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Selphie Tilmitt
Final Fantasy character
Concept artwork of Selphie Tilmitt for Final Fantasy VIII, as drawn by Tetsuya Nomura.
First gameFinal Fantasy VIII (1999)
Created byKazushige Nojima
Designed byTetsuya Nomura
Voiced byEN: Molly Marlette
JA: Mayuko Aoki
In-universe information
RaceHumanity
GenderFemale
WeaponNunchaku

Selphie Tilmitt (セルフィ・ティルミット, Serufi Tirumitto) is a character from the 1999 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VIII. She is introduced as a recent transfer student from Trabia Garden to its rival school Balamb Garden, a prestigious military academy for elite mercenaries (known as "SeeDs") and home to several of the game's major characters. She is also the pilot in command of the Ragnarok starship, the primary means of air transport for the player's party.

Selphie was the second character drawn by Final Fantasy VIII artist Tetsuya Nomura after the game's lead protagonist Squall Leonhart. The development team originally intended to program Selphie with some of the game's most powerful attacks. A younger version of Selphie appears as a supporting character in the Kingdom Hearts series, which is under the direction of Nomura. Other appearances include the mobile game Final Fantasy Record Keeper as well as the Dissidia Final Fantasy fighting game series. Selphie has received a generally positive reception, being noted for her relatable personality as well as her carefree and energetic demeanour, although some critics did not respond well to her characterization as a childlike female character.

Development

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Selphie Tilmitt, along with most of Final Fantasy VIII's principal cast of characters, was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who would then pass on his finalized character designs to the game's scenario writer Kazushige Nojima.[1] Nomura came up with Selphie's initial design prior to the completion of his work on Squall Leonheart.[1] Selphie is given a flip hairstyle which was popular in the United States during the latter years of the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, an aesthetic design Nomura considered to be improper in real life.[1][2] When Nomura first designed Selphie, he drew her in overalls, but he realized that none of the characters would be wearing a skirt. In the end, he gave Selphie a mini-skirt and let another character named Quistis wear pants.[1]

Selphie is depicted in the game as 17 years old and stands at 156 cm (5 ft 1+1⁄2 in) tall.[3] She wields a large pair of nunchaku in battle.[3] In the European version of Final Fantasy VIII, her weapon is renamed as "Shinobou" due to strict censorship laws in the United Kingdom concerning the portrayal of ninja weapons in visual media which were instituted by then-director of the British Board of Film Censors, James Ferman.[4][5] Selphie's Limit Break, a special cinematic attack sequence, is based on a "Slot" machine.[6] If the player manages to line up the reels in a certain way, Selphie can cast a random spell numerous times or unleash some powerful spells which are exclusive to her Limit Break phase, including a magical attack called The End which can defeat almost any enemy in the game.[6][7] Selphie was intended to have two additional exclusive Limit Break abilities during the game's development; though they were shown during a game demo that came bundled with the 1998 action role-playing game Brave Fencer Musashi, they were never implemented in the final release due to time constraints and cannot be accessed through normal play.[7][8]

A preadolescent version of Selphie appears in the Kingdom Hearts series, with the inaugural series instalment in 2002 being the character's first voiced appearance. She is voiced by Mayuko Aoki in the Japanese version, and by Molly Marlette in the English version.[9]

Appearances

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For Selphie's first appearance in Final Fantasy VIII, she encounters Squall while running late for class. She asks Squall to show her around as she is a recent transfer from Trabia Garden. During the Dollet exam, Selphie joins Squall's team after Seifer abandons them.[10] She successfully graduates alongside Squall and Zell and becomes a SeeD, and the three are assigned to the same team. When Galbadia launches missiles at Trabia Garden, she reacts with outrage and helps destroy the missile base.[11] She is depicted as active and energetic, although slightly clumsy. She participates in many extracurricular activities, such as planning the Garden Festival[12] and running the school's online website, the Study Panel.[13]

Throughout the game, she revisits her childhood closeness with Irvine Kinneas,[14] who serves as her copilot on the Ragnarok.[15] A recurring character moment involve Selphie singing a song about trains during the party's train journeys.[16][17]

Other appearances

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In the 2002 video game Kingdom Hearts, Selphie appears as a juvenile resident of Destiny Islands and a friend of Sora.[18] She is armed with a jump rope instead of nunchaku.[19] Selphie returns in the 2005 sequel Kingdom Hearts II as Kairi's classmate, but lost all memory of Sora and the island.[18]

Selphie has appeared in several Final Fantasy franchise spin-off games, including playable appearances in titles like Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, and Final Fantasy Record Keeper.[20][21]

Promotion and merchandise

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In 2004, action figures of Selphie alongside Squall and Rinoa were distributed in North America by Diamond Comics Distributors.[22]

Reception

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Selphie has been mostly well-received by the general public. She has been the subject of creative activities engaged by video game enthusiasts, such as cosplay.[23][24] Magazines have also called her as one of the best Final Fantasy character.[2][25][26]

Critical reception for the character has been generally positive, with some critics calling her one of the most appealing and memorable aspects of Final Fantasy VIII. Meagan Marie from Game Informer considered Selphie to be one of her "personal favorite" Final Fantasy female characters.[24] Dave Smith from IGN praised Selphie as one of the game's few bright lights, highlighting her hairstyle and her cheerfulness as an effective foil for the angst-filled personalities of its cast.[2] Jeremy Parish from USGamer called Selphie his favorite role-playing game character, going as far as calling her the first video game character he could relate to as a realistic human being, setting her apart from other game characters given the sharp contrast between her conduct and the rest of her team. Parish made the claim that she "broke the mold for RPG characters as either grim heroes or blank slates or a combination of the two".[16] Matt Sainsbury from Digitally Downloaded felt that Selphie stood out to him as a physically attractive character, in spite of the graphical limitations of Final Fantasy VIII as a product of its time, because of her "cute, quirky hairstyle" and her attractive mini-dress outfit.[17] David Lozada from GameRevolution considered Selphie's character arc, which sees her dealing with insecurity and childhood trauma in her own way, to be noteworthy because he found that "few other Final Fantasy games feature female character arcs that are as remarkable" as her growth into a confident, strong woman by the game's ending.[27] WomenGamers gave a positive assessment of the character, noting that while others may underestimate Selphie's intellect due to her perky and energetic nature, she demonstrates that she is competent when a problematic situation arises and appears to be as smart as her prodigious comrade Quistis.[28] Selphie received high scores from WomenGamers for the stance and marketing effort behind her, with praise for the lack of sexualization surrounding the character's appearances in promotional material for Final Fantasy VIII and her balanced portrayal as a clumsy yet capable fighter.[29]

Several critics note that elements of Selphie's behavior and personality resemble that of other female characters within the Final Fantasy franchise and that she represented a common recurring character archetype used throughout related media. Commentary on this aspect of her character drew both positive and negative responses.[17][30][31][32] Parish argued that Selphie never seemed "overbearing or forced" to him, unlike many other female characters in the series who also occupy the same "genki girl" niche.[16] Sainsbury praised Selphie as the "original somewhat ditzy, super perky, brighten-up-your-day background character" archetype within the Final Fantasy franchise, which is continued by characters who appear in subsequent instalments like Rikku and Vanille.[33] Conversely, Andy Kelly from PC Gamer recognized Selphie as the light-hearted Final Fantasy character archetype "who gets hit extra hard when something tragic inevitably happens", but found her to be "almost sickeningly friendly and good-natured", and her "bouncy and eager to please tendencies" unendearing.[34]

Analysis

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Selphie's role as a child figure was discussed by Mark Filipowich in an essay published in the 2018 book Queerness in Play.[35] He observed that a lithe fighter archetype like Selphie is characterized as much by her offensive versatility as her helplessness. In terms of gender roles, Filipowich suggested that there is a looser gender script for a childlike character, unlike the maiden character archetype who may be constrained to a nurturing healer role or supporting the rest of the party with rogue-style tactics. Filipowich suggested that the child character archetype represents potential as opposed to limitation, and that female variants of the archetype seemingly have space to undergo character development independently of male party members.[35] Alexa Ray Corriea noted that Selphie's appearance in the Kingdom Hearts series, where she is depicted as an actual child, fall into the same trope as other female characters present in its male-dominated setting, as none of them make enough of a significant impact within its narrative.[36] Josh Tolentino from Destructoid used Selphie and her fascination with trains as a point of reference about linear game design in an analysis of the mechanics and systems typical of Japanese role-playing games.[37]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Knight, Sheila (2003). "Tetsuya Nomura 20s". FLAREgamer. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c "Top 25 Final Fantasy Characters – Day 1". IGN Staff. May 12, 2008. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Final Fantasy VIII Characters – Selphie". SquareEnix.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  4. ^ Bowman, Paul (2010). Theorizing Bruce Lee: Film-Fantasy-Fighting-Philosophy. Rodopi. p. 161. ISBN 97890-4-202-778-7.
  5. ^ Baird, Scott (May 15, 2017). "15 Final Fantasy Games That Needed To Be Censored". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Square Electronic Arts, ed. (1999). Final Fantasy VIII North American instruction manual. Square Electronic Arts. p. 21. SLUS-00892GH.
  7. ^ a b Baird, Scott (September 22, 2016). "15 Secrets Hidden In Final Fantasy Games". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  8. ^ Studio BentStuff, ed. (1999). Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania (in Japanese). DigiCube/Square Enix. pp. 74–75. ISBN 4-925075-49-7.
  9. ^ "Selphie Tilmitt". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  10. ^ Girl: "Are you... Squad B? Wait a minute... You're the guy who showed me around, right!? Thanks! I don't get so lost anymore. Oh yeah, I haven't told you my name yet. I'm... a messenger. Name's Selphie, from Squad A." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  11. ^ Selphie: "I'm on the missile base infiltration team! I have to be! They launched missiles at MY Trabia!" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  12. ^ Girl: "I know! I know! It's the Garden Festival! It's going to be great! I'm planning to be on the committee. You wanna help out, too!?" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  13. ^ Bello, Juztin (March 31, 2021). "Final Fantasy 8: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Balamb Garden". Game Rant. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  14. ^ Irvine: "I really liked this girl, and it made me so happy just talking to her." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  15. ^ Selphie: "It just kinda took off! I don't know. It's pretty easy. I think it'll be fine. But there's no guarantee it won't crash!" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  16. ^ a b c "USgamer Community Question: Who's Your Favorite RPG Character?". USGamer Staff. February 16, 2015. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  17. ^ a b c Matt Sainsbury (March 11, 2016). "Retro Reflections: Final Fantasy VIII, or the game that showed me the future of waifu". Digitally Downloaded. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  18. ^ a b Feyrer, Avery (June 25, 2021). "Every Final Fantasy Character That Appeared In Kingdom Hearts". TheGamer. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  19. ^ "Kingdom Hearts (at Square-Enix.com)". 2002. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  20. ^ Square Enix (December 24, 2018). "DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY OPERA OMNIA – Selphie". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  21. ^ "FF Record Keeper on Twitter". Twitter. October 17, 2020. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  22. ^ "Square-Enix Presents Dynamic Final Fantasy Viii Play Art Action Figures". Collection DX. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  23. ^ Newman, James (2008). Playing with Videogames. Routledge. p. 86. ISBN 97804-1-538-522-0.
  24. ^ a b Marie, Meagan (March 24, 2010). "CosBlog #24: SigmaRue as Selphie Tilmitt". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  25. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (January 17, 2013). "Square Enix Poll: Favorite Female Final Fantasy Character". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  26. ^ Wong, Alistair (February 29, 2020). "Japan's Favorite Final Fantasy Game According to NHK's Grand Poll Is… Final Fantasy X". Siliconera. Archived from the original on March 11, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  27. ^ David Lozada (September 3, 2019). "Why Final Fantasy 8 Remastered is worth returning to in 2019". GameRevolution. Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  28. ^ JKDMedia (May 4, 2012). "Selphie Tilmitt Of Final Fantasy VIII". GameZone. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  29. ^ Selphie Tilmitt Of Final Fantasy VIII, WomenGamers.com, May 9, 2000 (archived).
  30. ^ Lindsay M. (September 13, 2016). "All-female protagonist September: Bitchy or ditzy, the Final Fantasy Scale". Digitally Downloaded. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  31. ^ Scott Sharkey. "Top 5 Final Fantasy Character Types". 1Up.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  32. ^ Lucas Sullivan (May 18, 2017). "The 15 types of characters you meet in every RPG". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  33. ^ Matt Sainsbury (February 2, 2018). "The Friday Ten: Ten characters from Final Fantasy that should be added to Dissidial". Digitally Downloaded. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  34. ^ "The best and worst Final Fantasy party members". PC Gamer. April 7, 2018. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  35. ^ a b Todd Harper; Meghan Blythe Adams; Nicholas Taylor, eds. (2018). Queerness in Play. Springer. p. 122. ISBN 97833-1-990-542-6.
  36. ^ Alexa Ray Correia (2018). Kingdom Hearts II: Boss Fight Books #16. Boss Fight Books. ISBN 97819-4-053-516-6.
  37. ^ Josh Tolentino (March 15, 2010). "Get me results: How to solve the JRPG Grind". Destructoid. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
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