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Toddler sends Final Fantasy 7 community into meltdown over FF7 Rebirth

Final Fantasy 7 fans thought they'd found an exciting easter egg for the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth - turns out it was just a broken TV

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: A pillar of light shines down on Final Fantasy 7 villain Sephiroth

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the highly-anticipated second part of the new FF7 trilogy, was revealed earlier this month to a whole load of excitement. The Final Fantasy community, already on an emotional rollercoaster, was subject to another loop-the-loop after a FF7 Rebirth easter egg appeared in Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s main menu – or, so fans thought.

In a post on Twitter, M.J. Gallagher, an author who writes books on the lore of Final Fantasy 7, showed what appeared to be a crimson red portal effect in the background of FF7 Remake’s menu. For totally understandable reasons, Gallagher perceived this to be some kind of easter egg or teaser for Rebirth, which is slated to release next winter. The strange background effect is a shade of red that is similar to that of Rebirth’s branding, which briefly flashed across the screen at the end of its reveal trailer.

As you might expect, this got a lot of fans excited all over again – however, they were quickly let down.

It turns out the effect Gallagher was seeing was not intentionally created by a sneaky Final Fantasy developer, but by his young child.

“Folks, I’m so sorry. False alarm. Turns out my toddler has thrown a toy at my TV, both damaging the screen and sending the FFVII community into meltdown,” Gallagher tweets. Based on the tweet times it took them about 20 minutes to figure out it was their Toddler that sent the Final Fantasy Fandom spinning.

While disappointed that this wasn’t a legitimate easter egg, the community – and Gallagher – have found the funny side of things. “I’m not even angry about the TV. I can’t stop laughing,” he says.

Even a marketing director for Square Enix has got involved in the gags, describing the incident as a “new grassroots marketing effort” for the company

In case you aren’t aware, the short-lived excitement is mostly down to the fact that FF7 Remake’s villain, Sephiroth, will play a pivotal role in Rebirth. Square Enix has said that an “untold tale” will lead after some significant revelations at the end of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. But, with the game due out next winter and no legitimate easter egg in sight, it looks like we will have to wait a while longer to get any new info.