This sweet merch designed by @destiny-islanders will be available for preorder as a part of our limited highest-tier bundle! The shaker charm is 3 x 1.8 inches (76 x 45 mm) and made with eco-friendly transparent acrylic.
Follow us @kairizine to see more merch reveals leading up to the Destiny's Embrace preorders, opening on March 28th!
[Video description:
The video is framed by clusters of flowers: pink hibiscus, pale gold dandelions and purple morning glories. Imposed on top of them is an angular, faceted frame with a Destiny’s Embrace zine-branded logo in the top right corner.
Inside the frame is an acrylic charm mock-up showing Kairi from KH3 inside a jar. She is curled up, sleeping peacefully, holding Chirithy in her lap and is animated to fall to the bottom, whilst beside her the thalassa shell charm, and her keyblade floating in the jar. There is an image of a sandy floor, dotted with starfish, shells and a hibiscus flower in pink. A pink ribbon is tied around the lid of the jar, and decorated with pink and red flowers. The charm is attached with a golden lobster clasp in the shape of a bow.
To the right of the charm, we see a handwritten title reading Shaker Charm, and below that, bulletpointed with flower petals, in a clean, modern san-serif font: 3 Inches (76 mm), Shakable Kairi and Chirithy, Gold Ribbon Clasp, Designed by Destiny-Islanders. Beneath that, in bold, it reads, preorders open March 28.
Characters: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Additional Tags: Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Post-Canon, Longingness, Mentioned Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Yen Sid (Kingdom Hearts)
Summary:
After using the Power of Waking repeatedly, Sora landed in an unknown world and wandered in solitude. Perhaps this was the price to pay for doing such a forbidden act.
I think that we should give more importance to the fact that riku and yozora really look alike. First of all, why did nomura made kh3 tiki’s outfit on the base of the noctis original outfit (which is the same of the one he wears in xv, nomura said that the outfit we saw in the versus trailers was the first concept but not the final one)? I would have understood if yozora character never existed, but since there’s already someone that is “connected” to noctis, why did he do that? And second of all, yozora hair are almost the same of riku’s. Noctis hair look black or blue or cobalt thanks to the different lights, but they’re never lilac like riku’s. I think it’s not a coincidence, he did it on purpose even though I don’t know why.
Some ML fans are hoping that Season 6 will make everything from the season 5 finale clearer, that the finale is supposed to set up the next season. Respectfully, I disagree. Setting up the next season should be a secondary purpose of the finale. The primary purpose should be resolving at least some of the previously-built-up plotlines. Especially when the finale is supposed to resolve a multi-season arc, particularly in defeating the overarching villain and dealing with all of the plot points that were directly tied to them, particularly when one of the main protagonists (the villain's son) is left out of the whole thing and never told the truth about both his father (who he's finally started to stand against) and the villain he's been fighting for five seasons. Doing a poor job of wrapping up those plot points should not mean that the next season is left to deal with what should have already been tidied up. Sequel baiting should not override finishing the story that was already being told. There is a reason why Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were criticized for putting too much focus on setting up sequels.
Compare this season finale to Kingdom Hearts III, another "end of an era" installment and the resolution to the Xehanort Saga. That game put a lot of focus on setting up the next saga, but it never forgot what its purpose was. Everyone who was lost and left to a bad fate in previous installments was rescued and made whole. Each villain was given a proper sendoff, even the ones who we would expect to see again. Everyone got to face their particular nemeses again and in some cases vanquish them personally. (Roxas, Axel and Xion fought Xemnas and made peace with Saïx; Aqua and Ventus faced Terranort and Vanitas again, and Terra reclaimed his body and eliminated that incarnation of Xehanort for good; Riku AND Riku Replica overcame the physical manifestation of their dark past selves and mistakes; Sora and Riku (as well as Mickey) defeated Ansem and Xemnas once and for all, and they also defeated Young Xehanort even though the earliest version of the villain was unconcerned; and Sora, Donald and Goofy fought and defeated Master Xehanort. Re:Mind even gave Kairi the chance to fight by Sora's side and defeat another incarnation/Replica of Xehanort.) Now let's talk about the final battle. Sora, Donald and Goofy, with all of their friends helping keep Kingdom Hearts stable, fought and defeated Master Xehanort. Despite being barely able to stand, Xehanort did not want to give up, before Sora and the heart ghost of Master Eraqus convinced him to let go. What did Xehanort do then? He entrusted the light to Sora and gave him the χ-blade, then faded away to enter the afterlife with his old friend. Then Sora fixed everything, and went off to recover Kairi while sacrificing himself.
Would you look at that? Kingdom Hearts III resolved all of its major plot points while still setting up future conflicts. No one kept secrets from their friends, everyone had their moments of catharsis, the villain was not vindicated even if the game turned around to try to make his goals sympathetic at the last minute, and the heroes. Actually. Won.
Oh, and while there are still mysteries and things left to interpretation, the game still made a point to clarify what was going on in front of us.
A later episode in a season can make earlier episodes make sense, but it shouldn't be left to the next season to explain things that the season finale refuses to resolve. If the next season is necessary to make this season good, this season was not and never will be good.
I found myself thinking about this great Kingdom Hearts III rewrite fanfic again, even making a TV Tropes page for it, and I thought I'd rec it. Here's the URL https://archiveofourown.org/works/21680044
Everything prior to the game up to Dream Drop Distance is canon. (Thus far, the only part of the chi saga that is retained is the Back Cover movie.) The fic changes the game's story to fix problems or just for a fresh spin, the other Guardians of Light get more time to shine with one joining the party in each Disney world, all of the New Seven Hearts are identified (all but two get to be proper party members), the Final Fantasy characters appear, and Maleficent is more than just a background presence. And it doesn't just tell the story differently; there are sections that explain how the gameplay works, who is in the party and what they do, how the boss fights operate, what the different Keychains look like, etc. I have mixed feelings about the final boss, but that section is still done very well. A sequel that completely overhauls the Re:Mind DLC is ongoing.
What JebTube says and how he says it is downright heart-wrenching. It perfectly captures why Kairi was a great character, one who was legitimately growing and developing in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, and how fucking obvious her arc's trajectory was going....and how, in spite of this, Kingdom Hearts III, on top of already derailing her personality, derailed that development and trajectory while actively pissing on all the fans who were looking forward to it. It is the absolute lowest form of shonen style disrespect toward a leading heroine. There is no justification for it. The kindest interpretation is that it was done to "subvert expectations", while the harshest interpretation was that it was willful, deliberate, mean-spirited malice on Nomura's part, similar to the shoddy treatment that Aqua received.
And no, Re:Mind is not a sufficient make-up for this, especially when it was clearly only done under duress from outraged fans and Nomura reversed it in the following game anyway.
You've probably answered this before so I apologize but it is impossible to search for things on tumblr, and I'm curious of your opinion. If someone were to play the Kingdom Hearts series for the first time, when would you recommend they watch/play Union X and Dark Road, do you think they're best experienced before or after Kingdom Hearts III? They do a lot to setup the next part of the saga but they also (especially Dark Road) help Kingdom Hearts III's conclusion feel even more satisfying. Also, do you think Back Cover should be watched before or after Union X? Would love to hear your opinion on this, thanks!!
Hello! That's okay I love talking about this stuff anyway 🙈 These are my personal opinions:
BC before UX:
I personally think Chirithy's narration in BC does a good job of laying out the overall situation: the world being intact, and the relations between the MoM, the Foretellers, and the unions. And with BC being devoid of the many things UX brings in (Maleficent, Darkness, the lifeboat, the reveal of the traitor, etc), I think if you were to watch BC after, it would be frustratingly simple; where a 1st viewer might say "well where are all the darknesses? where's Skuld? how come they dont mention the lifeboat? why dont--" etc etc. I think to keep viewing BC as open minded as possible, I would watch it before UX. And it'll emphasize the impact of the Foretellers' demise in UX.
UX before KH3:
KH3's reports make a lot more sense knowing UX's story, and you might gasp with the epilogue's reveal or theorize the identity of Subject X. I think if you play KH3 before UX, you might gloss over AND completely forget a lot of the interesting lines in KH3's cutscenes and reports that reference it.
DR before (or after) KH3:
(maybe depending on the player's ability to keep track of information):
When it comes to "before", I assume I'm in the vaaast minority with this opinion, but the more I think about it, the more I think so. I think DR would add a lot of good-ass emotional tension in KH3 with Xehanort, his childhood with Eraqus, the reason of his collecting wielders with the ancient legacy like Ventus, the child of destiny etc etc. And it would also be good for someone going into KH3 knowing that Xehanort is not, in fact, Player reincarnated LOL.
ON THE OTHER HAND: The thing about KH3 is that it already is tying many KH titles together, it's a heavy spaghetti game with a bunch of threads coming together. So I think DR, especially being so fresh in a new viewers mind, might take away from the impact of other characters from BbS or Days returning. Maybe not, but I think its possible. I would also say "DR ties too much into Missing Link to be put before KH3" but UX ties into ML just as much, if not more, than DR. So maybe that's not a good reason LOL.
The only other reason I would say play DR after KH3 is because Re:Mind has a cropped version of MoM's scene, so it might be less impactful in ReMind (assuming you play ReMind immediately after vanilla KH3). However, that scene in ReMind is so fucking vague, and DR's context makes it a lot more comprehendible IMO. So maybe that's another reason DR should be before KH3 LOL.
(I also have not seen DR's updated text yet so I apologize if that really impacts if it should be after KH3)
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those are my opinions, if you disagree you can take it up with my secretary or honestly reply to this post! I'm curious as to why, maybe there's a huge variable that I'm completely forgetting about...
I know it's been awhile but can you make an outline of what a Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts III would look like with elements of Keys to the Kingdom. I am imaging it following the main game and Re:Mind but with added elements and story points from your fanfiction. I understand if you don't want to do it but it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. I have heard of other people giving their outlines so I figured you could give it a shot. Let me know what you think about it.
Yeah um, that sounds like a lot of work and I'm not gonna do that. Mostly because I don't give two fucks about KH3 at this point. And because I already wrote my own version of what I would have wanted KH3 to be, its called Keys to the KIngdom.
It is interesting that Sora tags his instagram-esque post in Re:Mind as a promise.
He's referencing something he said to Kairi before, but that was a totally different situation, and their relationship was different then. Also, there was no promise there, aside from Kairi making Sora swear to return her lucky charm to her, which I'll get to in a minute. But here's those words that Sora said before:
But... there's really no new promise between them in Kingdom Hearts III, so I can't really see what promise he might be talking about above, unless it is the lucky charm thing again--because stuff about Kairi's lucky charm kind of is up in the air right now--but that really doesn't seem to gel with the vibe of his kinstagram post, as the fandom calls them.
I suppose it could be about Sora saying he'd keep Kairi safe during the Keyblade War... but that was really about the Keyblade War, which is now over.
Even though I was kind of a sucker for the idea that Sora told Kairi he loved her at the end of Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind--where we now see Sora told her something that the audience doesn't get to hear at the end of KHIII:
I'm beginning to think that Sora once again promised to come back to Kairi, and that's the new promise he's referencing above.
Fans who have had that above idea, and mentioned it before: