I have only punched someone one time in my entire life. I was standing at a bus stop when I was in elementary school and a bully (whose name I will not mention in fear he will come back and retaliate) started making fun of a fellow classmate who was different than everyone else. He was being unfunny, ugly, and just plain cruel. I couldn’t take it anymore! I just ran up to him, pulled back my fist (naively made with my thumb inside my fingers — ouch!) and watched in slow motion as my arm flew forward and did nothing but bounce off the bully’s steel jaw.
It goes without saying that the seconds after my attempt to defend a sweet, innocent girl did not end well. I will save you the embarrassing details, but just know that when the bus pulled up to the stop minutes later, my shaking, bruised legs were sticking out of a nearby bush. But what made it all worth it — despite my failed attempt at being tough — is the bully actually stopped making fun of my classmate. Mission accomplished, I guess.
So, why did I just tell you that long, personal story? Well, it has been many years, but I feel my passionate need to come to another poor girl’s defense is bubbling up once again. And that girl is playable character Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII.
Now, I get it: to most of the gaming community, Vanille is a little bit annoying. But where you see annoying, I see different. Where you see excruciatingly irritating, I see exuberant! I honestly feel Vanille is getting a really bad rap. In fact, she is one of favorite characters in Final Fantasy XIII!
Hit the jump to find out the reasons why. Don’t make me swing my fist at you! This time my thumb is outside my fingers! I mean business!
In the interest of full disclosure, I am only 20 hours into Final Fantasy XIII (and so far loving it!). Since I am not sure exactly where the story is going to go, things could change with my sweet Vanille. But, I’m telling you, unless she walks on the screen and kicks the Chocobo Chick in the face, my positive opinion of her will probably stay the same.
So, let’s get to the reasons why I love Vanille so much. Maybe you will look at her in a different light after reading this!
She is special
Now, before anyone jumps on me, I am not saying “special” in any kind of derogatory or disrespectful way. When I describe someone or something as “special” I only mean it in the highest regard.
We all have that friend. You know, that one friend that is a little different than everyone else. Hell, I think I am that friend in the eyes of a lot of the people I hang out with. Actually, I know I am — they have told me before! Despite this friend being a little off at times, you love them. You can’t help but love them!
This is how I view Vanille. She is that special friend that you can’t help but love, regardless of some of the ridiculous things she does.
She may be a part of the Cocoon Make-A-Wish Foundation
Even though I am 20 hours into Final Fantasy XIII, I am having a little trouble completely following the story. Since most of the important plot elements are words created for the Final Fantasy universe, I find myself confusing the terms l’Cie, fal’Cie, and Cie’th on many separate occasions.
At this point I think I am supposed to know exactly what Vanille is doing with the main party, but, honestly, I am not that sure.
Here is a theory, though:
Vanille is part of the Cocoon Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Think about it.
Maybe after being marked a l’Cie, Vanille wanted to do one last exciting thing with her life before she turned to crystal or became a mindless Cie’th. Her best option? Contacting the Make-A-Wish Foundation and asking to travel the world to help save others as her final wish.
And if that is true, go ahead and make fun of her and call her annoying. Go ‘head. Don’t let making fun of a poor girl with a terminal illness who is trying to do one final happy thing with her life before meeting a horrible fate make you feel guilty at all.
She is named after an ice cream flavor
Well, almost. Vanille is so close to “Vanilla”, though, that it makes me think of a delicious ice cream sundae every time I get to play as her. And what kind of person would I be if that didn’t make me happy!
I bet if her name was “Chocolate Fudge Brownie” no one would be complaining about how “irritating” she is.
My God, I wish her name really was “Chocolate Fudge Brownie” …
She has pink hair
Let’s go through a list of other videogame heroines that have pink hair:
Jill (Drill Dozer)
Poison (Street Fighter series)
Estellise (Tales of Vesperia)
Healing fairy (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)
Babs Bunny (Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose!)
All awesome characters.
Based on hair-color pedigree alone, Vanille is automatically great.
Her narration is not half-bad
Vanille’s accent may be very odd, but it seems to work perfectly when you hear it as narration throughout much of Final Fantasy XIII. Even the haters I have talked to tend to agree that Vanille’s narration is sweet and effective.
Since I already love her, I look forward to Vanille’s narration bits. There is just something about that hard-to-place accent that fits perfectly in the Final Fantasy universe.
It’s hard to really explain exactly why it works; it just does.
She is awesomely inappropriate
My favorite Vanille scene so far in Final Fantasy XIII occurs about ten hours into the game.
Sazh and Vanille have just finished a really tough battle in a junkyard and are exhausted. While resting on the edge of a giant, broken machine, Sazh pours his heart out about his missing son and why he got involved in the group’s suicide mission to begin with.
The scene is super dramatic and very moving, everything accentuated by a gorgeous musical score.
It is a really touching moment.
As Sazh finishes his story, Vanille stands up, lets out her obnoxious laugh (you all know the one) and smacks Sazh on the back as if he just told a hilarious joke.
It. Is. Ridiculous.
But, you know what? I kind of loved it! Vanille’s reaction to Sazh’s heart-to-heart was totally inappropriate, but it really made me laugh. And this completely inappropriate attitude continues throughout the entire game. It seems Vanille can’t take anything seriously, even under the most dramatic of circumstances.
This would usually annoy the heck out of me, but, coming from her, it just makes me smile and let out an audible “That’s our Vanille!”
She reminds me of, well, me
I hate to admit it, but I think I may be Vanille.
As I mentioned before, we both have the “special” friend thing in common.
But the similarities don’t end there.
Vanille loves to talk (a lot!). She laughs at everything. She is annoyingly positive. She gets excited about the littlest things. She loves to wear revealing tops that show off her belly.
See? I am Vanille. Yikes!
Does this bother me? Initially, not at all. I love the misunderstood character and have no problem being like her. But then I think about all the people that find her ridiculously annoying and it worries me. By hating Vanille you are, in turn, hating me. And I would really not like you to hate me.
It looks like Vanille and I are in this one together.
What do you think? What is your opinion of Vanille? Are there are other fans out there? Anybody?
