#and Soriku is canon in my heart!!

[kairithemang0]

Gay/bi couples just hit different

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

So I'm back on my percy Jackson bs again and I saw this one post on Tiktok claiming that Solangelo is "Klance Coded" and I simply had to laugh because that couldn't be any further from the truth...

Klance is Red and Blue, Fire and Water type polar opposites in both personality and aesthetics

However, not every polar opposite style ship is "Red and Blue Coded" there's also Sun and Moon, ( Or in Solangelo's case, Sun and Star) Light and Darkness.

so basically, and this might be controversial, but I know those who will get it will get it, what I'm trying to say is.....

Solangelo is NOT Klance Coded.

Solangelo is SORIKU Coded

I can go into heavy detail, and I will!

Will is definitely a lot like Sora in that even when surrounded by so much bad happening or even when he's going through his own stuff, he still puts on a smile and pretends nothing is wrong. of course to his own detriment and also has self sacrificing tendancies. Overworking himself to heal others to the point of exhaustion and even down to the self esteem issues. Sora sees himself alone as worthless without his friends ("My Friends Are My Power") and Will feeling like Healing is the only thing he's good for since he didn't inherit any of the other natural talents most of his other siblings have as demigod children of Apollo. And the incident with Octavian probably didn't help either. They also have somewhat of a hero complex and struggle with dealing with the fact that they can't save everyone. Sora broke a major taboo in order to bring kairi back in kh3 because he didn't want her to die, and Will being a medic that had been through not 1 but 2 LITERAL WARS, one in which he lost several of his siblings and of course being a medic in general, no matter how hard you try or how good at your job, it's just a fact that you cannot save everyone that's put in your care. Also, Both Sora and Will are heavily associated with Light both literally and figuratively

And then we got Nico, who just like Riku was lost for so long in lieral and metaphorical darkness, both trapped in metaphorical labyrinths of their inner turmoil of thier feelings, their pasts, their trauma (wether it be losing someone they care about, or being abused and manipulated at the hands of a shifty adult figure for their own gain) , and feeling that they have no place of belonging. only to be brought back by the people that care about them the most and through their own self determination and strength. And also both characters associated with darkness literally and as a concept.

Riku and Nico also have a teensy bit of Angel character symbolism with Nico's last name being Angel in italian and Riku's original keyblade Way To Dawn having both a monster/demon wing and Angel wing at the hand guard and for the "teeth" of the keyblade

you could also argue Riku could technically be seen as a "Fallen Angel" type character since he was originally chosen to be a keyblade wielder by Terra but lost that right when he fell to darkness hence why the keyblade went to Sora instead, then Riku spent the next several games on a very angsty redemption arc.

And of course, Nico and Riku aren't strictly associated with darkness. Nico is a son of hades, a prince of the underworld, The Ghost King. However, he isn't all doom and gloom. He's still just a teenage boy that's secretly a giant nerd and is actually a a good kid.

Riku as well, has the power to wield both the powers of light and darkness and it was Riku's light inside his heart that sora reached out to that dark and stormy night on the beaches of destiny island that let him wield the keyblade in the first place

And don't even get me started on how Riku is 100% gay coded (don't beleive me? look up the "Riku Is Gay" video on youtube, grab a snack and enjoy. you're gonna be there a hot minute)

Both characters in both medias are opposites to each other but both also compliment and balance each other out. But not like Fire and Water. Like Light and Darkness. Not only hat, but the dynamic between Sora and Riku and between Nico and Will are kinda similar. not identical by any means, but enough to where I definitely noticed it.

If anyone else has anything to add to this, let me know! I had this lightbulb a few nights ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since!

[sorikufeels]

namine was formed from sora’s body but kairi’s soul since kairi’s heart was inside him, yeah?

therefore, namine came from a male body and a female soul.

THEREFORE, namine is a trans woman.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[hitinmiss]

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream 💤

[holleighgram]

Wow, I forgot how brutal the shipper bullying is in the fandom. Really discouraging.

[mythicalartistx]

As a Soriku fan I like Soriku but if a random shipper is being mean to the opposing ship I'd immediately switch up because SK is a respectable ship. Come on don't be like any homophobes or crazy shippers who can't stand opposite ships. It has it's moments too.

Now if one of SK suddenly does that with Soriku having double standards or homophobic I would be the same way too trying to defend it.

They're both respectful ships and people should respect the opposite ship even if you don't ship it.

And quite honestly the ship is fine in my opinion, I personally dislike Naminé and ogRiku being shipped more but that's just me. (And it's mainly because they ship it since Riku smiled at her in kh3

Nomura had to take it away because he didn't like that and I honestly don't see og Riku as being into any females)

Also none of the ships are canon and at the end of the day they're all fiction

The only thing that is actually canon are Disney prince/princess pairings.

[fletchingbrilliant]

“R-Riku... Let me help you...!”

Alternate canon screencap just for fun (or is it). Our boy will never give up on Riku no matter what.

[kerto-p]

it’s 2am which means it’s shitposting hours

[thefreshprinceofjunes]

also, the plot of cinderella III is that lady tremaine uses the fairy godmothers wand to go back in time and make it so anastasias foot fits the glass slipper

and then she changes the princes memory so that he thinks he danced with anastasia instead of cinderella

plus theres a song in it called ‘at the ball’:

and another one, ‘more than a dream’, which is basically a combo of the necklace theory + riku looking for sora in his dreams after kh3 and using them to find him in MoM:

Cinderella: I...I don't understand. I- I've always dreamed That my life could be Like a fairy-tale A perfect fantasy Every day a new adventure On some undiscovered shore Was it nothing more Than a dream? Then one magic night With a single dance I found more than Just a storybook romance And for once my life was perfect As we glided across the floor And it was so much more So much more than a dream I could say it never happened Just a dream from the start But then I'd live my life With a broken heart Jaq: No no! No cry Gus Gus, Princey knows he danced with Cinderelly. Cinderella: Yes, of course he does! What if I'd just see him again? Jaq: Yeah yeah! See Princey! Cinderella: Yes! Everything will be alright! Jaq: Everything will be alright! Gus: Yeah Yeah! Cinderella: Cause in a Prince's arms I've found a love I can't deny If there's any chance to set things right I've simply got to try So I'll trust my heart What else can I do? I can't live in dreams If my dreams are to come true There's a better life that's waiting Past the mountains I must climb I will take a chance on love To get my once upon a time Oh, I want so much more So much more Than a dream

like?????? LIKE????????????????

[inconsistentracoon]

I've started posting Brought Back on Wattpad as well, for any of you who prefer that to AO3!

Lots of Hurt/Comfort, SoRiku romance and them being besties with Kairi, and some action, mystery, and depression allegories along the way. Canon-compliant and most main characters turn up. Post ReMind and Melody of Memory.

Chapter 1 is a short Prologue:

As the Master of Masters observes Sora furiously searching for him, he senses more Keyblade Wielders appearing in Quadratum.

"Hello Sora, why don't you come up here and join me"

Prologue - Day 303

He yawned widely and glanced up, checking the moon's position in the sky. It seemed a long time since the sun had set but, judging by how little the pale circle had moved, it must still be several hours until midnight.

Every now and then the boy's hoarse voice would float up to where he sat on the edge of a skyscraper roof, as he continued to shout for the man to come out and fight. It had been a nice change of pace, seeing Sora consumed with anger and openly trying to hunt him down. But after several days of it, the novelty was wearing off. 

He was bored. If losing that silly charm of his hadn't been enough to push Sora over the edge then maybe it was time to give him another nudge...

His head snapped to the side as he sensed something change, something abruptly alter the energy of this world. Someone else was here.

He stepped through the dark flames of the corridor he had summoned and emerged atop the roof of a different soaring skyscraper. A red light pulsed beneath the platform he stood on, and from the matching tower that rose from the other side of the building. The ideal place to spot his intruders from, and he didn't have to look far.

There they were. Four teenagers, standing in the centre of the semicircular plaza far below. What a convenient location for them to have chosen. A blue sphere surrounded by diamonds hovered in the air behind them, pulsing faintly. It disappeared as a blonde-haired boy pointed a weapon at it. That weapon though... a Keyblade? 

A roar of anger rose in his throat but he forced it back down. They must be here for Sora. How dare they interfere! After months and months of careful planning and work, tormenting Sora with Heartless, sleepless nights, and murderous visions, these four were going to waltz in here and try to stop him?

They could never defeat him of course, but killing more Keyblade wielders unnecessarily was something he would prefer to avoid, and if Sora glimpsed them and regained his hope... It would all be for nothing, and he would lose his ideal vessel for the 13th.

Or maybe... His lip curled into a sneer as an idea occurred to him. Maybe this was that final nudge Sora needed...

The dark flames engulfed him once more and he returned to his previous observation point. He called down to the boy running through the streets below.

"Hello Sora, why don't you come up here and join me?"

[hanapinkku]

I redesign my khux kids and it's look better than I expected

(Old design)

(New design)

[kiolilo]

Bare with me, my English is a little rusty but you will get what I mean

It makes me so sad and leaves me without words when someone who is gay, kingdom hearts fan and A SORIKU SHIPPER says: “yeah but disni won’t allow the ship becoming canon”

Context: I work at anime conventions (I’m an illustrator) and a fellow artist and I were talking about kingdom hearts (actually the whole classroom were talking about kh) and I was saying stuff about the neutral pronouns they use (chain of memories) in Japanese and how the English translation messed it up.

And at some point he said that Disney won’t allow… and everyone got quiet (everyone that was present at time were soriku shippers, even my mom) before that, everyone was having a good time talking about sora and riku and how the games are cool etc we even talked about how Donald is the most powerful wizard in the kingdom hearts universe

Even with all the information I have about the games, things I discovered in my wonderful time on twitter with the soriku community. I couldn’t say anything that time and made me realise how people still think “straight is the key” on media…

But even with all that Disney allowed representation on their stuff:

Star vs forces of evil

Owl house

Luca

Onward

Zootopia

Beauty and the beast

Finding dory

Toy Story 4

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Cruella

Lightyear

Strange world

It’s not impossible

The games are telling us a lot of things. There’s no way we are being played

SORIKU ENDGAME ACTUALLY

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Just some thoughts on the new Steam trailers and promo stuff.

I just watched the Steam trailer announcement for the KH series...and they made it really het/S*kai focused. It's very gen/friendship focused as well, but they seriously somehow were even able to make the DDD section of the trailer very not gay and just very gen/friendship based.

Here is the Steam Announcement Video:

The two short KH is on Steam trailers on Utada's YT page are more for promoting the re-recordings of Hikari and Simple & Clean, but they are fairly het/S*kai and general friendship focused as well. Though, Hikari's promo works better with they lyrics, timing, and lyrical meanings than Simple & Clean.

(More under the Read More due to length).

Here are the two promos to compare. First, Hikari:

In this version we have the lyrics break down like this:

どんな時だって (donna toki datte) - No matter when it is

From KH1 Sora to Sora in Castle Oblivion, just before battling Marluxia (who's in the background) from the KH2 OP

ずっと二人で (zutto futari de) - We'll always be together

From Axel in the DDD OP to the Time Station shattering around Ven from the BBS OP

どんな時だって (donna toki datte) - No matter when it is

From Aqua holding a frozen Ven and looking up at the blue "Kingdom Heart" in the sky (BBS OP) to the Back Cover stuff

側にいるから (soba in iru kara) - I'll always be by your side

From YX looking at the night sky out the window (KH3 OP) to Sora & Kairi sitting together from the KH3 ending

君という光が (kimi to iu hikari ga...) - The light known as "you"....

This last bit starts as the titles that are going to be released on Steam start to appear on the screen (there are spinning heart shapes that appear over the image, and those turn into the titles), which turns to a plain black screen and info on the release dates, games, etc.

The Simple & Clean take on this promo is definitely a bit more awkward timing and lyrics-wise. It doesn't work as well, though, both promos don't really highlight the bond between Sora and Riku like at all, but highlight the bond between Sora and Kairi, along with just gen friendships in general (which I like and don't mind).

Here is the Simple & Clean Re-recording + Steam promo:

I don't know. Obviously, they are focusing on the whole series as a whole, which makes sense and the more gen focused stuff for nearly all the characters makes sense and I like and appreciate that. But, it just feels weird to see/have so little of Riku and have the video end with the S*kai stuff, since that relationship is just so underexplored, underdeveloped, and often times just straight up ignored in a lot of the games/Sora's overall journey.

Also, while I'm a fan of Soriku, I don't really care for a number of the big theories out there that exist (some of which, like the whole aitsu thing, has been debunked, and I just find the whole "Sora forgot about Riku" theory to be a theory more so created to cope with the reality that the series is trying to push S*kai more now...even if there are a lot of issues with that from a writing perspective). IDK, but when I see stuff like this...when I played KH3...they all just kind of worked as reminders to keep my expectations in check. I might just be too burned by past media experiences, but a large part of me still believes that the closest we might ever get to canon Soriku is a realization and confirmation on Riku's part that he loves Sora, but S*kai still ends up happening because of "I want my lover to be happy" type trope stuff.

At the very least, I'm happy that we got largely gen and friendship based trailers and promos with all of this, instead of all of the imagery being like "potential het couples" type stuff, lol. But yeah, this is probably an overreaction, but KH3 is a game that really killed my love for the franchise and makes me very hesitant, skeptical, and cynical of KH4 along with the franchise going forward in general. So these promos just don't help at all with that.

[temporalbystander]

To the lovely KH blog that I follow that asked why Kingdom Hearts is trending, I would like you to know just how much of my hate you have. I looked up what's recent on the Kingdom Hearts tag and you know what I found?

The earth shattering certainty that not only is Soriku canon but is also an allegory using Jungian psychology to perfectly illustrate the need to accept and find balance with oneself. And that, contrary to all my prior held beliefs that Sora is pure cinnamon bun levels of light and purity, I should have trusted the openings, the games, and the keyblade masters Terra and Aqua who state that it's Riku that guided them to destiny islands and also implying that Sora may be a big darkness villain at some point.

Don't even get me started on Roxas, or how I never put together that "Kairi arrived on the night of a meteor shower" means that Namine COULDN'T have been replacing Kairi in the memory she gave to Sora and Repliku in CoM about the promise to always protect her.

So, once again. To that lovely blog who asked the question that sent me down this rabbit hole 2 HOURS AGO!!!! Thank you.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 2, Poll 5

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Riku-Kingdom Hearts

Qualifications/Propaganda:

So Riku is neither canonically LGBTQ+ nor canonically disabled but there's quite a slew of subtextual evidence. And this subtext is considered basically canon due to the creator's (Tetsuya Nomura) stance on media, which is that he enjoys leaving clues for players to figure out. So while Riku is never explicitly said to be queer or disabled, there's clear evidence on both accounts.

So first: Riku is gay. There's no doubt about it (despite what the dudebros insist...) Riku is gay for Sora, his childhood best friend/former rival. Long story short, Riku was afraid of Sora's friendship with this girl Kairi, didn't realize those feelings were gay jealousy, and he got gaslighted by the Mistress of All Evil, MALEFICENT HERSELF, into believing that Sora didn't care for him anymore. He went Dark Mode, destroyed their home, and antagonized Sora for most of the first game. But then he gets trapped in the Realm of Darkness after Sora kicked his ass for the millionth time and he realized how *sora voice* stUpid he was being and helps Sora stop the apocalypse (saved the world counter: 1) Then Riku goes through a whole arc of "wow i was an idiot. sora will never forgive me and i have Darkness in my heart and i need to protect sora while he's in a year-long medically-induced coma to undo his amnesia" and. idk. theres a Lot of stuff. So much so that someone made a 6-HOUR video essay about it! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll17V9DJr7g)

Riku is also likely suffering from chronic pain. Throughout the year that Sora is in a coma, he fights Sora's Nobody, Roxas, to get Sora's memories back. During the fight, Roxas breaks Riku's wrist, and it never heals correctly. Throughout the finale of Kingdom Hearts 2, the next game chronologically, Riku wears a wrist brace that goes largely unexplained. During the final boss fight, Riku throws himself in the way of Xemnas (the Big Bad) to protect Sora, getting hurt twice in the process; being struck so hard in the shoulder that he's flung halfway across the battlefield, and then hit in the side so badly that it causes him to collapse as soon as the adrenaline from the fight fades. It's likely that none of these injuries healed properly, as even in Kingdom Hearts 3 (which is like 5 games later. dont ask) he has some interesting tells; his walk is incredibly stiff and his battle stance changes, likely because of the strain put on his wrist for the old stance. (https://www.tumblr.com/nobodyriku/706960754548604929 shows this pretty well, though i can't find the other post i had in mind but whatever)

Anything Else?:

soriku endgame actually <3

Darth Maul-Star Wars

Qualifications:

Maul is canonically disabled; he was bisected at the waist by one Obi-Wan Kenobi, but SOMEHOW did not die, and was in fact teleported into a garbage dump, where he proceeded to live as a spider cyborg for the next 12 years, when he was found and rescued by his long-lost brother. He has used prosthetic legs of one kind or another ever since, and in Rebels, he uses a cane. He is also definitely gay. In The Clone Wars cartoon, he is OBSESSED with Obi-Wan, to the point that Obi-Wan is his entire personality and the entirety of his life goals. All he wants is to kill him and cause him suffering in revenge for being cut in half and subsequently abandoned by his master. However, this obsession is. Definitely homoerotic. Dude fights Obi-Wan naked at one point (the animators forgot that people with prosthetic legs still have to wear pants). He literally builds a hate shrine to Obi-Wan's dead ex-girlfriend, who he killed, AFTER he kills her. In Rebels, once he is able to merge the two holocrons and ask any question he wants, he asks where Obi-Wan is. The answer is Tatooine, of course. He goes there, has one final fight with Obi-Wan, and is fatally wounded. HOWEVER. He dies in Obi-Wan's arms. He dies being HELD GENTLY by Obi-Wan. I cannot adequately explain how insane that is. Makes me froth at the mouth. Anyway.

Propaganda:

I love this severely fucked-up dude so much. He dedicated almost 20 years of his life to a single-minded obsession with Obi-Wan Kenobi, an obsession which literally kept him alive when he was chopped in half in a garbage pit, stuck in a hole on Planet Sith, and just generally attempting to live after being raised for nothing but violence as a child. He is missing half his bones, many vital organs, and got his two biggest blood vessels sliced right open, and yet REFUSED to die. He then became a spider cyborg. The first thing he did when coming onboard the Ghost was critique the interior design. He took over an entire planet just to get a guy to notice him. He was kidnapped as a child and tortured nonstop for the first 20 years of his life, resulting in an attachment style where he can only conceptualize relationships as a hierarchy (master/apprentice), so he searches constantly for an apprentice, and even treats his brother as one; despite how he very clearly just wanted a brother, he didn't know how to be in an equal relationship. He does absolutely nothing but cause problems for people-- be they Jedi or Sith. Ahsoka once released him from a magic strait-jacket as a "distraction" and he immediately began tearing panels off of the walls and decapitating people with them. He has a death grip on my brain.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

[sorikufeels]

hi i made some soriku pride icons based on the headcanons i have for them! i also have alternate versions that i’ll post separately where i adjusted the colors of the characters themselves to reflect the colors the flags!! i had a lot of fun with these so if anyone wants them with a different flag id probably be down to make that!

please like/reblog if you use! :)

edit: alternative versions here!!

i’m gonna ramble a bit about my headcanons below the cut lol

for sora:

i see sora as pansexual and arospec!!

as an arospec person myself i relate a lot to what sora says in the character files about not really getting love so i hold him being arospec very near and dear to my heart!! i think differentiating different kinds of love is confusing for him and i don’t know where he falls on the spectrum (and i don’t think he does either!!) but he’s somewhere along there so that is why i used the arospec flag!!

that being said, i do think he experiences attraction to some degree and i don’t really see gender influencing his attraction at all so i hc him as pan. bi could also work but i personally identify more with pan and love to project lmao

for riku:

i see riku as gay, demisexual, and trans!!

riku has only really shown real interest in sora throughout the whole series (since him being like “i’ll share the paopu fruit with kairi” was a way to get under sora’s skin) so we’ve only seen him as attracted to a guy so that’s why i see him as gay! also his whole interaction with shiki in dream drop just fucking screamed that he’s gay and please get this girl away from him oh god

i don’t have a reason for hc’ing riku as demi i just feel like the vibes fit lol

i am a riku is a trans man truther!!!! i don’t really have a canon supported reason for this either i just love the headcanon that he’s trans. you know for a fact he wears his binder way too long bro someone tell him it’s bad for him please

also i have the trans flag for both of them above, but im really only hard set on riku being trans. however, t4t soriku is very sweet and i love it so much 🥺

anyway rambling over, thank you for reading lol