A virtual meeting between Italian lawmakers was recently interrupted by a very NSFW video featuring Tifa Lockhart of Final Fantasy VII Remake. A childhood friend of Cloud Strife and a loyal member of the underground resistance movement called Team AVALANCHE, Tifa is just one of many popular characters who inhabit Square Enix's beloved Final Fantasy VII. She was so popular that fans created a large number of artworks to depict Tifa's short hair or stronger physique. On the other hand, the internet has also produced a large number of absolutely unhealthy works from brave bartenders to resistance fighters, which are all too common in the world of video game characters.
While not an overt political story, Final Fantasy VII does deal with several serious real-world topics, such as environmentalism and corporate corruption, which often appear in political debates and government meetings. While some of the recent announcements by the President of Square Enix seem to contradict the overall theme of Final Fantasy VII, many fans see Final Fantasy VII as an incredibly thought-provoking title that resonates even nearly 30 years after its initial release on PlayStation. However, one of the main characters in Final Fantasy VII recently found themselves engaged in real-world politics in a completely different and unexpected way.
Kotaku reported that members of the Italian Senate yesterday held a virtual meeting to discuss digital transparency in political discussions, which was chaired by Five Star Movement Senator Maria Laura Mantovani. Just as Nobel laureate doctor Giorgio Parisi was about to be introduced to a conference, the conference call was suddenly hijacked by an unknown user who was watching an endless video of Tifa in Final Fantasy VII. The video played for a full 30 seconds before the rally, and Mantovani initially didn't realize what was happening as she continued her speech. She only realized what had happened when one of the participants shouted "sex offender" "when she and one of her assistants struggled to kill the feed." Mantovani quickly got everything back on track, and George Parisi made his remarks as if the whole thing had never happened.
The bizarre, Tifa-related accident comes as fans prepare to celebrate final fantasy VII's 25th anniversary later this year. The long-awaited Final Fantasy VII remake was a huge success in 2020 and recounts early chapters of Cloud and the company's battle against the corrupt ShinRa power company and the traitor SOLDIER, Sephiroth. PC players have also recently been involved since FFVIIR was ported to the Epic Games Store, but Square Enix remained silent when the next part of the series was released.
As a member of AVALANCHE, Tifa set out to change the world in Final Fantasy VII Remake, and appearing in endless videos made by fans during the Italian Senate meeting may not have been her or the developer's idea. One can only imagine the sheer shock that Maria Laura Mantovani and other attendees experienced when Tifa appeared on the screen, proving that in the age of webinar, even routine summits of political discussion can become strange.