That's not nearly as bad as him being freakin born in Rocket Town.
Though the subject is not entirely on-topic, I will now explore this statement of Cid being born in Rocket Town.
The notion that Cid can't be born in Rocket Town is based on the (natural) assumption that the town's name comes from the tilting rocket, Shinra No. 26. Which only seems natural because the FMV appears to tell us that the village is no older than the tilting Rocket.
->
But then again we have these pre-release image of a bigger Rocket Town, not seen in the final game.
Could it be that these unseen, outer skirts of Rocket Town existed during the failed rocket launch, but that the town was then
expanded to include the houses right next to the rocket?
I can't be sure of that either. In the "change disc" image with Cid on the Tiny Bronco, we get a wide look of the landscape as it was before the rocket tilted. No settlements, meaning that the suggestion of Rocket Town existing "outside of view" becomes harder to justify.
But for the sake of entertaining the notion that Rocket Town already existed, I posit the possibility that the town's name derives from its
history with rocket engines since the time when Shinra was a Weapons Manufacturer.
Cid Highwind said:
“You know Shinra developed
a lot of technological gadgets
during the meaningless war, right?”
“Now it's a Mako company,
but in the old days it
was a weapons manufacturer.”
“Well,
they came up with a Rocket Engine.”
“There was so much excitement about
the thought of going into outer space.
Our dreams got bigger and bigger.”
“They put a major budget into it
and made prototype after prototype!
Finally, they completed Shinra No. 26.”
Could this be the case that the town's name derives from decades of rocket engineering taking place there and that it's not just a reference to
THE rocket tilting there? If this is so, then Cid (who is 32 at the time of OG) culd definitely have been born in Rocket Town.
Well, does any source state that the name "Rocket Town" derives from the Shinra No. 26? I am actually not sure, not even after looking through the game script.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I found only one unused and one used line referring to this matter.
Unused line said:
Original translation:
“You don't know?”
“There was a plan to send a man
into outer space.”
“It was headed up by the leader of
the Shinra Space Program, Palmer.”
“This town is the result of the plan,
but the plan got cut…”
Japanese:
「君たち、知らないのかい？」
「神羅の宇宙開発部門の長であるパルマーの
　主導で、人間を宇宙におくろうとした
　計画があったのさ」
「でも、その計画も中断しちゃってね……
　この村は、その計画のなごりなのさ」
GlitterBerri's translation:
You don’t know?
There was once a plan to send humans
into space, under the leadership of
Palmer, head of the Shinra Space Development Program.
But the plan was suspended…
This town is what remains.
The town is directly related to the Space Program but we are not told how old the town is. I better end this paragraph here, because I could write on and on about the many interpretations of this unused line.
The old man who observes the rocket has one...odd line, to say the least.
Used line said:
Original translation:
“That rusted out rocket is
all that remains of
the Shinra's Space Program.”
“It just looms there.
That's how the town got its name…
'Shinra No. 26'.”
Japanese line:
「あのサビついたロケットは
　神羅カンパニーが宇宙開発に
　力を入れていたころのなごりさ」
「あすこにそびえるが
　この村の名前の由来
　宇宙ロケット『神羅２６号』じゃ」
Is this a huge mistranslation? The town is never called 'Shinra No. 26'. Does he in fact mean to say that it's the rocket that gave the town the name "Rocket Town"? If so, this helps settle the argument.
------------------------------------------------------------------
So we have essentially two options.
The Easy Option:
Conclude that the town was built after the failed rocket launch, that its namesake derives from the Shinra No. 26 rocket and that it is a mistake to point this out as Cid's birthplace.
The Complicated Option:
Assume that the town existed for decades, outside of view in all the material we've seen, and that it has been a centre for rocket engineering since before Cid was born, giving the town its namesake and thus justify it as Cid's birthplace.
I personally tilt towards the Easy Option, because I enjoy assuming the fallability of the official writers. They are human and probably nowhere near as super-nerdy about the franchise as we are. The Complicated Option can work, but too many assumptions are left up to the player.
Still, it would be nice to have that line by the old man retranslated...
