Hes not a nerd, hes just "different" and cold.........so be it.

Rhea, as always has made the exact point. Cloud is an Icon. I remember (before the release of VII) seeing him on the frount cover of a Japanese magazine and my thought was, that just looks stupid, spikey guy, stupid sword.....

Then I played the game, and I then understood why he made the frount cover. Cloud becomes a part of us in a way that no other FF main character has since, or before. I wish I knew why. Cloud is no nerd, Squall was, Tidus certainly was, even the guy from FF XII was (see, I forgot his name already).

Cloud is an ICON not a nerd.

The author of the article mentioned in the first post is clearly not looking into the game deeply enough to undestand Cloud properly.

OK...I have read the article and I know I am gonna be slagged of now big time..but I can see this guy's point. Though I do not specifically agree with him in every way, and I do not agree Cloud is a nerd representation...but I can see where he is coming from. The point here is that this is his view, and you are reading his CRITICAL analysis, his thoughts on the matter... and analytical critical articles like this one can be harsh and very crude sometimes. I read stuff like this all day long....

You have to look at this article from a different point of view, this is NOT a hate mail article, this a article is not against FF7 or MGS or Cloud....he is analysing and he is going to point out things in a very straight and crude way. You are looking and reading it as fans of Cloud and FF7....and if you read like that, the article will be and sound offencive.

I had to do the similar thing for my own uni project. The subject were videogames and gameplay and analysing the player while playing, how players connect with games and how does the game effects the player... then had to decode and analyse the games on their own and compare them to each other. I actually used FFX, FF7 and POP series. It was extremmely difficult thing to do...and if you read my essay you would probably hate me to hell and back or think I am nuts...though I was not crtiticizing, but purelly analysing, still it can offend cos people do not have to agree with my view of the subject.

Probably decoding was even more difficult, in a way, that is what he is partialy doing....it is refered to as decoding characters besides just analysing them in stereotypical way ...plus he is using the comparison method...and these are all the things that can serisuoly touch fans nerves....because like I had to do, like him, he is not looking at these games as a fan...or a gamer....he is stripping them to bare bones...though he might of been a bit more curtious toward fans, for when you are writing essays, articles such as that one you are spitting out your own opinions...and that can offend, but then again he is a critic, so what can you do ...but that is another topic.

Cloud's a nerd because he wears big coke-bottled black glasses, sits in the library all day and reads Harry Potter, and only drinks his milk straight out of the glass jugs that the milkman drops off.

For real...how and why is anyone calling Cloud a nerd? This doesn't even make any sense...

Cloud doesn't fit in the definition of nerd. He's just a loner trying to find himself, who discovers that his most valuable asset is not power but his loyalty and bravery, unlike Sephiroth.

Nerd?? If he's a nerd,he 's the hottest nerd I've ever seen . Calling him a nerd is a joke right.
He cares about his friends , when he lost Aeris , it hurt him . The way he acts makes him human to me .