#(Cloud Strife)

[harlepinyo]

ngl the ever crisis outfits are kinda peak but also WHAT IS WITH HIM AND NAILING HIS PAULDRINS TOGETHER...????

[artaleve]

Tifa: it's not even fists (mine)!

Caet Sith: Bigger fists!

Aerith: Stick

Cid: Bigger stick

big problems require big solutions

[ethernalium]

[altocat]

Favorite little bit of character facial animation in Crisis Core. Unironically the last time we see the real Cloud for a long while.

[dog--fish]

messy job last night

[jynx-raven]

Omg, i loved this,my two hyperfixations together

Made this shitpost cuz they're both groups of three girls(?)

[schtinkybeanz]

ℂ𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕕 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕖 + ℤ𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝔽𝕒𝕚𝕣

(mod 1) + (mod 2)

𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕤𝕪 𝕍𝕀𝕀 ℝ𝕖𝕓𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕙

[thatdamn-honeybadger]

[shenaneggan]

cloud strife would comment about getting the 1st comment. he never actually gets the 1st comment

[artaleve]

So that's the artist name

I always thought those posters were Nomura before he changed art style for FFVIII and beyond

some transparents of tomotake kinoshita's character art from the versus books' final fantasy vii ultimate guide! in order, these are from pages 3, 17, 110, 30, 31 & 47.

while probably best known (-within the vii fanbase) for his beautiful cover works below,

he also did the art within the book, including the doodles above + these little 'fuller' pics below and the character guide artwork! (which, unfortunately, is more of a pain to cut out.)

(pages 44, 50, 64.)

(107, 109, 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 121, 123.)

while now the versus' guide can be a little pricey if you're looking to get your hands on it physically, it is freely available to view on the internet archive! as i recommend with anyone even lightly into preservation, back it up personally while you can :^)

+ og post edit to clear up a common misconception: the versus' guide was not official ffvii material! though the book and many of the other guide works were all incredibly iconic (which is where i believe the misunderstanding comes from), this one is quite literally called The Completely Unauthorized Final Fantasy VII Ultimate Guide with multiple disclaimers that it's unaffiliated with square in any way. :p

[icyonmyneck]

cloud in the sewers

[rocketbirdie]

Cloud may lack a formal education but the Fort Condor minigame, and running AVALANCHE beside Barret, kind of implies that Cloud is just a naturally gifted tactical and logistical genius. why the hell would they reject prime general material from soldier??? AVALANCHE would have been SCREWED if Cloud was a Shinra general

oh no yea that's pretty much addressed in canon LMAO

he was a prodigy as an infantryman, but was rejected from SOLDIER due to poor mako tolerance. his efforts at fort condor (and at the parade in junon) show off his great knowledge! if you don't suck at the minigames that is

[little-black-dress-zack-fair]

Tifa: Are you good Cloud? 

Cloud: In what sense? 

Aerith: Generally. 

Cloud: Oh, definitely not.

[tifa-simp]

Interesting.

I always felt like SOLDIER Cloud is closer to Sephiroth than Zack. But that's because I associate SOLDIER Cloud with pre Nibelheim Seph more than post Nibelheim Seph. However, with First Soldier and Crisis Core context, I think it's safe to say sane Seph actually torments himself a lot by his sins. Sephiroth called himself all kinds of name to desensitize himself from all the killing, he tried to convince himself that this was his true self, while knowing damn well that it's not. Sane Seph was a liar, and he tricked himself for so long that when Nibelheim happened, he broke. His belief, his life, his purpose, all lies, all fake, nothing is true anymore. And he knew. Deep down, he's always aware of the truth. But that's why he clung even harder on the lie, to protect himself. That's why the Nibelheim massacre is such a turning point for Seph. He didn't discover the truth, he finally learned to accept it.

While Zack is different. If I have to make a comparison, he's like Gon from Hunter x Hunter. He's not good, he's pure. He decides what to believe and does whatever benefits his belief. Monster, Wutaian, Soldiers, and Turks are all the same. They're "the other side", as in "me and they". If you're on my side, I'll ride or die for you. If you're on the opposite side, you're enemy. All left is to fill the blank.

If you're on -Shinra side-, I'll ride or die for you. If not, die.

If you're on -honnor side- (the definition based on Zack ofc), you can live. If not, die.

If you're on -Cloud's side-, you can live. If not, die.

Zack has the authority over his own belief. There's a checklist in Zack's moral compas, and anything closer to his criteria will take the place, in which, life is not the priority. Don't take this the wrong way, but Cloud's life isn't what is important. It's Zack's affection for him. The reason Zack tried so hard to save Cloud cos he has become the next closest thing that fits Zack's criteria, his cause to die for. Aerith is also in the same category cos Zack was trying to go back to her, too. Now the first condition is fulfilled, the second part becomes much easier: the enemy to kill.

You can see this trait in SOLDIER Cloud's behavior. Let's take Tifa as the cause and watch:

Bombing reactor is something Tifa can't do? I'll do it.

Johnny is someone bringing trouble to Tifa? Die.

The troopers got in the way of Tifa's business? Die.

Scarlet and her men are putting Tifa in danger? Die. (You can argue that Seph possessed him in Gongaga, but I'm sure he wouldn't have any problem killing them on his own volition.)

Later in the temple, his goal changes to the black material, and the pattern remains. Tifa has openly expressed her uneasiness with this many times and has to physically restrain him on multiple occasions. But the thing is, SOLDIER Cloud doesn't enjoy killing. He does it out of necessity. This is a trait that neither belongs to sane nor insane Seph. Sane Seph kills against his will and insane Seph kills for his own enjoyment. Killing isn't a moral challenge to Cloud, it's just a mean to an end.

And I say THIS is the biggest trait of Zack in SOLDIER Cloud. The trait of a killer.

Zack Fair has a really fascinating relationship with killing where a lot of the rest of the cast doesn't. He fights people as well as monsters and gradually stops being able to differentiate the two. He helps clear out beasties and ghoulies but he also intros the game with a massive attack on a foreign nation just to shore up corporate interests and for a good chunk of the game places those two activities in the same spot in his mind. One of his side projects at work is quashing the last remnants of rebellion in said occupied country and rooting out the spies in their resistance, at which point he hands them over to his bosses to be interrogated and presumably tortured. But if he comes face to face with the same people in a combat scenario, he won't kill them, because he views their desire to see themselves free as an honorable trait. Then he turns around and attacks hordes of people who defected Shinra. He uses the blunt side of his sword, not to spare lives, but because he doesn't want to damage the sharp edge.

Wutai forces and Genesis clones have a different categorization to him, something he can mentally label as "other". But after Nibelhiem, your primary enemy type becomes other Shinra soldiers. Just after Zack has had his realizations that the monsters he was wiping out share a haunting amount of basic building blocks with his coworkers. And with himself.

Actually, let's pause. Zack is the only character we see have any sort of acceptance of being Jenova-ed. Every other character is unwilling and usually not even a conscious being yet, but Zack A) knows what is being done to him, and B) openly states he wants those monstrous traits for himself. "Those wings / I want them too." Up to this point, every other character has equated being Jenova-ed to being baser, to being subhuman, but Zack at the very beginning tried to convince Angeal that it meant freedom. Power to do what you want.

Zack Fair willingly and with open arms embraced being made less than human because he thought it would give him the strength to break out of captivity.

So he busts out, and the first thing he's greeted with it a horde of enemies that he knows are human, has worked and talked with, and are in fact the same shape and type of person as Cloud. Just a couple cutscenes ago, these were his coworkers.

The easiest way to get through them is to set them on fire and blow up the munitions they're carrying on their person.

(It's such a beautiful demystifying of the elemental system. I love it.)

Oh also, you're on a time limit, so you gotta kill all these guys fast, because they're trying to go for the weak spot, Cloud, who can't fight and is getting dragged away.

After that, the next thing Zack does is find a gun and start taking long ranged killshots.

There's a tangible feeling of a lesson being learned.

Zack is (I think?) the only SOLDIER we ever see use a gun. It's worth noting that even the most fallen of SOLDIERs stick to their flashy blades and their weird swordfights. Other characters even comment how bizarre it is, but ffvii also runs on that fantasy world logic where if you just Get Good enough, swords are just as good as guns if not better. Guns are the lower, more primitive weapon, fit for grunts and hitmen but not elite fighters.

(I could also go into detail on how some of the SOLDIERS weapon are sold as bespoke merch in world, and basically another tool in the toolbox of how to sell these flesh and blood men as mythologized products. But we don't have time to unpack all of that.)

For Zack, we know that his sword is even a symbol of honorable combat and a legacy of trying to do the right thing. Zack picking up a gun is basically debasing himself to being just another man in the field. And it's a sniper rifle. The weapon guaranteed to get him as little contact with his opponent as possible and does not even give them a chance to fight back. But it's whatever gets the job done.

Zack starts the game as someone who kills people, but it's hand-waved aside the same way it is for most everyone else, only for him to bite that awareness apple like five minutes before it becomes absolutely vital he survive at all costs. Zack becomes aware that he's on a slippery slope and due to circumstances has to start sprinting. Over the course of the game, we watch as Zack Fair goes from being someone who kills people to a killer.

[johnpedam]

art by

ᴴᴼᴺᴳ

@Hong_3740