#not tl mention the corona thing :

[greyborn2]

Ok just because brain is buzzing - some more info regarding the Locked Tomb campaign I was gonna run that I posted the sheets for over hereee: https://www.tumblr.com/greyborn2/718444295287390208/custom-character-sheet-thingy-i-made-for-a-locked All the stuff under the cut because it be LONGGGG

-Was gonna be set in the 91st century of the first myriad. So during Nonius' time. Had planned for him to make a small cameo at some point. -Basic setup for it was that the Emperor and his Lyctors had 'gone silent' for a hundred to two hundred years. A blink of time for them (and besides, they were busy fighting resurrection beasts and dealing with losing a few of them) but enough time for things to slowly start descending into a shitshow in Dominicus. The houses wernt at open war, but tensions were super high and basically it was a case of nearly every house or powerful adept making a play for declaring themselves the stewards of Dominicus in the Emperor's absence. Political intrigue, infighting, a war of polite words, intrigue and assassinations. Big regency drama vibes. -Player characters were the Crown Princess of Ida, played by the player who had never read locked tomb but INSTANTLY grok'd third house when I described them and, with no input from me, straight up made a hellish combo of Corona and Ianthe; The Mistress Templara of the Eighth House; The lady of the Fifth house; aaaaaand a traumatized sixteen year old war veteran from the Fourth who went to war and got his leg blown off and narrowly escaped with his life. -Eventual plan was that at some point near the end G1dion would show back up to see Dominicus like that 'everything on fire and chaos' gif from Community. Like full on "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON THE EMPEROR UNDYING LEAVES YOU ALONE FOR TWO CENTURIES AND THIS HAPPENS?!?!" and at some point he and Nonius would fight (and fuck. Lets be honest) in the background. Probably just an event the players would hear about in passing but a lil' nod to the fact that Nonius and G1dion crossed blades. -Mechanically a lot of the system was a stripped back version of v5 WoD/Storyteller system with a bigger focus on narrative > strict mechanics because I just prefer systems to work like that. Less strict "Ah yes, I have this specific power" and more... flexible magic within the three disciplines of necromancy and the three-tier system I wrote within each one. Hard to quickly summarize but ye. -As mentioned in other post, was gonna make a map of Dominicus for it! If you've seen the maps of the Sol system for 40k where they are all sorta gothic and fantasy-y despite being star maps was gonna go for that vibe. Might come back to it at some point as an art project. -Ended up making the executive decision that '''powder''' as an off hand is a single shot duelling pistol. Big regency vibes, again. -Was playing around with the idea of making the Eighth player's cav into the BBEG. TL;DR is that she (Gris Ochtu, the Cav) had previously been cav to another necro. At some point her and her old necromancer had gotten into a life or death situation, her necromancer tried to syphon her to death, and Gris found a way of basically 'grabbing on' to the syphon tether, pulled her necromancer down to the river in a bout of panic and flight/fight and drowned her necromancer to death in said River. The whole event left her with a talent for basically shrugging off necromantic theorems directly cast against her, unraveling theorems that got close to her, and 'swallowing' up other peoples souls (or, well, it was gonna be a power she unlocked later in campaign as she became more of a threat and revealed herself as the traitor), casting them into the River, and then letting revenants take over their bodies. Anyways, she was reassigned after giving a false report that her necro had 'died trying to save her' and was biding her time/playing along before at some point she'd fucking crack and go Wake against the Empire while all the political stuff was also happening. Add a threat beyond politicking. Was an idea I was -toying- with, anyways. Also she was a silver haired milf with hardcore battle scarring because, well, ofcourse.

#tlt #the locked tomb #sorry again to any of my followers with zero interest in tlt #this is just the tangent of the night apparently

[mayasaura]

hung up on the implications of Ianthe going to see a man about a queen (+ the Third presumably being one of the only houses that uses monarchical titles to begin with) but Corona referring to herself as a king in ayu. No idea what the hell these implications are but I’m definitely hung up on them.

I’m going to frame your ‘Ianthe went to Sarpedon to find Judith+Corona’ analysis on a wall, I hadn’t even considered Sarpedon being Judith’s dad.

The other thing I’m hung up on (the other thing that’s not Yanthe scheming theorizing) is the implications of Judith’s guessing that it was Corona who came up with the whole ‘let’s just pretend we’re both necromancers and Ianthe necromances for the both of us’ thing combined with how without Ianthe covering for Corona, Ianthe would’ve been the default Crown Princess of Ida, instead of Corona. Feel like that’s its’ own layer of Third drama but with the king/queen dichotomy, I feel like titles/future titles are going to have Some significance, esp considering Corona’s uh semi-exemption (not really accurate but idk how else to put it) from the necromancer/cavalier gender binary and (if I’m remembering right), Corona referring to herself as a king very near to when she says she could be a god, if only the job opportunity was open. After I’ve written this out, I’m also obsessed with the differences in titles that Yanthe and Corna use to refer to Corona if you’re right.

Sorry for dumping my collection of red pins and string in your inbox! the tl;dr is that I really liked your theorizing and it’s giving me new and exciting brain worms

Are you kidding, thank you for your red pin collection! There are few things in the world I like better than red pins and string! And thank you for your compliments on the 'Ianthe went to Sarpedon' thing; the credit is really at least half due to the anon who asked me about the line in the first place. If they hadn’t pointed it out, it would never have occurred to me to do a side-by-side reading with As Yet Unsent. Speaking of which!

Now here's a juicy chunk for us to chew on. I looked into your king/queen/god thing, and found out it's not Corona who says it. It's Judith.

Image has alt text

Corona hasn't chosen a title yet. And now that you've pointed that out, I'm gonna be keeping an eye on that too. Not to mention how interesting it is that the person to most clearly connect Corona to prospective godhood is loyal soldier Judith Deuteros. Makes me wonder where she'll land.

I agree w you that it's also interesting that Judith is convinced it was Corona who came up with the scheme to pass her off as a necromancer. I'm not sure how far I trust Judith's judgement in general, and she has been in love with Corona for twelve years, but I definitely see her point. The Corona in As Yet Unsent, who is already internally mediating a ten-thousand year old war and planning the fate of the Nine Houses according to her final judgments, is a long way from the Corona who backed down immediately over challenging Camilla to a duel and was left sobbing on the floor of a lyctoral laboratory. Though it is worth noting that Judith was not present for either of those shows of submission from Corona; for the duel she was helping Marta back to their rooms, and she was slowly dying next to the transmitter when Ianthe ascended.

Well. However right Judith is and whatever she decides to do, I think we can definitively conclude one thing from the evidence. Judith clearly thinks the sun shines out Corona’s ass.

You've given me a lot to think about, my friend. Our brain worms are vibing.

#the locked tomb #as yet unsent #ayu spoilers #htn spoilers #harrow the ninth #judith deuteros #coronabeth tridentarius #tlt meta

[birb-tangleblog]

Rise of Flynn Rider - THOUGHTS

THE PROMISED LONGER POST ON THE RISE OF FLYNN RIDER- spoiler warning!

Ok so first off, a very brief summary: the book centers on Eugene and Arnie (Lance), childhood best friends. The orphanage they've grown up in is financially struggling, under threat by a crooked tax collector, and they're both aging out of the system; the only clue Eugene has to his parents is a letter from the woman who left him there, which is signed with a ~mysterious symbol~. When a traveling circus run by the Baron (yes, that Baron) passes through town and Eugene learns of a possible lead on his past, the two boys reinvent themselves, join up, and eventually end up entangled in a scheme to steal from the King and Queen of Corona. 

I won't lie, I enjoyed this one a lot- it was a fun read, very cozy to curl up with, and even with some contradictions, it felt like a novel that was derivative of the series and set in that world. There are a lot of cameos and references, enough that I think most TTS fans will find something they like to nibble on.

Like I said in my earlier post abt the prologue and first few chapters, I'm so happy that Lance got a role alongside Eugene- he's definitely a secondary character to Eugene’s main, and he does get sidelined somewhat, but it's charming to see his friendship with Eugene and his growing passion for cooking. 

'I didn't expect anything, so I'm more delighted and pleasantly surprised than genuinely unhappy with the execution' is a running theme with this book for me and basically the tl;dr of this write-up.

There are soo many cameos and little treats- I get the impression Calonita didn't have the most complete knowledge of the series, but her chats with Chris and interest in the series’ writing definitely show. King Edmund, the Stabbingtons, all of the pub thugs, Weasel, Stalyan, and the Baron all make appearances, and we get cameos from Cap, Maximus, Pascal's mother, and even Cass gets a name drop. Several series-exclusive locations are also mentioned by name- Vardaros, the Spire, and the Forest of No Return.

I'm not immune to the fannish hit of 'hey! I understand that reference!' and I really enjoyed hunting for easter eggs, so even if the presence of the pub thugs in the Baron's crew, or the boys stumbling on Rapunzel's tower in one scene and making nothing of it (yea that happened) is a lil questionable, it made me smile and I can't be mad.

I would just describe this book as 'comfy'.

(That said, I'm a little unsure who all those references are for- I feel like if you hadn't seen the series, you'd lack context and some details would be meaningless, but if you had, I think you might long for more depth and exploration...)

Structure & Progression

Here's the part where I start criticizing the book aimed at middle and elementary schoolers lmao

It's a v short book, but the plot progression still feels a little scattered- it didn’t feel quite like a heist OR a mystery. The subplot that takes up a lot of focus is actually interpersonal conflict between Lance and Eugene- and they reconcile, but not after spending much of the book in a standoff due to a misunderstanding/'liar revealed' trope.

One of Eugene's motivations for joining the circus is spotting a man with a mark on his arm that matches the one from his letter working there, and believing he'll be able to learn more abt his parents from him. He doesn't disclose this to Lance right away, and when it comes out later on, he's upset that Eugene didn't tell him- he feels tricked, and like Eugene's prioritizing his biological family over their bond. I had a hard time with this, b/c I honestly think Eugene could've literally said to Lance, 'hey, joining this circus is a great opportunity to travel, make money, send some back to the orphanage, AND I found something about my parents, will you come with me?' and Lance still would've jumped on it. Later on, there's also another similar miscommunication that deepens the rift. 

It feels like manufactured drama, and I would've loved a book of the two of them just being buds, bouncing off each other, and trying to unravel the mysteries of the DK symbol and the Baron's ulterior motives together. Lance's fears of being left behind by his friend absolutely could've surfaced without the misunderstandings, especially the closer they got to the truth. (And I don't think that'd have been dissimilar to the unused 'Trial' episode concept and flashback.)

The pacing itself... meanders. After the boys complete an initiation mission to get a hold of a special key for the Baron, time passes (two weeks in-story) and there's some slice of life as they learn the ropes, get inducted into a lifestyle of thieving (it’s revealed the circus is a front for a crime ring), and get to know the Baron's crew.

I liked these parts and would've kept them in a longer book! But maybe there could've been some fine-tuning here so big events (Eugene stealing for the first time, the heist, the meeting with the mysterious Man with the Mark) weren’t so one-and-done. There are several points where nothing's really happening because the characters can't quite connect with each other, or they're waiting around for an opportunity passively, and that makes for a frustrating exp for me as a reader.

There were also lot of elements I thought were getting set up to come into play later, but not a lot of follow through? The folk hero Lance Archer is mentioned several times and has wanted posters, but we never meet him in the flesh. The Man with the Mark is revealed to be a former member of the Brotherhood(!) named Vedis(!!), but he isn't seen again after Eugene speaks with him... once. (More on this later this post is getting so long omg) 

The Baron’s plan is revealed to be stealing a reward offered for the lost princess when it’s on display to the public during a festival. Eugene and Lance balk b/c stealing doesn’t sit well with them, especially when it’s from what are ultimately a family trying to find their lost child- they decide to do the right thing by foiling the scheme/stealing it back and returning it to the royals. It goes a bit pear-shaped and they’re caught, but are forgiven and face no consequences after explaining, other than being ousted from the circus/crime ring and making enemies of the Baron. Eugene hasn’t given up on finding the DK, but he realizes he already has a family in Lance, and that’s the most important thing; the two resolve to travel the world and have adventures together.

I want to make another post on it, but at the least it feels like a foregone conclusion given we know ‘Flynn Rider’ goes on to become a renown thief who steals the crown of the lost princess- that’s literally the plot of the movie, and being a dashing rogue is Flynn’s defining trait- so even aside from questionable ideas about wealth, class, and morality, the novel’s ending doesn’t fit what’s firmly established about his character, and I think big fans of Eugene might have an even harder time with that then me. 

(I’m very suspicious that there might’ve been some executive meddling in an attempt to soften young Eugene’s character, and send a more palatable/upstanding message to children- it feels like Disney editing the old SW films to show Han didn’t shoot first.)

It’s def one of those novels where you can take some elements you like and leave others, but overall I’d still rly rec it for series fans! I’ve been buzzing and what-iffing about it for a few days, and I got some tasty tidbits on the characters and nods to the series, which is exactly what I wanted out of it.

And maybe it’s a funky take, but honestly I want to think of this book as the beginning of an alternate timeline where Lance and Eugene got out of crime earlier, Eugene got a clue abt his heritage by chance, and it changed his course. I think embracing the retcons and contradictions to canon makes for an interesting angle, and you’ll enjoy it more if you don’t take it too seriously. 

#OKAY PHEW GOD took me way too long to post this #I'd consider this a general reaction/impression and overview #and I have more written that I want to sort out into posts abt Eugene's char AND my thoughts on Vedis as a Brotherhood Stan™ #if I included it here it'd have been like... another 1k words lmfao #hopefully I can post those in the next day or so! #I have no idea how to structure proper reviews man I just want to yammer #I'm honestly just having fun reacting to smth new again C: #the rise of flynn rider #text post #my post #eugene #lance

[adifferentworldfromyesterdays]

Can transliteration posts count for EAW? lol

I said I’d do “Everything I Ever Thought I Knew” breakdown, but “Next Stop Anywhere” adorable in jp and tempting. I’ll do “Next Stop Anywhere” after EIETIK.

Everything I Ever Thought I Knew -> 偽りの人生 itsuwari no jinsei

偽り itsuwari means fake, a lie, a falsehood and another reading that uses the character is 偽物 nisemono. That Nisemono in particular goes towards nonliving beings as there is 物* mono. 

*There is also 者 mono and モノ mono, but the second one isn’t needed here.

If you see this 者 mono that one goes towards living people/animals.  This can be seen a lot in Japanese, words having similar living and nonliving meanings, as well other things as in colors based on shades but is still the same word. 

And 人生 jinsei is life, lifestyle. Made up of two on readings. 

人 hito/ jin is person.

- Hito is pretty straight forward, also a person.

- The reading from jin is seen in words like 日本人 nihonjin, a japanese person.

生 nama / iki / sei is to be alive. 

- Nama is more on the scale of realtime as we see it in 生放送 namahousou, meaning live broadcast and 生クリーム nama curiimu, if you’re wondering why it has 生 nama it’s because it’s a reactive supplement to make whipped cream (or that’s my guess, jp namings are another day).  

- Iki* is for living, ex. 生きたい ikitai, I want to go live. 

- Sei is seen in words like 先生 sensei, teacher. 

*appears in song lyrics

Depending on tl, roughly the title can go as the following: 

- The false life I’ve led 

- The life that was fake

- The lie that was my life

Now onto the full song under the cut below!!

This is another good example where they had to combine/shorten parts orz jp in a nutshell. 

Lots to unpack here let’s take things slowly!

I thought I was an outcast -> たった1人で tatta hitori de

I thought I stood alone ->  生きてきたよ ikite kita yo

A rogue, a thief, a joker -> 居場所など　ないさ ibashoo nado nai sa* 

No place to call my own ->どこにも ない doko ni mo nai

I thought no one could love me -> 誰にも愛して dare ni mo aishte 

And how could I have known? ->  もらえないと moraenaito

I was wrong, oh so wrong -> 思っていたけど omotte ita kedo 

We start with tatta hitori de which fits with I thought I was an outcast, and so does the following line I thought I stood alone -> ikite kita yo. Next line we see they omitted A rogue, a thief, a joker, in favour of ibashoo nado nai sa. Then we see the lyrics change back to a closer tl. 

- Merely living on my own, with nowhere to call home. Yet*, gaining the affection from someone (was what he wanted) would be the answer, or so I thought. 

- Out in the world, surviving on my own. Nowhere to live and with nowhere to belong, I didn’t think I was able to love (and be loved). Until I was proved wrong (Rapunzel).

*sa in this context is like, yet, well, supposedly, you see.  

Then I thought I'd found it -> あの/る時夢を ano (aru) toki yume wo 

A dream that I could share -> 見つけたんだ mitsuketanda 

I thought I was so lucky -> 怖くなるほど kowaku naru hodo

It almost wasn't fair -> 幸せだった shiawase datta

I thought I knew my purpose -> ついに明日を tsuni ashita* wo 

I thought that I knew where I belonged -> 手に入れたと teni ireta to

But I was wrong -> 思っていたけど omotteita kedo**

This next part is fairly close but there are differences once again in artistic liberties taken lol.

* like with igad and Big Nose’s line, it stands for a definitive future

- The dream I had once dreamed of, it was finally realized. At first quite scary, it turned out quite divine. Finally a future** in sight, something I could attain, or so I thought.

- That dream I once dreamed of, laid before my eyes. Securely in my hands, not without its ups and downs, rested a future safe and warm (context; as it shows LBEA and in the jp he doesn’t say the contempt and secure line, he just says we can live comfortably lol), but now I know**.

** Roughly is or so I thought, but kedo can also work as a soft ‘but...’, making “now I know” an unspoken phrase.

Everything I ever thought I knew -> 全てが崩れ去る subete ga kuzure saru

Where I've been, where I'm going -> 過去も 未来も kakko mo mirai mo

Everything I counted on turned out to be untrue -> 信じていたもの 望むもの shinjiteita mono nozomu mono

Could've guessed, should've known, now I do -> 全部 儚く 消え去る zenbu hakanaku kieru saru

The first significant difference in the chorus is Everything I ever thought I knew becoming subete ga kuzure saru. Where I've been (past -> kakko) where I'm going ( future -> mirai) is pretty self explanatory. And then we see a mirror with the last chorus line cycling back to the first. 

- Everything is falling apart. Everything I wished for and everything I believed in. The past and future, all fleeting away, gradually until they fade away.

- Past and Future, everything is breaking apart, everything I trusted and everything that I had wished for, every ounce fading away like a dream (context?). 

Everything I've yearned for -> これまで 作り kore made tsukuri 

everything I planned -> 続けたもの tsuzuketa mono

All my sweetest memories were castles made of sand  -> サラサラ吹き飛ぶ砂の城 sara sara fuki tobu suna no shiro

Now that it's all crumbling ->ちぎれた思いを chigireta omoi* wo

help me understand -> 集めても atsumete mo

If none of it was really me -> 分からなくなるだけ wakaranaku naru dake

then who am I supposed to be?  -> 俺は誰なんだ？ ore ha dare nanda

The first two lines are similar but build more onto the castle, wall idea that Eugene had built over time. 

*omoi is an interesting word that can be liberally tl’d into feelings, memories, something, from the heart

- Everything I’ve made, everything I’ve built, that (sand)castle now being blow away by the wind. Even if I were to rebuild those memories, I’ve come to no longer know, who am I meant to be?

- Everything I’ve continuously built, like a sandcastle being blown away, torn from my heart, no matter how many times I rebuild, no longer seeing (context), just who the real me is meant to be? 

Everything I ever thought I knew -> 全てが薄れてく subete ga usureteku

Every hope, every feeling -> 愛も 希望も* ai mo kibou mo

Love and trust and happiness , they're done, they're gone, they're through -> 涙も笑いも幸せも namida mo warai mo shiawase mo 

And what's left, me alone -> 手から こぼれて te kara koborete

once again -> 俺は ore ha -> 

Should've known -> 今また ima mata 

now I do ->  ひとり hitori 

Finally a mention of the title. Yeah, sometimes they don’t even add in the title lol (points at “Buddy song”「オレたち親友」oretachi shinnyu)

They're done, they're gone, they're through is another omitted line. And in place we get the following line te kara koborete. They’re really emphasizing how much feelings matter to Eugene Q_Q 

- Everything turned out to be a lie, the love and hope, our tears, laughter, and happiness, slipping from my fingers. Now to realize*, I’m once again, am all alone.

- Everything turned out to be untrue, *the warmth and protection (bc of Rapunzel and Corona), emotions overflowing, my hands unable to contain (context). And at last I see*, that I truly am, all alone. 

*this is also taken from context as he battle with his complex emotions. 

I guess my life meant nothing -> 偽りの人生 itsuwari no jinsei

I guess it was a sham -> 生きてきたのか ikite kita no ka

I guess I'm someone else now ->もう分からないよ mou wakaranai yo 

I wonder who I am -> 俺は誰だ ore ha dare da

Nothing’s majorly changed here. 

- Having led a false life, no longer knowing what’s right, I’ve lost sight of myself, so just who am I?

- Living out a falsehood, what do I believe in (context), when I don’t even know who I (really) am.

Thanks for reading.

And remember to give Eugene lots of hugs q-q. 

#crack taken seriously #Everything I ever thought I knew #eugene fitzherbert #gives eugene a hug #this is why i don't do full song analysis's on here lol #rta #tts #en -> jp #jp -> en #international dubs #rapunzel's tangled adventure #Transliteration post #Translation post #analysis

[daylightlucidity]

Hmmmmm... Zhan Tiri?

What I love about them: okay, there’s a lot, but i’ll try to be brief. for one thing, i absolutely love the zhan tiri lore in the show. it’s super open-ended and full of such interesting pieces, and it’s fun to kind of sort through all of it and develop different theories and stories. i also love how ziti was depicted as this eldritch god figure through the legends shared the first two seasons, only for the show to subvert expectations and introduce ziti as the enchanted girl. i spend so much time thinking about reconciling what we see of zhan tiri in season 3 with the rest of the established lore, and it’s really fun to think about

i also just love baby gremlin ziti, and how her demeanor changes over season 3 from a sweet, composed, somewhat-innocent looking little girl when she’s trying to win over cassandra’s trust, to becoming downright feral by the time cassandra’s revenge comes around. she’s just so petty and dramatic, and she’s such a fun villain to watch

(i also can’t talk about zhan tiri and not mention destinies fulfilled; that entire fic was motivated 100% by my desire to see ziti’s character more fleshed out and to explore more of her dynamic of cassandra in early season 3, and how that dynamic changes over time with that extra depth to her character. this story is what i wanted their dynamic in canon to be sO BADLY)

tl;dr: I Just Think She’s Neat

What I hate about them: i did not enjoy her final demon form in the end of PEEV; the design was such a let down, after all of the build up through the entire show.

i am also forever upset that we didn’t get more depth to her character in canon, beyond the the snippets of established lore and handful of interactions we see with her and cassandra. i really wanted her motivation to be more nuanced and have more depth than just “i want the drops because Power, and i want to destroy corona because Demanitus”. it’s frustrating because all of the pieces were there to make her such a compelling villain and they just...didn’t do anything with it

and i remember reading a thing or two about how the writers shied away from giving zhan tiri any depth / clear motivations because they were afraid it would take away from the cassandra & rapunzel storyline that was at the center of the show, and i could see how it would, but still. it would have been fun to see some more depth

Favorite Moment/Quote:

she has so many great lines accompanied by even greater facial expressions, but i think what takes the cake for me is:

“Oh Cassandra; so predictable. Have you learned nothing from me? No matter how formidable an obstacle, everything has its weakness. And I have a gift for finding it.” *twirls with acid and falls through floor*

honorary mention; every scene involving ziti and her boomerang. you have no idea how much i love the fact that the weapon of choice of an ancient, powerful demon is a fucking boomerang dfghgfds, it Kills Me

What I would like to see more focus on: i want to see more stuff focused on her character, and on her background!! zhan tiri is such a central part of the lore on this show, and i’m continually upset that there isn’t more content trying to unpack all of it / more content treating her as a real, fleshed out character instead of just a cardboard cutout villain. i want to see ziti interacting with the disciples! i want to know more about her history with the great tree! and given that canon established that demanitus is an unreliable narrator (re: omitting the fact that he partnered with ziti for this quest), what was the actual story there?? how much truth is there to the legends?? there’s a lot to unpack, and i want to know!!

What I would like to see less focus on: please, i’m begging, less focus on ziti used solely as an angst generator/cardboard cutout villain. she can still be evil and have characterization that’s more than a teaspoon deep

Favorite pairing with: okay. so i know that the common answer is ziti/demanitus but...my thoughts on whether or not this pairing works is based completely on how it’s handled. i hate this pairing when it’s used to drive a “woman scorned” narrative for ziti, but i can kind of jam with the idea of ziti and demanitus kind of recognizing each other as Equals while in pursuit of the drops, then kind of falling in love with the idea of the other but not quite pursuing a relationship, before it all goes to hell and they become bitter enemies. i think if handled right, there’s some interesting stories that could be told with that pairing

also writing destinies fulfilled put the idea of cass/ziti into my head and now it won’t leave

Favorite friendship: cassandra! (re: destinies fulfilled). i wanted their “friendship” in canon to be genuine so badly D:

NOTP: i recently learned about momtiri, and i super do not like the idea of zhan tiri/quirin. the idea of that pairing made my head spin just a little bit.

Favorite headcanon: oh god, i have so many headcanons for her that i forget what’s canon and what isn’t tbh

my favorite headcanon is that zhan tiri never says anything that’s false. sure, she is INSANELY manipulative, and she’s big on withholding information/lying by omission/twisting her words around, but she never says anything that is untrue 

#omg this was a lot longer than i thought #thanks so much for asking!! :D #asks #empkinilly #zhan tiri

[he-tea-lia]

you guys are the pnly place i feel comfy simping and i only feel comfy simping also when i am drunk. sry if im annoying and sry for typos. i wish alice were real i really wanna hug eher right now. *hugs* alice pls if u r out ther ei love you i wanna hug you. i wanna hug her. i wanna hug. there is a girl i like who i went on two dates with like sometime in 2019 and then i ghosted her out of fear that she didn’t like me and also my phone broke so i lost her number 1/?

but apparently her mom talked to my mom (they r friends that’s how we met) and she still likes me but the last time we talked was last year when i was in hs and now i am in college (still local tho) and shej is a senior in hs and legal (18) but idk it might still be awkward. not to sex no just to go on a date agian and maybe kiss. ive never kissed before and i really wanna do that. maybe also sex evenetually but not now that would be too fast i think. she does cosplay apparently 2/?

( id id not know this it never came up in coversation)and maybe if i ask her to cosplay alice? she reminds me a lot of alice but she is real and has short hair that is dyed a rly cute pink. she is a bit more bubbly (which is ok with me i like that) and also not english. i like her personality and her looks a lot she is rly sweet and i wanna hug her and maybe we could cosplay alice and sakura thogether? is it bad that i compair her to my waifu? would i be cheating on alice if i went on 3/?

another date with her? would she be offended my comparing her to alice? she is real and real girls have many different parts of their personality but she looks so much like alice i wanna kiss hert. we also have many ofthe same politcs which is also good. she used to wear contacts but now she wears glasses and they look like alice’s glasses asdfghjkl. she is not even that big into hetalia but she said she watched the last two seasons and thought it was funny. i feel bad for comparing her 4/?

i like her evn if she didnt look like alice but the fact that she does makes me like her more. does that make me a bad person? should i tell her that or just never mention it ever because it could make things awkward. she is more normie than me (i like this about her) and find my sperging to be cute ( she said so on our second date evn though i talked through the movie i made her laugh a bunch). i am not good with talking about feelings

and am actually very shy but i feel comfy around her enough to talk and i think i can flirt but all my flirting is learned from media like anbime and manga and books and fic and doujinshi. still, since it has been over a year since we last talked and trying to reconnect could be awkward? i am not good at being the first to text or texting back. this is an issue also in my rps and i lie and say i have a busy work schedule (i do not) when i accidentally ghost an rp partner. sad. many such cases. lol 

basically can anyone give me advice on if i should ask my mom to ask her mom for her number again (///-_-/// embarrasing yes i am an adult who relies on my momn for everything (including getting dates apparently). pls no judgement) and if i should ask her out? how do we even have a date with coronachan? how long should i wait until i bring up cosplaying my waifu? should i never bring it up? am i bad for comparing her to alice? pls help idk how to feel my mom told me today that her mom said that she mentioned me

and wanted to know how i was doing i am doing good just rly sad an in love with a body pillow that is still in the mail. if i date a real girl does this fix my lonelyness? if corona is gone and the cons open next year maybe we could go to a con? is a con date a good idea or really stupid (not counting corona just like in general without corona)? 

——

okay. there’s a lot to discuss here and it’s past midnight and i’m quite tired but i’ll see what i can do.

first: i don’t know what the age difference between you is, but if you can legally drink and she can’t, i feel like there’s a bit of an imbalance there? not because of the drinking itself; more because it marks you as legally more adult than her, if that makes sense.

second: you are not a bad person for liking someone who reminds you of a fictional character. however, i think it’s important to remember this girl and alice are not one and the same, and you’d need to be very aware of that were you to date. i can’t say either way whether she’d be offended at the comparison, but from what you’ve said, i think you’d have to be quite careful to remind both her and you that it’s her you’re dating and that you like her for her, not for how she reminds you of alice. as to whether you tell her or not really depends on both her and you – i don’t know her at all, so i can’t say whether she’d be flattered or not. maybe if you framed it in the context of her reminding you of a character you love rather than alice herself? god i don’t know haha

trying to reconnect could be awkward, yes. that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, though – awkwardness isn’t necessarily a sign of a mistake, especially if you haven’t spoken for a while. having said that, though, maybe take it slow – don’t necessarily jump straight into another date, perhaps just text or something and see how that goes.

re: cosplaying – i mean. that isn’t something you want to bring up straight away. i think you’d need to be in a pretty steady relationship for that, though i don’t know.

for dates – maybe a zoom/discord/skype/whatever video call? it’s not remotely the same as seeing someone irl but it’s a kind of temporary solution, i guess. for dates once rona fucks off, i mean – once again, it’s really up to both you and her. if you both want to go to a con, then sure, do a con date! it’s only a bad idea if one of you isn’t into the idea.

i think i’ve covered everything – or at least the most important parts – so tl;dr eeeehhhh maybe?

#long post #mod spruce #fuckin. agony aunt over here #submission #i continue not to have submitted this wtf tumblr sort your life out #alice anon

[fandomoverflow]

Rule of Three: Analyzing the Story Structure of Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts is kind of obsessed with putting things in groups of threes. 

We have all our character trios… 

For most of the series you could only have a maximum of three characters in your party….

The 99 Dalmatian Puppies were hidden 3 to a chest throughout KH1… 

The first 3 Disney worlds of a “main” Kingdom Hearts game are typically grouped on the World Map into clusters of 3: 

KH1: Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum, Deep Jungle

KH2: Land of Dragons, Beast’s Castle, Olympus Coliseum

BBS: Enchanted Dominion, Castle of Dreams, Dwarf Woodlands 

DDD: La Cite Des Cloches, The Grid, Prankster’s Paradise 

KH3: Olympus, Toy Box, Kingdom of Corona 

There 3 Key Cards needed to advance the story for each Disney world in Chain of Memories….

There are only 3 Disney worlds in Re:coded…. 

You get the idea. 

There is also Yen Sid’s book in KHII that when you read is divided into three sections: 

“The Beginning”

“The Interlude”

“The Future Story” 

Thinking about Kingdom Hearts in the context of storytelling frameworks, it would make sense to conclude that the overarching narrative of the series would fall into a three act structure. A beginning, a middle, and an end. 

With the series now being divided between the Dark Seeker Saga and the Lost Masters Saga (as fandom has dubbed it in lieu of an official name), the logical conclusion would be that the story of Kingdom Hearts will ultimately be divided into three sagas. The Dark Seeker Saga, the Lost Masters Saga, and one more after that. 

Right?

Not necessarily. 

From what has been established so far, the Master of Masters is the biggest antagonist in the setting. Regardless of his still-unclear motives, his actions in the age of fairy tales are what set the events of the entire series in motion. Not only that, but the KH3 Secret Reports and the DLC trailers reveal that all of Xehanort’s actions were part of his design, actively encouraging Xehanort’s ambitions with Luxu as a devil on Master Xehanort’s shoulder. 

With the KH3 secret ending and Re:Mind trailers confirming his return in the present day, he is being thoroughly established as the next major antagonist of the series. With Xehanort out of the way, the Master of Masters has returned to the stage to pursue his agenda in person.

With the scope of how the Master of Masters has affected the plot of the series, I don’t see how Nomura would be able to top that with a third major antagonist. Revealing that there was an even bigger threat that had influenced the Master’s actions in some way would feel a bit repetitive after the reveal that he had orchestrated Xehanort’s rise to power all along. But a new villain with no connection to either the Master or Xehanort would honestly feel like a step down at this point. 

And what better choice for the final antagonist of the series than the man whose manipulations set the entire narrative in motion? 

Then something occurred to me.

Someone pointed out on Twitter (I can’t remember who specifically) that the ending of KH3 marks the first time since the end of KH2 back in 2006 that the audience had a relatively blank slate as far as speculation about future titles was concerned. So I asked myself: Does the Dark Seeker Saga only take up one act of the series, or two? 

Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II tell a complete story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. While there are hints at future mysteries, the future of the series was still a blank slate where the possibilities of what direction the story could go in next were endless. All of the games released from Birth by Sleep onward were building up to either rescuing characters who were suffering because of Master Xehanort’s actions, or building up to the final conflict with the aging Keyblade Master. But at the end of KH2, there was no looming threat or huge mystery to solve, and the game’s epilogue ended with an upbeat “the adventure continues” tone. 

Not to mention, the series’ infamous complexity really only started coming into play from 2009 onwards. New mysteries are set up and new characters are introduced. When all we had was KH1, COM, and KH2, the lore was honestly pretty straightforward. It was the trio of Birth by Sleep, Days, and Re:coded, followed by Dream Drop Distance, that expanded the lore and the mythos of the series, as well as established the greater conflict with Xehanort. Which in a long form story is the exact kind of thing you would expect to happen when you start getting into the second act. 

I think that if the overarching story of Kingdom Hearts is ultimately divided into three acts, then the first three games are Act I. They introduce audiences to the setting, the characters, and the major concepts of the mythos. 

The rest of the Dark Seeker Saga is Act II. These games introduce new characters, new concepts, and expand on the franchise’s lore. They pull back the curtain on the previous arc and reveal that there was more going on behind the scenes that Sora was not aware of, setting up a new conflict to put an end to Xehanort’s ambitions permanently and help the people whose lives were broken by his machinations. 

The Dark Seeker Saga ends with all of the outstanding plot arcs wrapped up - All the Nobodies (and Xion) who were destroyed in their previous appearances have been restored as complete people. Terra, Aqua, and Ventus have been saved. Xehanort has finally been thwarted once and for all. We’ve been left with a relatively blank slate with new mysteries and conflicts being set up to fill the void left by Xehanort’s exit. 

In essence, the standpoint of storytelling structure, I would argue that the Kingdom Hearts saga on paper would look like this: 

Act I: Dark Seeker Saga Part 1

Kingdom Hearts I

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories 

Kingdom Hearts II

Act II: Dark Seeker Saga Part 2

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep 

Kingdom Hearts Re: coded

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts X

Kingdom Hearts: Unchained X

Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage

Kingdom Hearts X: Back Cover

Kingdom Hearts: Union X

Kingdom Hearts III

Act III: Lost Masters Saga

Kingdom Hearts: Union X

DDD2 

However many games come afterwards 

The first and second acts end with a relatively blank slate for the audience in terms of speculation about the future of the series. 

The second and third acts open by pulling back the curtain to reveal a more complex understanding of the events of the previous acts that fleshes out the lore and mythos of the series. 

If true, this would give the 2.8 collection title, “Final Chapter Prologue”, a really clever double meaning. While on the surface it functions as a prologue to the last game of the Dark Seeker Saga, it can also be read that “these games serve as a prologue to the true final act of the story.” 0.2 was originally going to be the prologue of KH3, Dream Drop Distance is one of the tentpoles of the second act that moves the present day plot forward, and Back Cover introduces the Master and the Foretellers to give audiences a reason to care when they show up at the end of KH3. 

In other words, Final Chapter Prologue not only serves to deliver the core information that players need to know going into Kingdom Hearts III, but it also serves to at least partially contain the games whose stories, characters, and concepts will be fundamental to the closing act of the series. 

TL;DR: The Lost Masters Saga will most likely be the final chapter of the Kingdom Hearts narrative due to the scope of the Master of Masters’ actions. If the overarching story of the series is structured in a three-act framework, then the Dark Seeker Saga was spread across both Act I and Act II, with KH2 marking the end of Act I. 

#kingdom hearts meta #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts theory #kh speculation #story structure #rule of three

[lonelyhearteds-a]

hi . 

okay , ive literally been sitting on this for actual months now because i realize there are more important things going on in the world right now , but im at my own personal breaking point and i’ve realized that i need a space to get everything off my chest and this is as good as it gets since i can’t afford therapy so ,, here goes nothing . 

tl;dr.  tw : drugs , mentions of suicide , overall negativity

so , we’re gonna ignore january and february issues because honestly .... i don’t recognize those months as canon . anyways , i’ve been off of tumblr since the pandemic started in america in march . i lost my job , and i’ve had to use my personal time in order to keep getting something in my bank account , but i was making that + unemployment for a few weeks . everything was fine , truthfully and utterly i was making enough just off of unemployment despite the fact it took 3 weeks to even be processed . then everything hit the fan and it flew everywhere . my mom relapsed in mid-april and she relapsed hard , but me pretending it’s just her illnesses went about my business and decided to ignore it until it exploded in my face . i’m not going into too much detail about it , but with everything she’s done since april we’ve now got a really broken and fractured relationship . it’s taken me nearly fourteen years to realize the amount of sheer trauma she’s put me through ; mentally , physically and emotionally . then , we were almost evicted because she didn’t pay rent for two months - so i had to use my entire stimulus check just to catch up on rent and the mortgage payments . then , i went back to work in may just to process shipping orders . again , was fine for the most part , however i wasn’t making as much and what i had saved my mom found a way to guilt me to spend it . this went on all of may , living paycheck to paycheck . june week one came along and my mom overdosed . this was one of the worst experiences of my life ; it was re-opening week ( apparently clothing is essential during a pandemic )  , my mom was acting like she had no common sense ( destroying the house , not feeing the animals , not taking care of herself , LOSING MY CAT , locking the dogs in the car in 100 degree heat , calling me names i dont even want to repeat .. amongst other situations ), and i didn’t eat . for a week . i was sick to my stomach with stress and exhaustion , living off of literally 5 hours of sleep between friday and thursday when i finally got help from my family after begging them to help me send her to a psych ward for two weeks . she called me every single day and we’d argue every single day . when she was released , it was as if nothing’s changed . she said she was gonna change , but she hasn’t . she walks around with a rain cloud above her head and if i don’t give her money , she guilts me into doing it . so on so fourth . we argue almost everyday about something , whether it’s money or my attitude somehow making her life worse . i asked her one day if she’s ever going to be happy and she flat out told me no . there’s so much more going on with her but if i posted it all i might as well write a book . i’ve never wanted to kill myself more than i do everyday so far this month .

now , july , i’ve recognized i can’t keep living like this . my company has filed for bankruptcy and is closing more than 1200 stores and we don’t know which ones are closing and which ones are remaining opened yet , but if my store closes i have no money to fall back on until i find a new job . i have no money for groceries or pet food , and i don’t have enough to pay all of the bills . my mom over drafted one of my accounts and now i have to pay that back with my next paycheck which means i’m losing $110 automatically when i get paid next .

i’m honestly just exhausted ? like . i’m twenty-three years old and i literally have no will to live because of this woman and the shit she’s put me through . i was not planning on making it to my birthday this year and i was definitely not planning on making it to august . i don’t know . to be frank , i don’t have the energy to care about anything anymore and my anxiety keeps telling my some of my closest friends are over me when there’s no reason for me to even believe that . i’m seeing them all next year at different times and i know they’re excited to see me but i sat here the other day just questioning if that’s even real . i don’t have any friends in the town i live in ; i don’t go out and do things because of corona and if i do , my mom forces herself along . if i buy myself something i have to buy her something or it turns into an argument and an all around guilt trip . 

i’m trying so hard to save enough so i can move out , but .. it’s almost impossible at this point . and i don’t know what to do . i work full time ; there is no reason i should have to consider getting another part time job just to survive . i shouldn’t have had to to parent my parent and sacrifice so much of my life . i shouldn’t be this mentally fucked up , but here i am , once again , crying over spilled tea .

anyways , if you read all the way through , i don’t know when i’m returning to tumblr , but when i do i am still going to be moving blogs . nonetheless , i’m on d*scord ( ♡ kezrah fan club president ♡#9812 ) and i’ve been doing more rp things on there if anyone wants to talk or do things again ( im always game for a welcomed distraction , even if it takes me a minute to reply ) ; i still , for the most part , have the same muses that are listed on my page . love u all loads nd loads .

#tldr #long post tw #overall negativity tw #idk what else to tag

[madisonrooney]

im not that involved in the tangled fandom but i have some Thoughts on the finale/series overall now that its done so i figured id share. im a little under the weather so sorry if these are kinda scattershot

(spoilers below)

for starters, ive been watching since the beginning and was hype since it was announced. i love tangled the movie, probably in one the higher tiers of my fav disney movies, not to mention it was the first tv show wed gotten based on disney movie since emperors new school 11 years prior.

at first i was skeptical about them giving rapunzel her long hair back. it was pretty clearly just a marketing ploy but it was done pretty well in the pilot which i really liked so i could get behind it.

i thought the first half or so of s1 was really good and really cute. it was just a sweet little slice of life in corona. 

i started to get disappointed in the show once queen for a day came around. varian is my fav character (more on him later) and i didnt really like his villain arc. it felt really out of nowhere. not an obvious villain, not a surprise twist villain, just a character that didn’t feel like should’ve been a villain at all. it just didn’t bode well with me. 

i also felt that the jump from slice of life show to high stakes, serialized show was far too abrupt. even tho i liked the second half of s2 and all of s3 better (more on that later as well), it still seemed to have an uneven balance of light and heavy plotlines. i dont wanna sound like one of those people who hates filler episodes. filler episodes are good, but need to be done in the right way at the right time, and i feel like this show didn’t do that very well.

speaking solely on the high stakes, i really feel like they were too high for a show of its kind. in a way, i felt it was somewhat disrespectful to the source material. the show isnt canon, and i feel like it made some big changes that effected the story and characters from the movie, which i think is taking a step too far if youre working on a tv show thats made by an entirely different crew than the film (even tho its the same cast). like, eugene’s dad being revealed and being given a backstory, gothel having a daughter, it just felt like too much for me. compare it to, say, the dragons series, which had very high stakes but also fit snugly between the first and second movies, and took great effort so that nothing they did effected the films’ stories. the showrunners on the dragons show were even consultants on the third movie, so they all flow together nicely.

but rapunzel and the great tree reeled me back in and i was much more invested from there forward, main reason being it gave me my favorite trope (that was kind of already there, but even moreso from this point on): a bubbly girl and an angsty girl who are somehow best friends, though they may be at odds sometimes, like during this arc. i became way more invested in cass as a character and rapunzel and cass as friends (or a ship, im fine with either).

my problems with the imbalance and too high stakes didnt go away with the remainder of s2 or with s3 but my investment in cass’ arc (AND THE REDEMPTION OF VARIAN WHICH I WAS HOPING FOR) was enough for me to put my issues with the show at least somewhat aside.

as far as more things i liked about the show:

VARIAN

he is my fav character and has become one of my new fav characters of all time. i have this thing i think ive mentioned before where if i like an actor and like a show he’s in i love the character twice as much as i otherwise would. so having one of my fav broadway actors whos in one of my fav broadway shows play him made him an instant fav. but i also just love how cute and quirky he is.

cass!

like i said, i love cass and grew to love her more through her newest arc. partially for the same reason as with varian with the VA thing. i dont know much about eden espinosa but ik shes played elphaba and i love that they employed so much broadway talent for this show (more on that later). since the show has started, ive gotten into rent, and she was broadways final maureen, so thats cool too. but beyond just that, i love her arc and personality and of COURSE her relationship with rapunzel, that being one of my fav aspects of the show. it fits right in with liv and maddie, riley and maya, trish and jessica, webby and lena, luz and amity (depending on how the rest of the owl house plays out lol) and im HERE FOR IT. also, despite the fact that i wasnt a huge fan of the high stakes, i give the crew a lot of credit for making a main character a villain for an entire season. thats a big step for disney to take that i dont think theyve come anywhere near before and i give them props for that.

the broadway and disney alum cast!

weve got james monroe iglehart, pat carroll, christian borle, gavin creel, laura benanti, jane krakowski, etc. and as a broadway nerd i love that, not to mention that some of these people had worked with alan menken before which is awesome

the fact that they brought back the ENTIRE movie cast PLUS alan menken is amazing. i dont think any other show based on a movie can quite attest to that

so, onto the finale itself

- i was worried varian may go bad again especially given his initial resistance to eugene suggested his dad might go bad but that didn’t happen so yay. i noticed other people mentioning musical call backs but the only one i noticed was let me make you proud and it made me so happy - ALSO VARIAN BEING THE ROYAL ALCHEMIST IM SO PROUD OF MY SON - this being disney, i figured cass getting redeemed was probably inevitable, but i’m still relieved it happened. now i dont have the bad taste left in my mouth jessica jones gave me. and i loved how her redemption went, seeing her so vulnerable and letting herself be that vulnerable in front of rapunzel CRYING INTO HER ARMS LIKE MY HEART. they really made her very broken, it reminded me a lot of maya hart. sometimes disney channels not willing to go that deep but im impressed they did. - i was kinda hoping it would be revealed that gothel wasn’t actually cass’ mom, i remember seeing some people hoping for that, cuz, again, i feel like thats a bit much to change from the movie canon, buuuut that didnt happen. oh well. - I WAS HOPING FOR I LOVE YOUS BETWEEN CASS AND RAPUNZEL AND WE GOT IT AND WE GOT A HUG AND IM ALIVE - lance adopting the kids was adorable - all the movie parallels were *chefs kiss*

everything wrapped up so nicely and im really happy with it as a finale!

that aside, again, i do still have some issues with the show. so im gonna take a moment to shamelessly plug big hero 6 the series bc imo that does the movie to show adaption FLAWLESSLY.

tl;dr: great finale, despite both loving and hating some things about this show, yall should watch big hero 6 the series, im love varian

#tangled the series #rapunzels tangled adventure #tangled

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

Out of curiosity, what makes you think the real scala was not surrounded by water?

Edit: So It was brought to my attention that I made a major oversight and just blatantly forgot how in the opening scene of KH3, the camera pans into the sea at Scala and this Scala is NOT the one based on Xehanort’s dreams.

Nonetheless, I still feel confident in other aspects of stuff I brought up here (like how The Final World may not necessarily be sea and sky) so I’ll just keep this up and may repurpose somethings I mentioned here for later

...

Just a few circumstantial things.

For one, we should keep in mind that the Scala we traverse is a dream version of Scala, not the real one. We know dream worlds are can be influenced by their dreamer (ex. Traverse Town and TWTNW in DDD)

With this in mind, isn’t strange that Scala uses monorails and not boats as transport? Wouldn’t boats be the obvious choice for a city surrounded by water?

But then if Scala is not surrounded by sea, then what does surround it?

………….. Salt.

Now stay with me so I can explain my reasoning.

This gonna be a lot of explaining, but as a TL;DR: Scala and the Final World may both be based on the Bonnevile Salt Flats, making it so that both Scala and the Final World are not surrounded by sea but moreso surrounded by salt. This can be backed up by visual evidence and also by a strange connection between The Final World, The PoTC World in KH3, and the Bonneville Salt Flats.

For starters, Scala seems to be very similar to the Final World in terms of color scheme and themes. “Scala ad Caelum” means stairway to the sky and the Final World seems to be where souls go when they’re not yet ready to enter Kingdom Hearts; they both seem to have “purgatory” vibes. Moreover, Xehanort speaks of Scala as if it no longer exists. It is possible something happened to Scala and it turned into the Final World.

Running on the assumption that the Final World and Scala are one and the same, let’s analyze the Final World and what it is made of.

It is suggested to us in game that the Final World is made of sea and sky.

Yet I believe this is fallacious or purposefully misleading. Remember: Kingdom Hearts is a series that tends to tell us one thing and then completely go back on it (ex. Ansem SOD not actually being Ansem, Nobodies not having hearts, etc.)

So again like Scala, if the Final World is not surrounded by sea, then what does surround it?

Well, one could say that the Final World was heavily inspired by the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah (this has been brought up before by a few others). As the name implies, it’s a plain made entirely of salt. These plains are formed when a large body of water evaporates, i.e. there is little to no water present on the plain after this evaporation.

Some areas of the plain may form a shallow film of water with the salt flat underneath, You can see this in the images below. This placement of shallow water over the salt plain can give the illusion that someone is walking on water.

(Image source)

As you can see, the Bonneville Salt Flats form a mirror-like surface, much like the plain in the Final World

Of course our first instinct is to surmise that the Final World is also made of water, considering as Sora walks, there is a ripple effect (you can even see it slightly in the image above below Sora’s feet). But there is also this ripple effect in the Bonneville Salt Flats (refer again to the images above)

Another thing to note is how the pillars in the Final World seem to also be made from salt. Moreover, salt before it is processed appears in cubic/ rectangular forms.

(Image source)

This connection is rather circumstantial though. There really isn’t much else connecting Kingdom Hearts to the Bonneville Salt Flats except these visual similarities.

Or so I thought.

I’m sure most of us would agree that the worlds in KH 3 all help in some way to illustrate or explain important story elements. For example, Arendelle and Corona help illustrate the importance of sacrifice, 100 Acre Wood shows how relationships change, etc.

With this in mind, I noticed something interesting about the Caribbean.

For one, that world is based on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

Guess where part of this movie was shot?

At the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Actually, we see one of the scenes shot there in KH. When we first enter the Caribbean, Sora and co. are on a raft and then fall off a waterfall. (Haha this totally isn’t supposed to mirror the beginning of DDD where Sora first falls into his nightmare and drags Riku with him)

Anyways, after this scene Sora and co. wake up on a barren white plain.

Which again, just like the Bonneville Salt Flats

It’s rather interesting that Sora has a near-death experience in the Caribbean and ends up in a place based on the Salt Flats… and then Sora has a near-death experience at the KG and ends up in a place very similar to the Salt Flats…

Wrapping this altogether, I believe the Final World is intended to mirror the Bonneville Salt Flats and for that reason I do not believe it is made from sky and sea but more sky and salt.

But wait, there’s one more thing. If Scala truly isn’t surrounded by sea like the Final World seems to not be surrounded by sea, then what of the fact that Daybreak Town is underneath Scala?

This puzzled me too. However, I invite you to remember once again that the Scala we see resides within a dream. I also invite you to remember that water symbolizes being overtaken by darkness in KH. Moreover, we have seen something similar to this before in Hollow Bastion.

In KH1, there is another castle underneath the water of the main castle at Hollow Bastion. The superior castle also seems to be a combination of two castles, one light and one dark, as if the original castle was being overtaken by another dark one. Also notice how the water seems to swirl up and surge through the castle, almost as if it is slowly being overtaken by darkness (again keeping in mind that water=darkness in KH)

Yet in KH2, this water seems to disappear after Hollow Bastion is restored from the darkness. But the second castle remains.

This second castle actually has a name. It’s called Villain’s Vale (for more info on that you can look at the wiki page for it which has pretty comprehensive info on it). Villain’s Vale seems to be some kind of dark counterpart to RG’s main castle

Anyways, this all makes me think that Daybreak Town begin underneath Scala’s figurative waters is just meant to metaphorically indicate that Daybreak Town is somehow Scala’s dark counterpart.

I do admit that this is kinda the shakiest part of my theory and I do need to look more into this make it clearer or get a better understanding of what’s actually going on. In fact, I could probably dedicate a lot more time to other facets of this theory.

Regardless, I am confident at least in the fact that The Final World isn’t necessarily sky and sea and I am excited to see how that will figure in the series moving forward.

#asks #sorry i took forever to get to this #kh meta #kh analysis #kh3

[zarinaa113]

A TTS Theory about Cass, Saporia and The Dark Kingdom (And I'm really confident in this being accurate.)

 First of all, it's based heavily on this theory by this lovely lady, so I highly suggest you read it, its really quick, but the TL;DR version is that Cass's parents were killed by Punzie's parents and that's what she saw behind the door that made her go 'evil'. If you wanna hear more press the link.

Now, let me get some facts straight:

* Cass is not at The New Dream Wedding 

* Eugene's dad isn't either 

* Varian wasn't on the ship with the pirates

* Neither was Andrew (Hubert)

* Someone has taken over Corona

* Saporia and Corona were united hundreds of years ago when Corona's king and Saporia's general were wed

* The Separatists of Saporia have HUGE potential and haven't been mentioned since they were introduced

* Andrew said that "Saporia will rise again, and we'll have you (Cass) to thank for it)

Now, here's my theory

Cass is Saporian. Not just any Saporian, she's the descent of the Royal Saporian Family.

(Pause to take that in. Yeah. It's awesome.)

 It wasn't a king marrying a queen that united the kingdoms, it was a king and general, who says the Saporian Royal Family is gone or even okay with the union? That's what Andrew meant when be said that Saporia will rise with Cass to thank for it, he knew who she was and knew if she would accept her identity all of Saporia would rally behind her and rebel. Her family was trying to rebel from Corona when King Fred sent soldiers to arrest the up risers. In the skirmish a husband and wife were killed, leaving their baby daughter. One of the guards asked to bring the orphaned child back to the capital and grew fond of her and decided to adopt her, never telling her the truth about her origins. Or something like this, the exact way this all went down doesn't really matter.

 What Cass saw behind the door was Punzie's family killing her family. (Not directly, they had her family killed. But the blood's still on their hands indirectly in the way it is with leaders) So while she won't hurt Punzie cause she knows she's not in any way responsible, she's not feeling too keen with her BFF. So now she can easily quiet her doubts about betraying her so she can get the Moonstone to get revenge on the king and queen/ rebuild Saporia/ destroy Corona or something.

Also this means that Cass is a princess and that's just awesome

 Since Varian and Andrew stayed in Corona it's safe to assume that one or both of them have taken over the kingdom. Varian could easily be swayed into thinking that Saporia will do better then Corona and Andrew will happily take Varian's story as another reason why Corona sucks and should be destroyed. Andrew knows the secret tunnels under the kingdom and Varian knows alchemy, they'll bust out of prison with a combination of those. The Gang gets to Corona in the first episode of Season 3 and fights Varian and Andrew but they get away and our protagonists are too busy getting everything back to normal in Corona to give chase yet. (My bet is Varian alchemied some amnesia dust and we've gotta deal with that for a while) Varian, Andrew and Cass will unite and they'll have an alliance that'll break the moment the convenience ends, then it's a Mexican standoff.

 I know Zahn Tiri will factor in here somewhere, most likely with Cass’s powers, but I have no idea what to expect from them other then 'big magic bad guy we must unite to defeat'. That'll be fun.

 Now, how I think it's gonna end is like this: Eugene obviously won't become the King of the Dark Kingdom. We don't know what happened to Edmund but cause he isn't at the wedding I'm gonna assume he's dead. Which means ANGST but this means that The Dark Kingdom is left without a leader, not that there's anyone there to lead. My theory is that after Cass gets the Moonstone out of her and Zahn Tiri is defeated and we're all friends again Cass isn't gonna wanna go back to the way things were. So she and all the Separatists of Saporia and Dark Kingdom citizens will go to the now empty and not dangerous Dark Kingdom, renamed New Saporia or just Saporia or something, and crown her Queen Cassandra the First. This way everyone is happy!

 This means that at the wedding Cass isn't there as a lady-in-waiting/best friend/maid of honer, she's there with the royal guests, that's why we didn't see her.

 (Cass already fits really well with the Dark Kingdom with her dark color palette, mysterious past, loner vibe and fighting skills.)

 And there ya have it. I feel really, really strongly that I'm on to something with this. Like, really strongly. I'll happily hear your thoughts on this and look forward to seeing what amazing things Disney has in store for us! I’m ready as I’ll ever be!

#My Post #TTS Spoilers #Fan Prediction #Season 3 #My Fan Theory #Predictions #MINE #Prediction #By Zarina A113 #My Headcannon #Cass #All characters #Moonstone Cassandra #Saporia #Cassandra #Disney #Rapunzel #Fan Theory #Cartoons #Fan Theories #Varian #Headcannon #Andrew #The Dark Kingdom

[ivanaskye]

So I finished KH3.  Some thoughts, in a bullet-point list, because my brain isn’t quite working well enough for connected prose:

There… wasn’t a lot of signaling to the audience about when the game would start ramping up to end.  Specifically, there was no middle game—there was plenty of low-consequences world-hopping and gallivanting, right up to the point where suddenly we’re rescuing Aqua and then everyone’s talking about a final battle and then oh heck it’s over.

Lots of things could have made this better, but the most glaring omission was an actual *final checkpoint* before heading onto the last battle.  Previous games had huge doors you had to pass, which would actually say “there is no turning back from this point, do you want to proceed?”.  This game didn’t, and it really could have used it (especially since there were some false endings before the actual final ending.)

Similarly, keyblade power levels didn’t ramp up quite enough as the game went on—yeah, there were some pretty powerful ones, but there wasn’t really an equivalent to Oblivion as an actual late-game keyblade.  There also didn’t seem to be a lot of form-changes with minor teleportation abilities other than Rage Form—and since those were the most powerful form-changes in BBS, it’s what I would have expected as a signal for “okay, we’re almost at full power, the game will end soon.”

Actually, just… the transition directly from a disney world to the freaking Keyblade Graveyard was.  Not a good idea.  A full location in between as buffer would have been really nice.

ALSO, some of the final -ga spells, and freaking glide, only got obtained in the Keyblade Graveyard!  That really implied that either the Graveyard would be larger than it was, or that there’d be something after it, or… something.

Pivoting thoughts here, the treasure chest situation was the best the series has done since the very first game—you actually had to work to find some of these, which was always one of my favorite parts about the first game.

The lucky emblems added to that a lot too.

Although every single time I found a lucky emblem, I screamed and/or groaned.  “REALLY?  THAT PILE OF BARRELS IS MICKEY TOO? HE’S EVERYWHERE!!”

Ratatouille is adorable and I love him.

But cracking eggs is apparently not one of Sora’s skills.

Actually, Sora pretty much has no skills other than hitting things with a big key.  Literally everyone teases him for this.  All of Sora’s conversations seem to end in him getting ROASTED, which is hilarious.

But of course, the best roast in the game was from Woody to Xehanort: “You’ve never had friends, have you?”

As always, there are just so many Xehanorts.

But unfortunately, despite that one speech about how if the world starts over maybe there’ll be less darkness(???), his motivations are still pretty unclear.  “Yeah I time-traveled a lot and recruited a bunch of people and created all these heartless and put in decades of work…. because uhhhh…. there will be more light in the world if it starts over!”

Meanwhile, Eraqus: “lol dude, #AtItAgain I see, you should probably stop trying to end the world, but then do you wanna hug?”

Speaking of characters, THE WHOLE GANG WAS HERE.  Literally basically everyone made an appearance.  Which I really liked!

But… the villains who had whole worlds to introduce their return in (Larxene, Marluxia, Evil!Riku, Vanitas, Luxord) didn’t have full-scale battles in those worlds.  Which would have been fine if they had them later!  They were, each of them, set up to become a bigger deal as the game went on… and then barely re-appeared between their introduction world and the Keyblade Graveyard, in which you didn’t even fight them one at a time, but three at a time, like each was suddenly inconsequential or something?  TBH, Luxord probably got the best deal of the bunch, because at least you kinda do fight him one-on-one in the carribbean.

Poor Demyx, though…. dude only had two scenes…

Even/Vexen was also kinda sidelined, but in a way that worked better (especially since he’s had plenty of spotlight earlier in the series)

HOWEVER, as a general thing, the return of LITERALLY EVERYONE was super cool!  I screamed in excitement when Ienzo showed up.  NEVER had I even DARED TO HOPE that he might get a moment in this game, and here he was with several!

THE IENZO + EVEN + AELEUS + ANSEM THE WISE (+ DEMYX???) REFORMED EVIL SCIENTIST CROWD.  I LOVE THEM.

See also: Xion’s return, THE SAIX THING, pretty much everything to do with Axel, Namine…

On the other hand, I kind of wanted more content for most of these groups.  I didn’t really expect it, but come on, if this game can’t throw me the bone of EXPLAINING IT’S MAIN VILLAIN’S PRIMARY MOTIVATION, it can at least distract me with more drawn-out side goodies…

I haven’t even talked about the gameplay yet

Bullet lists are hard

ANYWAY THE BATTLE SYSTEM WAS GREAT, and basically had everything I wanted???  Good motivation to use a LOT of magic, frequent form-changes(!!!), other cool/weird ways to do damage (focus lock, attractions), and of course the usual attack mechanisms.  Some form-changes even gave ways to attack at range!

(I ended up using ranged combat whenever possible, wearing three cufflinks at once for ALL THE HIGH MAGIC.  I avoided using cure pretty much always so that I could keep up the magic, lol.)

(On that note, I used a LOT of aero and water in the early game, because I got those cufflinks first, but unfortunately, like always, Thundaga eventually replaced almost all other magic as the clear most powerful.  Sigh.)

Also!  Wall-running and flowmotion!  Those are pretty much literally just The Things Sora Did In The Final Battle of KH2, but now he can do them All The Time, which really shows the character power progression even though due to video game mechanics, he had to start over at level 1, lolsob.

Speaking of Sora progression, he kind of has character development now!  I sort of finally care about him!  And then he just disappears forever lmao

Having ALL the characters back together really highlights KH’s tendency to have, basically, RECURSIVE TRIOS, which is kind of cool even though I kind of wish that maybe ONE of these trios could have two+ girls instead of one or none??? Please???

Speaking of sexism, Aqua saying “it’s my time to shine” and then immediately getting thrown across the room for Ventus to save her was… uh, classic.

Otoh Anti-Aqua was one of the coolest villain designs of the series

There were Not Enough worlds.

HOWEVER, The Caribbean in this game was the best KH world in the franchise’s history, IMO.  GORGEOUS underwater scenery, also gorgeous above-land scenery, AND SO MANY ISLANDS TO EXPLORE.  Completely non-plot-relevant islands!  That you could just go to!  And look for treasure in, like a pirate!  (There was a lot of treasure… that one sunken ship had, what, five chests in one place?  It was the ideal pirate aesthetic.)

Also the Caribbean had the best BG music.

Sora DEFINITELY has a crush on Jack Sparrow.

…On the other hand, if I’m gonna mention worlds I DIDN’T like, the plot in San Fransokyo was so cheesy I almost died.

Olympus was great though!  It had such good design!

Corona made me desperately want it to be summer, it was great.

IT’S TOO COLD OUTSIDE FOR ARENDELLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN SORA DOESN’T HAVE A COAT— but it was really, really pretty.

Axel’s “Don’t you know how popular I am?  I have tons of fans rooting for me!” was one of the funniest lines of the series.

There is not enough Winnie The Pooh content and that makes me really sad.

It’s even WORSE in that Sora actually SAYS, “oh, I’m losing my connection to Pooh, and I think I know why,” and then just… leaves, like that’s fine??? IT’S NOT FINE, SORA.

IT’S NOT FINE

Also idk if that cat plushie is a character from some FF game, but they’re the Worst Possible Version of Mandos.

(Cute, but. Hmmmm.)

ALL THAT SAID…

I have yet to mention the most important part of the game.

WHICH IS THE FLANTASTIC SEVEN.

They… are pudding.

They wiggle!

They ask you to play games with them!

They’re so cute!

They’re into vore!

I LOVE THEM!

.

Tl;dr: The game felt like it ended too suddenly, which made me sad because it was doing so much to fight my depression.  But I loved playing most of it, and I really need a flan plushie now…

#this is the longest and least organized freaking post #kh3 #kh3 spoilers #obviously.

[rainbowserenity]

I finished KH3 🙃🙃🙃 I HAVE THOUGHTS

spoilers obviously, though I feel like I’m in the last person in the world who finished it so pffft

- SO LIKE..........THE FUCK.........XIGBAR IS LUXU??????? THE FUCK??????????????? I mean I guess that sorta explains why he seemed to know so much about Keyblades and stuff BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUCK???

- and then all the Masters just kinda appearing??? They really want everybody to play the shitty mobile game, don’t they.....cause if this was the ending of the ‘Xehanort saga’, I’m guessing that the next part is gonna be the ‘Masters saga’ or........something...

- kinda sad that they didn’t explain more about Marluxia and Larxene’s connection to everything, but eh...I gave up on the mobile game forever ago and basically only know the gist of things thanks to the magic of people summarizing it all

- WAIT IS DEMYX THE MASTER OF MASTERS............lol oh god watch this end up being true I hate everything

- even though I’m meh about Union X or whatever the heck they call it, the battle towards the end where all the Players help Sora....and then you see that one kid....I sobbed like a baby IDK WHY IT WAS JUST VERY EMOTIONAL FOR SOME REASON

- the ending sort of confused me in regards to Sora....when you see him and Kairi on the tree, I’m like, okay woo he rescued her, but then he sort of disappears and she cries...? what the fuck was that about??? I guess it’s not a KH ending if there isn’t something that confuses the fuck out of you, but still...

- whatever happened with Sora, I feel like there should’ve been some kind of sequence at the end with Kairi, maybe ~reaching towards the light~ or whatever. I was honestly really disappointed with her in this game. they gave her a Keyblade and she was supposed to be all badass, but nooope....it was just an excuse to get her to the final battle so she could be kidnapped. so lame

- ANYWAY Riku and Sora were ridiculously gay throughout the whole game and it was all glorious

- like seriously, when they rescued Aqua and that random Keyblade appeared when Sora showed up??? nobody ever mentioned it or anything...? just a Keyblade from Sora and Riku’s gayness, here to save the day. THAT’S THE KIND OF SHIT I’M HERE FOR!!!!!!!!!!

- also I did all the Battlegates (I was like level 80 by the end of the game because I wanted to make it last FOREVER so they were all pieces of cake), and in one of the Secret Reports, it says that the replicas needed some kind of “spark” to get their hearts going and make them people

- ...........Roxas appeared after Axel had lost his Keyblade and was all upset about Saix.......I’M JUST SAYING.................that’s not gay at all cough cough

- OH GOD AND AT THE END WHEN THEY’RE IN THEIR NORMAL CLOTHES???? AND ALONE ON THE CLOCK TOWER BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE SHOWS UP????????? EXCUSE ME WHILE I CRY LIKE IT’S 2007 WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- seeing Namine and Xion hang out together was way more awesome than I thought it would be. IDK THEY’RE BOTH CUTE

- my feelings towards Xion have always been a solid “meh,” but when Sora said her name - even though nobody was supposed to remember her - and she started sobbing, THAT WAS IT, HERE COME THE TEARS

- Axel and Roxas staring at each other before Xion starts sobbing? gaaaaaaay

- AND THEN AXEL GATHERING BOTH OF THEM IN HIS ARMS......

- THE PART WHERE ERAQUS SOMEHOW CAME FROM TERRA’S HEART AND THEN GATHERED THE WAYFINDER TRIO IN HIS ARMS???? WHAT THE FUCK WHY DIDN’T I BRING TISSUES WITH ME WHEN I PLAYED THE ENDING AUUUUUUUUGHHHH

- Chirithy finding Ventus would have lost all meaning for me had I not read the summaries hahaha don’t make me play your mobile game KH, jfc

- apparently some people missed this part, but in the Final World, you could talk to “Namine” and some other girl when you spoke to those transparent stars....I assumed that all the text stuff were from Players in Union X after that first Keyblade War....??? idk, but I’m also assuming that the other girl who spoke was the one that died (Laurium’s sister??? idk everybody on Twitter was flipping out about it awhile ago lol)

- THE SECRET ENDING............Nomura is awfully salty about XV, isn’t he lololol

- THE NEXT KH SAGA IS THE VERUM REX SAGA HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA seriously what the fuck was happening there

- maybe I’m just slow, but WHAT WAS IN THE BOX???????????????? I’m assuming the full Book of Prophecies???? but like...???? THE FUCK???????? IS HAPPENING???????? I hate that so much is connected to Union X ughughugh they should release some kind of console/handheld version that condenses all the mobile nonsense into a 40-hour game that’s less nonsensical. I’m actually really curious about the story, but Union X’s gameplay suuuucks and I have no desire to go back to it

- I sorta wish there’d been at least one more Disney world that they hadn’t shown in the trailers, just for a ~surprise~....I’m definitely not disappointed with the worlds they did pick, though

- except maybe for Arendelle....one of my least favorite kind of places in video games are confusing mountainous paths where you can barely tell which way you’re going and....WELP....

- I do absolutely LOOOOOOOOOOVE that they put the entire Let It Go sequence in there. my jaw dropped when it happened and it was AWESOME

- The Caribbean and Kingdom of Corona were the best worlds, don’t @ me

- I WANNA SMOOSH SORA’S FACE IN <333333333 he was like....a thousand times more adorable in this game than in any of the others, what the heck???

- I loved that there were points where you played as Riku and Aqua, instead of it merely being a cutscene, and that they had powers relevant to them (like at the beginning, Riku had higher level magic cause he’s a Master?)...idk I thought that was a nice touch!

- while I completely understand why the Unversed were in the Monsters Inc world, Vanitas showing up and being all “VEN IS IN YOUR HEART” kinda lost the dramatic impact they were going for since Sora was a furry, pantsless monster. IDK MAYBE I’M DUMB BUT IT MADE ME LAUGH sorry Ven

- every single scene where the Wayfinder Trio reunited with each other or someone close to them made me cry like an idiot

- ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY SAVE AQUA AND THEY’RE ALL “WELCOME HOME”.................WOW WATERWORKS BRB OW MY HEART!!!!!!!!!!

- I loved that tiny little moment towards the end where Roxas and Ven see each other and are all “???????” lol it was cute

- I’m sorta disappointed there wasn’t a little more with Roxas, considering half the point of Twilight Town being in the game was for Hayner/Pence/Olette to find a way to get him back.....but seeing everybody eat ice cream on the clock tower was Very Good

- personally, I think the whole Final World part was beautifully done. the location, the music, seeing hundreds of Soras doing backflips and flailing around.......magical

- I’m going to need another compilation of people saying “Sora, Donald, Goofy” like immediately please thanks

- THE WHOLE SOUNDTRACK WAS A++++++++++

- even though finding some of the emblems was a pain, all those Hidden Mickeys and being able to use Disney rides in battle kinda made things feel more Disney-tastic, like I was at the parks ahahaaaa so great

- I feel like I had more thoughts but I’m finally coming down from all the sobbing so excuse me while I float into another plane of existence and maybe get the strength to write AkuRoku and/or Riku/Sora fic even though there’s probably like two people who follow me who would read it

- WHO WAS THAT RANDOM GIRL EVERYBODY WAS TALKING ABOUT???? I mean, given the reports, maybe that one girl who died in Union X didn’t actually die but time-traveled.....but if she was that other voice in the Final World.....ow my heard idk what’s happening anymore

TL;DR: GREAT GAME, MAYBE NOT WORTH A 12-YEAR WAIT BUT FABULOUS ALL THE SAME, WILL CRY OVER AND PLAY MANY TIMES IN THE FUTURE BUT ANNOYED AT ALL THE RANDOM CONFUSION AND CONNECTIONS TO UNION X; 8.5/10

#kh3 spoilers #AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHlskdjf;lwijef;alwiejf;lwaiejf;wliejf;lwiejf #excuse me while i cry buckets for all eternity

[hinasaki]

KH Thoughts because I finished the game a few days ago

Starts with no spoilers, then goes in depth.

Okay so non-spoilery thoughts first:

Pacing was…. Bad. We’ll get how later. 

There was a lot of variety in the combat system - like there was a lot I could do, but because there was so much it started to get stale very quickly? Like every other second I’m getting a prompt for a combo attack or a form change or an attraction attack. I loved the forms tbqh but the attractions ended up feeling… dull after seeing them all a million times. I feel like they would have been more enjoyable if they triggered less often. Also stunlocking frequency was way the fuck too high. It was easy to stunlock bosses and just whack them to death. On the flipside, it was easy to GET stunlocked, which was frustrating.

I’m conflicted about tying some abilities to certain boss battles. On one hand that’s good because it lets you do things like no exp runs or whatever without missing out on stuff like Curaga. On the other hand it gave me level anxiety? Like I didn’t get Curaga until REALLY late in the game, so I was worried the whole time that I was underlevelled and about to get destroyed (which never happened).

Gummi ship is bad. It’s always been bad but this was the worst yet. The controls were clunky as heck and there was no point in upgrading the ship. Kudos for trying something new with it but it didn’t work so uhhhhh no thanks.

There were SO MANY mini-games and gimmicks. I didn’t even touch Classic Kingdom and I was still annoyed at the amount of mini-games. Camera was cool but often didn’t register on the characters in the shot. Cooking is another mini-game and probably fun if I’d bothered to spend any time doing it. Game itself is really pretty but there’s not much incentive to stop and enjoy the scenery beyond looking for emblems. 

--

SPOILERS AHEAD

REALLY, STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS

I’M WARNING YOU AND LEAVING LOTS OF SPACE

READY?

OKAY, spoilers below--

--

The game was short. I’m not usually one to complain about game length but for a game that was supposed to be the end of a saga it felt… rushed. The Disney stuff was very separate from the KH stuff. There wasn’t any FF stuff at all. I feel like it would have been better if they’d interspersed the KH stuff between the worlds because everything happening right at the end made endgame feel very rushed.

Speaking on that, I feel like the game banks overly much on us having our own investment in the other characters already. What should be emotional moments are glossed over. Wayfinder trio reunited after a decade? Sure, we’ll do that mostly offscreen. Sunset trio has the closest reunion to satisfying but even then it feels… off. It’s mostly just Xion crying and some hugging. Are we also not?? Going to talk about Ven and Roxas basically being twins??? They look at each other awkwardly but that’s about it.

Sora’s story in the Disney worlds felt like it didn’t matter. Okay sure we’re looking for “the power of waking” but it’s a flimsy-ass excuse when we could have been actively investigating the whereabouts of our missing members. It’s kind of the same complaint I had about FFXV actually: that the viewpoint characters have too limited perspective on what’s happening in the wider story. Honestly it felt at times like it would be 500% more interesting to be focussing on what Riku was doing rather that going on Sora’s irrelevant tour. Like I legit forgot what the point of visiting the Disney worlds was. I shouldn’t forget. That’s bad writing.

On a similar tangent - what the fuck was the point of Kairi? Axel/Lea gets shafted to a lesser degree (also… why are we back at Axel… I still don’t understand why the insistence there. Sentimentality for Roxas and Xion? So they match? Maybe spend some more time on this and it would make sense!). She has one scene before endgame and mentions she and Axel are gonna fight to end their training. Which we don’t see. Then she does SFA in the endgame and “dies” for man-angst. What happened to “I’m tired of waiting and being left behind”? What happened to “I’ll fight too”? Sure Kairi hasn’t had too much of an active role in previous entries but this felt…. Worse.

Similarly, they gave Aqua the idiot ball far too often for my comfort. Oh Aqua’s weak after being in the realm of darkness for 10 years - okay! But this literally isn’t an issue for any of the male characters and their various situations. Whenever anything bad happens Aqua immediately gives up in this game. That’s not Aqua. That’s bullshit. I might have accepted it if they’d spent time on it and had a whole arc on her regaining hope but they didn’t so it just sucked.

Xion has like 1.5 scenes and mostly is there to cry. Namine doesn’t show up until the end cutscene. Nomura write women well challenge.

Endgame goes on for a million years. Underwater Xehanort fight is bad. I did like the scene with Eraqus. “The Final World” is terrible and I hated it. Gathering bits of Sora was boring. Same for chasing the Lich. The first time was cool! The subsequent 6 went from meh to boring. Time travel is still stupid and Nomura needs a gotdamn editor.

Ending was…. Eh. I liked everyone hanging out but how did Sora find Kairi? What happened there? We got hints on a “price” for using the power of waking but like… okay. Feels like we lost a good few hours of story there.

Epilogue was okay I guess because it was literally just a hook.

Anyway it kind of felt like after sitting in dev hell for so long once they started it SE wanted to rush out the game. It doesn’t have any of the emotional resonance that I loved so much about the other games. Some things were fun! Like the mechs in Toy Box. A lot was pointless, like the entire ship upgrading thing in the Caribbean.

Even the worlds themselves were mostly underwhelming TBQH. There was the whole mention of Toy Box being a copy of the real toys’ world and that just… didn’t go anywhere. The Caribbean had a whole ocean that you had no real incentive to explore. Frozen made me climb the same damn mountain three times. Also, Disney, no one over the age of 10 likes Olaf. Stop trying to make it happen. Corona was fun but I felt like I was just running through so much without being encouraged to look around. BH6 was GREAT but the city was underutilised - it was a huge map and I hardly spent any time there. I’m probably forgetting other worlds but that kind of hammers home my point - they were forgettable. There were some great things I remember from the old games - climbing Oogie Boogie’s treehouse in KH1, the first time I made it to Hollow Bastion, the Traverse Town music, Christmas Town in KH2, the animal forms from Pride Lands, the entirety of the World that Never Was. I could go on.

You can’t go to Radiant Garden. We don’t see the restoration team at all. It’s a world they spent a lot of time building up and showing off in previous games and not being able to go there felt really bad.

TL;DR I feel like the game had potential but felt super rushed, tried to over-complicate its plot, didn’t spend time on emotional moments, and completely failed its female characters. BYE

#el fucking rollo #kh3 spoilers #obv

[starsweepersold]

ADELINE ON ATTACHMENT & CONNECTIONS & LOYALTY.  ALSO ON DREAMING AND IMAGINATION BECAUSE KYLIE CAN’T NOT RAMBLE ABOUT SEVEN DIFFERENT THINGS.

with adeline ( red ), i think there’s... a separation between those first three things mentioned.  in essence, i think she can be loyal without being attached.  but i think she can be attached without making a strong connection, also.  it’s kind of difficult to explain, but i’m going to try my best.  aside from what we see in the episodes, i also feel the past i’ve learned from her supports this ( a past that may be subject to change but most likely won’t unless some major revelation or tv display alters what i’ve learned and my opinion ).  an overall thing to just note is that she’s a bit... emotionally confused and creatively lacking.  i don’t think adeline is the dreamer that vivian is.  i don’t think she’s good at coming up with imaginative experiences despite being of the softer nature ( being sweet and being imaginative are not dependent on each other, after all ).

so far as can be seen, she seems very much a straight forward and factual kind of person.  she seems taken off guard by things with in depth explanation or some sort of hidden meaning to them.  she never seemed to grasp the importance of vivian’s necklace until the end of the episode when the other explained its meaning then.  and, even then, she didn’t seem to get it ( of course, she understood the importance of finding a family, but i think she was more aware that it was important to vivian more so than she felt any connection herself to the significance of the necklace ).  not until vivian hugged her, which really seemed to startle her even more.  honestly, i think that’s the moment adeline really feels the connection to her partner solidify.  she was attached and she was loyal, but she was somewhat on a different wavelength.  not in terms of stealing or fighting -- the two are perfectly in sync -- but when it came to their relationship, adeline seemed sort of separated.  they have a bit of different values and behaviors, obviously, which we could mainly gather from the first episode with them.

as for the past i’ve discovered with her: in the orphanage, she was overlooked.  she was quiet, detached.  potential parents didn’t really see her and the women running the place didn’t give her tales or hopes of what life would be like outside.  adeline grew up with little dreams or ideas of home and family.  she just knew she wanted one because everyone around her did.  but she wanted to see exactly what it would be like for herself.  so even when she and vivian got taken in ( usually vivian, but they were generally a package deal unless i’m rping with a vivian/angry who doesn’t agree, in which case adeline was on her own every time ), she struggled with making connections or attachments to the people who tried to be their caretakers.  her loyalty to vivian came first, and the other girl and her struggled to feel safe and certain with these strangers ( if vivian isn’t around, i tend to imagine adeline’s quiet and uncertainty with people tended to get her overlooked and eventually ignored/abandoned in favor of a more open child ).

with lance, adeline got to the beginnings of attachment, but she was never overly connected.  despite their cute relationship in brothers of corona, she never seeks him out and no one even mentions lance to her in vigor the visionary.  she adored him, don’t get me wrong, but i don’t think she had that connection yet that made her feel inclined to always be by his side.  in some ways, i’m not sure she entirely breached attachment with him.  she was loyal, for sure, and she was sweet, but that doesn’t outright mean she was dedicated to only him.  we see in vigor that she actually even really adored rapunzel, and they had a minimal interaction ( from what we saw, at least ).

she forms loyalty swift, but then there just comes those bumps where she isn’t quite able to dedicate herself to the other.  vivian’s the only one i believe has really reached that stage and, even then, it took some time.  a fairly long time due to the slightly manipulative nature and the state of their existence as thieves for so long.  i mean, despite having known each other for years, adeline still didn’t really understand the importance of that necklace, she was confused to receive it.  she was uncertain.  but then vivian physically showed her what its meaning was and that was what finally broke through to adeline.  she doesn’t really grasp things with these deep meanings, she wants that straight forward.

this is also seen by her discovering fortuna in response to vigor’s wheel of fortune card.  while everyone is trying to decide this deep meaning ( except eugene talking about diet ), she immediately goes to a more logical approach, thinking there must be something far more obvious than deciphering a hidden trick or the like.  back in brothers of corona, she also was given tangible evidence to eugene and lance’s loyalty and care, something she and vivian seemed to have never been given before.  so even despite what her partner says, adeline takes things at face value.

the guys didn’t leave ( or dump them in jail like families dumped them back in the orphanage ), and they even came to rescue the girls.  that says more to adeline than promises she doesn’t see get followed through.

i’m reaching the point where i feel i might be talking in circles or not making sense.  so going to try and recap my points real quick and wrap up lol.

tl;dr adeline forms loyalty, attachment, and connection at different times and paces.  they’re all sort of different levels to her.  but attachment and connection are the hardest as she never really had that dream of being so close to a family.  much of that stems from the fact she’s not a huge dreamer and she takes this as they come.  her imagination is a bit limited, never having been encouraged.  while she loves soft, happy things, can be a bit more girly, and seems the more hopeful and tender of the two, i don’t think that means she isn’t a bit of a realist.  she feeds off vivian, after all, and i doubt vivian shares her desires with the redhead on a consistent basis.  thus, without having had her hopes fostered, adeline is more straightforward, which ultimately leads back to her not entirely being good at fostering deep relationships easily.

#...legitimately don't know if any of this made sense #it mAKES SENSE IN MY HEAD BUT DID I DO A WRITE GOO #|| red ( MUSINGS ) #also i jump back and forth between real names and nicknames a lot #usually longer posts i use real names since 'red' and 'angry' can start to be confusing #long post //

[airbnbfestivals]

COVID Cancellation Recommendation?

Looking for some help, on what to do.

My fiancée and I decided begrudgingly to be proactive and postpone all our August/October wedding plans. The case numbers are still going up even before the premature state openings. There’s no vaccine yet, and people have been out of work for months already. It’s just not safe or financially sound to try and rope people into something to make ourselves feel happy. We had plans to do a big fun bachelor/bachelorette combo trip to Mexico mid August. We booked a gorgeous villa and had a good relationship going with the host. Then Corona happened, Mexico is closed till at least the end of June. As I mentioned before it just doesn’t make sense to try and drag these plans out till the last minute hoping everything will work out. That’s too much pressure on us, the host, and our friends. I told the host the situation. We want to postpone till after the pandemic is over and things have stabilized, and he refused to wiggle on his 50% refund, citing the AirBnb policy. I contacted Airbnb and they told me I can’t do anything unless the cancellation has been started. So I started the cancellation. I was given my 50% refund, and now they tell me they can’t issue any more refund because it’s already been cancelled. They’re also telling me that they won’t retroactively refund me it they do change their policy in the future. I have tried to be reasonable and press that this is extenuating circumstances. It’s not like we’re cancelling plans for August 2021, it’s less than 2 months outside of their current policy. It’s not like we don’t want to go. We’re just trying to postpone till everything and everyone is stable. Why is that too much to ask of AirBnb and our host? Why would you risk getting half now and losing any credibility, versus the full amount later and being lauded?

I’m wondering if anyone knows how I can resolve this and get the full refund? We’ve already cancelled our wedding and now we’re being punished further by Airbnb because we don’t want to risk our friend’s and family’s safety. What’s more extenuating than a global pandemic with no end in sight?

Thanks for any insight.

TL;DR COVID sucks, wedding cancelled, AirBnb’s policies are a scam.

Original post here =+-+= Get $20 off your first AirBnB stay.

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