#i made one for the end of khux too

[anguis-sapphire]

the temptation to swap out my Discord profile for the first time in years to reference series I like through silly little titles instead of just listing the names of them is strong

[serenedash]

so I wasn't expecting my khux gameplay post to blow up this much because normally I just shout my khux thoughts into the void and that's that, but it's been really amazing and heartwarming seeing everyone's personal experiences with khux, like I can't say enough how much I LOVE looking at everyone's additions and tags :)

I had tried writing a long post about some khux feelings but it just wasn't coming out right. this post isn't about the game this is about me sorry tl;dr I'm a very anxious person and I love to see other people just as excited about khux as I am because I feel better about how much I like it. which is A Lot

[rosie-kairi]

I don't think I've ever really spoken in depth about how much I love Lauriam as a character, which is honestly a crime because out of all the Union Leaders I'd probably have to crown him as my number one favorite.

I love Lauriam not only as a character (pink, sibling plotline) but also as an example of how much prequels can recontextualize an entire character. While Ventus is also an example of this, I think we all knew that he probably had some sort of messed up past that landed him in the clutches of Old Man Xehanort. Marluxia, on the other hand, had absolute zero background to infer from his screentime. He was the villain, you're not really meant to think too hard about him and how he became who he is because he sucks and you hate him.

I don't think there were many people chomping at the bit wanting to get info about his past. Like, it would've been cool to get, but I don't think a background for Marluxia was necessary for the story at that point in time. His role was to establish the organization as a threat to Sora and the other guardians, and that was pretty much the extent of it.

And then Union X happened, and Lauriam entered stage right into a tragedy where his fate was already sealed. You look at Lauriam with his polite little smiles and cute little chibi animations and immediately think "what is this man up to" because you are already primed to distrust him on principle due to COM. Did not help his case that he was introduced in the cutscene immediately following the death of Strelitzia, painting a huge target on his back. Fandom reaction was hostile towards him before he was even fully on screen. Occam's Razor, the most obvious answer is the correct one. Lauriam is the obvious suspect because of his actions in the future, so he must be the killer. Literally him just existing in a scene caused more ire to build against him.

But then the Shift Pride cutscene happened. Then it was revealed that Lauriam and Strelitzia -the girl who so many thought he killed- were siblings, and that he was quite worried for her wellbeing, actually.

Every cutscene a clearer picture of who Lauriam is a person was painted, and soon you stopped looking at him with distrust, and it's replaced with the question of "What happened to you?". What happened that caused Lauriam, someone who has been shown to care deeply and immensely about the people he loves, someone who is willing to do anything for those people, become Marluxia? It became increasingly obvious that they were incredibly different people, even though Marluxia came from Lauriam.

And this isn't to say that there was no connection between the two. Lauriam seemed to be incredibly self-confident in his abilities, enough to be pretty steadfast in his resolve to square up with goddamn Maleficent of all people (even if he did get his ass kicked). There's also his very intense anger, as seen in the cutscene where Ventus confesses to being the reason why Strelitzia "vanished", as well as a bit in the scene where he's at Ventus's bedside.

This is all to say that Lauriam was not a necessary addition to the khux cast, he very well could've been swapped with a random new character and the plot probably would've worked fine, all things considered. But because it's Lauriam -the somebody of a character that has already been established to be a prick- it gives his whole plotline a hell of a lot more punch. If it was a new character, people probably wouldn't have been as distrusting of him right of the bat, the sibling plotline would be sweet, but because it's Lauriam and we know how he ends up in the future, it becomes a hell of a lot more tragic. How did the change happen? He's tragic because we know that whatever he does will lead to the outcome of him losing his heart and falling to darkness, something that is essentially the exact antithesis of the keyblade wielder mission statement.

Lauriam is someone who was made to struggle against the destiny that was written out for him with a neat pen and ink, and someone who was doomed to fail in every regard. He could not save his sister, he could not defeat Maleficent, he could not help Ventus, he could not keep his memories when thrown into the future. He couldn't do anything about it.

I realize this is all rounding back around to "the inherent tragedy of prequels" but it's true.

...and yeah that's basically it. I have a lot more thoughts about this guy but I feel like if I write anymore I'm just gonna sound completely incomprehensible bc I'm very tired. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to sparkle on

[cosmosnout]

KH OC WEEK 2024

Day 2: Past

Shiro

Though Shiro themselves no longer remembers much about their past, they had quite an adventurous childhood. Shiro’s life has been rough and tumble from the very beginning as a young keybearer and they’re no stranger to finding themselves on an adventure.

The most important memories for Shiro are, of course, those spent with their friends in Twilight Town. Ephemer and Skuld were definitely considered Shiro’s best friends during that time, and the trio would spend countless hours running around trying to chase down the mysteries of the fortellers.

Shiro was also very close with their party members (the little weirdos from KHUX( /lovingly)) and would go on many adventures with them to grow stronger, and mostly to just have fun.

Chirithy and their dream eater companion where also very important people(creatures?)in Shiro’s life.

Shiro met the of the other dandelion leaders later on but didn’t have too much time with them due to the world kinda ending.

Usually during the time of fairytales, when someone discovers they were a keyblade weilder, they’d find themselves wondering into Twilight town one way or another. Shiro, however, was actually born there and doesn’t ever recall having a family or living outside of the town.

But yeah, otherwise, their childhood/pre-teen years were spent following the plot of KHUX, with the exception that they got to spend more time with Ephemer and Skype before being forced to part ways.

As children, Aiko and Viktor had a dream of building a spaceship to explore the stars with. They however, quickly realised that building a spaceship is a lot harder than storybooks made it out to be, so they instead settled on just looking at the stars.

It is still a memory they think fondly of years later. Not necessarily because of the absurdity of two children managing to build a functioning space ship, but because it was something they promised to do together. A promise of staying together.

(They immediately get separated, once they leave their world LMAO)

Viktor and Aiko both grew up pretty secluded from the rest of the world and had very little interactions with others.

Doing pretty much everything together was kind of a given, so having become separated from each other in the future neither of them took it very well.

Codependent idiots (lovingly) but they learn to exist outside of each other once they become older I swear.

I imagine their childhood home being a bit out of town near a beautiful meadow and forest that they’d play in.

(Oh, and they totally build that spaceship in the future once they realise that magic exists. It is extremely awesome, and I’d like to think Ansem’s apprentices will help them out with it once they finally get acquainted somewhere post kh3.)

Similar to Aiko and Viktor Merin and Tähti have been together since quite literally their birth. (Coming into existence together with no idea what you are is quite the bonding experience.)

Their creation happened under quite the confusing circumstances that naturally just had to involve old man Xehanort in it. Having had some unexplained part in their previous person's destruction, Xehanorts took the two under his wing for a short while. However, once he discovers the cause of the extraction failing (having both light and darkness extracted from the heart at the same time), he is quick to leave the two to fend for themselves as he continued on to advance his own goals.

(His goals were to create Vanitas. He just needed to know if extracting darkness from people was possible.) also, I say “unexplained part” in their creation, bc there’s no way that cryptic mummy gave them any sort of clear explanation for anything.

Vanitas was at least born with some sort of purpose and understanding of what he is, while these two were left to figure it out on their own.

You know those videos of otters holding hands while they float on top of water? Yeah, that’s what I think of when I think of Merin and Tähti.

They were pretty much in the same emotional state of ‘head empty’ as Roxas was when he first awakened.

They’ve come a long way from then tho

Also, I think for the two of them, having no idea who their previous person was is kinda like just having a whole piece of their being and self be missing. Just waking up someday to be told that you used to be somebody else, or more precisely, a part of somebody else, and now you need to exist outside of that person while also having no idea who that person was or if you’re really even your own person or just a part of somebody else.

Since I’m definitely more of an artist than a writer, I thought I’d add some other older drawings that I thought would fit the prompt. (TW old art /j)

@khoc-week

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

your khux finale post makes me unwell (positive) and it also made me realize how in kh even though several of the bosses are friends fighting each other khux is the only one (that I can think of) where the playable character is the one on the “bad” side. sora vs riku-ansem, aqua vs ventus-vanitas and later terranort were ones were you fight a character who’s possessed and not fully in control of themselves. in days and kh2 roxas wouldn’t have fought xion or axel if they hadn’t forced him to. but with player vs ephemer and skuld YOU are the one “possessed” and forcing the others to fight. a fun new layer of tragedy!

YEAH YEEEAHHH!!!! It’s so juicy in so many ways, especially from a gameplay/video game media standpoint

khux starts with Player as a more or less blank self insert and slowly and subtly builds them up as a character with their own agency. They’ve probably sometimes said or done things that you yourself wouldn’t do, but it’s usually not a big deal. You’re still the one in control here, you’re still the player.

Like you said, in the other kh games, you fight as the character on the “good” side. You want to win because you want to save Kairi, or you want Terra to snap out of it, or you want to protect somebody from getting hurt, etc etc. You know you’re fighting for a good cause.

But the khux finale forces you into an uncomfortable position. Suddenly all that control you have over Player must be used to hurt two beloved characters, their friends, your friends. You must win, even if you don’t want to. You, player, are the villain here, and you have no choice in the matter.

Of course we learn after that Player was also fighting for a good cause. They were on the “good side” all along too. But no one else knew. It’s a lot like Xion’s fight in Days actually. There wasn’t really a right vs wrong. Just friend vs friend(s) and the circumstances that forced them into this impossible situation. And it didn’t feel like anybody won in the end, even though a larger crisis was ultimately averted/delayed.

It’s incredible. A fun new layer of tragedy indeed!!

[nyctoheart]

Okay... I'm definitely not ready to say anything about this elsewhere so what u read here stays here PLEEEAAAAASE 🙏😭 I'll split it into sections so its easier to digest LOL

Okay, I finally admit it aloud:

Reading orion's reply to this post about me having "I turned my hobby into a task"-itis really struck me. I've felt it to be true for about a year now but kept it inside...

When writing my super doc in April, I thought "I can't wait until I never think about Daybreak Town again." And the idea of me restarting all over with KHML if it gets overly-complicated too... ugh

So I think in a year at the earliest, I'm going to try leaving the KH community. I will keep this beloved blog and still play future KH titles, but I want to focus on my real life. I want a career, but I'm 26 and have made no strides towards it at all. I want my driver's license and an onsite job! I don't want my life to revolve around sitting at my computer anymore.

what this means for my projects:

But I can't stop now since I'd let down people I made promises to. I said I would release all of X-position as videos, and I literally just started a new podcast with my friend Hannah like 2 weeks ago... Both projects I said yes to while still thinking about how burnt out on KH I am... What is wrong with me!

the podcast: I double-checked to see that Hannah doesn't follow me here because I really I don't want to hurt her, I love her and don't want to let her down. I want the podcast to continue at least a year before breaking this to her. I counted our topics up to DDD, and that already gives us 50+ topics, plenty for a weekly release. Plus, I do like the idea of helping new KH fans learn without being spoiled, it's why I said yes to begin with!

as for my youtube channel, I'll make an announcement after X-Position is entirely out. I will give my Patreon a heads up beforehand, so they can decide to keep supporting until the end or not, but I will close it entirely when the channel ends. I planned other videos outside of KHUX, but they'll have to be good-ol'-fashion text analyses here.

And as for my webcomic, this hurts too because I LOVED writing it! I want to finish the 7th chapter I started long ago, then release the entire story as text, and then finally release a certain chapter that I was really looking forward to illustrating.

leftover feelings:

It sucks too because my IRL friends are new KH fans, so they're all learning things I've known for years, making jokes I've heard for years. They think I'm still in it for the long haul, one of them just bought all of us matching seasalt icecream charms 😭 How do I break it to them that I want to move on from KH. I feel like a movie where a washed up gunman wants to retire LOL

I have journaled (and sometimes cried lol) about this almost daily for the past 2 weeks, but that comment orion made (with multiple seconding replies!) made me go ".... ok yeah I have to talk about this." It just feels SO cathartic seeing people say aloud what I have been feeling. It gives me the courage to continue until the end and not like... fake my death online LOL AAAAAA—

if this was 2019 I would have thought "yeah I'll just stop, people won't mind that much" because my philosophy was what I did online wasn't THAT important to people (tone I truly say this with: at peace, content, meditative). But ever since 2020, it feels like the internet is so important to people's values and focus, it's scarier to leave things!

[darksideofthemamon]

I got tagged by @radellama ! Thanks, Rads!

1. why did you choose your url?

I thought it sounded catchy ^^" I'm honestly not good at thinking about these things. Titles too.

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

I have 3!

@janusofguardia for my Chrono Trigger AU (Janus gets taken in by Guardia instead of the Mystics)

@lila-chantilly for my Kingdom Hearts OC/s

@the-journey-was-the-point for all Tolkiem-related things, including OC's and LOTRO!

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

Uhh 5 years? I only started in 2019 ^^" I wasn't here for its heyday

4. do you have a queue tag?

No! I don't really queue, I only sometimes schedule posts for the timezone.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

I wanted to post my art and interact with fandoms! I ended up being active here the most because it's really fandom-centric, accommodates a lot of post types (art, long text posts, asks), and isn't subject to the same algorithms and commercialism the other social media sites are. It's much quieter here, and the only ones who stay are like-minded people, so I really like it. It's all about having a space to creatively express myself.

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

It's my KH OC! She has her arm in brace, and I recovered from an injury just last year, so I felt it represented my inner self.

7. why did you choose your header?

I wanted to show off my best works XD

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

Fanart of Asami Sato from Legend of Korra!

9. how many mutuals do you have?

Uhhh I don't know how to count that... I'm gonna guess 10-15????

10. how many followers do you have?

89!

11. how many people do you follow?

311!

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

Hmm I think I sort of did? It's a joke on the ending of KHUX, and one of the few times I've drawn Eraqus

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

Often! I check it all the time, honestly ^^"

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Nope! And anyway I'd be happy to block.

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts

b y e

16. do you like tag games?

Yeah!

17. do you like ask games?

Yeah, I also sometimes reblog prompts in my sideblogs!

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

Hmmm I'm not sure if any are? @_@

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

Nope!

20. tags

ok so no pressure obviously!

@undeadrabbit-reblogs @loremastering @angbands-last-hero @tambermizukiart @chirithy564 @saephrond @lanthanum12

and whoever else wants!

[nanakibh]

One of the things that has puzzled me the most is the question of how Demyx ended up in his current condition if he's the MoM.

After spending like a whole day thinking about the Darkness for completely unrelated reasons, an idea finally hit me.

It might have been the Darkness.

Darkness is said to prey on strong emotions. At the end of KHUX, the MoM finally begins to crack a little. When pressed by Luxu, he suddenly stands from his desk and reiterates that they mustn't let sentiment affect their actions. It's like he was saying it for his own sake - something he's probably repeatedly told himself before. In that scene, it's clear that he regrets his course of action, but he had to tell himself that it was the only way. If there had been another way, then what about all of the allies he's lost? Was it his fault for being unable to save them? It was probably easier to tell himself that there was nothing he could do. The MoM believes in the inevitability of the future he's seen, and Luxu accuses him of running away. And he's right. The MoM seems like he even knows that Luxu's right, considering the fact that he was banking on Luxu and the Dandelions being able to accomplish something that he hadn't been able to do.

Those are probably the emotions that allowed the Darkness to use the MoM as its vessel. Feelings of uselessness, the feeling that he's already lost before he's begun, that it isn't even worth trying.

He's a coward. Luxu sees it. MoM knows it, too.

The MoM said that he wanted to kick back and relax, but I don't think there would be anything relaxing about his escape to the fictional world if he were left alone with his guilt. He couldn't run away from the fact that he was running away.

So, I hypothesize that the Darkness preyed on those feelings. Having been exposed to his own insecurities, he could no longer recognize himself as he used to be. That's how you end up with Demyx.

The Darkness might be what made Xemnas realize that Demyx was an ancient wielder, but now that he's like this, nobody would realize that he's the MoM. lol

Basically, what I'm envisioning:

Darkness: Haha, yes! Succumb to your negative emotions!! MoM: onnghhgn, you're right... i'm useless... Darkness: N... No... Don't you want to destroy the world? Don't you want to spread darkness?? MoM: i don't want to do anything anymore... Darkness: Oh no.

Am I right? Who knows. But I'm entertained.

[venjamin-kingdomhearts]

Ventus and Vanitas for the character asks!! 3, 8, 21, 22, and 23! Sorry if that's too many? You don't gotta do all of em!

HELLO thank you for the ask!! this is a lotta questions but i'm excited to answer them!! Warning, there's a little negativity since some of the questions ask for dislikes about the characters. I love both Ven and Vanitas, I'm just saying my personal thoughts on them! + If you don't agree with these thoughts that's not a huge deal to me, we just agree to disagree LOL

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Ventus - The "You're awful, Aqua" scene. Please Ventus I know you're upset but APOLOGIZE TO AQUA she didn't deserve that. I wish his and Aqua's relationship had more focus in general, because they're really cute when they're together. I genuinely hope Ventus apologizes to her for being a brat in BBS though

Vanitas - To be honest, anything I dislike about Vanitas comes from fanon, since I feel Vanitas does his role as antagonist really well.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Ventus - Two big things.

One: Portraying him as a coldblooded killer when in comes to the KHUX/Strelitzia stuff. I think it's a lot more fun that Ventus didn't mean to hurt anyone, but ended up being responsible for so much pain. It's really tragic, and I think it makes KHUX more interesting as opposed to "Ventus killed Strelitzia out of malice". Also, it's genuinely just funnier like that. I know it's dark but nothing makes me laugh more than the mental image of 10 year old Ventus covered in blood just going "wow is this strawberry jam?? lol how'd this end up here?"

Two: Not the biggest fan of people like. Boiling Ventus' personality to just "oh he's baby". I think Ventus being childish is a really important character flaw, but he's got a lot more to him than just that, and his youthful nature has upsides and downsides. On this note I 100% think Ventus knows what sex is and that that's how babies are made. I know it's a weirdly popular portrayal to just have him not know what sex is at 17 years old. It's also a lot funnier if Ventus just has a different vocabulary from the other characters his age when it comes to adult topics and doesn't understand slang because Master Eraqus taught him that it's impolite to use term XYZ or whatever. Vanitas - Okay this is rough because there's a lot in the KH fandom's portrayals of Vanitas that I really don't like and other things that I really love. But to match Ven I'll boil it down to two big things: One: This one is kinda hard to explain but. I know that Ventus and the Wayfinder Trio DO NOT have to be present in every "Vanitas Redemption Fanfiction" but it really grinds my gears when they're treated as, like, 'close-minded' and completely left out of Vanitas' life. The idea that Vanitas is secretly a good guy and it's just his relationship with the Wayfinders/the Wayfinders themselves are the problem is just such a boring take. They don't have to be on good terms but have Vanitas earn their tolerance, have them settle things, man! It's SO JUICY when they have to work things out or Vanitas feels actual regret and isn't just handed the "you're a good guy now and we trust you" stuff on a silver platter. Ventus, Sora, and Vanitas are a trio...I think that if Sora takes in Vanitas as a friend, he should at least try to understand Ventus' fears about the whole thing.

Two: I think its a BILLION times funnier if Vanitas is shorter than Ventus but SO MANY PEOPLE MAKE HIM TALLER IT PISSES ME OFF. Vanitas and Ventus are either the same size OR Vanitas is shorter. No more tall Vanitas. I am on my hands and knees begging you all. Short King Vanitas. SHORT. KING. VANITAS. As a short person I need this. DO IT FOR ME.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Ventus - Hardest thing for me to write when it comes to Ventus are. Sassy remarks/comebacks, and times I'd KNOW he'd be a brat but I can't bring myself to write him saying anything too harsh. But my favorite things to do? I love giving Ventus issues/fears that he would reasonably develop after his 12 year nap. I don't care if canon says he doesn't have horrible insomnia after KH3. He SHOULD have horrible insomnia and I WILL write him crying in frustration when he's struggling with sleep.

Vanitas - I actually don't write Vanitas much. I feel like I can't do him justice, but it's fun to have him just be a douche-bag sometimes. I think I'm not great at his dialogue, but writing about his feelings towards Ventus is fun.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

Ventus - I LOVE fics where Ventus is forced to take a more responsible role, or has to balance his childish nature with a growing sense of maturity. This is one of the reasons I'm SUCH a huge fan of fanfics where Ventus is like a big brother figure to Sora. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE fics where Ventus' anger is explored like. Oh he is FULL of anger, man. As much love and kindness that's in his heart. There is Hatred there too. AND ANY FIC THAT REVOLVES AROUND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SORA AND HOW BEING IN SORA'S HEART AFFECTS HIM. Fic recs that have some of the above tropes!

Hurricane Heartbeat by Dorked

Sleeping hearts often wander by Bommie20

How Long Have You Known Sora, Exactly? by 13thSyndicate

Three Quarters by angeltheatre For Ventus stuff I don't like, see question 8's answer

Vanitas - I love when he's kinda. Forcibly made to form a "truce" with Ventus but keeps testing him. I love fics where Ven's just minding his own business and Vanitas is like "I'm gonna start shit >:)" and they both get called out for being idiots when they fight each other. But OH MAN. MORE THAN THAT. I love love love when fics have Vanitas adapt the attitude of "No one can hurt Ventus BUT ME." it's my favorite flavor of protective Vanitas. For stuff I don't like, see question 8's answer

23. Favorite picture of this character?

[the-east-art]

One of the things about Kingdom Hearts post KH3 that I miss is the tragedy and the ambiguity. I feel like these themes are most present in 358/2 days, Birth By Sleep, and Chain of Memories although it's present in much of the series. It's this idea that even though these characters are wandering through literal fairytales, Disney perfect stories, theirs just... isn't. There was just this distinct feeling of melancholy in those games that not all of these happy endings were compatible. For one person to end up happily ever after, someone else had to lose theirs. And this was matched with the narrative, if you simply are not the main character you do not get yours. And I thought that was really nice and moving. I'm not saying that I don't think Ventus and Roxas and Xion and Namine should have come back, but I do wish that there had been more angst and hoops to jump through in order to make it all happen.

I do think that there isn't any other way that KH4 could have dealt with it though WITHOUT having at least two more games that came out before. TBH the 7 Lights are just too many characters to really juggle well in a singular character focused game. Kingdom Hearts is pretty well known for being good at handling like a trio of characters at a time, but because there were so many characters in KH4, and so many of them needed significant development to get them to the main plot, there just wasn't time or space to do it deftly.

There's a really good story in here that deals with defying the literal narrative (and actually KHUX does a decent amount of this) but i think in the effort to get KH3 made they rushed a lot of those concepts.

[luxustextbox]

FAQ

If I based a quote on your post and you want it removed or the credit changed, shoot me a message or ask.

Feel free to make your own memes in this format, but please refer to the credits list below the cut and give proper credit to the people who ripped the assets (or link to this post/tag me if that's easier).

You are welcome to share, download, repost, reblog with commentary, tag with ships (including selfships), etc. I just ask people don't claim to *be* me.

Requests, tags, suggestions, and submissions are welcome, but I may pass on certain ones or add things to my queue which can cause a delay. Please don't take it personally.

Post Link: making your own (& how to credit) Post Link: submission and request guide

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Queue is currently set to run through April 2025.

Tag Guide

Feel free to mute any tags you don't want to see. I also tag by game and character for easy filtering.

#luxustextbox : all text box format incorrect quotes #spicybox : quotes w/ "adult" themes (sex acts) #nobox : any other meme format #sprite edit : what it says on the tin #rebox : reblogs of my previous posts #submission : other people's posts in my style #request : what is says on the tin #faq : asks/answers/posts about the blog

Series Tags

#fish on the brain : 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 3 | End

Base Asset Credits

#luxustextbox Master Credits

Credits for some of the assets I work with. Many have been upscaled or modified but these are the credits for the original rips. I'll try to keep this post updated. Credits below the cut. If you use these assets, please include credit for them! These people provided a really useful resource to us for free :)

CoM Assets

sournote103: CoM Font

Most other elements came from The Spriters Resource, below are individual rip/uploader credits.

noodleboy347: CoM Text Boxes

UNKNOWN Am I Man or Hedgehog?: Riku

Nemu: Sora, Aerith, Axel, Cid, DiZ, Leon, Lexaeus, Marluxia, Hooded Figure, Vexen, Yuffie, Zexion

Mike the Vampire & Shade: Sora

Lloyd_Irving_1 & Static Wave: Replica Riku

Kei Striker: Kairi, Namine, Selphie, Wakka

Incognito: Cloud

shadowman44: Ansem, Larxene, Moogle, Tidus

Preed: Game Over Screen

Disney Characters ripped by Rogultgot, Dazz, Nemu, Mr. C, A.J. Nitro, shadowman44, Frario, Aquatics64, Perseus, Tonberry2k, Omega Heartless, Bacon, Beam Yosho, Roxas of the KHE and KH Sprites.

KHUX Assets

Almost all came from the incredible roboloid, who spent a VERY long time compiling everything and also has Dark Road stuff too. I also got quite a few other renders from their Medal library.

roboloid: KHUX/KHDR Sprites, UI

KK Kinema Font Lab: KHUX Font

@ok4ru: Smiling KHDR Young Xehanort (will tag when used on posts per credit request)

Other Assets

Barubary: 358/2, Re:Coded Mugshots

EvZone: KH3 Mugshots

Martin Mayonnaise: KH1, KH2 Mugshots

KHWiki: Assorted Character Icons

KH13 Gallery: Assorted renders

roboloid: Assorted renders

Any non-game elements will be linked/credited in the post itself.

Quote Sources

Where possible (most of the time), I include the source meme below the cut, or who I heard it from. With tumblr sources I'll sometimes try to add a reblog from the original post. I may edit the quote wording to work better in my format. If a quote isn't sourced it's something I've either made up myself, heard in real life, or seen around long enough to not be able to find it anymore.

[cq-studios]

WIP Folder Tag Game

Tagged by @/Corishadowfang… not really but she said anyone who wants to can say she tagged them

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

(Hating how in character it is for me to not finish the last thing before starting this one… I’ll do it all in due time I swea- SQUIRREL)

I’ve never done one of these before, so I’m not entirely sure if I’m doing it right… but it looks like fun so here I go!

Side note: all my WIPs (and finished fics I made too many years ago to feel like posting) are in one egregiously large document (like over 100 pages lol) so I’m just gonna list what they’re currently titled (and the ones that are actually WIPs)

All of these are KH because I have no other purpose in life lol

Clocktower AU

Ghosts of the Past AU

Reading

Late One Night

How to Tell Someone their Sister Died

KHUX Christmas Special

Journey to the Breaking Point

Misunderstanding

Unlikely Friend

Recruiting

Escapism AU: Lost in Ruins

Escapism AU: Escapism

Broadcasting Live from Daybreak Town

Gods AU

Meanwhile in the Realm of Darkness

Boiling Isles AU

Mean Girls AU (lol)

Camping

Nameless AU (this one’s a biiiiig one so I’m dividing it up)

Main

The End of Normal (Filler Title)

The Funeral

The Imposter

The New Arrival

Is it Really Gay if we’re just Playing Chess (Filler Title)

The Awkward Dinner

Side

He’s not Subtle

The Routine

Brain’s Dead Daughter Monologue (Filler Title)

Gotta Love PTSD (Filler Title)

Living Legend

Or if you give me a number from 1 to 22 I can spit out one of my story idea notes and elaborate on it

I’m not sure I know anyone well enough to tag but if anyone who follows me wants to do it I tag you I guess lol

[serenedash]

Let's talk khux gameplay and plot,

imo I think part of khux's story telling and the impact of the story gets lost now that the game is defunct. I always thought people didn't appreciate how the gameplay and the mechanics actually had an impact on the story and while that impact become virtually nonexistent later on, I always thought it made the story far more engaging when the game was just chi/unchained chi and also the English translation didn't do it too well ngl

Anyway what I'm specifically talking about is the medal system. Also I feel like the whole bangle thing wasn't explained well in game but really it just comes down to leveling up medals specifically. If you never played khux, you equip medals to your keyblades and they doa specific attack and to level them up you combine multiple of the same medal and you could see how leveled up a medal is by the amount of yellow dots next to it and, in JP at least, this was called "guilt" and like wow that name fucking slaps. And when nightmare chirithy reveals the player has been collecting darkness this whole time thru the medal system, you have literal guilt on your conscious. You are guilty of collecting darkness and negative emotions like guilt to use for your own power. And in Back Cover when the foretellers are made aware of this, there's no stopping it and ofc the player can't stop either, they HAVE to get stronger, you literally have to keep playing the game,

Another part of the game that I appreciated is the way the name changes factored into the game; chi was the original "world line" that the dandelions existed in and at first unchained chi had come off as just a remake but really what we're playing is the continuation, where the player and the dandelions are now in this unchained state/new world line and they're reliving their time as wielders but now without the war/"dark" memories and finally when they relive everything and get back to the "present," they continue on after into "union cross" which I feel like. wasn't explained well in game that much tbh but if you didn't understand what that meant in game, it was just to say that unions didn't matter anymore and they were all dandelions so the unions. when the unions are crossed.

and tbh the experience of playing this game in real time also added to the experience a lot and the impact of the story especially with a player insert character. I think the most effective use of this game being played in real time was Strelitzia. Now in the english version, everything with Strelitzia was all one update and the english ver was behind so honestly they had to do catch up they couldn't really afford to lag behind. But in JP, which most khux fans kept up with using fan translations, Strelitzia's introduction and her death happened about a month apart so it gave the players time to actualyl grow attached to her and THEN we get crushed. You can easily pin point the exact time certain khux fan art was drawn bc in a group drawing of the dandelions Strelitzia is there instead of Lauriam since he was only introduced after her death

and another thing! It only became apparent by the end of the game but khux actually takes place over the course of about 4 years. which is fucking insane. because the dandelions were stuck in the data for 4 years and didn't know it until the glitches started. and the game ran for roughly the same amount of time and we weren't even aware of that either until the glitches! ("why 4 years" there are cutscenes that literally say "4 years ago" so yeah girl what the fuck haha)

Anyway yeah this was just me rambling I think about this so much all the time can you tell. I hope missing link does something like this too tbh it makes it more fun and makes it feel that your actions as the player actually have impact on the story

[rosie-kairi]

Ventus Character Analysis based entirely off of the 10 or so pages he exists for in the KHX novel.

A couple months ago I made a post regarding a small passage from the KHX novel that had caught my attention because of how it established a bit of character for Ventus in such a short paragraph. Now, I’ve decided to comb through the rest of the section he appears in to see if I can find anything else worth talking about character-wise, and take up the challenge of writing my first ever character analysis essay for something non-school related. Lord have mercy on my soul please, I swear I’m trying my hardest over here. While his appearance in the KHX novel was brief, we can still learn interesting information about Ventus’s character as he appears in the Chi Saga. 

(Essay under read more because this gets long.)

(Also on AO3 here.)

Ventus first appears in the book on the very end of page 136 -11 pages before the book’s conclusion- during the epilogue titled “Epilogue- Unchained X”. This is the only section of the book he appears in, as the epilogue covers the end of the keyblade war, the union leader meetup, and has a short interlude for Strelitzia’s death. It should be noted that most of the more interesting bits about Ventus can be found on page 137, as that is the page where he is fully introduced, before the book shifts its attention over to the arrival of Brain. Like I said, very brief appearance. So forgive me if I end up repeating some points on accident. As is common for the Kingdom Hearts novelizations, a majority of the dialogue is taken straight from the game cutscenes, and KHX is no different. There is nothing in the dialogue in this book that could allow us to glean information about Ventus’s character that we would not have already gotten in-game. That’s not to say there’s absolutely nothing new to be taken into account, because if there wasn’t I wouldn’t be writing this. It’s all in the prose.

Ventus’s arrival comes with a description of him, that being “The one who answered was a boy with short, wavy golden hair and a tendency to look at the ground. He seemed so quiet that it was hard to imagine him fighting with a keyblade” (pg. 136). While it doesn’t really describe Ventus physically, it does tell us a lot about him personality wise. Mainly, Ventus seems to be a very shy and timid person. He’s not the type you’d imagine when thinking of people who go out everyday and fight dangerous creatures made of darkness. Ventus’s apparent tendency to look at the ground as mentioned above might also suggest that he’s unsure of himself, as doing so can be seen as a sign of nervousness or uncertainty -at least, according to body language analysts. What’s more is that the speech indicators used when Ventus speaks seem to support this. When Ventus introduces himself to Skuld and Ephemer, he is described as doing so “shyly” (pg. 137), when he wonders why he was chosen Ventus sounds “uncertain of himself” (pg. 137), and when lamenting his lack of friends, Ventus mutters (pg. 137). Suffice to say, Ventus is not a very confident person. He lacks what he sees as sufficient enough skills that would warrant him being chosen as a union leader. He says so himself, “I’m not especially good at anything… And I’m never at the top of the rankings.” (pg. 137). In the very first scene he appears -and the only section that is dedicated to him specifically- in the novel it is made very clear that Ventus lacks self-confidence. He talks down on himself and all-around just seems very unsure as to why he, a timid, not very strong 10-12 year old boy of all people, was chosen to lead the unions after the war. 

Another key part of Ventus’s character throughout the events of KHUX is his lack of close friends. Before becoming a union leader, Ventus was completely alone. Besides maybe his Chirithy, Ventus had no one. His apparent timidness and self-confidence issues probably factored into this. He was too shy to try and approach random keyblade wielders in the hopes of befriending them. If we choose to believe that Ventus was in-fact a preteen around this time, then his age would present a problem as well. Being a 10 year old surrounded by teenagers in an incredibly competitive environment where being stronger than all of your peers and collecting the most lux to get high up in the rankings is highly encouraged is not going to do much good for your self-image. In an environment like that, many wielders would likely look down on those they deem as being too weak, and by Ven’s own admission, he would’ve been incredibly likely to be one of those seen as too weak. Not to mention how a lot of teenagers probably would not want to be hanging around with a 10 year old who could barely pull his own weight. So, Ventus would’ve been stuck in a cycle of being rejected by stronger keyblade wielders for being too weak, but not being able to get stronger because he was completely alone aside from his Chirithy. In a series that puts so much emphasis on the strength we get from our friends and peers, Ventus had none of that. There’s one paragraph -the one that inspired me to make this in the first place- which reads, “Ephemer had never seen this boy Ven. Many keyblade wielders he would at least recognize by face, and you usually heard stories about the really exceptional ones, but Ven belonged to neither category.” (pg. 137). It may not say so directly, but this passage once again reiterates how lonely and for all intents and purposes unremarkable Ventus was in Daybreak Town. Ephemer, someone who feels that in a town of potentially thousands of keyblade wielders he would be able to recognize most of them by face alone, does not recognize Ventus at all, and he’s clearly never heard of him either. It feels mean to say, but Ventus is not well-known, he’s not recognizable, and he’s not an exceptional keyblade wielder. Ventus is a nobody, and I don’t mean like in the Kingdom Hearts enemy way, I mean a literal nobody.

It’s mean, I know it’s mean, I’m basically just bullying the poor kid at this point, but that’s what we can infer from the text. With all of this in mind it’s really not hard to see why Darkness chose him as its target. He was weak, he was vulnerable, he was the perfect choice for Darkness to leech onto. Ventus, above all else, wanted strength and friendship, and he did get that eventually with the union leaders. But it was all at the cost of another person’s life. Darkness answered Ventus’s wishes and gave him everything he wanted. Strelitzia had to die in order for Ventus to get what he wanted. Ventus, of course, did not know about this. He did not kill Strelitzia, not on purpose. He was an unwilling participant in her murder. But it would not be inaccurate to say that Strelitzia did die directly because of Ventus. If Darkness did not “fulfill” Ventus’s wants, Strelitzia would still be alive and a union leader. But where would that leave Ventus? The reality of it is that in a world without the interference of Darkness Ventus would not have been asked to become a Dandelion by Ava due to his lack of strength as she was tasked specifically with recruiting the best keyblade wielders, and he wouldn’t have been recruited any of his friends who might’ve been in the dandelions because he had none. Poor Ventus would’ve fought in the war and realistically would’ve died very quickly. 

That’s really all I have to say here. I could say more, but this is meant to be an analysis of Ventus’s character as he is portrayed in his very limited appearance in the KHX novel. For what it’s worth, this whole essay probably won’t reveal anything about Ventus’s character that we couldn’t already assume from the cutscenes in-game, but I do think it’s still important. For how little we see of him in the novel it does one hell of a job in establishing parts of his character right off the bat without outright saying anything definitive. 

Thank you very much for reading my lil essay here, I know it might seem a bit disjointed at some points and I really do apologize for that. This is the culmination of a lot of my brainworms about Ventus and I never have been very good at putting thoughts on paper. If anyone has anything they’d like to add, please don’t hesitate to do so. Hope you enjoyed!

Also, I do want to just throw a shout out to everyone who left tags of their thoughts on the original post because they really helped me out here.  He’s our collective sad little Charles Dickens-esque orphan boy and we are taking turns giving him soup.

[starrysmiling]

(threateningly) all the numbers

i have been threatened.

How many words have you written this year? published total on ao3 is about 33k, but if i add all the unpublished stuff the total is just over 70k! i sure wrote a lot of stuff i won't publish this year LMAO

How many works did you publish this year? 4 (salute emoji)

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? finishing steps v2...! it adds a lot of canon exploration and also fern character study which was fun to write and really satisfying to get out!

What work of yours has the most hits? from this year it's steps because i didn't publish anything that wasn't unbound but is it cheating if like half of its 600 hits were from last year. haha. haha

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? i actually didn't get that much feedback at all from anyone who wasn't already a friend so i guess i'll have to work harder for that. nobody new commented on anything that i published this year and i didn't get a single reblog note so... (shrugs) but there was a nice comment i got about steps taking liberties with the post-canon which made me very happy...!

Favorite title you used i'll post this later this month but 'one step at a time' as a half-companion piece to steps... if i can finish it in time.......

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? let's just take a moment to listen to acacia by bump of chicken the fucking song ever the everything the fax essay

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? 8 and 9 are the same. fax. i only wrote fax. fax the ever

What work was the quickest to write? respite took me about a day, which is insanely fast actually

What work took you the longest to write? steps took me like 8 months to rewrite. it turned out pretty damn good so we're winning here

How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year? surprisingly not a lot... i have bodyguard to work on, which is pretty much a constant, but otherwise i think i'm done most of my wips. i want to take a writing break once i'm done with my current fics because i'm just. tired. but i have a bunch of ideas (some basic ideas and aus, some about aros with jax... i have reincarnation sitting in my notes... promised to do something w crime boss and syndicate too...)

What’s your longest work of the year? stop making me say steps BUT it's 38.5k baby!!!!!!

What’s your shortest work of the year? actually this unpublished micro study of fern which i find really sexy. i'll put it at the end so you guys can read it too!

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? bodyguard (fernsleep) it's always bodyguard. augh

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? pov 2nd person because it's so fucking sexy but to be real it's probably fluff

Your favorite character to write this year? i literally only wrote fax. so uh. i guess jax ? he's easier than fern

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year? SEE ABOVE. FERN IS HARD

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? not really pairing but once i get up to khux i have something in mind w ephemer! and also maybe some khml things because i can't just be faxing all the time (i can absolutely fax all the time and i will continue to if left unchecked)

Which work of yours have you reread the most? probably steps again but i think hook, line, sinker gets privileges too

How many kudos in total did you get this year? ao3 is telling me 27 on the fics i've posted this year of which like. 10 are from steps being from last year. let's do better next year. otherwise i get a ton from my old prsk works and occasionally from enstars but i haven't posted anything new for either for a while

Which work has the most comments? please i literally wrote only for a ridiculously obscure fandom. please give me a break (it's steps.)

Did you do any collaborative works this year? no :( i think it'd be fun to try but i'm kinda bad at working with people because of my specific vision and vibe for whatever i do (also perfectionism). i also literally don't have friends into the same things as i am

Did you write any gifts this year? mage i know you're here. i hope you enjoyed your 13k of porn

Did you receive any gifts this year? no. i don't expect to get any though

What’s your most common category? what does this mean . umm. m/m G-T usually i think releasing porn this year was a bit new but it was good and i liked it a lot so ,

What do you listen to while writing? whatever song i'm addicted to recently! this is how you get me listening to catchy idol pop while i'm writing about fern getting his sanity fucked out of him. the vibes don't really matter because the music is just there to stop me from getting distracted at everything

Favorite work you wrote this year? this ask game really wants me to say steps again but it's literally my pride and joy. i hope you all play unbound so you can read my 38k monster oneshot

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? "It's cute, in a way, how his dishonesty betrays everything he wants to say."

Biggest surprise while writing this year? i actually quite liked a lot of the things i did this year. they're not bad and i don't mind rereading them and i hope that means i've gained a bit more confidence in myself... also i wrote 13k of straight up porn that's new. i've never wrote that much goddamn porn before lmao

anyway that bit from (14) because i think it's really sexy thinking about fern in terms of his relationship with intimacy and how that relates to sex and romance in his view of things... y'know......

[thedeliverygod]

a ranking of the Kingdom Hearts series thus far, by Sora with brief explanations

the games within the tiers themselves are not in any particular order

S Kingdom Hearts: The OG, my dearly beloved. The classic hero's journey. Gameplay was overall fun but definitely had some battles that felt impossible (unskippable cutscenes anyone?)

KH3: An absolute joy to play, I've never had more fun exploring worlds. It did suffer from having most of the main plot towards the end of the game and unanswered questions that were later answered by Re:Mind. The fact that employees from Disney aided with the development of this game really shines imo. A more in depth post about why I loved KH3. Battle was fun but also had difficult moments.

A

KH3D: The game that made me fall in love with Riku. The drop dynamic kind of sucked if/when you dropped in the middle of a boss fight I'm not gonna lie lol. But the story was great. Though Sora & Riku were essentially sent back in time (aka their appearance) the story and especially worlds are not repetitive. Flowmotion was extremely fun to use and the dream eaters were also another fun mechanic. Also the command deck is honestly my favorite iteration of the battle system so I was glad to see its new & improved form in KH3D and was sad to see it gone in KH3.

BBS: The introduction of the wayfinder trio, what a blessing. 3 different stories + a final episode. I loved that Terra, Aqua, and Ventus all had their own very unique playing styles (honestly I was the worst with Terra lol but I got used to him eventually). The first version of the command deck that I loved. Also the first time you could unlock treasure chests during battles (and they saved my ass). Shotlock also A+ loved it and so glad it came back in KH3. Difficulty was pretty standard; mostly a good level with a few really tough ones.

B

COM: So well written and intriguing. The worlds being 'repetitive' played into the storyline of exploring Sora's memories and it was the first time, so it felt okay. The first curse words of the series lmao aka Axel and Maleficent saying hell. This game pushed the gameboy advanced to the damn max. Also the first game we play as someone other than Sora~ enter Riku in Reverse/Rebirth. The card system sucked ass at times honestly and it was extremely hard to maneuver during certain battles on the GBA but that got a lot easier after the PS2 remake. While I'm glad the cutscenes were voiced for the remake, I will say the voice direction of RE:COM is some of the most awkward in the series. It also doesn't help that they did not put in any effort into changing the lip movements for the English language as they usually do.

Dark Road: Excellent writing and fun characters. Relatively fun gameplay at first, but quickly got repetitive. The good news was they let you use an auto function to cheat and speed through to get back to the story lol. I loved learning the back story to Xehanort and Eraqus and what made them into the adults we meet in BBS and later KH3. Shout out to my boy, Hermod. Never forgotten.

KH2: Character designs are immaculate and there are moments that are absolutely iconic. Had a good amount of fresh worlds while bringing back some beloved ones. KH2 suffered from some awkward voice direction and the game play was far too easy, imo. I beat it on critical mode with hardly any effort (other than the Roxas battle which is unique to the final mix version) and I'm honestly not very good of a gamer lol. I beat the game on my first play through in less than 20 hours which is kind of crazy. Also the 2nd visit to most worlds often feels forced and doesn't add much to the overall story of the game

C

KHX/KHUX: I barely managed to play KHX so most of this is based on KHUX. The fact that you could change your gender at any time was literally the best invention ever; signed, a non-binary person. I wish more games had that option. The customizable characters were freaking adorable and the options were limitless. The story was well written and intriguing when you got it. But... you had to do SO MANY repetitive endless missions to get to any story. I mean you'd get Disney related story sometimes but I mean like KH-core story. Not to mention essentially having to pay to win unless you got EXTREMELY lucky. And in general I'm just not a fan of MMORPGs so I dipped out after a while.

Days: Amazing story. Xion is my precious baby angel and I love her so much. The sea-salt trio reunion in KH3 was also the one that hit me the hardest tbh. But oh my god, the gameplay sucked. One of the hardest KH games to exist and I definitely nearly gave up on it a few times lol. The DS is just so awkward for KH gameplay and as we all know the graphics were.... abysmal to say the least. But there are some moments that were left out in the cinematic remake which will forever live on in our memory.

BBS 0.2: Really fun gameplay. Customizing Aqua's outfit was one of my favorite things as well and it really gave me hope that it would be a feature in KH3, but alas lol. The story overall was interesting, but it overall had to do a lot of retcons to try and make the past connect with the present so that was kind of awkward lol. Also they improved a TON from early models, but overall bbs 0.2 still looked a little weird at times compared to KH3 which had extra time to be fine tuned. Also it's essentially a KH3 demo rather than being a real game but essentially KH3 was already too massive so it made sense to separate it.

D

Re:Coded: I'll be real, I hated this game lol. It switching up the type of gameplay a lot was a fun idea in theory but actually playing the game it ended up being annoying. Also, it was essentially a rehashed idea of chain of memories when you get down to it. We explore previous worlds we've seen many times by now with Data Sora. We get little bits of new info but ultimately really the only useful thing is the very end of the game. I did enjoy the cinematic version a bit better; the voiced dialogue made a few moments a more comical.

Melody of Memory: A fun rhythm game, but the fact that it includes story that's important all buried at the end of the game is kind of pointless/annoying? lol. I loved seeing Kairi get her time to shine but I wish it was more than her just narrating over Sora's journeys and then a handful of important cutscenes at the end of the game.