#so like...expect dark stuff

[tuskstudioart]

CW FOR SCARS JUST IN CASE-

Um uhh something something work in progress something something scar graph for my LEMH/ The six eared Macaque design after his...encounter with Wukong

Anyways how my Liu'er Mihou fans doin this fine evening 😗

[yoroshiu]

Kingdom Hearts and the Cost of Empathy

While making yesterday's post I was reminded of this other topic that had been giving me brainworms lately. And I was going to do this on another day but the thought bugged me constantly so I'm just gonna let this out now.

Part ??? of Yoroshiu just reiterating obvious points that have been chewed on a billion times

Kingdom Hearts presents empathy as a means to have characters connect with each other in both the emotional sense and as a literal ability of sorts. If someone is happy, that joy is shared, and if someone is sad, then it's felt on a visceral level.

We've had three characters be confirmed literal empaths:

Sora, Xehanort, and Baldr

And if you know, you know.

It says a lot that 2/3 ended up being antagonists and when we look at the events that shaped them, we see how Kingdom Hearts handles the negative effects of being that exposed to others emotions, especially when put it certain circumstances.

(I didn't really want to use screenshots I used in my last post but these two shots and the following one are important here, even moreso than in the previous one LOL)

In Dark Road, Baldr was shown to be attached to his sister, Hoder, because she being a heart of pure light made him feel safe as, the screenshot shows, he was sensitive to others' hearts. That's part of why it makes Hoder's death so devestating for him.

And for Xehanort, he was able to take in his caretaker's memories and felt a personal and genuine connection with Player and their friends. It's partly why the events of Dark Road hit him so hard. Baldr states that Xehanort shares the same dynamic with Eraqs.

And even for Sora, our current hero, we've seen this Empathy be harmful to him as well. He's felt echoes of the heartache of his Heart Hotel residents (KH2, BBS, etc.) and you can assume how difficult it is to have to handle multiple people's most intense emotions.

And what happens when these characters hit their lowest? Especially when it's in tandem to this Empathy?

They break down, they fall apart, their hearts get wrapped in Darkness.

And what's the factor that turns empathy, the means to bring people together in understanding, into a force that drives people into despair?

Isolation.

If there's one consistent pattern with these characters is that being alone ends up contributing to the downfall.

Baldr falls apart because he's completely isolated from his friends in a completely white room with no windows for SEVEN DAYS. How did Odin think this was a good idea?????

(Day 1 vs Day 7)

Xehanort is a person who prefers doing things on his own. This is what makes him use others and even other versions of himself as tools for his plan. He gets wrapped up in all his plans and essentially becomes a more refined Baldr by the end.

Sora is someone who's tied to a lot of different people and their hearts. This contributes to his heart being broken down and made vulnerable to Darkness, especially with how he was kept alone in his dreams, led further and further away from Riku trying to wake him up.

(Sora being mostly alone in the new saga is going to be interesting. Strel is there but there's probably going to be an effort to isolate him again.)

Being left alone with all these emotions, with no proper way to process it—empathy becomes the most destructive force.

Despite what the mainstream might think, Kingdom Hearts has always believed in the proper balance between Light and Dark, Good and Bad. Empathy is good, it connects hearts together, but at its most extreme, it poses a danger. It can overwhelm a person and make them expel it to the world in the worst way possible.

Being completely alone with no forms of support turns compassion into despair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making Kingdom Hearts Stuff Until KH4 Comes Out (Day 66)

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

[sonknuxadow]

i genuinely dont get how so many people are uncritically excited for The Movie and have no issue with anything going on here i feel like im losing my mind a little bit . the trailers did not look good to me at all is everyone excited about it posting from an alternate dimension or something what are people seeing in this movie that im not .

[tathrin]

The Extremely Serious and Scientific Legolas Fandom Hair Colour Poll:

What colour hair do you picture in your head for your personal mental image of Legolas of the Woodland Realm? (Not necessarily which one you think is more or less "canonical"; rather just what you see in your head when you're reading something.)

Ideally, you can also share when and how you were first exposed to Lord of the Rings in the tags or reblogs, and what you think most influenced your mental image.

No I'm not procrastinating from writing stuff, go away.

[mezzmerizd]

so funny thing that happened on twitter-

and erm, i got some help and feedback from more knowledgeable people (@leoincaps) soooo-

Young Emo Tango & Scene Skizz respectively :3

[ashmcgivern]

There's two people who could be on the receiving end of this in my mind, one of them is a blue hedgehog and the other is a bat.

Rig made by Aixa Massoni (Find it here!) and the background is from SonicXShadow Generations.

[quibbs126]

Old man dialogue

[whisperofthewaves]

first time in my life I picked up a book, right after dropping two other edgy grimdark titles, resigned to repeat the experience, only for it to turn into a comedy of misunderstandings

[iwakuraz]

sorry for posting a thing from art class but does anybody like the first page of the book for my project

[pinksepia]

Doc ock of earth-106

[unearthlycat]

me: can we please just finish one (1) wip. please. not even 10k. just a single fic. pleas

brain: hehe new au for a completely unrelated osmosis fandom go brr

[soulanima]

I have been playing I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, and I really enjoyed the game. Here, take art of the best character.

[em-b-sides]

I think about that tiktok trend where you like paint your partners eye color on your nails or make a bracelet or something with the color a lot actually

[kitabasis]

Why does GTSE want the player characters to start a religion so bad??? Is it not enough for a krewe to be a group of traumatized people with ghost personas solving supernatural problems?

It seems like they slightly toned it down in 2E, thankfully (although I would prefer if they just had that be. An option rather than the default), but they’ve maintained the aspect of like….encouraging players to appropriate aspects from real-world practices? Which. Given that they seem to have had one (1) diversity consultant (Whitney “Strix” Beltrán), who has no connection I can tell to voudun (I believe that’s the correct term, please correct me if I’m wrong) or New Orleans Black culture in general, which GTSE 1E probably cribbed from the most (2E still does, but to a lesser extent)…I don’t actually remember where this sentence was going but I think you get the idea?

[hoapes]

all of the bad stuff about the acolyte is starting to pile up idk the hot ppl and the action scenes and the interesting ideas aren't enough for me