Dave

I'd be lying if I said I'm as excited for KH3 as I'd like to be. In between being drained from the wait, frustrated with Square, and kind of hating a good chunk of what the story has become, I'm not feeling the buzz like I'd thought I'd be. But there's something about Kingdom Hearts that I've always loved, and keeps bringing me back each time I hear that opening violin sting to Hikari. And while it's a bit hard to put into words, a lot of it has to do with Sora. My favorite memories of KH include Sora just being excited to see Santa, or hanging around with Winnie the Pooh with as much ease as he hangs around Leon and Cloud. There's a kind of child-like simplicity that cuts through the bloated plot line and encyclopedia of trivia that the series totes. I've said in the past that I thought the first game was so good because it was almost directly a representation of what a kid's dream would be, getting to travel to Disney worlds and fighting alongside your favorite video game characters. It's about going on that adventure you thought you were having when you ran around your backward wielding a stick and wearing a towel as a cape. Fast forward however many years .to jaded, grumpy ol' me, watching the trailers as they come out for KH3 with something of a passing interest, until the trailer revealing the Pirates of the Carribean. Considering I didn't much care for At World's End, I didn't think anything here of all things would grab me. But then we see Sora, decked out in pirate gear, sailing on a raft, and being jazzed that he gets to be a pirate again. And lo and behold, that right there filled that gaping hole of excitement for me. Because that's what I loved about the series: at its heart, it's about finding that fun sense of adventure. Forget the X-Blade and the Darknesses and all that other paraphernalia. All I want is to run around Disney worlds and meet these great characters, and Sora always manages to provide that. If Sora is excited to be a pirate, I'm even more excited to get right on that raft with him and see what horizons are out there.

I think that every incarnation of Xehanort has anticipated the other Xehanorts' every move, and will ultimately destroy one another underneath a tonnage of contingency plans.

1. Sora. No matter what issues I have with the series, Sora always brings me a smile. 2. Axel. He has a solid character arc, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think he was just plain cool. 3. Maleficent. There is no other villain in the series that commands the same presence she does when she enters a scene. 4. Ansem SoD. I have a soft spot for villains who get impaled on their own hubris. 5. Hercules. I would argue that, over the course of the series, Herc has had more development than most of the original characters.

Uh oh! How unfortunate!

Snow White is, like, 14 and lives in medieval Germany. What kind of job is she going to have?

Also, Prince Naveen is a good guy. Has a nice character arc.

Philip is the prince in Sleeping Beauty, and he's kind of responsible for saving the kingdom.

The Big Easy

We've killed literally every major enemy on team Dark. One of the prevailing themes of the game is that nothing we did in the past matters.

All right, Square. You win. I can't resist fighting on pirate ships in spite of myself

Welp, the two main enemies from CoM are back, officially making every major boss fight you've had in the series irrelevant. Because eff feeling accomplished, am I right?

Generally, a trailer will cause more excitement when shown to a wider amount of people, but apparently, Square's cunning strategy of making people less hyped for the game is something beyond the average person's perception.

Honestly, I would have been disappointed if Square hadn't been wrong about getting it out this year. Screwing up their PR is something I look forward to.

Fighting Gothel in a stage that echoes "Mother Knows Best," where she dips in and out of darkness and you have to try and find pools of light to fight her, is something I long for.

The head canon I cling to is that, sooner or later, Ansem has more or less become his own person with his own goals. Emphasized with the opening of DDD when he reasserts to Braig that his name is Ansem, not Xehanort.

The black and pink ensemble is nice.

In fairness, he might still think he's still with Star Command.

Shouldn't have been cancelled, but glad to see that NBC has saved the day. Meanwhile, Big Bang Theory got renewed for another 2 seasons, emphasizing that there is no justice in the world...

I like Belle, but Cinderella is up there as well.

Happy belated birthday, Lea!

They had villains?

Voldo.

I've always wanted to see Great Mouse Detective as a world. Fighting inside of Big Ben, especially with Flowmotion, would be amazing. I also would love to see Roger Rabbit turned into a world for all of the metaphysical, fourth wall breaking goodness it would bring (people want a more "mature" Sora? Here's your chance, gang).

Thanks! It's one of my favorite shows of all time.

About a lucky man who made the grade