via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
Jules of Nature
$LAYYYTER
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PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
styofa doing anything
Mike Driver
Not today Justin
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Today's Document
i don't do bad sauce passes
wallacepolsom
will byers stan first human second
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
trying on a metaphor
AnasAbdin
Keni

Product Placement

shark vs the universe
Peter Solarz

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@dnmeinster
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
As I’ve written about before, American democracy is currently in a decline that has the potential to lead to an authoritarian state or…
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
via Stories by D. N. Meinster on Medium
Midterm elections rarely work out well for the incumbent President. This century, only once, in 2002, did the President’s party pick up…
For most of the last decade, it felt like Warner Bros. was playing catch up when it came to establishing a cinematic universe for its DC…
Game of Thrones Runs Into the How I Met Your Mother Problem
It was 2006 and How I Met Your Mother had barely been on the air for a season, but the producers were already thinking about the ending. You see, each episode included Ted Mosby’s son and daughter sitting on a couch and reacting as their father narrated that week's plotline, which was all supposed to be leading up to how he met their mother. But after just a year, the kids were looking noticeably older. Though they didn't know how long the series would last, the showrunners already knew what they wanted for an ending, and it included keeping those kids at the same relative age they were at the time. So, in what must have been considered a wise move, they filmed the ending before the second season concluded. And they kept it in a vault for the duration of the show.
Eight years passed, nine seasons were ordered, and finally, that ending would see the light of day. There was only one problem. It was 2014 and so many events had transpired on the show that it didn't really fit. The showrunners must have recognized this, as they even cut together an alternate ending that made it to the DVD. But they forged ahead with their original end and left fans...mildly disappointed. It might've worked if we only got four seasons, maybe even six. But it no longer worked and they used it anyway, because that had been the plan and they decided to stick with it.
Enter Game of Thrones. When it first aired in 2011, there were five George R. R. Martin books for the showrunners, Benioff and Weiss, to work with, and two more were on the way. Martin told them the general direction things were headed, but he had years to finish the books with which they could base their series off of. But, after several years passed, Martin was nowhere close to actually finishing the next book, while Game of Thrones had caught up with what had already been published.
With no publication date, and an indefinite hiatus improbable, Benioff and Weiss forged ahead with the show without a text to base it off. They knew the general plot points Martin wanted to hit and took it from there.
Of course, working from bullet points is a lot different than adapting a fully developed novel. There are no scenes, no dialogue, and no nuance with which to work with. Each episode has to include a major plot point, not a segment of a book that's leading up to something. And when looking at how many plot points are left, maybe 13 episodes seemed like a reasonable amount of time to wrap up the series. It wasn't.
Still, Game of Thrones' major error wasn't having too few episodes. It was sticking with an ending that did not work for the series. Daenerys becoming the Mad Queen may be Martin's plan, and it might work in the books and feel more earned, but it does not work on television. After spending years with these characters, watching them evolve, seeing them become part of the culture, and rooting for them, we want them to have a sensible, and yes, satisfying, ending.
Sure, this show has thrown in twists and subverted our expectations. But no matter how horrified we were by Ned's death or the Red Wedding, we kept tuning in. Each act made sense, drove the plot forward, and kept us interested. The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones failed to do any of that. And while we may want to blame the writing, it comes down to a single decision to stick with an ending that was planned years ago. And one that was intended for a book, at that.
Daenerys transformation from protagonist literally two episodes prior during the Battle of Winterfell to antagonist is abrupt, nonsensical, and not in keeping with the character we've spent seasons with. It feels slapped on, like it was shot years ago and the show completely outgrew it but they had it in the can and needed things to end this way. If we flashed forward to this scene at the end of season 2 or even 3, maybe it would've made sense. But everything in-between seems disregarded. Daenerys might be violent and entitled, but she's never been genocidal. She'll go to war, burn people with her dragons, but she's never been mad.
We already had a Mad Queen in Cersei. Instead of cowering for parts of the episode, she should have been the one to order Kings Landing burned. And instead of dying in her arms, Jaime Lannister should have seen her give the order and become The Queenslayer. Seasons of character development should have changed him. But we get the same Jaime from seasons ago, like none of it mattered; like it was planned long ago that they die together like that and the showrunners stuck with it.
When starting any story, it's important to have a general idea where it's all going. And I state that as a self-described author. But sometimes things happen over the course of writing a novel that you didn't have planned and the ending changes. It may change more than once. Sticking with the original idea could even be to the detriment of the entire story. That's what happened with How I Met Your Mother. And it's what's happening with Game of Thrones.
I admit I’ve been negligent when it comes to posting regularly on my website. There is little to say about my writing between promotions, and I prefer to focus the spare time I have actually…
Sorting Through Kingdom Hearts III Part 4 - See You In Shibuya
Link to Part 1
Link to Part 2
Link to Part 3
Kingdom Hearts III almost gives us a happy ending. Almost.
For a split second, all of our heroes are hanging out on the beaches of the Destiny Islands, including both Sora and Kairi, who are sitting together on that well-known tree branch. As they lean in close to each other, suddenly Sora disappears. Um...WHAT?
Why did he disappear? Where did he go? Was he ever really there to begin with? And what about Kairi? Was she really there?
What follows is mostly speculation, but then again, most of the others posts have been just that, though with better evidence.
Let's start with Kairi. Was she really on Destiny Islands along with everyone else? We see her murdered in the Keyblade Graveyard, because unfortunately the series has turned her into the perpetual victim. But, as we already know, the dead don't necessarily stay dead in Kingdom Hearts. Literally all the Guardians of Light are returned to life in this game. Including her.
So Kairi already died once and came back. Did she do it again?
Yes, of course, but with Sora's help. After Master Xehanort is defeated, Sora goes off to rescue Kairi. We'll get to the details of that in a moment, but Kairi's appearance can only mean that Sora was successful.
What else indicates that Kairi was sufficiently rescued? Namine. Her revival in Hollow Bastion is shown, and she is with every else on Destiny Islands. As we know, her heart resided within Kairi since the end of KH2. It only briefly left when Kairi died the first time. Where did it go? The Final World.
"I was in Kairi’s heart, but then we were struck by a powerful darkness...and I woke up here.”
When Kairi died the second time, Namine's heart once again returned to the Final World. And what happened? Exactly what Namine described the first time:
“Kairi is where I came from. So when she’s safe again, Kairi is where I’ll return.”
So, once Sora rescued Kairi (again), Namine's heart returned to Kairi (again) and then her heart was placed into a replica. Namine's existence confirms that Kairi survived. But what did it cost Sora?
Young Master Xehanort warns Sora about diving into the abyss, presumably where he has to go to save Kairi:
"That heartless you’ve been fighting. It’s not like other heartless. It exists to usher hearts down to the depths of darkness. If you chase it, you will condemn your heart to that same abyss...What do you think the power of waking is? It’s for traversing hearts to reach worlds, not for traversing worlds to reach hearts. There’s a high price to pay for wielding such power foolishly...There’s no saving you. You’ve paid the price, and it lies at the bottom of the abyss.”
But Sora goes there anyway and apparently sacrifices himself to bring Kairi back to the World of Light. And that image of him right before the credits roll is probably Kairi's imagination. Sigh.
We don't have any clue to where Sora might have gone to until the secret movie after the credits. Sora is looking pretty realistic (with fingernails!) and, as the world around him is revealed, we see that it's Shibuya from the World Ends With You. The best hanging thread from Dream Drop Distance has finally been pulled. Neku telling Sora “See you in Shibuya” was not just a pleasantry.
So, it's likely that Sora died, but instead of being sent to The Final World, this time he enters the Reaper's game. (Could it be because of Luxord's card?) We might not be getting a direct TWEWY sequel, but this is the next best thing.
Speaking of, the secret movie also includes Riku ending up in another world not dissimilar to our own. It's the world of Ventus Rex, aka FF Versus XIII. Nomura might be cramming both games Square won't let him make into KH3.5. I'm excited for it!
Joining both of them in the secret movie is the Master of Masters, whose apprentices appear in the post-credit epilogue. It seems that they're setting up a Sora vs. Apprentices future. Why? Well, guess you'll have to play Union Cross or watch one of those Youtube summaries if you want a clue. I really don't like how they're tying the mobile game into the main series, given how unbearable I felt playing it was when it came out. But maybe they'll at least give us another movie or release a PS4 version.
Where does the Kingdom Hearts series go from here? Well, we know there's Final Mix DLC coming. And the secret movie hints at where 3.5 or 4 will take us. It seems certain that the Master of Masters will be the primary antagonist going forward, along with at least some of his apprentices. And we're not done with many of the Organization's original members, especially Xigbar. Plus, the Book of Prophecies will undoubtedly come into play, and maybe we'll have boss battles with Maleficent and Pete again when it does.
It could be a while until we get our next KH game, be it a Ventus Rex/TWEWY mash up or an Unchained Key/Union Cross HD upgrade. But it's a safe bet that KH4 will be a PS5/next gen game. Hopefully it won't take 13 years to release. And maybe we'll get Star Wars or MCU worlds this time! (Or even Avatar or something now that the Fox merger is complete.)
I've got one more post left, sorting through Nomura's recent interviews and what I got right and wrong in my previous essays. See you then.