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Babe wake up! The theatrical and streaming release dates for the new Benoit Blanc film “Wake Up Dead Man” Just dropped

Link to post also another source

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Please please help Uncle Tigger find a home! We don't have a lot of time.

Urgent help needed, diabetic kitty, I can drive several hours from Tulsa. I will try to find a way to get him to you. We have until the end of September.

Look at this man! Skrunkly, well-loved, full of so so so much love and devotion. Please help me find him a home. I can't keep him more than a month, and after that, he will need to be put to sleep.

I will drive him out to you. I can go as far as 5 hours if you want to come meet me, and maybe try to get a caravan going if you're further.

Tigger's people's living situation changed for the worse and they are now in a really unsafe unsanitary house, and also cannot afford to keep up with his diabetes meds. They were going to have to euthanize because of it but I agreed to take him and try to find him a home. To give him a chance. This cat raised their youngest from an infant, was in the crib with him. He has given this world and his humans everything he has. They are absolutely devastated to part with him, but they have to.

He is super sweet and friendly, okay with dogs, okay with other cats, VERY VERY okay with kids. He gives love bites, but they are a bit too hard if you let him keep going, so he will need to be taught not to do that. More than that I cannot say. I don't know him super well but he is sweet. He mostly just wants human contact and love.

He is about 12, diabetic, and untreated for it. I have put him on diabetic food and am going to see about Senvelgo for a medication. He is neutered. He is a big ol' fatty, a real chungus. I think he has a respiratory infection, which I did not notice until after he saw the vet yesterday. I don't know that he might have other issues. I can't give any guarantees. He will need medical care to stabilize him and a clean safe home where he can live out his senior years.

Please, please help! He's in my back room right now and can't be allowed out because he needs to be quarantined. It's bare bones in there as we were clearing it out to repair the wall from some storm damage, and so he's alone a lot. He is lonely. He is used to TONS of love.

I can't keep him. I don't have the money to keep up with his meds or the ability to get him to the vet appointments he will need, or the ability to care for a fhronically ill cat right now. And he looks so damn much like a cat I had to have put down very suddenly and tragically last year that it is very painful for me to spend as much time with him as he needs. I keep crying. He is breaking my heart in every way.

Local shelters are stuffed and can't take a chronically ill older cat, so I'm stuck doing this on my own.

I know I keep saying please, but PLEASE. Tigger has given humans so much. He could have a lot of good time left!

Please PM me if you can help!

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An Obnoxiously Long Post About Riku, His Journey, Disney Villains, and Queer Coding

WARNING: This post turned out WAY WAY WAY longer than I had planned it to be. But I hope you all enjoy reading this MASSIVE post and kudos to anyone who actually gets to the end. PLEASE feel free to engage with this post - add your own thoughts, opinions, and comments on this whole topic in a reblog/tags or even in the comment section. Thank you all for reading this! <3

Something that I feel isn't mentioned as much as it should be, in regards to Riku being queer-coded and viewed as gay, is that a vast majority of Disney villains are queer-coded and Riku ends up joining forces with them in KH1 (and then you have Riku being equated to Elsa in KH3, a character who is placed in a more antagonistic role like Riku was in KH1). I feel like, because the discussion and topic of many of the Disney villains being queer-coded is so commonplace and has been talked about so often, it's hasn't really been properly discussed in regards to Riku and what it really means that Riku was grouped in with these Disney villains in KH1.

I'm going to do a breakdown of the Disney villains found in KH1 and what aspects of their characters lean into queer-coding and queer readings (even if the characters themselves may not be queer-coded).

Ursula: A character who's real life inspiration was the drag queen, Divine:

Enough said, I feel. Like, I don't think I really need to elaborate more here. Though, I guess I could mention that with basically all of the Disney villain queer-coding, you have these characters expressing traits that are often equated with the opposite sex and opposite gender presentation. These associations have been connected to villainy via queer-coding and specifically, in large part, due to the Hayes Code, which is where queer-coding largely stems from.

I have more I'm going to say about all of that more towards the end of this post. For now, let's move on.

Hook: Hook is a pirate. They are often known for and thought of as being against the societal norms. Here is an interesting bit on relationships (seamanships) between pirates/buccaneers:

Alexandre Exquemelin wrote about the custom of pairs of sailors entering into economic agreements.[3] Though most often interpreted as a platonic form of mutual insurance, some historians have compared matelotage to same-sex marriage or domestic partnership.[4][5]B. R. Burg argued in Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition (1995) that in the male-dominated world of piracy, homosexuality was common.[4] A union such as matelotage may have acted as a manner of validating relationships that would otherwise have been considered against contemporary societal norms.[4] Another allusion to matelotage's significance was the disapproval it was shown by colonial authorities. Burg's conclusions and research methods are not accepted by most pirate historians.[3]Hans Turley, who also wrote on pirates and homosexual unions, said "the evidence for piratical sodomy is so sparse as to be almost nonexistent."[5] It is likely though that same-sex encounters were more accepted among buccaneers than in the Royal Navy, based on the lack of pirate articles against homosexuality.[3]

From the Wikipedia article on Matelotage.

Then, of course, you have the live action Hook movie where Dustin Hoffman specifically portrays Hook as a gay man and as him and Smee being a gay couple :

In an interview with "Playboy" in 2004, Dustin Hoffman recalled his "aha!" moment with Bob Hoskins about their characters being gay. They decided to play their characters as "a couple of old queens" because they felt J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan's creator, had created them that way. "Bob and I were rehearsing and suddenly we looked at each other and realized it at the same time. We said, 'These guys are gay...' and it was fun. Suddenly, we rehearsed it that way, 'Get over here, Smee. Give me a foot massage.' We went to Spielberg, and he said, 'This is a kids' movie.' Suddenly, it made all the sense in the world. They were really good friends. They lived on a ship. They were devoted to each other."

From Hook's IMDB Trivia section.

For any Kingdom Hearts fans out there who have never seen the Hook movie, it is incredibly obvious that Hook and Smee are being interpreted and played as a queer couple:

This depiction of Hook, like any depiction of a well known character with various iterations, was likely influenced and based off of previous versions and iterations of Hook before it (including the animated Disney version, I'm sure).

Hades: First off, I mean, Greek mythology, am I right? In general it tends to be rather queer, especially in regards to the Gods and Goddess in a "generally speaking" kind of way.

I found a great article that talks about Hades and the queer-coding and presentation of his character. It largely talks about the linguistic aspects, while also referencing other studies and write-ups that were done on the visually queer aspects of Hades character:

A previous study by Li-Vollmer and LaPointe (2003) points out that Hades is already represented visually as gender-queer (for an overview of the field of queer linguistics, see Maree, 2015), with his relatively delicate facial features, darkly coloured eyelids (giving him the appearance of wearing makeup), slender hands and long robes. On top of this, they pointed out that certain behaviours Hades engages in emphasise his stereotypical femininity, from his general passivity (using his minions, Pain and Panic, or his indentured servant, Meg, to do his dirty work) to smaller mannerisms such as lifting his little finger when drinking. To determine whether Hades’ dialogue complements this feminised visual presentation, I look at all scenes in which Hades has a speaking role of two or more lines (see timecodes and a brief description of each excerpt below). Within these, I examine both the more obvious elements of Hades’ speech and the subtler features of stereotypically feminine language he uses.   

I definitely suggest giving the full article a read, here.

Jafar: For me, personally, I don't think that Jafar, the actual character, is gay, but I do think that there is still a lot of unintentional queer-coding aspects to the character.

Turning our attention to Disney now, two notable, queerly-coded villains include Jafar and Scar. Both were animated by Andreas Deja, who himself was gay. This led many to believe that Jafar and Scar were based on him, something that Deja himself has denied. Deja claimed that Jafar’s appearance was based on Conrad Veidt. Jafar’s voice actor, Jonathan Freeman, also claimed that his work was inspired by Vincent Price and Boris Karloff. Both latter actors were famous for their villainous roles. Although Jafar does possess stereotypical camp mannerisms, throughout the film he is motivated by a potential marriage to Jasmine. This might complicate things, and based on Deja’s comments, perhaps means that Jafar has not been queer coded. Maybe it is our perception that has foisted this upon him.

The above is an excerpt from a write up on gender queerness and villainy in animation. I do think an interesting thing to note about the above though is that Vincent Price was bisexual (or very likely bisexual). So, you know, who's to say that Jafar isn't bisexual? I feel that could explain some of the disconnect that might be going on there as well.

Finally, we have both Oogie Boogie and Maleficent. Neither one is necessarily a queer coded Disney villain. But both can be related to general queerness, in the sense of existing outside of the stereotypical, heteronormative or even just the general societal expectations. The Nightmare Before Christmas is quite well known and mainstream in some regards, but its a series (like most of Tim Burton movies) that tend to appeal more to alternative, counter culture individuals. Like, (while I'm sure there may be some people out there that this applies to, generally speaking) the type of person that watches Hallmark Christmas movies usually isn't also the type to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas for the Christmas season as well, you know.

As for Maleficent, she's a witch. Witches have always been associated with being on the fringes of society and have been subjected to other-ing and seeped in feminist, occult, queerness, and so forth.

Kingdom Hearts 1 Riku is quite interesting in regards to villainy, queer-coding, and Disney. When I was discussing older Disney villains (the ones found on the Council that Riku became a part of) the main thing often noted is how their appearances, movements, speech patterns, etc. are often equated in some way to the opposite gender, this was perceived as "not normal", and also equated with being bad. The queerness of the Disney villains were written to be obvious and apparent to non-queer fans and watchers. It goes back to the Hayes Code, right, all of these visual and audio indicators transmitted these (negative) coded readings of the characters to the audience so that even non-queer watchers could understand the implications.

Riku lacks all of that.

While, yes, Riku does have the standard JRPG/anime boy pretty face bit going on, his appearance, how he speaks (both in English and Japanese, where he uses 俺 - ore, a very masculine first person pronoun), and just his general, overall persona is very masculine. And, I honestly think this is why a lot of dudebro KH guys insist on a "Chad Riku" reading of the character (I feel this could apply to Sora as well, but that's a different post, lol).

Riku's queer-coded-ness is different from the old school Disney villain queer-coding. It's a coding that speaks very specifically to actual queer fans of the series (likely unintentionally, but this is still something worth noting) and it isn't a stagnant, unchanging kind of queer-coding either.

All of this is something that we specifically saw a lot of queer KH fans pick up on instantly. And, in more recent years, with more visible depictions of more nuanced villain, antagonist, and protagonist based queer characters, we are seeing more non-queer people picking up on the queer reading of Riku as well. But, at his core, his queer-coding is still one that queer fans tend to pick up on quicker and more easily, and his queer journey is one that a lot of queer KH fans can relate to a lot.

It's in his desire to see other worlds because the island is just "too small" and its in the way his character is a jealous, little gay mess in KH1 that really speaks to queer fans of Riku and queer fans understanding Riku in a very fundamental way, rather than in a more appearance and presentation based way. It's a sort of queer-coding the resides in a very queer experience, rather than queer performance (physical appearances, ways of talking, ways of holding the body, etc.) of past Disney villains.

Riku ends up getting taken in by this heavily queer coded group of Disney villains, largely because Maleficent seemingly appeared to listen to him and understand him in a way. She was a parental figure that he seemed to be lacking.

This is a struggle that a lot of queer folks can relate to as well. Especially when compared to the easy stability that Sora gets from Donald and Goofy almost instantly (and which seems to be implied with his home life back on DI as well - we see Sora's warm room filled with lot of toys, clothes, and other necessities, and we hear his mother calling him down for dinner - implying a stable household).

With Riku, in game we see that he is already at the play island and he mentions to Sora that they might not see their parents again (father and mother), but this isn't shown to be a deal breaker for Riku in any way. There is also the KH manga (which isn't canon), but does give us this image:

It's really the only indicator we have at all of Riku's living situation (in the games we've seen Sora's home and heard his mom and with Kairi we've seen her grandmother and know she lives with the Mayor upon arriving on DI), but we don't really have anything regarding family for Riku, except for this manga image really. So, I use this image to headcanon that Riku comes from a monetarily rich family, but emotionally distant and/or emotionally bankrupt family. Adding to his feelings of isolation.

Also, quite interestingly, outside of Maleficent, Riku has the most interaction and engagement with Hook in KH1. The queer-coded male villain in the Council of Villains in KH1. It's basically a sass-off with those two. It's also in Neverland that we get this moment (though this actual cutscene is depicted/shown to us in Re:coded).

Meanwhile, with Sora, we are shown him relating and engaging the most with Disney characters like Hercules (a character that had a stable upbringing by his human parents and is "wonderboy") and Pooh Bear (a character associated with comfort, stablity, innocence, simplicity, and home). Those two characters are shown having a connection and bond with Sora in KH1, KH2, and in KH3.

Sora's character, from KH1 - KH3, has remained a largely static character in terms of character growth and development, and his character (during the Dark Seeker Saga anyway) seems to represent the more "timeless" aspects of Disney and the more consistent and unchanging aspects of the company and Disney characters.

Riku, on the other hand, is Sora's foil character and is an immensely dynamic character (villain/antagonist -> anti-hero -> protagonist -> leader of the group) that represents the incredibly unique experience that Kingdom Hearts offers in the sense that it's a series that has been running with a long, connected plot since the early 2000s till now and still has more to go. All of the Disney villains and their queer-coding are all stuck in the time period that they were created...but Riku has the rare chance to continue changing and evolving with the times. And this goes for the way the fans understand his character and read the queer-interpretation of his character as well, since queer-coding is presented so differently now - its even substantially different from the queer coding present in the early 2000s (in general and with Riku's character, specifically).

Under the READ MORE is when I talk about Dream Drop Distance.

By the time Dream Drop Distance rolls around, we have a very confident, assured, gentle and kind, but also fiercely protective Riku who is still very heavily queer-coded, but in a more modern day way. He also gets to be the protagonist this time around and I want to talk about two of the Disney villains in particular:

Frollo: He represents the villainous aspects of religion, specifically Roman Catholic.

Frollo represents a lot of horrible, but still commonly found aspects of religious individuals: judgement of those who are different or othered, emotional and sexual repression, and (due to that repression) sexual deviancy. With Frollo, there is a lot of really horrid internalized shit going on. And, the thing that I love about this world in regards to Riku is how he can relate both to Frollo (a lot of internalized shit going on that makes you want/need to seek out darkness and power) :

and Quasimodo (being kept inside self-made walls/having to keep a part of yourself hidden, etc.).

We have this bit from the Hunchback of Notre Dame world that has been brought up so many times. He talks about how he is speaking from personal experience with all of this:

And there is an acknowledgement from the series itself that Riku is still keeping a lot locked inside.

In this world, the main villain is all about judgement and repression:

Frollo - A judgmental and repressed clergyman that represents the issues and hypocrisies of the church.

Esmeralda - A Romani woman that faces racism and ethnic-based bigotry along with sexism and misogyny, while being the object of obsession for a sexually repressed Frollo. She represents the church's issues with ethnic minorities and general othering (also with sexism based issues).

Quasimodo - A young man that represents the churches issues with being two-faced in its charity, passing judgement and shame on those who look physically look different and/or are disadvantaged, disabled, or not able bodied in some way, shape, or form.

So is it that much of a leap to make the assumption that Riku, in this world and in this scene with dialogue that basically reads as an, "It's okay to stay in the closet until you are ready to come out and the world is ready for you" message that Riku just might represent the churches issues with queerness. Sora represents the churches issues with general non-conformity, so Riku representing the churches issues with queer stuff doesn't seem that far of a jump.

Side note, love how you can draw a parallel with this scene between Riku and Esmeralda with the scene between Riku and Maleficent in KH1 Monstro. They both are able to read between the lines with what Riku is not saying. Maleficent gives a sassy af look and answer that's basically just the whole "Sure, Jan" meme:

And that fits with the harshness of her being a villainous character, Riku's own self-denial and repression that expresses itself as jealousy, and the general handling of queer-coding and the like at the time the first game came out.

Meanwhile, Esmeralda gives a soft, gentle, knowing smile that Riku returns, because while he is still staying in that closet for now, he understands himself a lot better, isn't in denial anymore, isn't a villain anymore, and is basically just waiting for when the time will be right.

Or, at least, that is how this scene tends to read when looked at from a queer lens, like the queerness basically writes itself here.

The other Disney villain that Riku interacts with in Dream Drop Distance is Chernabog from Fantasia. This villain doesn't talk, doesn't speak at all. But, it does represent a lot of things:

“Bald Mountain, according to tradition, is the gathering place of Satan and his followers. Here, on Walpurgis Night, which is the equivalent of our own Halloween, the creatures of evil gather to worship their master. Under his spell, they dance furiously, until the coming of dawn and the sounds of church bells, send the infernal army slinking back into their abodes of darkness.”―Deems Taylor introducing the Night on Bald Mountain segment[src]

(The source for this quote is from the Disney Wikia page on Chernabog)

There is the connection to Chernabog and Satan and church bells, and this connection is easy to tie back to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo, and Riku's journey with the Darkness.

In-between these two we have Riku confronting himself and his past Darkness and weaknesses. The part of himself that he wants to keep hidden. The part of himself that kidnapped Pinocchio and used Pinocchio to get Sora's attention back on him.

Once upon a time, Riku was able to be manipulated and corrupted. But, by the time Riku reaches Fantasia he has controlled all of that now. He is sure of himself and while he may be hiding away a part of himself still, he isn't in denial or afraid or repressed or anything like that any more. So he can face what is essentially a creature that is meant to embody Satan (the ruler of Hell, a place that, you know, a lot of people think queer people are going to just for existing) and beats this foe. Riku then goes on to create a Sound Idea (beautiful music) together with Sora. It's all quite symbolic.

Now, while in KH3 we do see a few different versions of Riku our main Riku largely stays out of any Disney villain stuff and connections. But, we do see Sora relating Riku to Elsa, who is the antagonist of Frozen.

Now, as noted, Elsa isn't necessarily viewed as the "villain" of Frozen, but she is largely viewed as the antagonist. She's allowed to change and be forgiven and be given love - compassion and grace. In the above images, we see Anna mentioning how Elsa just shut her out, and we see Sora relating this back to Riku and how he literally shut Sora out at the end of KH1 and emotionally shut Sora out due to shame upon their reunion in KH2.

But there is honestly so much more that can be related between the two of them. Here are some quotes from a wonderful blog post write-up called DIsney's Queer Queen - Frozen's Elsa and Queer Representation:

As José Munoz has argued, “queerness is essentially about a rejection of the here and now and an insistence on potentiality for another world” (2009, 1). Charania and Albertson have also related this notion to Elsa and Disney’s animated films more generally, as they exist at a dialectical point of tension between an outside view of the company as conservative and the more progressive ideas of queerness inherent in their texts (Charania and Albertson 2018, 142).

This reading fits in so perfectly with Riku's own desire of desperately wanting to leave DI and go on "a real adventure, not this kid's stuff." He feels restrained and walled in. Much like how Elsa felt before she Let It Go and was able to start shaping her own walls and space and rules.

“Into the Unknown” is full of an Ashman-esque, queer longing that Elsa originally tries to disavow, but only when she follows it can she finally accept herself.

I feel that this quote here can also relate to Riku and literally can just directly connect to the queer reading of Riku's scene with Esmeralda in DDD. Riku learning to accept himself, both his past self and all of his mistakes and his current self, is such a huge theme of DDD and it also fits in nicely with general queer readings of characters such as with Elsa.

Here, in dialogue with a magical reflection of her own dead mother, she realizes that the person she needed to learn to love is herself – something many queer people struggle with, especially after they have liberated themselves from a repressive upbringing like Elsa’s.

This quote, connected to Elsa and the Frozen movies, can also, once again, easily fit into queer readings and interpretations of Riku and his storyline in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The quoted text above is basically the same exact stuff that I talked about when discussing Riku, Frollo, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame world and other characters (such as Esmeralda).

So, even here with Frozen we are seeing queer-coding, but we also see, like with Riku, that it differs from past queer-codings of Disney villains. This coding comes from the songs Elsa sings (Elsa who is very feminine in appearance and speech) and the struggles she goes through, rather than through the way she looks, dresses, sounds, behaves/holds herself, and speaks. Elsa is also allowed to exist as more than just a villain, just like Riku.

Now we have the thought of Riku and Disney villains/antagonists in KH4? How might that look, especially because Disney's villain queer-coding doesn't really exist in the same way like it did in the past. Now we are seeing more queer-coded (or just outright queer) protags from Disney and the villains are more conceptual ideas (ex. stuff like generational trauma, etc.).

Pixar's Luca still fits into the queer-coded narratives that we've seen with characters like Riku and Elsa, except this time we basically have a storyline that is VERY similar to KH1:

-Two boys become super close friends first.

-One boy meets a girl and they start becoming friends.

-Other boy becomes uber jealous and takes on an antagonistic role.

-Things work themselves out and both boys end the movie on good terms with each other and the girl character too.

Alberto and Luca are extremely queer coded, this time we are seeing the queer coding happening with both the antagonist and protagonist of the movie, not just one, and not just the antagonist. This is so important, just like how it was important that Sora was the one to find a relation and connection between Elsa and Riku and had actually talked about that with Anna.

With Luca, we see Pixar, which is a company that has long been under the Disney umbrella and which has some movies that have now appeared in the KH franchise (via KH3), having queer-coding existing beyond the old Disney villain queer-coding and moving into protagonist queer coding. Then, of course, we also got a sort of Word of God confirmation that Luca and Alberto being a couple is legit a thing:

(The source of this image is from Reddit - here).

Finally, we have Disney's Strange World that came out in 2022. This movie has no queer-coding, just straight up queer representation and it is solely for the protagonist of the series, with their love interest being a positive, non-antagonistic character.

This is where Disney is at in regards to queer characters, queer-coding, villains, antagonists, and protagonists. What direction Nomura will take things in regards to Riku and all of this loaded history - I can't say. What direction Square Enix and Disney will allow for Riku and his own potential (largely coded) queerness is an unknown as well - especially when taking into consideration the current climate of media right now (especially with Disney and other American based media).

It's all just really hard to say, but I'm interested and intrigued by the potential direction it could go in and the potential ending that Riku could have as a potentially out and open queer character someday.

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ANOK YAI at the 2024 Met Gala (May 6, 2024)

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About Riku, Namine, and Repliku

So, there has been some discussion about the RikuNami relationship in the Kingdom Hearts tag due to a post made on the Kingdom Hearts Confessions blog that thought that people may be preemptively dismissing the idea of RikuNami.

In this post, I'm going to talk very specifically about the scene where Riku goes to pick up Namine at the end of KH3 and what Nomura has to say about this, what some official Collective Plate merch has to say about this, and what some visual changes that were made to Kingdom Hearts 3 has to say about this.

So, let's take a look! First, we have Nomura in a KH3 Ultimania Interview (the link to the interview will be in the comments below, as will any other images and texts that I reference here).

—In the Final World, Sora tells Namine, "Someone else special I know won't let you down." (*T/N: Literally, "the person you miss/want to see the most will come get you.") Did he mean Riku? Nomura: He meant that the person Namine wants to see the most would come get her, as a way of cheering her up. It is actually Riku, in the form of the one who has been entrusted with the Riku Replica's feelings, who does go and get her. Namine does feel a special connection to Riku (the Riku Replica.)

So, in this interview we have Nomura confirming that who Sora was talking about in that scene with Namine and who Namine does miss and want to see the most is, in fact, Riku who has very specifically been entrusted with the feelings of Riku Replica and that Namine feels a special connection specifically to Riku Replica.

Next we have the KH Collective Plates merch that came out about five years ago now in 2020. I have a post here on Tumblr where I translated all of the text that came with the plate images and there is a plate that is specifically about the bond between Riku, Namine, and Riku Replica. So let's take a look at that.

A Two-Sided Bond Real or fake? Their two paths meet again in the Darkness. "I want to save her." That heart, dwelling in false memories and a false body, was unwavering and real. His other self fulfills his wish.*** A two-sided bond.****

Translation Notes:

*** The Japanese here is 意志を継ぐ (ishi wo tsugu) or, more directly, to "inherit the will" and "will" in this sense means like "intention, intent, volition, determination," not a will. That's 遺言(yuigon). 継ぐ (tsugu) usually gets used in the sense of successor (someone inheriting a role, like a prince inheriting the crown or something like that). In the KH3 Ultimania, Nomura talked about the Namine and Riku scene at the end, stating that Riku was essentially fulfilling the wish of Repliku. **** I ultimately went with "two-sided" here for my translation. The Japanese used is 表裏 (hyouri), which can mean "front and back, inside and outside, both sides." It can also have the meaning of "being two faced, double dealing, duplicity," but that is a very negative meaning and I don't think that is accurate to the bond that exists between Riku, Repliku, and Namine in KH3.

Okay, so let's take a look at all of this. The image has Riku from the Re:Chain of Memories cover, connecting this bond very specifically to Chain of Memories and the Namine and Repliku storyline that was contained within that game.

Looking at the text provided here, we see no mention of RIKU'S feelings for Namine, just Repliku's. It mentions Repliku meeting again with Riku in the darkness and it gives idea to the sense that, even if Repliku is "fake" (not the "real" Riku) the feelings he has and hold are real.

Another definition of the word 表裏 (hyouri) can mean "heads/tails" like in the sense of flipping a coin or the idea of being "two sides of the same coin," so this all gives me the sense that Riku is basically the "coin" here with the feelings that Namine and Repliku have for each other being the two-sides. He is essentially delivering Repliku's feelings to Namine and allowing Repliku the chance to rest because Repliku now knows that his feelings will be delivered by Riku and received by Namine.

KH3 was the end of the Dark Seeker Saga. It was a game that was meant to wrap up all of the remaining loose ends (that don't have any carry over or connection to the next saga, stuff like the Black Box is connected to on-going stuff that will be, hopefully, concluded in this next, and final, saga of the series). So, what I'm getting here is that this scene between Riku and Namine is meant to be the wrap-up and conclusion of the plot threads of Repliku and Namine in CoM, with Riku basically being the messenger to help carry that out.

Thinking about it, this is also probably why Riku's CoM Heart Station was used in KH3 instead of a new one. It is a Heart Station that is also holding on to Repliku's feelings to convey them to Namine, so it makes sense that his Heart Station would reflect the one he had in CoM:

Could Nomura and the other writers decide to make Riku and Namine a thing? I mean, they could. We don't know what exactly they are planning on doing for this next saga and the remaining games. But, if they do, then it would largely feel like any romance that develops between them will have its basis in the feelings that Repliku and Namine shared with each other, rather than any feelings that Namine shared with Riku and vice versa. It would be like a couple that was together and the guy in the couple died, so the wife got together with his identical twin.

Also, with the current setup that seems to be in place for KH4, there doesn't seem like there would be any time to actually develop any kind of proper romance between Riku and Namine, specifically. Even Sora and Kairi have more of a developed romantic foundation and that pairing has barely any good and proper development.

With KH4 being the beginning of the end for the Kingdom Hearts series, I also just can't see them having enough time to properly develop any romantic relationship. So, if anything does happen in regards to Riku and Namine, then it would rely pretty much entirely on Repliku's feelings for Namine and Namine's feelings for Repliku, which...is honestly just sad and would be incredibly disappointing all around.

Finally, let's talk about this change that was made to the Gummi Ship Pick-Up Scene.

Here is the original:

Here's the official edited/changed version:

The interview in the KH3 Ultimania came out before these changes were made, so it isn't that much of a stretch to assume that Nomura decided to make this visual change to make the scene come across more as Riku fulfilling a promise and wish between Repliku and Namine, rather than being a scene that indicates any possible romantic feelings between Riku and Namine.

Now, I won't speak with 100% certainty because the KH series is still an on-going one that can twist and turn and change in various ways over the years, but from what Nomura has stated, what has been indicated on official merch, and what visual changes we can see were done to the scene, I think it is safe to say that the more intended reading of this scene isn't meant to be romantic and RikuNami isn't meant to be an implied ship/couple from this scene.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm only talking about what is or is not canon and intended readings of scenes, since this post was created in response to someone stating people were being too quick to preemptively state that this pairing is a no-go by Nomura. This post of mine isn't meant to be ship hate or a "you *can't* or you *shouldn't* ship this pairing!" type of post. People can ship what they want and will interpret things in their own way regardless of authorial intent (Death of the Author and all that).

This post was just very specifically about one scene between the two characters and Nomura's intended reading of that moment, plus the potential canonicity of the pairing and why I don't think it is likely due to this scene and intended reading. *But* the canon status of a pairing doesn't mean much in regards to simply shipping a pairing in and of itself: rarepairs, crackships, crossover pairings, and even some of the most popular pairings in a series all usually are some flavor of non-canon and that's totally fine. KH is a series that is on-going, so we can't completely disregard certain possibilities, but this post was just about the overall likelihood based on official info we have. Anyway...

That's all I've got. If anyone else has any other info, thoughts, or feelings they would like to share on this, feel free to add them!

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I think one of my biggest issues with the S*kai bond and how it is written and presented in KH3 (and in general Kingdom Hearts merch post-KH3) is that it feels less like "this pairing that was built up over numerous games are finally together" and more like "the marketing and game are trying SO HARD to make S*kai happen" and...that's not a good indicator of the writing level for what is supposed to be the main pairing of the franchise. That indicates, to me, that the pair has been poorly written and neglected and is the main reason why many fans feel like the pairing is "forced" in KH3 despite being the supposed "canon" couple in the series.

Sorry, I just thought about this because of the reveal of one of the "mystery cards" that came out with these new Kingdom Hearts Museum Art card sets. There were two mystery cards and one of them is just the KH3 S*kai title screen art.

It has a sparkly background and Nomura's signature, which makes it one of the special cards. But I'm also just getting that "trying to make this pairing happen" vibes from this marketing move as well. But I feel like the damage has already been done in regards to the writing for this pairing, they fumbled it way too much (especially by neglecting half of the pairing for multiple games and numerous years) that is unless KH4 is able to do something amazing in regards to it (which I'm not betting will be the case). Instead it just makes me think:

And, you know, it kinda sucks that it has turned out this way. One of my absolute favorite pairings/ships is a Square pairing (Tidus x Yuna from FFX). When Square gets a het pairing right, they get it right. So it's sad to see them get it so wrong with S*kai (unless it is meant to be wrong, but that is still an interpretation that is left up in the air and will depend highly on what happens in KH4 and beyond - so I don't want to lean too heavily on this interpretation in case the games don't end up moving in that direction).

Like, back in the day when I was like 12 and playing KH1 for the first time, I totally shipped it...But then KH2 came out and my love for the pairing got replaced with another and over the years the pairing just got neglected, so any feelings or attachments that I once had to it just fizzled away and is now completely gone.

Also, don't get me wrong, the artwork and card are all lovely, I just wish the pairing on the said card (whether interpreted romantically, platonically or otherwise) sparked more joy in me and didn't feel like some kind of forced marketing move.

It's just all so sad.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Kingdom Hearts fans need to learn what the word "confirmed" means.

People collectively assuming that something they saw in a trailer was a Star Wars robot foot does not mean that Star Wars is "confirmed" to be in KH4.

The KH4 screenshot of Mickey inside a building that looks to be from Scala ad Caelum doesn't mean that it is "confirmed" to be in KH4.

Like, until the world list officially comes out or we get official world reveal trailers and the like...nothing is "confirmed."

[lilyginnyblackv2]

height check. how tall are you people in my phone

[lilyginnyblackv2]

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I've gotten so used to hearing David Gallagher (and therefore Riku's voice) swearing due to his streams that it'll be weird to not hear Riku swearing in KH4 whenever that comes out, lol. It'll basically be a "let Riku say fuck" kinda experience.

Also, this is kinda connected, but like...I've seen at least two comments on the Youtube VOD videos that are commenting on how hot David is and like...I agree that he is a very attractive man, but like, I feel like that's just an inappropriate comment to make on his VOD videos. It's just odd. He has a wife and kids. His daughter watches his streams, she may read the comments about him. Like, leave that for ramblings on Tumblr or journal entries or something, IDK. I may be overreacting to that, but I feel it's just common curtesy to comment more about the content of his playthroughs and not like his appearance. There's always comments like that though, even on like true crime based Youtube videos.

Anyway, David's said that he is going to be playing some of the Final Fantasy games as well. So I'm excited about that! I can't wait to hear Riku's voice telling off Wakka for being a bigot, lmao. FFX is my favorite game ever, so I'm excited to see him eventually play that. His thoughts on like Tidus, Yuna, Jecht, all of the religious commentary and etc. should be interesting too. Especially because he starred on 7th Heaven for YEARS and that show was about a Protestant ministers family and how the parents and kids dealt with like modern day 90s and 2000s WB drama stuff and their religion, iirc. It's been AGES since I've watched that series in any capacity, and back in the day I was WAY more of Charmed fan than a 7th Heaven fan, but that's what I recall it being mostly about.

So, I'll be fascinated to see what David thinks about X if/when he gets around to playing it. I know he is doing or has done some podcast stuff with some of the other stars of 7th Heaven, so I won't be surprised if he's talked a bit about his feelings about stuff surrounding that show, religion, etc. FFX and it's focus on religious corruption should be an interesting play through for him.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

this website lets you listen to the sounds of all different forests around the world 

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I decided to compare this to the Japanese scene and it is a super small change, but in response to what Kairi says, Riku says, ああ (ah). Translating that as "Good" in this situation doubles down into the slight sense of hierarchy going on in this conversation. During this one year time skip at the end of KH3, Riku has taken on a leadership role in the group and before KH1 we know (through things like the Character Files) that Riku tried hard to kind of fit into that big brother mentor type of role (but then that changed along the way with Sora). I feel like something similar likely happened between Riku and Kairi as well. In KH1 we know that there is a level of friendship between Riku and Kairi, but there is also tension there because of how lost Riku has gotten to the jealousy and darkness in his heart, so we see Kairi being rather sassy to him and in regards to him. But, by this time in MelMem, Riku has moved beyond all that and is in an actual leadership position that he seems ready and fit for. During the conversations with Riku and Kairi in MelMem we see Kairi immediately deferring to him. She's looking towards him as a leader or as someone who has more answers than she does. Then we have the conversation between the two of them outside of the portal.

In the English, Kairi states, "I wanna go." It's a statement. But in the Japanese Kairi says: 私もいっしょに - "I'll go too!" It's a very slight difference, but Kairi stating that she'll go vs. Kairi expressing she wants to go in a sort of childish like way "wanna" adds a sort of extra layer to the hierarchy situation that we have going on that isn't necessarily present in the Japanese in the same way as how we hear it and understand it in the English translation and localization. Riku's response to her is カイリそれはー "Kairi, that's---" and it's left open ended. These kinds of sentences can always be a pain to translate and localize because there is a heavy bit of personal interpretation and inference going on with how that sentence should be structured in English and most modern localizations frown upon the idea of leaving the sentence simply as "that---" It comes off as less natural, so the localization here goes off of Riku's facial expression, which shows sympathy and understanding, but also a bit of pain because he, as the leader of the group, thinks that may not be the best choice. The localization decides to go with "Kairi, that's not---" but what Riku, in Japanese, would actually say for the rest of his sentence there is left a little open ended, though Japanese does kind of function like that. It's totally fine, expected, and appropriate to turn down an invitation just by saying ちょっと… ("Well...") and that's it. Personally, I think translating the カイリそれはー (Kairi, sore wa ---) to something more like, "Kairi, well that's ---" instead of just a straight up "Kairi, that's not---" may have been a more fitting way to express that brief statement and the sentiment behind it, because, for all we know, Riku could have been thinking about logistical aspects to Kairi coming with him alongside her skill level. He could have been wanting to say, "Kairi, well that's going to be a bit tricky" or difficult or etc. etc. Not a response that would just solely be about her skill level. I feel the "Kairi, that's not---" translation kind of further pushes the idea that he is viewing this statement from Kairi purely from a skill perspective, but as a leader of a group, he is likely thinking about this from various sides and taking multiple things into consideration. That being said, Kairi is a bit surprised that Riku turned down her proposition of going and does decide to interpret it as being solely about her skill level, something she herself has expressed doubts about before (it isn't canon, but the KH3 novel includes a couple extra letters written by Kairi, and in one of them she mentions how she is feeling left behind by Sora and Riku and wants to be at that level and journey with them - I feel MelMem is pulling from that letter). So, Kairi basically provides Riku, the leader of their group, with an alternative plan that she has in mind. Then in the Japanese, Riku responds with ああ (ah), which can mean "yes, yeah, indeed, that's correct, gotcha" etc. The English localization goes with "Good," which I feel adds even more of a power imbalance to the dynamic we see happening here between Riku and Kairi. Basically, I can see why some people may get a sense that Riku is looking down on Kairi in this exchange, rather than the situation that is more at play here in the Japanese, which is that Kairi made her proposition, Riku - as the leader - doesn't think the proposition will work, so Kairi offers her plan of action in its place and Riku hears it - hears her and what she is saying - and is basically saying, "All right, that is a good plan." Of course, sometimes localizations get bogged down due to small stuff like needing certain lines to be however long or short, but really, Riku could have just said like, "Yeah, all right." Instead of "Good." It's still short, but "Yeah, all right," I feel fits the ああ better than "Good" does here.

I know I wrote a lot about very little and it's all very minor word choices, but even such minor word choices like this can give a very different feel, sense, and vibe to a scene and to the character or characters in that said scene. Also, when it comes to this whole situation and Kairi basically getting shipped off to do more training, my issue always lies more with Nomura and/or the writing of the series in general and how it struggles to handle Kairi as a Keyblade Wielder. When they don't know what to do with her, how to advance her character, or how to utilize her character, they just ship her off to training.

This scene always just makes me sigh, because there was a potential here for more of Riku and Kairi's dynamic to be explored and there could have been some fascinating moments between the two of them (especially with Riku being in a leadership position - there could have been moments where Kairi could have countered his decisions and etc.) But sadly, the writing just doesn't want to go there. But I do think that the English localization makes this scene a bit worse due to very minor word choices that add a certain level of infantlization to Kairi and a slightly bit more of looking down and heightened hierarchy/power dynamics than is at play in the original Japanese.

During the MelMem scene doesn't Riku say good after Kairi says she'll get stronger and then join him idk what's so bad about that

idk man i think he says good pretty clearly....

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Sadly, neither of mine was probably actually obscure since they both dealt with HP (sorry, pretty much all of my early pre-social media days on the internet were heavily HP focused).

One was a Harry x Ginny forum (maybe it was over on the Sink Into Your Eyes fanfic website and we used terminology like HMS Orange Crush to refer to the ship pre-OotP. It was later changed to HMS Chocolate or HMS Chocolate Crush post-OotP due to them sharing a chocolate Easter egg together). It was a forum dedicated to a singular ship, so it wasn't as big as forums that were on sites like The Leaky Cauldron or MuggleNet or what not.

There was also an old website (NOT Pottermore, this was WAY before that) where you got sorted into a house and had classes to attend with actual stuff written up for lessons. You even got assigned actual homework and had to write up the homework and submit it and stuff.

Most of my pre-social media online experiences involved hanging out in HP forums or related websites, writing fanfiction over on FFNet (for various series, not just HP) and engaging heavily in discussions about characterizations and the like via the later message feature and forums, going on those doll websites, Neopets, checking out artwork on DeviantArt, and reading manga/watching anime on pirate sites. I did also check out LiveJournal a bit, but not much tbh. Mainly just ship manifesto posts.

What was your obscure chatroom/forum that you used before social media? Don’t say Gaia Online or Club Penguin. I’m talking obscure.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Let me just gush about David Gallagher's (Igobygraven's) Kingdom Hearts 1 playthrough/streams/VODs.

I've watched blind playthroughs of games before, mostly for FFX, if I am being completely honest, but I find it rare for me to stick with them. I usually tend to stay away from one's that are from Twitch and have a live chat because I end up feeling like I'm just watching someone who is constantly watching the chatbox instead of the actual game itself. Twitch is also a platform that, for me, always feels way too sensory overload. A lot of blind Let's Plays over on Twitch are filled soundbits and imagery constantly popping up on the screen and the way many Twitch streamers tend to talk and interact with chat tends to be like...too emotional in a way, IDK how to explain it all that well. Maybe even like a bit too aggressive (not necessarily in a mean or angry way, but just like in a too much/exaggerated type of way).

What I love about David's streams and VODs is that they tend to be void of all of that. He's creating a very calm, kind, and chill atmosphere with his streams. His approach to engaging with the game and chat is very different from other streamers. He will straight up say at times that he needs to focus on the game, he'll take breaks and engage with chat during ad rolls on Twitch (to ensure those watching on Twitch with ads don't miss any of his actual gameplay), he apologizes and will explain what was missed if he didn't or wasn't able to pause at the start of an ad break, and he never gets super invested into the games to the point where he loses his cool.

He's very patient, you can tell that he played a lot of older games and has experience with older games (he doesn't complain about the camera too much or about the underwater controls), and he is very responsible in how he acts and behaves (he gave a warning that a lot of anime on Netflix is more maturely rated, someone in chat was like, "we're all adults here" but David nicely pointed out that he is talking to thousands of people right now - so he has a duty to make mention of the ratings of the shows he is talking about - his daughter watches his streams sometimes, so he knows there are likely some minors watching him too, so he is very responsible in this way. He also doesn't involve his daughter too much in the stream either, which is great!).

Basically, yes, I LOVE all of the little Soriku mentions and the fact that this experience is very unique since he plays Riku and has behind the scenes experience with the game, etc. But the thing that makes me come back is the humor, the insight, and the mood/atmosphere for the playthrough itself. I'm a millennial (35) and David is too (he's right around the same ages as my two older brothers) and there are many moments and things that he says or does or references that are just so extremely relatable, lol. Gaming-wise I can just also relate very well, I like the platforming and the puzzles and the more adventure aspects of KH1, so seeing him comb over each world so completely is such a great thing to see! Too many streamers just rush through games to get to all the main story beats. Anyway, I can just put on one of his VODs while I catch up on my journaling. The fact that he has already built up a lot of great, funny in-jokes and is building a very calm, kind, and supportive chat and experience just makes it more inviting and welcoming and a very cozy experience that has been really needed recently (with all the political stuff going on right now in the world). I've seen so many fans make mention of that.

His VODs are a breath of fresh air and just a really memorable experience. He's so engaged with the fandom and just really open and cool about a lot of things. He's only human, of course, so I'm not going to put him up on any kind of pedestal. With content creation of any kind, we only see what the creator wants us to see, and that is mostly what I am focusing on here. The professional aspect of the content creation David is making and putting out.

And that's why I enjoy watching his playthrough so much. Not just because he is Riku's English VA or just because of stuff like the Soriku jokes and mentions and what have you, but because of the whole packaged deal: the professionalism, the differences between usual Twitch streams, the chill vibes, and all of that other stuff. It's just a really good time and I'm glad he's doing it.

His play throughs give me something really interesting and unique to look forward to every week!

Edit: I forgot to mention this, but the fact that he started his Twitch channel and had it up for a bit before he dove into playing KH also indicates how he actually really does like playing games, first and foremost. Like, yeah, there is a level of using the KH games and this unique experience to bring in easy views, but you can tell that he actually likes video games and isn't doing this just for views or money or what have you. As he is playing Kingdom Hearts 1, he'll often talk about it as a game first and foremost (noting when it does things well for the time it came out, etc.) and doesn't just make the whole experience about the Kingdom Hearts series in and of itself or his role as Riku (though that does naturally come up).