If you view Kazuki and Rei as friends or buddies - as platonic, PLEASE don't reblog my post talking about how I view them as being queer (via a queerplatonic or platonic life partnership reading) and state that you view them as buddies or friends or platonically. My post isn't saying that and I don't like how reblogging it and adding tags like that erases the queer aspect to that post. If you view them as purely platonic friends or buddies, that's cool and fine, just...Make your own post instead about how you view them platonically, as friends, as buddies, etc. Thanks!

So, Luca and Alberto are basically confirmed canon.

(Official art above of Luca and Alberto kissing, cuddling, and holding each other. The art is by Kenna Jean Harris, a co-director at Pixar and the story lead on Luca). Below:

Along with the artwork of Luca and Alberto kissing under an umbrella we get this bit of info: "i had a whole sequence in mind of Luca and Alberto reuniting for four summers in a row, culminating in a kiss."

Strange World has an official, openly gay teen character and shows him having a crush and being in an actual relationship...

So, maybe...

Just saying, Disney and SE...You could just...allow the series to go there.

So, I'm doing the Kingdom Hearts Steam Giveaway, and one of the things you need to do daily to get points towards the giveaway is to listen for like 30 seconds to something from the official Kingdom Hearts Spotify playlist. They have Simple & Clean, Hikari, and Face My Fears...but they don't have Sanctuary or Passion (outside of the instrumental version for Passion).

I get that Passion/Sanctuary isn't used as much in the franchise as a whole, since it is very specifically about Sora and Riku's reunion, but the fact that it is barely present in this playlist (while Simple & Clean/Hikari show up multiple times) is just... : /

I know that the next game (KH4) seems like it will be centered on Sora and Riku's bond with each other, since Riku is the one shown going after and trying to find Sora, but SO MUCH of the marketing for KH right now (all the stuff for Steam) has been so devoid of Sora and Riku's bond. The marketing has focused either on general bonds or Sora and Kairi's bond and it's just...IDK.

It's giving me the same feeling as KH3 did when it tried to refrain the entirety of Sora's journey as being centered on Kairi and having lost and found her, etc. Sora and Riku's bond has been so central to the franchise as a whole, but the marketing barely even reflects that now and it just feels...odd.

(Also, I don't buy that whole "Sora forgot about Riku" theory, that seems like a stretch to me, but even if it does turn out to be true...I don't think it would extend to the way the series is being marketed, etc.). Ever since KH3, the direction of KH has just been...not good for me, personally. I really don't like or care for the direction it is currently moving in, but the series as a whole is still very near and dear to me.

I feel like I'm in this odd place with KH while we wait for KH4.

Some data on the KH fanbase! So, there is currently a Giveaway going on in connection with the release of the Kingdom Hearts series on Steam. The giveaway and has been promoted on the official KH Twitter and whatnot, so it has a large amount of responses so far and likely from a decent range of very casual KH fans, very new fans, very old fans, and very dedicated fans. So the amount of responses and range of this giveaway gives some good solid insight into the fanbase and where it lands with what KH games are their favorite/most liked and what aspects of the series appeals to them most.

This giveaway is still on-going (it has 10 more days left), so these results may vary or change by the end of that period (I'll check again towards the end to see if there is any differences and remark on those in an update to this post).

But, yeah, here is the info we have so far! (Note: the checkmarks are for the choices that I clicked on/went with personally, also these were both multiple choice in response, so you could click on more than one answer to the questions).

Q: Which Kingdom Hearts games are your favorite?

Image: A survey with the results being:

KH1 - 53%, KH: COM - 17%, KH2 - 78%, 358/2 Days - 30%, BBS - 42%, Re:Coded - 9%, DDD - 27%, Back Cover - 7%, 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage - 13%, KH3 + Remind DLC - 45%, MoM - 14%

In listed order from Most Favorite to Least Favorite:

Q: What do you like most about the Kingdom Hearts series?

Image: A survey with the results being:

Combat System - 67%, Disney Characters - 46%, FF Characters - 28%, Original Characters (e.g., Sora, Riku, Kairi) - 71%, Storyline - 74%, Collectibles and exploration - 28%, Mini-games and challenges - 18%, Music and Soundtrack - 72%, Graphics and Art Style - 52%, Worlds and Settings - 54%

In listed order from Most Liked to Least Liked aspects of the games:

(Just like the other list, you can vote for multiples).

I figured I'd just do this for some fun and to see what ends up winning over here on Tumblr. Please reblog for better results, thank you! <3

Hey, all! Kingdom Hearts is hosting a Steam Deck giveaway. Check it out at KHonSteam.com. 

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It’s a really cool giveaway so far. It’s like a mixture of a survey and a giveaway. There are some poll questions (like what are your favorite KH games - you can pick multiple) and things like that make for some interesting insight into the fanbase. 

I’m also hoping that some of the answers that are provided through this giveaway (like stuff on gaming style) are used to help improve future games. That would make the most sense and be really neat. If you click the link above, it will take you to the giveaway.