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During Final Fantasy VII's first years, people seemed to either hate or love Tifa. Thankfully, a much healthier middle term seems to have showed up in the meantime, but that doesn't stop a few immature people from accusing game characters of things they can't possibly control, such as their outfit or their breast size. Trust me, it gets worse.

Indeed, during the course of the years, Tifa has been labeled a "slut", a "big breasted damsel", and, my personal favorite, a "weak woman". Let me start off by saying that while I do find defending a fictional character as irrational as insulting one, people's stupidity in coming up with the most unbelievable reasons to hate a bunch of pixels does get on my nerves a little too easily, and I'm urged to say something about it.

If you think Tifa is a slut or a whore, then we probably haven't been playing the same game. While speculation is healthy and fun in the domain of fandom, you can't form a valid opinion on a character using any more than what the producers give or hint about them. And, obviously enough, telling from the words they have put in her mouth, Squaresoft wasn't trying to make us think of Tifa as a woman who has sex for money. All they did (and this is quite sad, yes, but it isn't a perfect world we're living in; they had to sacrifice a woman from the main cast, and I'm guessing Aerith's angelic features didn't go too well with it) was give Tifa unrealistically oversized breasts and an exposing outfit for fanservice. Actually, now that I think of it, sure as hell they must have been trying to hint on Tifa's horny, hidden alter-ego that must have gotten out of control numerous times through the game, though not in a way visible to the player.

Get real.

As for being weak, it's an established fact that Tifa is one of the top physically strongest people in your party, right after Cloud, Red XIII and Yuffie (if you have her). On an obviously much less interesting note, since a lot of people don't seem to take it in consideration, Tifa has been through the loss of both her parents under unfair circumstances to her, Sephiroth's attempt to take her along, the burning down of her own hometown and the survival in a totally different city, Midgar, at the unexperienced age of fifteen. Not only that, she has had to deal with her inner demons and love heartbreaks all by herself, due to her obvious shyness.

A mentally weak person wouldn't have been able to remain sane and supportive through so many losses and heartbreaks; at best, we could have expected Tifa to at least have given up on society, but, instead, she came out of everything much stronger than before and with the will to do her best to help save the same world that so harshly had betrayed her trust at such a tender age. During the course of the game, Tifa does perfectly fine by herself (though relying on her loved ones, like anybody else would), which doesn't allow one to call her a "damsel in distress": unless you're counting the Wallmarket and Sister Ray incidents, but not only does the latter involve Barret as well (and I'm hoping you wouldn't want to call him a damsel), the first was something she got herself into consciously, and, thanks to Aerith, we'll never know whether she would or not have been able to get out of it by herself as well. A damsel? Quite the opposite.

I hope what I said above has helped you realize there's no point in hating a pixelated character due to the outfit she's been given, or in trying to modify the truth just a little bit so that it fits your insults better. If you have a bad first impression of Tifa, or just a plain disliking towards her, I'm sure you'll be able to live with it without causing havoc in the game community, and, especially, without giving me a headache, for I have indeed developed a considerable lack of patience when it comes to obvious immaturity.

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