Talk:List of Kingdom Hearts references in other media

Dubious references

Skimming over this, I think some of these references are very dubious, like the one for KND and some of the other stuff could more of coincidence than a reference to KH. Thoughts?

Agreed. If you look at the article history, a large number of references were added in the last week or so; it would be a good idea to sift through which ones are actual references and which ones are coincidence or irrelevant. When possible, we should try to have a citation, image, interwiki link, or other form of proof for each entry (if it's not overwhelmingly obvious). —Aid1043 03:09, 12 November 2023 (UTC)

Okay, looking into the ones that got got added by the anonymous user, starting with Archer:

• 1.) Archer checks out, so it can stay.
• 2.) The part about the promo art for Amphibia I get, and I checked the thing about the Cactuar.
• 3.) "Ana on the Edge" by A.J. Sass checks out, too.
• 4.) I think Epic Mickey bit about the key is inaccurate. The key that's mentioned looks nothing like the Destiny's Embrace Keyblade; their designs don't look alike. The creature known as The Blot and its minions, and the stealing the heart part, are similar in concept to what's shown in the KH, so those parts can stay, I think.
• 5.) The Pokémon GO thing, I think, is just reaching on the anon user's part. The sort of quote is used so often in media that it doesn't necessarily be a reference to KH.
• 6.) As a fan growing up on KND, that "reference" is definitely is reaching.
• 7.) OK K.O! Let's Be Heroes checks out. A simple Google Images search pulls up images of the things mentioned.
• 8.) The Big Bang Theory checks out
• 9.) YGO reference is just coincidence and kinda of reaching, I think, especially when we consider how colorful and diverse all their designs are. I don't think whatever resemblance they might bear to KH is an outright reference. Take a look: Key Man the Key Warrior, Gravity Behemoth, and Maestroke the Symphony_Djinn.
• 10.) Dead Fantasy is something I was familiar with, so I know Kairi is there. But it's just a popular fan-made thing, so should it really be mentioned here? Yes, it's cool, but it's still just fan content, not an official work.
• 11.) Death Battle checks out.
• 12.) The Chiodos Bros thing is kinda iffy. While the Wikipedia for the album, "The Heartless Control Everything", had someone put it on the page, there is no source to an interview or anything that confirms that this is meant to be a KH reference.
• 13.) I'm not sure about the WoW when I look it up. The weapon looks more like a staff than a Keyblade, and I can't find anything on the databases that tells me what the weapon actually is/called.

And that concludes the research. What does everyone else think? I don't want to remove anything that's more questionable.--NinjaSheik 05:25, 12 November 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the time to look into that! I agree with you on removing Pokémon GO, KND, YGO, Dead Fantasy, The Chiodos Bros, and WoW, all for the reasons you said. I'd also advocate for removing Epic Mickey entirely: if the Keyblade reference is inaccurate, then I think shadow creatures and hearts aren't worth mentioning, since those are less of a reference and more of a (kind of generic) thematic parallel. —Aid1043 06:44, 12 November 2023 (UTC)

I agree with removing the ones mentioned. I think the Cactuar one isn't really a reference to KH, but to FF. I'm not sure what exactly Death Battle is, but it sounds fan-made, like Death Fantasy (If not, there's also a death battle between King Mickey and Yoda). As for fan-made content, when is something fan-made? Because we also have a song called "The Simple Plot of Kingdom Hearts", which is a more obvious reference than the Heartless album, but I feel like it's also more fan-like than official. I also agree with Aid that we should add more images. TheSilentHero 10:44, 12 November 2023 (UTC)

Agreed with the Epic Mickey thing, Aid1043. I wasn't 100% sold on it, either. Also, I was unsure about the Cactuar thing myself, feeling like it was more of an FF reference than anything, but seeing as the anonymous editor thought it might be referenced to the Cactuar in front of the Galaxy Toys, I wasn't sure if that qualified or not, seeing the creators of the show are fan of both KH and FF. For all we know, it could be both, but I'm fine with its removal. As for Death Battle, I'm not even 100% sure to make of it. According to Google/FANDOM Wiki, it's a web series made by Rooster Teeth Productions, which is an actual animation studio. I've always thought it was more of a fan content thing until I looked it up (I've only heard the name before), so I'm not even sure what this even qualifies under because it is produced by an established company. O_O--NinjaSheik 02:17, 13 November 2023 (UTC)