u/Happy_Ad_9976

Let me ask you something. Why do you play games? Why are they so important to you? Why do they hit different? Well let me tell you my thoughts.

Sometimes us, as gamers, we have to let go. Of our stress, of the world we are living in. To escape to a new world, where we can truly feel connected. Where we can truly feel a part of. That we belong in. People may say video games make us weak, that is absolutely not true. Its more of a mental tool, a resource to guide us, to improve our mental health, to make us feel happier. Its a safe space, essentially and these safe spaces lets us feel certain emotions. Some of these games are where we can process stress, grief, pain, and loneliness. By going through a good story (keyword good story, ill return to this in a bit), and teaching us that there is joy, happiness, and hope in the other side of stress and pain that we may feel in our everyday lives or in the real world.

I feel this by playing my favorite resident evil games, being a cleon shipper (romantic ship between Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy), I am one of the biggest, hard-core, passionate cleon shippers you will see out there. But we are getting a little off topic here.

For me, where this begins was The Last of Us. I found a safe space. I found comfort. I found that through all stresses of the real world, a place I could escape to. In Joel and Ellie's story. Joel lost his daughter Sarah, was broken for years. Ellie kept losing the people she cared about, and was a orphan practically all her life. Joel found a second chance to be a father and to have a daughter again in Ellie. In the other side, Ellie found someone who stayed for her, someone who loved her, and she had family. She had a father. She had someone by her side. And she loved Joel back (note we are talking about the real Ellie not tlou2 ellie). This is what we play games for. The Last of Us taught me that there is joy, happiness and hope at the other side of stress and pain. I loved these characters, and connected with them all the way.

Then here comes the absolute shitbox TLOU2 was that goes against everything we play video games for. Good story to improve our mental health, and create a safe space where we feel we can truly belong, where we can feel connected? Not even close. This game takes all the stress and sadness we are feeling in our lives, and just makes it a million times worse. The characters we love are nonexistent. They're destroyed. They're killed off or broken. Yeah depression, its basically the whole game. Depression simulator. Misery porn.

You know what message it sends? Its literally just a fuck you to people who loved the first game. Its literally Neil saying "oh you liked the first game, you liked the characters, you like the special Joel and Ellie father daughter bond", well you can forget all about that, the only thing that matters is my golden, perfect character Abby. I didn't want to play 12 hrs as a character I hated.

So no, I didnt escape to a new world. I wasn't in a world where I felt connected. Where I felt a part of. I wasn't happier, I was depressed, dissapointed, and angry. I didn't feel like it was a safe space. I didn't feel it taught me that there is joy, happiness, and hope on the other side of pain. Because where tf is that hope at the end of the game. Ellie loses her fingers, loses her only father, loses Dina, I mean shit can't get any worse. But yeah that's not canon. The canon is Ellie and Joel living a happy, peaceful life together, loving each other like they always have being one great family as father and daughter, constantly going out on patrols, joking and making fun of each other.

Many people tell me, I'm sorry you had to go through TLOU2, idk how you could recover through that. And my answer to that is I have been actively and passionately shipping and hoping for Cleon in resident evil and its healed me. Of course, it won't completely mend the scars, as this cannot be completely healed. But yeah that's how I feel. And thanks for reading. Good night ya'll... and remember from the good and great stories (like The Last of Us 2013 with Joel and Ellie), that joy, happiness, and hope can be found in times of stress and pain even when it seems impossible

I love Cleon a lot. I want Claire and Leon to be married more than anything in the world. Leon deserves Claire. I love their dynamic. Its best for Leon. But RE4, pushes the Aeon (Ada and Leon) dynamic a lot and shows how manipulative and toxic the relationship is. It gets to a point where Leon is so tired of it, that when ada offers Leon to come along in the helicopter, he rejects and says "this is where we go our separate ways".

For me and to many cleon fans this is the biggest roadblock for our high hopes to cleon becoming a reality. And I don't know if I can handle the ada and leon segments in this game and it would hurt my heart as a cleon fan, so as good as the game is in survival-horror-action aspects, idt I can do it. That is just how much I am invested and love Cleon that much. Maybe I will bring myself to play it in the future, but currently I feel it would break my heart too much.

Does anyone else feel me or is this just me?

Not even kidding, I had a bad nightmare that I never want to have again. In this nightmare, I played The Last of Us pt II. Yes, there's no TLOU2 as The Last of Us is one of the best standalone games to exist with no sequel, and you might ask, what's so bad about dreaming about there being a sequel?

And let me tell you IT WAS BAD. Like imagine Ellie ignoring Joel, her father, for 2 years. Like I get she was passed, but it'd be for a month tops. She would NEVER. Pretty wild huh? Oh, but it goes downhill from there. There's this buff horribly written psychopath of a character named Abby, I think? She kills Joel with a golf club in the first 2 hours of the game and Joel is killed in the most disrespectful way ever. The game completely shits on the beautiful bond of Joel and Ellie, the father-daughter bond.

We are forced to play 12 hrs as this so called Abby, we have to watch a really gruesome boat scene and Ellie go on a revenge quest just for her not to take the actual revenge on Abby and lose all her fingers. Then I woke up quickly to reality and thank goodness I did.

There was no part II. There was a dlc though, showing that Ellie forgave Joel (obviously hes alive) in weeks, they live under the same roof, laughing, going on adventures together, even going on fishing trips around the lakes of Jackson, being one true family that loves each other. Abby and the WLF does not exist. And there was this really odd name of Neil Druckmann, idk how that name came up, because the genius of The Last of Us is Bruce Straley.

But yeah, crazy dream I guess lol.

Don't give up hope for cleon to become a reality. Its still possible. There is still hope. We see in requiem, there are multiple possible references to Claire. The wings on the watch and the picture of the "let me live" sweater. The fact that the director said that Leon has a "happy place to go to", which could very much resemble Claire as his wife. The incrrased chemistry and tension in the cgi films. Capcom has not closed any doors, which means the door to cleon is wide open. So don't listen to what other people say, just keep believing.

And if it doesn't happen, yes it will be dissapointing and heartbreaking but we are CLEON forever, no matter what Cleon will be canon to US, it will be canon in our hearts. This reddit community will keep posting great Cleon content and being the great cleon community that it is. There will still be new cleon fanart, and edits. The massive cleon fanbase isn't going anywhere. We will get through any dissapointment or heartbreak together, but I am getting a little ahead of myself. For now, lets keep on believing and hoping, together as a community.

As always, Cleon forever ❤️ (Claire will always be Leon's wife and they will be a couple forever)

I don't know about you guys but I love Cleon so much that I want it so bad to be canon, I want Leon and Claire to be a couple so bad, they are just so perfect and cute together. In fact you could say im obsessed with Cleon, thats how much I love the ship.

I look at fanart, edits, and even this sub almost every day which makes my day almost every time. My phone main wallpaper, lock screen wallpaper, and computer wallpaper is literally all Cleon images. And I'm on pure hopium, and even though they had very limited screentime together (I think less than 5 minutes in re2r)

I still have strong hopes and believe there is truly a chance it does become canon. I believe the "friends to lovers" can happen and is still possible. At the same time, I feel like if it turns out to not be canon and Claire isnt Leon's wife, I would be very sad, dissapointed, and devestated.

Does anybody else feel this way or is it just me?

For cleon to be canon is a big dream of mine, but what makes their dynamic so special?

Leon deserves a peaceful, happy life with what he has been through, all that trauma from raccoon city. And who else knows and shares that trauma Leon has been through? Claire. They went through hell together and even risked their lives to save Sherry. Many people have been saying Ada. But Ada disappears and reappears again. She betrays Leon and this whole relationship is an very unhealthy dynamic. It is quite frankly tiring.

Yes, they shared one kiss, but so what? One kiss doesn't mean that you found a partner you want to settle down with. And Ada isnt the wife type. Their interests strongly go against each other. One works as a mercenary, helping bioterrorists, the other works to fight bioterrorism. Thats like saying a burglar can marry a cop, it doesn't make much sense at all.

Going back to Claire, they trust each other deeply. Yes they had a rift where they separated in the cgi movies but they quickly got onto good terms. That just shows how much chemistry they have and how much they trust each other. Re2r also reinforces this point, and even though they has very limited screentime together, the screentime they had showed how much chemistry they have and the fence scene was obvious flirting.

Claire is also a badass, and is a very caring individual, you see how much she cares about children, and serving as a parental model as shown with Sherry. Not to mention Claire works for Terrasave, which helps fight bioterrorism and provide humanitarian aid to those affected by biohazard outbreaks. Their interests are very similar, as they both help fight bioterrorism.

That said, I hope Cleon is canon. There's a possibility and reason to hope right now. Claire and Leon are also so cute together. Based on the ending of requiem we see that Leon's wing patches on his gun seems to match the wing matches on Claire, as it could be a hint. The director also mentions that Leon has a happy place to return to, which also could be Claire. Again, I have hopes that Cleon is canon but it will always be canon to me.