Why does FF have so many blond main characters?

[SquallMLeonhart]

There a lot! Orion Knight, Cloud, Zidane, Tidus and Vaan. Firion, Cecil, and Worrior of Light can be added if you consider white or silver hair the same as blond. There's also Layle in Crystal Bearers... stop me if I'm wrong. I find it odd. Brunettes have fun too you know, or pink like Lightning.

[GypsyElder]

That's just their thing, the majority are blonde, but the same thing can be said for why are most of the main characters male? not that it bothers me, since I prefer to be guys when I play games for some reason.

Actually it might just seem that way because of the FF's you've actually played. If you've only played VII, VIII IX,X and XII then of course the majority seems blonde.

[Alice]

Or green like Terra. I know the artwork has her blonde, but I've always pictured Terra with green hair. To me, the blonde hair just didn't work.

I never noticed the blond main characters thing. I guess it's one of those minor things you don't really pay attention to.

not that it bothers me, since I prefer to be guys when I play games for some reason.

Hehe...I've always been a fan of playing as a female character. As long as she's not too hyper and happy, anyway.

[Andromeda]

I think it is Japanese design thing, look a lot of Shounen and you'll find that a fair amount of the character have either bright or non-black hair colors. Black hair is the normal hair color for a Japanese person. They fit into society and blend in. If you have a hair color that isn't black you stand out, you're different. It is very noticeable. In some ways it makes you important. Transfer that idea to character design.

In character design you want something memorable and a strong image. The hero has to stand out from the crowd so you can identify them easily. They are the hero of the story, so they are not a normal person anymore. They stand out. And making them stand out involves giving them an appearance that breaks them out of the average and norms. In a lot of cases blonde ends up being that color or orange, which more or less could be seen as blonde.

So that would be why. It's about character design.

[LIGHTNING_71013]

That's just their thing, the majority are blonde, but the same thing can be said for why are most of the main characters male? not that it bothers me, since I prefer to be guys when I play games for some reason.

i feel like its a stereotype thing you know? guys ARE apparently much stronger than girls. as for games though...you can "make" girls strong... maybe the makers didnt even realize that they made most of the main characters male until FF 13. i'm glad they finally realized that. girls can do whatever guys can do while doing it on high heels.

sorry...off topic.. so back to blond characters. umm... well, i do think there are a lot of blond characters now that you've mentioned it...but they do mix them up...its not like they put all the blonds together in one game. but if you ask me why? theres no answer...its just the designers. and i think theres no problem with the designs...they're all hot...no comment on any of their appearances.

[Che]

not that it bothers me, since I prefer to be guys when I play games for some reason.

I always pick the girls when possibly so I can watch their booty shake when I control them.

[Fate]

Ha, blonde seems to be the typical color for a lot of main characters. xD Still, I see a lot of colors that aren't natural, like blue or green or purple. Not many black, though, which is a shame, ebcause I have black hair. =/ Something from the Star Ocean series is that the hair colors alternate from blue to blonde from game to game. X3 Roddick had blue hair, Claude had blonde hair, Fayt had blue hair, Edge had blonde hair. >.>

And on the topic of males or females, I prefer a male lead, but I'd love a female lead if the lead is...tough and 'heroic' rather than the mellow girl type. Take Lenneth and Alicia from Valkyrie Profile, for example. I liked playing as Lenneth, but I didn't like playing as Alicia.

[winterborn86]

I've never actually noticed that till I read this thread, maybe the developers of the game have a fetish for blonde hair lol

[T.G. Oskar]

Or green like Terra. I know the artwork has her blonde, but I've always pictured Terra with green hair. To me, the blonde hair just didn't work.

Second that comment.

In either case, it's mostly a thing of culture. Notice that, essentially, all Japanese have black hair? Black hair is, quite probably, the most common hair color of humans given how abundant it emerges naturally on non-European countries.

Since main characters should have traits that separate them from common people (such as unusual strength, an unusual skill on a thing or two for example), differences in hair color might work.

Now, if you really want a bizarre world: FF Tactics (both the PSX game and the PSP remake) has about 90% of all characters with blonde hair. Only the generic Monks, the generic Onion Knights (on the PSP version), Tietra and Delita, Malak/Marach and Rafa/Rapha have brown hair; there's no blond(e) hair whatsoever.

Blonde hair is chosen since it's a rare natural hair color, builds the feel of non-Hindi Caucasian, it's not as rare as natural red hair, mingles well with green/blue eyes, and separates the main character from the norm.

[Polk]

It's simple. Every single Japanese person desperately wishes they were American. Why do you think every anime character has gigantic eyes? Think about it. Hell, it's even a fad in Japan for girls to bleach their hair blonde and put on blackface.

Japan is fucking weird.

[Voltaire Adams]

I know it's just the japanesse styling of how a hero should look like, but more and more the games are becoming more catering to the western audiance. Look at Sazh for example. Back in the old days...not many characters like him. I would love to see a main character with a big ol beard though.

[LIGHTNING_71013]

I would love to see a main character with a big ol beard though.

like santa claus? a big beard needs to pair with a beer belly to look matched. and i dont think the belly will make him move any faster...but i guess a hero can come in all shapes and sizes.

[Dodie16]

^ Well, for a little while in XII, Basch was sporting a full-on beard. Does that count at all?

[Rhaps]

Beards are amazing lol
On topic, blondness, being a blond it hurts to say this but maybe they made them blonde to get away with stupid plot choices
Aerith: *stabbed*
Cloud: "Curaga? HURR DERP DE TURR TEETLEY DERP?!"
Aeritch: *dead 'n' stuff*
Cloud: "Phoenix Down? DER DERP DE HURR DERPEY DUMB!"

[TigermusiQ]

I would love to see a main character with a big ol beard though.

And hammer!

Yeah a lot are blonde. I dunno, I agree with a lot of the previous comments but I guess it reresents purity also.
I'm a red head (blue eyes ;P) so I love seeeing charaters like Reno and Inuart but it's better that they're evil/side characters, because that to me makes them special rather than the hero.
I also would like to see more black haired characters, like Albel and Vincent.

[Voltaire Adams]

like santa claus? a big beard needs to pair with a beer belly to look matched. and i dont think the belly will make him move any faster...but i guess a hero can come in all shapes and sizes.

No, not like Santa Clause. Just a manly kind of beard. Like...

Sean Connery?

[LIGHTNING_71013]

they were about to make Lightning with blond hair but they changed their original idea made it pink. i think pink hair is more unique cause no one had it in previous FF? rite? or did i missed out on someone...anyway.. so i see they've decided to make serah, and vanille have pink hair too.

here check it out.Lightning (Final Fantasy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[LIGHTNING_71013]

No, not like Santa Clause. Just a manly kind of beard. Like...

Sean Connery?

ok. lol

they were about to make Lightning with blond hair but they changed their original idea made it pink. i think pink hair is more unique cause its not as common and if i'm not mistaken i believe no one had it in previous FF? rite? or did i missed out on someone...anyway.. so i see they've decided to make serah, and vanille have pink hair too.

here check it out.Lightning (Final Fantasy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Toxo]

i think pink hair is more unique cause no one had it in previous FF? rite?

There was Lenna from FFV. Rosa from FFIV had slightly pinkish blonde hair in the DS-remake.

A funny thing about Amano's character designs back in the good ol' FFI-VI games is that he hardly ever drew characters with black or even brown hair. Pretty much all were white/gray/blonde. The only characters I remember having brown hair in his work are Palom and Porom. Rydia and Gau had green hair, but Gau's hair was turned blonde for his sprite while Terra had the exact opposite done to her.

[Mazy]

But I wanted to say something.
I'm tired and bored of seeing characters with only blue/green eyes and blonde/pink hair. Why not black and Brown hair and eyed for a change? I only recall Tifa, Squall and Garnet having them. Also, big eyes aren't an 'American' trait. They are associated with Middle Eastern and Southern Asian people. I'm not bothered about skin colour either because some characters do have tan skin but what mostly bothers me is the eyes. Much rather see black, purple, red, yellow eyes more often. Blonde hair and blue eyes aren't 'unique'. Got nothing against them because if you go to the Middle East or Turkey you'll see plenty of different coloured eyes. No, I'm not from the Middle East.
I want to post this somewhere Tetsuya Nomura can see.
That's all.
Bye.

[Bubblegum]

Didn't Amano mention that he adored blonde hair ? If you look at most of his artwork all of the characters seem to be blonde; even characters like Squall and Rinoa.

He was blonde hair crazy.

[Mazy]

Well that's just great isn't it? Even Kefka has blonde hair! I just realised that Squall has blue eyes too. But in actuality only Rinoa, Tifa, princess Garnet and Yuffie have black hair and brown eyes? Not enough diversity. I don't mind the silver hair though because no one actually has that in real life but now more and more characters have it.