Happy 4th anniversary!! (ch238 commentary)

Thhhhheerreee's no special anything going on this anniversary

I mean. I can say I've finished Dead Inside though! And we're only like.... 8 chapters from it all being posted (so like another month haha.... ha.....)

IN OTHER NEWS I wanna recommend you all a fun story called the Ballad of Edgardo

I can't describe it any better than the tumblr post does:

A story that happened to an anonymous RPer years ago.
Anyone will be able to appreciate it (and trust me, you will), but if you are kinsmen or kinswomen to me, if you ever had to experience the shittiest of RP forums and their terrible userbases, particularly that one guy that does whatever he wants and is an asshole that clearly godmods but gets away with it because the actual mods don’t give a damn, you will find the beauty behind the ballad that much brighter.
Just trust me on this one. It’s not a particularly long read, either.
I hope you enjoy The Ballad of Edgardo

Read it here. Trust me. You won't regret it.

Now, have a FtPverse 4th Anniversary Celebratory Mix

FtPverse - the mix from rarmaster on 8tracks Radio.

Tracklist here, and I have sources for the Namine pic (which you should remember from the Meltdown Project), and the Roxas pic--the rest of the pictures, which you should know, are either official or drawn by me. Except that SoKai pic which I still can't find a source for.

Most of the tracks in here are kinda vague and more related to Dead Inside than anything else, but after making all the soundtracks (which you can get quick links to on the soundtrack page) I didn't feel the need to include obvious songs in this mix like "Breakeven" or..... whatever I would've put in for Riku ("Rebirthing" or... maybe something Linkin Park??)

I'm also going to take a moment to promote the FtPverse's Official Tumblr. Why? Because it has a dang good tag system (as in I actually took the time to tag separate books + am not embarrassed to tag pics as characters because it's not my personal blog)

You don't have to follow it. But please, please keep it in mind if you're ever in the mood to browse FtPverse related material

Anyway, Chapter Time



read ch238

ch238's tumblr tag

I had trouble getting Vexen to fully say “that did come back to bite me in the butt”—namely, I had trouble getting Vexen to say “butt”

It’s a good thing “that did come back to bite me” still makes sense

There was supposed to be a thing about "Riku's darkness should be fine so long as it's not fluctuating", fluctuating indicating that it was very alive

but the note wasn't flowing right and there was a bit where Vexen was like "yeah Riku's fine" but as he watches the screen he sees the darkness levels fluctuating--not much, like from 7 to 9 to 8 to 6 to 7 to 10--except it wasn't clear and it was also one of those things that would've looked better had this been animated

But alas

AND BEFORE I FORGET 

I know. I know I keep changing my mind on the darkness and Replicas thing. But then I realized...

It made more sense for Riku to be an exception to the rule, rather than to keep changing the rule so that it applies to him.

Darkness under very normal circumstances cannot affect Replicas, but if it does, it’s not a good thing and is incredibly deadly. I’m sure there are probably a couple earlier Vexens in magik’s universe that may not have the protocols in them because Vexen didn’t realize it mattered right away but? I don't know that for certain, seeing as it's not my universe

(I do know there aren’t any Replicas alive in my universe that don’t have the protocols because that would likely be something my Vexen figured out with his first Program and corrected then. if not, it wouldn’t be any Replicas past 6 that didn’t have the protocols)

I actually had a huge rant explaining how Riku was the exception to the rule but. Hey. it got explained canonically for once isn’t that great.

BUT I MEAN IT MAKES SENSE HE’S THE EXCEPTOIN, DOES IT NOT? considering why he was built plus the likeliness of him being incredibly rushed, well…. 

Plus, like Vexen said

He figured it might hamper his abilities to wield the darkness, and it was Real Thing’s ability to wield the darkness that drove Vexen to replicate him.

It was one of the abilities he admired most in Riku, he just couldn’t get Riku himself to join him so he made a Replica instead.

(or at least that’s how it worked in the manga. I think in the game Vexen didn’t even bother asking Riku to help he just went straight to the Replica building)

Ch238: An Example of Vexen’s Insistence to Refer to People by their Proper Titles

(tbh he probably calls Ansem the Wise Ansem the Wise every time without fail—though I suppose if Ansem’s king then King Ansem would be an alternative. Or perhaps Master Ansem? Not sure)

“Kids” is not the right word and not even Vexen feels comfortable calling Riku and Kairi and Namine and Sora kids

But listing all their names takes up a lot of space and I’d rather not

I wasn’t initially sure if Mickey knew Riku was a Replica and so this went in my notes:

            “can’t you fix him up?”

Mickey has obviously come to the conclusion along here that Riku is a Replica and doesn’t have to say/be told outright

Then again I think Vexen mentioned Riku’s data earlier and he can only assume from there?? THOUGH HE MAY ASK FOR FURTHER CLARIFICATION BEING AS OLDFASHIONED AND NOT TECHSAVVY AS HE IS

(he’s certainly not Replica savvy)

Acutally never mind omf Vexen just said “flaw in the way I built him” idk how you get any more obvious than that

Vexen’s only being careful with technological terms because Mickey deserves that respect, y’know?

If Mickey were more violent, he would’ve kicked over a chair or something upon realizing that Xehanort was coming back. Trust me. He was not happy.

So I typed “Xehanot” instead of Xehanort--now just imagine like canon!Sora coming up with a pun like then "more like you're Xehanot" or something..... ha....

(all I can think of is Sokka tbh "looks like Long Feng is Long GONE!")

I always feel REALLY uncomfortable mentioning that Mickey has a tail. WHICH IS SO DUMB I know I just. I always get a very vivid image of it twitching when he's pacing but I can never bring myself to write that down in story even though everyone knows he's a mouse

It still really confuses me that canonically that Mickey’s response to learning that Xehanort was coming back is just like “well okay me and Sora can take care of him no big deal”
and it isn’t until Yen Sid goes OH YEAH AND HE’S BRINGING AN ARMY OF HIMSELF that Mickey goes alskfjLJERLASJF

(he jumped up and slammed his hands on Yen Sid’s desk and then I think he’s too short to actually see over the desk meaning he just kinda held himself there probably?? I love Mickey. I love the fact that he jumped like halfway across the room to slam his hands on Yen Sid’s desk. Omg)

Anyway tbh here it’s less anger upon learning about Xehanort’s inevitable return but then it’s just. panic. ill-contained panic.