Cloud's State of Mind, not mia on disk one, kidz.

So like. It's a topic that bugs the heck out of me because usually when people bring it up it seems like they have no idea what really happened to Cloud during disk one.

I know the Ultimanias like to simplify it by saying "personality" sometimes, however, it's made clear Cloud never stole anyone's personality once he's in the lifestream. Tifa even states herself, several times, that diskone!Cloud is still the Cloud that grew up with her in Nibelhiem, albiet a little screwed up in the head. And really, that's the truth.

The lifestream scene was more about Cloud piecing back his memories, where he replaced himself with Zack. Considering Cloud's issue with failure it's understandable - he wants to be someone everyone will love, appreciate, and notice. Zack was the person Cloud aspired to be, and as we can see, once Zack died, Cloud's fractured head decided to take his place to honor his life.

However I've still never seen one instance where Cloud copied Zack's personality. Him simply joking around with Aeris is hardly proof of it being Zack's, because we see on disk 3 Cloud jokes around with Tifa as well. Personally, I sort of just see that as an excuse to make it seem like Cloud never held any sort of real affection for Aeris on his won. Even assuming they never had any romantic connection, I think it's unfair to their friendship to act like he's so distant from her when she clearly touched him in some way.

Basically, Cloud is not MIA on disk one. It's Cloud. The only fake personality he put up in the beginning was his badass routine, and that gets shot down pretty quickly. After he finds himself on disk two, there is no major change to his personality other than he stops trying to act like a dick entirely. The "fake" Cloud theory would have more weight if he'd undergone a drastic change, imo. Instead it's the same Cloud without the flashy black backgrounds and white text.

As for Jenova cells, I never saw that truly affect him unless Sephiroth was near. I always thought it was more the experimentation that left him in a vulnerable state, which is why he tried to be like Zack. However, Jenova's influence only seemed to come in whenever they needed Cloud as a puppet to accomplish something (like handing over the materia).

agree, disagree? throw rotten veggies at me? :3

The proof that he wasn't MIA is in the fact that there is a distinct difference between disc one Cloud, the dude trying so hard to be all badass and cool, and Zack, the happy-go-lucky, flirty, charismatic guy who glomped Angeal and suggested that Aerith sell flowers and wear pink. If you can't see it, then I think there's a problem, plain and simple.

((THIS FORUM MUST NOT DIE!))

Cloud's treated like a literal robot-- just insert a different memory chip and voila, new personality!

How does that in any way make sense? Even if we're not talking romantic love, you can't tell me that all the grief and friendship he experienced with Aerith magically meant nothing just because he found out he was really born a human, non-puppet boy in Nibelheim.

I can accept an argument that he gradually moves on from her memory, because people do that too, just like people remain faithful to their departed lover-- but the idea that one event meant everything Cloud built up in Disc 1 means nothing? What about his relationship with Marlene? His friendship with Barret and everyone else in AVALANCHE? Why does he remain friends with them, and needs their companionship, if he is meant to turn his back on everything after the Lifestream event?