Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Retrospective

[Blackdrazon]

I noticed this the most in your first entry on Neverland in Birth By Sleep. You went for like 2 to 3 paragraphs addressing how "problematic" calling it the Indian Camp was. There was a similar issue with the name of Washington Redskins Football team and most of the outrage came from privileged white people. When they actually asked Native Americans what they thought, it turned out in a poll that 9 in 10 didn't give a shit about the name. If you're going to get offended for another group of people based on a map name taken from a film from the 1950's, why preach it to us?

You want a vote to say whether or not a nearly exterminated race of people that cannot show up in bulk to a vote because they're a nearly exterminated group of people deserve to be further demeaned? And believe me, I wouldn't allow any vote to permit the humiliation and demeaning of another race, but the fact that you don't see the inherent second layer of the problem is beyond the pall.

By the way, I'm not a university student, I am - as I specified in my first post - much older than most KH fans, and am simply someone who uses terms used in the real world to deal with real problems. That you consider someone concerned with the genocide of the First Nations to be a mislead child who doesn't know how to see "grey areas" is a tremendous problem in its own right.

In the time you've been here, you have mocked and attacked a psychiatric treatment method, defended the right to attack the mentally ill (implied by the previous, but also said outright), defended the use rape threats, and demanded I be silent about a national issue of racial genocide. Given that both of you have seen fit to bring up this Redskins survey as though it justifies your racism, I assume you're also the commentor I blocked at my blog who decided to declare that Canadians have no right to talk about their own internal issues.

Go the hell away from me, you piece of shit.

 

[KHHacker6595]

Holy crap, wow, I was not expecting that sort of reply.

when did I defend rape threats? how am I racist? when did I say its okay to attack the mentally ill?

oh my god, what a time to be alive when my mild criticisms of the subject matter presented is conflated with me being a bigot. What the hell is going on. I mean you could have politely explained your reasoning and showed me how I was wrong, but instead you accuse of me things that simply aren't true. I have never even talked about Canadian laws before, I'm confused as to why that's being brought up. I was simply talking about language and ideological leanings. To simply right me off as a piece of shit bigot for not neatly falling inline with 100% of what you're saying is ironically one of the most bigoted things I've read on this site.

the cognitive dissonance and virtue signaling is astounding.

I'm actually really confused as to what I did wrong? I feel you are taken a lot of what I've been saying out of context.

 

[Blackdrazon]

Ridiculous. You have come to undermine my posts with nearly every major social issue I've raised, from the simple use of trigger warnings to my attack on the use of death threats in fandom to, now, a racial slur. Every time I so much as mention a social issue, there you are, insistent on why I should be silent about the issue. You don't even want to hear my complaints, talking about my "insistent push to seed them into your writing," as though speaking out against these horrible social acts is a more horrible act than the actual death threats, slurs, and silencing of trigger warnings in and of themselves?

As for the blog comment and the Canadian thing, I apologize as that may not have been you. This person attacked the entirety of the Canadian populace, and then, like you, quoted the Redskins "evidence" and then insisted that we be silent about issues that absolutely concern us. They then, like you, insisted I shut up about social issues in harmful media like video games, and why I should allow racial slurs to go unchecked. They were banned.

I didn't know if you knew this, but the very day you're throwing this Redskins evidence in my face again (the 6th), the Massachusetts' Joint Committee on Education was hearing First Nations speakers bare their souls about how racist mascots and similar iconography have done them serious harm and are an extention of the American genocide. They're making their case about why such mascots should be banned in educational institutions across the state. I have nothing more to say to you. These are my final words on the matter.

 

[KHHacker6595]

I'm not insisting you do or don't do anything. I understand your position now on these issues. I'm actually from Massachusetts and I am aware of that recent hearing, but that wasn't my point regarding the Neverland segment. I was talking more about the original Peter Pan being a piece of art and should be preserved despite its more negative aspects.

I'm just a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series and I enjoy your writing. I consistently praise it here and on other sites where I promote your blog to other fans of the series. There's so much socio-political commentary all over the internet. Sometimes It's nice to just take a break from it and enjoy a good retrospective on a series I hold dear. Its the only reason I brought up any of those points in the first place. I just don't understand why you responded so aggressively.

 

[Launchpad]

haha, I personally thought this world in BBS was pretty boring, myself! keep up the good work

 

[Elysium]

True about the Maleficent fight. She flies so slow.

I feel like there is BbS is a shell of a game that I would like. Sad, but it looks like the game needed more time.... lol I wonder what it is about SE that making quality products in a timely manner seems beyond them.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

*looks at certain comments* Oh boy... I wasn't going to get involved at first, but I'm on KHHacker6595's side, because he gave an honest critique and you, Blackdrazon, decided to respond by acting like a hateful, frothing social justice warrior (man I hate that term) instead of a reasonable human being. The subject at hand gives you no right to act like how you did, and acting like a complete shithead doesn't help, but harms the points you're are trying to make.

Now, this doesn't mean I agree, at least not fully, with what KHHacker has said (eg. "light supremacy" = "white supremacy") and my only real issue with your talk about the "Indian Camp" in the Retrospective is that it felt very out of place and messed with the flow of the writing. And maybe just a little bit because I, like most people, understand the values dissonance at hand and can't understand why one of my favorite dudes apparently doesn't.

Just...chill.

 

[GrovyleTheThief]

Yeah, Aqua's visit to Dwarf Woodlands is...subpar.

Another part that bugs me is how Aqua and the Dwarfs (dwarves?) try to find a way to "help" Snow White wake up.
Didn't the dwarves assume she was dead from the poisoned apple? Wouldn't ANY NORMAL PERSON assume that?

---

I was going to bring this second point up during Terra's story, but I put it off:

I never really liked the whole bit about the Mirror Spirit becoming an Unversed. I mean, it...doesn't really add to anything and the subject is never brought up again. Also, pureblood Heartless and presumably Nobodies as well seem to have existed since forever and are a "natural" part of the multiverse, so having somebody turn into one of those is possible. Unversed on the other hand are recent at the time of BBS and only came from Vanitas, so it just seems odd to me for someone to become an Unversed.

Another subject I'd like to bring up is how I like the attention to detail when it comes to some of the Disney worlds. Look at the entrance to the Vault area for example. That's actually where the Queen/Witch got on a canoe to sneak over to the Cottage in the film! You can even see the poor skeleton reaching for a jug of water.

(dammnit, I still can't post copied images to the clipboard here. I guess I have to use an image sharing site)

Video for comparison.

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[Elysium]

I remember a similar outrage over his comments re:the generally-vile KH fandom on Xion in the Days retrospective, and like then, I'm left rolling my eyes. I guess I feel like if his meager comments on KH's treatment of Peter Pan's undeniable racism bother you, then you should, instead of constantly pressuring the writer to bend to your will, stop reading if you're that incredibly sensitive? For as much as you see pejoratives like SJW peddled around here, it seems like those with "far right ideology" are the ones who need safe spaces lest they go on a censorship rampage.

Moreover, correctly referring to "Indians" as a racial slur cannot in any way be construed as "far" left, sorry. I honestly had to go re-read the post that got KHHacker in fits because it wasn't even a blip on the radar. 5 sentences in total dispersed throughout the review, mostly used as a recurring joke. You subversive commie, Blackdrazon! Thank God Song of the South will never be in KH. Blackdrazon might be criticized of peddling "far left wing ideology" by denouncing the positive depiction of slavery.

 

[palizinhas]

I truly don't understand how "I am not comfortable using x word so I won't, and I will make clear why right now" is somehow unreasonable.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

I've been following the conversation without butting in, mainly because it's not my business and I'm not familiar with Canadian/American politics.
The thing I wanna say is that "Disney's racism" is an infamously notorious and complex topic. But, what KH has to do with it? The people who work on the games only reproduce what was in the movies, I don't think they (and therefore, the games) can be held responsible for any of that. It's not like they made or wanted to make any racism in their works.
So, mentioning it in a KH retrospective (albeit it didn't go on for the 2-3 sections KHHacker claimed, much shorter) is kinda getting off track, as Blackdrazon did acknowledge.

That should've been it, honestly: he decided to write how he felt about the term Indians and that's that, calling him out on this and start a topic about indian racism just seems pointless to me, because we're talking about racism generated by a "third party" and not KH.
I agree with Fudge that stilistically speaking it was a bit out of place, but those are opinions, I didn't read a "pls stop writing that because it bothers me" in it.

I also agree that Blackdrazon's remarks were a bit too aggressive, regardless of the subject and who was right.
Last, I'm genuinely curious, do we need to notify this to a mod or something? I honestly have no idea if the situation calls for it.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

I remember a similar outrage over his comments re:the generally-vile KH fandom on Xion in the Days retrospective, and like then, I'm left rolling my eyes. I guess I feel like if his meager comments on KH's treatment of Peter Pan's undeniable racism bother you, then you should, instead of constantly pressuring the writer to bend to your will, stop reading if you're that incredibly sensitive? For as much as you see pejoratives like SJW peddled around here, it seems like those with "far right ideology" are the ones who need safe spaces lest they go on a censorship rampage.

Moreover, correctly referring to "Indians" as a racial slur cannot in any way be construed as "far" left, sorry. I honestly had to go re-read the post that got KHHacker in fits because it wasn't even a blip on the radar. 5 sentences in total dispersed throughout the review, mostly used as a recurring joke. You subversive commie, Blackdrazon! Thank God Song of the South will never be in KH. Blackdrazon might be criticized of peddling "far left wing ideology" by denouncing the positive depiction of slavery.

Except that no one is against why Blackdrazon didn't want to use "Indians" and were not in any way "pressuring the writer to bend to our alleged will" (and I love how you consider two whole instances months apart as "constant"), but instead, made an innocent (if admittedly overblown) critique on how something was written, as anyone one should be allowed to do no matter the topic, which was responded to with a temper tantrum?

Last, I'm genuinely curious, do we need to notify this to a mod or something? I honestly have no idea if the situation calls for it.

If it continues, then maybe. I've said my piece on the whole thing, so have no interest in taking part in that discussion anymore, nor do I have issue if others feel the need to get their thoughts out as long as they're civil. But at this point, furthering that discussion would only derail the thread.

 

[Dandelion]

Whoa, whoa, whoa

That's enough, social commentary is important but so is not blowing up on people. Peter Pan has been hailed as one of the most racist films in the cinematic canon, and Disney has downplayed it ever since by removing the indians from most media since then, notice how they weren't in the sequel - I'm assuming that their absence from KH was on behalf of Disney. Didn't stop them from using G*psies in 3D, but that's another topic.

Anyway, being aware of that is fine, writing about it is fine, thinking it might be a jarring transition is fine. Undermining those thoughts, or contrarily calling someone a piece of shit are both not nice. Let's be nice.

This topic needs to get 50% nicer by the next time I see it.

 

[KHHacker6595]

I'm sorry for causing any problems. I really think I might have come across wrong. Still I don't appreciate the reaction I got but I understand that I could have been taken out of context.

 

[Precursor Mar]

This topic needs to get 50% nicer by the next time I see it.

Damn it. Missed my chance to shitpost.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

I...need to apologize too. I could have stuck to my gut instinct and kept my mouth shut, but I instead added fuel to the fire.

This topic needs to get 50% nicer by the next time I see it.

 

[Elysium]

My favorite part about the write-up on Aqua's Disney Town visit is the commenter at the bottom who was infuriated you refused to identify Captain Justice...

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

Does anyone else find it odd the ice cream made just for Aqua.....clearly resembles Minnie? And Ven's Double Crunch looks like Mickey. It even has both Kingdom Keys (despite that no one should know about them.) Terra is the only one who receives an ice cream kinda based on himself (earth dude gets earthy ice cream.) Wouldn't it make more sense for Aqua and Ven to have received a blueberry ice cream and lime/pistachio ice cream respectively?

My favorite part about the write-up on Aqua's Disney Town visit is the commenter at the bottom who was infuriated you refused to identify Captain Justice...

I didn't see, I gotta see! *sees* Is this dude serious?

 

[GrovyleTheThief]

Does anyone else find it odd the ice cream made just for Aqua.....clearly resembles Minnie? And Ven's Double Crunch looks like Mickey. It even has both Kingdom Keys (despite that no one should know about them.) Terra is the only one who receives an ice cream kinda based on himself (earth dude gets earthy ice cream.) Wouldn't it make more sense for Aqua and Ven to have received a blueberry ice cream and lime/pistachio ice cream respectively?

Terra and Ven's ice creams and resulting command styles are exclusive to them, but Aqua's Royalberry can be obtained by Terra as well, even though the prize is described as an "ice cream flavor just for you". I guess it's even stranger because Aqua's award is the canon one.

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[maleficentfan123]

Just a heads up: I’ve fallen dramatically behind on writeups for both Kingdom HEarts and Final Fantasy, and on top of that Kyle and I have yet to clear the next FF game, Final Fantasy Tactics, in this first place. For this and other reasons, the blog will be going on indefinite hiatus after the completion of Birth by Sleep and Dirge of Cerberus, which are the last writeups I have that are complete.

To try to sync up the end dates of BBS and DoC, Dirge of Cerberus will be uploaded at an accelerated pace, with updates on both Thursdays and Sundays. With everything going as scheduled, this means the last KH post will be July 11th, and the last FF post will be July 13th.

This makes me sad. I hope everything is okay with you! I will miss reading your blog--I really have enjoyed learning more about the KH series through it.