Hi all! Hope you enjoyed the video, please give it a like and comment if you enjoyed! Currently running a poll over on twitter to decide the next episode. It's currently neck and neck between Goku, Eggman and Kirby! Head on over and have your say! twitter.com/artistmarkflynn/status/1154882869044682752?s=19

Yo, about Advent Children: I rewatched that movie recently on a whim and it‘s way better than I remembered it being. I was too immature when I first saw it to actually appreciate it for what it was, and what it was is a damn good Cloud Strife character study. The ongoing plot is garbage, but it’s mindlessly fun garbage that’s really intended to tell the story of how this sad dude has given up on his own life. Every time a scene centered around Cloud, I found myself fascinated by his reactions to every situation; there’s so much depth to his character and the writers weren’t scared to dive deep. When I first saw Advent Children, I thought PTSD was being scared of slamming doors and I’d never even heard of survivor’s guilt. I’m older now. The people I know trust me with their broken pieces, and now I can understand why Cloud (who I first thought was a whiny emo coward) is actually a pretty sympathetic dude. I used to be exasperated by his kids; now I’m grown, and suddenly Cloud restructuring his entire life to take care of a devastated orphan is a decision with repercussions and costs that I can see and understand. So many of Cloud’s choices are intimately and hauntingly familiar. Doing your best to keep moving forward, but drowning in bad old memories anyway? Building a new life, but still holding tight to old habits that hurt you now but used to keep you alive? Working to build yourself a future, but dropping it all to care for a loved one who’s definitely going to die? Seeing and hearing your friends reach out to you, but holding yourself apart anyway because loving them scares you? Wanting to be a part of your family, but _knowing_ that you don’t deserve them and that they’d be better off without you? Fuck. The circumstances are different, but I know so many people who’ve forgotten their way home. Advent Children used dumb fantasy bullshit to tell a story that resonates to this day. Kudos, ladies and gentlemen, to the crew who made it; hats off to you. PS: that animation was insanely good for 2003! I definitely prefer the re-released version with the graphics fixes, but that original quality still holds up today.

I wish his Kingdom Hearts outfit was in Smash. That’s my personal favorite Cloud design.

The Advent Children design is still King in my mind.

I think Cloud looks leaner in the remake than he does in Advent Children, he just has more muscle definition. Maybe he’s dehydrated lol

I need to be able to see the individual threads of fiber in his SOLDIER uniform as it clips through the scenery and boss apendages just like in FFXV.

the Remake has the best design possible. Seriously, they outdid themselves and he just couldn't look better

I hope in the remake cloud has the same personality he had in the original, I dont really like emo cloud

As long as someone can tell that it is Cloud then the design did its job right.

Lol wow "rip Zack, I'm gonna smash aerith!" 🤣

"he was thinner than we thought" he got twinked lmao

FF7 Cloud sticks with me due to his confident pose and just how serious he looks without being edgy or emo looking like future designs. Like Dissidia Cloud's art looks so depressed and mopey, he's not cool.

STOP CALLING HIM BLOCKY! That's All Muscles Br0!....

Absolutely agree that the FFVII Remake Cloud is the best he has ever looked (And, though we have only heard a small portion of his lines, I also think this is the best Cloud has ever SOUNDED too). The only thing I'm worried about with the Remake is the fact that it only takes place in Midgar, yet somehow requires 2 Blu-Ray discs. Midgar in the original was only really 5-6 hours long at most, and so I can only assume that 70% of the story in this remake is going to be added filler. Other than that, the gameplay looks solid, visuals are incredible, voice acting is amazing. Hoping it turns out great

I gotta go with the KH1 outfit due to it being nostalgic for me. That was the first time I ever saw him. The promotional art would be a close second.

I've always like the OG design for some reason.

I would just like to point out how cloud in the original FFVII looks almost identical to super Saiyan teen Gohan

The Advent Children outfit will always be my favorite

Advent Children design was the absolute best. Loved it & still love it. Best look Cloud has ever had. Although, it doesn't take away from the original. Always pay homage to the OG outfit. Always. Love you Cloud!

3:25 oh boy. that old lego graphics figure of cloud looks like popeye who joined a kpop band that was into japanese medieval army themes. no offense.

I personally really like the original design. There's a charm to it.

Original 1997 Cloud all the way! Nomura knew what he was doing!

Please do a video about Sora's designs

What about Cloud's original game battle model, since as I recall FFVII used better models for the battle scenes as the overworld (Though not as good as the cutscenes)? I'd love to say the artwork in the original FFVII, but Smash Cloud's main costume is so spot on to that design (albeit with less spiky hair) but rendered well that I have to go with that - I just prefer the purple to the more black/navy of the remake for him (though aside that the remake has a great take on his original design)

Let’s be honest though it’s a Gohan in piccolo clothing clone but damn he makes it look good

I think the remake design and Advent Children Cloud are equally skinny, especially in the arms.

That ps3 demo still hurts

Hair wise it’s a toss up. I love his asymmetrical hair style but I love how his hair looks on top in AC especially in Smash 5.

5:14 I'm in love with that Final Fantasy Tactics desingn!

I really do enjoy Original FF7 Cloud alot, plus I do love his FF Record Keeper look too. Side note on Record Keeper, it also has sprites for Advent Children and KH costumes for Cloud that he could use instead, which I adore.

I think so. Remake Cloud looks believable not cartoon/anime like. It's a tie between Remake and Advent Children to me.

Great video Mark! I cant believe just how many Cloud's there are all together. It's interesting to see the ways in which he's changed and the ways he's stayed the same. I also had no idea half of these looks even existed! I think its interesting how little the Buster Sword changed. Definitely an iconic piece so I understand not messing with it. It's interesting that KH had the most altered design for it!

I just realized something about cloud being skinny. Some people think that it's ridiculous because he has a big ass sword and it's impossible for him to wield. We forget that he was a SOLDIER meaning he has extraordinary strength because of that. Like what it's said in the game, he chose power over his normal life

“The price of freedom is steep” - The True Legend

9:37 probably not the weirdest smile Sora has given tho Also great video!!

Smash Cloud wins hands down. KH Cloud comes second.

I like the Ehrgeiz cgi version of Cloud holding the Buster Sword behind his back.

Personally, I like all Cloud's designs. But there are some that I like more than others. Crisis Core Cloud is my favorite, I would say. He's a precious boy I need to protect. Look at this cute little scarf ! I'm dying ! DEVRJRHCAGEH. uwu I love his KH design so much. He's such a badass with this red scarf/cape and black demon wing. And let's not forget that bandaged Buster Sword ! FF7R Cloud looks awesome. I love that attention to the details like the damaged pauldron. And his woolen suit seems so realistic and soft ! I would like to touch it ! >w< Nice video ! It's interesting to see the evolution of Cloud through his multiple appearances. I'll show it to a friend, he might be interested. 👀

I liked his hand drawn representation from back when the original came out. It was in the book that came in the game case as well as the original strategy guide. The promotional art one. As far as his more realistic versions go I think the FFVII Remake Cloud looks the best. Better than Advent Children Cloud. Is there anyone else here that can't wait to see Yuffi in the remake?

My personal favorite design is the Dissidia Nt design. Followed by the Remake

In my opinion, the Cloud in AC had more natural body structure and muscle definition. The Remake Cloud looks thinner (nearly looks like sickly) but with more toned muscles

you only have 20k subs? bro the quality of this video is better than what most 100k+ channels would put out

You didn't mention his outfit in the G-Bike mobile game! I liked the biker look they gave him in there, it doesn't get enough attention.

Coming out of E3 *27 Jul 2019*

I believe Cloud was put into Smash( besides high demands from us fans) because FF7 was at one point gonna be on the SNES before being made into a PSX title. Also, since the FF series started on Nintendo generally, it makes sense they chose him to represent the series as a whole and since he's more well known. Just wanted to share my thoughts, but besides all that, my favorite Cloud design is definitely the remake with his Smash Bros look being second because it's a beautiful design of his original FF7 look!

As goofy as it is, my fave outfit is probably his Kh1 look. I mean just look at it, its so so.. COOL man!

I really love the original artwork as well as the dissidia art. The ingame models don’t look as great though. As far as Ingame models go, I think the FF7 remake is my favorite

This is my favorite character design video out of all of them you had made.

The remake looks good though I kinda wish they went an anime cel shaded route, to try and recreate the CG cutscenes from the original title, as they did lean closer to Tetsuya Nomura's more manga/anime art style, compared to the chibi in game character models. Though my dream is to see IX remade with a cel shaded look that would recreate Yoshitaka Amano's artwork. Everything on the character, like hair, clothing and the stripes and patterns on them would wave, swirl and sway, so even if the characters were standing ideal, there'd still be some movement. Think like that bit from the Innuendo music video where it featured illustrations of the members of Queen and what accessories they had were moving and all that. It'll never happen ofcourse, but thats my dream

Cloud looks funny with short hair since Advent Children to now

Cloud's lost a lot of his luster over the years, honestly. His OG design will always be my fav.

Will you make Crash Bandicoot or Banjo Kazooie?

Reno is a supermodel who models for gangster clothes

Short answer : YES! All iterations of clouds OG design made his pants more fitted and streamlined and the remake went back to the baggy , triangular ‘90s styles pants he had from the original designs.

I'm glad I main Cloud in SSBU

The Cloud Strife design I like the most, of course, is the one used in the Final Fantasy VII Remake. Realistic. And I mean that it did take the original FFVII version and the Advent Children version and put them together into a demandingly realistic look complete with lots of wear-and-tear effects. Amazing. I'm not a Final Fantasy fan but I'm very pleased to support you, in fact *anyone,* in any video looking back at the design history of any video game character we please.

Anybody know why he's got a bandaged sword in Kingdom Hearts?

Kingdom Hearts 2 Cloud would like to Disagree

Thought I’d mention that FF: Record Keeper has 2-D sprites of both the original purple outfit and the Advent Children outfit. And how did cross dressing not get mentioned in this video?!

Great video. How about make one about the Buster Sword too or other iconic video game weapons.

My favourite has always been the Advent Children design tbh. Still is

I agree with you. FF7 Remake Cloud has to be the best, but the most badass has to be his Kingdom Hearts Vincent hybrid, those are my two favorite Cloud designs. As for illustration design Ehrgiez's 2D artwork from Tetsuya Nonomura is my fav.

My personal favorites are: FF7 Remake Cloud Dissidia NT Cloud Smash Cloud Original FF7 Cloud KH2 Cloud Advent Children Cloud They're not in any specific order though, just all the ones I like the most. I've also seen some pretty good fan-made Cloud models in Jump-Force, GTA and Dead or Alive. (at least I think they're pretty good)

The clothe got from black to dark blue because the constant of washing using bleach lol.

I’m really surprised you didn’t show clouds battle model from the PS1 game? That one looks better that the over world model.

I think I will like ff7 remake game play, he plays like a cross between kh and there is a cool twist of the "bullet time" trope where there are turn based mechanics around that. If the game gets enough polish, I think it will be fantastic.

The Kingdom Hearts design is amazing to me because it’s actually different... Follow my streams at twitch.tv/mikedaddymcss

Reno looked absolutely fantastic in Advent Children you can fight me about this

i always thought that Cloud had the best PS1 looking model during the last fight against Sephiroth in the lifestream.His Ehrgeiz version always felt wrong to me somehow.

Cloud strife super saiyan confirmed

It's jarring how not many people knows Cloud shows up randomly on the FF5 load screen from the PS1 release in FF5 sprite style!! i can't even find a pic of it on the internet, it's a shame. Great vid!

10:52 Bandaged *fusion* sword* (But yea i get what you mean, they just added the past bandages, i guess to keep them on the Keyblade that was tide with it)

I dislike the revised design of the buster sword. One of my favorite qualities of the original game was that Shinra's advanced tech was an anomaly in an otherwise low-tech fantasy world. I always dug that the buster sword just looked like a hunk of iron beaten together. Hopefully the roughness of the original world isn't entirely smoothed over in the remake.

Agreed! The new cloud looks amazing. I like the idea that you would be able to customize the characters in FF7 remake. You could give cloud his advent children outfit, or maybe his Kingdom Hearts one! Like wise with the other characters.

Uh, there's a reason why Cloud is thin and slim. The developers said they wanted a less muscular protag, not some stereotype. They already had Barret as the brawny type. They studied male ballet dancers for this, cuz they wanted Cloud to be small and slim, yet slightly muscular and still strong enough to wield such a large sword. Also he was not a soldier, never... I'm all for the Remake Cloud, for some reason he always already looked that way in my head, I was so pleased to see his remade version. Going by outfits, I appreciate the sleeves or one sleeve he has in Advent Children, added to his original outfit. He is truly the most beautiful, visibly pleasing and perfect video game character, right after Prince Noctis, who I think beats him by a few points. But only cuz I can appreciate Cloud's feminine features, and in Noctis, I appreciate the masculine features the most. They're basically equal tho.

For me I love hia kingdom hearts 1 design but thats because I friggin LOVED Nomura's artwork for that game. Ill go with his original look after that. Also pleasr note i loathe Tifa's look in advent children/KH2 but i love her original look and think she looks great on the remake.

Wait. He's Smash design most resemble his Dissidia design, does it not? I mean look at the ever so slightly slimmer pants and how his right glove is fingerless rather than a standard glove. Although, the color on the suit is definitely more inspired by his original appearance seeing as how his Dissidia counter-part has a darker tone to it.

the dissidia illustrations are just really nice

I personally really like the smash iteration due to him being my main since the launch of ultimate and I really love his classic design. It’s symbolic and reminds everyone that that also love Mario’s polygonal look

In all honesty KH1 Cloud is the absolute BEST Design he’s ever had! He sports his traditional 90s anime design but also looked brand new the cape IS from Vincent but it fits Cloud due to it looking like a Scarf that actual Soldiers in the Army use his outfit under the cape is more practical he’s wearing Armor and uses a bigger brace to use as sort of a Mini Shield like Tidus the Bandaged Sword is supposed to mean he’s still broken inside due to Zack and being betrayed by his role model Sephiroth it’s all honesty it’s a beautiful outfit and I hope I HOPE we can get that outfit in the Remake my second favorite design would be the Remake due to him looking exactly the same badass look but it’s more modern and sleeker.

i personally really like the art style for Clouds Dissidia Final Fantasy depiction, possibly because it was one of the first games i picked up? really hyped for FF VII ✨

Can't go wrong with the Original. (Lego Cloud excluded)

Cloud with a wing and red cape has to be the best Cloud

Am I the only one who thinks his kingdom hearts outfit looks atrocious? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I just think it looks bad :(

Smash Ultimate is the most handsome Cloud I've ever seen

Even though it's subjective... I've been playing FFVII like most of us since it first came out. However, just on a design perspective alone, I loved his appearance in Advent Children. I can't believe its been about 15 years since it was first released in Japan in 2005... but when I first saw his new rendering it was so awesome to see such a beloved character fully fleshed out like that and despite FF7 Remake coming out, AC Cloud still has my #1 pick.

How time flies huh Even this video is 3 years old!

I really like the job they did in the Remake and Advent Children Complete! I'd say I prefer his weapon set up, his clothing and the fact he owns a badass motorcycle from AC! They did amazing job on mimics too, both FF7r and AC.

It's probably in the comments somewhere, but Final Fantasy Record Keeper also featured 16 bit sprite versions of KH Cloud and Advent Children Cloud! All three are very great representatives of each depiction of Cloud!

Maybe this is a bit niche but in a similar vein to Cloud's redesigns perhaps a look at the designs of Guts (Berserk) would be cool?

Wait, uh, why is the narrator saying Advent Children Cloud looks skinny...when he’s actually very clearly and obviously more muscular and ripped than his original design? Am I watching this video from an alternate universe or something?

One of them after Kingdom hearts saga series

I'm from the future the gameplay from FF7 Remake gameplay was not garbage

Cloud’s hair is phenomenal

I love the look of a lot of characters in Record Keeper, including Cloud. His new look is great, though I guess I wish his color palate was a tad brighter. His shirt is very dark. Still, really nice.

Oh holy shyt. My movie theater had that arcade cabinet. It was DOOOOPE

My only gripe with cloud in the remake is the clothes being black. I always liked the purple.

The irony of people saying that Cloud's "fusion sword", or new clothes don't fit his personality is insane. It's like they didn't play Final Fantasy VII at all, or at the very least, didn't grasp the entire characterization of Cloud. The main conflict of his character was that he, and by extension we, didn't know who Cloud was. His memories and mind were an amalgamation of Zack's and Sephiroth's, while being manipulated by Hojo for good measure. Although he retained some of his original personality, it was clear that who he was, wasn't who he portrayed to others. Advent Children was the first time we actually saw Cloud coming into his own as an individual. Away from Zack's "Living Legacy" and Sephiroth's torture. He finally stopped all that "dilly-dallying", living in his own dark cloud (pun intended/ and not intended), and not knowing who he was. Someone saying that the Fusion Sword doesn't feel like Cloud fundamentally missed the point that we don't know who Cloud is, even by the end of FF VII. This is the reason that in Advent Children his bike was more modern, he wore sunglasses, the reason that he wielded the fusion sword, and the reason his gear was an updated soldier uniform with its own emblem. This was narratively contrasted by him facing 3 separate Sephiroth clones (Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo). Showing that Cloud, although similar to Sephiroth, in the end is also nothing like him. Advent Children was us finally seeing who Cloud really is. This was Cloud not pretending to be Zack, living in Sephiroth's shadow, or faking a romantic relationship with Aerith despite him liking Tifa. It's the perfect example of people being Weebs and not understanding a narrative simply because they don't want things to change. Goku remaining the main character in DBZ and Super is the perfect example of this. Despite Gohan clearly being set up as the main character of the Dragon Ball Z series, Toriyama was being pressured by fans to keep Goku as the main character so he did so, and the show suffered from that🤷🏾‍♂️

Ironically its all agreed ppl hated the advent mopey Cloud, but loved the design choice. Ik i like the "Cloudy Wolf." look. More than the standard Soldier outfit. So the design is always gonna be my fav Cloud look. What boggles me is even in Dissidia? Is why they choose to still go with gloom and doom personality? For the movie it was a reason behind it. But seeing as that was solely for the movie. It was no need to make it seem like he was inches from slitting his wrist. I feel like his hair for the remake was more similar to his Advent counterpart, in contrast to his original spikiness. "All hail his holy spikiness and his golden radiance!" 😅 ...But i get the realism, still should of gave him a lil more spike.

My favorites are his smash designs (not his alt) and the FF7 main artwork