While there’s plenty of hype surrounding the release of Final Fantasy’s Clive Rosfield as the next DLC character in Tekken 8, there was a much more obvious first choice for a Final Fantasy guest in the immensely popular Tifa Lockhart.
Indeed, the moment Clive was revealed at the Game Awards last week marked an internet onslaught of fans decrying the choice to include the Final Fantasy XVI protagonist over Miss Lockhart. Clive’s voice actor, Ben Starr, decided to throw a little fuel on the flames with the perfect troll cosplay for the moment.
A quick scroll through Starr’s Instagram reveals he’s all about lighthearted jabs and trolls (including towards himself) on social media. And a bit more of a scroll reveals that he indeed cosplayed as Tifa Lockhart (literally everyone has a Tifa) earlier this year:
Upon seeing the rapid and rampant backlash, Starr decided to put together the following image and post it on his Instagram story:
Click images for larger versions
It’s an egregious overstatement to say that Clive or Final Fantasy XVI are hated, but neither proved to be as popular or successful as some of the long-running franchise’s most potent characters and titles. As such, it does make sense that fans would be surprised or even disappointed to see the latest instead of the most beloved used in the Tekken/Final Fantasy crossover.
How are you feeling now that we’ve had some time with the Clive announcement and (if you’ve got early access) in Tekken 8? Are you amongst the still-salty that Bandai did not choose the likes of Tifa for the crossover appearance, or is their ultimate decision growing on you… perhaps in part because of Starr’s top tier cosplay?