[Multiplatform] Official Final Fantasy XIII Thread

You guys are pretty quick on avatars and such. (Your new one, SOLDIER, doesn't necessarily look better, but wins the weird face award).

Am I the only one who thinks the new female lead looks hybridized and for that matter not so special?
Cloud+Sora+Yuna+elves...
The hair color could use some innovative colors. So, it looks too ordinary in my opinion. Half of the japanese people color their hair like this.
Ironically the colors used in the background are quite good, they provide a stark contrast to the grey without shining too much.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

One of the reasons I think they won't choose "Lightning" is because it's just a too common word with too much "impact".
Cloud is a common word as well, but I thought it fit the character. It's one syllable and a five letter word, which is ok for a name. It's also not as "physical" as "Lightning". Cloud as a name makes a character more abstract than "Lightning" would do.
Squall is a rather uncommon word. At least, I have never seen it used as either a noun or a verb. I didn't even know it had a physical meaning until a few years ago.
But I thought Zidane was a misplaced name. It reminds me too strong of Zinedine Zidane, the french soccer player... but anyway.

How ya doing, buddy?

That's actually a hint that her name is not "Lightning". Since when do character names come in representative font (some edgy like a lightning bolt)and colors (yellow for Lightning °.°). It even has white shading, lol. Of course I'd be the dumb if this is actually her name, but I consider it light speculation.

A highly advanced system in FF XIII analyzes the name you give to the character and assign to it the appropriate font and colors.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

"Lightning" could be anything from an attack formation, element absorption, new unmastered spell, weapon entchantment to god-knows. I just don't think it's got anything do with a character name.
I wouldn't worry about her being the only playable character. In time, they'll reveal new characters. It's not a clever marketing strategy if they unveil all their secrets immediately. The prospects of some good relationships between her and some other characters is reason enough, despite her looking like a toughieloner.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?