princekyo

[princekyo]

hoffman's car

[princekyo]

I like my men how I like my dogs, with a collar a bite history and unexplained trauma that I have to piece together through context clues

[princekyo]

"Loving you is easy, because I didn't have to learn to, it was already woven into my heart and soul."

[princekyo]

One of my favorite things about Kingdom Hearts is that for all that it is a series about the power of friendship, it's also not afraid to make those friendships messy.

The relationships between the characters aren't always easy. A lot of the time they're messy and complicated. They hurt. Sometimes they're even outright unhealthy. But the bottom line is always that even if that friendship is a lot of work, or that it can bring you pain for various reasons, it's still worth it to go out of your way to build those connections to others and to put the effort in to make it better when things are rough. None of the relationships are 100% perfectly happy or smooth for these characters, because that's not how real relationships work! People are complicated. People clash and disagree. That doesn't mean it's not worth meeting them in the middle.

Take the Destiny Island trio for example. Out of at least the main trios, they're probably the healthiest, right? But even then theres been stuff that's driven them apart. Obviously, there's Riku's fall to darkness. His jealousy and fear over being replaced as Sora's best friend made him susceptible to Maleficent's manipulation, and even then when she tried to get him to cast Sora away, he never could. For all that he fights against Sora, he also tries for a long time to get Sora to join him. Riku cannot stop caring about Sora as much as he probably wanted to. And let's not forget that a large portion of his motivations for what he's doing in kh1 is to save Kairi. He's so desperate to save her that he no longer cares about what happens to himself, as long as Kairi will be fine. He attaches himself to her VERY strongly. Because she is also his best friend, just like Sora is. And she hasn't left him yet. But also, even after Riku's fall to darkness, neither Sora nor Kairi give up on him! The moment they're given the space to breathe the first thing they think about is how to save Riku. And sure, Kairi doesn't get to come along to save him, but it's hardly from a lack of wanting. Riku is her best friend as much as he is Sora's. They're a team.

Their friendship has had it's rocky moments, but they never stopped caring about each other throughout it. They were willing to put in the work to make sure they all came out of this okay. Because their friendship is more than worth the effort.

But! At the same time as the series tells you to be willing to work to maintain your relationships, it also makes it clear that there is a limit to how much you should tolerate. This is shown clearly through the relationships between both Axel & Saix, and Eraqus & Xehanort.

With Axel and Saix, it's largely about how their relationship has inherently changed due to both just growing up, and also the unhealthy environment they have been put in. Their friendship has been slowly deteriorating over a long time, and neither of them have been able to accept that. Because they are living in a situation where they know they can't trust anyone else. If they can't at least trust each other, what do they have left, right? So they endure. They pretend like nothings changed. It's not until Roxas and Xion comes into the picture and breaks that illusion of stability that they realize just how bad it's gotten. And the final nail in the coffin is that Saix gives Axel an ultimatum. Axel is willing to reshape his old friendship to fit in with the new ones, but Saix very much isn't. He's stubbornly clinging onto the feeling of what their relationship used to be, that anything that goes against it is a threat. Even if that relationship is no longer sustainable. And obviously, Axel chooses the other option. Because he knows he can no longer afford to cling onto it.

And sure, they DO eventually end up rebuilding their friendship anew, but the important part is that this comes AFTER Saix has actively made an effort to change and look at what his actions have done. The important step is that he actually reflected on himself, admitting what it is he was actually feeling and then working on it. He took the initiative to change entirely on his own.

As for Eraqus and Xehanort, the whole problem is that Eraqus refused to let go, even after Xehanort made it clear their ideologies and beliefs are inherently incompatible. And it's not even a "I can fix him" mentality from Eraqus either, because he never actually does anything to try and change Xehanorts mind beyond their fight over Xehanorts plan to ignite a Keyblade war. He somehow has the idea that Xehanort just needs to cool off and he'll come to his senses. Because of all of this, Eraqus ends up letting Xehanort get away with way too much. Scarring his face. Irreperably damaging an innocent childs heart. He invites Xehanort to important events, knowing full well the things he's done and is capable of. Eraqus' inability to let go of him despite everything ends in not only the loss of his own life at Xehanorts hands, but also dooms all three of his students to terrible fates. Ven becomes a weapon and gets his heart shattered (again), Terra is torn apart in ways that shouldn't even be possible to survive through, and Aqua gets trapped in the equivalent to hell for over a decade. All because Eraqus couldn't let go of someome who hasn't really been his friend for a long, long time.

I could keep going honestly but I do need to restrain myself somewhat. But man. Man.... Kingdom Hearts does relationships in such a complicated and interesting way and I love it so so much.

[princekyo]

the kissy kissy <3

www.sarahcosico.bigcartel.com

[princekyo]

I understand the value of artistic liberties but what exactly is Yugio's haircut supposed to be. I've wondered this since childhood

[princekyo]

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cant help but notice my porcelain critter figures are no longer arranged by height but by taxonomy. who could have done this

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[princekyo]

thank you jiminy, for keeping track of the plot of kingdom hearts for us 

[princekyo]

Star Trek conventions are so funny. After I got an autograph from somebody, I went to an empty table nearby so I could set my stuff down for a second while I put my autograph in a protective sleeve, and I hear somebody yell at Ethan Peck (whose table is across from the empty table) "HEY HOT SPOCK!" and I turn around because I want to know who the fuck just said that. And it was Jonathan Frakes.

[princekyo]

This is how the world should be ❤️

[princekyo]

David Gallagher playing kh1 is an absolute blessing

[princekyo]

Quick doodle

[princekyo]

Thinking about Aqua and her thoughts about darkness and, I think she'd warm up very quickly to Riku using darkness because he is 1. A Keyblade Master and 2. Has basically proven himself to everyone that he's in control and like, if Yen Sid and Mickey are in favor of Riku and his darkness then there's no reason Aqua shouldn't either (she's very inclined to listen to authority figures, remember!)

So you might think that she's gotten a bit more flexible about her views on darkness, and in some respects she has. But Riku in Aqua's mind would an *exception* to the rule, not necessarily what proves the rule wrong. And even if that extended to her questioning the dogma around light and darkness she was taught a little more, well... I don't think that extends to Terra.

Aqua knows Terra. She knows that he can be unstable, that he can make mistakes. She's seen him at his worst. And she's already seen what happens to Terra when he uses darkness. And she's scared. She's still so scared, she'd hate to lose Terra, after all the time they were apart. So let Riku use the darkness, he's special, but wouldn't it be safer for everyone and healthier for Terra if he never used the darkness ever again?

And besides, Yen Sid shares her worries! And an authority figure agreeing with her would just make her dig her heels in further.

Riku and Terra are similar? Sure, but they're not the same person! Okay, so maybe she's just now finding out that Riku very much succumbed to darkness before having to go on a long and painful journey to find out where his darkness fits in with who he is, and- sure, Riku is offering to train Terra with his darkness, but, but... she's still scared... she's so scared about what might happen... *everything* she was taught can't just be... wrong, right?

I do think that Aqua's care and love for Terra would win out in the end, hell it already did in a sense when she welcomed him back with open arms after the entire Xehanort possession, but it'd be a long and painful process to unlearn all of that.

[princekyo]

tgis is so fucking funny to me. they accidentally Rock Lee'd a retired racehorse