Cindy Aurum

Cindy Aurum is a fictional character in the video game Final Fantasy XV.

Cindy Aurum
Final Fantasy character
Cindy Aurum, as depicted in Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire.
First gameFinal Fantasy XV (2016)
Voiced byErin Matthews (English)[1]
Yū Shimamura (Japanese)[1]
Motion captureHaruka Shibai

Concept and creation

Cindy Aurum was created for Final Fantasy XV. When someone complained that Cindy was "too sexy" at a presentation in April 2015, director Hajime Tabata notes that they did not intend for her to be an erotic character, and felt that the combination of her personality and appearance made it not too "problematic" if someone saw her while another person was playing the game. Marketing manager Akio Ofuji noted that it was more about her outfit as a mechanic. Tabata stated that he had no intention of changing her design, but noted the value of moderating her presentation to avoid the impression of oversexualization.[2][3] Tabata expressed confusion by Cindy receiving criticism for her design while being requested to be made a playable character.[4]

Appearances

Cindy Aurum appears as a non-playable character in the video game Final Fantasy XV, where she serves as a mechanic for protagonist Noctis Lucis Caelum. Her outfit also appears in the video game Minecraft for players to put on their characters.[5] Cindy also appears as a background character in the Hammerhead stage in Tekken 7.[6]

Merchandise

Play Arts produced a figurine of Cindy Aurum in 2016.[7]

Reception

Since her reveal, Cindy Aurum has received mixed reception. She is a popular character for people to cosplay.[8] Shacknews identified her as the best character in Final Fantasy XV.[5] Peter Swann from Comicsverse considered Cindy to be the most important female character of Final Fantasy XV for subverting gender roles, noting that "in a male dominated field like machinery and car repair, the entire male cast is completely inept at this and rely on a badass woman to fix their car".[9]

Her outfit and portrayal was the subject of heated debate.[3] She was criticized for her design from people who felt she showed too much skin for someone in her field.[2] When a poll was done to ask players what they thought of the demo for Final Fantasy XV, the largest complaint from European players was that Cindy was the only female character who interacts with the main party was oversexualized. This led to a backlash from members of the Final Fantasy fandom.[10] Writers Mike Diver and Patrick Klepek were critical of her design. Mike noted her as his biggest negative of the game. They expressed surprise that her design was not toned down following the demo, feeling that it's okay to be sexy but that the way it was done in Final Fantasy XV made them "embarrassed for the medium." Patrick felt similarly embarrassed, avoiding having her on-screen when his mother visited. He felt that she stands out as particularly fanservice that is otherwise not present.[11] MTV.com noted that the decision to change the design of a male character to make it less sexy was surprising given how many characters, such as Cindy, showed similar amounts of skin to this character.[12] Game Revolution felt that her design made Quiet, another character who has received criticism for her design, seem "subtle."[13]

Maxim called her one of the hottest Final Fantasy women, praising her "can-do attitude".[14] Kotaku felt that her outfit was horrible, while GameSpot felt her outfit was impractical and eye candy.[15][16] USGamer felt that her outfit and window-washing cutscene was "obvious fanservice," noting that the outfit seems inappropriate for the weather she is in, but found it inoffensive because they found Final Fantasy XV to not be about "male wish fulfillment".[17] The Guardian however found her to be a "laughable male fantasy," citing how she is dressed as a "sex symbol" and how she poses during maintenance of the protagonists' vehicle. They note that this draws greater attention to the lack of playable women in the game.[18] Syfy Wire expressed a desire to see her appear as a playable character in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, though did not feel it likely.[19]

References
  1. "Cindy Aurum Voice - Final Fantasy XV (Video Game) | Behind The Voice Actors". behindthevoiceactors.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.
  2. Makuch, Eddie (January 5, 2016). "Final Fantasy 15 Director on Role of Women in the Game". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  3. Yin-Poole, Wesley (April 28, 2015). "The top 15 Final Fantasy 15 demo complaints addressed, one by one". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  4. Romano, Sal (April 28, 2015). "Final Fantasy XV feedback live stream full report: Episode Duscae 2.0 coming mid-May". Gematsu. Archived from the original on August 15, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  5. Vincent, Brittany (April 25, 2018). "Outfit Your Minecraft Characters With Sharp-Looking Final Fantasy XV Skins". Shacknews. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  6. Nelva, Giuseppe (November 13, 2017). "Tekken 7 Gets First Screenshots of Noctis from Final Fantasy XV - DualShockers". dualshockers.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  7. Sato (December 9, 2016). "Final Fantasy XV Teases A Play Arts Kai Figure Of Cindy". Siliconera. Archived from the original on February 14, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  8. Diver, Mike (August 23, 2016). "In Conversation with 'Final Fantasy XV' Director Hajime Tabata". Vice. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  9. Swann, Peter (2016-12-31). "How Final Fantasy XV is Challenging Gender Roles in Media". ComicsVerse. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  10. Ortega, Brandon (August 11, 2016). "Final-ly Fed Up: Why Are Final Fantasy XV Fans So Anti-Woman?". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  11. Klepek, Patrick (December 8, 2016). "'Final Fantasy XV' Has Some Big Problems". Vice. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  12. McNally, Victoria (April 7, 2015). "'Final Fantasy' Game Developers Changed This Character's Costume For Being 'Too Sexy'". MTV.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  13. Paras, Peter (June 14, 2016). "E3 2016: Final Fantasy XV Has the Heart of a Millennial – Hands-On Preview". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  14. Sciarrino, John (November 30, 2016). "The 10 Sexiest Ladies of 'Final Fantasy', Ranked". Maxim. Archived from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  15. Schreier, Jason (September 6, 2016). "Two Surprisingly Good Hours With Final Fantasy XV". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  16. Corriea, Alexa Ray (August 16, 2016). "On Luna, Final Fantasy 15's Most Visible Woman". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  17. Oxford, Nadia (December 9, 2016). "Final Fantasy XV Lacks Female Characters, but It Still Keeps Women Players in Mind". USGamer. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  18. Hern, Alex (December 14, 2016). "Final Fantasy XV review: enthralling and slick, but problems lie beneath". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 6, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  19. Vincent, Brittany (April 14, 2018). "5 awesome Final Fantasy women missing from Dissidia Final Fantasy NT". Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
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