One-buckling moment, as half the internet is going mad on Cloud Strife’s newest… manifestation. Which tweet really saw the birth of the chaos? Well, it was just a link to “The Life of a Showgirl” with a video of his double that flung gamers on a dizzy swirling mix of nostalgia, lust, and pandemonium.
Well, straight to the point here: Cloud in a dress. Again. For those who missed that original FF7, that is a legend: Cloud cross-dressed to get into a brothel (don’t ask, just roll with it). Cut to the remake, and Square Enix is dipping into full camp with the showgirl sequence-and gamers? Perfectly loving every second of it.
One player, Miguel (@Ght16Miguel), gushes in Spanish: “Me encantó, la verdad fue muy épico ver a Cloud bailar… fue lindo, una escena graciosa y divertida” (“I loved it; it was epic to see Cloud dance… it was cute, funny, and fun”). Others such as @DorianKGrayPS are already theorizing it as “a clue for Part 3,” cause, well, naturally.
Not everyone’s agreed, however. Replies have swung into shipping wars, as Tifa and Aerith stans spat over one or the other “forced” Cloud into this situation. @MargotxAerith slants: “He didn’t do it for Tifa, stop romanticizing a rescue Aerith had to force him to do.” Meanwhile, @JediJenna claps back with receipts on Cloud’s actual reasons. This is messiness. This is beauty. This is fandom at its peak.
Now the nostalgia brigade shows up. @Nsns732 dug out a 1997 poll where fans voted Cloud’s wedding dress his best look (Bikini Cloud came second, because, well, Japan does have priorities). Fast-forward to 2024, and gamesters are still screaming for their pixelated abs. Some things just never change.
No Twitter thread is ever complete, though, thanks to the trolls. “@lewdjba” posted, “I’m tired of stupid girls like Tifa and Aerith,” along with a… questionable image. Meanwhile, @Assimilateto and @Laura38460211 turned the replies into a pronoun war(??), proving that realms forged from fantasy are not spared from discord.
The real achievement here has to be in the transformation of Cloud: from showgirl-making-from-blocky-PS1-model-to-high-def-Twirlworking-platform. As @__honeybear___ says: “This is cinema.”
Whether you’re here for the memes, the drama, or just Cloud’s beautiful legs, one thing is certain: Final Fantasy VII Remake has been keeping an entire community of gamers talking, and dancing. Mostly dancing.
