Go have some coffee with cream or something! Because I'll tell you something: this is a happy place!
I'd like to take a step back from our regularly-scheduled rants about canon and shipping and forums (oh my) and talk about the fandom as a whole. Yep, that's right, all of us. I have two words for everyone who loves them some Kingdom Hearts, and they are as follows:
Lighten up!
I have no idea where all the OMG SRS BZNS in this fandom came from, but it's gotten overwhelming recently. Cut back, guys. Take a look at the canon that's getting us up in arms. At its highest, it's rated E10+. It's half Disney.
Half Disney, guys. That should tell you something right there. This is the company that uses an anthropomorphic mouse as a mascot and created the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth. Everything they touch has a happy ending, even if it takes three games to get there.
Let's look at the games themselves. Do they have solid plots and characters? For the most part, yes. That doesn't make them srs - that makes them well-made games. Are there dark elements? Certainly. I dare you to find me a Disney creation that doesn't have those, and goodness knows Square is rife with 'em. These elements, however, do not make the entire game dark. Happy endings, remember?
If you need further proof of the happy, take a look at Sora. Your protagonist for three of five games is a teenage derp who wears bright primary colors and shoes big enough to swim in, believes in the power of friendship, fights using a gigantic key with a Mickey head on it, and travels with Donald, who is still cranky and hilarious as ever, and Goofy, who, in certain circumstances, can be used as a battering ram. Go back to KHI, watch a few Trinities in action, and tell me that's not funny.
While we're at it, let's take a look at some of the worlds included in the games. In no particular order, we have:
- A world in which an animate skeleton wants to run somebody else's holiday;
- The inside of a whale, with a color scheme that looks like rejected wallpaper from a Los Angeles night club;
- The programming of a computer, in which the main villain is a gigantic orange face;
- A castle in which the servants are animate brooms and the queen is both the happiest and the kickassingest escort mission ever;
- Wonderland. I have no fun descriptions or witty euphemisms for this one. It's freaking Wonderland.
And how do you travel to these fantastical worlds? Why, you hop into your faithful ship made of candy.
If that wasn't enough for you all, I present my final piece of incontrovertible evidence, which starts at about 1:20:
Classic scene.
Remember, folks, Kingdom Hearts is overall a happy game series - how could it not be, with such a huge infusion of Disney?
And this fandom, not unlike this ship, runs on happy faces.
Lighten up!
I have no idea where all the OMG SRS BZNS in this fandom came from, but it's gotten overwhelming recently. Cut back, guys. Take a look at the canon that's getting us up in arms. At its highest, it's rated E10+. It's half Disney.
Half Disney, guys. That should tell you something right there. This is the company that uses an anthropomorphic mouse as a mascot and created the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth. Everything they touch has a happy ending, even if it takes three games to get there.
Let's look at the games themselves. Do they have solid plots and characters? For the most part, yes. That doesn't make them srs - that makes them well-made games. Are there dark elements? Certainly. I dare you to find me a Disney creation that doesn't have those, and goodness knows Square is rife with 'em. These elements, however, do not make the entire game dark. Happy endings, remember?
If you need further proof of the happy, take a look at Sora. Your protagonist for three of five games is a teenage derp who wears bright primary colors and shoes big enough to swim in, believes in the power of friendship, fights using a gigantic key with a Mickey head on it, and travels with Donald, who is still cranky and hilarious as ever, and Goofy, who, in certain circumstances, can be used as a battering ram. Go back to KHI, watch a few Trinities in action, and tell me that's not funny.
While we're at it, let's take a look at some of the worlds included in the games. In no particular order, we have:
- A world in which an animate skeleton wants to run somebody else's holiday;
- The inside of a whale, with a color scheme that looks like rejected wallpaper from a Los Angeles night club;
- The programming of a computer, in which the main villain is a gigantic orange face;
- A castle in which the servants are animate brooms and the queen is both the happiest and the kickassingest escort mission ever;
- Wonderland. I have no fun descriptions or witty euphemisms for this one. It's freaking Wonderland.
And how do you travel to these fantastical worlds? Why, you hop into your faithful ship made of candy.
If that wasn't enough for you all, I present my final piece of incontrovertible evidence, which starts at about 1:20:
Click to viewClassic scene.
Remember, folks, Kingdom Hearts is overall a happy game series - how could it not be, with such a huge infusion of Disney?
And this fandom, not unlike this ship, runs on happy faces.