#kh4 prerelease

okay so basically the day the trailer dropped i was busy and then the day after was my birthday (early birthday gift i guess lol) but now that i have the time/energy it's time to ramble!!

Okay, first things first, I saw someone repost this- Which is wild because the day the trailer dropped I was talking to my brother like "That figure definitely looks more feminine than the ones in the last trailer, this is a new person. Pretty much all the main characters are in KH3's world, not Quadratum, so who would be missing..? Ava wasn't there when the other foretellers were called back at the end of KH3." So, looks like I guessed it before I saw this confirmation, cool!

Okay, at first, I had no idea who this was. My memory of Dark Road characters is a bit blurry, so at first I was confused and thought, well, the jacket looks similar to Yozora?? But what's with the mask?? Turns out there is an answer for that, too.

(Really liked this little character info sheet I saw in this post.) (Spoilers ofc,) but most characters from Dark Road are dead. And this world is an afterlife, so it is very possible for those characters to return.

Speaking of Dark Road..

Okay. So, initially, I wasn't really feeling much seeing this, as it's not much of a surprise given there's been multiple art pieces of Xehanort like this:

So, it did seem pretty natural to assume Xehanort would appear in some form in Quadratum, though I admit it does make me wonder where Eraqus would be, since they sort of moved on and died together at the end of KH3. Really, it's very difficult, when most of Xehanort's character development comes from a chibi mobile game I've heard no news about them making into an actual game with voice acting that people are more likely to play and be familiar with-- So, I am excited. I think Xehanort being in this game will give a lot of opportunity for character development for him. Especially given some of the translation errors in his previous dialogue in the mainline games. I don't know where he'll go from here. But seeing him there, presumably to support Sora, is very interesting. I don't know if this is a one-off moment, or if he'll become a main character, having reunited with his dead friends in this afterlife and learning from his past mistakes. I don't know how I'd feel about a Xehanort redemption given all he's put the main characters through.. but, like with all villains, I am always interested in them being given more depth to explain why they are the way they are. + Young Xehanort is my favorite version/character design for him, and it looks like they're giving him fluffy hair in KH4 which makes me very happy after the crime they committed flattening Terra's hair in KH3 :)

Anyway, onto the other frames!

It's obvious this one's Luxord, though I admit something about his face kinda threw me off at first.. (Some images of him in KH3 for comparison)

oh my god i think part of why it threw me off so much is because he's so much more white when his previous models were like, nearly orange tan LMAO

Given the way he was teased to have a connection to Quadratum and Yozora in KH3, this is also natural, though I am very much questioning how the hell he got here, given that he should be in KH3's world right now. I do still wonder what that card he gave Sora is for, given that he said it "might turn the tides" or something along those lines. I kind of assumed that might be his main connection to Sora for the time being, or that he would have some insight to give the KH3 characters on what Quadratum is/where Sora is. Maybe fill them in, give them updates on how Sora's doing? I dunno. Luxord's always had, well.. not much going on. Anger about being in the lower ranks and shut out from information in the higher ranks, but that's about all I can think of off the top of my head. It'll be interesting to see him given more of a role in the story. And, hell, Demyx is still very fucking vague and nowhere to be seen. He was in the group of nobodies hinted to have a connection to important shit, we knew Marluxia and Larxene were connected to KHUX in the past, and we saw hints of Luxord being connected to Quadratum, could it be that Luxord and Demyx are a pair in the same way Marluxia and Larxene are? Is it possible that both Luxord and Demyx have connections to Quadratum? Plus, if Demyx got mind-wiped as what often happens in this series, it would explain why Demyx seems so clueless and lacking in valuable information, despite supposedly having connections to deep lore. Perhaps Luxord retained his memories, somehow, while Demyx doesn't remember much about his past connections to Quadratum.

It seems like popular theory going around is that this could be Sigurd, and/or one of Brain's descendants.

I'll be real, I love this KH4 design, but he does also have a very punchable face indeed with that overconfident look lol. Still, I'm excited to learn more about him.

If I remember correctly, the voice in the first KH4 trailer was also speculated to be Sigurd based on matching voice actors, so I suppose it's not much of a surprise, but still interesting to see where things will go. Sigurd is, unfortunately, very vague as a character, we don't have much to go off of, especially after Missing Link was cancelled. I have my hopes Missing Link may be remade into a proper console/steam release, and hopefully that can give us more information on him. From what we knew, it seems he was going to guide Brain in Missing Link, given that Brain basically time-travelled to a world he was completely unfamiliar with. So, it seems like he may also have a guiding role for Sora, potentially. Though given his main teaser being that overconfident appearance, he might be a bit smug/annoying/taunting about it lol.

sora's smartwatch closeups.

also im pretty sure he has a bluetooth headset in his right ear like player did in khml