Rae Shows off her Kingdom Hearts Collection

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Jackie: The first thing that came to my mind when I saw your photo was the tattoo. It jumped out at me. Is it permanent?

Rae: Yes, it is permanent! I am actually working on getting a second tattoo of Kingdom Hearts. It’s going to be a half sleeve consisting of all the Kingdom Hearts games.

Kayla (from the previous photo posting) is a friend of mine and she’s designing the tattoo. That’s what she has gotten done so far.

Jackie: Wow, I wish Kayla told me about her design work (in the previous interview).

That’s amazing. This new design looks like a larger design compared to the one on your arm. Where do you plan to put it?

Rae: Actually, the one in the picture is actually my left thigh.

Jackie: Oh! Sorry, my mistake.

Rae: The half sleeve is going to go on my arm; it’s going to go from the top of my shoulder to right above my elbow. I wanted something that combined all the different Kingdom Hearts games into one tattoo so I went on Deviantart to commission someone to design the tattoo for me. And that’s how I found her. The tattoo is going to wrap all the way around my arm.

Jackie: It’s a brilliant idea.

Rae: But the art that she has done is kind of large and it will be shrunk down a little when it’s tattooed–I am very excited to get it tattooed! It’s going to be my 21st birthday present to myself.

Jackie: Happy early birthday, then! Did you commission the design on your thigh as well?

Rae: I made that design myself! I got the idea from the design that is on the back of my PSP when I preorderd Birth by Sleep. I thought it was a good way to represent all the Kingdom Hearts games into one design.

Jackie: It sure is. All those symbols have a special meaning. I’m sure if our readers look closely, they’ll recognize all of them. Very cool.

Rae: Yes, I loved designing it and I even made a similar design except with Final Fantasy symbols and it’s tattooed on my right thigh.

Jackie: Are you a FF fan first or KH fan first?

Rae: KH FAN FIRST ALL THE WAY. No doubt.

Jackie: I really love those blankets in your photo. I’ve never seen those for sale before! How did you get a hold of them?

Rae: I have three Kingdom Hearts blankets now. I ran out of room to put the third one in there (on the bed). Awhile ago I worked at a store called Hot Topic, and for awhile there they sold quite a bit of Kingdom Hearts merchandise. From blankets to shirts to jewelry. Since I worked there it felt like every day was Christmas because I got to see all the products before anyone else did.
That’s how I got my Kingdom Hearts blankets and shirts.

Jackie: I’m sure if I had them, I don’t think I’d spend much time sleeping–I’d be too preoccupied admiring the handiwork. (laughs)

Rae: Yes, they look amazing and they keep you nice and cozy, too.

Jackie: You have an assortment of necklaces too. Do you wear them out often? Or only for special occasions?

Rae: I do try to wear them often. The Keyblade necklace (the one next to the KH crown necklace) I wear instead as a bracelet. Lately, I’ve been wearing the golden Keyblade necklace. You can try checking your local Hot Topic store! They’re on clearance right now.

Jackie: Obviously, you have all the North American Kingdom Hearts releases; which is your favourite game?

Rae: Oh gosh…I would have to say Kingdom Hearts 2! But Birth by Sleep is a very close second. I love all the combos that you get in KH2, and all the new additions they made since the first game. When the game first came out, I would stay up until 4am because I didn’t want to stop playing…it was addictive.

I am actually replaying the game again right now!

Jackie: I was under the same spell! Drive forms were a blast!

Rae: I absolutely loved the forms! Especially when you got to use more than one Keyblade like with Valor and Final!

Jackie: Have you finished Re:Coded?

Rae: Yes! The ending made me cry… My husband looked at me and asked, “Are you seriously crying?” (laughs)

The only game I haven’t finished is Re:Chain of Memories. I beat Sora’s Story but I’m still working on Riku’s.

Jackie: Re:Coded has gotten a lot of heat for being an insignificant addition to the series, and it’s a trend that fans apprehensively believe may continue for a long time. What would you say to defend Re:Coded from accusations that it’s a throw-away game? Perhaps you could tell us what makes it worth playing.

Rae: I found the game to be a challenge! I don’t know if it’s because I beat the game at a low level but Re:Coded had a different twist when compared to the other Kingdom Hearts games. I can see how people would say it’s an insignificant addition to the series. But to me, it’s a Kingdom Hearts game! And any Kingdom Hearts game is worth playing!

I mean if you can suffer through the annoying card battle system in Chain of Memories, then you can play this game (I beat Sora’s Story in Chain of Memories at level 85, by the way).

Re:Coded isn’t that long of a game compared to the other games in the series.

Jackie: Was there a story element that surprised you in Re:Coded?

Rae: Well, one thing for sure, I was kind of surprised when the game ended. Normally, in the games, I’m all: “Okay, I must be close to the ending!” When truth be told I wasn’t!

The only element of surprise that I had was in the fact that you go to Castle Oblivion again. You visit a couple of worlds, and when you’re done with that world, Sora doesn’t remember them. But the Castle Oblivion part was really fun!

Each world had 3 different ways the story could turn out. So it was a cool kind of challenge trying to get the different endings. But I must say the ending battles in this game really kicked my butt! I think it had to be because I beat the game at such a low level, I beat the game only at level 38…

Jackie: Alternate endings is definitely a new addition to the series. It would be pretty cool if that were to continue in future games.

Thank you for sharing, Rae! I enjoyed chatting with you! Next week, we return to the normal guest blog series from a highly acclaimed blogger…don’t miss it!