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holly-natnicole · 4 days

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Kairi's canon abilities & skills

As a Princess of Heart:

Together with the other 6 Princesses of Heart, Kairi's Heart reveals Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden's Keyhole which also is a gateway to the End of the Worlds (through which someone can get to the Door to Darkness through which they can then enter the Realm of Darkness). Their Hearts of pure Light are 7 of the 20 pieces of the χ-blade.

Kairi was born with a Heart of pure Light. This makes her able to sense Darkness, able to hold Darkness back temporarily (but it's draining to her), and immune to Corridors of Darkness' corrupting influence since she has zero Darkness in her Heart. Losing her Heart wouldn't have resulted in Naminé's (Kairi's Nobody's) creation if her Heart hadn't taken refuge inside of Sora's; being a regular Somebody, Sora had a small amount of Darkness thus resulting in Naminé when he freed Kairi's Heart from Sora's own by using the Keyblade of Hearts. When she had lost her Heart, Kairi's body (&, presumably, her Soul) was comatose 'til Sora's sacrifice.

It's kinda unclear whether Kairi stopping Sora from fading away in K.H.3 was a Princess of Heart power or solely a Kairi power. The same goes for Sora in K.H.2 reading Kairi's letter opening a Corridor of Light from the Realm of Darkness to the sky above Destiny Islands. And for Kairi in K.H.1 transforming Sora from a Shadow Heartless into either a Somebody (therefore creating a body for Sora) or into a human-looking Heartless same as Ansem the Seeker of Darkness a.k.a. Xehanort's Heartless is (I prefer this one since it'd mean Sora still needs a Replica or a Nobody to become complete). I'm more inclined to see all 3 as Princess of Heart powers, but it's not explicitly confirmed in the videogames.

As a Keyblade-wielder:

Kairi starts out weak for the 1st 15 years of her life, unable to do better than any other non-combatant civilian. She doesn't summon her Keyblade when she gets it; instead, Riku is the one who gives Destiny's Embrace to Kairi.

However, the instant it's given to her, she easily destroyed 2 Shadow Heartless on her own with a single slash each. And, right before Riku gave Kairi her Keyblade in K.H.2, she jumped off a very high up balcony & landed in a squat with no injury.

But Kairi then (instantly after her landing) froze in fear when a bunch of Shadow Heartless surrounded her thus they easily piled up over her. In K.H.3, she froze again when Xehanort-possessing-Terra's-body was 'bout to slash down at her face with his Keyblade; possibly due to P.T.S.D. from the time he grabbed her face with his hand when she was age 4 or 5.

Kairi's main issue is her emotions. "Please work!!" she pleads her Light when using Flower Shoot (a ball of Light) or her magic when casting elemental spells; her self-confidence low or non-exostent even after training with Lea, Merlin being their teacher. Understandable, considering the times Kairi had faced enemies she could barely run away from and who easily dragged her around by the wrist. Kairi knows that even after training she isn't strong enough to fight World-ending threats the way Sora and Riku can.

However, after being trained by Merlin, Kairi (despite her troubles) is a competent enough fighter to go toe-to-toe with much more experienced and powerful enemies; e.g. Xion, Saïx, and Xemnas. In that last one's case, she even breaks his Ethereal Blades with her Keyblade and forces him on the defensive 'til he uses Nothingness to drain her energy. With Sora's help, Kairi in K.H.:ReMind kills Armoured Xehanort. Shown in each fight she's in (including when the redhead fights her memory of old man Xehanort in K.H.:Melody of Memory), Kairi focuses on speed & quick attacks that repeatedly cut the enemy thus accumulating damage instead of killing them with a single powerful blow or a single massive magical attack. She's agile enough to dodge the enemy's hits and spells in mid-air, maneuvering herself without Gliding. Kairi also is strong enough to block the enemy's strike at least for a little while, causing a temporary stalemate. She can dismiss & fast re-summon her Keyblade in K.H.:Melody of Memory to keep attacking Xehanort, having learned from when Xemnas grabbed her wrist & twisted in K.H.3 (she stopped moving at the oain whereas her Keyblade being grabbed instead of her wrist prompts Kairi to dismiss Destiny's Embrace then quickly re-summon it). Kairi in K.H.3 can easily slash a Shadow Heartless in half same as she did in K.H.2, but has improved into using Spiral Bloom (a spinning attack) to rapidly cut the enemy several times in a row. She's also able to cast Cura to heal her friends. Kairi in K.H.:ReMind can cast Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Curaga, Waterga, and Aeroga. Her Shotlock is Heart of a Princess, which allows her to rain down orbs of light on the battlefield. When Kairi is a certain distance away from the enemy, she can use Strike Shift to quickly teleport to them by throwing Destiny's Embrace at them. She can also telekinetically spin her Keyblade around her, then catch it to give the enemy one final slash. With her Seven Wishes attack, she dashes towards the enemy 7 times with Destiny's Embrace held in front of her; it kinda stabs & slashes the enemy as Kairi goes (or tries to go) through them fast then whirls around to do it 6 more times. Same as Terra, she uses Slide to dodge the enemy's attacks when on the ground. Like Riku and Aqua, Kairi uses a hexagonal barrier made of magic to defend herself and she can use her unique counterattack Starcracker to shatter her barrier into a bunch of thalassa seashell shaoes that cut the enemy who is attavking her. With Sora, Kairi sometimes does the team attack named One Heart where each gains a golden wing made of Light & memories whilst they hold hands then together Kairi and Sora fly towards the enemy before using their wings to cut the enemy several times before their wings fade away in a shower of magical feathers displaying memories and they let go of each other's hand to land on the ground.

Kairi at the end of K.H.:Melody of Memory asks for Keyblade Master Aqua to teach her, as she wants to become stronger to fight beside her best friends Sora and Riku.

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phoenix-downer · 1 year

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KH3 Retrospective

I can’t believe it’s been four years already since KH3 came out. It both feels like it came out ages ago and just last month. Above was the very first screenshot I took as I started my playthrough. I was so awed by how good the textures for the stained glass on the Station of Awakening looked.

Something I did while I was playing KH3 was create a little Google doc of my first reactions/impressions (as well as spamming the screenshot button lol). Here was from the first page:

New version of Dearly Beloved is gorgeous - sounds similar to DDD version a little

Sora’s opening line is so good - Kairi is his home

Opening - Kairi and Sora’s chess pieces by each other

Kairi’s piece is the paopu piece

Riku looks gorgeous

Everyone looks beautiful

The door opening to save everyone there at the end

Seven hearts to save

Sora’s holding Xehanort’s piece at the end - checkmate?

Station of Awakening is GORGEOUS - looks like actual stained glass now

Showing Sora’s memories

Wisdom, vitality, balance - which one?!

I chose balance (yay SDG!)

Guardian, Warrior, Mystic

I chose Guardian (yay Namine!)

Tidal wave, then Sora ended up in cloud world

Destati sounds awesome

Sora’s opening lines are so good

Mysterious Tower music sounds so good

Cable Town looked gorgeous - Land of Departure?

Sora’s theme sounds kickass

Ending scenes from 0.2 played again to catch you up to speed on SDG

Next year for the fifth anniversary I want to share more of the document, perhaps in a more organized fashion (I also had a reaction document for ReMind and Melody of Memory that I might share excerpts from in the future). It’s just such a neat little time capsule of my immediate first reactions to everything, and while I had to use the pause button a lot, it’s fun to look back on what I was thinking in the moment before my later thoughts/perceptions took over. Definitely worth the time it took to record everything.

For KH4 I want to continue the trend, as it also makes for a fun way to share the first playthrough experience with my friends and it makes it easier to write analysis posts later on.

Summarizing my thoughts now on KH3:

The good: Beautiful graphics, world environments were a huge upgrade, the music was amazing, the humor in the Disney worlds was really good, Olympus Coliseum, Kingdom of Corona (the dancing minigame!), The Caribbean, San Fransokyo, Wayfinder Trio Reunion, Xion’s return, Roxas’s return, all the heartfelt Sora and Kairi moments, Young Xehanort, the Keyblade transformations, having more than two people in your party at a time now, the Luxu reveal.

The bad: No true midpoint to the game, no FF characters, the climax was rushed, wish Naminé was more involved, the way Kairi got “killed” was super bleh, and I’m still not a fan of the original ending (the secret ending excluding Kairi also made me ehhhhhh).

And this leads me into another part of the document. When I consume a piece of media, I like to think about what worked well and why. It’s just really fun to celebrate good writing and learn from it, you know? Hence all the translation/analysis posts I’ve done of certain scenes from KH3. I also like to figure out how I would “fix” anything that didn’t land for me because it’s also a good learning experience, and at the end of my initial thoughts document, I actually included a list of things I thought would improve the writing of KH3. Of course, this is all based on my own personal feelings/interpretations, and as it stands, ReMind fixed a number of them anyway. But I thought I’d share my initial “fixes” in bold and then my thoughts about them now.

Writing Changes:

Have Sora think about Kairi a la KH2 - Flynn/Rapunzel, Will/Elizabeth… - this isn’t really going to be changed at this point for obvious reasons, but I missed the little moments where Sora was thinking of Kairi in KH2 (like when Will and Elizabeth hugged, when he saw Jack and Sally dancing, etc.) and thought those would have strengthened the romantic plotline of KH3.

Sora’s reunion with Riku was anticlimactic - ditto, not gonna be updated at this point, but I remember thinking oh that’s it lol when technically we hadn’t seen them onscreen together since 2012 (trailers notwithstanding). In universe it makes sense though because it hasn’t been that long since they’ve seen each other. Plus, I assume their reunion in KH4 will be good, so I’m looking forward to that.

Sora’s reunion with Kairi was also anticlimactic - see above, not gonna get changed at this point, but I wish they’d gotten a moment together before the big group meetup or at least him reacting to seeing her again. We hadn’t seen them talk directly since Blank Points I think? (trailers notwithstanding). So yeah I was a little disappointed there wasn’t more to their reunion, and again I think a little moment or brief scene that could’ve built up to the paopu fruit more. And at this point in the game I definitely got the feeling that Nomura was rushing to finish before deadlines hit + the burnout was setting in and he couldn’t spare any time to extras like this, just the core scenes that had to be there (group meetup, Aqua and Ven convo about Terra, Riku and Repliku scene, Kairi and Sora paopu sharing scene). He might have also had to do a bunch of last minute rewrites, who knows.

Have Kairi actually send her letter to Sora - I assume this will happen at a later date, looking back now it feels like foreshadowing, so I’m not sure why I complained about this lol. I do think at some point Sora will read the letter because why go to all that trouble of showing Kairi writing it + having her read it to the audience if it won’t be significant down the line? The focus on Sora’s smile makes me think he might get the letter when he’s feeling really down and needs to be cheered up, but we’ll see.

Have Sora have some way of contacting her like he can contact Riku - Yeah idk Square acts allergic sometimes to the love interests contacting the main character (see FFXV...), and in universe she was training with Merlin and Axel in a place where time flowed differently etc. so I get why she didn’t. Again I was just thinking of ways the paopu scene could’ve been built up to more effectively within KH3 itself (obviously the paopu scene has been foreshadowed since KH1 so that wasn’t my issue, more that I wanted more buildup within KH3 that built on the buildup we saw in KH1 and KH2 and Blank Points).

Keep Kairi getting killed… but have it be because she was protecting Sora of her own free volition - Yeah I’m still not happy about how this was handled. ReMind helped make this more tolerable because she did get to fight Xehanort by Sora’s side, but I still think her “death” could’ve been handled a lot better. And that’s all I’ll say about that lol, it’s a topic that’s been discussed to death at this point.

Go into more depth about what YX said - I think this was about all of Young Xehanort’s cryptic foreshadowing to Sora, I honestly can’t remember lol. But I do think, now that I’ve replayed the game, the foreshadowing works well, so I think this was more of an initial reaction on my part.

Show Sora going to rescue her - This was one of my biggest issues with how KH3 originally ended, and I remember feeling robbed that we didn’t get to see Sora’s rescue mission of Kairi, but little did I know what Nomura had in store lol. ReMind more than fixed this, and I will be forever grateful to it and to Nomura for knowing how important this was and making sure it was added to the story. ReMind elevated KH3 so much for me, and looking back, I really do think Nomura was making the best of a bad situation (engine switch a year into development, tight deadlines, Disney being strict, serious burnout, sky high expectations...) with vanilla KH3, and I hope he gets the development time he needs to tell the story he wants to tell with KH4. I just remember reading some of his interviews post-KH3 and you could tell how exhausted and burnt out he was, and I really hope he doesn’t go through that again.

End things on a less gutpunch of an ending - I know some people loved KH3′s ending so this is subjective, but I did not lol. Thankfully, ReMind fixed this and made the ending more bittersweet now that we’ve seen Sora rescuing Kairi. It feels much better knowing he got those moments with her traveling the worlds before he disappeared.

Roxas and Sora barely interacted - ReMind fixed this too (noticing a pattern here?) I was really happy with the additional screentime they got in ReMind together because honestly, their relationship is one of my favorites in the entire series.

Sora still hasn’t thanked Namine - I assume this will happen at a later date, I just remember thinking poor Naminé hadn’t gotten thanked yet. But I do think Nomura has something specific in mind for this scene and we will see it at some future date. So less of a “this should’ve been in KH3″ thing and more “oh bummer I’ll have to wait a while yet to see this.”

Xehanort got off easy - I think this whole plot point was a victim of the rushed pacing that impacted both the climax and ending of KH3. I remember thinking to myself that Xehanort should not have gotten to die and go to Keyblade Heaven with Eraqus in the same game where he “killed” the protagonist’s girlfriend (which resulted in the protagonist’s “death”) especially not so soon after it happened. But in a way it’s also kind of realistic? The bad guy doesn’t always get what he deserves in real life, so I can see why Nomura took this angle here (though I would argue that in stories you can show good triumphing over evil and in fact people tend to want that more than realism due to the escapist nature of fiction). Then again, I’m kind of biased because I’m not a fan in general of turning Xehanort from a main villain to a misunderstood guy with an angsty backstory who was manipulated by the True Big Bad. I get the feeling we haven’t seen the last of him given that art of his younger self with an umbrella that came out for Dark Road’s ending, so I’m bracing myself for him to show up in Quadratum and team up with Sora, and meh, I just wish the series would move past him at this point, you know?

Destiny Trio still not a trio :( - fix that - I do hope that we get more Destiny Trio interactions in KH4, but looking back, I kinda get why there wasn’t a whole lot of them in KH3. The focus was more on Sora and Kairi’s relationship since that played such a key role in the climax and ending of the story, and there will be time in the future for the three to interact more. Nomura had that quote about how KH3 would feature relationships changing etc., and we did see that with the focus more on Sora and Kairi’s relationship (plus Melody of Memory gave us some Riku and Kairi interactions, and KH4 is probably gonna feature some good Sora and Riku interactions given how they’ll probably reunite before Sora and Kairi do. And then Kairi and Sora’s reunion will be important given how they were separated, and I imagine there will be at least one meaningful scene of the three of them together).

Have Kairi fight back while she’s being taken - in her defense, it was very realistic for a short, petite fifteen-year old girl to have trouble fighting back against a grown ass man who 1) towers over her and most of the rest of the cast, and 2) is wrenching her arm back in a way that meant she’d likely dislocate her own arm if she tried to fight back. I just still wish this entire plot point had been handled differently, but it’s in the past now, not much more to be said about it.

Roxas and Xion were freed maybe when Sora “died”? - I think I had this on there because I thought the story would’ve benefited from the rescues being spread out more, giving time to focus on each one and allowing some longer soft/quiet moments with the character reunions.

Anyway, thanks for reading all this. It was interesting going back and looking at my initial reactions to KH3 and how my thoughts and feelings have changed over time. I think the big factors in the shift are that ReMind really added so much to the story and fixed most of my major issues with it, and I have a better picture now of all the stressors Nomura had to deal with to get the game out the door. Honestly it’s probably a small miracle the vanilla game turned out as well as it did given all the factors he was working against, and for that I have a lot of respect for him. And it was clear he was aware of the issues, you know? Otherwise he wouldn’t have released ReMind. He wanted KH3 to be good and he wanted to make the fans happy, so he did what he could to improve on the base game. And there are some truly fantastic moments in the base game and ReMind alike that I loved analyzing every single piece of.

How about you guys? How have your thoughts/feelings towards KH3 changed over time if at all? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

#kingdom hearts #kh3 #kingdom hearts 3 #kh analysis #kh meta #kh retrospective #kh #retrospective #long post

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dominicsorel · 11 months

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And even if we had found a way back in, regrettably none of us possessed the necessary means to get Aqua back out safely. So I forbade Mickey from telling you, let alone going after her.

#kingdom hearts #kh aqua #kh riku #aqua #riku #data riku #keyblade master duo #yes this means he saved atw in kh2 as well #hi you should read my meta on this <3 #she wore riku's darkness and it fit her so well hats off kh

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didsomeonesayventus · 1 year

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on one hand I get no joy from KH fanfic anymore on the other oneshot of Sora finding out Young Xehanort made it to Squareville and pinning him for some questions on what the he*k is going on

#katie rambles #an idea briefly inspired by the sketch nomura made awhile ago for DR stuff I think? the umbrella #because I think someone pointed out that despite the blur it looked somewhat like a known landmark over in japan #and (gestures to xehanort's DR comments about needing another life to observe The After of his plans)#but this would require me knowing what's going on #and there is no god damn way im even going to be close to an answer on what's going on #it would be neat if the lil guy is there in 4 + they have some banter over coffee like Normal People but talking about Very Not Normal Thing #(with maybe just a bit of subtext:tm: if you squint i guess)#(for old time's sake yanno)#but like idk. im burned. im tired.#and im not really interested in whatever meta tripe 4 is gonna introduce #it feels so. not kingdom hearts #i think it's really gotten too wild for its own good now #we're launching out of the heartfelt and digestible ruminations on friendship and how it's a vital source of happiness and support #and how it's basically a human right to have a healthy place of community and belonging #and going into just whack ass multiverse whatever that just. idk it bores me #and idk if they can really do it in a way i care about when everything leading up to 3 got shoved in a fucking trash can #like whats the point of following and theorizing if they're just gonna ignore it just to be contrary! for an unearned surprise!!!!!#like fuck man i want to like this series again but 4 has got miles to go before impressing me #old man yells at cloud in tags yada yada let people enjoy the series + 3 wasn't bad whatever im grumpy

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victimsofyaoipoll · 10 months

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Round 3

Propaganda Under Cut

Kairi

kairi is the third protagonist of the kingdom hearts series and the third member of the destiny trio, alongside fan favorites sora and riku. sora/riku shippers HATE kairi, and will go out of their way to discount her at every turn. the hate for her ranges from typical "she's a boring bitch" to fans of soriku making five-hour long video essays reassuring their fellow shippers that the big bad kairi won't show up in the next installment – to quote one video, "she's in a box. she's on the shelf. four walls, no door." kairi is the greatest bogeyman the soriku fandom has ever known, to the point where most of said video essays and fanon meta posts focus not on why sora and riku should get together, but rather on why they don't like kairi.

Literally has a 100+ page Google doc fan theory writing her out of the narrative and putting all of her (few) canonical accomplishments onto half of the popular m/m ship (soriku). Don't even get me started on how her memory was completely written out of the canon plot of re:coded. KH is a nightmare to explain so dude trust me she is THE victim of yaoi

She is so fundamental to the plot and themes and narratives of game and yet it is near impossible to find anything about her thats not ship bashing pre-mlm with the other two characters. I dont even care if she ends up with one of the main characters i just want fans to see her as a cool character to love or like, anything other than “annoying comphet girl.” You can write your mlm but pleaae stop inventing comphet where it doesnt exist. She does not even get to spend time with sora ever?? Why does everyone see her as a threat and a thing to destroy?? Let her have friends so help me

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime.

#round 3 #poll #kairi kingdom hearts #kh kairi #kairi #kingdom hearts #misa amane #misa misa #death note

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browniboxx · 2 months

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Here is my official submission for the @kirbyoctournament

Sir Chip!

Lore under the cut :3 (it's a lot)

Sir Chip Sweet (outside of KPP business known as Prince Chip) is the first born son of the princess of Kandyland, Sugaree Sweet. He was made with her life-bringing powers so he has no father. He was made specifically for his role as the kingdom's protector and leader of the KPP. He was also the first cookie ever designed for Kandyland and used as a loose blueprint for any other cookies. He grew up alongside the other members of the KPP and Lady Kandi Sugarose's twin brother, Taffee. Taffee was his best friend.

The most important day in his lore is his 10th birthday. During his party, he wanders off into the garden to play with a marshmallow rabbit. While playing with the animal, it jumps on him. That startles him and he accidently explodes it. (There was Life Sugar, their equivalent of blood, amd guts everywhere. Not a good thing for a 10 year old to see) Crying, he runs to his mother and grandfather and informs them of the situation. Surprisingly, The Confection King sees this as great news.

Thus, Chip's training begins. Using Candees as test subjects, The Confection King teaches Chip how to focus his power. Also, how to suppress it. Due to his power being closely tied to his emotions, suppressing the power ment suppressing his feelings. In a few months, Chip was handling executions at Kandy Castle.

Second important moment. Kandyland gets involved in a war. (How it started isn't important for the purposes of this post) Naturally, as the planet's Guardians, the KPP was on the front lines. And, wanting to help his sister, his best friend, and his girlfriend (who was Sundaie Skoopz), so was Taffee. After quite a bloody battle, Taffee suffered a major injury and tragically died at the ripe age of 18. This took quite the toll on everyone close to him. And, after the funeral, Sir Chip cried for the first time in 9 years.

Naturally, the death of his best friend sent him into a deep depression. This partnered with The Confection King's constant demands caused Sir Chip to suffer a mental breakdown which, due to his explosive abilities, stopped his heart. Luckily, his mother, with the help of her father, was able to save him. During his recovery, he was very often visited by Lady Kandi Sugarose. Under the pretense of "checking on her brother's friend." During this time, the two began to grow quite close and, in the following years, began a romantic relationship.

One day, The Confection King asks Chip to do some research on the (somewhat) legendary warrior Kirby. During his work, he learns about many others. Such as Galacta Knight, who the Confection King mentioned knowing before. But no one fascinated him as much as one.

That one was Meta Knight.

Meta Knight fascinated him. He always managed to remain somewhat illusive despite being so well known. One could say he became Meta Knight’s biggest fan.

This brings us to the Kandyland series. Being a fan of Meta Knight's, he was eager to take up an opportunity to duel him. However, Kirby ended up being his main issue. After being bested in combat, he very well expected to be killed.

But Kirby didn't kill him.

No, Kirby merely fixed Chip's wing and sent him to the infirmary. Kirby was something Sir Chip wasn't used to from an opponent.

He was merciful.

This brings us to post-Kandyland.

Kirby became quite good friends with the Sweet Family, including Chip. Being friends with Kirby also isn't anything Chip is used to. He doesn't do well with children due to his constant fear of hurting them. But he can't accidentally hurt Kirby. He enjoys the boy's company, though, Kirby always has a lot of energy. Being friends with Kirby also allowed to meet a lot of other people and get closer to Meta Knight.

Most recently, Sir Chip proposed to Lady Sugarose. Also making the couple's relationship public.

(That's all I've got lol)

#sir chip #kirby kandyland #digital art #artwork #art #small artist #kirby oc #kirby ocs #kirby oc tournament #i love chip

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cackled0g · 6 days

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Can you pretty please tell some of your Ganondorf and/or Triforce hot takes 'n' theories... I'm in a big LoZ mood and wanna hear you ramble.

Why hello anon, of course I would like to speak on mein Dorf and Force theories. Incredibly long post beneath the cut.

Starting with the Triforce, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think that the Triforce on a narrative and character level represents not the trait a character necessarily embodies the most, but the one they most desire. Take OOT Ganondorf for example. Ganondorf is certainly a powerful person--leader of the Gerudo, usurper of the Hyrule crown, general 7'5" badass. In OOT, when Link gets the Master Sword and goes into magical puberty sleep for seven years or so, he unintentionally also opens up the Sacred Realm. The Sacred Realm is like a pocket dimension created by the Golden Goddesses (creator deities) of Hyrule. It also changes depending on the pureness of heart of who enters. Wicked people see like a evil hellscape, heroic people see Hylian heaven. As per Sheik in OOT "The resting place of the sacred triangle, the Sacred Realm, is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart...the heart of one who enters it..." [1] (ignore that I'm using fan wiki as a source, i'm not booting up my 3ds and playing through OOT until I come across this dialogue.)

Anyways, so the Triforce, when whole, will grant you any wish. This happens like, several times in the series. In WW the boat king guy uses it to flood Hyrule, in LBTW Link uses it to create an entirely new Triforce to give to Lorule because they like pawned theirs off or something.

The catch is that if you touch the Triforce and you aren't pure of heart, it shatters. You get one slice of the proverbial pie, put a pin in that, and the other two pieces go run away and hide in a host body. This is the Golden Goddesses' security system, presumably in place so that any jagoff can't waltz into the Sacred Realm and wish for something stupid.

So, when Ganondorf touches the Triforce it shatters, he gets the Triforce of Power, Zelda/Sheik gets the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link gets the Triforce of Courage.

Back to that pin. Once again referencing Sheik's dialogue in OOT (Hyrule's second most popular tboy!), it can be understood that when the Triforce splits, whoever touched it gains the piece that represents the part of the Triforce that represents what they most believe in [2]. A lot of people in the fan community seem to take this to mean that you get the part of the Triforce that represents some part of your personality--Ganondorf gets Power because big, Zelda gets Wisdom because smart, and Link gets Courage because main character. I would argue that it's somewhat the opposite.

So, the most important thing to understand about the Gerudo is that they are the most downtrodden, put-upon, marginalized race in Hyrule. They have the worst land, the smallest population, and the harshest living conditions. The other Hylian races simultaneously fetishize and fear them. This is interesting to me on a meta level, because the Gerudo are really kind of an orientalist caricature in OOT (and most of their appearances honestly), but in making them that way, Nintendo kind of accidentally made them a.) way more sympathetic (at least to me) than the rich Hylian kingdom and b.) a statement about Orientalism. [3][4][5][6] They are an insular race of thieves and cutthroats who subsist off of robbing Hylians and, presumably, are doomed to eternally have dwindling numbers due to a combination of the fact that they don't trust outsiders (note: I am intentionally excluding BOTW here because I strongly dislike the characterization of the Gerudo there. Also, for the purposes of this argument, BOTW is so far forward in the timeline that it is almost entirely irrelevant to discussions about OOT on a lore level) and only have one male born every hundred years due to...reasons. It is stated in OOT that Gerudo women sometimes seek out Hylian partners, but this is never actually shown, to my knowledge. [7] The natural conclusion of this seems to me to be that either the Gerudo will eventually die out without any ability to reproduce at a rate above their death rate, or they will eventually mingle enough with the other Hylian races that all Gerudo will be more Hylian or Zora than Gerudo. (I don't even know how Gorons breed honestly.)

Back on topic, the Gerudo are eternal victims who have to steal to survive. Ganondorf is born at some point, taken in by his witch mommy/witch mommies, and becomes king because the male Gerudo is always the king. [8] You would think that a race of mostly women would be more feminist than this but this game was produced in the 90's. Anyway, Ganondorf sees the suffering of his people, and this has a profound impact upon him. From Windwaker:

"My country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky, a burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter when it came, the wind carried the same thing… Death. But the winds that blew across the green fields of Hyrule brought something other than suffering and ruin. I coveted that wind, I suppose." [9]

Now this is on a literal level, a statement about wind, but on a deeper level, this is Ganondorf's way of talking about privilege, and with privilege comes power. Hyrule is wealthy, comprised of multiple settlements when the other races generally only have one. They have a castle, they have an army, and, most importantly, they have the best land. The Gorons and the Zora are suited to their environments. The Goron don't want to have Hyrule Field, because the rocks in their mountain are just much yummier to them. The Zora don't want to live in Hyrule Castle Town, because they're wet little fish people, and they need to be in the water. The Kokiri need their forest, the Sheikah need their legacy of torturing people for the royal family, etc ad infinitum. Everyone in Hyrule has a niche to fill except the Gerudo. There is nothing about being Gerudo that makes living in the desert easier. Ganondorf and his people are suffering. They are starving. They are dying from the elements.

Ganondorf sees this, and it fundamentally changes him. From Four Swords Adventures:

"Once every 100 years, a special child is born unto my people. That child is destined to be the mighty guardian of the Gerudo and the desert. But this child, its heart grew twisted with every passing year. The child became a man who hungered for power at any price." [10]

So Ganondorf is hungry for power. More than that, Ganondorf is starving for power, Ganondorf will sacrifice anyone and anything to wet his teeth with the taste of it. He sacrifices his humanity (Gerudity?) when he takes the Triforce of Power and his body is physically changed. He sacrfices his people, and his reputation with them, up to and including his literal second-in-command [11]. He sacrifices Hyrule itself. Look at how the land itself bleeds in his presence! Hyrule is crumbling apart in his hands, and he holds onto still tighter.

[12]

And so, when he touches the Triforce, he gets only one piece, the Triforce of Power.

I think that Zelda is an interesting character in OOT. I tend to think of her as a Cassandra of sorts. Here is a child with a perception that everyone around her seems to lack. She has prophetic dreams, and seemingly out of everyone in Hyrule castle, she is the only one who can see that Ganondorf has bad intentions. [13][14] Yet, with all of the knowledge, she has no real ability to act on it. Her father, the king, holds council with Ganondorf despite her wishes. She is trapped in the castle walls, protected by guards, but also caged in by them. She knows what must be done to save Hyrule, but she it utterly unable to do anything about it. [15]

And, in the end, it's ultimately her actions that allow Ganondorf to obtain the Triforce of Power when he does. If she hadn't instructed Link on where to get the two remaining Spiritual Stones, if she hadn't given Link the Ocarina of Time, he would have never been able to open up the Temple of Time, withdraw the Master Sword from the pedestal, and open up the Sacred Realm. Thus, the Sacred Realm would never have been left open and unguarded. Now, anon, I hear you yelling at me through your screen right now. "But Dean, you beautiful big-brained badass," you say. "Ganondorf would have done that either way! Zelda may have sped things up, but Ganondorf would have gotten into the Temple of Time anyways, he had already conspired to get the Spiritual Stones in the first place!"

Oh anon, I reply. Thank you for the compliment on my amazingly juicy brain. Ganondorf couldn't have opened the Sacred Realm by himself because he would never have been able to pull the Master Sword from its pedestal. [16]

Now, to be clear, it would be blatantly ridiculous to blame Zelda for this. There is no possible way she could have known this, even with her divine knowledge. But it is, indirectly, her fault, is it not? Zelda gets the Triforce of Wisdom, as a sort of slap in the face. "Here," says fate, or the gods, presumably grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Here is the clarity that could have prevented this."

This post is getting long and I'm tired now. Send more asks if you desire more epic knowledge.

#cackling into the void #asks #legend of zelda #ocarina of time #triforce #ganondorf

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meiloorun-notthefruit · 3 months

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Ok. Ok wait. Hold on just realized something. Sora has lost his powers throughout the Kingdom Hearts series multiple times — Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts 2, Dream Drop Distance (the command deck is mostly the Mark of Mastery testing his skills with the “official” way to fight; and also it’s in his dreams), and finally Kingdom Hearts 3. What’s Sora’s source of power that he keeps losing?

“I don’t need a weapon. My friends are my power.” (KH1)

“I know the keyblade didn’t choose me, and I don’t care. I’m proud to be a small part of something bigger — the people it did choose. My friends. They are my power!” (Dream Drop Distance)

Sora associates all his power as coming from his friends, so much so that when almost all of them are presumably killed by the Demon Tide at the Keyblade Graveyard, he straight up falls to his knees and gives ups. The only reason he gets back up is because Riku tells him moments before sacrificing himself for Sora that he, Riku, believes in Sora. Riku believes that Sora will find a way to bring them all back from the brink. Not anyone else, just Sora.

Sora, I believe in you. You won’t give up. (JP translated line)

Where am I going with all of this? Sora doesn’t believe in his own power. In fact, he thinks he’s worthless without his friends (and the power they lend him.) His mantra is iconic, but it’s reduced his thinking to only associating all of his competence because of others, not because of his own actions or determination. His power is not his own.

So if Sora’s power is not his own, it explains why he keeps losing it so much; he doesn’t believe in it, so it doesn’t stick. I believe that Kingdom Hearts 4 and Sora’s time in Quadratum is setting up for him finally open his eyes to the power he’s always had. His friends aren’t going to be there to help him (at least not at first, if Riku traveling via portal to the other side of Reality is anything to go off of; that and Sora’s knack for making friends so easily) so he’ll have himself and only himself to rely on. He will realize that his power was always his to begin with, or he might just find a new power - resolve - to claim as entirely his own.

I can’t wait to see it.

#kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts #sora #quadratum #I’m playing kh3 and I have been inflicted with the brainworms #I love this series so much can’t wait to see sora go apeshit #eli.thinks.of.things #kh meta

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controlvariable · 7 days

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Zero's medal, New Mecca's origins, and near-fatal head trauma

Spoilers for all of Katana ZERO ahead. if you haven't played it already, do that now, I'm dead serious when I say it's one of the greatest games of all time.

When I first decided I'd post meta about this game, honestly, this isn't the one I expected to start with. Hey, sometimes inspiration hits, and...

I'm joking. That's a different rant entirely. (yoshiP voice) please look forward to it. I think the best place to start with this one is New Mecca itself, and what that name entails. It's no secret that KZ takes large inspiration from both Judaism and Islam, the latter of which is more relevant today.

The implications of a literal new Mecca are both fascinating and out of my wheelhouse. I encourage any Muslims, who certainly know more about it than me, to elaborate. As it stands, I'm going to leave it at these few screenshots.

The Psychiatrist:

Leon von Alvensleben:

And of course, Headhunter:

This really isn't the main point of this rant, but it's related enough that I feel justified in mentioning it. Now, let's see Zero's service medal.

Thanks to the nature of KZ as a pixel-art game, we don't have much to work with here. It's gold with a purple ribbon, that's the most we're gonna get.

During the scene at the bar, we have an NPC put a name to it, and this name is what kickstarted the entire post.

A Distinguished Service Crescent. This, to my knowledge, is not a real medal in any country. That makes sense, considering, to my knowledge... New Mecca isn't real. (If it was, we'd have bigger problems on our hands.) This name did remind me of the real-life medal known as the Distinguished Service Cross, which has three meanings and appearances between countries.

To the left, the USA's medal, which is the second highest military decoration just behind their Medal of Honor. The center, Australia's medal, the highest of their Distinguished Service awards. The right, the United Kingdom's medal, which is only awarded for service at sea.

But none of these look like Zero's medal, do they? Let's take a look at Distinguished Service Medals instead, same order as above.

No dice. At this point what I'm about to say is going to surprise absolutely nobody, but the only real-life lookalike I can think of is the USA's Purple Heart.

Now, this sounds absolutely nothing like the Distinguished Service Crescent the NPC mentions, but let's account for 1. artistic liberty, 2. multiple inspirations, and 3. the fact that he might've been wrong. (It's not as if KZ has the most reliable narrators in the first place.)

Part of the reason it might be named as such in game is to draw the direct comparison to our real world medals, named after the cross. Why has it been replaced with a crescent, though? Recall the name of New Mecca, and how the crescent has long been a symbol of of Islam.

Most Americans know what a Purple Heart is given for: being wounded or killed by an enemy combatant in the line of duty. Given that Zero is still alive to receive it, only the former is important. Things are starting to come together.

During the final scene with the Psychiatrist, he entirely ignores you if you ask if the medal is real. At first, I assumed this could be Zero coming to doubt everything he's been told, which is reasonable. Then, once I realized the medal is based off of a Purple Heart, I thought it was real after all.

Finally, I realized just how much the Psychiatrist had Zero's life under control. Zero knows what this medal means, what it implies, and the whole course of the game is discovering how much of what he believed to be innate is caused by his medicine.

Chronos, the drug that he's been forbidden from learning about at every turn, that he's been given non-answers about this whole time, that gives him the power of a god. It's not so unreasonable to assume the medal was used to attribute Zero's memory loss to a head injury, as opposed to the truth of it being yet another side effect.

It's worth noting which parts of the screenshots provided are rendered in purple, and the fact that NULL itself is written in the same color. More on the color usage of KZ later.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading the deranged ramblings of a madman. Lord knows I'm not done talking about this game.

Thanks to @chemicalbrew for encouraging my madness, Muffins (no tumblr) for cooking this up with me, @dynal for listening, and everyone in The Apartment, Nepenthe, and Paradox of Lucidity for cheering me on.

#katana zero #kz #meta #op #reblogs very appreciated i spent 3 hours writing this and much longer falling down rabbit holes

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ultimate-sword-showdown · 1 year

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Welcome to the Ultimate Sword Showdown!

In this poll, the coolest swords in media will battle to the death. Before we begin, let's go over some rules.

What defines a sword?

A sword must have a blade and a hilt--your nunchucks, hammers, and shurikens belong in another tournament.

The blade must be at least 1.5x longer than the hilt--no knives or spears here.

Any sword following these guidelines is welcome--longswords, short swords, broadswords, katanas, or anything else you can think of.

Addendums:

Swords from all media are allowed, including books.

The keyblades from Kingdom Hearts are allowed.

Dual-wielded swords may be submitted together.

Sentient/talking swords are allowed.

Characters who transform into swords are allowed, as long as a sword is their primary form/primary non-humanoid form.

These criteria should cover most edge cases--if you are unsure if a sword counts, you can always submit it anyway, and if I don't think it counts I will simply not include it.

Structure of the form:

The following questions are included on the form, with only series of origin being required to answer.

Name of the sword (e.g. Master Sword, Galaxia, Ludwig's Holy Blade). If the sword does not have a name, leave this box blank and fill in the other boxes to the best of your ability.

Series of origin (e.g. The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, Bloodborne).

Wielder (e.g. Link, Meta Knight, Ludwig). If this sword is wielded by both the player character and another character, specify the other character, as in most video games the player wields the majority of swords encountered in the game. If the sword is passed down from generation to generation a la Vampire Killer, list the family rather than a single person (e.g. Belmont Clan).

Describe the sword. You may describe the physical attributes of the sword, but please also describe the sword's accomplishments as well if possible. If the sword was used to level entire cities, tell me about it. If the sword is imbued with a special power that grants its wielder unique abilities, include that information. I will be including descriptions of all swords in the polls, and detailed descriptions will drastically cut down on the amount of research I have to do myself for this tournament.

Provide a link to a picture of the sword. This once again cuts down on the amount of extra work I have to do for the tournament. If possible please use a picture with the sword isolated (i.e. not held by its wielder). If no such picture is available, I will make do.

A link to the form can be found here.

Structure of the tournament:

I am not sure how long the submission period will last, but it will not be open past April 4th (1 week from now). I may close it early depending on the number of submissions I get. I will warn you 3 hours before closing the form.

After the form is closed I will work on making the bracket. Polls will begin 1-2 days after the bracket is posted.

I will be choosing submissions based not on how many times each sword was submitted but by which swords I personally deem cool enough to enter the bracket. This will be based on a mixture of appearance and accomplishments. Do not complain if your sword did not make it in.

I will limit this to three swords per series. If necessary, prelims will be conducted to determine which swords will make it in.

Rules:

You may submit as many different swords as you would like.

Do not submit the same sword multiple times--this bracket is not based on number of submissions, so this only serves as an annoyance.

Propaganda is allowed and encouraged--send it via reblog on the poll, an ask, or tag me in a separate post.

Be civil. I will not have wars in my tournament. If you do not respect this rule you will be blocked and will not be able to participate in the tournament.

I as the mod am the final call on decisions. I decide what swords make it into the bracket, and I will determine what to do in case of ties or other unusual circumstances. If this does not please you, you...too bad.

Miscellaneous

Mod goes by The Bladesmith, pronouns are they/them.

Tags:

#sword showdown -- all posts related to the sword showdown.

#not sword showdown -- any posts not related to the sword showdown.

#sword showdown polls -- all sword showdown polls.

#sword showdown propaganda -- all propaganda.

#sword showdown updates -- important non-poll posts related to the sword showdown.

#the bladesmith answers -- answered asks.

#the bladesmith speaks -- general posts.

Tagging other tournaments for visibility:

@divine-swag-summit @vg-soundtrack-showdown @blondbitchbeatdown @sapphicshipshowdown @mad-scientist-showdown @failgirl-tournament @anti-canon-trans-showdown @losersbracketofficial

#sword showdown #sword showdown updates #tumblr bracket #tournament poll #tournament #tumblr poll #competition

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void-ink-studios · 8 months

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Please... please, Star Child... Help us...

Incarnations AU is back, with more stuff from the poll I put out a few months ago!

This is probably the most fanfiction thing in this AU, the idea of a Redeemed Dark Matter. I always thought Dark Matter was an interesting villain for the franchise, and I've chosen to characterize it as both a villain and a victim. Something that was born from a source of great pain and hatred, that was never shown another way, and left to fester in its own misery for eons.

So, what would they be life if given a second chance? What if they were allowed to live again, with a new perspective?