Compilation of Final Fantasy VII | Advent Children
Pre-Release Speculation | The Advent Children Logo

(Originally posted October 30, 2004)

Seb on the Forums has written up an interesting analysis of the logo for Advent Children. Thanks, Seb!

---

After some hit and miss attempts, I finally got to join the official Shinra site and downloaded the wallpapers, and one caught my eye. So I'm going to have a little fun here.

Basically, we all know the FF7 AC symbol:

Of course, it looks an awful lot like the classic meteor symbol of the original FF7, and many of us may have dismissed this new symbol merely as a jazzed-up version of that. However one of the desktops available from the Shinra site gives us a closer look at it (note that this image is scaled down from the original):

Now the tail of the 'meteor' if we call it that looks a bit thin. Look closely and we see that it's made out of two bands or strips with off-shooting hexagons... many containing codes. This could be said to be something about Geostigma (I know quite a few think this), like it's genetic code, as the symbols seem reminiscent of various visual representations of DNA strands.

However I didn't think it was after I took a closer look at the main circle itself.

Here is a detailed shot of the main ball, or body, of the meteor-esque symbol:

I've fiddled with contrast and brightness to make it clearer. If you look, you can see that it looks like a plan of Midgar. There are eight sectors, there is a circle in the centre (Shinra HQ), and at each of the eight sectors, there is even a shape that looks very similar to the reactors. As Venny pointed out as well, there is even an outer ring that could very well be a perimeter fence:

So if we look at the circle as being a plan of Midgar (and it seems pretty convincing to me), then suddenly the new FF7 AC symbol takes on a new meaning. It starts to look a lot like blueprints for an expansion of Midgar. The two bands could be roads or highways expanding out into the world (remember when escaping Midgar in FF7 that after you raced to the end of the road in the Bike minigame, the large highway was unfinished). If we read the symbol as blueprint plans, the hexagons and codes that surround these two bands also seem to fit. They could be plans for expanding housing or any number of things. The codes definately seem to fit in with the idea of plans and a fresh attempt to perhaps build Neo Midgar or maybe just expand on the original.

Another thing to consider is what implications this may have. Venny made a good point in saying that if these were plans for an expansion of Midgar then it certainly raises the possibility of Reeve being included in there somewhere (he was the Urban Development manager after all). It would also have implications on the plot as well, as expansion of Midgar would surely have a damaging affect on the planet... who knows?

---

Digital Holocaust adds the following: Looking at the picture a second time, I noticed that the two "roads" were uneven. The "road" to the left does not look like a "road" it has what seems like a "pump" on it, like say... a pump action that was used on a large cannon...

And there's most of the mystery solved of the AC logo. That circle contains the reactor and fallen Shinra Building, the outer circle is the perimetre barrier, the long streak is the unfinshed road, and the streak next to it on your left is the Sister Ray. I wonder who has blueprints like that? Hmm, maybe an urban development manager? We'll have to wait and see.

We are not yet ruling out the possiblity that the coded hexagons could be a virus/DNA blueprint, but we need to investigate more on that matter. We shall post up any results that we find.