#not kingdom hearts

[luxmoogle]

The news about AI scraping also reaching this nook of the internet (tho' I don't doubt there's been scraping already before this) has been going around and I'd like to write a little word about my feelings on it.

For awhile this direction of art theft in the art and writers communities has been weighing a lot of people down. I've seen many familiar faces stop posting at all, probably out of fear of their beloved work being thieved away.

I don't really talk about it, but many times it has deterred me from posting or even working on some pieces purely from a sense of melancholy and sadness. Every time news about the topic comes out it creates a new kind of wave of despair. I get the feeling, what's the point, if the AI created sludge is enough for the public, if such surface level imagery fulfills peoples wants for art, then what's the point of me sharing my work at all? To just keep posting to feed a machine.

But then I sit at my desk and draw something. Paint something by myself. And I remember, why I do art at all. The feeling of creating is irreplaceable, the joy I get out of the struggle of creation can't be taken away from me. The way one pours their thoughts, feelings and even the tiniest things that might feel so insignificant to oneself so candidly onto paper. And then. AND THEN. One might be brave enough to share those pieces to others. Post them online, show a friend, a family member. To show your vulnerable self to others, and those others respond. They comment, ask questions, perceive it and best of all... ..might get inspired, and create something for themselves!

I remember reading a magazine once, that had a page at the back with all these art works readers had sent in, and I though 'wow, these are great'! And that really inspired me to create more than I already was doing, and most of all to share it with people. That's why way back when I started sharing my art in online spaces. And I don't want to stop, because I don't want us to lose that connection. That human connection, because that's what sharing art is really about, our humanity. Sharing thoughts and feelings, not about generating the most technically perfect piece of art, void of all human error.

So, I'd like to say, do not despair (but keep fighting). There are always people out there to receive your heart.

Thank you for reading and sorry for the ramble, but I really do hope these words find you all well.

[share-the-skye]

What I went through as a child was nothing compared to the child actors at Nickelodeon, but it’s no surprise to me that all the adults ignored all the red flags. That’s what adults always do. That’s what “polite” society is for.

It’s cathartic as hell to see the rage people are rightfully expressing towards all the adults involved, though.

Someone, somewhere ought to get held accountable for something.

Maybe that’s why I’m doom scrolling about it, even though I know I can’t watch the documentary itself. Maybe that’s why I’ve devoured all of Quinton Reviews videos on this. Because people caring about what happened to them helps the child in me that no one noticed or cared about.

Idk or maybe it’s just common human nosiness. Both could be true.

[frongfriend]

Yes, this is the true ending 🌱

[metanarrates]

its funny to me when a cartoon or something has a vague Evil Organization because a lot of fans will instantly decide that there's a whole workplace comedy happening there. those guys can't just be vaguely standing around acting evil all day they've gotta have like an evil break room or something

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

there are many, many funny things about kingdom hearts, but for me the funniest part is in any scene where there’s supposed to be a big crowd but the devs didn’t want to model literally anyone so it’s just a huge empty room with only the absolutely necessary characters there

[humunanunga]

Enough of the trope where memory loss undoes the damage or the corruption or whatever. More content where removing memories just removes the context.

The tragedy of needing to grieve and not knowing what or who you lost or why. The angst of having trauma and being denied the awareness that it's trauma. The suspense of being different somehow and left to wonder how and when. The tension of knowing that something is off and you can't find where it hurts. The Adventure Zone gets it. Kingdom Hearts gets it.

There is an aching inside you and you don't know how it got there.

[goldensunset]

people who go through the main tags of big and tumultuous fandoms looking for new fresh good posts to reblog are essential to any circle. they’re like true hunter gatherers leaving the safety of settlement and braving the unknown wilderness to find food for the flock. they risk their lives every day and will come back with a few scratches at best and severe psychological damage at worst

[thefantastician]

was on a big kingdom hearts kick for a second

want more kingdom hearts comics?

[redundantz]

Smooches*

[lennythereviewer]

My favorite Kingdom Hearts fact is that one of the biggest plot-holes that Nomura has never been able to meaningfully retcon or write his way out, a plot-hole so big that it fundamentally breaks the very rules the series is written on...

Is the existence of Steamboat Willie

Let me explain for the uninitiated:

In Kingdom Hearts 2, there’s a small detour in the story involving Maleficent trying to invade Disney Castle, the home of King Mickey. She can’t step foot in the castle due to an artefact of pure light that wards off darkness locked in the basement.

Pete, who is working for Maleficent, opens a door into the past (Before Disney Castle, this land was known as Timeless River) and decides to remove the artifact from it’s place in time so it won’t be there to stop them from getting in.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy chase Pete into the past thanks to another magic door provided by Merlin, and through some shenanigans involving old cartoons and teaming up with Pete’s past-self, they lock the door the villains are using, and return the artefact to it’s proper place so it can exist in the present.

You with me so far? Pretty straightforward-ish time-travel plot right?

Here’s where it goes off the rails.

Time travel would go on to become a staple of Kingdom Hearts going forward and would come with a very strict set of rules over how it operates:

1. You can only travel to a point in time where a version of yourself exists

2. You basically give up your body to do so, and travel as a disembodied soul unless you have a vessel to inhabit

3. You can’t alter the past in a meaningful way, what’s going to happen will happen

4. You lose your memories of said trip once you return, but your actions could leave a lingering instinct on your other self that could influence their decisions

“Wait” you may be thinking “Why should anyone go through all those hoops? Wasn’t time travel super simple that first time?”

And you’d be totally right, because the existence of Timeless River completely renders all of these rules and restrictions meaningless. 

There is no version of Sora that existed in Timeless River before he step foot there, everyone kept their bodies, the trio and Pete were able to mess with the timeline as freely as they pleased, and they all very much remember their trip. 

Nomura has never been able to meaningfully explain this super simple, easy way of time travel and the more convoluted method co-existing other than a cheap-throwaway line from one of the villains saying that Merlin “broke the rules” 

The hilarious part about this line is that it implies that PETE of all characters is actually more powerful than the actual villain of the series, because Pete opened a door into Timeless River through sheer willpower and nostalgia for “the good old days”

But the all-knowing chess-master of a villain who had an evil plan several decades in the making with countless moving parts and contingencies to account for had to use the roundabout, more complicated method of time travel where a lot could go wrong.

Pete though? Dude just casually broke all the rules of time travel because he felt like it. He's just built different.

TL;DR: Steamboat Willie breaks Kingdom Hearts lore in half, Pete is more powerful than Master Xehanort, and I fucking love this beautiful trainwreck of a series you guys it means so much to me

I love Kingdom hearts so much.

[ultimate-blorbo-bracket]

Round 3 Wave 1

[luxmoogle]

I know this is off topic but I love her and so I want to share <3

[share-the-skye]

So I loved every second of it and need to see it like 13 more times but what I really want is a volume of large books where every page is a frame and it’s every frame in the entire film.

[ceeejus]

looks like my summer vacation is… over.

[passive-t-u-m-b-l-r-user]

Y'all make fun of the outfits from Kingdom Hearts (2002), but fail to realize that they were PULLED FROM THEIR HOMES on a day that they were playing at the beach.

They HAVE normal clothes. They were wearing beach attire. Imagine being pulled through a dimensional portal while you're swimming and building sandcastles. Congrats! Your only clothes are these now:

[kennycrows]

KINGDOM HEARTS 3 x FFBE