#new trailer dropped u guise

[freelanceexorcist]

OK, there's a lot to unpack...

My scalding hot takes (SPOILERY):

-The first scene seems to take place in a whole different timeline, and if that's the case, I feel seen.

-Everybody knows who Sephiroth is, Squeenix, you can show him for more than a split second.

-That voice though. Hnnnnggg! Damn fine work there, Tyler.

-Early speculation: speaking of THAT VOICE, I speculate that it's Ore!Sephiroth speaking when he describes Jenova's capabilities and Jenova!Sephiroth speaking when he says "you know I killed her, so who is she?" Jenova!Sephiroth and Ore!Sephiroth being two different people/alien predators seems to be taking shape.

-This is reinforced by the bit of lore (at least according to The Kids Are All Right) about Jenova that states one of her strategies is to convince people that those closest to them are trying to harm or kill them and causing them to turn on each other and take each other out so her job will be easier. "So who is she? Is it really Jenova? Is it something Hojo cooked up in his lab to infiltrate your group and kill you? Really, Cloud, who is this woman that I'm pretty sure Sephi-- er, I mean I killed way back when?"

Update: OK, so this got Jossed when Audrey on Twitter mentioned that in Japanese, he uses Ore when he says "you know I killed her." But that just raises more questions that I talk about in another post.

-I mean really. The voiceover is straight up saying that she can appear as the people we hate, fear or love during the nanosecond of closeup Sephiroth footage we get in the trailer, and Sephiroth is the one saying it. You've seen trailers for media before. It's practically SOP to present dialogue out of order to misdirect the audience or make the clip sexier, so I doubt if the lines about Jenova's abilities were immediately followed by an attempt to cast doubt on Tifa's identity or motives. They're practically leading us by the tits to this conclusion.

-No Vincent? Seriously? No Cid? Seriously? But we get Yuffie immediately? If Genesis shows up anywhere I swear I'll punch a baby.

-So the Scooby Gang thinks Sephiroth survived the Nibelheim incident. Or are they assuming? Is this another bit of misdirection to set up a reveal to replace the one that got blown away (see the next point)? Only The Dev Team knows...

-And I guess the The Shocking Reveal this time around isn't going to be that Cloud wasn't the SOLDIER 1st Class that accompanied Sephiroth to Nibelheim because Tifa done blabbed and, you know, Crisis Core.

-And holy shit, did I see Sephiroth grabbing Masamune's blade with his hand when Tifa attacked him? That's metal as fuck.

-ETA: I didn't notice this until someone pointed it out. This guy?

Is Cloud (which you guys probably already knew, but it takes me a few tries). Fucking REUNION CLOUD. Obviously in a different timeline, but still. This is heartbreaking. Somebody get the TVA in here to prune this branch! Unless this is another classic trailer misdirect and it turns out to be a scene from a bad dream he's having or something ridiculous like that.

-And if this is REUNION CLOUD, does that mean there's a...REUNION ZACK??? Oh, Sylvie, what have you done?!?