Final Fantasy Friday: Character Crush

/ The Shameful Narcissist

Final Fantasy Friday

One of the best things about being a fangirl or fanboy (though they apparently have nuanced differences beyond suspected gender, which I’ll explain momentarily) is our ability to crush on anyone (and sometimes anything).  Hell, the term “fangirl” is now a verb meaning (among other things) to flail wildly, crush, and/or obsess over a character, and this is one of the areas the two terms have slight differences.

While fanboy and fangirl should only denote the gender that the particular person identifies as, their meanings go a bit beyond.  Fanboys are usually the ones who nitpick, weed out, and formulate theories about their favorite works and characters.  They argue over what’s canon, what’s head canon, what’s non-canonical, and what’s just plain crackpottery/tinfoil.  Fangirls stereotypically freak out and flail over their crushes, write fanfiction, swoon over pictures, and create and disseminate gifs and fore mentioned pictures.  Both fanboys and fangirls cosplay, and fanboys seem to be more connected with fanart as fangirls are connected to fanfiction (this could also be why fanart is held in higher regard than fanfiction, something I continually critique and that you can read more about here).

By these definitions, I am both a fanboy and a fangirl.  The difference is pretty sexist if you ask me, where fanboys are implied to be more interested in the narrative, characters, and foundation whereas fangirls are portrayed as more vapid and insipid.  This is sadly common where things girls and even women like are viewed as less valuable (e.g. fanfiction, romance novels, boy bands, etc.), and they’re often mocked for it.  If they try to be more “fanboyish,” they’re accused of being “fake geek girls,” *rolls eyes* and the accusers will then force them to prove their devotion in ways that would never be demanded if they were male.

So…I got a little bit ranty and venty.

Enough venty to hold all the coffee

My point was being a fan of any type usually means you have at least one crush, and Final Fantasy plays host to so many beautiful people, you have the crème de la crème from which to choose.

With that in mind…

Who is your Final Fantasy character crush?

I really like that this question comes at the heels of last week’s where I talk about my favorite Zelda character who is also totally my character crush for that series/franchise. You’re all probably thinking, “Oh, I know who TSN is going to pick for Final Fantasy *nods* yup, I totally know who her FF crush is,” and you wouldn’t be wrong!  But you wouldn’t be entirely right either.  Yes, he’s my #1 crush (I mean he is 1st Class :D), but I actually have quite a few character crushes among several games, because I’m a greedy bitch >:)

Final Fantasy IV
Obviously Cecil.  I’ve talked about him enough and mentioned that he’s my favorite character in IV and could possibly be my favorite protagonist in the series as a whole, and…well just look at him.

He’s freaking gorgeous…

…and he looks a bit melancholy in this picture, which is the double whammy.  Brooding and beautiful boys are my favorite.

Final Fantasy VI

Yep, I crush on the ladies, too!  I can’t decide if she or Cecil is my favorite protagonist, so I’m going to continue my avaricious streak and say both..

Final Fantasy VII

I don’t have to say anything else about this, but I also wouldn’t kick Vincent out of bed for eating crackers.

I did say I love brooding and beautiful boys, and Vincent is FFVII’s neighborhood brood master and head canon vampire.  It would be weird if I didn’t have some sort of crush on him.

Final Fantasy IX

Beatrix

What can I say?  I have a thing for hot generals.  In a similar vein to Sephiroth, her surname is only hinted at, but my head canon tells me it’s Rose, which is why her leitmotif is “Rose of May.”  Beatrix Rose sounds almost incongruent for a badass, gorgeous general (it also combines the traits of both Sephiroth and Aeris, “general” and “rose” [at least in terms of flowers] which is why that’s the name of Northern Lights’ first part).  Check out this amazing cosplay of her, too by the aptly named RoseOfMay.

This is why fangirls flail.

Final Fantasy X

I totally crush on Lulu.  She both is and dresses like a badass, so I suppose I have a thing for buckles, too.  Also, this is a cosplay that looks exactly like her, so I’m utterly bowled over.

Alright, so half my crushes were ladies or guys who are (stereotypically) as beautiful as ladies.  I am #unbothered by this (non) revelation.

Who is your Final Fantasy crush?  Let it all out in the comments so we can dish!

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37 thoughts on “Final Fantasy Friday: Character Crush”

    • If I couldn’t found something for “ranty” I would’ve use that, too!

      I was definitely Team Tifa in terms of whom I wanted Cloud to end up with, though to be honest, I think he was waaaaaay too emotionally damaged to be able to manage a serious relationship, though I loved the “girl next door” trope with her. I’m also a fan of the “character with an unassuming job who can still totally kick your ass” like how Steven Seagal was a cook in one of his movies, yet he did nothing but kick ass and take names throughout 😀

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  3. I can’t say I’ve ever crushed on a video game character. But as a child of the 80’s I absolutely adored Teela, and The Baroness. Who knew two action figures would go on to have deep, intricate character backgrounds, and go on to become franchise icons? Especially Teela. She’s the daughter of The Sorceress, One of the most important characters in Masters Of The Universe. But she doesn’t learn this until much later in her life. She is adopted as an infant by Man-At-Arms, the designer of many of the weapons the Royal Army uses to defend Eternia from the many factions of evil in the series. She grows up to be Captain of the guard, basically leading the Royal army. Then, she becomes the new Sorceress when her mother retires/passes. As well as the Queen alongside Prince Adam who becomes King.

    Sure, sometimes He-Man had to get her out of trouble, but she also proved herself to be fearless, headstrong, and an all around bad ass. Taking on Skeletor, and his Evil Warriors, The Evil Horde, and Snake Men even when outclassed. Plus she was voiced in the original Filmation toon by the late great Linda Gary who also did a bunch of other characters in other shows you probably loved growing up. Other fans may have preferred She-Ra, He-Man’s equally powered twin sister. But Teela was just as willing to die protecting Eternia as anyone else in the roster of Heroic Warriors.

    I loved The Baroness watching G.I. Joe as a kid too. She was one of the best bad guys on the show, proving herself wiser, and more cunning than Cobra Commander, or her on/off boyfriend, Destro. Plus she was overconfident, and smug all of the time which made you both really like her, and want her to get her comeuppance at the same time.

    But now I’ve begun to ramble.

    So yeah, they’re not Final Fantasy characters, but they still kick ass, and look good doing it.

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  7. From Final Fantasy, I’m going to say Squall (I’d love to flee society with him) and Gladi-oh-my (for purely shallow reasons since I haven’t played XV yet). However, my overall fictional relationship status is currently: “Romancing a BioWare character” 😀 Oh, Alistair… *giggles uncontrollably*

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  8. I like Celes from FF6. Jihl Nabaat is a hottie too, although she was criminally underused in FF13.

    Nice article, although now I have an image of Vincent in a G-String munching on crackers atop a bed. Nooooo.

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  9. I’m a fanboy, but I’m not sure if I would call myself a fangirl. No, it isn’t because I’m obviously a guy but I think it’s because while I do appreciate the looks of the character to the point sometimes I doubt if I even care about narrative, I also have a good appreciation of the character arc, narration, etc… and if I gush… I don’t go around with “PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL. MUST PROTEC”… or that kind of *bleep*s.

    So I guess I’m just gonna say… ‘fan’.

    That doesn’t mean there are no characters I appreciate in Final Fantasy. It’s not as much as other franchises, but there are some that I think stand out pretty much:

    1. Kain Highwind – Because even if he’s regarded as a dirty traitor, I feel compelled to actually look at things at his perspective. In between getting his flaws overwhelm him, overcoming it and his other ‘sides’ as shown in Dissidia… so it goes beyond how much he’s a spear-wielding ass-kicker in draconic armor. I think so far, he is my overall fave FF character. And it helps that he looks great beneath that armor, but please wear that dragon helmet and armor, it makes you look sicker, Kain.

    2. Aerith Gainsborough – No, please get me off from that Aerith/Tifa shipping war, I respect both characters and don’t want to bother with that war! Still, Aerith is someone that will just NOT go away from my mind when it comes to FF, not just because of her abrupt death (which still held meaning to the end of the story) and… it’s still one of the things that made me borderline tear up when imagining it… there’s also the fact that I think Aerith defied the norm. Kingdom Hearts and many others think that just because she’s a Cetra and a White Mage-ish character, she must be a pure waif-ish character, but if you play the game, given the chance, Aerith can claim that she’s not afraid to cut off the balls of anyone that piss her off greatly. WOW. (Looking at you, Corneo!) Well, it also helps that she looks great too, but yeah…

    3. Celes Chere – Hmmm this is actually a pretty good tossup between her and Shadow amongst the FF6 cast, but I think Celes won me over from her more visible character arc and development, as well as… being a long haired blonde. She’s honestly pretty underused and I would like to see her in other places. Maybe I’ll be putting her somewhere in my blog. But first, I gotta find a topic.

    I hope you enjoy my list of ‘crushes’ or ‘characters that interest me’. And for the record, I think I do not mind FF8 despite people saying the characters are weak or annoying…

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    • I definitely agree with you on the “fan” title. The whole fanboy/fangirl thing is pretty ridiculous, and I just find it interesting that each of them is perceived in a different way, and both of them can definitely be used derisively. We should just let people enjoy things just like the meme says!

      Aw Kain…in my FFIV review, I considered him the “most fucked over” character, because geez…granted Golbez was a close second, but since Kain was the manipulated of the manipulated, I had to give it to him. He pretty much had his mind invaded and that made him turn against his best friend and (adopted) brother in addition to his kingdom and, well, even planet! Then at the end, he pretty much has nothing. Cecil gets EVERYTHING. He’s made king of Baron; he’s with Rosa whom Kain has feelings for, too, while poor Kain leaves to atone. Definitely a tragic character, and I love the play on the Biblical name “Cain.” Kain *was* a traitor, but not of his own volition. Brilliant.

      I adamantly refuse to get involved in shipping or flame wars. I just don’t do it. My ship is Aeriseph (Aeris X Sephiroth), which is one of those sort of small, but mighty, followings. Arguably, they’re why I started this blog, because I wanted a place of my own to post my fanfiction, but I follow the commandment of “Thou shalt not deride other ships.” It just seems whenever there’s a love triangle involving two women, people always want to make them catty *rolls eyes* but in the game, it’s pretty clear that Aeris and Tifa are friends, and honestly, I’m not even sure how interesting the Cetra is in Cloud since I’m of the opinion she had an idea of her ultimate fate so getting involved with anyone wouldn’t have been on her list. I also loved the fact that she was a flower girl, which is like the epitome of innocence, but she was street smart, because, well, she HAD to be living in the slums. Loved the dichotomy of her character.

      Celes and Cecil vie with each other for who’s my favorite protagonist, but Celes is definitely my favorite FFVI character. My first Final Fantasy fanfictions were about her, and she has a lot in common with my all time favorite FF character: Sephiroth. Celes lucked out in that all of her friends didn’t mutate into monsters AND she didn’t have an alien, eldritch abomination influencing her/telling her it was her mother and whatnot. She’s also more associated with ice where Sephiroth is more fire (I have an essay post planned where I talk about how he fits that trope: The Dragon. I can’t wait to see what you have to say about Celes!

      I like FFVIII, too! I thought the Junction system was really neat. It made you think and plan how you were going to set things up, and Triple Triad is my favorite FF mini game. I wasn’t a huge fan of Rinoa, but I definitely related to Squall with his introversion and aloofness. I’m pretty sure he’s on Team Taurus ;D

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  10. Laguna. Laguna all the way. There’s just something about that hair. So fabulous. Why, I wish someday I could have hair so gorgeous, so beautiful, so… oh wait… 🙂

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  11. I’ve always loved Terra. She’s a strong character and the first female lead in FF. I would later love Tifa and Garnet after her, but she would have to be my first. I even named my first trained Pokemon after Terra!

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