#I have never drawn kh1 sora!

[starfiresky]

❤️ “May your heart be your guiding key!” 🗝️

[goldensunset]

a rather heavy destiny for someone so small, isn’t it?

[freckledhylian]

…Okay but what if there was two Paopu scene in KH3? I’m being held at gunpoint by my Soriku brainrot so please bear with me.

The weirdest part about them is that they’re fully opposed, and that’s what makes me think the second one is a paopu scene.

We all know the first and famous Paopu scene;

And then the second I’ll be mixing with is that one;

Now let’s explain.

In KH1, the drawing that Sora made, is painted like some wish of his. And in KH3, that wish finally came true.

Yet we all know how he reacted to it. For a wish that he seemed to have for a whole game, he looked surprised and really confused. As if, not that he didn’t want it anymore, but more like his intention changed since then. After all, approximately 2 years had passed since that drawing.

He did take the fruit in the end, but not before it was explained to him that it was just for the event that was to come. “That’s all.”

Please note that, in the scene, they each had their own Paopu, which resulted in two fruits.

Sora’s wish to share a Paopu wasn’t the only one in KH. There was also Riku’s. Remember that scene where he talk about the Poapu’s legend to Sora? He hands him one Paopu and tell him about the legend.

He adds a “I know you wanna try it” before leaving while laughing. Riku teasing Sora with the legend and about him wanting to try it because he know/thinks Sora has a crush on her means, that Riku see the legend as something romantic. But Sora doesn’t understand what his fiend is talking about and throw it.

How I see the meaning of this scene is Riku wanting to share a Paopu with Sora, but Sora doesn’t understand yet. What does he not understand yet? Pretty much Riku’s feeling and what are feeling on a whole. But he’s not aware that he doesn’t understand yet, he’ll become aware of that in KH3 as we all saw.

The following day, after Riku explicitly told him what that was, he teases him again with this time the winner being able to share a Paopu with her. (Iirc Sora canonically wins that race). And after that, during the food rations quest, we get the scene of Sora’s wish being drawn.

We’re now in DDD. Just after finishing the World of Fantasia, in which Sora and Riku both learned about Dearly Beloved, a symphony that their hearts created in resonance, we get to access The World That Never Was. And what de we unlock there? Nightmare’s end for Sora and Mirage Split for Riku. Or in other words, the gayblade combined keyblade.

I’ll talk about it more in details in an other post, but to me, the combined keyblade is the incarnation of Riku & Sora’s hearts reciprocating the wish of sharing a Paopu fruit; the wish of being tied to another and thus forever, hence the paopu keychain. After hearing what both of your hearts produce together, honestly who wouldn’t. But, once again, Sora isn’t fully conscious of it. His heart on the opposite, understood.

I wanna add something about DDD’s keyblade scene. Whenever they use it, one of them isn’t fully visible. Even if it’s supposed to be their holograms, I see this as being their hearts not sure of how the other feels. If the other reciprocate it or not. They still don’t know.

Now, back to KH3. After Riku triangle to Sora, the later arrives, all happy to be here, to see Riku, who by the way was literally exhausted before Sora arrived, but when he’s here it’s “Oh, I’m cool now”. Sora has absolutely no goddamn clues of what the hell is going on, and yet, without a word they both summon the combined keyblade, after literally just smiling to each other.

This is what I mean by sharing a paopu. They shared that Keyblade without being in Sora’s dream, “I’m not dreaming this time, right?”, they shared it in their reality, without having to say anything to each other. They understood each other.

Now, the opposite I was talking about.

For the scenery, it’s obvious for one is the day/end of the day, and the other is the middle of an endless night.

The spot is kind of an opposite if you include the “importance” it has. The paopu tree is of course an important to both of Sora and K, but it also is to Riku. They were never showed there only the two of them until the paopu scene. On the contrary, Sora & Riku were left alone in that same beach. They even said to each other that they were fine there, just the two of them, forever.

The most obvious opposite that gave me the initial hint is the fact that K had to explain herself to Sora. He didn’t understand right away. Yet, when it came to Riku, they literally just looked at each other, smiled, and did their thing. No words exchanged, nothing. They understood each other directly.

Second most obvious and most simple is the fact that K and Sora “shared” (more like “exchanged” now that I think about it) two paopu when Riku and Sora shared only one. And about that keychains I’ll do a post about it too cause there’s ton of stuff to say on it.

And yeah that’s it. Thanks for listening to something that sat in my draft for 3 months now because I never had the right idea of how to put it and kept writing it all over again😭

[valorxdrive]

You know. There has always been a popular point of contention I’ve seen regarding Sora’s character. One that always has this lean on what ‘maturity’ means in terms of how his character progresses. That in itself is never bad, since it’s a natural brand of life progression to grow according to your experiences. There’s just one particular section I have to REALLY reflect my disapproval on.

Sora losing his concepts of cheerfulness/optimism to create that mature aspect is something I can never agree with. Aka the ‘grown up’ idealism which many people love to have sensationalized in mediums of high violence and whatever else. Jaded world, jaded people, jaded situations.

Having him face these situations and naturally go through the motions of learning, growth and having a ‘Sora personalized’ handle on taking on these situations, especially without others by his side is an important deal to have. Where maturity stems from wisdom and deeper understanding in my personal viewpoint. Which in turn, he’s come to learn throughout the series just how vast everything has been even with his high paced situations. To the point of 3, it ended up with him breaking one of these unknown Natural Laws in the name of his companions.

An important aspect to even help keep him strong is his particular sense of character. Noble, finding the best even in the worst of situations, never losing that quality of not believing that something or someone should be cast to damnation in the name of ‘tough decisions.’ To brave the idea of searching for an answer that many would believe to be impossible instead if it can benefit many as ‘too good to be true.’ The hardest path I’ve come to personally see in Kingdom Hearts is working adamantly to do good, when countless powers, people and figures out there love to draw temptation in the forms of power with prices, or to let apathy reign and caring less about the cost of what’s out there.

The fact Sora commits himself to doing right by the world, holding true to his oath of KH1 of using his power to ‘Protect himself and others’, even if it meant slaying foes too far beyond truly sticks with me.

That said, another fine stand out is that it’s never drawn to a point of being a mindless branch of slaughter.

As showcased with Xehanort, Sora wants to truly understand the situation to the best he can, and rather would destroy destructive ambitions firsthand before anything else. Finding the true root of the problem, which is likely the most dangerous route to take ends up becoming the path always traversed, as he must never close his heart, whether literally or by the many poisonous teachings that manifested in the KH mythos.

JUST MAKES YOU THINK.

Keeping true to the brand of character he’s the most content with, on top of fully realizing the Greater World, and learning the scale of what’s needed to be prepared and inevitably fight these forces upon evened footing without falling to their vices is what really makes him stand out to me.

In short/tl’dr. I believe the core concept for Sora is that looking at his positive qualities/the fact he ENJOYS life = immature is horribly underrate. He needs to grow, true. Though, becoming a molded form of what the cruelties of the world made you, and not by your own decision is no ‘true strength’ much as it is, making the best of what you have to survive. Even if at times this regresses your growth as you becoming someone you’re ultimately not happy with.

Slaughtering the problem isn’t it, but to diminish the roots of such agony and stopping it from devouring others is.

[mrmallard]

So I watched the Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days movie on the KH 1.5 Remix collection.

I did play 358/2 Days back in the day, on an R4 cart on my DS. It's a pretty good game, it's a shame they didn't port it to the collection. On one hand, KH1 and Chain of Memories were both PS2 games (one was a remake of a GBA game, but it was a port from 2007) and 358/2 Days was a DS game - porting an entire third game, especially such a sprawling mission-based title, from an entirely foreign platform with touchscreen controls to be cut/redefined, would have been a much bigger undertaking than the other two. On the other, it's a really good game and I would have liked it a lot.

It's a total gut punch, and I feel like it wasn't properly represented by Kingdom Hearts 3 if I'm being honest. That being said, I'm pretty critical of how KH3 wraps up its loose ends, even if I know why they did it like that. But I really liked this game, even if it introduces some very stereotypically silly Kingdom Hearts anachronisms with the introduction of a Number XIV in Organisation XIII. It makes sense eventually, but it's very Kingdom Hearts y'know. It's a part of the charm.

I'm actually gonna get into spoilers under a readmore instead of dancing around the issue for once. Massive spoilers for KH: 358/2 Days and Chain of Memories under the cut, and because 358/2 Days came out after Kingdom Hearts 2, there's some KH2 spoilers too.

---

I'm gonna start with Chain of Memories and the Replica connection. I began to think that Xion was the manifestation of Sora's memories finding a home inside the original Replica Riku, and while I understand better now, I still think it would have been pertinent for the Riku Replica to have found a new home as a vessel for Sora's memories of Kairi instead of dying in despair.

The way things are now, Replica Riku was the first Replica introduced in the series and he died at the end of Chain of Memories. Xion was a secret original Replica, the original fruits of Vexen's labor, who was taken to The World That Never Was before the events of Chain of Memories - her purpose was to absorb Roxas's memories of Sora and become an Organisation XIII puppet, basically giving them Sora while ensuring that Sora would never wake up. Xion technically came first, Repliku was made second. So that's completely contrary to my whole headcanon.

In hindsight, this retcon makes sense - not only were they disordering Sora's memories and removing his memories of Kairi in Chain of Memories, but they took those memories of Kairi and put them in the original Replica that became Xion. It actually makes the most sense now that I'm sitting down and talking about them.

I still think having Replica Riku's death being interrupted by Sora's memories giving him a new form would have been pertinent from Repliku's point of view. Sora's memories of Kairi manifest in a dying shell as this new person named Xion, who breaks out from her original purpose to become her own person. She's eventually drawn back to her original purpose, which is tragic, but it provides a direct contrast to Repliku who was originally powerless to escape the shadow of the original Riku.

It gives him a second wind, like the Doctor from Doctor Who, and gives him a second arc to continue and contrast from his first arc in Chain of Memories.

Repliku found despair in being a clone of Riku, never being able to escape. Xion found despair in being a pawn for Xemnas and for hurting Roxas, but she really enjoyed being Xion and she sacrificed herself for a greater good - losing her divergent identity in the progress. My idea is that Repliku became their own person through becoming Xion, but she was still unknowingly shackled by her status as a copy - but rather than give into despair like with Repliku, she got to have her own name, her own face, her own identity. Her own life. She got everything Repliku ever wanted, retroactively giving Repliku a sort of afterlife where he was able to escape the grim fate he had resigned himself to.

And instead of dying in despair over never being anything more than a shadow of the real thing, Xion cherishes the time that she was able to be her own person, even if her fate as a copy still ends in tragedy.

On one hand, huge trans allegory. On the other hand, fridges a trans character. It's probably better that they're separate characters with separate character arcs.

Secondly, Xion and Roxas's relationship is really nice. Axel is pretty relatable as an older character who kind of has to burst the bubble of his younger friends - he knows Xion's baggage as a Replica and what that probably means for the three of them as a team, he knows Roxas is a Nobody of Sora who's a guy he's already met in the padt, and despite his better judgement he helps both of these characters to accomplish their own ends despite knowing it's all gonna end in tragedy. Because he cares so much about them, and he doesn't want to hurt either of them.

I kinda imagined this real life AU where Axel and Riku are like the older third-wheel friends of their friend groups, with Sora and Kairi pairing up to have a family as well as Roxas and Xion doing the same, and they still care about their friends but like they're just chilling, doing their own thing, kinda being dirtbags without much going on. They hang out a lot and have barbeques at the local park on those old, awful, dirty electric grills, they hit the bar - maybe as a consolation for not being a Roxas/Axel or a Sora/Riku story, they can eventually hook up? But it gets grim for them before it gets better imo. They're just a couple of old, dirty, aimless bastards (affectionate).

Third, DiZ is a fucking douchebag lmao??? Like I know the whole deal behind DiZ and that he's actually a good guy, but man, DiZ himself is a bag of dicks. I don't like DiZ.

Xion is a really good character in 358/2 Days, and let's just leave it at that if you can read between the lines. I think her existence is extremely convoluted and silly in that trademark KH way, but it makes sense considering Chain of Memories - she's the product of Sora's memories of Kairi, which were stolen from him during Chain of Memories, and it's only through getting them back that makes Kingdom Hearts 2 possible in the first place. I really adore her as a character with her struggles, and frankly I ship her and Roxas. They have interesting parallels as parts of Sora with divergent identities who need to return to Sora under tragic circumstances, and I think they should get to be the people they want to be.

[kicktwine]

ask dump (big long)

1) ABDBHTDND YEAH THEY DID UM, they did the ”no THANK you..! etc etc BUT IM WEAK” song too! Wild how that is now. points at them hey I know those guys

2) OHHH….. THIS HITS……….. I like missio sometimes but this is a nice chorus also: Vanitas… yeah I, like, always love music recs. they can be hit or miss but it’s only fair with how much music I find and then immediately go what if I showed everyone

3) how many does he have in there now, eleven? Twelve??? He signed up for one mouse and he got eleven human children or at least nine to ten human children, two young adults, and two regular adults who aren’t going to be helpful—

4) aaaaaaaaa thank you!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

5) MMM I haven’t thought extensively about cowboys for a while… it’s been mostly space up here for now, haha. I like my space murder. But that’s not to say I haven’t given them some fond passing thoughts! Two bros sitting in a river 5 feet apart cos they’re covered in mud and smell awful and one of them is very loudly blaming the other for the plan that involved hiding behind a barn (actually the last thing I wrote in my notes is a mini totally unfinished drabble of hiding in Lea’s bar but the “great hiding place” Lea has is in his floor)

6) gosh I Have to wonder if it’s a case of destiny/universal “the nature of humanity is that every so often someone invents homestuck again” or if we just, like, had common knowledge of the book of prophecies. Or not even the Book, maybe, I have to assume that knowledge/observance of the Foretellers phased out pretty quickly, but prophecies left unfulfilled would linger for generations probably. Or maybe they’re even old stories, a tale of seven masters of the past drawn in to a chess game, or the game based on the old fairytales, or the numbers 7 and 13 are ingrained in local culture … see, because obviously Xehanort implies that this prophecy/old masters stuff ISNT common knowledge, but Eraqus CERTAINLY knows about it and it’s in all the architecture/local myths… ok but then also, if we’re to take the opening chess game as more than just clever symbolic narrative bookends, everyone’s symbols ARE right there. I just kind of registered that’s probably what you were talking about. In which case our questions are still there, how much did the common populace know and how much did eraqus know? Did he like, end up with three apprentices who had very distinct chess symbols as keychains and go uh oh john or what—

hey why’d you do this to me. I’m a tired college student in scala on my sixth response paper about the prophetic legitimacy of foreordained keybearers versus the self-imposed creation of destiny as following common legend and I’m arguing with some guy named Einar about how you can’t just fake a prophetic fulfillment by claiming to be the Crown piece in chess. You can’t just KIN A CHESSPIECE, Einar.

7) ABGDJGD TY..!!! To be honest they also live in my head rent-free! Some of them need to start paying rent because I’m supposed to be in school getting Better at storyboarding—

8) hard same hey thats just bc magnet is uhhhh. The best spell? Aside from mine spells

9) SEE AGAIN I DONT KNOW bc for one Sora obviously isn’t ENTIRELY unique, if he’s able to be diagnosed so quickly, but this “holding your nobody and two to four other people in there” kind of thing probably has never been seen before. But for another, Roxas and Xion have copied a keyblade. Just like — a keyblade? Copied entirely? Wild.

anyways keyblade manifestation is a mystery to me and I’d love to see it explored because what we know the Lore is, is this: they were fashioned after the likeness of the x-blade. They can be bequeathed to others (shown to not necessarily mean that exact keyblade is passed down, probably this means the ability to wield can be bequeathed). They can be WILLFULLY given. They come from the heart, they are not welded out of steel. They are…. questionably sentient, or maybe just sapient, or somehow are picky about who holds them. Side note khwiki is telling me things I Did not know about the whereabouts of Ven’s heart during 358 and also the ability to wield two which requires more than one heart obvi but which is named synch blade??? always question the wiki but these have sources. Anyways. Keychains can swap their forms so they have a Base and Custom Skins mode. There are three kinds, Light (common), Darkness (Michael mouse??? Not his bbs one the rod one which I GUESS is a counterpa Iiiiii am getting off trackaaaaa), and Heart (which I’m guessing is just the x-blade, maybe the gayblade, and the kh1 keyblade of heart??). Um. What was my point here. OH yeah I was just gonna say Bro Wild. This is completely a mystery to me. Does every keykid’s base form keyblade look different, and we were all just given cool keychains? Are there some kids who melded unique keychains? If I were connecting dots wildly and with reckless abandon I’d say yeah and also you cannot just suddenly one day wield one, you HAVE to be bequeathed, but as soon as that happens it sparks the creation of your own personal heart sword. Every keyblade is manifested independently — those wielding a family keyblade have the ability to summon their own, if necessary, but the family sword is taking up that space in their heart and theyd have to get used to making their own. since, it seems, keyblades (summoned) will die and solidify if their bearer dies, but keyblades (unsummoned) will either disappear or summon themselves somewhere else and retain a small piece of your… essence. A legacy keyblade, I feel, would be a little something like feeling every past Avatar and you are the avatar, but you can’t talk to them. They’re there tho. Also I think that having an exceptionally strong heart would be not only a moral requirement for ensuring the keyblade’s duty is upheld, but also a physical requirement! youre carving out a bit of your heart to make room for a sword. Weak hearts should not do that even if they want to.

aye… how was that longer than the scala answer? You got me on tangents again in these essays I

10 (submission from licilou22)

NGDBFDBFSHGDHFDHGDA 😎👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼 WHEEZING

[alangdorf]

My Favorite Obscure Kingdom Hearts Facts!

I always forget about these but they’re absolutely wild and the IMPLICATIONS...... H M M M M M........ (these are in no particular order)

1) In the chess game in kh3, there’s a second Vanitas piece that Eraqus has captured for the entire time

https://youtu.be/DmqVVClhVeo

2) Vanitas is the boss you fight the most throughout the whole series, but in BBS, he is vulnerable to sleep and zero gravity (unlike most of the other bosses) and also the status effects stun, freeze, ignite, and poison, which are slightly more common (though he loses some of his vulnerabilities in his last fight with Ventus)

3) The very first line of BBS is spoken by Young Xehanort. Neither of them are credited, but this line is voiced by David Gallagher in English and Mamoru Miyano in Japanese, both of whom voice Riku in their respective languages

4) In San Fransokyo, Maleficent states that the Riku there is one she knows. This makes sense when we think it’s kh1-era Riku, but it’s later revealed that the Riku in the new organization is Replica Riku, who Maleficent has never met before. However, she was in re:coded and met/kidnapped Data Riku (though I think Pete was also present for that incident)

5) In the Birth By Sleep secret ending of kh2, Ventus is left-handed and the teeth of Wayward wind are on the outside rather than the inside. This was later changed for unknown reasons (and the capes were removed because they caused too much lag in multiplayer)

However, Missing Ache, Ventus’ keyblade in ux, is held in the same hand he wears his wristband on, which is his left!! (ux sprites are only drawn from one side and then mirrored so it’s his left) This keyblade also has four reverse medal (antagonist characters) slots and is only available in proud mode, and originated in days as the first non-kingdom key keyblade you could use as Roxas

6) As of back cover and kh3, all of the black coats have an Unversed symbol on their zipper pull

7) Kairi’s hair is always based on Utada Hikaru’s current hairstyle

8) So apparently Sora completely forgot about this because he was still surprised when Vanitas’ mask came off and it’s really funny to me

9) As of limit cut, the new organization all have numbered ranks! They are: 1) Xehanort; 2) Ansem; 3) Xemnas; 4) Xigbar; 5) Luxord; 6) Larxene; 7) Marluxia; 8) Saïx; 9) Terranort; 10) Repliku; 11) Vanitas; 12) Young Xehanort; 13) Xion

10) In Japanese, Repliku’s last line was the same as Riku’s last line from kh1, “Take care of her.” :’)

Might think of more later, but I’ve hit the “10 images per post” limit so here ya go!

[the-lunarabyss]

Kingdom Hearts OC Week Day 1 : Introductions

Hi everybody! I’m Lunar Abyss, and I’m so excited to be able to participate in @khoc-week this year! I’ve created many OCs spanning multiple fandoms but, out of all of them, my OC for Kingdom Hearts is the nearest and dearest to my heart. I hoped to at least have drawn a picture of her to share her appearance with you guys but, unfortunately, I can’t draw more than a stick figure at the moment, haha (´ω｀*). Maybe next year?

Well, without further ado, please meet my Kingdom Hearts OC, Akira.

- - ♡ - -

At the beginning of KH1, Akira is just another 14 year old girl on the Destiny Islands, spending her days basking in the sun and napping on the beach. She is known to be aloof and indifferent to most but, to those close to her, she is a kind and clever soul who is always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. 

 Her first memory is of waking up battered and bruised in the Destiny Islands hospital ten years prior, with no recollection of when or how she got there. Though the residents chattered with excitement at the prospect of people travelling from other worlds, Akira found herself alienated by other kids her age due to her strange fuchsia-coloured hair. Sora, Riku, and eventually Kairi, were the ones to see past her odd appearance and accept her with open arms. They grew to be very good friends through the years, and Akira feels she could never repay them for the kindness they constantly show her.

Akira is a curious and adventurous spirit trapped in a timid mind. She is fearless when she needs to be, but would rather account for every possibility before jumping into danger. She is also a gifted singer, which is ironic since she is usually quiet and hates being the centre of attention. She likes blitzball, fairy tales, ice cream, and colourful things, and hates the sound of cicadas with a burning passion.

Her adventure begins when she agrees to help Sora, Kairi, and Riku build a raft and travel to other worlds. But, when the Heartless attack the islands, she desperately braves the ocean to save her friends and their raft, only to be swallowed up by the ocean. However, before breathing her last, a mysterious voice speaks to her, promising her a second chance at life if she agrees to form a pact with it...

- - ♡ - -

If you’re interested, Akira’s story is available on FFN. I’m in the middle of rewriting it, but the first book is complete for now.

Thank you so much, @khoc-week , I’m so excited to share my OC and see everyone else’s amazing OCs over the course of the week! (＾▽＾)

[phoenix-downer]

I know this will likely never happen but it would be interesting if there was a spinoff game in which Sora and Kairi's roles were reversed. Maybe in an AU, or maybe Kairi gets sent back in time and she has to relive his experiences before finding him again. It would be pretty cool, if extremely unlikely.

Kairi-as-the-protagonist is an interesting AU, isn’t it? It’s actually pretty popular with the fandom, too! I know a number of artists have explored variations of it, including miramelindamusings, qrdrws, thesanityclause, and oneskymanydestinies. Slightly-gay-pogohammer has also drawn some really cute art set during KH1 from Kairi’s POV where we see Kairi’s reactions to Sora’s adventures. 

And in terms of fics, I wrote a fic a couple of years ago where Kairi gets the Keyblade after Sora turns into a Heartless called Ready or Not, and the author MrSpinner wrote an AU where Kairi begins her Keyblade training after KH1 called Embrace of Destiny. 

(I know I’m probably forgetting some artists and writers who have explored this AU, so if you know of someone or are someone, feel free to chime in!)

I really like your idea where she relives his experiences before finding him again, that has a lot of potential! Maybe she’ll have to gather memories of him and see what all he’s done, who he’s met, etc. in order to save him?

Thanks for the ask!

[nadziejastar]

Could you go more into detail about how Kairi always felt drawn to Sora? I agree from one part that it's because she felt like he was the type who would never change. It's just that everyone since KH1 believed it's 'simply' romantic feelings for Sora, I believed it was more than that and it had to do with bit of her past.

“The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people’s hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived…in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. That is the world we live in now.”  

I completely agree that it wasn’t “simply” romantic feelings and that Kairi was always drawn to Sora because of her past. She grew up constantly hearing a story about how the world was swallowed by darkness, but it was rebuilt by the hearts of children.

“This world will be engulfed in darkness–everything you care about and everyone you love.”

Then the same thing happened to her. She lived a happy, peaceful life, then it was all consumed by the darkness. She lost everything she ever knew.

Santa: Before you do, Sora… I believe there’s a friend of yours…who—if I recall correctly—was the one who told you there’s no such thing as Santa Claus?

Sora: Oh yeah… He did say that.

She arrived on Destiny Islands on the night of the meteor shower and befriended Sora and Riku. Even at that young age, Riku was ready to grow up and be done with kid stuff.

I’m jealous of him. I can’t desperately push myself like he did back there, and I can’t smile like him either. Why am I the only one who’s a year older?

He might not have felt that way if he were the same age as them.

I can kind of feel a pain deep in my chest.

Riku was jealous of that childlike quality Sora had. And since he knew it was that particular quality that Kairi was drawn to, I believe that’s why he was so jealous of their relationship. It wasn’t “simply” jealousy because Riku liked Kairi.

Sora: I really flew. Wait ‘til I tell Kairi. I wonder if she’ll believe me. Probably not.

Peter Pan: You can bring her to Never Land sometime. Then she can try it herself.

Sora: If you believe, you can do anything, right? I’ll find Kairi. I know I will. There’s so much I want to tell her—about flying, the pirates, and everything else that’s happened.

Sora, on the other hand, was always very childlike. Like Riku, Kairi is mature for her age. She’s not as childish as Sora, but that’s why she is drawn to him so much. And I like how, after Sora seals the Neverland Keyhole, that’s when Kairi says she believes in him, and he sees the memory of her listening to her Grandma’s story.

Sora: A paopu fruit…

Riku: If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They’ll remain a part of each other’s lives no matter what.

Due to her painful past, Kairi needed someone with that innocent childlike quality. She needed to feel assured that they would never change and that no matter what, she’d remain a part of that person’s life forever. She’s lost everything once before and never wants to go through that again.

Xion: Heh heh heh… Wow. The sun’s beautiful. I know we’ve seen a lot of sunsets, but today’s puts them all to shame. If only things could stay like this forever…

That’s why I think Kairi had a lot in common with Axel. He lost everything, too. He was always clinging to his childhood memories as comfort. Isa may have seemed like the mature one, but he was probably the real “child”. He loved ice cream, which is “childish”. Axel ate ice cream so he could feel connected to his lost innocence, back when he believed things would never change and he and Isa would be together no matter what. The way Lea feels about Isa is not much different than the way Kairi feels about Sora.

“Surely we remember as children the way our hearts made everything seem so shiny, and perfect. Sora has a heart like that–uncorrupted, willing to see the good before the bad. When he sees the heart in something, it then becomes real. When a connection seems broken, he may have the power to mend it.”

More than any other character, Sora will always be a kid at heart. He disappeared from the cover of Pooh’s book. Their connection was weaker, probably because Sora is now moving out of his childhood years. But Sora has the power to mend that connection. Because of him being so childlike, Kairi know that they’ll always be together.

[konnichibot]

Lemme tell you about Kingdom Hearts

(A long ass thread)

I have never seen a video game story so convoluted and needlessly expanded as kingdom hearts. I played kingdom hearts 1 and 2 in the past and thought to return to the series after buying KH2.5 on sale on psn. I...did not think it through enough

So I played KH1 again and endlessly struggled and got through chain of memories (despite the horrible card system) I watched 358/2 days cut seen (only cause I liked organization xiii a bit) and boy howdy that was ALOT to get through to reach KH2 again.

So I'm playing that and I've yet to reach the prequel birth by sleep (which I'm interested in) but ive been spoiled about it and....why does ventus look like a roxas clone. Why does vanitas look like a sora clone. And why do we need an explanation for that???

Honestly they could've been designed better if they were supposed to be their own people/manifestations and looked DIFFERENT. Different hair! different face!! And then theres the fact ventus is still in soras heart as seen in (a game I really don't want to play) kingdom hearts re:coded.

I may be wrong about this but why couldn't sora be a reincarnation of ventus? Maybe he is idk but That would've been SO MUCH EASIER than keeping a roxas clone in the story. And I think vanitas does return and take over sora in KH3 (I haven't played that yet either!) Which brings me to another thing,

Theres ANOTHER prequel to play before getting to Kingdom hearts 3, kingdom hearts union X. As much as I liked backstory on the keyblade war it is SO drawn out story wise, especially in gameplay (and being a cash grabbing gacha). I did not need like 5 or 7 levels of fighting hearts to get from one place to another just to get Alice to a fucking tea party (in wonderland AGAIN) or to get around the underworld in the Colosseum (AGAIN) which brings me to another point.

Kingdom hearts reuses levels and characters in a way that is needless, annoyingly repetitive and doesnt make sense. I didnt need to go to Atlantica 3 times. Or Arabia 4 times, or to the Colosseum again or the underworld of the Colosseum again or wonderland or you get my point by now.

Also there is so much retconning. The fact that these characters have met a keyblade master in the past (union x) yet get so surprised as if they're meeting one for the first time in the original KH does not make sense. Like Donald and goofy being retconned and getting help from a keyblade master in the past and getting surprised by sora in KH1 is jarring and doesnt add up in the end. For Mickey it does at least since he has knowledge of the keyblade before hand in union cross and KH1. Like if you're gonna make a prequel, at least make it so that it doesn't contradict and make the original obsolete.

Also there are *so* many characters it makes my head spin. I had my plate full with the nobodies, and aqua, terra and ventus, and xehanort/ansem/xemnas (or mansex) that the addition of the foretellars, and luxu and xehanorts brethren AND the master of masters makes my head spin.

And now they say kindgom hearts is at "phase 2" and it's only been the first half and now they added xehanorts back story and new characters and I'm just😫, I'm fucking done.

So like I'm probably gonna play birth by sleep (like a sucker for punishment) JUST so I can play KH3 (which haven't played yet since last christmas) which SHOULD'VE ENDED WITH THAT (but it didn't) and then I'm fucking out.

[sokai]

I like how pre kh3 I read some fans theorized Sora would be anxious and maybe overprotective about Kairi initially joining the war since she's never fought before and, to our knowledge, he didn't know about her Keyblade training at first. Now post release and Remind approaching we saw Sora accepting Kairi as a comrade in arms w/o hesitation. Seeing her as strong and feeling strong w/her. Seeing their relationship as a two-sided saviour deal ~ I'll keep you safe. No let me Keep you safe (smiles)-

2 FIGHTING FREAKING GOAT MAN XEHANORT WITH HER. Even gameplay having him running away to give her room to go ballistic on the big bad and trusting her to handle herself as his partner against the same guy who murdered her. Sora - the perfect prince charming who is the biggest Kairi supporter ever (we don't got nothing on him folks).

It was a fair speculation to make given that Sora in KH1 gated Kairi from going with him because it was “way too dangerous” for her—and later teased her that she’d “kinda get in his way” when she goes, “I can’t help?? We made it this far by sticking together. You can’t go alone.”

Anyway, we learn from KH3 that he obviously places his trust on Kairi to fight her own battles and battles alongside him. Personally, I became completely convinced of this during the light in the darkness scene. Exchanges were made. Connections were drawn. It’s such a heartwarming scene between them.

Which reminds me that this exchange holds way more weight now.

Yeah, ‘cus alternatively, they’re gonna smite some 13 keyblade wielded old coot out of existence.

[something-about-sunflowers]

*sora voice* I made it!

ohhh man this took so long but i managed to get it done in three days and i cant believe i managed it

this is the most characters ive EVER drawn in the same scene theres 24 of them! From very left to very right: Repliku, Vanitas, Aqua, Leon, Terra, Demyx, Ven, Pence, Ienzo, Hayner, Aerith, Roxas, Mickey, Goofy, Isa, Donald, Lea, Kairi, Sora, Riku, Xion, Olette, Namine, and Yuffie

i wanted to include everyone who’s had some type of impact on me throughout these games and i wanted them to be having fun, they deserve to have some fun. i put the paopu in the foreground because we’re all connected

(i also have a bit of my shipping biases in this lmao)

ok ok now on to the actual thing lmao (warning: text brick incoming): Kingdom Hearts has been a pretty constant thing in my life since i was like, six. I remember playing around on destiny islands and running rampant in traverse town cause i didnt really know how to play all that well when i was a kid. I used to watch my brother play well into the night cause he was older and much better at video games (funnily enough i handed him the controller a bit during my critical playthrough of KH3 and he was absolutely hopeless) and i wanted to see the ending (i actually only ever beat KH1 just last year and im still super proud lmao KH1 is HARD)

And then when KH2 came out we didnt actually have our own copy for a good while, my brother borrowed it from a friend of his. i sat in his room playing pretty much every day for a whole summer playing while my brother gamed on his pc KH2 was actually the first KH game i had ever finished on my own and i loved it so much

then i played Com and Re Com. i didnt finish either of them lmao i love them tho i just could never figure out the card system and id get pretty consistently lost

i got bbs a good bit after it had been out because i didnt have a psp. after much asking my parents got me one for christmas and i spent that whole day playing it (i think i went with aqua first cause she’s pretty and i was excited to be able to play as a girl)

i never actually played 358/2 Days cause i dont have a 3/DS (this also made playing DDD dificult) but i knew a good bit of the story from a friend in school who would bring his and play at lunch, that and the fandom

i played DDD tho (and 0.2) when i got a ps4 (in anticipation for KH3 lmao) and it was so colorful and fun i loved it

i still remember my giddy excitement with the first announcement of KH3 being in development. i was literally shaking and i had so much energy i just couldnt believe and then as we got closer and closer and it got more real, with trailers and gameplay footage and the whole fandom was so happy and speculative ‘what if . . .’ ‘ooh maybe we’ll get to see . . .’ i honestly think that was the best time to be in the fandom

and now that the game is out and i’ve played and beaten it (still gotta finish my 100% critical playthrough tho) and im still so in love with the series and all of the characters i had grown up with and who’d grown with me (just maybe not quite as much as i’ve grown lmao its been years for me and they’re all still the same age) im so excited to think of whats to come!!

~Chel

[true-intha-blu]

I propose this simple Question

First:  why I ask this. Since the infancy of the KH fandom all the way back from KH1, I noticed this simple trend one that picked up tremulously after kh2. No this has nothing to do with shipping. Also to note; I have genuine curiosity if anyone else notices this and this is from my perspective and experience with dealing with the Kingdom hearts fandom. Others may have very different accounts but others (that I have asked) have indeed noticed this as well in my own view. I am not aiming to stir up hate or discourse. I aim for peaceful fandoms. However, this subject is something I see no one ever addresses and well... maybe breaking a status quo or ‘unspoken rule’. I hope this can be a reasonable discussion where I can learn another perspective or some people may notice it and just go... “Oh yeah. That is a thing.” To which the question at hand. “Why does R*ku always have to be cool?”

(Disclaimer I do not hate this character. This question is not hateful. It is not anti or whatever. I mean exactly what I say. I will not be tagging this in the R*ku tab to prevent any misunderstandings. I ask others do the same. Anyone who reblogs this with hate is in no way associated with me.)

I will state the positive traits about R*ku. He has had the greatest character arc out of all the Kingdom Hearts Characters. A great redemption arc from his lowest to blooming into practically a whole new person in his own struggle against his KH1 self. He’s loyal to his friends. Smart. Gets along with Mickey and Yen Sid. Mellow. Saved Kairi and Sora. Knows what he has done. He’s honest and shares his concerns with others. Since KH2 he has always been trying to help Sora in the best of his ability. In acknowledgment of his misdeeds in CoM and Days is very good and we see a character who has genuinely f’d-up and his trying his best to move past that by helping his friends despite the limited resources offered to him. ^These are very good traits for a character to have. Any character. Besides his one time self in KH1, what else is there to him? What can be addressed as a flaw or criticism of him? (I approach characters as even though a character goes through a development arc, does not mean they are void of flaws. No one works like that. Not characters or actual people.) I say this. I love Sora and Vanitas in the Kingdom Hearts fandom. However, I am not afraid to draw them doing stupid or silly things and point out they have various of unfavorable flaws. Sora is utterly dense and I hate the fact how he was portrayed in DDD but I accept it and I will drag him along pointing out that fact. It is part of his character. He’s a dork (and not always in a good way). He impulsive and is kinda a mess of a human being. He's stubborn in the worse ways and volatile. Vanitas appears to be on the surface a straight up evil villain. As far as the games go, he is just utterly vile in his contempt for the characters and his actions have brought suffering and misery to various of characters. (though there may be other traits that could set for his own arc) (I still love them both) But note how none of these flaws listed above are ‘endearing’ or even remotely positive. They are problems, that hinder the characters and those around them. These are persistent traits even though both Sora and Vanitas have mellowed. Sora far more than Vanitas. I just do not see this done with R*ku. I rarely (they do exist but in comparison to the likes of Sora, Org XIII, even foretellers, or Roxas [who could be compared to be as “badass” as R*ku], its rarely ever there) I don’t see anyone talking about Riku doing dumb stuff. Being silly or being the butt of a joke or just not, not being good. Example of the latter:  When there was talk about Sora cooking in KH3, rarely did I see that, ‘oh, Sora learns how to cook and becomes very good at it’ and most I see ‘R*ku is already a fabulous cook’.... what about Kairi? What about even Lea? Aqua? There is no mention of these other characters being good at cooking. R*ku is usually A.) always the cooler looking one, or must be made to look cooler and B.) always be the better or best at something. I know that is kinda the thing in KH, that R*ku is talented and gifted as a person. As for the coolness factor, Nomura does this as well. Sora gets a keyblade, R*ku gets an edgier cooler keyblade with more details. Riku gets the powers of both light and darkness. R*ku gets the Keyblade Master title. R*ku gets actual growth in his body. He gets the more competent companion (Mickey). I am not saying these things are detractions or upsetting, they are just there and be defacto, cooler than other characters. He becoming edgier and emo was a good play on Normura because back in early 2005′s people thought that was cool and hot. Silver hair is automatically an attractive trait and western audiences love a person with a muscled body like R*ku’s. I don’t blame fans for being appealed to his character. But I suppose I am getting off-topic. Why do fans keep feeling compelled to make R*ku perfect? When people make fanart of him like say a monster form or pirate outfit, they always make it more detailed, edgier or just cooler than anyone else who would be drawn that way. He always looks more impressive than an original canonical design when other characters are drawn or written in ways that are not as impressive or equally the same to a canonical design/form/power. Has the cool wolf animal companion or the cooler weapon, the more detailed designs etc etc Even Axel who is a badass assassin can be silly or dumb-looking. Heck, they even did that in games. They made Axel failed and acknowledge it.  I see Aqua who is awesome in design and badass moments, be criticized for her flaws that persist and others who wish to see her have more moments of weakness even with what we have seen in 0.2 Xion who has had a great arc in Days (Character arcs don’t always have to be a positive development) doesn’t get the coolness factor. Roxas who is probably the second most popular character still is known as a goofy boy who thought he could fight heartless off with a stick. That’s hilarious. The most notable thing about R*ku recently that wasn’t cool or badass or edgy was his infamous “WHAT?” response to Mickey in Kh3. And that was one thing. Only really that. But how Mickey worded it, anyone would have done the same. And I noticed that people use what Mickey said “Aqua is like Sora’ is a way to poke fun at Sora by implying that Aqua is like a dense 15 year old. (Again these are just observations I have made over a decade worth watching the Kh fandom). In talks with other people who are Sora stans or other stans, there is nothing but a lot of talk about R*ku being really good about things. Being superior to Sora, or Kairi, or Aqua and Terra. Over Roxas.  Giving Axel two keyblades is never done, but people have given two to R*ku.  I get it, people who love characters like to do so much with them. I do the same. I just... never seem to regard the characters I love as perfect as others see R*ku. Also... I just don't see anyone criticizing him (I mean criticism in actual acknowledgment of his character and not hating on said character). Or taking about traits or flaws that are not endearing “He cares too much about his friends” is not really that bad of a flaw in consideration. A lot of people would prefer to have that over say... anger issues. What about the fact he falls back into following the orders of others or doesn’t often decide things for himself?...  What about Minor flaws? I just never see them in regards to these characters. Alright, so these are my observations I have made over... 14+ years of watching this fandom. And I want to ask, why do fans see him as such? Besides the only reason being for them is “I like him.” Has it just become such a normal thing to make R*ku better? Is he really that good of a character than he is so universally loved? Or is the backlash of actually criticizing R*ku and seeing that maybe, making him too perfect is... not doing favors for him? An arc is just that, an arc. Doesn’t mean a character is perfect or done with. Doesn’t mean those flaws that persisted in him, are gone.   Make your favorite character silly, or doing something very dumb (that does not even have to do with shipping), or put forth of what you would like to see improve in this character or express more about their flaws and their struggles. I love pointing out the negative traits in all my characters because I like seeing their struggle and how that makes them interact with new nuances in other characters. Maybe it's a running joke that R*ku is ‘Mr Perfect’ in the Kh fandom and I am just not seeing it. But it's daunting and just kinda rubs me the wrong way that all these characters in Kingdom Hearts have so many nuances to them and the one who has the best character arc so far in KH is regarded as... ‘Perfect’ I would like to know your opinion and if anyone else who is not a R*ku stan notice this, or is it just me and my own personal bias? (anything said above is in no way should ever be used to promote hate against R*ku or even bash him. In no way, I want to make others hate R*ku. I do not blame people who love this character to portray him in a superior way over everyone else. My address is that I just see this all the time. And I was wondering... why is it so widespread? Not even Axel who has a great redemption arc gets this.) (also another things is the whole sexgod R*ku that is also about however that may go into shipping and that I will not poke a stick at)

[luxsea]

For the character ask, ven and riku!! 😆💖💖

*axel voice* two? >:Oand youre hittin me with my faves too oh boythis is a bit long and ranty so im putting it under a read more

ven

How I feel about this character: ohhhhhhhh thats my boy right there. thats my ultimate comfort character, my son, my stars, i really really love him a lot, can you tell? idk why im so drawn to him, i guess hes kinda the goal of how i wanna be as a person, kind hearted, strong willed, a great sleeper. i just think hes neat

All the people I ship romantically with this character: absolutely no one idk thats just how it is. i think its bc of his weird transcending age and i see the heart hotel as fam 

My non-romantic OTP for this character: ive fabricated the perfect dream friendship that is ventus and roxas but nomura teased it and left it out just to spite me. ive got so many headcanons i need fulfilled, all the mischief and the pranks, the identity crisis talk, anything, WORDS, not this blank stare secret telepathic convo 

My unpopular opinion about this character: im guilty of callin him a baby i guess but i get it, its fun and harmless but people do infantilize him in a way and that does.. shadow parts of his character. he’s a complex character just like everyone else. hes really cute and sweet but also devoted, brave, self-sacrificing and rlly badass. like, i never believed in the whole traiter ven theory but i did rlly like it bc it was like the first time i saw ppl putting him in a more serious light… even if it was kinda fucked up. i do think the way terra and aqua treat him sometimes with their whole older sibling/parental role is why ppl see him as such a kid. even tho he’s technically grandpa with amnesia and eternal youth. i love kingdom hearts.  

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: besides the roxas interaction, idk, im just..this sounds weird but im glad my fave is a character that is certain to have a future in the series. im just so excited for him, to learn even more about him and to see him grow, learn about his past, deal with the trauma of being in every keyblade war ever.. ouch. hmm i do want them to address his pure heart, bc technically he’s a prince of heart then? not even sora is like that, with all the darkness extracted out of him into another person. they gotta touch on that more. also more vanitas interactions that go farther than what we got in kh3.

reeku

How I feel about this character: top 10 anime crushes, i wish i was joking but whenever i think of him i cant help but remember when i was like 8 playing kh1, i would restart my ps2 over and over just to rewatch the opening and see him. i had such a huge crush on him and i still do. hes another big comfort character. also i think hes the most well written kingdom hearts character. i could literally write a book on him but i wont. yet.All the people I ship romantically with this character: im diehard soriku endgame actually, i have never invested more brain power and love into a ship as i have with this one, it just brings me so much comfort and joy and everything about it is so tender, sweet and devoted. it doesnt matter how you see it, they love each other so much and that love is the power that keeps the series going, the motivation to protect one another, to yearn to grow to love. i m gay. My non-romantic OTP for this character: oh gosh i might just list a few. rikus a bit complicated bc most of his relationships with others havent developed far so ill just list some interactions i wish to see more of. kairi!! i long for the bond they used to have in kh1, roxas, i find this one funny but they could bond so much after the loss of sora, xion too!! i loved their interactions in days i need more, namine too. mike mouse! thats his dad,, theres a lot more i just rlly want riku to have more friends he deserves all the loveMy unpopular opinion about this character: idk if this is unpopular but these are hot takes i see that kinda make me lose my mind. ppl thinking he has no room for more character development? that his story is over, that he should have actually died in kh3 bc hes done, as if thats what you do for a character once theyve been developed past a certain point, it just makes no sense really and it seems ppl have other motivations for these opinions like they wanna get rid of him bc they fear how far he will go in a way. real bad takes. im one of those ppl that believe riku is gay, theres not beating around it thats just how it is. there is no convincing me otherwise. also i want him to grow his hair out again.One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: he has reached the height of just one phase of personal growth and development. his story is far from over, there are still open ends with him, secrets he is keeping, things the series CONSTANTLY is hinting at. ofc, i want a soriku confession, some kind of openness of their feelings or at least some kind of adressessing of how much they care about each other. tho i dont wanna let myself down for future games, i know for certain there will be plenty more surprises. 

[blowingoffsteam2]

So, this just crossed my mind. In KH1, the tutorial is called dive to the heart, and I always assumed it was Sora's heart. But we never actually saw the stained glass representing Sora's heart in that sequence, just the disney princesses. So, you think maybe it wasn't his own heart that Sora went to in that tutorial, or that it was and it was just a case of first installment weirdness?(And if it was a different heart, than whose?)

It could just be first installment weirdness, where they didn’t really think that deeply about it but, we do know that the Princesses of heart have a strong connection to the keyblade (it’s why Xehanort sent Kairi out when she was little, bc he believed she would lead him to the keyblade wielder), so it’s possible Sora’s heart was drawn to theirs for that reason.