With Square Enix holding its recent Final Fantasy 14 Digital Fan Festival for the millions of players, the stream just happened to make a significant impact on not only Final Fantasy fans, but apparently the internet as a whole. While the die-hard players are focused on the reveal of a new class that will arrive in the upcoming expansion Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker, the majority of fans are more entranced with a new variant of an existing race.
Confirmed via trailer, male Vieras will finally be playable in Final Fantasy 14 after the race was introduced in the Shadowbringers expansion as exclusively all woman. While met with widespread enthusiasm from fans, the reveal has broken out of the confines of the Final Fantasy fandom and taken over Twitter.
On Twitter, the minute and a half long trailer caused the creation and subsequent spike in the "Bunny Boys" hashtag just hours after its release. Going through the Twitter search reveals thousands of tweets showing incredible support through messages of excitement and artists uploading their own interpretation of the male Vieras. Just sitting in the hashtag search will continuously update with new tweets by the minute with only love being shown by the Final Fantasy 14 community and the gaming space.
Yet the Viera are not the only race that will be seeing a big shakeup in terms of character creation. The previously male-only race of the Hrothgar will also be receiving a new female form within the upcoming expansion, but they were not revealed during the recent show. While the female Hrothgar will likely get some fans, there is very little chance that the fanfare will come anywhere close to that of the male Vieras. With the internet squarely focused on "Bunny Boys," some might have missed the news of the new class reveal as Reapers will enter Final Fantasy 14 in the new expansion.
The reveal of the male Viera comes as a significant one for the long running Final Fantasy franchise. Vieras have always been an exclusively female race, stemming back from their introduction in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. In the Gameboy Advance exclusive and pseudo-sequel to the beloved Final Fantasy Tactics, fans were treated to a slew of new races including the Bangaa and Nu Mou. Yet it was the Viera that stole the hearts of many, even leading to Final Fantasy 12 featuring one in the main party with Fran. Throughout the near 20 years since being introduced in Tactics Advance, this latest reveal is the first time players have seen a male variant of the bunny people.
Unfortunately for those enraptured by the chance to finally play a "Bunny Boy" after nearly 20 years only imagining the idea, they will have to wait a few more months until they can get the chance. Alongside the reveal, Square Enix confirmed that Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker will be releasing this November.
Final Fantasy 14 is available on PC and PlayStation 4, with a PlayStation 5 beta currently live. The Endwalker expansion will release on November 23, 2021.
Source: Twitter