAD bad

[craftypeaceturtle]

Sanders Sides- My True Identity Analysis

General:

Being honest, there’s like nothing to really analyse here but there were a few lines and characters that I felt really contrasted with later episodes. Also, Thomas seems like the kinda guy who would make references to the first few episodes to further a plot point. So I wanted to give this a go! 

The first line that kinda caught my attention was this (excuse the shitty quality):

The reason why he’s doing this style of content is to answer the question of “do I really know myself as well as I should?” which I think rings true for the entire series! Especially more recent episodes, they’re still tackling issues about figuring yourself out (e.g am I a good person?) and I dunno… I just feel like it’s cute that the series, even in the absolute beginning when it wasn’t going to be a series, has kept the same aim throughout. 

Along that line of thinking as well, the vague basic style of this episode and even the most recent still hold the exact same format. In this one, Thomas asks the sides a series of questions (how do I fit into romance? What impact do I want to make? etc). The other episodes have been a lot more focused on one issue/question and therefore give more in-depth answers. But ultimately the series remains the same as a question starting from a inner conflict that’s then resolved over the episode.

 One thing that really jumped out at me is just how lovely all the sides are in the first episode. Like they are delightful!!! Such lovely young gentlemen!!! They are so loving and comforting to Thomas which I feel is completely lost as the series progresses. An example:

As the series progresses, the flaws of each character is highlighted more and more. That alongside the fact that the sides are all dealing with their own issues/trauma means that this sentiment is kinda lost. But I see why this was kinda needed. If the characters remained over loving and praised Thomas then a lot of the conflicts and issues just wouldn’t happen. There would be no plotlines if the sides just mindlessly complimented and agreed with Thomas’ actions. But this is a line/idea that I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas referred to later on. The stark contrast between the loving sides here and the frustrated sides later is too good to not at least mention in passing! It could be used to link to the ideas that when we’re younger we think more highly of ourselves because we're not yet aware of certain flaws or even our idea of self. I dunno I just love this contrast!

Characters:

Logic- Okay this is the most different characterisation of them all. There’s not much to say because so much of his character is later rewritten so even the contrast isn’t fun to point out as you know it’s just unintentional. Logic is incredibly goofy- referring to a class despite there being none and the goofy ‘hi’ when seeing Creativity to name a few examples. This is also the most smiley and happy I think we’ll ever see Logic! 

Creativity/Princey- He is optimistic and his criticism of Thomas is that he isn't adventurous enough, something that remains later on. Most of his character is spent being referring to through romantic questions which is kinda seen later on in the Moving On episodes. Clearly there’s a connection between Creativity and romance. His characterisation feels largely the same but obviously with the later Creativity being more developed. 

Morality- He’s weirdly... clueless. Like scarily clueless. He doesn’t know Thomas’ name and doesn’t know basic questions such as where do babies come from. It makes him seem like an idiot but this is later written to be more nuanced. Here it’s just supposed to be funny but the not knowing his name thing just makes him seem really... off I guess? Him being the ‘dad’ character is explained that morality is often based on the morality of your own parents first and more knowledge is built off that foundation. It presents him more as a general father figure rather than the father of the other sides. 

Anxiety- While not in this video, there’s so much dialogue that revolves around Anxiety that it makes sense why Logic later says that despite not always being there his presence was always felt. Just felt like I needed to state that explicitly! 

Theories

There’s obviously not many theories that rely on evidence from this early on in the series but there’s a few points that need to be made! 

1) It’s said VERY explicitly that this is taking place in Thomas’ head. I’ve seen a few posts (rare but they are there) that theorise that the sides do have a physical presence but Thomas makes certain that these are his representations of his identity rather than a mental disorder or some weird hallucination. 

2) It’s not really a theory and more just fanon but the idea that Anxiety used to be Fear can be seen here. The sides all list their fears (Morality- spiders, Creativity- rejection and Logic- what's at the bottom of the ocean) and so the emphasis of Morality’s fear of spiders and Anxiety’s room featuring spiders does seem kinda intentional. Like kinda… It’s a weak point but I do think it’s interesting that Thomas had an episode where these facts were established at the same time (Accepting Anxiety). Also I feel like these fears could be a fun reference used later in the series... or maybe I’m putting too much emphasis this early on I dunno!

Note: At the end of the day I’m aware no one is asking for an analysis this early on in the series but being new to the fandom, I kinda want this sort of post to refer to. To get a basic idea of theories and fanon and when they were all established. Just something to read alongside watching the episode. Any points and theories this early on I think are kinda useless because Thomas was yet to realise this was going to be a series let alone start planning out character arcs. And by the time he did realise this, he was writing/ planning to rewrite a lot of these personalities. Also this video is SHORT! Like there’s not a whole lot that can be established in a five minute video... But if you’re reading this then thanks for taking the time to read this haha, I don’t think it was worth your time! I plan to do this for each episode but I imagine my newness to this fandom will really shine through when trying to tackle the monster of the newer episodes so if you have any other points you’d like to discuss then please do! I want this to be a discussion... 

[first-interplanar-bank]

Kingdom Hearts III Pt. 1

So, I'm laying in bed trying to sleep. But I guess my brain decided I haven't whined about Kingdom Hearts III to enough people. This is my one and only warning, if you don't want to hear some random loser's thoughts on the game, now is a good time to leave.

Alright, let’s start at the beginning. I would just like to state for the record that my expectations going into this were low.

Opening Cutscene

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this. It’s more or less like every other Kingdom Hearts opening, except with far more Skrillex than I would ever care to have. In any situation. But especially in Kingdom Hearts.

1st World - Olympus

After the opening, you’re sent through the usual yada yada in the land of awakening, or whatever it’s actually called. I can never remember. Anyway, Now we join Sora and the squad right where Dream Drop Distance left us. Kind of a strange place to start, considering it establishes the precedent that this $60 standalone game now needs to recap a whole second game without being too heavy handed about it in order to be well written. But oh no! Sora has lost all his powers in a Nort related incident. Whatever shall he and the squad do? Good thing they saw Herc lose his powers back in Kingdom Hearts II. 

Off we go to Olympus!.... As we’re greeted by a pseudo-title card that says “Kingdom Hearts II.9″. The crew lands on Olympus proper and proceed to get mildly sassed by Hades, as per usual. So we learn that the world is more or less going to follow a plotline similar to the original Hercules Movie plotline, seems like a plan, since they hadn’t done that in the first two games, or the more than a baker’s dozen spinoff-sequels. So we run around Olympus, knowing Hades is up to something, but Sora needs to find Herc to learn the one weird trick that will give him his powers back. We save Thebes, climb Olympus, fight the rock titan, and at the end we find ourselves on top of Olympus! But Hades is already most of the way through his plot to best the Olympians. But if we can beat one titan, why not three more? Ice wind and lava are no match for Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Herc. After beating the titans into next week, Hades wouldn’t stand a chance, so we don't even fight him. He makes a great meta joke about this plot taking 18 years to come to fruition. I laughed, it’s funny. After all this, we learn that Herc got his powers back by following his heart. Cliché, but the series has made us grow to expect that from it. Acceptable.

Now we return to the Gummi ship. Oh, wait, did I mention that Maleficent and Pete also found their way to Olympus in search of a black box? I did not. Well, remember that, it’s going to be important. (it’s really not, I’m being super sarcastic. My medium betrays my intention) On to the next world!

World #2 - Toy Story

Hey look at us! We’re toys!!!! I actually really like the story and the hook that they present us with here; turns out most of the other toys, people, and everything in between have disappeared. Buzz and Woody, along with their pals have been waiting in Andy’s room for Andy to finally return to them. It takes Sora showing up to convince these guys to tag along to try and find out what happened. The adventure takes the toy crew to a nearby toy store, where the heartless follow. This leads to the only obvious conclusion, Mecha Fights! It’s awesome. So after Mecha fighting some heartless and rescuing the more defenseless friends of Woody and Buzz, you see the face of true terror.

That. The most terrifying thing I have ever seen. You defeat the heartless doll, but it will never be defeated in your nightmares. Turns out, Organization XIII is here on some business. Of course. So you go to confront Young Xehanort (AKA Xehanort, Punk Ass Bitch edition) from Dream Drop Distance not knowing what you’re getting into. He does some heart magic to turn Buzz against the rest of us. Also, he knock Sora into a different video game so this can happen. When Sora re-emerges, Buzz is gone, and you gotta rescue him. You succeed, Xehanort claims he hasn’t been thwarted. Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toys agree that they’re going to go wait things out back in Andy’s room, and never do this again. The End. I really didn’t know what to do with the end bit there. This was one of the worlds I enjoyed more so I didn't have much to say aside from recapping it.

3. Tangled World

(When I was going over all this in my head ,I literally forgot this world for a good five minutes.) Ah, Tangled, a movie that could obviously only be improved by the inclusion of Donald Duck. I jest, but seriously. We arrive in the Kingdom of Corona, where naturally, the dashing rogue, Flynn Rider, is in duress. Heartless made it here before we did. rude. We save Flynn and find our way to Repunzel’s tower. Before Sora and co. arrive, we get to see a loving recreation of Repunzel having Flynn tied to a chair. Though this time Flynn doesn’t just volunteer his services, he signs Sora Donald and Goofy up for the journey. After ironing out the details, the crew leaves the tower and heads toward the kingdom for the festival. We get to see Repunzel discover the world. She’s torn. She’s happy, she’s sad, she’s bewildered, she’s mortified, Goofy is there. Just how I remember it. Somewhere along the road, Sora’s squad gets separated from Repunzel and her bae, Zachary Levi.

While separated, Sora meets Mother Gothel, which as the player we just saw her leave an unscheduled meeting with Organization XIII. Sora can’t tell her where Repunzel is, so she leaves in a huff. Sora squad finally catches up to the lovey-dovey duo as we close in on the kingdom proper. We make it to the kingdom and are greeted by a wonderful... quick-time dancing minigame. We kick that minigames ass and time flashes forward to the night, when the festival is happening! Woohoo, excitement! We proceed to watch a 10-minute clip straight from the movie, except Ron Perlman has been replaced by Marluxia and some heartless. Sora and his gang arrive just in time to see Repunzel being whisked away back to the tower by Mother Gothel. But, it’s too early to save the day and Marluxia pops out and tells Sora to sleep. Sora winks, finger guns, and collapses to the ground like a sack of wet potatoes. Marluxia may have mentioned something about seven new hearts of light first, but whatever, that’s only plot relevant. When Sora stops cat napping, Flynn is ready to save Repunzel! The crew makes it to the tower in time for Flynn Rider to get stabbed and to see the moving scene with him probably dying and Repunzel necromancing him. But lo and behold! This is Kingdom Hearts! When Mother Gothel fell out the tower window, she gets Heartlessed by Marluxia. You kill her a second time. The End, Happily ever after.

Number 4 - Twilight Town

Uh, yeah. Something about Roxas.

 Hayner, Pence, and Olette (I looked it up, you legally have to order their names that way) try to remember something that only vaguely happened to them in another life they don’t remember happening at all. I’m really not sure I remember anything else relevant happening here at all?

That’ll wrap up part 1. I think I’ve gotten enough of this out to finally sleep. Hell, if people enjoy it I may even continue it. It turned into more of a summary than I expected but I think most of my thoughts on the game spring to life in the last two thirds. Anywho. Hope you enjoyed.