#Herc x Phil <3

[blowingoffsteam2]

Fun fact there’s a scene in re:coded where Sora wants to bring Herc a paopu fruit to share with Meg, but he ends up losing it. Later, Phil finds it on the ground, apparently it not occurring to him that it might be the paopu fruit lol, and tastes it- a paopu fruit canonically tastes salty and sweet! Then he decides to also let Hercules try it....so in other words, (data) Herc and Phil were the first characters to share a paopu fruit in the series (and a single one at that :))

I think this also proves that Sora at least believes that in his understanding of the legend, two people are supposed to share ONE.  Which for most people was always the assumption anyway until kh3.... however in jp the legend doesn’t actually specify. But, since Sora only brought one fruit for Herc and Meg to share, it’s clear that was also his assumption.

Video: link

[kouros-herc]

November 19 – Five Times X, One Time Y: Five times your character did a thing and one time … they didn’t. Get creative with what this means, but structure it in that same manner. 

5 times Hercules struggled with dancing ... and 1 time he won't ...

5.

“What?” Hercules bent his head down so that he could hear the girl over the thumping music at Pixies. She went up on her tiptoes, and steadied herself by laying a hand on his chest. “Oh? Uh, I don’t really dance-” He shook his head, with an apologetic smile.  The girl looked at him like he’d grown an extra head.  “I can buy you a drink, if you’d like?” He offered, awkwardly, not really understanding why it was so horribly weird to not particularly want to dance. Sure, this was a nightclub, but it wasn’t like there weren’t chairs! Or areas to stand and have a chat! That didn’t involve him being all out of sync with the rhythm and not actually able to hear what she was saying. “It’s just I’m not a very good dancer,” he explained uncomfortably, unable to stop himself from talking. “I’ve got two left feet and I really don’t want to like, ruin your shoes or whatever-” The girl walked off, leaving him standing there, staring after her in confusion. 

“Kouros,” a voice sighed, and one of the athletics club slung an arm around his shoulders. “You know she didn’t really care about the dancing, right?” “Eh?” Hercules looked at him, confused. 

4.

Hercules was looking down very intently at his shoes. Forwards, side, together, check. Back, side, together, check- He was holding his breath by accident, and it caught slightly as he tried to glimpse upwards at his Prom date. Vixey looked really beautiful, actually. Had he remembered to tell her that? Yeah, probably, right? He thought he had, at least? He hadn’t spent hours watching tutorials on how to slow dance only to completely fuck up his first actual prom by not telling his date how gorgeous she looked? Maybe he should say it again? It looked like her focus was drifting, somewhere off way beyond his left shoulder. He felt his ears beginning to heat up inexplicably. Crap. He needed to say something. Something clever, something funny something - He got his step wrong, and they collided gently.  Hercules winced, his whole face contorting into a screwed up grimace for a moment.  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I was a bad dancer-” “Should we just go and get some food?” Vixey suggested. It felt a lot like pity, but what else could he do but gratefully accept the lifeline? Prom really was as awkward as all those high school dramas made out.

3.

He knew how to dance in clubs now. It was simple, really. You just stood there.  It had taken him a long time, and a few determined dates to learn it, but really when someone asked you to dance in Pixies, it was just an excuse. An excuse to get onto the dancefloor where everybody was packed so tight that you’d have no choice but to accidentally stumble into each other’s arms at some point. So he planted his feet, swaying a little, and smiling at the guy who was taking his hands and trying to move them around for him, with a laugh.  Hercules grinned, and just sort of let it happen, until surprise surprise, the guy dropped his hands, and instead closed his arms around Herc’s neck.  Hercules settled his hands on the guy’s hips, and swayed a little. Yeah, he knew how to dance in clubs now. But he was still glad to get it out of the way.

2.

“Just… just loosen up, dude?” Phil was looking at him like he’d grown an extra head. Herc was used to that look.  He didn’t mean it to be cruel, Herc knew that, but he felt his cheeks reddening with embarrassment. It wasn’t that he didn’t know he needed to loosen up it was just … it was like telling someone who’d never ice skated to ‘just land a triple axle.’ It was not as simple as everyone made it sound.  “I’m trying!” He protested, trying to relax his upper body a bit more. Phil cackled at him, as Hercules’ long arms made him look not unlike a waving inflatable tube man.  “Ok, ok, I’m sorry,” Phil laughed. “But has anyone ever told you you’re like, a medically diagnosable bad dancer?” “Yeah!” Hercules groaned in frustration. “Like all the time!”

1

Gen winced, unable to keep the little bit of pain from crossing her face.  “Shit, sorry,” Hercules winced in sympathy and stepped back enough that he could stop standing on her toe. “I told you,” he sighed after a little while. “I’m really not a very good dancer.”  “Yeah, you weren’t kidding, huh?” Gen gave him a glance, before she shook her head, and laughed it off. “Just relax, ok? Don’t try so hard.” That was probably good advice, wasn’t it? It was the advice people kept giving him, and yet he wanted so desperately to do a good job of dancing (or at least not awful) and that was he would totally impress … he was trying too hard again, wasn’t he? “Yeah, sorry-” “And stop apologising.” “Sorry.” Hercules shot her a mischievous grin. 

and ...

There was a sudden hush that fell over the crowd as the music changed. Most of the chatter died, and he could practically imagine everyone beginning to look around. A hand slipped into his, and Hercules felt his heart skip.  “Well hi there, you,” he smiled, lowering his face to kiss their hand. He paused for a moment to admire the new ring sitting on their third finger.  “Have you got your dancing shoes on?” They teased. “I know you hate it but-” “Well I've been practising,” Hercules shrugged.  An eyebrow arched. “Hercules Kouros, have you been holding out on me?”  He grinned impishly. “Call it a wedding present.”  Well perhaps he'd been working on it for months, taking private lessons precisely so he didn't fuck up when it really counted. They'd love him either way. But he wanted to make it perfect. And right now, with the look in their eyes as they cupped a hand around the back of his neck and smiled at him, with love shining on their face, it was worth every blister, every time he swore and every time he got the steps wrong.  “Hercules Kouros, I love you,” they shook their head in amazement.  “I love you too.” Herc said, kissing their hand again. “Now… I think we have an appointment scheduled,” he tipped his head towards the main room.  “Please welcome to the floor-” came the voice of his Papa over the microphone. “For their first dance as a married couple, Mr Hercules Kouros and-” 

[pippastrelle]

FIXING KINGDOM HEARTS III

Even if I loved KH3, I think everyone will admit it had problems. This is my thought project on how I think those problems could have been fixed without greatly altering any of the main plot points, worlds, or gameplay.

My main problems were:

The pacing, especially with the introductions/impacts of the New Organisation XIII

The aimlessness of Sora’s adventures and how they don’t really explain what the power of waking is for most of the plot

How superfluous Maleficent, Pete, and the box felt

Girl X’s sudden appearance

Fridging Kairi, and the lack of payoff for her and Lea’s training

Set-Up/Overarching Plot

The game’s main story is Team Light’s response to Xehanort’s new Organisation promising a second Keyblade War. They are gathering 13 Darknesses and the only way to fight them is with 7 Lights. Team Light doesn’t want a new Keyblade War. However, this could be their chance to stop Xehanort once and for all. In search of their lights, Team Light also takes this opportunity to rescue Master Eraqus’ pupils: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Although, they don’t know where Terra is and they know Ventus’ body and heart are both lost. This sets up the three main plot threads:

1) Kairi and Lea deciding to train to be keyblade wielders to be two of the seven guardians of light.

2) Riku and Mickey searching the vast Realm of Darkness for Aqua - she helped both of them and she’s the only one who can find Ventus’ body.

3) Sora working to regain his strength so he can get his power of waking again to recover Ventus’ heart. Here, Yen Sid explains what the power of waking is at the beginning: a way of connecting with and retrieving sleeping/lost hearts that Sora can use because of his strong, connected heart.

(Olympus)

First, Sora goes to Olympus with the hope of training with Phil and regaining his strength that way. Except, he has to deal with Hades instead. The story plays out more or less the same but Xigbar appears more frequently, taunting Sora about Team Light’s attempt to avoid the incoming Keyblade War and how he’ll never be able to resist being the hero. Xigbar turns up with Heartless and Nobodies for Sora to fight to prove his point.

Meanwhile, in the background, Pete and Maleficent look for the black box. At this point, they’re relatively calm about it but their searching does result in one building collapse and an increase of Heartless in the area, which Sora (unknowingly) has to deal with. Xigbar appears soon after to distract him and seemingly explain the Heartless.

Still, Hades was the main source of problems in this world. While Sora was feeling down (in his own way) about his new weaknesses, he learns to get back up on his feet. He and Herc also realise that the best way for Sora to regain his strength is to do what he did to get strong in the first place: travel the worlds, making connections and protecting whoever is in danger, regardless of this new Keyblade War. He’s not going to let this new Organisation threaten people.

The Main Story in the Disney Worlds

The worlds’ stories play out the same way. We still get updates on both Riku and Mickey difficulties in the Realm of Darkness throughout the game too, as well as updates on Ienzo’s mission to find out from Ansem the Wise’s data how they can bring back Roxas and Namine.

(The New Organisation)

Meanwhile, the Organisation continue to antagonist Sora as he travels to whichever worlds need him. They appear more frequently than they do in the game, provoking the characters into driving the plot forwards while providing the occasional miniboss.

1) Xigbar (Olympus), Xemnas and Ansem SoD (Twilight Town), and Vanitus (Monstropolis) taunt Sora about how inevitable the war is and how he will have to play the role they set for him.

2) Similarly, Marluxia (Corona) and Larxene (Arendelle) are sent to threaten some new Princesses of Heart. They set Heartless against them that Sora has to destroy, since these princesses might have to ‘fight’ as the 7 Lights if the Guardians won’t.

3) Meanwhile, Young Xehanort (Toy Box), Vexen and Luxord (The Caribbean), and Riku Replica (Sanfransokyo) spend their time testing theories hearts and puppets. This shows they’re still gathering members through the replica programme and aren’t quite as ready as Larxene said. They are interested in how vessels that might not have had hearts act and they mess with them throughout the worlds to cause conflict.

(The members use their extra screentime to be a bit more fun/characterful as villains. Although, Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Luxord also spend more time raising questions about Xemnas’ choice to bring them back to the Organisation, then their apparent histories as ancient keyblade wielders that none of them can remember. They all go along with the plan for now but they’re curious about what will be unveiled).

(Pete, Maleficent, and the Box)

Pete and Maleficent’s actions are also felt in all the worlds (except Toy Box, Monstropolis, and 100 Acres Woods since they can’t really get to those). They’re actively avoiding Sora, since he ruined all their plans before, but as they get more frustrated, they cause more difficult puzzles for him to overcome. They briefly come into conflict with Luxord in the Caribbean over the box there yet they realise that’s still not the box they need. They’re angry (with Xigbar) and feel like they’ve been on a wild goose chase, until Maleficent realises that this is because the box doesn’t even exist, yet. It need the Keyblade War.

(The Power of Waking)

As Sora defeats the various challenges on each world and connects with the Disney characters (Pooh included), he starts feeling stronger and more confident. Although, he’s still impatient and the fact it hasn’t (noticeably) unlocked the power of waking prevents Yen Sid from letting him join Riku and Mickey’s search for Aqua. It’s this confidence in his heart that leads him to Destiny Islands though and lets him follow everyone into the Realm of Darkness. Then, when he wakes Ventus during the fight with Vanitus, it’s these connections that have strengthened his ability to do so.

As they’ve learnt from Vanitus, the Organisation are ready for the Keyblade War and they are not going to stop. So, Team Light decides they’ll finally ready to just take this opportunity to put an end to them and Xehanort.

Girl X

Ienzo and Vexen both reference their lab’s previous human experimentation, Ienzo with regret and Vexen subtly with Saix. Ansem the Wise is also clearer in referencing her when talking about his regrets. When Saix talks to Lea about it, he more clearly cites her as the reason they were trying to sneak into Ansem the Wise’s laboratory in the first place.

Kairi and Lea’s training

Kairi admit she’s still not brilliant as a keyblade wielder while Lea is also just getting used it, but they want to be able to help. Kairi talks about the bonds they’ve made and how their connections are important, helping them when they might not be able to help themselves. She ties this in to Namine and Roxas (and Xion) and how they’re fighting to save their lost friends.

The Keyblade War Itself

When Xehanort’s 13 members unleash a wave of Heartless on Team Light, it’s as an ‘easy’ way to have light fight darkness. Team Light fends them off though, as predicted. So, Terra(nort) appears to distract both Aqua and Ventus, allowing him to pick several of them off because the Organisation unleashes the new tower of Heartless that finishes the rest off.

In the Final World, it’s no longer an optional scene that Sora talks to Namine and she promises to reach out to Terra to protect them. Meanwhile, Sora uses the power of waking to bring everyone back to their past bodies. He should have lost his own heart in the process but Kairi’s connection with him is enough to bring him back as well. Although, since people lose their memories of the future when they time travel to the past in Kingdom Hearts, it seems they’re doomed to repeat history. Then, the remnants of Terra’s soul in Lingering Will protect them Terranort. This buys enough time for Ephemer and the ancient keyblade wielders to save them from the Heartless, which, in turn, alerts Yen Sid to intervene.

The rest of the finale plays out as it did. Although, this time, Kairi sacrifices herself in the fight against Xemnas. She and Lea had already struggled to fight Xemnas, Saix, and Xion and she didn’t want Lea to be destroyed before he could properly reunite with Roxas and Xion.

In the near-finale confrontation against Xehanort, it’s not just her ‘death’ that motivates Sora either. Kairi tells him to do whatever it takes to defeat Xehanort when he’s unsure whether they should keep fighting (for fear for forging the X-Blade). Lea also repeats a bit of what she told him about Namine and connections when Sora thinks she’s gone.

[eastasiansonwesternscreen]

Racialized ageism and fandom

The age of the white male character is never the problem for shipping in fandoms. The age of the white actor is never the stopping point for him being viewed as “sexy” and “desirable”. The white guys in their 60s are seen as “hot” and “shipworthy”. The age gap between the older white guy and the character he’s shipped with at the moment is never the issue.

Look all over the fandoms: Clark Gregg (62), Peter Capaldi (59), Norman Reedus (48), Colin Firth (57), Rory McCann (48), James Spader (57)… etc. etc. are in their late 40s – early 60s. Yet their characters are seen as sexually desirable and worthy of shipping not only with the characters, who are within their own age frame, but also with much younger characters:

1682 Works in Phil Coulson/Skye | Daisy Johnson 

2145 Works in Twelfth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald

1954 Works in Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene

4312 Works in Harry Hart | Galahad/Gary “Eggsy” Unwin

2148 Works in Sandor Clegane/Sansa Stark

1048 Works in Elizabeth Keen/Raymond Reddington

Fandoms are not caging these older white male characters within the frames of a “desexualized parental figure” trope. In fact, “an older white guy x younger [usually also white] character” is a hugely popular shipping trope.

Yet, things differ drastically when the male character isn’t white (or seen as white – eg. Wentworth Miller’s Captain Cold), especially when the male character is dark-skinned. These male characters of color, who are over their 40s, are almost always invisible for fandom shipping.

For example – Joe West from The Flash. Jesse L. Martin is 48. He’s the same age as Norman Reedus, Rory McCann, he’s about a decade younger than Clark Gregg, Peter Capaldi, James Spader or Colin Firth. And yet, he’s mostly seen as an “unshippable parental figure”.

Samuel L. Jackson has prominent roles in numerous popular franchises, that have big presence in fandoms with rich shipping content – Star Wars, MCU, Kingsman… Yet, his characters are always left out of the shipping pool in these fandoms – Mace Windu is ignored; Nick Fury is seen as the “dad” figure of the avengers; and Valentine is seen as nothing more than a funny villain, even though, fandoms do love white male villains. SLJ was 51 when Mace Windu first appeared on screen, he was in his early 60s when the MCU franchise started out, SLJ is only few years older than Clark Gregg.

Or take Stacker Pentecost from Pacific Rim, played by Idris Elba. Idris Elba. Idris was 41 when PR came out. And yet, the fandom had collectively decided that the only ship suitable for a “parental figure” like Stacker is Herc Hansen. Max Martini is two years older than Idris, and yet:

322 Works in Chuck Hansen/Hercules Hansen  vs. 3 Works in Chuck Hansen/Stacker Pentecost

147 Works in Raleigh Becket/Hercules Hansen vs. 10 Works in Raleigh Becket/Stacker Pentecost

52 Works in Hercules Hansen/Mako Mori

Worth noting that the incest father/son ship with Hansens is more popular than Hercules Hansen/Stacker Pentecost, which only has 288 works in total. Raleigh had more on-screen connection with Stacker than he had with Herc; Chuck and Stacker died together while trying to save the world. Together in Death is a hugely popular shipping trope all across fandoms, for example Enjolras/Grantaire from Les Misérables had 3 seconds of total screen time together in the movie, and they have ~9k of fics on AO3 alone…

Another one is Luke Garroway from the Shadowhunters, played by Isaiah Mustafa (43). Have you seen Isaiah? Yeah, I know. And yet, he is also seen almost as some “grandpa” figure of the group. Often people use his age as an excuse for excluding him from most fanon activities involving the main group of characters – not just shipping, but also: group fanvids, group edits etc. The only ships involving Luke that are accepted and supported by the fandom are with Jocelyn and Maryse. And I often see people in tags saying that any other ships with Luke are “creepy” and “uncomfortable” because he’s the “dad” of the group. I agree about the creepy factor with, say Clary and Simon… but others? - Not so much.

And, yeah, I would’ve agreed with this fandom “activism” if it wasn’t so hypocritical. Remember Rupert Giles from BTVS? Who also was the “father figure” of the Scooby Gang? Anthony Head was 43 at the start of the show and 49 when it ended. And yet, I don’t remember BTVS fandom excluding Giles at every turn because of his age:

645 Works in Rupert Giles/Buffy Summers

351 Works in Rupert Giles/Ethan Rayne

254 Works in Rupert Giles/Xander Harris

182 Works in Rupert Giles/Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

155 Works in Rupert Giles/Joyce Summers

67 Works in Rupert Giles/Faith Lehane

Compare to Luke’s ships:

185 Works in Jocelyn Fairchild/Luke Garroway

19 Works in Luke Garroway/Maryse Lightwood

6 Works in Luke Garroway/Alaric Rodriguez

4 Works in Luke Garroway/Valentine Morgenstern

4 Works in Magnus Bane/Luke Garroway

2 Works in Luke Garroway/Alec Lightwood

Speaking of Shadowhunters, people also often try to put Magnus in the same “father figure” frames – anti-Malec (J@lecs, Cl@lecs etc.) people, who ship Alec with everything white that moves, always try to insinuate that Magnus is borderline a pedophile because he’s dating Alec.

After all, I don’t see the Torcwood fandom acting as if Jack Harkness (an immortal who lived through ages and generations) is some unshippable “dad” figure, who can’t be shipped with other members of the team. I haven’t seen people there saying that Jack is a “creep” for dating Ianto (just for the record: the age gap between John and Gareth is 14 years vs. 5 years between Matt and Harry).

I’m not suggesting that people need to start shipping Luke or Magnus with the younger characters, what I am saying is that, had Luke and Magnus been portrayed by white actors, people wouldn’t have been putting them in the frames of “parental figures” of the group as much. And yeah, I love the dad!Luke and dad!Magnus headcanons as much as the next person, but let’s also be honest that we’re not living in a vacuum, the race can’t be taken out of the equation.

These are just a few examples, but this is happening all across fandoms. And not just with MoC – take Shirley Bennett from Community. Yvette Nicole Brown is of the same age as is Joel McHale – they’re both 45 now and were in their late 30s when the show first aired. And yet, both the show and the fandom treated Shirley as if she was some “grandma” and Chevy Chase’ peer (who was in his late 60s back then).

[kingdomheartsfaq]

Are the current union cross quest 1 star medals worth getting to 6 star and guilted?

The drop rate on the Union x medals are pretty random, if I’m not mistaken.  You don’t really get a choice on which medals you get.  So guilting them might be a little difficult, but it might be worth doing too!

First and foremost, each max guilted medal is 6 Nova levels!  For new players, 19 medals is 114 Nova!  That’s not something you should ignore.

The guilts are Tier 2s and 3s, and the multipliers aren’t that high.  Christmas Sora (with +1 Str, +1 Def) can be a good guilted medal for new players and Classic Donald and Sora & Riku & Meow Wow are pretty nice single target damagers.  Other than that, Young Kairi, Alice & Cheshire Cat, and Judy & Nick can be pretty nice buffs to have but they don’t need to be guilted.

I honestly think these reprint events are great for new players, but the real benefit comes from getting Nova.  You better believe I’m going to be working on max guilting my J&N and Flowbermeow!  But if you’ve been playing this game a while and have some quality guilted T3 medals (like the Org ones or Herc & Phil or anything like that) then these are pretty useless.

Hope that helps!