Kingdom Hearts & acknowledging LGBTQ+ content from Disney source material ReMIX

[Elysium]

But there are other characters who do have them. In addition to Lauriam, there is very obviously Axel, and possibly Aqua.

TBH, Saix always struck me as more likely than Axel until they randomly introduced Mystery Girl whoever. His jealousy of Axel is so extreme, similar to how Riku reacts to Sora's closeness to Kairi and later D&G in the first game.

As for Aqua, she does blush when Zack flirts with her.

 

[WaltK]

Why would Repliku be into Namine when he's supposed to be a replica of a gay boy?

 

[BufferAqua]

Why would Repliku be into Namine when he's supposed to be a replica of a gay boy?

Good point

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Why would Repliku be into Namine when he's supposed to be a replica of a gay boy?

Repliku is his own person. He was also pretty obsessed with Sora. Like full on bitter ex-boyfriend levels of obsessed.

 

[BufferAqua]

I love this thread LOL

 

[WaltK]

So Repliku is bi, I guess?

 

[Darkspawn]

Just make him accidentally reveal that he would have preferred Ephemer over Elrena. And then Elrena zaps him with thundaga for that...

If anything, I think Elrena likely has already picked up on it and just wants to be a supportive ally when he’s ready to come out. She could be ace herself. And for some reason, I think Lauriam would be more likely to have a thing for Brain.

 

[Idreamaboutcats]

If anything, I think Elrena likely has already picked up on it and just wants to be a supportive ally when he’s ready to come out. She could be ace herself. And for some reason, I think Lauriam would be more likely to have a thing for Brain.

Ehh, it looks like Lauriam is way too focused on his sister to even entertain the idea of having anything else with anyone. That said, I could only see Elrena, Brain, and Ephemer in his batting zone, in that order. Brain doesn't because guy got married and had kids and grandkids.

Everyone else:

Meh...and yes, Nomura torpedoed Riku x Naminé, like, years ago. I thought we were all in agreement they'll never be canon and just be fandom ship.

 

[Darkspawn]

Ehh, it looks like Lauriam is way too focused on his sister to even entertain the idea of having anything else with anyone.

I mentioned this in my original post. Just would be nice if they were to find a way to work it in.

 

[Clue.Less]

Oof, how do these threads always devolve so quickly into the same arguments XD

Back on topic. How it could be implemented?

Like in DR with Xehaqus, but just a tiny tiny bit more explicit?

I would love for Riku to meet a boy in Quadratum and have that boy become his official love interest in canon, not just speculation. And then have Nomura be like "Oh come on, he was always gay! You shouldn't be surprised." in an interview.

I think Luca's story would be a good parallel to the SRK trio. With the age difference between SRK and the Luca trio, I think they wouldn't all be friends, but instead something like big brother/sister/role models to Luca, Alberto and Giulia? Maybe they could have either Sora or Riku see right through the younger boys' feelings and reflect on their own childhood / early teen relationship. I wouldn't mind this little journey leading Sora to go talk to Riku afterwards, and acknowledge his (Riku's) feelings, even if they remain friends. Or it could be Riku telling Alberto not to be mean to the person he loves most and that unrequited love is not the end of the world, their friendship matters, too (to which Alberto says, but why would it be unrequited? XD stop projecting, old man!)

In all pessimistic seriousness, I think queer relationships might be dealt with in the same way straight relationships are dealt with in this franchise, i.e. in the background. This said, I do think it's possible that there will be background queer characters or relationships in the not-so-distant future. The only thing that makes me doubt there will be any major changes in that department in KH4 specifically is how poorly queer representation was done in NEO:TWEWY (in my taste).

Might come back later after I've given other Disney IPs a little more thought, but these are my first two cents.

 

[Elysium]

See, that's where I'm different. If they went the course of trying to give Riku a (new) male love interest, then we'd enter a new problem of whether or not the character they came up with would be any good or if they would be as bad as Kairi is, for example. They'd never have the kind of development or foundation that SoRiku would have. There's a part of me that would rather they just keep the status quo the way they've been doing with regards to Sora-Riku-Kairi specifically, because then my mind can simply write the rest from there how I want it.

But in general I would like to see open LGBT portrayals with other characters (both pre-existing ones and new).

 

[Launchpad]

I think delving into explicit romance as a topic would be truly horrible in Kingdom Hearts!! It was occasionally cute when Donald would tease Sora about Kairi, but actual love confessions, kissing, and dating? This series fumbles FRIENDSHIPS badly, I don't want to see them waste valuable screentime on poorly written romance when it would be better spent on Goofy!

 

[Dandelion]

Wasn't this topic supposed to be about KH acknowledging LGBT stuff through the Disney content that has it and not really about the original characters and shipping

 

[BufferAqua]

On the topic of KH acknowledging LGBT characters, I would love for a potential Disney movie to have LGBT characters (and not bomb like Strange World) possibly make it into a KH game, then KH could probably address topics like queer romance.

Obviously this will likely never happen but I can dream lol.

 

[Clue.Less]

Wish looks like a perfect world for KH4 thematically (assuming Asha turns out to be queer, for this to be on topic, but also, in itself it would be a fantastic addition to the franchise).

I could see Sora start this world with a wish to be reunited with his friends, and he would gradually learn that his true wish is to understand his own self, his own strengths, independently from his friends, so that he can return to them a better person. Having a queer sidekick could help him further process his feelings for Riku and Kairi, whatever they are, similar to how talking with Anna and watching the Frozen sisters together makes him reflect on his relationship with Riku in KH3.

Riku and Asha would be a fantastic duo, too.

If post-KH3 Kairi was playable, I could also see Asha and her have great conversations about meaningful relationships (Kairi about Sora) and their deepest Wishes. And defeating the bad guy together as girls who don't need boys. Asha could compare Kairi's thoughts about Sora to some thoughts she'd have about girls. It would just be a matter of a couple lines of dialogue, like Hercules talking about Meg in KH3.

The series does tackle love and friendship a lot so it wouldn't be a stretch to have queer love added to the mix of vague conversations about precious persons and whatnot, if they choose to include those Disney characters. My favorite examples are all the examples Sora witnesses in KH3 + Beast and Belle as witnessed by Roxas in Days (+ Beast in KH1). I'd rather have KH-speak about queer Disney relationships than out of the blue "I am this or that" lines of dialogue.

EDIT: The Baymax series is full of NPCs that would have been perfect to flesh out San Fransokyo in KH3! Too bad it wasn't out at the time I don't see why SE would actively choose to remove LGBTI+ background characters if they are part of the Disney world chosen for their game. They can always edit them out of the Chinese release?

 

[WaltK]

On the topic of KH acknowledging LGBT characters, I would love for a potential Disney movie to have LGBT characters (and not bomb like Strange World) possibly make it into a KH game, then KH could probably address topics like queer romance.

Obviously this will likely never happen but I can dream lol.

I hope Zootopia 2 does more LGBTQ stuff. Whether it be expanding the confirmed gay couple we already have or, preferably, upgrading Clawhauser's sexuality from subtextual to textual.

 

[Rydgea]

While the Disney properties in KH do retain their heteronormative romances (Belle/Beast, Ariel/Eric, the rest of princesses, Mickey/Minnie, etc), it's almost in stark contrast to what KH is willing to explore for OCs, which I'm fine with if it means Riku is never confirmed straight.

But yes, they better retain the same stance with the queer romances if brought into play. As much as I want to see a Strange World world (I'm one of two people here who saw it and liked it?), I don't know that Diazo is important enough to bring into the fold. For all its NPCs, even KHIII didn't seem to incorporate a lot of side characters. Diazo has less screentime than characters like Hans, Phil, Eeyore, and even Mochi, and they were treated with scant acknowledgement or even omitted all together. If he had been more prominent or had gone on the adventure with Ethan, then I might have more hope. Lightyear has a better chance if we focus on the first part of the film, which I don't think they would do.

We're seeing this representation emerge from Disney, but we're still not at the forefront. Disney themselves have mostly moved away from stories with romances and couples spearheading the main narrative. As far as WDAS goes, I've missed a few, but was the last one Tangled? I know Anna and Kristoff are a thing, but they feel secondary to Elsa's story or Elsa and Anna's story. We need a classic romance like Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast BUT GAY to really secure the possibility of the couple, the queerness being noticed when playing KH through that world.

 

[BufferAqua]

We need a classic romance like Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast BUT GAY to really secure the possibility of the couple, the queerness being noticed when playing KH through that world.

I do miss romantic focused stories in Disney because I’m such a romance nut, but only really if it’s a queer romance because that DEFINITELY needs to be explored.

 

[Rydgea]

I do miss romantic focused stories in Disney because I’m such a romance nut, but only really if it’s a queer romance because that DEFINITELY needs to be explored.

I've warmed up to the genre, now that there's more diversity out there, but I'd always loved the Disney stuff, despite the classic formula.

I'm not huge fan of the Frozen property, but I remember the queer community getting pushback from the straights for hoping that Frozen II would be Elsa's coming out journey. It would have been the perfect move by Disney. It's popularity is already absurd, it makes total sense for the character and the conservative straights can have their headcanon and pretend the sequel doesn't exist (like I do with the 90s cheapquels). Now, I still haven't seen the sequel, but I would had that been the case. She's not just a lead, not just major Disney Princess, but a classic Hans Christian Anderson character.

And yes, I see the importance in having (strong, female leads, particularly, in) non-romance-centered films. I do. But when we already had heroines like Alice, Merida, Mary Poppins, etc. prior and characters like Maribel since, we can afford to explore this new thing which hasn't yet been.

 

[WaltK]

People are speculating that the main character in Wish will be queer because her VA is. I'm personally putting my bets on Elio, with its openly gay director, being more likely to have some overt representation.