Alexander

[Exodus-E]

technically this isn't the first time in a FF we fought Alexander. there was FFXI and interestingly enough FFIV. of course back in 4 he was called the Giant of babil.

Assuming that Alexander was indeed based off the Giant of Babil to begin with (although, the DS/iOS remake kind of pokes fun at that with Proto-Babil's Divine Judgment attack)...
But yeah, aside from FFXI, there was also FFXIII and FF Dimensions where it had to be fought as a boss.

[Kotemon]

technically this isn't the first time in a FF we fought Alexander. there was FFXI and interestingly enough FFIV. of course back in 4 he was called the Giant of babil.

I never knew that they were the same until I just saw some artwork from Amano. Personally I'd like to see a version of Alexander that eventually gets or has the entire lower torso and hands. Aside from that, everything I heard about Alexander and the goblins makes it seem like its loosely based on the concept from XI. Assuming it becomes self aware and self running as well, I'm going to speculate that it wont end well for whomever is controlling it.

[Juroko]

You know, I think Holy Alexander fits the Goblins perfectly. I mean, the goblins are making this huge pilgrimage, and we have no idea what their home land is but we do know they love technology. What if Alexander is their homeland? After all, both historical and mythological beings can be brought back as primals, why not places as well? Hell, they are even using a old castle as it's base.

He fits perfectly for the Goblins. Not only as their holy mecha, but as their own holy Mecca.

[Nialle]

I dunno, are we fighting HIM or stuff that's INSIDE him? Will those bosses inside be under his control, or maybe they're invaders and we're helping him?
Need to wait til the story gets there to find out, I guess.

[Nalien]

I'm actually surprised they went with Goblins for summoning Alexander... Final Fantasy XI had a separate species of Goblins called Moblins who were said to have been "searching for an iron giant bathed in light" (which I can only assume is Alexander), perhaps they'll still make that distinction when we get more information. Would be a nice nod to a plot point which I don't think was ever really touched on in Final Fantasy XI. Unless the new expansion touched on it, I don't think they ever went into detail about it, just "they're digging for an iron giant, but they found this plot relevant statue instead".

You know, I think Holy Alexander fits the Goblins perfectly.

After Odin I'm incline to think Alexander will be a similar case. I don't think the Goblins have a Primal or significant focus of worship (outside cheese), but I could totally see them giving us an off shot tribe of Goblins who are organized and happen to find a relic which houses the spirit of an Elder Primal. Rather than a sword, they find a fortress though. They get tempered and now they're a serious threat with an Elder Primal at their back.

[Dererk]

Lets not forget that when ever a god or divine being is summand they start to consume a lot of athear and the goblins purpose in summoning him is to be protected and since he is a massive entity that will consume a lot of athear we need to bring him down. Its not that all the summand being are evil they just eat at the athear the life blood of the land.

[WyrahFhurrst]

I'm pretty sure the whole Alexander summoning is because an Ascian showed up to the Illuminati (who are the leading scientific minds of Eorzea, supposedly even more so than Sharlaya, and their achievements include the materia system and several foul-smelling cheese recipes) and the Illuminati decided that basic summoning wasn't up to snuff, so they decided to summon him into a giant mechanical castle.

[shawnaus1986]

But I thought he would be much bigger though disappointed with that aspect to!

[Alberel]

But I thought he would be much bigger though disappointed with that aspect to!

The screenshots we have of him so far show him to be the size of a mountain so I'm not sure how big you were expecting him to be...

With regards to the OP though, remember that Ramuh wasn't a 'bad' primal either. We fought Ramuh because he wanted to test us. There's also the issue of the primals consuming aether at a dangerous rate which requires them to be put down. There's also Shiva, which is an entirely different situation. There are loads of ways Alexander can be introduced that don't make him an enemy but still needs us to fight him.

[Kotemon]

The screenshots we have of him so far show him to be the size of a mountain so I'm not sure how big you were expecting him to be...

There are loads of ways Alexander can be introduced that don't make him an enemy but still needs us to fight him.

I'm going to hedge a theory on a FFXI approach.. The goblins found the thing, rebuilt and restored it. Having no way to power it with crystals alone. The Illuminati used data of primal summoning as a way to gather or channel its energy into the construct. Once its powered it's any ones guess as to when or if it'll be come uncontrollable. But in the meantime for some reason they continue to build on top of it making it even bigger all the while being powered by tapping the source where primals come from.. Then the Goblins and Illuminati in it start acting weird.