The overlap between Final Fantasy XIII fans and people who splash out on Louis Vuitton handbags might be a slim one, but modern marketing is all about exploiting those profitable niches. At least, that's the best explanation we can find for the appearance of FFXIII protagonist Lightning in a series of ads for the famed French fashion house. Louis Vuitton's creative director Nicolas Ghesquière has been posting shots from the upcoming Series 4 campaign on his Instagram account, including a video of Lightning wielding items from Louis Vuitton's Spring-Summer 2016 collection like they're capable of doing serious damage. (Which, with all those leather and chains, they probably are.)

It's not an unexpected collaboration though, as FFXIII characters (including Lightning) have already modeled for Prada in Japan and Ghesquière is a noted fan of digital worlds. The catwalk debut of Louis Vuitton's last collection was centered around the premise of exploring a virtual reality, with a heroine with suspiciously Lightning-like pink hair described in the show's notes as "initiating a quest, a heroic journey in which the protagonist gains strength every step of the way." Yep, sounds like Final Fantasy to us.