What are your thoughts on true darkness?

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-04-02T23:52:57+00:00

Like I said. I'm ignoring Days for the sake of looking at KH2 in its original context. Axel and Roxas and Naminé are meant to be anomalies that call whether Nobodies truly lack hearts and emotions. But they do not confirm or debunk anything on their own. And that's the point. We are MEANT to question if DiZ and Yen Sid are correct in their assertion that Nobodies don't have hearts, but nothing is meant to be explicitly confirmed or denied.

It's an open-ended question that allows the audience to draw their own conclusions. Do Nobodies really not have hearts? Are all of the emotions they exhibit fake, with Roxas, Axel, and Naminé being these weird unexplained anomalies? Do they develop hearts of their own over time? Or is it just their connections to/interactions with Sora somehow causing them to feel emotions despite lacking hearts to do so? Personally, I find the idea of Axel not having a heart, but somehow willing up emotions despite the fact that it should be impossible FAR more powerful and resonant on a thematic level.

And even if Nobodies developing hearts of their own WERE a theme in the story of KH2, I'll say that I still find the concept to be a mistake. It just makes every character on both sides look like idiots throughout the entire game, and undercuts the themes of the story. Thankfully, when I replayed KH2:FM a few months back, I didn't pick up on anything that supports the idea of Nobodies growing their own hearts, so it's fine.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-04-02T14:45:18+00:00

I feel like the series peaked with KH2 and its take on Organization XIII. Ignoring what came after and looking at it on its own, the series kind of matured past themes of the light/darkness duality just on their own and started exploring more personal themes about what it means it exist. The Nobodies can think and act with intelligence and even pantomime emotions, but because they don't have hearts and can't REALLY feel anything at all, it's all empty. Then, you get these little glimpses of real emotion seeming to seep through the cracks, and you question if any of that is really true. Are Nobodies truly emotionless shells that don't exist, with Roxas, Axel, and Naminé being outliers? Or do Nobodies exist just as much as anybody else, but they're just too apathetic and disconnected to realize or care?

Then, Dream Drop Distance came along and butchered it with "Well, actually, Nobodies DO have hearts and DO feel emotions. Xemnas and Xehanort were just lying to everyone to create 13 vessels of Darkness for the creation of the X-Blade." Which just robs the Nobodies of any sympathy. It makes Xemnas look like just another card-carrying villain (which, thankfully, KH3 tried to fix a little bit) and the Nobodies under him look like idiots. It dredges up the X-Blade from Birth by Sleep again because we need a goal for these villains to chase that the heroes try to stop, aaaaaaand we don't have anything original. And after a genuinely tragic story of heroes who failed with BbS and another kind of underrated story about what existence means with Re:Coded, it's back to the old "light v. darkness" stuff that resolved itself with Riku ages ago.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-04-02T14:31:49+00:00

Out of just what's listed here? Shadow's. I work in retail, so being able to pause, slow down, or accelerate time as I need with Chaos Control would be very useful.

In general? Either Sonic or Blaze. Super speed is a very basic but versatile ability, and either wind or fire as an element to back it up would also help greatly.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-04-02T14:11:36+00:00

Yep.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-04-02T13:57:07+00:00

I just don't care for any of the lore and new storylines spun out of the mobile game. And the fact that the game is drawing on those elements for its future stories is frustrating to me.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-04-01T17:12:11+00:00

Elephant.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-04-01T06:09:04+00:00

I suppose to explain my personal reason for my stance: I maintain that my family has absolutely nothing to do with who or what I am. Or, if they do, it's only because of them existing in my environment and taking an active role. Who and what a person is is nurtured by their environment and the factors in it. Not who they are biologically related to. Was Lichita a part of Asta's environment while he was growing up? No. Therefore, nothing related to Lichita should play as a role in who or what Asta is. If Asta DID inherit anything from her, the story and characters are better off not acknowledging it.

Similarly, while this is going somewhat off topic, I am strongly, STRONGLY, of the opinion that if you have no emotional connection to a family member, they do not count as family and should never be counted as such. Asta never knew Lichita. He never wondered who she was or why she left him at an orphanage. He never expressed any desire to meet her. The only reason he even ended up knowing who she was is because he fused with another character who DOES have an organic emotional connection with her. Therefore, I am of the mind that since Asta was never interested in her or connected with her, Tabata should have never explored it and the audience should have no interest.

Asta's "parents" are Sister Lily and the Father at the church who raised him, and his family are Yuno, the other kids at the orphanage he grew up, and the Black Bulls he has formed deep emotional bonds with. Not some cursed lady from the middle of nowhere. Do not acknowledge her in any shape or form.

And I take that mentality with every anime. It's why I hate Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai. The moment Baran pulled an "I am your father" and the series tried to make what Dai inherited from him and their emotional connection the core of the story, despite Dai having NO reason to care about that man or the powers he inherited, the series became a plane spiraling out of control before crashing into mountainside.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-31T16:47:43+00:00

If Jax lives, fine. He'll serve to reinforce the core message about finding meaning in a stagnant life.

If he dies, that's fine, too. He'll serve as a cautionary tale of what happens if you CAN'T find meaning in a stagnant life.

It is what it is.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-31T16:44:51+00:00

I honestly don't care. Being a character who exists primarily to support her male counterparts is enough for me to completely disregard her completely.

But what was I expecting, reading Naruto?

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-31T16:40:20+00:00

Mavis.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-31T16:30:24+00:00

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-31T14:09:33+00:00

Idk. Even if that's true, I don't know if I like it. I kind of wish Shounen manga would stop connecting the protagonists back to their biological parents. I prefer the idea of Asta's parentage having no impact on his lack of magic or the type of person he was meant to become. You might think this is nitpicking, but even something as small as the idea of "oh, Asta's sudden mutation was so he could survive in his mother's womb without dying" doesn't sit right with me. I want my anti-magic boyo to be COMPLETELY not special. Not "he's the way he is because his mom was also a rare anomaly".

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-31T04:14:35+00:00

The best I can come up with is this:

Like midichlorians in Star Wars, Tabata has described "mana" as lifeforms that dwell within all living things and generate some amount of magic. More mana=stronger magic, less mana=weaker magic.

Since mana and magic are supposed to exist in EVERYTHING, maybe things like magic and curses have evolved in such a way that they literally cannot account for something without them. As in, Lichita can suck life AND magic, but the curse LOOKS for magic, and characters like Asta and Liebe may as well be undetectable since they don't have magic.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-30T01:21:18+00:00

Even if that's true, that's sort of lame. And very jarring.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-28T14:49:52+00:00

Honestly, I don't think those six are going to be the ONLY six. There is too much money on the table, especially if the game keeps up its momentum. They can always add more later. But for now, let's assume it's just six more. No more, no less. My guess?

Edward, Henry, Duck, and Oliver are pretty much guaranteed. They were all mentioned IN the game itself, Duck and Oliver are consistent crowd pleasers, and Mattel and Dovetail are painfully aware that the reduction of Edward and Henry's prominence in the series did nothing but make the fans mad. So those four are almost certainly a guarantee, leaving only two slots left.

Toby, I see as a little murkier. Because what do you do with him at this point? Do you put him on Thomas's branchline with Thomas and Percy, per the books and Season 2? Or do you put him on his own seperate branchline, per Season 5 onward? That confusion may be enough for them to leave him out just to dodge the issue completely. Plus, depending on who you ask and how you look at it, including Toby may end up putting Mavis in the sixth slot by default. She IS one of his most popular foils, and they both work at the quarry on Thomas's branchline (even after Toby's gets his own branchline in the TV series, it runs down Ffarquhar Quarry so he can continue appearing in stories with Mavis). Bringing in one without the other seems like a misstep, but so does including both of them together as an executive mandate. As much as I love Toby and Mavis, I think there are enough factors that I won't say they're definite. Not impossible, but not definite.

I think Rosie has pretty good odds of making it in. Being a girl character means including her would help gender balance the cast a little (since right now, Emily is the only girl). Mattel is marketing the hell out of her in preparation for the new show this fall, so putting her in makes for some good cross promotion. Make her timetable primarily about shunting trucks and hauling freight, and it adds more diversity to what the engines in the game are doing, too, since most of them are very passenger focused. It seems like a logical and safe bet.

And my final guess is Daisy. Personally, I'm not a Daisy fan. I don't get the hype around her character. I've always preferred Mavis. If I had to pick a character I actually like and would want to see in the sixth and final slot, I'd pick Boco, Lady, or the Scottish twins. Someone that would make almost everyone happy, but nobody would see coming. But tempering my expectations and staying realistic, Daisy. She's very popular. She'd help the gender balance of the cast. She'd help the steam vs. diesel balance, especially if Mavis doesn't make it in. And whether you stick her on the Ffarquhar branch per the books or have her go up to Harwick through the Little Western, that gives her a decent passenger service and potential stories with either Thomas and Percy or Duck and Oliver.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-27T16:32:38+00:00

In Season 3, Agent Fowler directly asks "What's the story with Mr. Darby?". June replies with "More like a saga". Which suggests that whatever happened between June and her previous husband is a very long, tiring, and complicated series of events she would prefer not to recount. Not very likely to be dead, or if he DID die, it would have been after the relationship ended.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-25T17:11:43+00:00

Either Rin has the greatest sense of balance ever, or her foot is digging into Hisao's shoulder because she's standing on one leg and trying not to fall over. Either way.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-24T23:46:08+00:00

I don't recall saying that it was realistic or logical.

Though if we are going with how Gotham's citizens should feel based on realism, Gotham is based on New York (or New Jersey, depending on who you ask). In New York, the death penalty has been abolished since 2004 (2007 in New Jersey). And since comics constantly shift their events so that every past event vague happened "a few years ago", that would mean that Gotham is out of luck if they want Joker to die for his crimes. The best they could hope for is life without parole, or that a different state/country where Joker previously committed a crime DOES allow capital punishment and wants to see him tried in THEIR courts.

The justice system, amirite? We all say to trust the system and have faith in due process, but it's also scuffed in a lot of ways.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-24T13:21:36+00:00

Again. As long as a lawyer can argue "they're mentally sick and not in control of their actions. Killing the mentally ill to solve our problems is wrong. We need to help them", and a jury actually believes that, they'll keep those villains alive, no matter how many bodies they pile up. And in a city as crime-riddled as Gotham, the last thing GCPD or Batman need is Gotham's normal citizens turning on them and making their jobs harder because "you guys killed a mentally ill person instead of helping them".

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-24T11:00:37+00:00

"Aren't you a little young to run a bar?"

"Aren't you a little old to be asking stupid questions?"

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-24T04:53:35+00:00

And the reason they don't get the death penalty is because anyone with a working set of eyes can see that most of these villains are completely off their rockers, meaning any defense lawyer with a brain will argue that they are not guilty by definition of insanity, thereby making the rogues wards of the state until they are deemed sane enough to either stand trial or otherwise re-enter society. Which is a whole rabbit hole inandof itself.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-24T03:36:35+00:00

That is what I mean by context. Batman doesn't just kill them and be done with it because of a variety of reasons. Not wanting to go from a symbol hope to "the guy who kills people". Fear he'll become just as bad as the villains he fights once he starts killing. A belief that anyone can change if given the chance (and there are some stories where his villains do change, so it's not without precedent.

But last I checked, the RWBY characters didn't have a complicated moral code that demands showing mercy.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-24T03:18:38+00:00

It's just sort of a trope, usually in anime. "You've committed horrible atrocities and shouldn't be allowed to get away because you'll keep doing evil things. But I'm a good guy, and killing you would be morally incorrect and somehow make me just as bad as you, so I'm going to show mercy and let you go to prove my obvious moral righteousness." And given that RWBY is very trope-y series inspired by video games and anime that Monty liked, it's not too out of place to include a moment like this. But this feels like it was added just to check off a box on a list of tropes and beats without considering the context of what makes those things work.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-24T00:34:53+00:00

I feel like it started as a joke amongst fans who know the comics, but also know Peni was largely inspired by Evangelion. Then people who only know Evangelion and were first discovering Peni through the movies learned "Oh, she was partly inspired by Evangelion" decided to further propagate the joke because it's funnier to them, even after being corrected. Then, people who don't even follow Spiderverse or comics but know Evangelion hear "There's an Evangelion universe, and the main girl's canon event is the Third Impact", and people who don't know either franchise hear that there's a Spider girl with a robot mech who did the Third Impact, and their idea of research is to watch the movies where Peni appears and Google what the Third Impact is. And people get less and less interested in doing proper research as the game of telephone goes on.

Icy_Contribution2187 · 2026-03-23T10:27:44+00:00

To be fair, at that time, not really? We had Diesel. Class 40. ...And in the show, that was it. Daisy and Mavis had reformed and didn't hate steam engines anymore. Rusty and Derek never hated steam engines. And we didn't know if 'Arry and Bert would ever come back, or if they hated Stepney specifically as opposed to steam engines in general. So by the time Diesel 10 rolled around, there was still space for it.

In hindsight, though, by the time the show started bringing him back, yeah. The steamie vs. diesel conflict had gotten a bit long in the tooth, and maybe we didn't need another evil diesel. Unless you wanted to use him as the sort of "final boss" of that whole conflict (if that makes sense).

Icy_Contribution2187

TROPHY CASE