The release of Final Fantasy VII Remake has stirred the Final Fantasy discourse pot, so why not stir it a little more? Lightning Farron haters have long since called her clone of Cloud Strife, and to an extent, she was based off of him. But the remake has completely turned the tables on this old argument: now it’s Clo🅰ud who’s a rip off of Lightning.

Final Fantasy loves its insecure, aloof soldier-type protagonists, but Lightning was the first time the franc൲hise brought the archetype to life with full animation and voice acting. Players jumping from XIII to the VII remake will recognize Lightning’s expressions, mannerisms, and especially her facial structure in remake Cloud.

comparison appearance cloud strife lightning farron final fantasy vii 7 xiii 13

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Part of it is admittedly Final Fantasy’s dedication to equal opportunity prettiness, but come on. Remake Cloud looks like Lightning with extra contour, slightly thicker brows, and sharper eyes. The similarity is obvious at a glance. Even their casual 🌼stances are similar. Cloud takes an unusually sassy arm akimbo pose when he’s particularly unimpressed in the remake. Lightning uses her other hand when she does it, but given that her domin🦹ant hand is usually busy smacking people in the vicinity, it's perfectly understandable.

And though it was likely unintentional, Cody Christian's line delivery also resembles some of Ali Hillis's Lightning dubbing. Cloud is more awkward and sulky than he is jaded and bereaved - which makes sense, given his circumstances -🌌 but his tone when he's shooting down AVALANCHE's overtures of friendship sure does sound a lot like Lightning when she's trying to keep her patience.

That Lightning was inspired by Cloud isn't in doubt, but there's also no denying that the Final Fantasy VII Remake took cues from her when remodeling Cloud. It makes sense, in a way - Lightning was an homage to Cloud, and by proxy, the first fully modelled and voice acted version of his archetype. It's only natural that the actual fully modelled and voice acted version of him would be ꧙based off her precedent.

Here'꧒s the thing: people love Remake Cloud, but a good number of Final Fantasy fans hated Lightning when she came out (and maybe they still do).

comparison appearance cloud strife lightning farron final fantasy vii 7 xiii 13

Look: Final Fantasy XIII was a divisive game, period, to say nothing about how the fanbase feels about the characters. And while Lightning's personality is... difficult, to say the least, and she tꦐakes a few cues from FFVIII's Squall as well, she's no more recalcitrant than Cloud himself. It's probably safe to assume a good chunk of the hate she received was due in part to misogyny.

With that kind of history, and with him basically parading Lightning's face in HD, it just doesn't seem right to praise remake Cloud without acknowl🅺edging that his new look is heavily referenced f♏rom hers.

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