"A human-loving, fast-talking, street-smart, SLAM-dancing Moogle..."
-In game quote from Final Fantasy VI
Mog the Moogle is playable character for the Super Nintendo RPG Final Fantasy VI. Throughout the illustrious Final Fantasy Series, it's hard to believe he is the only real playable moogle. In the tradition of most moogles, Mog is a combination between an overweight cat and a fuzzy bipedal alien with bat wings. Completely white except for a red sphere for a nose, Mog has several whiskers, two paper thin slits for eyes, a matching pair of triangular cat ears, and a yellow pom-pom type thing attached to an antennae coming off the top of his head. The twelve year old moogle is exactly four feet tall and weighs ninety four pounds. Asterphage has a nice ASCII picture of a moogle in You might be a moogle...
Mog has very little to do with the plot; he is essentially a bonus character and almost a hidden one at that. He is the leader of the group of moogles that peacefully spend their days dancing and "Kupo!"ing. Righteous at heart, he joins Terra and company after having somewhat of a prophetic dream that encouraged him to help save the world. Besides the two possible times he can join the group and the meeting with his unfriendly pet sasquatch, Umaro, Mog has no other line of text until the ending, where he basically just says tells someone to "watch the hair".
In battles, Mog is arguable the most well rounded character. Highly proficient in magic, damaging with a high level spear, and an interesting dancing skill, Mog is a good as a party member for most occasions. In addition, Mog can equip the greatest item in Final Fantasy VI, the Moogle Charm. This beautiful little relic grants the ability to wander anywhere without getting into random battles. Some might argue the mechanics of the game are tampered with by allowing such a powerful item, but I believe more console RPGs need to have better options for avoiding battles (like Chrono Cross or Wild Arms 3).
Yoshitaka Amano, the character designer and artist for the Final Fantasy Series, has some very amusing original artwork done for Mog. In comparison to Amano's attention to small details and intricacies, Mog is drawn as simply as possible. In one memorable illustration, the moogle is pointing a hand as if to wave with an illustrated comic bubble above his head saying "Hi!!" (Note the double italicized !s)
Sources:
Playing the game
The FFVI Nintendo's player's guide
Gamefaqs.com