It is written "Weapon", not "WEAPON".

EDIT: I apologize, for when creating this topic and posting in it I didn't know that capitalization (or lack thereof) does not count as "spelling".

Replacement thread: English Canon: The mistaken capitalization of ‘Weapon’



I have noticed a trend among FFVII fans to spell 'Weapon' in caps. "WEAPON", in the same style as names like "SOLDIER" and "AVALANCHE".

Even hardcore players find themselves falsely recalling that the original game spelled it this way. I have searched the game script of both the PC and PSX game and not a single time is a reference to the Planet's self-generated defenses written as "WEAPON".

This is true for both field script and battle text.



Why has it become a popular trend to write it as WEAPON? Well, first of all it seems intuitive to write it that way to distinguish 'Weapon' from normal handheld weapons. Second, according to Squall_of_SeeD, the Brady Games guide for FFVII "uses the caps spelling in literally every reference".

According to Tres, Dirge of Cerberus also says "Weapon". I have not actually checked to confirm this yet, though.


Some might find this thread/post superfluous, but I just wanted to clear this up because even hardcore players can find themselves misremembering that the original game said "WEAPON" and not "Weapon". Years ago, I was faulty of this as well.



This is also relevant because of our frontpage articles. Under the assumption that the Compilation has not changed the canon English spelling into the all-caps version, some articles might need to be edited.

- FFVII Series Terms & Definitions
- Complete Timeline of the Compilations
- Analysis: The Planet, Jenova, & Genesis after [ ν ] – εуλ 0010
- Compilation FAQ

Is there any reason we should let the capitalized spelling stay, or should we edit the above articles?

Might as well edit them.

I notice Absolute Steve's guide capitalises them word too. For example, "WARNING: The big green creature roaming the sea is Emerald WEAPON, one of the optional powerhouse bosses in the game." It's very strange how ubiquitous it has become.

Also, I found this thread on GameFAQs where they are discussing the same issue and then link to TLS as a source

I have only ever written it Weapon, and it is how the game spells it. But I could have sworn it capitalizes it in Junon during the execution when Weapon attacks...Or maybe when you see their name in the battle window when you have the help menu open? But I guess I could be just imprinting as well.

ForceStealer said:

I have only ever written it Weapon, and it is how the game spells it. But I could have sworn it capitalizes it in Junon during the execution when Weapon attacks...

Click to expand...

Maybe they were just shouting the word.

Even when shouting the word/name, Weapon is not capitalized in Junon.

See picture gallery

I fired up DoC and checked the one instance I remembered that Weapon is spelled out. I don't have DoC emulated or any recording equipment hooked to the PS2 so I had to take photos.
Scene "Why those conniving":
01, 02. It is indeed written as Weapon and not WEAPON.

I thought there would be a mention of Weapon in the reports you collect, but I didn't find one such reference there.


EDIT: In page 34 of the Reunion Files, the English translation spells it in caps.

It is Rufus's character profile page. The synopsis of his story reads:

"Rufus managed to survive an attack by one of the WEAPONs two years ago, but now he is confined to a wheelchair and infected with a fatal illness known as "Geostigma".

Click to expand...

I doubt this makes the capitalization into part of canon. I would like to know though... From what I find the Reunion Files was released in 2006, date unspecified. Dirge of Cerberus, the first English version, was released in August 15, 2006. So as it stands, I don't know whether DoC was released after the Reunion Files or not.

EDIT #2: SoftBank published the Reunion Files, but the publication info is only available in Japanese. I can't navigate here, so I can't figure out the exact date that the Reunion Files was released.

Shademp said:

Even hardcore players find themselves falsely recalling that the original game spelled it this way. I have searched the game script of both the PC and PSX game and not a single time is a reference to the Planet's self-generated defenses written as "WEAPON".

This is true for both field script and battle text.

Spoiler: Snapshots

Why has it become a popular trend to write it as WEAPON? Well, first of all it seems intuitive to write it that way to distinguish 'Weapon' from normal handheld weapons. Second, according to Squall_of_SeeD, the Brady Games guide for FFVII "uses the caps spelling in literally every reference".

According to Tres, Dirge of Cerberus also says "Weapon". I have not actually checked to confirm this yet, though.


Some might find this thread/post superfluous, but I just wanted to clear this up because even hardcore players can find themselves misremembering that the original game said "WEAPON" and not "Weapon". Years ago, I was faulty of this as well.



This is also relevant because of our frontpage articles. Under the assumption that the Compilation has not changed the canon English spelling into the all-caps version, some articles might need to be edited.

- FFVII Series Terms & Definitions
- Complete Timeline of the Compilations
- Analysis: The Planet, Jenova, & Genesis after [ ν ] – εуλ 0010
- Compilation FAQ

Spoiler: ^

Noticed that this one writes Jenova as "JENOVA", also.

Is there any reason we should let the capitalized spelling stay, or should we edit the above articles?

Click to expand...

Hmmmm... I swear it's spelled in all caps at least once in the game... Man, I swear I saw it! Urgh!

Looks like that's where I picked it up from then.

The mistakes/omissions in the BradyGames strategy guides could fill a book of their own. I never got over the time I accidentally bought it for XII and ended up with no Zodiac Spear because it just completely fails to tell you in the walkthrough. Piggyback ftw (aside from maybe IX).

Anyway, since there was never a piggyback guide for Final Fantasy VII I've had the displeasure of both the PC and PS Bradygames guides since they came out, so here are some photos of WEAPON:



They say WEAPON every single time it's mentioned

I am guilty of never sticking to my memory just *why* SOLDIER and AVALANCHE are spelled in caps. Clearly there must be something in the Japanese text that clearly distinguishes a member of SOLDIER from a common soldier (which for ease I often use the term "grunt" instead of "soldier" to avoid confusion).

ソルジャー = SOLDIER
アバランチ = AVALANCHE

I'm quickly writing this all up into a TLS article, and I need to know what is up with the caps. Was it a wild, unprecedented move by the translator of the original game to avoid confusion via the use of capital letters, or is this a common Japanese->English translation practice? I do not recall seeing any translation style like this outside of FFVII.

ウェポン = Weapon

I notice that when searching for the Japanese term for 'Weapon' in the game script, no references to normal weapons appear. So clearly, the Japanese game has a clear distinction between Weapon and a weapon. On first-hand, it appears even more like the WEAPON spelling should have been the English canon from the beginning.

Good to have clarification, I was wondering about this after reading through the compilation time-line as they are labeled as WEAPON in full caps.

I think its probably just because its such a mundane word to call them. Same with SOLDIER. I guess to give it some differentiation from the normal usage of the word.

Release date of the Reunion Files according to SoftBank is May 22, 2006.

On PlayAsia, May 20, 2006 is listed as the release date.

Either way, the Reunion Files clearly predates the first English release of Dirge of Cerberus. Applying the unwritten rule of canon that the most recent title/book dictates canon, any doubt is removed as to whether or not 'Weapon' is the canon English spelling (as this is how it reads in Dirge of Cerberus).

Shademp said:

I am guilty of never sticking to my memory just *why* SOLDIER and AVALANCHE are spelled in caps. Clearly there must be something in the Japanese text that clearly distinguishes a member of SOLDIER from a common soldier (which for ease I often use the term "grunt" instead of "soldier" to avoid confusion).

ソルジャー = SOLDIER
アバランチ = AVALANCHE

I'm quickly writing this all up into a TLS article, and I need to know what is up with the caps. Was it a wild, unprecedented move by the translator of the original game to avoid confusion via the use of capital letters, or is this a common Japanese->English translation practice? I do not recall seeing any translation style like this outside of FFVII.

ウェポン = Weapon

I notice that when searching for the Japanese term for 'Weapon' in the game script, no references to normal weapons appear. So clearly, the Japanese game has a clear distinction between Weapon and a weapon. On first-hand, it appears even more like the WEAPON spelling should have been the English canon from the beginning.

Click to expand...

Yeah, they're all in katakana, rather than katakana. For one thing, it means it's the English word. And obviously hito et. al. have more experience than I, but I have seen katakana used for emphasis as with caps. It did work well with SOLDIER as it distinguishes them from soldiers, although that logic would suggest WEAPON as well... And things like Materia are in katakana, I'm not sure why something like AVALANCHE was capitalized...
(Just for fun fact, Al Bhed in FFX was katakana with the sounds all mixed around.)

So I dunno about canon, although like I said, I've always thought it was Weapon as that's how the game usually spelled it, I just admit that I was sure there was at least one occasion where it was capped in the game.

I always questioned more why the game always referred to Weapon in the singular.

ForceStealer said:

Yeah, they're all in katakana, rather than katakana.

Click to expand...

Que? You mean katakana rather than kanji, right?


But yes, the words SOLDIER, AVALANCHE and Weapon are English words except with a Japanese accent attached to them. To prevent confusion, the game uses these "cool" English terms for the important groups, but uses the Japanese words for the similar counterparts.

武器 (buki) -> weapon
ウェポン (uepon) -> Weapon (WEAPON)

兵 (Hei) -> soldier
ソルジャー (Soruj&#257 -> SOLDIER

雪崩 (Nadare) -> avalanche
アバランチ (abaranchi) -> AVALANCHE

So a Japanese gamer could be confused as well, since アバランチ is just as valid a term there for an avalanche as 雪崩 is. Again, they are using English words because it is KEWL.


I decided that the above wasn't important for the article I just scraped together.

*Changed title: English Canon: The mistaken capitalization of ‘Weapon’

Could use some help with making the article look and read better. =)

EDIT: It was just pointed out to me that a difference in capitalization is not a spelling difference. Will change the article accordingly.