24 cat boys in Final Fantasy 14 put on their tightest speedos for a legendary MMO raid clear

A Final Fantasy 14 cat boy has brought together 23 fellow Miqo'te to run not one, but three Alliance raids – the latest being the steamiest yet, with the divine entities of the Thaleia raid brought down by a gang of beach-ready cat boys.

Dubbed the 'speedo run,' all three groups doing the Thaleia alliance raid were filled with cat boys ready to hit not only the beach but some of The Twelve, too – benevolent deities who are essentially the gods of Eorzea. 

Speaking to 12DOVE (of course we had to talk to them), the ring leader of the Speedo-clad cat boys tells us the inspiration behind the run was to bring the sort of activity they had seen from various communities of Japanese players to the Elemental data center, which Phron'to tells us has the most English-speakers of the Japanese data centers.

"On the JP DCs, I've seen whole communities of Japanese players organize all sorts of events like the runs I've organized," they say. "Some of these ranged from meme runs to more elaborate runs where everyone wore a specific uniform, like this 24 cat boy NieR run I saw before. Different communities (specifically race/gender-exclusive cross-world linkshells) organized these kinds of runs, like a 24 male Au Ra in suits run, or a 24 cat girl in maid outfits run, and the list goes on. Then I thought, 'What if I organized one on Elemental?'"

After attending plenty of cat boy runs themselves to "take notes," Phron'to brought what they learned to Elemental's more English-speaking community. The first raid of the Myths of the Realm Alliance series saw Phron'to organize an "All Cat Boys Go to Heaven" run of Aglaia, where the outfit theme was "something godly or angelic." Then came the second run for Euphrosyne, which was done to the theme of "Go, Go! Sailor Catboys!" But what inspired the cat boy clan to dress down for the grand finale, Thaleia?

"I had a feeling this would be asked!" They say. "Initially, when I was conceptualizing this run, I was teetering between having everyone wear Euphrosyne glams or summer wear because of the water slides. I asked a few cat boys in my crossworld linkshell for their opinions, and we decided on summer wear. Then I thought, 'What if we make it more exciting and enticing by having everyone wear speedos?' Everyone liked the idea, and that's what we went with."

You can catch a highlight video down below, or any of the myriad photos that any of the Final Fantasy 14 players have posted. They're less about the fights themselves and more about a cat boy gang posing for cool photos at picturesque spots – like one that involves all of them gathering around one who looks like G'raha Tia, the king of the cat boys. 

The Myths of the Realm Alliance raid series – part of Final Fantasy 14's run of post-Endwalker content – takes players through a gauntlet of boss encounters that are split into three raids, designed to shed some light on who exactly the Twelve are. The only thing truly divine this time around, though, is the throng of fabulous cat boys ready for a scrap – and a photo op or two.

Looking forward, Phron'to has plans to go backward for their next raid run - naturally, with plenty of cat boys in tow.

"Soon after my Thaleia run, I got a few DMs from cat boys on my world, and even a few from different regional DCs if I could organize a run for them," they say. "For now, I'll keep it to Elemental/JP DCs since it fits my timezone; if I did one on NA, I'd have to wake up early morning to herd all the cat boys and manage them.

"As for what they are, I'm planning to revisit some of the older Alliance raids, and I'm particularly eyeing Dun Scaith and Orbonne Monastery. I'll keep the theme and dress code for those runs secret for now."

Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 14's Yoshi-P was moved to tears after JRPG icon Sakaguchi thanked him for "making Final Fantasy even better."