Kingdom Hearts 3: Potential Playable Characters

*Spoiler Warning*

(I will be letting loose some of the plot and storyline from Dream Drop Distance so if you do not want the ending or any part of it ruined for you please do not read)

I am a massive fan of Kingdom Hearts. When the game was first announced I was like many people and felt that this was a joke. A Final Fantasy style of game with Disney characters? You have to admit that does sound a bit iffy from an initial perspective. But like everyone else that picked up the games I just fell in love with them. The story, the characters, the worlds and quite frankly the idea.

Today I make this Blog to talk about who I think we could potentially see as playable characters in the forthcoming and potential end to the Kingdom Hearts series, Kingdom Hearts 3. Lets get this party started!

Character #1: Sora

Now Kingdom Hearts wouldn't even be Kingdom Hearts without Sora. He is the main character that started it all back in Kingdom Hearts 1 and it is pretty much set in stone that we can see him again in the next game. However I hope this time around Sora's character starts to get a little bit more serious. In the Dream Drop Distance he was much more like a damsel in distress rather than an epic hero when it came to the end of the story. So if anything he needs to spend the game re-cooperating and turning into the hero we want him to be. Can we expect any new moves and techniques? I damn well hope so! In the most recent game we saw that Sora had more power over the power of Light, if he can develop his powers with some training then we can see some epic and damn right devastating attacks coming from this spiky haired hero.

Character #2: Riku

If Sora is the character that has the power of both Friendship and Light by his side, then Riku is his polar opposite. Still utilizing on the power of his friends Riku is going to be a formidable force in the next game. His character has progressed really far through the series and I have enjoyed seeing him utilize his powers of the Darkness to defeat his foes, showing that both Light & Dark can be used for justice. Now as of Dream Drop Distance, Riku is the Keyblade Master and now has a lot of new expectations. We could expect new moves, new Darkness powers and potentially a new haircut. Like Sora i just hope there is room in the game for his character to develop further and maybe going through a similar deal as Terra from Birth By Sleep where he contradicts himself as to where he stands in the battle against Light & Dark.

Character #3: Kairi

Okay now here we get to see the badass side of Kairi. In Kingdom Hearts 2 we saw that she could wield a Keyblade, that in itself was awesome and unexpected. Then out of nowhere at the Ending of Birth By Sleep it was shown that Kairi is one of the Guardians of pure light. Now the interesting thing will be what kind of character Kairi will be. I'm expecting her to be a Summoner character like Yuna out of Final Fantasy X. I can picture her having a relatively short range keyblade but have exceptional skills when it comes to using summons. It would also give a reason to bring back Stitch, Mushu, Bambi, Tinkerbell & Genie as Summons plus possibly adding into the mix either more Disney characters as summons or even bring in Final Fantasy summons. Now i would love to see Kairi summoning Bahamut and casting Mega Flare on a boss.

Character #4: Ventus

Ven is an interesting story. So at the end of Birth By Sleep he had successfully destroyed his Darkness counterpart Venitus and the X-Blade. However he was trapped in a weird world, kind of like the world Sora was trapped in when it came to Dream Drop Distance. We last saw Ven with a smile on his face but he was in Castle Oblivion with a lifeless body. His introduction into the game could be where Sora has to revisit Castle Oblivion to save Ven and as he goes through the Castle he explores and gets understand more of Ven's past and his memories. Regardless of how he comes into play in the next game, Ven will be a great additional to the playable roster.

Character #5: Terra

As it would be a good idea to have Sora save Ven, it would also be a great idea to have Riku save Terra. The reason why is because they are very much alike. All they want to do is save and protect their friends and will go to any lengths to become stronger. They both had a similar experience where the darkness became them, Terra was the vessel for Xehanort and Riku was effectively the Vessel for Ansem. Putting aside how he should be added into the roster, Terra would be good to have as a heavy hitter Keyblade wielder. Mostly using brutal, in your face attacks to get the job done. Could possibly see him use some darkness powers to his advantage but I'm not sure if that's a good idea since Riku is firmly set as the real Master over the power of Darkness.

Character #6: Aqua

Aqua is going to be an interesting story when it comes to Kingdom Hearts 3. We last saw her trapped in the realm of Darkness at the end of Birth By Sleep talking to a mysterious man in a black coat (who I think judging by the moustache is Ansem the Wise). Now she could be saved by Kairi and this is why it would work well. Aqua & Kairi are the conscience of their friends. Kairi is always telling Sora & Riku to get along and to fight with each other whilst Aqua is more of the mother figure for Terra & Ven, making sure that they are out of trouble and not causing mischief. By having Kairi saving Aqua you get to have a unique moment where aqua can truly feel Kairi's love for her friends and vise versa. Aqua will be a dominant magic user in the game and would probably have some of the more beautiful attacks out of the other characters on this list.

Character #7: King Mickey

Ah yes the first Disney character we could see ourselves playing as in the next game, the one, the only, the King: Mickey Mouse. His first real appearance in the series was with Kingdom Hearts 2 where we saw a much deeper side of Mickey and see how passionate he is about keeping the piece between worlds. My favourite part is when he thinks Goofy is dead and goes all serious mode (now that's epic Mickey). As for his fighting style we can see a lot of fast pace jumping around attacks as well as magic that will mostly consist of probably status effects and positioning spells that help mickey move around easier and faster. We can definitely expect this mouse to make a serious step on the series.

Character #8: Donald Duck

We can expect Donald to have a roll somewhere in the game whether its back to being Sora's magic wielding ally or even being his own character this time around. It would be an interesting twist to suddenly play as Donald. Weak attacks but complete dominant magical prowess. Aqua is good with magic but for donal his magic attacks would be huge! Possibly using new magic spells such as Meteo, Flare, Ultima and of course the elemental Ja spells (Curaja, Firaja, Blizzaja & Thundaja). It would be awesome to have Donal as a playable character but even if he came back as a sidekick character it would still be well received.

Character #9: Goofy

Similar to Donald Duck, we can expect Goofy to make an appearance one way or another in the game. Of course having Goofy as the shield wielding, heavy hitter would be awesome but just think of the possibilities of Goofy as a playable character. He would be the king of combo's, taking on opponents one by one in one big combo stretch and then ending the combo with either a massive uppercut or a debilitation charge attack. This would make him unique and fantastic to play as however I think it is more likely that we will see Goofy as a sidekick this time around.

Character #10: Lea/Axel

Okay who doesn't love Axel? Over the course of the games from Chain of Memories up till now he has had one huge road of character progression, ranging from the cocky evil character in Organisation XII to now becoming a promising ally to the team of heroes. At the end of Dream Drop Distance we saw Lea saying that he wanted to become a keyblade master but still hasn't managed to wield a keyblade. That is until he puts his hand out in front of him and BAM! Now he is a keyblade wielder. This is the reason why he is placed on this list, not just was the appearance of his keyblade unpredictable but the character itself is also unpredictable. Axel could end up being a channelling character, using either his melee attacks or magic attacks with so much more force than anyone else, kind of like how he used that explosive attack during Kingdom Hearts 2 on the Nobodies. It would be unlikely but damn would it be awesome to see Lea as a playable character when it comes to the fight against his friend Saix/Isa.

There you go people, the characters I could see as playable character in Kingdom Hearts 3. If you have your own opinions on these characters or anyone else I haven't touched on then please leave a comment.

Until next time guys this is That Guy With The Trilby.............Signing Off.

Comic Book To Movie Hero/Villain: Silver Surfer

Welcome to the first post in a series of posts named 'Comic Book To Movie Hero/Villain'. These are blogs explaining my reasons as to why I think these particular comic book stars deserve there own movie adaptation. Lets kick off the series with a major player in the Marvel universe: The Silver Surfer.

Okay so before i go into my reasoning some of you might be shouting at your computer screens saying 'but he was in one of the Fantastic Four movies!'. Your correct, he did appear in the second of the Fantastic Four films, however here is why I did not think Silver Surfer got a good ovation during that film. For one the surfer was portrayed as a man of evil so unless the movie was set before the surfer decides to break away from his masters rule then i personally thought it was wrong to put him in that kind of personality trait. He should have been seen as a non-welcome visitor and that he was simply running from the military because he did not wish to hurt anyone and simply warn them of the coming danger. What we got instead was Mr.Eviltastic, smashing into buildings and creating havoc all over the place until the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom put a stop to him and manage to split him from his board. Its a small gripe with the character in the film but it was big enough to make me write this entire paragraph. So I hope you guys understand what I meant.

So onto the big question Why do I Think The Silver Surfer Deserves His Own Movie? Simple, he is the silver surfer! We've had movies done of: the X-Men a group of mutated individuals fighting for the rights of both humans and mutants, Spiderman everyones favourite webslinger and of course the Fantastic Four a group of four individuals (five if you include Victor Von Doom) that got caught in space during a catastrophic incident which caused them to receive special and awesome powers. The surfer is a different case which Marvel havn't explored yet. His planet of origin got destroyed by the most awesome bad guy in Marvel history (Galactus) and then he was forced to join him and forever be known as his messenger of death. But he manages to break his hold of Galactus and goes from planet to planet helping people in need and stopping Galactus from taking over the universe. You see with every Marvel superhero done so far we have had heroes that defend Earth (Thor is excluded from this list since he also defended his home world) and not had a single hero who is tasked with defending the entire universe. Its like making the Green Lantern movie, except only allowing him to defend the earth from destruction...........oh wait that happened..........DAMN!

But anyway on with my point here, the silver surfers origin story as well as his tragic hero tales of exploring the known universe and stopping Galactus would be an amazing addition to the Marvel movie series. Just think of it people, a massive battle in space featuring the surfer as well as the big reveal of Galactus on the big screen! Now if that's not awesome I dont know what is.

I guess the only real big question now is what kind of style i would like to see it in. Would it be best represented as a Spiderman movie where its more true to the comics than it is to real life? Or would it be best to put it in a real world scenario perspective where the Surfer Could end up saving the space station? Well to be honest I would like to leave that question to you guys, I have my opinions but I want to leave on something that you guys can get involved in.

Until next time guys this'll be That Guy With The Trilby, signing out!

The Dark Knight Rises: My View On Bane

Ah Bane, one of my top 3 Batman villains (the other 2 being The Joker and The Scarecrow). After watching the newest batman film last night I felt as if I should post up my opinions on something involving the film and personally I would like to cover Bane, the new re-imagining of one bad ass super villain.

So before we get into the Movie adaptation of Bane lets look at what the comic books did with this character. Upon Bane's original release into the Batman universe there haven't been that many villains that were physically overpowering. The Joker used comedic twists and henchmen to get his dirty work done and felt like creating havoc in Gotham was only fun if The Batman came to save the day. The Scarecrow is more of a psychological opponent who uses fear inducing gas to place you into your worst nightmare. As for Bane he is the true depiction of power. Jacked up on the substance known as venom causes this ordinary man to be turned into a living breathing powerhouse. Think of The Juggernaught from X-Men only with a Rey Mysterio esc mask. The defining moment of Bane in the comics was when he was one of the first Batman villains to literally kill Batman. His size, strength and darn right brutality almost caused our beloved Dark Night to kick the bucket and that was awesome!

Ok so enough talk about the comics, lets get into the film. Bane was played by Tom Hardy and what a fantastic job he did. Making Bane sound completely malicious and only caring about the job at hand no matter how many people die in his way. His outfit was done really well in this new recreation of the great super villain. His very poise was intimidating regardless of what camera angle or position he was in, the mask on his face was well done showing that he needs it for both life support and for intimidation and finally his attire showed how brutal he was simply wearing a trench coat at times with a bullet proof vest and baggy army man trousers. Whoever was on the team for costume design for this movie really needs some recognition as this is a really good look for a realistic environment version of Bane.

So how was Tom Hardy's performance as Bane? Well in my opinion it was good. There were a few things I personally didn't like about the new Bane. First was his voice, now when I saw Bane in Batman & Robin (I know it was a rubbish film) his performance was spot on. Yes he was heavily miss used but that's the kind of Bane that I'm used to, a Bane that speaks with his actions and not his words. Hearing Bane speak was something I was anticipating but i wasn't anticipating his voice to be.......British? I would think in this visioning of Bane there would be an american or a Latin american style of voice, but still intimidating. When I heard Bane speak within the first portion of the film I wanted to laugh, no seriously I was about to laugh in a packed cinema at one of my favourite Batman villains. But then as the film went on I began to like the voice of Bane. It was intelligent, it was flamboyant and most of all it was menacing. I've always loved villains with British accents since they seem to work naturally well and Bane is a great example of this. His voice truly shows that not just is he a living, breathing, Hulk of a man but also whose done their research and it smart enough to come up with full prove plans for all situations. Second thing I had against Bane was how smart he actually was. I know I keep referring to the comics on this one but its just what I've grown up understanding about this super villain. I liked Bane originally because he was smart enough to make plans and the execute them but when it comes to fighting situations he does just that, fight! There were moment in the film where i thought we could have seen much more of Bane's power and dominance in fighting situations. I would have liked to see him beat the crap out of ten of the toughest GCPD cops but what we got was a couple of fight scenes and a lot of scenes of Bane just simply killing people off with no effort what so ever. Now I don't mind that we didn't have a lot of fight scenes involving Bane but I would have like to have seen a seemingly over powered match up against him go horribly wrong.

Apart from those two gripes, I have nothing else but admiration for the character. He is brilliant, from his presence, to his criminal mind and to his dominance over our favourite Dark Assailant. Over all three of the new Batman films I would have to say that Bane is my favourite villain in the series. Joker was amazing don't get me wrong but that's a conversation for another day. I give Tom Hardy and Bane an epic 8/10 for that brilliant performance.

So what's your opinion of Bane in Batman: The Dark Knight Rises? Let me know by placing a comment, it would be nice to know what other people think.

Until next time guys, I hope you enjoyed the read and ill be catching you later on.

The Beginning

Howdy,

Wellp allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dominic Coles, but you can just call me Dom. At the moment I am a computer games design student at Staffordshire University amd im hoping to get into the gaming industry to become a budding Narratologist for video games. In case you dont know, a Narratologist is someone who studies the story of things wether it be books, games, films or anything else for that matter.

Aswell as all this i am also at the head of my very own gaming community. The name of the community is known as 'The Xploder Strategies' and we are recruiting gamers of all backgrounds and skill levels to join us for some damn good fun. If anyone is interested about this let me know.

This blog is mainly gunna consist of gaming related stuff, including my own works. I am currently making my own series of books and i will go into more detail about these books at a later time. For now welcome to my blog and i hope you enjoy the read.