Rude? Then It Was Riku!
Yesterday, my brother, my mother, three of my brother's friends and I came second in a pub quiz! This was in part because one round involved naming European countries from a map, and my knowledge of European geography had improved quite a bit recently, due to, um.
Hetalia.
(It's educational!)
There was also a round in which we had to fold an origami giraffe. Who knew that learning to fold the paper swan from Prison Break would one day come in handy?
What I have learnt from this is that being in fandom can be surprisingly useful.
And now I am going to ramble about Kingdom Hearts II!
I love the world of Kingdom Hearts, in which Sora only has to know someone for half a minute and he's already Best Friends Forever with them. It makes me so sad that he was indoctrinated into the 'Nobodies are bad' mindset before he met Demyx, because I am certain that otherwise they would have got on amazingly.
I also love the huge battle in Hollow Bastion so much. Squall and Cloud standing back-to-back to face the oncoming enemies: awesome! Aerith healing Yuffie: adorable! Fighting alongside Final Fantasy characters! (Why is there no fight alongside Aerith, though? Is it because she can't fight? Because, er, she can totally fight, Kingdom Hearts.) Donald's love for Goofy! The 1,000 Heartless battle, which is just such an awesome moment! Sora wanting to help Maleficent, even though she's their enemy!
OF COURSE, THERE IS ONE THING I DO NOT LOVE ABOUT THE HUGE BATTLE IN HOLLOW BASTION. I don't want to fight you, Demyx! You don't want to fight! Let's just have a tea party together.
(Spoilers for the Hollow Bastion battle; highlight to read:
I hate that nobody cares when Demyx dies. He's so frightened, and Sora just shouts 'YEAH, BRING IT ON, NOBODIES.' In another world, Sora, Demyx would have been your best friend.
And then Sora addresses Xemnas as 'Nobody', which is such a dehumanising thing to do, and oh, Sora, please just question what Yen Sid told you a little. You can't trust Yen Sid! He has evil eyes!)
Does nobody find it even slightly fishy that Mickey Mouse appears to be wearing an Organization XIII cloak? Hmm.
Ahahaha, oh, dear. Squall and Tifa were merely in the same room during the first Space Paranoids visit, not even interacting, and I suddenly wanted to 'ship them. I love the bizarre pairing possibilities that Kingdom Hearts opens up.
I am quite sad that they made Yuna into a bizarre treasure-driven flying pixie thing, because that means that we'll never have the amazing strong Yuna of Final Fantasy X in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Of course, Cid received a rather rubbish treatment as well. As did Vivi. Alas. And Leon smiles far too much.
Kingdom Hearts Seifer is also a fairly large departure from Final Fantasy VIII Seifer, but I think Kingdom Hearts Seifer is hilarious, so I'll forgive him. Also, he's kept the 'I don't like you, but that doesn't mean I don't respect you' aspect of his character, which is something I've always rather liked about Seifer. And I do like Kingdom Hearts Yuffie quite a lot.
How would other Final Fantasy characters be represented in Kingdom Hearts? I'd love to see Rinoa in a future game, as I think she would fit beautifully with the general tone of Kingdom Hearts, and I'm delighted that the ending of Kingdom Hearts II seems to hint towards her existence in this universe. And I have no idea how they would represent Balthier and Fran, but Balthier and Fran would be amazing.
After the delightful experience of having Auron join the party in the Underworld, I'd like more levels in which the guest-star party member is a Final Fantasy character, actually. I have nothing at all against the Disney characters, but a little more Final Fantasy would be lovely. There is the problem that almost all of the worlds are Disney-based, so there's not much room for Final Fantasy characters in most of them, but I'm sure Square can work something out. (Also, when I was playing in the Land of Dragons, it occurred to me that there should be more female guest party members. There's Ariel in the first game and Mulan in the second, but I think that's all.)
You know what I would really, really love? A level in which Riku and Kairi are Sora's party members. That would be amazing. I like the Sora/Donald/Goofy friendship, but I am completely smitten by the Sora/Riku/Kairi one, and there simply isn't enough of it. MORE SORA/RIKU/KAIRI INTERACTION, PLEASE, KINGDOM HEARTS.
(I adore the shot in the (confusing and nonsensical, but so pretty) Kingdom Hearts II opening video in which Sora, Riku and Kairi are lying on the beach and holding hands. ♥!
...wait.
The opening video totally represents Time Compression, doesn't it?)
Hetalia.
(It's educational!)
There was also a round in which we had to fold an origami giraffe. Who knew that learning to fold the paper swan from Prison Break would one day come in handy?
What I have learnt from this is that being in fandom can be surprisingly useful.
And now I am going to ramble about Kingdom Hearts II!
I love the world of Kingdom Hearts, in which Sora only has to know someone for half a minute and he's already Best Friends Forever with them. It makes me so sad that he was indoctrinated into the 'Nobodies are bad' mindset before he met Demyx, because I am certain that otherwise they would have got on amazingly.
I also love the huge battle in Hollow Bastion so much. Squall and Cloud standing back-to-back to face the oncoming enemies: awesome! Aerith healing Yuffie: adorable! Fighting alongside Final Fantasy characters! (Why is there no fight alongside Aerith, though? Is it because she can't fight? Because, er, she can totally fight, Kingdom Hearts.) Donald's love for Goofy! The 1,000 Heartless battle, which is just such an awesome moment! Sora wanting to help Maleficent, even though she's their enemy!
OF COURSE, THERE IS ONE THING I DO NOT LOVE ABOUT THE HUGE BATTLE IN HOLLOW BASTION. I don't want to fight you, Demyx! You don't want to fight! Let's just have a tea party together.
(Spoilers for the Hollow Bastion battle; highlight to read:
I hate that nobody cares when Demyx dies. He's so frightened, and Sora just shouts 'YEAH, BRING IT ON, NOBODIES.' In another world, Sora, Demyx would have been your best friend.
And then Sora addresses Xemnas as 'Nobody', which is such a dehumanising thing to do, and oh, Sora, please just question what Yen Sid told you a little. You can't trust Yen Sid! He has evil eyes!)
Does nobody find it even slightly fishy that Mickey Mouse appears to be wearing an Organization XIII cloak? Hmm.
Ahahaha, oh, dear. Squall and Tifa were merely in the same room during the first Space Paranoids visit, not even interacting, and I suddenly wanted to 'ship them. I love the bizarre pairing possibilities that Kingdom Hearts opens up.
I am quite sad that they made Yuna into a bizarre treasure-driven flying pixie thing, because that means that we'll never have the amazing strong Yuna of Final Fantasy X in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Of course, Cid received a rather rubbish treatment as well. As did Vivi. Alas. And Leon smiles far too much.
Kingdom Hearts Seifer is also a fairly large departure from Final Fantasy VIII Seifer, but I think Kingdom Hearts Seifer is hilarious, so I'll forgive him. Also, he's kept the 'I don't like you, but that doesn't mean I don't respect you' aspect of his character, which is something I've always rather liked about Seifer. And I do like Kingdom Hearts Yuffie quite a lot.
How would other Final Fantasy characters be represented in Kingdom Hearts? I'd love to see Rinoa in a future game, as I think she would fit beautifully with the general tone of Kingdom Hearts, and I'm delighted that the ending of Kingdom Hearts II seems to hint towards her existence in this universe. And I have no idea how they would represent Balthier and Fran, but Balthier and Fran would be amazing.
After the delightful experience of having Auron join the party in the Underworld, I'd like more levels in which the guest-star party member is a Final Fantasy character, actually. I have nothing at all against the Disney characters, but a little more Final Fantasy would be lovely. There is the problem that almost all of the worlds are Disney-based, so there's not much room for Final Fantasy characters in most of them, but I'm sure Square can work something out. (Also, when I was playing in the Land of Dragons, it occurred to me that there should be more female guest party members. There's Ariel in the first game and Mulan in the second, but I think that's all.)
You know what I would really, really love? A level in which Riku and Kairi are Sora's party members. That would be amazing. I like the Sora/Donald/Goofy friendship, but I am completely smitten by the Sora/Riku/Kairi one, and there simply isn't enough of it. MORE SORA/RIKU/KAIRI INTERACTION, PLEASE, KINGDOM HEARTS.
(I adore the shot in the (confusing and nonsensical, but so pretty) Kingdom Hearts II opening video in which Sora, Riku and Kairi are lying on the beach and holding hands. ♥!
...wait.
The opening video totally represents Time Compression, doesn't it?)