#also this was a slight KH reference.

[sanitizedsubject]

Wow, that was really depressing. Can we get a check in on 3 and 8?

(Full disclosure, I had to modify a dupe by J.2018 for those first few panels. I, for the life of me, could NOT get Libby’s model to kneel down without shaking and becoming unmovable. I was fighting for my life LMAO.)

[najia-cooks]

[ID: One puffy circle of bread, and three which have been halved to show an internal pocket, on a striped blue and white kitchen towel. End ID]

خبز الكماج / Khubiz al-kmaj (Palestinian flatbread)

Khubiz al-kmaj is a thin flatbread with an internal pocket. It is commonly eaten with breakfast to scoop up dips such as hummus, used to eat stews, served alongside main dishes, and used to make sandwiches and to wrap falafel. "خُبْز," pronounced "khubz" or (in Levantine varieties of Arabic) "khubiz," comes from the root خ ب ز (kh-b-z), which also produces the word "خَبَزَ" "khabaza" (Levantine: "خَبَز" "khabaz"), "to bake."‎

This bread is eaten across the Levant and in Greece, with slight differences in terminology and style. It is variously called "خُبْز العَرَبِيّ" (khubz al-'arabiyy; Arabian bread), "خُبْز "البَلَدِيّ (khubz al-baladiyy; bread from my country), or (occasionally) "خُبْز البيتة" or "البيتا" (khubz al-bita), a borrowing from "pita." ("Pita" itself is perhaps from Greek "πίτα" "pita," or the modern Hebrew "פיתה.") The bread is referred to as "khubiz al-kmaj" in Palestine, from the Turkic "kömeç" / كُمَجْ‎ ("bread baked in ashes"). The collective term for the bread in general is كماج (kmāj); each individual piece of bread is referred to with the singulative "كماجة‎" (kmāja).

Today, kmaj is frequently made with white flour; some people add olive oil or milk powder to ensure a very soft dough. Leila el-Haddad writes that a more traditional method omits milk and uses whole white spring wheat, a whiteish wheat grain harvested in late spring and ground without removing the bran.

Since the late 20th century, many Palestinian households have used an electric cooker (طنجرة الكهرباء; ṭanjara al-kahrabā') to cook kmaj, placing one kmaja inside of the chamber and one on top and allowing both to bake at the same time. These aluminum and tin cookers, which were invented in Gaza and became popular there during the first intifada in the late 1980s, are designed to route electricity through a metal pipe or spiral wire on the underside of their lids, heating both the top and the inside of the cooker simultaneously.

The cookers' popularity can be attributed in part to a curfew that Israel imposed on Gazan refugee camps during the intifada, supposedly in an attempt to restrict the movements of resistance fighters. Refugees in the Jabalia camp in the north, for example, unable to afford home stoves, and without the necessary outdoor space to make familial clay ovens, would have to wait in line for hours every day to get bread from shared ovens, risking curfew violations; household electric cookers were far more convenient. The success of local industry and innovation in the form of Gazan-manufactured technology was also symbolically and strategically important during the first intifada, in which Palestinians employed strikes and boycotts (largely organized by women) of Israeli companies and goods as a strategy of resistance to occupation.

An electric cooker is still today considered a very important tool, as it spares families the need to purchase kmaj (the price of which was soaring compared to the cost of flour in the 2010s, and which was often of inferior quality compared to what could be made at home). They are frequently given as wedding or housewarming presents. Lack of access to electricity, though, imposes a limiting condition on the usage of these cookers, as Israel has for over a decade strangled the flow of power to Gaza: Abier Almasri wrote in 2017 that tasks such as cooking and laundry had to be rushed during the four or so hours a day when electricity was available. In this environment, electric cookers are useful in that they can prepare a lot of bread in a short period of time. Fathia Radwan said in 2022 that she would wake up early, after the nightly power outage, to prepare more than 100 loaves of bread at a time for her family of nine.

Today, the taxes that Israel levies on imports of raw materials into Gaza makes the cost of new electric cookers, which sometimes exceeds 120 shekels (37 USD), too expensive for some families to afford. The difficulty and expense of importing materials, and the impossibility of exporting goods to foreign markets with the advent of the 2007 siege, also limit the number of factories in Gaza that are able to manufacture these cooking pots. The aluminum industry, introduced to Gaza in the 1960s and once the basis of a manufacturing and economic renaissance in the region, deteriorated as a result of the siege, as factories were no longer able to export goods to the West Bank and were newly reliant on imports of raw materials from Egypt. Even parts to repair electric cookers are expensive, due to a tax levied on items judged by Israel to have a "dual," i.e. a possible civilian and military, use.

Still, repairman Iyad Faraj estimates that over half the homes in Gaza have and use an electric cooker, as maintaining, repairing, and operating one is cheaper than having a gas pipe installed (at 68 shekels, 20 USD) and purchasing gas. Electric pots thus stand in many homes as both a utilitarian item, and a symbol of Palestinian ingenuity and resistance to Israel's attempts at impoverishment and starvation.

Support Palestinian resistance by contributing to Palestine Action’s bail fund or to Palestine Legal’s defence fund, by attending court or making a sign to support the Elbit Eight, or by buying an e-sim for distribution in Gaza.

Ingredients:

500g (4 cups + 3 Tbsp) white whole wheat (spring) flour

1/2 Tbsp (5g) active dry yeast

1/2 Tbsp (6.25g) vegetarian granulated sugar

1/2 Tbsp (7.25g) kosher salt

About 2 1/4 cups (530mL) room-temperature water, divided

Olive oil

White whole wheat flour is flour that has a white color once ground, despite the fact that it includes both the bran and the germ of the wheatberry. It is milled from white spring wheat (so named because it is harvested in late spring).

You may instead mix white all-purpose flour and brown whole wheat flour in your desired proportion. Keep in mind that whole wheat flour will need more water and more kneading than white flour. If you’re using all white flour, you will need about 1 1/4 cup (300mL) water.

Instructions:

1. Mix flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add water gradually until dry ingredients come together into a sticky dough.

2. Knead the dough on the countertop or in a wide, shallow bowl until smooth, about 5 minutes. (If using whole wheat or white whole wheat flour) continue incorporating water into the dough as you knead to maintain a tacky texture.

3. Fold the dough into a ball and return to the bowl, seam-side down. Pat the top of the dough with some olive oil, cover the bowl, and let rise for an hour.

4. Pinch the dough into about 8 balls of equal size (about 110g each). Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball of dough into a circle about 1/4" (1/2cm) in thickness. Set dough circles on a surface prepared with parchment paper and cover closely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let rest and ferment for at least 1 and up to 10 hours.

An overnight rest is traditional in Palestine and will create a more complex flavor in the bread (see note below).

6. Remove each circle of dough from its resting place with a metal spatula and roll it out to a 1/4” thickness again. Preheat a baking stone or sheet in the top third of an oven at 500 °F (260 °C), and then cook breads in the oven for three minutes, until large bubbles have begun to form.

7. Flip bread over and cook for another 3 minutes on the other side, until golden brown and puffed up completely.

8. Wrap breads in a kitchen towel or tea towel and allow to steam for a few minutes while the others cook.

Notes

The climate where I live is dry enough that I have discovered a risk of my breads becoming crackers if I leave them out overnight. The dried-out flatbread does puff up in the oven, but the resulting product is not as nice and fluffy as it should be.

Through experimentation, I have found the best method of both preventing drying out and guaranteeing that the flatbreads will puff up during cooking the next day is:

1. Roll out the dough and place dough circles on a lightly oiled surface. Cover them closely with lightly oiled plastic wrap.

2. The next day, fold dough circles back into balls. Place seam-side down and roll out again on a lightly floured surface.

3. Bake as described above.

If you live in a humid environment, the first instructions given in the recipe above should work for you.

[pinetree-in-hatchetfield]

I hear you’re a kingdom hearts fan so I’m here to invade your inbox Richie Lipschitz has a literal kingdom hearts obsession his notebooks are filled to the brim with doodles of kh characters he definitely cried at the kh2 roxas battle when he first played it and didn’t go to school the next day after he got to the keyblade graveyard in kh3 because he was so emotionally moved by the sea salt trio reunion. I have a slight feeling his first game was days. (Also he spent ungodly amount of money on union cross. This man had amazing medals but it was NOT WORTH IT)

YOU FUCKING KNOW ITTTT

he sunk SO MUCH ALLOWANCE INTO THAT GAME, Pete and Ruth refer to it like he had a gambling addiction

he's also got the biggest crushes on Naminé and Xion, but also Aqua, because he's a basic bitch we all know it

the fucking moment Roxas returned in the Keyblade Graveyard was the moment he fucking ascended

he gets so annoyed when anyone confuses Ventus as Roxas, despite that being THE MOST REASONABLE MISTAKE PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE

he's also minorly annoyed when Ruth spams that one screenshot from 358/2 about the stick

his Oblivion and Oathkeeper hang crossed on the wall like legitimate swords used in battle

[help-me-nah]

some over-developed magic system for my fantasy AU:

So I’ve talked about it a little in the notes and comments (and implied in exposition), but the distinction between types of magic is very much a cultural construct.

‘Court’ magic is a very logic and learning and rules-based form of magic that spread and has become ‘standardized’ (largely because the rules and structures of it make it teachable, but also turn it into a resource that institutions can control access to). ‘Witch’ magic is just a blanket term applied to most other forms of magic that fall outside that construct, that court enchanters can’t use, and ‘witches’ is a pretty generic term that simply refers to people and/or populations who use that magic. The reality is that, in terms of similarity/variety, court magic is a very small, very niche subset of magic with very little diversity, even across kingdoms thousands of miles apart, and ‘witch’ magic refers to a massive span of very different magic, but the way magic has spread through cultural majorities and systems of power, that small niche subset of ‘court magic’ comprises a much larger population.

If you wanted to break magic into more objective categories based on characteristics, and not population, it really only makes sense to refer to ‘raw’ magic and ‘converted’ magic.

In the context of WH&KH, almost no one talks about raw/natural/pure magic, because it’s no longer present in Hawkins in any meaningful way. The endemic magic they call ‘Hawkins magic’ has been fundamentally changed, which is why no one can use it directly, and a major function of the barrier and the court sorcerer is to convert it back into a form of magic their enchanters can use. (Other kingdoms, notably, would consider Hawkins magic a form of witch magic, because it’s unusable by enchanters.) However, in most of the world, magic exists natively in the environment in a relatively raw form that anyone (who can use magic) is capable of accessing and utilizing. Based on environment, how much magic varies pretty drastically, and there may be slight variations that make it more or less efficient to different people (a big part of why certain witches settle in certain regions, or why certain locales develop into major court magic hubs and institutions), but generally anyone can use it.

The act of using magic then filters and changes it, and once it’s been changed it becomes effective only for people with similar/compatible magic. The more different someone’s magic is, the less efficiently they can use it, to the point where contrasting magic can be actively hostile. Again, culturally, most of the setting establishes a ‘court magic’ vs ‘witch magic’ dichotomy, but the reality is that most witch magic is far more different from other forms of witch magic.

The other big part is levels of magic and the factors that influence it. Magic is partially genetic, partially environmental, and partially chance. Populations generally have fairly stable levels of magic-- a group that has a small population of people with magic, in a low-magic environment, tends to continue to produce a small population of people with magic. Conversely, witches have much higher baselines of magic in their gene pool, and gravitate towards magically-dense locales, which means that self-reinforces.

A rough & slightly exaggerated chart of magic levels vs how rare they are in a population, and what those different levels correspond to:

Note that the rarity is proportionate to that group’s population, and not overall world population.

As a baseline, almost all ‘witches’ have enough magic that they can, themselves, generate magic and don’t need to draw from environmental magic. A small portion can use, but not produce magic, and it’s very rare to see someone in a ‘witch’ population who can sense magic but not use it. In comparison, most of the world have no* magic, in that they can’t even sense it, a small portion that can be trained in how to use magic (enchanters, in red), and very small populations of people who can produce magic (sorcerers, in purple) and people who can sense, but not use magic (that very small little sliver of green).

This is one of many reasons for the cultural perception and attitudes towards witches-- the vast majority of witches are more powerful than the vast majority of enchanters, and enchanters comprise a tiny percentage of the average population. (Granted, again, ‘witches’ are such a small cultural group, that, depending on the kingdom, in terms of absolute numbers, they range from being comparable to enchanters, to being vastly outnumbered. There are a few exceptions of regions with higher witch populations, but not many.) It’s also significantly more common in witch populations to have very powerful levels of magic, although the really powerful stuff is so rare in any population that it’s fairly comparable.

Also important to note: Hawkins plays itself as this poor little kingdom with very little of note that’s unfairly pressured by other, larger kingdoms, and trapped by monsters. Even Max and Eddie (and thus the fic’s POV) buy into this victim complex to some extent, because moving from much larger, more open kingdoms to one that is small and very sealed off naturally seems like of course it’s a less powerful kingdom. However, it has a very high incidence of magic relative to other kingdoms, which is part of why other kingdoms see it as such a threat. Hawkins has a volume on enchanters that’s rare even in kingdoms many times their size. Anywhere else, only the largest kingdoms will consistently have court sorcerers, and a small kingdom getting lucky and having a sorcerer born into their population is incredibly high-stakes. Poaching sorcerers is not uncommon, because having a sorcerer can change a small kingdom of no note into a political powerhouse (and robbing a rival kingdom, or a kingdom under your heel, of their sorcerer massively decreases their ability to fight you.)

Related, in most kingdoms (including Hawkins), the genetics factor plays very heavily into the nobility. Giving birth to a sorcerer can rocket a family’s status to near-royalty, and the best chance of producing a sorcerer is by having very powerful enchanters in your gene pool. As a result, enchanters, regardless of their own lineage, very commonly marry into nobility, and so most enchanters are born to nobility, and it becomes a self-reinforcing system (enchanters have high status because they tend to marry and be born to high-status noble families, and nobles tend to marry enchanters because they’re high-status, and so on and so forth).

[robotsafari]

something that never leaves my brain about the kh cartoon pilot is why does soul eater look like that?

i have 3 theories:

1: ease of drawing.

soul eater is admittedly kinda hard to draw. the specific way the bat wing is structured and the strange curve into the seeker’s eye could be quite annoying to have to constantly draw over and over. as if drawing anime characters wasnt hard enough. turning soul eater into a simple black bat wing blade with a traditional golden cross-guard instead of the eye nonsense seemed like a much better option. if this is the case then i dont blame them. this is, of course, if soul eater would’ve remained in this design during full production. probably also the reason why donald was given the dream rod. might be the most likely reason.

2: inaccuracy/wasnt given reference material.

sometimes. there are just inaccuracies in american cartoons that adapt video games. (THROWS OUT A MASSIVE COUGH. CAPTAIN N.) there is a slight design inaccuracy on goofy’s shield, donald is wielding an endgame staff etc etc. while in some places it feels like reference material was given (world icon art, etc.) in others it doesnt. full character references could’ve been easily done by booting up a copy of kh1 and looking at the character models. getting reference images for the soul eater would’ve been hard. soul eater isnt just a weapon you can easily get a good look at in-game, whether if its in a fight or a cutscene. for a pilot animatic that would’ve been tedious and time consuming. so why not. that’s what soul eater looks like, it’s just a dark bat wing sword right? oops you forgot the eye.

3: too scary(?)

honestly this might be the least likely reason or the most likely reason. disney, and just television programming in general can be weird. the studio may or may not have deemed the seeker’s eye “too scary” for kids. especially since it appears on a weapon that a character the kids are supposed to root for wields. i know kh2 wasnt out yet, but that same eye continues to appear on the weapon he wields lol.

whatever the reason was.. soul eater with a cross-guard is funny.

[rightouesgg]

I feel like I’m watching the office with my emo bf

We r kinda emo like in different ways. U more anime emo. I rlly like this shirt and hat. It’s sporty like comp sci jock attire. U should wear this during sex one day if u want

Ahh anime emo sounds cool asf. Yeah I embody KH fashion fr. And yes proving comp sci majors are jocks !! LMAO. How do I wear it during sex ? Won’t it come off ?

I feel like I’m in high school typing back n forth lol. It might come off but then I’ll wear it or put it back on u. It’ll be a prop. this was a good trip overall yeah?

Ah prop I understand. Yeah this trip was cool! It feels like it was a moment to intimate together outside of the AUC so it was nice to experience. Ofc some folks noticed but idc.

Yeah there’s nothing like being with a person like that in nyc. I kept thinking that. It rlly is a romantic city, & I just romanticize it. It feels like fake life, being with u here. My apartment feels like fake life sometimes. But school is real life

Yeah I agree. I want my cookies now! Also I read it and heard your voice it was crazy

🍪

You are soooo funny. Kicking my feet at hearing your say ty. You look like a nerd!!

It’s the glasses I got these and my ones before it to look like Tony starks. Engineer glasses I said. When I take them off I become my cool self. When u kick ur feet or swing ur legs or shii like that it makes me wanna fuck u (in heat…?)

That’s crazy🫡 yeah I feel like a cute Black guy when I dress like this and have girly reactions. I be feeling like I can just be me (slight neuro) when I get high sometimes. I would have a crush on me if I was my younger self. Wah. Is this a kpop wolf fanfic reference? Trying to think of a response but would you mind by Janet Jackson just came on so imma day dream rq

It’s funny how different ur typing voice is than your spoken one. I like talking this way. You are a very cute black guy n if we went to summer camp together ida made u fall in love wit me. Do I touch u 2 much? I said I always think ppl are looking at me anyways, n they almost always are - so I don’t think about being affectionate sometimes or how it would draw attention cuz I feel like there’s already attention. Does being w me make u feel like there’s more attention? I’d hate that

I feel like our typing voice is our souls communicating with each other fr cause if I was a boy n you were girl or wtv we would sound different. But this the voice I actually feel like I have! To me it sounds more masculine. I’m very new to affection in general but yes pubic affection is new. I don’t hate it because of the attention, but I am getting used to affection. It’s nice! I really enjoy it. Imagining being a black guy you knew in summer camp sounds so awesome. I def would’ve fell in love too

Yeah you sound different in typing!! But I can hear it. I wish I could draw so you could see how I see you. Maybe I’ll make a collage like a tumblr edit. I imagine this whole convo in the tumblr chat interface. I get that about affection. I’m very in & out with it but I’m more even now and think I’m in an affectionate phase w all my people which is good I think. You know you can touch me whenever? Not in that way,, but yk. or you can at least ask since Ik u like 2 b sure. At summer camp, I’d make fun of u a lot to start - in a super playful way where I’m kinda mean but it’s just an excuse 2 talk 2 u and sit across from u at lunch

[rayvenden]

Just my KH20th Announcement Trailer thoughts and text dump

First are my quick thoughts and then I go into analysis mode. This post is more for me than anything lol

They're delaying the Dark Road finale AGAIN? The bastards

BRAIN AND HIS HAT IN 3D!

WEIRD LONDON SCALA IN 3D!

I'm going to be playing this mobile game even if it's shit and even tho it looks like another gacha

STRELITZIA IN 3D!

TWEWY style subplot for Quadratum mayhaps? POG

No platforms announced for KH4? Please my one big fear is that it's going to be PS5 timed exclusive. T-T

Dark Road:

Not me studying the missing upperclassmen of Scala to see if anyone looks familiar (like a somebody of Luxord and Demyx, but I don't think they fit that bill). However this looks like it's probably Baldr's missing sister.

---

Missing-Link:

These devices in Missing-Link are probably "links" lol. (Gee how would I have ever guessed)

Apparently the title Missing-Link refers to this taking place in the time between Union Cross and Dark Road (to link them). Makes sense as... that's what the game is.

Missing-Link could also be

-a missing link in a chain of memories

-a lost page of the Book of Prophecies

-a missing star connecting a constellation? (i.e. Yozora or Nameless Star reference)

-a missing person (plenty of candidates lmao. Nameless Star, Subject X, Ava, the population of Daybreak Town, the population of Scala ad Caelum, even Sora. Plus I am sure there will be even more murders *cough* 'missing people' during this game.)

Side note; I think it'd be cool if you got creepy correspondence from a missing person's link. 👀

It's probably also a slight reference to D-Links from BBS, which is how you tap into the trio's and Disney characters' powers. So your link is probably canonically how you use the medals shown. You probably equip your medals to set which moves you can use, like how it works in UX, with a mix of BBS since it’s now in 3D with 3D moves.

Cue me getting hype as hell. I love BBS style customization. UX had plenty of customization but now that it's in 3D we can actually get a heckton of recognizable moves from across the entire series as equippable medals. Watch me equip all Sonic Blades and just nope off into space.

Okay two things here:

First off, gotta be a reference to Yozora (don’t you know, he has a copyright on the night sky). Secondly, it's probably safe to imagine that we'll be dealing with another Real Daybreak Town VS Data Daybreak Town situation here. Since the "stars shown contorted", I think that means that things aren't quite right. 👀 Like, perhaps the constellations don’t line up right... BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT REAL *gasps in shock*

KH4:

Actually I don’t think I have a lot to say here. It’s beyond cool that the Dark Seeker saga is done and we’re getting the start of The Lost Master arc. Seriously the Master of Masters is such a fun character, so I’m excited.

This might be a good spot to find some ingredients:

Oh right I guess people are freakin out cause Star Wars might be in KH too lol:

Also it makes sense that Strelitzia found Sora since they both heckin DEAD

WAIT SEVEN WHOLE DAYS

DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH CAN HAPPEN IN SEVEN DAYS

Do I smell a KH2 Roxas style intro????????? DOES THIS CONNECT TO THE YOZORA ENDINGS? WHICH ENDING IS CANON? IS NEITHER ENDING CANON? IS ANY OF THIS REAL, OR NOT? AAAAAAAAAAAAA

anyway

Ignoring his very concerning words, this appears to be the Master of Masters and Luxu due to their stances. Which alright, we were already wondering how MoM got to Quadratum, but now Luxu is here as well? Is it that fucking easy to get to Quadratum? I mean it’s not SUPPOSED to be that easy. Sora and Strelitzia got there by DYING. They’re straight up DEAD. Xigbar went and faked his death and had a chat with the Foretellers and then apparently just moseyed on over to Quadratum??? They got some sorta secret backdoor to just go back and forth as much as they want? Well okay, maybe it’s not dissimilar to the dark corridors I suppose...

Edit: Look at this gremlin man

This is the look of a man who knows too much and is having the time of his lives. I guess if you went through what the MoM forced you to go through, maybe you’d learn to have fun with it lmao

Also, the Master of Masters wanted to vacay in Quadratum to get away from the Darknesses who were chatting him up in UX, but where there is light, darkness will follow, so lookie here he introduced KH’s darkness and heartless and shit to this world, good job buddy.

Edit: I forgot the Donald and Goofy at the end bit. It’s probably Hades which makes sense because why wouldn’t you wanna talk to the Lord of the Dead to get ideas on how to bring back a dead person lol.

Editing again because this on twitter appears to have more information if you’re interested! There’s a bunch of info including something I’m personally excited about:

[coruscantile]

Kairi + Star Symbolism

An updated rundown of Kairi and the appearance of stars in the series, with some wish symbolism thrown in for good measure. Just to preface this, stars often represent the light motif in KH. Stars are the light of worlds from a distance and when they blink out you know another world is gone. In KHux you have to collect light / lux which is literally silver stars.

So to start from the moment Kairi arrived on Destiny Islands she was connected to the stars - arriving on the night of a meteor shower aka falling stars so to speak. The very first time we see her in game is during the opening in the midst of another meteor shower. Sora emerges from sinking into the darkness and the first thing he sees is his redheaded friend at a distance on the beach, before leading into the iconic loop of Sora falling into the sunset sky.

Remember that gummi blocks are also known as these crystals called star shards since they're usually seen in the form of shooting stars after something happens to the barrier surrounding a world, usually when it collapses. That meteor shower she arrived in could have been due to how she entered the world .

A reason Kairi may be associated with the sunset specifically rather than dawn  ( outside of the rest of the symbolism inherently tied to that )  is because that's when the light of the first stars of the night are visible. And those are commonly wished upon.

It's funny she arrived at this world, since DI itself is chock full of it's own star symbolism in the form of the paopu fruit, something Kairi’s closely associated to now.

Later on in her life, Kairi makes a wayfinder, a good luck charm crafted out of thalassa shells modeled after said fruit thanks to the legend attached to it.

That charm goes on to be the keychain of Oathkeeper which is 100% Kairi symbolism. Besides the hearts and the light color scheme that - for the most part - reflects her kh1 clothes, the teeth of the keyblade is in the shape of the kanji for light while also resembling a 7 point star ( cough cough note the wings on the handle )

Kairi’s body is found in Neverland. While aside from revolving around belief, the way you reach it is by following "the second star to the right, and straight on till morning".

Side note you also can see yellow stars on other weapons, notably the Wishing Star keyblade, something that stems from a plot revolving around wishing upon a star with Geppetto and Pinocchio.

Kairi was looking at the sun & moon mural in the secret waterway of Traverse Town and as she’s talking about the light at the end of the tunnel.

Ending scene where she watches all the stars in a reverse meteor shower, those lights returning in the sky as the worlds reform.

She then goes and adds a second paopu to the cave drawing like Sora had earlier.

During that secret ending bit we see Kairi on a beach, watching a star fall which we know eventually foreshadows KH2's ending.

This is vaguer, a a little extra bit, but when Sora follows that light and has the memory of Kairi's grandmother's story it reminded me of an actual star in space emitting rays of light.

Not much to say about Chain of Memories outside a slight one with Namine. She had been a sort of mirror of Kairi, reflecting certain traits in a distorted but unique image and that applied to her charm, which retained the star shape.

This scene too, where the light illuminated behind her is much like the one seen in the memory of her grandmother, a bright light / guiding star in the dark.

There's not as much symbolism in KH2 but its still there. Her keyblade counts. There's the obvious paopu keychain, but at least one of the flowers on the keyblade are possibly based on stars  ( ex. asters + sun star flowers ), which ngl is super neat. Asters mean stars in latin. They’re also a type of flower. Aster tataricus aka shion, meaning “I won’t forget you / I will never forget you” in the japanese language of flowers.

Kairi's notable letter references her wishes, which often to relates to stars. The letter then opens a door to light for Sora and Riku to return from the Realm of Darkness to DI through. This happening can also tie back to her role as a guiding light in the darkness. Stars are often used as a guiding light to point the right direction back home.

And then  ( at of course sunset ), Sora and Riku return home like shooting stars as referenced in the kh1 secret ending before Sora returns her charm.

Alright into KH3 now, starting with the opening. Sora falls out of stormy clouds into a sunset setting - because it’s par for the course - and what does he see ?  A distant red star. You can see it reflected in his eye. Sora emerges from the dark and a far away star is the first thing he sees, like way back in KH1 aka Kairi. I'm also calling back to the thing about seeing the first stars specifically at sunset.

Kairi is represented by a star chess piece in that little 4d chess game Xehanort has set up, and just. This whole transition. Her chess piece overlays into her paopu addition to the cave drawing with Sora. The tear on her cheek falls and ripples into light, like a far off star that he reaches for to guide him out of the darkness before he goes on to save everyone else. Like, jfc going hard with the symbolism in this one.

A similar thing reflected with Kairi keeping Sora going in the final world and meeting up with Sora during his return is a consistent reference of the grandmother story scene and CoM when Sora remembers Kairi.

Sora and Kairi sharing a paopu. I don’t have anything to add here and honestly I don’t think I need to elaborate any further anyways.

At the very start i mentioned how light is often represented through stars, like in khux with lux. This isn't directly tied to Kairi but i always imagined it'd be cool during that whole sequence with Sora riding starlight keyblades and the light of the past if she caught a glimpse of Ephemer through that light. she has heavy association with themes of the past.

Remind

finisher = seven wishes

shotluck = literally rains down a meteor shower

counter = starcracker

her heart has the flower shape of a 7 point star

the place where kairi gets brought back looks like a miniature galaxy / starfield

one heart s a reference to a folktale and the Tanabata  ( meaning "Evening of the seventh" ), also known as the Star Festival, celebrating the meeting of the two star deities separated by the Milky Way who are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar.

[hamliet]

For further reference also , the doors ambrosius created and the structure of that world have uncanny resemblances of kingdom hearts too. Specifically the structure is similar to castles of oblivion doors system (kh chain of memories) and Yen Sid’s mysterious tower. Especially for the design of the portals.

Again , the first conception of mantle in volume 7 have odd similarities with the town below the nobody’s castle of the world that never was (kh 2, 2002). You have the erratic labyrinth structure, high construction most of it in black. Also the castle , which is the core of said world, is a floating and very hi-tech castle created by magic which should have never existed ( like the world name suggest). And crwby played said games when supposedly vol. 7 was being written

Also mantle looking had slightly changed. In fact you have a bar setting and a “block” setting with a slight different pallets of colors. In fact the evident difference of white-ish and black-ish simulators (typical of the world that never was) was changed for something greyish and more colourful. The bar and the block is a direct call back at final fantasy 7, in which tifa’s bar is a setting for some events and in which there’s a stress in a specific block for evacuation. Similarly the fall of atlas resemble of the fall of midgar. Final fantasy 7 is one if not the most famous of final fantasy franchise and recently a remake had been relished by the way. Also midgar is characterised by a strong class different : rich ones belongs to shinra zone , which is floating kind off (like atlas) and whose poor live near the border always pushing back monsters.

So I utterly suspect that all of your hunch aren’t due of something that crwby made; but rather they are copycatting here and there and the themes you’re finding are a mere ripped off of others stories. In fact both kingdom hearts and even more final fantasy shares some influence from norse mythology and alchemical concepts. And all the themes you’re finding so far are pretty much evident in these two franchises. Your reading is always on point but it’s not that worthy; for me , who I’ve played and I’m an hardcore fan of kingdom hearts and a lesser fan of final fantasy this is just an evident copy (they didn’t even try to quote this , it’s almost a copy and paste ). And I’d be so so much more interested in reading a commentary of these two lores instead of a work which is a lazy copy of these ones.

“It’s not that worthy?”

... Anon, really. This is going to sound angrier than I mean it to be, but.... who do you think you are to determine what is and isn’t worthy of my time and effort? Why is this worthy of your time and effort? 

I like RWBY. I think it’s well-structured and on the whole well-written. If that keeps you up at night, so be it, but don’t send me anonymous messages pontificating as such. 

No one likes getting condescending messages about how something they like Actually Sucks; you’re absolutely entitled to your opinion and to post your own critiques, but I don’t particularly want what seems to be a bad-faith argument (as most popular criticisms of RWBY seem to be) in my inbox, especially when you’re talking down to me. 

Those similarities you cite are not particularly unique to those games, lol. Portals, class differences, labyrinths--they’re pretty common in fantasy in general. 

In short, I do not care if it is inspired by those games. 

[angel-with-a-pipette]

I think it might be canon that Riku really does think of himself as Sora's older brother, given some of the recent material released. And Sora compares Elsa and Anna to Riku and himself, right? That and a lot of the emotionally intense scenes between the two can be read as the love between brothers. But because most fans who focus on their relationship view it through a romantic lense, I often worry that I'm in denial and that I'm being too heteronormative to see Riku's feelings for Sora.

I'll say you're spot on there. KH3 very much focuses on portraying Sora and Riku's relationship as sibling-like, but this surely isn't restricted to KH3.

There have always been hints and allegations to Riku feeling like he has to protect Sora and his other friends while Sora looks up to him and admires him. Riku has always been (and still is) the taller and stronger boy. Back in BBS, Riku already has the urge to protect his friends and basically puts himself into the big brother role. He's child-like, but not as easily excitable as Sora, giving him a slight air of maturity (as much as a five year old can have). We also know that he's canonically a year older than both Sora and Kairi, he might very well be the oldest out of the bunch of Destiny Islands' kids we have met, this would explain why the others expect Kairi to choose him between him and Sora.

Post KH1 Riku? He seems himself as a failure that needs to repent and figure out things on his own. He's still protective of Sora, but doesn't want him to interfere because he is ashamed. After all, in KH2 he admits he thought he was the better of the boys and Sora readily agrees. Both put Riku on a pedestal, Riku put himself on the protector pedestal while Sora put him on the "I want to be like him" pedestal.

This even continues right into DDD. Riku is fully aware that he failed his own goal of being the protector, but he holds onto it, ultimately saving Sora and being worthy of the title of Keyblade Master.

What both he and Sora have been sleeping on however is that Sora has been catching up to him. Even though both protected each other in KH2, they neglected to see Sora's growth in relation to Riku's. To put it bluntly without intending to be mean, everyone was too preoccupied with Riku and his Darkness and his failures and his redemption to see that he a s Sora are equals now. DDD doesn't help it with Yen Sid's absolutely unfair assessment of their Mastery.

But KH3 comes along and finally, finally we realize that Sora is right where he wants to be. He wants to be as strong as Riku and he is. And more importantly than us, Riku realizes the growth in Sora, realizes that while he might always want to protect his best friend, his little brother, he trusts him to protect himself, to make his own decisions.

This is growing up. Relationships changing, people maturing. This Nomura told us so beautifully.

You know who they remind me of, now that I wrote down their story?

Edward and Alphonse Elric.

Edward is the one who messes up, just like Riku. He is the one who wants to protect his little brother despite him being perfectly able to protect himself. Alphonse adores and admires his big brother, so much that he always refers to him as such. They're forced to go separate ways and only then do they learn that they're both equally capable of making their own decisions and trusting each other.

So, if I think that KH has elements of a beautiful tale of two brothers, then why do people see Sora and Riku through a romantic lens? Is it truly because they're inherently portrayed as romantic or is it because they're two young, attractive men, typical bishonen who just naturally appeal to (a lot) of the fans? There is actually a lot to be said on Japanese men and how they show affection and friendship towards their friends and lovers, but @phoenix-downer has already made an amazing post on that in the past so please check out her post here: https://phoenix-downer.tumblr.com/post/182693523578/light-in-the-darkness-scene-japanese-and-english

But instead of studying the behavior of Japanese boys and men, I could also ask you this: If Sora and Riku were meant to be seen through a romantic lens, why does Sora compare their relationship to two siblings, while remembering Eugene and Rapunzel when it comes to Kairi and her act of true love?

Now I know people will tell me "BuT hE aLsO tHoUghT oF ElSa AnD AnNa?!" which is completely true. It was also an act of true love and Sora dearly cares about Kairi as a friend - it just so happens that he also cares about her as his significant other (and vice versa), so both acts of true love are appropriate to show off. But there's still the fact that the game references one of the romantic pairings for Kairi's act of true love and not only that, it's the romantic pairing that Sora is most acutely aware of, going so far as to tease them about their feelings for each other.

So, the game makes it very, very clear which relationship is supposed to be romantic and which is supposed to be friendship to the point of running deep enough to resemble the bond of two brothers.

Just like, you know, pretty much all the other games as well that feature Kairi in some capacity.

[kaiju-z]

Seon Adventures Episode 38: Bathhouses and Bonds

After a month of travel, successfully retrieving the King’s Blade, Ena, learning who their client is, i. e. Akar’Niel and choosing to learn more about the circumstances of the mass elimination of dwarves and dragonborn on Seon, the party have reached Guan.

And straight off the bat, no pun intended, the group discover they are followed by an imp. After a quick discussion on whether to take it down or not, Malak stils his hand from sending the denizen of Hell back home, as it approaches the group.

Through a quick inspection of the party, the shape changing critter flies over to Mournimar and delivers the Tiefling Ranger a Sending Stone, of a blue diamond make. After which it does a JoJo pose and poofs.

As stated previously, this was a Sending Stone, allowing someone to cast 2 sending messages a day. But only to the person that has the other one. Rocky Talkies, as Malak puts it. (Or Hayden, I’m not sure. They’re both wholesome and we love them).

Mournimar gets that explained to him and calls the person that gifted it to him. And he hears a familiar voice from the other end say " Well you are alive, then!”. Much to the tiefling’s frustration, he recognizes the voice as that of his ex-boyfriend, Lazarus, follower of Potencia.

Mourni tries to ask what he wants, but instead Lazarus does the “kh-kh” noise (you know the one, where someone does a double pistols and a wink???) and that’s about all the messaging that goes on for that day.

Again. Much to Mournimar’s frustration.

Malak suggests getting rid of the stone. But Mournimar wants to keep it.

Luck suggests flipping a coin and he even brings one out from his journal bag. But Jun suggests Mournimar hold onto it and in the end, they agree on that.

(Also Mournimar gets a praise from Jun, which makes him feel validated).

The rest of the day passes uneventfully and they carry on, as the ground beneath their feet becomes more and more rocky. WIth the most perceptive in the party taking note that there’s a slight silhouette in the near distance of a town.

During the night, Belli receives a dream, like everyone else, but Mournimar, before her. As everyone had kept their dreams to themselves, for the following day, the group find themselves walking into a small and cozy town, which Arryn guesses would be Sodinvorg, most likely.

Very different from what the group had been used to so far. In a wasteland such as this (which funny enough is the right temperature for Luctan to feel at straight up at home?!) Sodinvorg’s constructed of tall buildings made out of clay, all painted red, white or red and white. Most split in multiple flats as they can tell from the windows. A variety of people in the windows, mostly Yuan-Ti, Kobolds, Tabaxi and Lizardfolk.

People here know each other and are close, mingling with each other.

Notable locations are the bathhouse, the tavern and the marketplace.

Luctan makes a b-line for the bathhouse, all excited and swept under the positive nostalgia of the enviroment he find himself in, with Jun joining him, all the while Belli would go and buy certain supplies. Cement included for some reason?! And then go to the apothecary.

A pair of young lizardfolk women run the bathhouse, which the pair of Jun and Luck can discern is constructed very intricately and with a style to it. (The place is essentially a roman bathhouse.)

Mournimar woud go to the Rolls and Scrolls place, where one could buy spell scrolls and delicious breads, as advertised, while Malak would check with the antique shop.

Inside the bath house, Jun takes on her mask of a beautiful Drow woman, named Valencia, having noted that there aren’t really any humans in the area.  Valencia is a bit posh. Long white hair in a bun.

As they score themselves a place in the bath, The Disguise Duo enjoy a relaxing bath, unbothered by the cramped and crowded enviroment, as they are  confident about themselves and their bodies.

No juicy gossip in the area and even if there was, a loud comment about Mommy Milkers from another of the patrons would distract the duo.

Arryn eventually joins the two, but after an unfortunate bomb dive goes wrong, he leaves, as the pool was too shallow for any acrobatics. Luctan’s Healing Word aids him in recovering from at least the physical pain, at least.

The duo have another talk, where Luck learns of Jun’s origins. Though she began her careers in Sa Doma, she was originally from  Elmeria. Which, to say the least, was a neat coincidence, as the party had gotten their initial name there, when asked by Morticia.

Jun would share that, given her race as a Changeling, few doors were truly open for her, as a Shapeshifter in a world that had a bias against them, and so, the bounty hunting life and that of an escort were ones that she could slip into easily. Luck would bemoan her fate, how opportunities were taken from her due to things she couldn’t help. But was glad for her being able to make the best of it.

“When one door closes, another opens”, the two would agree.

Luck would tell her his story, in turn, being candid about the facts, though, naturally, given they were speaking around others, he’d of course avoid using the “H” word as to where he had come from. Besides, the yalready knew about that from the fight at the barn.

Luck would come to a point, admitting that he was unsure what to do with himself now. He was content helping people, but he had no plan on what to do with himself now, when he didn’t take on the rest of his revenge quest.

Jun encourages him to take the time and consider. And she’d admit that conversations weren’t generally something people would approach her for, given her non-violent work ethic.

But Luck would compliment her for her talk, appreciating being able to talk openly with her on matters. Jun would note that he was about the 3rd person to praise her for that.

Meanwhile, at the Rolls and Scrolls, Mournimar spends big money on several rolls and scrolls, making Matiro, the Yuan-Ti’s day with all the cash that comes his way.

Feather Fall, Aid, Calm Emotions and Find Steed are all bought and paid for by the Ranger, with the latter three being bought for a collective 500 gold.

Furthemore, the tiefling buys 7 loafs of bread, for the party and Arryn.

And then. Before he leaves, Mournimar leaves the man a tip of 5 platinum. And upon leaving, he can distinctly hear the Yuan-Ti scurry off, screaming to a friend: “PHILLIP! I’M IN LOVE!”

At a convergence point, Mournimar gets a gold piece from Jun and a pat on the head. Getting validated by an older female figure boosts his morale. Quite evident from his tail wagging like crazy.

From the calico Tabaxi, Jolly Sunrise, proprietor of “ Happy Belly Rubs “, Belli gets a healing herb, a root that healing potions are made from. 

(It is at this point that we spend 10 minutes on Tabaxi bathroom name jokes. It’s just-you had to be there.)

Jolly makes a “Jolly Secret Rub”, which gives the party 1d8 Temp Hp. Gives special smelling salts, which are used as Spare The Dying as a bonus action. 165 worth. And lastly, upon Belli’s request, she delivers onto the Half-Orc Bard a pair of extra spicy peppers, referred to as “Dragon’s Breath”.

“Don’t give it to halflings. It could genuinely kill them.” she would note.

Also Belli learns that Jolly has a tiefling brother. Due to his fire resistance, she had learned that these could kill anoyone, without fire resistance. (Though that could’ve been a joke0

After the bread, the party go to the Cozy Leaf. An older tabaxi man, orange and graying around the nose, heads the place. He has a menu. There’s coffee, milk, honey milk. Maple Milk! The man’s name is Leaf On The Water. He has a strange clockwork device playing relaxing music nearby, giving the place a wholesome atmosphere.

His Grandson, an Artificer, built this contraption. Travels and sends new stuff to the old cat.  There’s a stick figure drawing at the counter, drawn by the youngest in the family, his granddaughter. The grandson is taller than him. Grandson is 30. Grand Daughter is 3.

There’s even a portrait that gets showcased of the family. One big orange family. Himself, his three kids and his two grandkids.

Most of the group, but the bearded ones, get themselves a warm beverage. Honey Milk and Maple Milk.

While the patrty slowly unwind for the day, Belli asks Jun if she has any expertise with chemicals. Interesting enough, the Bloodhunter does have skills with alchemy supplies. And the two work on making  pepper spray. Super. Spicy. Pepper Spray.

Malak find himself buying several items from the antique shop, run by the kobolds Zett and Nix, Red and Bronze respectively.

From the items presented to him, he takes what he could consider lucky charms.

Among them a coin of a strange material, a stone figurine of a snake, as well as a small silver rod with no decoration. It makes a harp noise. Notably,  the rod gives off faint evocation magic.

Before purchasing these, he asks the Kobolds, just to be sure, that they hadn’t pilfered these from any gravesights and the like. They specify that any item they have in their shop has been brought in from families, who found no use for them.

They are established businessmen here. And the price for the collection of items bought is 25 silver. Enough to cover rent for the month.

Malak thanks them in Draconic and leaves after the monetary exchange.

At the end of the day, as everyone prepares for the night’s rest in the tavern, Jun keeps an ear and eye out for gossip, while Mournimar takes a single room for himself (and Morgan).

One, where he has himself his own little dream.

End of Episode.

Previous Episode / Next Episode

[leonawriter]

The ones on the left are Riku’s. To be fair, they do look a fair bit like the ones he wears in KH3.

These ones above are his, for reference, so you can see the buckles and laces are similar enough to Riku’s boots to be seen as, well, hi.

But the ones on the right, I had no idea whose they were at first! Whose were these fashionable little things with heels that a woman could wear to a job interview!

And that’s because of one simple reason.

I’m an idealistic optimist who remembered that this is a thing:

GEE, I WONDER WHOSE FEET THEY ARE. OH, WAIT. THAT’S KAIRI. WEARING SHOES THAT ARE ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME AS RIKU, JUST WITHOUT THE LACES. I WONDER.

Because one of the things I liked a lot about Kairi in these games is that she actually has reasonable footwear! Those weird croc-like things in KH1, the school shoes in 2, and these, which sure do look like solid boots for running around in. KH Doc Martens or something (that she didn't have to wear in, because magic).

And then the official merch goes and puts her in dainty shoes with a heel and a pointed toe, and I just... die a little inside.

(Axel’s have a slight pointed heel as well, and are also likewise somewhat pointed at the front - but thing is? I can see Axel/Lea wearing those. He would! He’s fabulous like that. Maybe not all the time, but he would. It doesn’t feel as glaringly off.)

(edit: I used aitaikuji’s site for reference on the shoes, so if anyone wants to know where to find them, that’s it. I’m also not even that mad at the designers, I’m just salty and disappointed.)

[onenettvchannel]

LATE-BREAKING OVERNIGHT: A Local Crunchyroll Fansubber has a Possible Reference of Among Us at a Nagatoro Anime for the Incorrect Translation [#OneNETnewsInvestigates]

KANAGAWA, JAPAN -- The most American multiplayer mobile game from Innersloth, known as the "Among Us" was sparkled worldwide at a later gaming platforms. It was first released by mid-June 2018 for the Android and iOS devices.

An actual purpose for this game represents to slain a victim like a murder person if you're the Imposter role. Most players in regular will be participating a fake tasks like fixing a color-coded electrical wiring to match for example.

But for this past weekend ago on Sunday early morning during a SERIES PREMIERE of "Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro"... An English fansubber in local from Crunchyroll does have a take for a reference of Among Us from this timestamp of 14 minutes & 18 second mark in raw.

An explanation of "sus" as Polygon reported from a quote, "It's a convenient shorthand for suspicious. You may not have seen a little bean kill someone in the reactor core, but you’re pretty sure they were up there at some point, or they ran at you in a funny way".

A 17 y/o student at the Kazehaya High School (KHS) named Hayase Nagatoro teaches a short Art Lesson to Naoto Hachioji.

He tries to think about the outline of arts but, it's a slight distraction for a short while. Hachioji looks a smartphone, while he was asking her student mentor to take a break. Nagatoro is considerly noticed a suspicion for a whole time. At least she was pretending that he doesn't know about his art drawing since he was using probably a shady lineart called Hatching.

According to HG.org, there is a possibility a cease and desist order when anything is related, referencing or even an incorrect translation like Crunchyroll does.

One local fansubber may face a partial violation of Republic Act #8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, if it's proven guilty in an online social distancing court (off from the CoViD19′s post pandemic). The aspects of the game cannot be copied without obtaining the consent of their creators first, much almost otherwise the imitators may be liable for a Copyright Infringement and/or entailing the payment of damages.

In real life for a Murder reasons on it's deadly weapon however... Expect an additional violation follows under the Article #248, known as the "Revised Penal Code". It'll be optionally facing a different sentence to 12-20 years in prison as a Reclusion Temporal.

Nagatoro has acknowledged with a permission to Innersloth to make an honest legality anime promotion for a Free-to-Play mobile game with "Among Us" and some other gaming platforms like Steam for example, costs under U$D5. You can play locally or online for 5-10 players at a time per gaming session. You can download it free-of-charge in Android and iOS devices. Steam on Windows and Nintendo Switch will cost at a same price. And coming soon, it'll be taking over to XBox consoles nearest you.

So, for this series episode premiere of "Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro"... A suspicious person (like this local Crunchyroll fansubber) will be reported anonymously to someone else personally at a main meeting, with just a simple exile to keep the Imposters out in space. This needs a small proper revisions to make some translations work from the original Japanese audio to English subtitles for international use in anime.

Special Thanks to our Grade 6 Teacher at the West City Elementary School in Dumaguete City named Jenny Rose Abatayo for the suggestions and references on it's news article, while Ohys & Erai also acknowledges for sending us a news tip.

SOURCE: *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_Us *https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/21/21449498/among-us-fans-pretty-sus-meme-explained [Referenced Article #1] *https://nagatoro.fandom.com/wiki/Hayase_Nagatoro *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatching *https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/gaming-conduct-does-it-infringe-on-intellectual-property-rights-48389 [Referenced Article #2] *https://www.bworldonline.com/video-games-and-intellectual-property/ [Referenced Article #3] *https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1997/ra_8293_1997.html and *https://twitter.com/JadeEpicZ/status/1381064571994181636 [Vector Photo Courtesy by JadeEpicZ]

IMPORTANT HONEST DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed for this news article are not necessarily those from the Kodansha, Tokyo Movie Shinsha Entertainment Co. Ltd., JOMX-TV 9: Tokyo MX & BS11. This fansubber suspect will not be imitated in any matter. Furthermore, the assumptions of this news article will NOT state, intervene or reflect those of our affiliated reporters. The show, the station, management, interwebs and the network. Thanks for reading, stay safe and may the Celestia blesses you. Later!

-- OneNETnews Team

[rharyx]

I had a dream where I was in charge of writing the next KH game, and I think I might’ve been onto something good for the little bit of it I remember after waking up.

So the dream started off with what I can only imagine being a scenario pretty close to the beginning of the game. Probably right after the prologue (where you play as Luxu in the past, btw).

Ventus is sick because of Ux shenanigans (and he’s the easiest character to use to tie the Ux era stuff to the current era stuff) and probably because Darkness is Vanitas, and something about worldlines, blah blah, KH stuff.

Anyway, regular healing magic won’t work on him, so Aqua and Terra ask Riku to bring Namine to their castle so she could sift through his memories to figure out what might’ve caused this.

After Riku and Namine get to LoD, Terra shows slight insecurity over Aqua referring to Riku as “Master Riku,” because he’s still not a Master himself, while a user of darkness is. His whole arc in the game was going to end with him realizing that his self-centeredness of wanting to be a Master so badly in BbS is what allowed Xehanort to control him so easily and ruin everyone’s lives. So by the end, he’s fine with not being a Master (even though Aqua offers to grant him the title since he’s technically already on that level).

Anyway, while Namine examines Ven’s memories, Riku calls Ienzo to see if he knows of any way to help (he’s in the gardens picking flowers with Ansem the Wise and Aeleus). Ienzo, as a scientist and not a doctor, cannot help much at all. But he tells Riku that someone who specializes in Cure/Flower magic could probably help out more.

Of course, that would be Lauriam, as he was attuned to Flower as a Nobody.

So Riku tells SDG about this, and they set off to the world where Ienzo suspected Lauriam to be on... Which is the world of The Princess of The Frog. This is then world he was living on before he was turned into a Nobody, so it’s where he was recompleted.

(Oh yeah, I guess Sora’s not dead anymore. Maybe he gets brought back in a spinoff game or something, I don’t know.)

Anyway, as it turns out, I’ve never actually seen Princess & Frog, so my dream being so specific about a film I know nothing about is kinda weird. But whatever. I googled what these characters’ names were after waking up, since all I’ve known about them are their faces, and everything’s good now.

So, by the time SDG arrive, Lauriam’s already been duped by Dr. Facilier, who’s promised to make his wish to “reunite with his sister” come true. Because as KH3′s shown us, Lauriam now [conveniently] remembers his past, so he’s been continuing his search for Strelitzia after being recompleted again.

Now, I’m not too sure how the plot of the world goes, scene-by-scene, but it takes place during the plot of the movie, and so Tiana and Naveen can’t be party members since they’re...frogs. So Lauriam is a party member. Eventually, Elrena joins you too. You explore the city, the La Bouff’s ball, and the bayou.

And you also go to a casino (or some sort of party. Is there a party that takes place in the movie?) in New Orleans at one point and run into “Luxord” as a human. Because why not?

The boss of the world is Facilier during Mardi Gras, using his dark magic to summon some Heartless (apparently he has voodoo spirits in the movie, so that sounds cooler) and after beating him, Lauriam’s pretty bummed about not learning anything about his sister. At this point, Sora tells him that he met Strelitzia’s star in The Final World, giving him hope that she’s not gone for good.

SDG take Lauriam and Elrena to the Land of Departure where Lauriam can work on Ventus, whom he now recognizes from Ux. (Namine isn’t very happy about “Marluxia” being around.)

Anyway, that’s how the first Disney world in this totally-not-real-but-should-be-real Kingdom Hearts game goes. I’m not one to write fanfic or anything, but my unconscious mind while dreaming sure does spin a yarn.

(Also later, you go back to that world as Kairi, because she wants to get to know the other New Seven Hearts, and Tiana is one of them.)

[anabantoid]

Altering pH, what's it for, how do you do it?

We've heard it a lot before, "I don't need a certain pH, I just need a stable pH" and we've never questioned it. And why should we? What is pH, the measured scale of acidic to alkaline, and how does it effect the lives of our fish in the aquaria and outside of it? 

First let's start off with what it is. As mentioned above, pH is a scale with which you measure the acidity or alkalinity of a liquid, your soil, even some parts of your body, and more. Here's a good chart.

Here’s the short and sweet version:

You can’t just dunk in a bunch of pH down to lower your pH, or you’ll cause the pH to drop, then rise back up, and kill your fish.

You have to determine your kH and pH from the tap

High kH will prevent your pH from being lowered because of its high buffering capabilities, low kH will make your pH swing wildly because of its lack of buffering capabilities

Play around with altering your water in an unstocked tank to get a feel for the procedure and how much remineralizer to use or chemical buffers to use without harming your fish.

RO/DI will give you water with 0 kH and 0 gH. Use Salty Shrimp gH/kH+ to remineralize. A kH value between 4-6 will allow you to safely alter your pH without it swinging. You need to add gH because it contains essential minerals fish and plants need to live.

Use botanicals, such a leaves (refer to the charts!) or seed pods, to release tannins and lower the pH OR you can use an active aquasoil (refer to the paragraph above for the pros and cons and further explanation).

You can also use chemical buffers like acid buffer from Seachem that will soften your water (lower kH) and allow for your pH to be adjusted, or you can use neutral regulator the same was as it brings your pH to 7 and softens the water.

Stock accordingly, check your kH, gH and pH often to make sure it’s all correct and stable.

Have fun!

Here’s the long and meaty version:

In the wild, there's multiple factors that lead to waters being more acidic, more neutral and more alkaline. In Amazonian rivers, as well as peat bogs in Indonesia, the concentration of decaying organic matter like leaf litter and wood releases tannins.

Tannins are an organic compound found in plants, and in some trees the tannins help prevent predation from insects, as well as operating as an antimicrobial and antifungal. When the parts of the plant fall into the water, the tannins are leached out and released into the water, which alters the water's chemistry by making it more acidic, and over time, softer. This is what gives peat swamps and the Amazon their rich, dark colored waters, and makes them soft and acidic. Another friend that helps out with this is humic acid, molecules present in plants that help them receive nutrients. Blackwater is filled with tannic and humic acids because of the decaying plant matter!

In reverse, the minerals in bodies of water will alter its chemistry. Karstic lakes are bodies of water carved into dolomite, limestone or gypsum, which are all rich in hard water causing minerals like calcium carbonates, and those minerals in turn can make the water very hard and alkaline.

We all agree that Rift Lake cichlids and saltwater fish need a certain water chemistry, they've evolved to live and flourish only in those water conditions, and taking them out long term can be detrimental to their health and cause illness and shorten their lifespans. Fish that evolved to be acidophiles evolved a specific way for a reason, and a few generations in captivity doesn't change that. In fact many breeders don't breed in hard water, but soften their water using RO/DI for these acid loving fish, and raise them in these conditions. This is why when you bring home cardinal tetras, you see a massive die off because you're taking fish kept in neutral to below neutral waters and adding them to a tank that had your tap with a pH of 8 and it shocks them and kills them.

Okay, great, you're thinking, you told me a bunch of stuff but haven't told me how to change my pH.

In order to to adjust your pH, you need to know your kH (carbonate hardness). It's the carbonate hardness that determines your pH in MOST situations (Sulawesi need not apply, the waters there are soft but the pH is alkaline!).

My friend @justnoodlefishthings can explain it way better than me: "Carbonate hardness, or kH, is the measure of calcium carbonate in the water. Calcium carbonate will dissociate into calcium and carbonate ions in water. The carbonate ions are unstable and unhappy and thus will readily suck up all available hydrogen ions in the water. The more hydrogen ions you have in water, the more acidic it is and vice versa for basicity. So, if you have a high kH, then there are not a lot of H+’s floating around to make the water any more acidic than what it already is. This prevents the pH from swinging wildly in any direction."

What this means is that it's crucial to know your kH in order to adjust your pH. You can't just add tannins and go "well that should do it!", otherwise you'll get alkaline tea water.

This is the range you're looking for when altering: 4-6 kH. The higher you get, the harder it is to lower your pH, and the lower you get, the more your pH will swing randomly without the buffering capabilities of your kH. That means your pH can swing to bother very acidic levels, like a peat swamp, or very alkaline levels, like a Sulawesi lake, despite having no kH.

Alright, so then how do I actually do it?

After testing your tap and determining your starting pH and kH, and you know you wanna keep specialized acidophiles, you realize you gotta do something. Your kH is reading at 8 and your pH is reading at 7.8, both of these things are the opposite of what you need. How can you fix this?

The safest is way is by getting RO/DI water from your LFS, or investing in a system of your own. They're not expensive compared to other tank equipment, roughly $60 can get you a nice RO Buddy off of Amazon. Your LFS prices may vary, but my advice is to get about ten gallons of RO from your LFS (it'll usually be $10-$15) and you can always try out altering the tank before getting any stock and seeing how you feel about this. You need to remineralize the RO/DI water, Salty Shrimp gH/kH+ is what I recommend so that you can have some kH for its buffering and stabilizing properties, and you need to add gH back into your tank. gH, calcium, magnesium and other minerals, are vital to fish and plants and all bodies of water contain varying amounts. 

Remember, you want your pH low, but stable, so aim for that 4-5 kH sweet spot. You can play around and get used to mixing the water and finding out your ratios before worrying about if you'll harm your stock if you do this with an empty tank. 

Adding botanicals to your water once it’s at that sweet spot will bring and keep your pH down. Botanicals would be any organic matter that releases tannins and humic acid; leaf litter, seed pods, coconot coir, etc. Here’s a fun chart that shows the different leaves you can use (and you can collect yourself) as well as the tannin outputs.

And this is how those leaves can effect your water.

(From here, also a good article expanding on botanicals and how to collect them yourself)

You can also peruse the catalog of Tannin Aquatics to get some fun things, but be aware that seed pods do eventually rot and you’ll want to periodically pull them out if you notice it being a bit too funky. A slight sulfur smell is okay, that’s the organic material breaking down, but if it smells like rancid farts you’ll want to cycle it out with a new pod.

Another, more expensive route, is to use an aquasoil with your RO/DI water. Aquasoils are things like ADA Amazonia, UNS, Fluval, etc. They’re clay-based, high CEC (cation exchange capacity) which means they’re excellent for your planted tanks. They absorb nutrients from your water and hold onto it so that your plants can use it continuously. It’s also an active soil, it will buffer your pH to around 6 and keep it there without needing to use an additive to raise your kH, but you will need to raise you gH, which would be your calcium and magnesium and other minerals that are vital to fish and plant health. There’s downsides beside the cost; they leech a lot of ammonia when you add them, and can take a month to subside, though this aids in starting a cycle. They will break down over time and turn into mud, and you can’t disturb the soil or have digging fish otherwise they’ll generate massive mud clouds. They also eventually need to be replaced every two years or so, and if you’re like me you don’t like the idea of needing to break down a tank every two years. This is, however, a good option if you’re okay with the above downsides.

You can also use chemical buffers to do all of this work, acid buffer will break down your kH and create co2, and allow for your pH to drop, neutral regulator will soften your water the same way but keep your pH, well, at a neutral 7. I’ve used acid buffer successfully, you just need to follow the directions on the bottle, but you can also experiment with this the same way you would with the RO/DI water.

Remember this, though, below a pH of 5, most bacteria that aid in the nitrogen cycle are unable to live because of the highly acidic conditions. In these extremely low pH environments, they’re peat bogs typically, and peat bogs have one important kind of plant that makes it a peat bog; the sphagnum moss. The sphagnum acts as the beneficial bacteria in this situation, as it takes in the ammonia and nitrogen the bacteria typically would, and uses it up, eliminating it from the water. This is how low pH peat bogs and swamps “cycle” themselves! And why leaving the sphagnum moss alone in these places is important, because they’re the very livelihood of the swamps and bogs. You can always obtain sustainably grown sphagnum moss if you’re looking to replicate a peat bog of your own and allow it to float on the surface in a mat of other mosses, leaves and organic matter, just like you’d see in a real bog.

[kitsoa]

KH3 Secret Ending Spoilers/ Theory-Musings

So now that I’ve witnessed the thing myself I have to wonder. Is Kingdom Hearts going to go full Meta-Catastrophe on us?

Cause. uhh that secret ending is cutting it pretty close. 

Lemme clarify a little. A Meta-Catastrophe is the total break down of reality. We write ‘meta’ to discuss the relationship of a reality in a detached manner. A medium can become ‘meta’ by being self referential through said medium. It seems so inconsequential because it’s played for laughs but KH3 got real meta in the Toy Story world because it made a nod to being in a video game-- not the correct video game, but the resulting confusion was enough for all the humor and self referential dialogue to prosper.  

So... the secret ending. 3 details create an air of ... meta-ness?

1. The Setting. The city which is clearly some kind of version of the Shibuya Ward in Tokyo, a real life location in the secret ending of our fantasy game about world hopping anime boys. There’s like... the government building and other land marks that make it shot for shot, if not a little different (’104′ on the building as opposed to ‘109′). But the most striking thing about the city is the... realism of it all. Like everything is rendered in the hyper nuanced detail like any secret ending but there’s a significant lack of stylized design in this fictional version of Tokyo. It’s almost mundane really. 

Before the Reaper Game theories crop up (and they are very possible and formidable) I’d like to emphasize that were Sora in Neku’s Shibuya I would think the world would match the TWEWY character style regardless of the quality of the cut scene. No one fits. Actually the slight shot of the car haunts me the most with this thought. It suggests the god forsaken real world. Or some approximation of that. But it gets more muddled because...

2. Verum Rex’s own Yazora takes the screen. A character... from a video game... within a video game. Lord knows what he’s doing but he’s here too. Is this his home? Is he in the same boat as Sora or Riku? Their status as FFXV expys also weaken the Reaper game argument. Why signify TWEWY world with characters unlike them and reference to something so entirely different than the intent? This is Sora somehow breaching a line of in-universe fiction, therefore proving that the line of fairy tale and reality is non-existent. With KHuX talking about data worlds (aka information aka stories) we are faced with a very loose concept of fact and fiction when matters of the heart are concerned (which is thematically appropriate really). 

3. The cloaked figure. I have no doubt in my mind that the figure at the end of the scene is the Master of Masters and all his quirky mannerisms. We have every reason to believe that the way Sora faded was identical to MoM (which makes you ask what MoM was abusing the power of waking for and also explains how he knew he would fade, like Sora who held on to the last minute before the credits rolled, MoM probably made his big moves with his apprentices after the abuse of power, holding onto his existence in that realm). So with an identical fate, we can presume both characters are in an identical realm. The Master of Masters is joked around by the fandom of being a bit of a ‘Deadpool’ to the series, and as funny as his mannerism are... it’s kind of accurate to what I think could be happening with him. He’s become this 4th wall leaning character that is self referential. 

The big kicker to me is what “MoM” does at the end. He looks up at the moon, and makes a heart out of it with his hands. He turns the moon into a Kingdom Hearts. Not literally, but figuratively. This real world, forced to have the visual symbol of Kingdom Hearts both in universe and within the game symbology. It could simply reference that the KH universe is leaking into other macro realms of thought, or indicate a goal of MoM’s to bring the entity to the ‘real world’ while simultaneously telling us that this is a KH title we are witnessing. 

Conclusion.

If you think about it. This was always going to be the next step of Kingdom Hearts. A series that takes figurative concepts like light and dark and brings them to a tangible power that can be manipulated to make a greater point. There was often a discussion in the series about what it means to have a heart and what a heart really was. When seeing a heart in something was all it takes to make one, when having a heart is the result and cause of creating a friendship or bond... than the next series of Kingdom Hearts will delve into the bonds of literal fiction, with itself as the reflecting mirror for its point. Break down the walls of reality. Make real what isn’t.