First post?
Okay, so I know this has probably been done lots of times before, but I need to get it off my chest.
ARGYBARGL. What is it with characterization? I like the Destiny Islands trio in pretty much any combination, but they have characterization and in the pit, searching for them, there is *maybe* one decent, IC fic per page. Let's have a little chart:
Sora. A Keyblade master. While he is a nice person, he is not a Prince of Heart. He is not all fluffy bunnies. Remember Demyx? Sora was not afraid to kill the Organization to get to his friends. BUT. He has somehow turned into Larxene. He is not sadistic. He knew they were Nobodies, and he wasn't about to let Nobodies take over the worlds. He knew there were a few exceptions to his personal "Nobodies aren't really people" rule; these (Axel, Roxas, Naminé) were all Nobodies connected with him and Kairi. Exceptions to the rule. Sora is not wimpy, he will not fall apart when something happens wrong. He saved the universe, folks. He loves his friends. He will not start randomly deciding to leave them out or bashing them.
Riku. A Keyblade master. He was stuck in the darkness for a year. He did not come back the same as he left. He has deep psychological issues. He has trouble with intimacy. He has trouble with people valuing him. He still won't ever do anything to hurt Sora or Kairi. In KH1 he searched all over, first for Kairi, then for Kairi's heart. He may have made some bad choices, and not done all the right things, but he did what he thought he had to do to help Kairi while he was under the influence of Maleficent. In KH2 and COM he even took the shape of Ansem-heartless because he was helping Sora. He still isn't a wimp. Remember the end of KH2 when Sora was trapped. Riku has power. His friends are very careful not to say or do anything that might hurt him, because they care about him.
Kairi. Likewise a Keyblade master. I said a Keyblade master. She is not a wimp. She saw Riku and didn't run away. When she first got her Keyblade, on level one, she ran straight at the Heartless. On average, depending on how much leveling you did, Sora didn't go at the heartless until somewhere around level five. No duh she didn't do that well. She was level one and she hadn't even practiced swordfighting the way Sora and Riku had, with play swords. But she still went in. She is also determined. If you sent your rape!fic post-KH2, you can't realistically expect Kairi not to be able to put up a fight. She cares about her friends. She does not hate *either* of them. She loves *both* of them. She is mature, more mature than Sora. She spent a year alternatively fighting and grappling with her memories. That sort of thing makes her a strong person.
Has anyone spotted my soapbox? It seems to have wandered off while I was ranting.
Also, random. The parents? Do not get nearly enough love. Their kids were *gone*. In Sora and Riku's cases, for two years.
Edit: It was brought to my attention that I didn't really make the purpose of the rant clear. I think it's fixed now.
ARGYBARGL. What is it with characterization? I like the Destiny Islands trio in pretty much any combination, but they have characterization and in the pit, searching for them, there is *maybe* one decent, IC fic per page. Let's have a little chart:
Sora. A Keyblade master. While he is a nice person, he is not a Prince of Heart. He is not all fluffy bunnies. Remember Demyx? Sora was not afraid to kill the Organization to get to his friends. BUT. He has somehow turned into Larxene. He is not sadistic. He knew they were Nobodies, and he wasn't about to let Nobodies take over the worlds. He knew there were a few exceptions to his personal "Nobodies aren't really people" rule; these (Axel, Roxas, Naminé) were all Nobodies connected with him and Kairi. Exceptions to the rule. Sora is not wimpy, he will not fall apart when something happens wrong. He saved the universe, folks. He loves his friends. He will not start randomly deciding to leave them out or bashing them.
Riku. A Keyblade master. He was stuck in the darkness for a year. He did not come back the same as he left. He has deep psychological issues. He has trouble with intimacy. He has trouble with people valuing him. He still won't ever do anything to hurt Sora or Kairi. In KH1 he searched all over, first for Kairi, then for Kairi's heart. He may have made some bad choices, and not done all the right things, but he did what he thought he had to do to help Kairi while he was under the influence of Maleficent. In KH2 and COM he even took the shape of Ansem-heartless because he was helping Sora. He still isn't a wimp. Remember the end of KH2 when Sora was trapped. Riku has power. His friends are very careful not to say or do anything that might hurt him, because they care about him.
Kairi. Likewise a Keyblade master. I said a Keyblade master. She is not a wimp. She saw Riku and didn't run away. When she first got her Keyblade, on level one, she ran straight at the Heartless. On average, depending on how much leveling you did, Sora didn't go at the heartless until somewhere around level five. No duh she didn't do that well. She was level one and she hadn't even practiced swordfighting the way Sora and Riku had, with play swords. But she still went in. She is also determined. If you sent your rape!fic post-KH2, you can't realistically expect Kairi not to be able to put up a fight. She cares about her friends. She does not hate *either* of them. She loves *both* of them. She is mature, more mature than Sora. She spent a year alternatively fighting and grappling with her memories. That sort of thing makes her a strong person.
Has anyone spotted my soapbox? It seems to have wandered off while I was ranting.
Also, random. The parents? Do not get nearly enough love. Their kids were *gone*. In Sora and Riku's cases, for two years.
Edit: It was brought to my attention that I didn't really make the purpose of the rant clear. I think it's fixed now.