Cody Christian, the actor behind Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Cloud Strife, has addressed the fandom "shippers" saying he believes "overtly" sexualized relationships can "ruin" a story's development.
As GamesRadar+ reports, Christian was recently caught up in a discussion on Twitter / X after posting a Final Fantasy 7 meme showing Cloud worrying more for Tifa than he does for Barret or Aerith.
The post gained some traction from fans, with some fans believing the post means the actor favors the ship between Cloud and Tifa, while another user asked the actor if he was "trying to start a war in your comments" between different shippers.
'Shipping,' if you're unfamiliar, is a common term used in fandom spaces to describe the desired romantic pairing of two characters. In the case of Final Fantasy 7, there are some of those like Cloud and Tifa together, while others like Cloud and Aerith. There are also those who like Tifa and Aerith or Zack and Aerith, each with their own "ship" name.
In response, Christian said, "Everyone is allowed their opinions," before further explaining his stance on "shippers" later in the thread. The voice actor doesn't believe all relationships need to be "overtly" sexualized and thinks characters should be allowed to have more than one significant relationship in a story.
I appreciate u fr. here’s the issue.. “shippers” crumble under the idea that a character is allowed to have significant relationships with MULTIPLE characters. This provides overarching depth. The need to overtly sexualize every relationship can ruin great story developmentJanuary 15, 2024
"Here’s the issue.." Christian said, "'Shippers' crumble under the idea that a character is allowed to have significant relationships with MULTIPLE characters. This provides overarching depth.
"The need to overtly sexualize every relationship can ruin great story development."
In the same discussion, Christian also stated that he's not worried about the release of Rebirth next month, saying that with the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, "a majority of people" wanted him fired or replaced in 2020.
"To do what we did and have it find success and mean so much to the core demo, I have no fear for Rebirth," he said.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is set to launch on February 29 exclusively for PS5.
For more, check out our list of the best RPGs as well as our list of every upcoming game releasing for PC and console in 2024.
