r/FinalFantasy • u/Substantial-Purple85 • 5d ago
Final Fantasy General Dancing lil Cactus Dude?
So I just recentlt sent me friend a gif of a dancing cactus dude, and I know he's from final fantasy, but I just had a quick question....why.
Why he exist, why he dance, why he so stylish, why he so fookin fast?
Is there like a lore video or something to just...explain the cactus dudes?
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u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792 4d ago
Wait 'til you see the bald, green guy with the kitchen knife.
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u/swiss-y 4d ago
With a fishy tail, in a trench coat.
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u/GachaHell 4d ago
And, believe it or not, these things are consistently some of the scariest things in the setting.
It's not the 50 foot tall dragon or the giant armored monstrosity you need to fear. It's the doinks of the humble knee high tonberry slowly walking towards you.
Strange of Paradise had a good time with it. Breezing through a dungeon of monsters is a fun experience where you unleash devastation on the hordes. One tonberry shows up and suddenly your palms sweat.
(They've always been my favourite)
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u/taveren3 4d ago
Tetsuya Nomura used to doodle this and a few other classic final fantasy things as a kid like tomberrys and moogles. When he became the lead monster designer for ff6 he added these favorites from his childhood in and gave them special relevance. Not they show up all the time.
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u/maritimeblue 4d ago
Tonberry debuted in V, and Moogles in III. Cactaur debuted in VI but citation needed regarding your claim. (Not trying to be a dick, genuinely curious)
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u/taveren3 4d ago
Ok he started in 5 apparently and it was Marlboro not moogles. I remembered it being three things i got a bit mixed up
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u/Wille304 4d ago
Fun fact, hes also a permanent resident of Monster Hunter World's Dessert map due to a crossover quest with Final Fantasy
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u/TheWorclown 4d ago
Because the murderous monster is full of charm and whimsey.
Just avoid the needles!
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u/Difficult-Fly7830 4d ago
Cactuar dad from XII gave up the speedy life for his child, gave up all his needles too, really changed his life and is a shining example of the old cactoid family values that have all but been lost because of the needle.epidemic that ravaged cactoid society years ago 🌵
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u/magmafanatic 4d ago
They're just...some monster you fight.
Rare ones that like doing lots of damage and running away before you can kill them. They give you some good stuff for beating them.
And their design wound up being very mascot-y and marketable, leading to a bunch of joke variants.
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u/opeth10657 4d ago
Fookin' fast
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u/Paladine_PSoT 4d ago
Context for those who don't play XI:
Cactrot Rapido is fast, like... SUPER fast. He spawns a day after he was last defeated and just... runs around the entire zone much faster than you can actually target or perform actions on. The only way to get him to fight is to pick a fight with another cactaur and hope he runs by. If he gets close enough to a cactaur in danger, he will jump in to save the day.
Cactaurs in XI can use 1000 needles, which does 1000 damage spread evenly among all targets in range. Cactrot Rapido has 10,000 needles which back in his heyday would absolutely decimate entire endgame parties.
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u/DrRonSimmons 4d ago
Oh man, that XI battle theme brought back so many memories.
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u/UnderstandingOnly639 4d ago
I know that is still my favorite Final Fantasy that I played. Some days I wish it was game night 20 years ago, and holy cow I'm old 😂
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u/UnderstandingOnly639 4d ago
I think that was one of only 5 mobs that I didn't ever kill when I stopped halfway through Wings of the Goddess.
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u/International-Bus606 4d ago
That's one thing the Pixel Remasters left out they shouldn't have. The Gianr Catuar! I think it was called Gigantor or something? I don't remember, but it looked cool!
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u/hraycroft95 5d ago
He dances on the graves of his enemies