Lengthy, asinine rambling over an old, formative story ahead. :p
I remember a long time back, somewhere around 17 years ago, I was helping a friend of the family with some moving, and in the process we found a box of Nintendo Power magazines from a couple years prior. I was always THE gamer dude in town and so, seeing my eyes light up at the sight, he gave the box to me. One of the newer issues in the assortment featured a detailed beginners guide to Breath of Fire 2, and as I was a huge fan of the first game (which I had only fairly recently gotten to play, actually), I was super eager to look it over. I hurriedly flipped to the first page of the guide and was greeted by the first image accompanying this post and my eyes were glued. Why? Well, I was a teenage boy with no internet or really any other readily available outlet for teenage boyness soooo the sight of Katt, a red-headed female wearing a low-cut bustier and literally no bottoms was… It was everything!! Best thing I could have possibly hoped for!! Boobs, boobs, boobs! Yay! No pants, no pants, no pants! YAY! *ugh* But yeah, that was indeed the case -at very first glance-… and then I looked leftward and saw Nina.
I think at first I couldn’t even register what my eyes were seeing because I seriously just sat there staring blankly, unfeelingly. I stared, and did not know what else to do but -keep- staring. I thought, “Um, but SHE is fully dressed? She’s fully (and quite elegantly) dressed. No cleavage. No pantlessness. No ludeness. All I can see is just some dumb leg? That’s… That’s not interesting, right, filthy pubescent me? Boobiezz are all that matters, right!? All she has is legs. Just really… really… great legs… and she’s… she’s…”
“Oh my fucking god, she is GORGEOUS. WHAT THE HELL AM I LOOKING AT!?”
It would not be until quite a long time after this that my #1 pass-time activity was no longer just idling around, listening to Master of Puppets (album) on repeat while wistfully gazing at Nina in that picture, like I was studying it to unlock some only just out of reach truth of the universe itself. When I eventually left my parents house under fairly unfavorable circumstances five or so years later, that one issue of Nintendo Power with this one drawing of Nina was one of the very few things that I took with me.
So if it is the case that I’m strong on the waifu-loving weeb-trash side (and I proudly admit it is), it’s because of Nina Wyndia. If I’m a “leg guy” (and I proudly am), it’s because of Nina Wyndia. If I were asked “who is your all-time biggest fictional crush?”, the only answer I could realistically give after nearly 20 years of STILL being a constant in my search history– is Nina Wyndia. <3
(Helps that she fits my play style to a T too. I HATE using expendable items in any game, so a character who can replenish her own MP on command when you don’t need her nuking stuff and can be taught a healing spell early in the game is my absolute friggin’ JAM.)