Metal Gear Profiles-The Sorrow

“Sad… So sad… A host of sorrows… And you are one of them… I am The Sorrow. Like you, I, too, am filled with sadness. This world is one of sadness… Battle brings death. Death brings sorrow. The living… may not hear them. Their voices… may fall upon deaf ears. But make no mistake… the dead… are not silent. Now you will know the sorrow of those whose lives you have ended.”

 

The Sorrow was a member of the Boss’s Cobra Unit in World War II. A psychic, he was able to use these abilities-such as reading minds and summoning the spirits of dead soldiers-as valuable intelligence for the allied effort.

 

He also formed a romantic relationship with his commander, the Boss, and the two had a child together-one ultimately however, that was taken by them from the Philosophers, but still trained as a Russian Soldier.  The man ultimately known as Ocelot.

Following the war, the Sorrow returned to the Soviet Union, but then another war-a colder one-happened.  As Big Boss said:

…and soon the lovers became enemies. While working for the Soviet Union, he turned one of the Boss’s spies (Although he was unaware she had sent him) and had him feed false information to the CIA. Ultimately one year prior to the events of Virtous Mission and Operation Snake Eater in Tselinoyarsk, the Boss met the Sorrow again, and was forced to kill him, since the Philosophers would kill Ocelot if they were both alive. The Sorrow’s corpse remained in Tselinoyarsk, where it would be spotted by Naked Snake the following year.

However, although his body was dead, the spirit of the Sorrow remained anchored to the earthly plane, and remained a sort of witness to the events of the Snake Eater operation, occasionally aiding him in his quest as a ghostly apparition.

 

 

Eventually, after his difficult  escape from Grozny Grad, Snake found himself facing the Sorrow in a shadowy river, where the Sorrow used summoned the spirits of the men he had killed during the mission, and also gave small hints as to his future as Big Boss-including the birth of Solid and Liquid Snake: “Light and Darkness dwell within you”.

After escaping from that, the Sorrow also appeared a few more times to Snake,  aiding him in his defeat of Volgin with several non-corporeal hints and warnings. It’s also possible he served as sort of the grim reaper to his fellow Cobras-including his lover the Boss-taking them into the spirit realm.

 

 

Fifty years later, a puppet of the Sorrow appeared as part of the arsenal of Screaming Mantis, alongside a puppet of Psycho Mantis.

When Screaming was defeated, an apparition of Psycho Mantis appeared and taunted Snake, but soon the spirit of Mantis was brought back to the underworld, with the Sorrow telling Solid Snake: “The spirit of the warrior is always with you”.

Metal Gear similarities: X-men Part II: The Best they are at what they do

*Spoilers* for Logan and the Metal Gear games follow.

X-man. Avenger. Ronin. Hero. But also, the result of a government testing program to weaponize mutants-“Weapon X”, which left him with years of traumatic and confused memories. James “Logan” Howlett, The Wolverine. “The Best he is at what he does, and what he does isn’t very nice”.

Solid Snake. Fox-Hounder. Hero. Loner. Soldier. “The Man who makes the impossible possible”.

 

So what’s the similarities between the two? Well, there’s of course the gruff nature, the permanent scruffiness, the adeptness at hand-to-hand combat (although Wolverine has a slight advantage there with the claws and all) and the fondness for tobacco products. Although like Big Boss (Heck, it’s pretty much the last thing he ever does!), Wolverine smokes cigars, while Solid Snake’s more of a cigarette guy. Although Metal Gear of course comes with it’s own warnings on the risks 🙂

 

(and yes, Wolverine did have a short-lived era where he wore an eyepatch as a cover)

 

But apart from the many surface similarities there’s a few other things which make the characters kind of similar.

Both have somewhat plain introductions into pop culture. Wolverine debuted in “Incredible Hulk” as a guest character, with the intent that the claws were in fact just part of his gloves. He also had a much smaller face mask (which eventually was traded for the larger ‘ears’ when he made his X-men debut, although-apart from the “brown” costume in the 80’s, he’s largely stuck with the “yellow spandex” ever since)

We don’t even see the character’s face (and of course the unusual hair) until a few issues into him joining the X-men.

Solid Snake, likewise, is a bit of a cipher (heh) in the first Metal Gear-he’s given fairly little dialogue, and not a lot of his nature is revealed.

Although the cigarettes are pretty much there from day one. Their in-game purpose being to slow time down (or accelerate it, as seen in Metal Gear solid V), calm snake’s nerves, or the smoke being used to detect infrared sensors (They also drain health, an extra deterrent in addition to the Surgeon General warning).

Their actual-and unusual origins were both revealed after their debut. Part of Wolverine’s story was told in the “Marvel comics Presents” arc “Weapon X”, while going further back, his full origin-and his real name, James Howlett-were revealed in 2003’s “Origin” miniseries.

 

Both are “born” in a lab, the result of experiments. With Wolverine, adamantium is bonded to his skeleton, making his bones and claws unbreakable-a process only made possible by his other major power, his healing factor.

 

Solid Snake was created as a clone of Big Boss by Major Zero, an attempt to extend Big Boss’s legacy should he ever leave the Patriot’s organization (Which, ironically, he did upon hearing of this). Two others-Eli (Liquid Snake) and George (Solidus Snake) were also created.

Although the project was pretty much abandoned and the Snakes given to handlers, eventually they all became soldiers in their own right, and face their “father” Big Boss.

It’s worth also noting that the fates of the movie version of Logan and Solid Snake have a few similarities as well. In “Logan” Wolverine’s healing factor is starting to fail, with the adamantium in his bones starting to poison him.

 

 

Likewise, Solid Snake’s nature as a clone in Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots has caused him to rapidly age (and the Foxdie viruses in his bloodstream don’t help either).

 

Both are old and worn out, but go on one last mission. Ironically, they kind of end in a very similar fashion.

Logan dies next to his clone daughter at the end of LOGAN.

….Big Boss, likewise, dies next to his clone “Son” in Metal Gear Solid IV.

There’s one final connection that’s worth noting. The man who wrote the first X-MEN movie? David Hayter.

The same David Hayter who provided the renowned English voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss (Up until Metal Gear Solid V, where he was replaced by Kiefer Sutherland) and made a cameo as himself in Metal Gear Solid IV’s strange talk show segment.

Bond in Review: Live and Let Die Part II

Bond-and the audience-arrive in San Monique, and we’re immediately introduced to Baron Semedi, another one of Kananga’s henchmen, “The man who cannot die” and perhaps one of the most supernatural aspects of the film. Here, he’s giving a bizzare stage show while Bond checks into his hotel.

Samedi-who has a very deep voice and laugh-is played by the late Geoffrey Holder.

The character is certainly one of the most memorable henchmen in Bond, and got a spot in the “Goldeneye” game:

and his later look in the film seems to have inspired Bond’s “Day of the Dead” costume in SPECTRE:

  

 

Bond, checking into the hotel, is told that a “Mrs. Bond” has already checked in. Another weird slam on Bond’s OHMSS marriage? Like the Moneypenny thing in the last movie, Bond seems slightly perturbed, but that’s about it.

 

Here Roger’s cigar makes it’s first appearence (although like his harder edge in the first two films, it didn’t stick around for long) and is used with spectacular effect as he combines it with aftershave to torch a snake.

Oddly enough, this sort of relates to another hobby of mine, Metal Gear-in which Solid Snake improvises a similar attack against Big Boss at the end of Metal Gear II. Big Boss of course, started off as “Snake” himself-the original.

After this, we quickly meet Rosie, a CIA agent reportedly working with Felix, but who also, of course, was the woman assigned to the ill-fated agent Baines. She’s kind of portrayed as a bit jumpy, especially when she finds a bloody hat with chicken fingers on the bed.

We do get a funny Moore line here:

It’s just a hat, darling,

belonging to a small-headed man who lost a fight with a chicken.

The next morning, Bond gets a tarot card-an upside down Queen of cups, hinting that Rosie might not be what she seems. It’s never quite made clear who gave him the card, as it’s never really brought up again. Solitare makes the most sense but she’s not quite on Bond’s side yet…

Here we meet Quarrel Jr., the son of Bond’s ally in Dr. No, and like Quarrel himself in Dr.No we’re initially led to believe he might be one of the bad guys, but just like in Dr.No, he’s one of the good guys, working with Bond and Felix like his father did. This actually is partially due to the fact that while in the book continuity Quarrel Sr. helped Bond during the events of Live and Let Die (and later died in Dr.No) The movies were adapted in a different order, and Quarrel Sr. was killed off in Dr.No, the first film.

This also briefly recreates part of the dynamic of Dr.No, when you think about it, with Bond, Felix and Quarrel working together. Although this isn’t Jamacia, it was filmed (in real-life) in Jamacia, so it’s a bit of an interesting callback, especially like Dr.No this is the first film for a Bond. While some aspects of Moore tried to stay away from Connery’s portrayal-for instance Moore smokes cigars, while Connery smokes cigarettes-other aspects are pretty much very Conneryish-especially Moore’s initial approach to the role, although in this film he’s considerably ‘nicer’ than his “Man with the Golden Gun” approach.

….except to Rosie here, who gives Bond confusing directions about where Baines was killed (Plus Kananga pretty much spells it out that she’s a bad guy on the phone in an ajacent seen) After a sexy picnic, Bond has had enough, and wants to know what’s really going on. Rosie however freaks out and is shot by a scarecrow concealing a gun, another one of the film’s somewhat creepy visuals. Say what you will about the ‘safe’ direction of Guy Hamilton, but his films did have some of the more bizarre Bond images here and there, something that would continue into his next-and final Bond film, The Man With the Golden Gun.

Kananga is mad that Bond’s not dead, and thinks that Solitaire might be up to something. Speaking of bizarre visuals, her costume in this scene is certainly one.

After Kananga’s gone, Bond himself sneaks onto Kananga’s fortress via hang glider (smoking a cigar at the same time too!) and confronts Solitaire, with the “lovers” card info, and she quickly falls for him.

Looks like after his somewhat unsuccessful attempts to woo villainous Bond girls in “Thunderball” and “You Only Live Twice”, Bond is able to turn this one over to the good guys, although she’s lost her card-reading powers as a result. However, she’s somewhat more innocent than either Fiona or Helga (Who were both SPECTRE, anyway). As she’s with Bond, she kind of mumbles some strange weirdness, which kind of gets a slight eye roll from Bond, but now that’s she’s with him, she’s quite eager for further ‘lessons’.

I’ve lost it.

The High Priestess is wife to the Prince no longer of this world.

The spiritual bridge to the secret church.

Bond enlists Solitaire’s help to find out what Rosie was trying to hide in the fields nearby. They are greeted by Samedi, whose flute doubles as a transmitter to tell Kananga that Bond is being nosey.

 

Bond discovers that the fields guarded by the scarecrows and Samedi is in fact poppy fields for heroin. After nearly being shot down by helicopters, Bond and Solitare board a rusty double decker San Monique bus, and then get chased by Kananga’s police force.

While this scene might seem a bit like the Space buggy one from Diamonds Are Forever-Bond being able to outmaneuver his pursuers in a clumsy vehicle (and we’ll see more scenes like this in Roger Moore film’s later on-Particularly For Your Eyes Only and View to A kill), it seems to work a lot better-there’s more of a sense of speed, there’s far less goofy music (Here, it’s the instrumental version of the title theme), and despite being old and rusty, the bus doesn’t look half as silly as the buggy. Plus there’s a great bit where the whole second deck is sheared off by a bridge, landing on the pursuing car.

“Sweet mother of pearl!” as Quarrel Jr. says as Bond quickly makes his escape, boarding the boat-and Bond gets ready to investigate the final agent murder-in New Orleans, where there’s obviously another connection going on.

Of course now Bond’s made Kananga extra angry by taking his woman and his psychic, and Solitaire knows it…..next stop: New Orleans.

 

 

 

Metal Gear Profiles-Raiden Part III

With the Patriots and the Snakes gone, Raiden lead a normal life-or what passes for one when you’re a cyborg ninja mercenary. However, in order to help provide for his family, and to help those who hadn’t quite adapted that well to the end of the Patriots, Raiden joined the Maverick Private Military company. However, on one of his assignments as a bodyguard to protect an African prime minister, things went awry.

 

Attacked by Cyborgs who then took the minister, Raiden also had to focus against an old nemesis-a modified Metal Gear RAY.

Catching up, he eventually came face to face with the cyborgs Jetstream Sam and Sundowner, but he was too late to save the Minister, and unfortunately his own cyborg body was heavily damaged during the fight.

His body was eventually repaired and upgraded, although he lost even more of what was left of his organic self. He found out that Sam and Sundowner worked for the Desperado group, who wanted in part to restore the “War Economy” of the Patriots.

 

During one of his missions to investigate what was going on with the group,  he encountered the IG-69000, but was able to salvage most of it after the battle to convert it into an ally, Blade Wolf.

 

He also stumbled upon a plot to turn children into Cyborgs as well.

He learned of this plot by one of them-George, who (sort of) likened Raiden to one of the Ninja Turtles: “A real ninja? Cowabunga! Go Ninja, Go Ninja go!” He also discovered that Desperado had links to World Marshall Inc, another PMC, and it’s CEO, senator Armstrong.

Eventually raiding World Marshall,  the stress of the mission and Sam’s revelations about the Cyborgs he was encountering-that many were just people trying to get by-caused Raiden’s “Jack the Ripper” persona to re-emerge. Part of his justification-to prevent others from becoming what he is.

After escaping from Denver and taking out Sundowner and Jetstream Sam, he then learned that Desperado planned to sabotage peace talks in Pakistan. With the help of his old friend Sunny Emmerich-now even more of a super genius and a member of the SOLIS private space flight company, Raiden journeyed to Pakistan, where he learned that Armstrong planned to engineer an attack on peace talks and blame it on Desperado, with World Marshall reaping the rewards and starting a new “war economy”.

Armstrong first fought Raiden in the Metal Gear Excelus, an MG designed not as a nuclear platform but as an anti-cyborg weapon, and featuring spider-like six legs instead of a Metal Gear’s usual bipedal stance.

With the unit disabled, Armstrong personally confronted Raiden, but thanks to Nanomachines in his body, giving him super strength and invulnerability, was able to protect himself from Raiden and his HF balde, which broke.

 

However, Blade Wolf tossed Raiden Jetstream Sam’s sword, which had the power to cut through Armstrong’s nanomachines.

Finally able to defeat Armstrong and his plans, although some form of the War economy would still go on, regardless-including Raiden’s own group, Maverick. Raiden decided to leave Maverick, and go solo, fighting his own war….perhaps against his own dark inner nature.

Metal Gear Profiles-Raiden/Jack Part I

The man who would become known as “Raiden” was born during the Liberian civil war in Africa. After the death of his parents-in fact orchestrated by George Sears, AKA the third clone of Big Boss and the future Solidus Snake-and he became a child soldier in the conflict.

Eventually, Jack’s proficiency in the war earned him the nickname “Jack the Ripper”. After the war was over, Jack eventually was taken to the united states, with counseling-and the interests of the Patriots AI (Who wanted to use him as a test subject to expand their influence)-suppressing his bloody past.

Eventually Jack joined the US military, where he trained using VR simulations, including recreations of Shadow Moses.

 

Eventually, the Patriots put their S3 plan (Selection for Societal Sanity) into motion- a partial “real world” recreation of the Shadow Moses inciddent to gain data they could use to mold individuals and broaden their control, a twisted version of the Boss’s-and Zero’s- plan for world unity. They had a spy-Rosemary-fall in love with Jack at fort Hamilton in New York (although she eventually fell in love with him for real). The two bonded over “King Kong”, but Rose was somewhat taken aback by Jack’s aloof nature.

Eventually, Jack was assigned to “FOXHOUND” but this was a ruse as the organization had been dissolved after the Shadow Moses incident (and I can’t imagine the earlier stuff with Big Boss helped either) and given the codename “Snake” to start, but eventually it was switched to Raiden, since the leader of the Dead cell had identified himself as Solid Snake. His mission: To rescue the president from the Dead Cell/Sons of Liberty group, who had kidnapped him while he was inspecting the Big Shell facility. Rose was assigned as mission support.

 

As Raiden made his way through the facility, certain details didn’t seem to add up. He was given intel by a “Cyborg Ninja”, and met and worked with a mysterious man known as Iroqouis Pliskin, who claimed to be part of the SEAL team sent there that had largely been wiped out.

 

Things came to a head when it was revealed that it was not Solid Snake that had planned the kidnapping, but Solidus Snake, who was using the incident in part as a revolt against the Patriots (But was actually being played by them as well, playing the “role” of Liquid Snake) . The real Solid Snake was in fact Iroquis himself, although his appearance was not part of the Patriot’s plan.

 

He also learned part of the truth about the mission from President Johnson, who explained that this was a major set up by the Patriots, and that Solidus’s true aim was the capture of Arsenal Gear, a massive battleship hidden underneath the Big Shell. He then rescued Emma Emmerich, who implanted a virus into the Patriot’s AI running the mission, causing it to malfunction and give Raiden strange messages. Unfortunately, Emma was killed by Solidus’s man, Vamp.

 

Raiden was eventually knocked out by Snake and the cyborg ninja (In fact Olga gurlocovitch in disguise) and then captured by her and taken to the Arsenal Gear. Olga was in fact a double agent, whose baby daughter was being help captive by the Patriots, and she needed Raiden as a distraction so Snake could sneak on board Arsenal. Raiden also re-learned about his dark past from Solidus.

Eventually escaping-although without clothes and gear-Raiden reunited with Snake-now in his sneaking suit-and the two headed through Arsenal Gear.

On the surface, Raiden found himself fighting a considerable amount of Metal Gear RAYs. He defeated them, but still had to deal with Solidus, who killed Olga. Solidus also revealed he planned to use the Arsenal to launch a nuke that would create an EMP, which he would then use to discover the true identity of the Patriots.

 

Learning more about the true nature of the mission from the Patriots and Revolver Ocelot-to gather information on the S3 project-including the fact that Rose was apparently pregnant (and possibly not real, just part of the simulation), Raiden still had no choice but to kill Solidus, to ensure the safety of not only Rose but Olga’s baby.

Although Raiden was very Disturbed by the truths and conspiracies revealed during the mission,  Snake offered some wise counsel.

 

No one knowss who or what they are. The memories you have and the role you were assigned are burdens
you have to carry. It doesn’t matter if they were real or not.
That’s never the point.There’s no such thing in the world as absolute reality. Most of
what they call real is actually fiction. What you think you see
is only as real as your brain tells you it is.We can tell other people about — having faith. What we had faith
in. What we found important enough to fight for. It’s not whether
you were right or wrong, but how much faith you were willing to
have, that decides the future. The Patriots are a kind of ongoing
fiction too, come to think of it….

He then revealed that Rose was real, and she and Jack had a conversation.

 

Rose : Do you remember this place?

Jack : Of course. This is where we first met… I remember now — Today
is the day I met you. That’s it. I think I found something to
pass along to the future. He said all living things want their
genes to live on.

Rose : Are you talking about the baby?

Jack : Yeah. But genes aren’t the only thing you pass on. There are too
many things that aren’t written into our DNA. It’s up to us to
teach that to our children.

Rose : What kind of things?

Jack : About the environment, our ideas, our culture… poetry…
compassion… sorrow… joy… We’ll tell them everything…
together.

Rose : Is that a — proposal?

Jack : This is for your ears — only…

However, Jack’s troubles were not over yet. Liquid Ocelot still remained at large, the Patriots were up to some grand scheme and Olga’s infant daughter was still being help captive. His story was just starting.

 

 

 

Metal Gear Profiles-Johnny “Akiba” Sasaki

 

Johnny Sasaki was one of the members of Liquid Snake’s army at Shadow Moses, the Genome soldiers, although it’s possible he was couersed into it by Psycho Mantis mind control. His grandfather also guarded the original Snake-the man who became Big Boss-during Operation Snake Eater.During snake’s mission, Johnny suffered from several stomach problems, prompting many trips to the bathroom. He was eventually left to guard the cell of Meryl Silverburgh, who he was infatuated with. His general incompetence and stomach problems allowed both Meryl to escape (in disguise with his clothes, weapons and equipment) and later Solid Snake when he was briefly held prisoner.

He later also showed up as part of the Gurlucovitch mercenaries, but once again allowed another escape due to his issues….Emma Emmerich, the stepsister of Hal “Otacon” Emmerich.

Eventually, Johnny rejoined the US military despite working for the bad guys twice, and was assigned to Meryl’s unit, Rat Patrol I (Which was technically-and unknowingly-serving the real bad guys, the Patriots AI). Although his earlier incompetence was marked by bathroom breaks, now he had at least technology to show what he could do,  with a wrist keyboard on his arm that gave stats to his “smart” goggles. He was also an expert in traps. This earned him the nickname “Akiba”, a reference to Tokyo’s electronics district) However, his other character traits still existed, as when he confronted Solid Snake with the safety on his gun still on….and crapped himself during a tense fight with Ocelot’s main unit, the FROGS.

 

Johnny however was able to redeem himself. Having a phobia of needles, he wasn’t privy to the various nanomachines injections that other soldiers had received, and when Ocelot messed with the system, which affected all soldiers including Snake and Meryl- he wa s able to take Snake to safety. Later, he saved Meryl from drowning, and administered CPR to her. She rewarded her with a kiss.

Later, when the Outer Haven operation was underway, Johnny-although earlier checking out Mei Ling-saved her and Snake from a group of FROGS, and later when Snake left for the Patriots AI, he supported Meryl in combat.

During the battle, Johnny mentioned that the reasons he’d been able to help is that he hadn’t taken any shots, and Meryl reasoned that this is why he might’ve been having stomach aches and accidents all the time, as the nanomachines didn’t seem to suppress them. As they were in combat, he revealed his true feelings for her and wanted to marry her. She refused his proposal, but only because she wanted to do things her way…so she proposed to him.

….and as they tried to work out their wedding plans, they continued to fight the Frogs.

 

Later, after Snake’s sucess and battle with Liquid Ocelot, the two got married near Snake’s plane, the NOMAD, in a ceremony attended by the other RAT PATROL members (and officiated by Ed, one of the team as well), Meryl’s father Roy Campbell, Huey “Emmerich” Otacon, his adopted daughter Sunny, and Mei Ling.

 

Metal Gear Profiles-David/Solid Snake Part II

When his brother Liquid took control of Shadow Moses island, colonel Campbell once against sought out Solid Snake, living in retirement in the Alaskan wilderness fairly close by, raising 50 huskies and participating in Sleigh races. Although he was initially reluctant to accept the mission, the involvement of a rogue FOXHOUND unit, Big Boss’s remains being sought as the ransom and the fact that he resembled the FOXHOUND leader intriqued Snake-and likewise, Campbell revealed he’d release the ‘dirt’ on his files if he didn’t participate. Snake’s main mission was to rescue two hostages-Darpa Chief Donald Anderson (The former SIGINT) and Kenneth Baker, ARMSTECH president.

Getting his hair cut and dyed so he wouldn’t be mistaken for Liquid, Snake then infiltrated Shadow Moses from underwater. In addition to Campbell and Naomi Hunter, he was given technical and moral support by Mei Ling, Natasha Romenko and Master Miller..However, he soon discovered that Campbell-and mission Doctor Naomi-hadn’t been telling him the whole truth-Snake had been given a virus by Naomi-FOXDIE-designed to target the members of the rogue Foxhound unit (and possibly Snake himself); and also Shadow Moses was the testing ground for a new model Metal Gear-Metal Gear REX.

 

 

His initial mission failed when FOXDIE killed both Donald Anderson and Kenneth Baker (although in the first case, it was actually Decoy Octopus, who was misleading Snake in order to get him to actually activate Metal Gear REX). However, he was soon able to rescue other captives-Hal Emmerich, or Otacon, and Campbell’s “niece” (actually daughter) Meryl Silverburgh. He also had an ongoing semi-alliance with a  Cyborg Ninja-actually the cybernetically resurrected Grey Fox-who helped him but also craved one final fight with his former friend and rival.

 

Taking on the members of FOXHOUND in combat, as well as the genome army, Snake made his way through the base, and finally reached the Metal Gear after a long trial, including Meryl getting badly wounded and captured by Sniper Wolf. He finally reached REX’s hanger, but unexpectedly, instead of deactivating the Gear, he *activated* it, having been tricked by “Miller” who was in fact Liquid Snake in disguise. He also learned he had largely been a pawn used by Defense secretary Jim Houseman, and part of his mission was to cover up the existence of REX, the rogue FOXHOUND and the genome army.

Liquid also had a startling revelation about Solid Snake’s past-not only were they the sons of Big Boss, but they were the product of the Les Infant Terribles project, an attempt to clone the legendary soldier. Liquid then boarded the Metal Gear, and faced off against his brother, with Grey Fox aiding Snake in destroying the Radome, leaving Liquid more vulnerable.

Solid Snake was able to disable the gear, but the resulting explosion knocked him out. He woke up to face his brother again, on top of the unit and holding Meryl captive.

 

The two got into a tense fistfight, and Liquid fell off the gear, severely injured. Snake then rescued Meryl and the two escaped Shadow Moses….but Liquid wasn’t quite dead yet.

After a chase in the jeep, which ended up with both crashing, Liquid Snake finally succumbed to FOXDIE.

After that, Snake and Meryl found a jetski nearby, and Solid Snake wondered if he could now pursue a new life, a new purpose, perhaps a life with Meryl by his side. He also revealed his real name: David.

Unfortunately, you can’t always get what you want….as Snake would soon find out-and he would become further entangled in his father’s legacy.

Metal Gear Profiles-Big Boss Part IV

We may all be headed straight to hell. But what better place for us than this? Its our only home. Our heaven and our hell. This is Outer Heaven.-Big Boss

 

Wake up, old Friend. Time is running short.-Zero.

Who am I?…you’re talking to yourself-“Ishmael”.

 

After the Peace Walker threat is ended, Big Boss decides it would be best to fortify Mother Base with their own AI weapon. Using leftover parts from the Peace Walker prototypes, and the input of Drs. Huey Emmerich and Strangelove,  Metal Gear ZEKE is created-and armed with a nuke, as well as controlled by an AI system.

 

Eventually though, a series of escapes by Galvez-who is being detained at MSF after revealing his true identity as KGB agent Zadarnov-leads Big Boss and Kaz to suspect a mole at the base. After Zadarnov’s final escape-and death-Zeke is surprisingly launched.

 

 

The pilot turns out to be Paz-going by her real name, Pacifica Ocean. She is in fact a CIPHER triple agent, who wants Big Boss and MSF to rejoin the organization as it’s armed forces-or else Paz would launch ZEKE’s nuke and frame MSF for it, leading to it’s destruction.

Big Boss was able to disable the gear, and Paz was flung into the ocean. ZEKE continued to run, but with it’s backup AI instead. Big Boss however, realized that the events of the Peace Walker project had gotten MSF noticed by the world’s superpowers during the cold war-and that MSF might’ve upset the balance of power….and that CIPHER would come “knocking real soon”. He also stated that they would have to fight against the changing times-and perhaps sacrifice their moral high ground to do so

 

 

A few months later, Mother Base was scheduled for a UN inspection. For the inspection, ZEKE was placed in the ocean. At the same time, it was revealed via MSF intel that Paz had in fact, survived, and ended up captured and interrogated at a “black site” military site in Cuba. MSF’s teen soldier, Chico, went searching for her as well and was also captured. As the inspection proceeded, Big Boss infiltrated the base, and rescued them both.

 

 

 

 

However, the inspection was a ruse-the UN inspection team were in fact Cipher’s XOF branch, who were plotting a coup against Zero led by Skull Face-and wanted Big Boss out of the way as well. XOF launched an assault on Mother Base, killing many soldiers and destroying the base itself by planting explosives. They had also booby-trapped Paz in the helicopter as well. Despite being able to extract Kaz, they could not get the other device out of her body.

 

She exploded, although she threw herself clear of part of the helicopter. The resulting explosion injured Miller, Big Boss, and a medic, and killed helicopter pilot Morpho and Chicho.

 

Big Boss and the medic spent the next nine years in a coma, while Miller-obsessed with revenge-began hunting down those who he felt were responsible for the attack.

 

Unbeknownst to Miller, the helicopter medic was altered into a physical and partially mental double of Big Boss, known as “Venom Snake”-partially by Zero’s instruction himself, who still felt some sympathy for his old friend, and that he was needed.

My full profile of “Venom” is available here.

Metal Gear Profiles: Venom Snake/Big Boss *spoilers*

Big Boss woke from his coma earlier than his counterpart-where Ocelot briefed him on several detailed,-and assisted Venom with his escape from the hospital, masking his face in bandages and perhaps a false eye. He also adopted the alias “Ishmael” (labeling Venom “Ahab”)

After escaping the hospital, Big Boss met with Ocelot and boarded a motorcycle, while his ‘double’ remained in the ambulance and would also be recovered by Ocelot.

 

Eventually, when Venom Snake recovered his memories of being the medic, Big Boss sent him a tape after Venom had had success foiling the plans of XOF and Skull Face, and started to build his concept of Outer Heaven-a country for soldiers-something rejected by Kaz, who vowed to take down his former friend.

 

Listening to the tape (A reference to a David Bowie song, The Man Who Sold The World), Big Boss thanked his friend-and had him keep up his facade-for it would be useful later.

 

Now do you remember? Who you are? What you were meant to do? I cheated death, thanks to you. And thanks to you I’ve left my mark. You have too – you’ve written your own history. You’re your own man. I’m Big Boss, and you are too… No… He’s the two of us. Together. Where we are today? We built it. This story – this “legend” – it’s ours. We can change the world – and with it, the future. I am you, and you are me. Carry that with you, wherever you go. Thank you… my friend. From here on out, you’re Big Boss.

Metal Gear Profiles-Big Boss Part two

Upon his return to Tselinoyarsk, Snake is told of new contacts-one, through radio, was SIGINT, who would serve as technical support-another, ADAM, he would meet near the factory where he encountered Ocelot. However, he was quickly intercepted by the Boss, who once again implied he should go home, and she injured him with QCQ.

 

However, Snake continued on his mission to meet with ADAM-sustaining himself on various wildlife, including Snakes. However, he instead met EVA (The real ADAM, Ocelot, arrived later but still posed as an adversary of Snake’s-Eva’s mission was quite different), who was attracted to Snake, and would continue to support him on his mission.

 

 

After Eva returned to continue to be a mole in Volgin’s fortress, Big Boss proceeded on his mission, tangling with Ocelot and the Boss’s COBRA team.

 

During an infiltration of the labs of Graniny Gorki (in a somewhat unconvincing “scientist” disguise), where Snake expected to find Sokolov, he instead found Alexander Granin, who shared with him his concept of the “Metal Gear”-a walking nuclear battle tank-that had been passed on in favor of the Shagohod. Granin gave him the key to Grozni Grad, Volgin’s main fortress where Sokolov, the Shagohod and Volgin were located. He also first heard the whispers of the Philosopher’s Legacy-a microfilm containing the whereabouts of a vast fortune amassed by a group of powerful people after World War I-and ultimately in Volgin’s possession, funding his vast war machine.

However, once he arrived at Grad, the operation quickly went south. Volgin saw through his disguise as GRU colonel Raikov, and beat and captured Snake.

 

During the subsequent torture and interrogation-in which EVA’s duplicity was almost exposed as well-Snake’s right eye was ruptured by Ocelot’s gun, causing an injury that would become his trademark for the rest of his life. Sokolov was also killed.

 

Ultimately, Snake would be able to escape, and EVA gave him an eyepatch. He then returned to Grozny Grad to destroy the Shagohod and Volgin for good.

 

Snake-with the covert aid of Ocelot-bested Volgin in combat, but did not defeat him entirely. He also attempted to destroy the Shagohod in it’s hanger, but his attempts initially failed. Volgin gave chase in the massive mech.

 

 

Ultimately, they were able to finally destroy the Shagohod-first by disabling it’s drive unit, and then taking out the rest-and stop Volgin as well, although he would survive to become the “Man on Fire”.

 

But Snake had one thing left to do-confront-and kill-his mentor-in a field of white, “star of bethlehem” flowers. Before the fight, the Boss outlined some of her reasons-her past with the philosophers, her multiple betrayals, her lost child (in fact her comrade Ocelot) and her vision of making the world whole again.

Big Boss was able to overcome her, and as she lay she passed the legacy to him. He then gave the killing blow-with her own Patriot gun.

 

He then had a brief fight on board the escaping WIG with her son, Ocelot, in which both revealed their true names.

 

He then retired to Alaska where he drank and consumated his relationship with Eva.

 

However, when he woke in the morning, Eva was gone-as was the Legacy. Eva was in fact working as a triple agent for the Chinese philosophers-although she truely loved Snake-and knew of the Boss’s true mission all along.

Snake then went to Langley, where he was given the title of Big Boss by Lyndon B Johnson.

You are above even the Boss… I hereby award you the title of Big Boss. You are a true patriot.

 

The newly minted Big Boss then went to Arlington-Eva’s confession-and the Boss’s true motive going through his head. The Boss did not, in fact, truely defect, but simply tried to earn Volgin’s trust to get her hands on the Philosopher’s legacy for America. However, the nuke Volgin used on his own people was blamed on her, and she became a scapegoat…but she saw it through to the end.

 

Eva: Snake, history will never know what she did. No one will ever learn the truth. Her story… her debriefing… will endure only in your heart. Everything she did, she did for her country. She sacrificed her life and her honor for her native land. She was a real hero.  She was a true patriot.

As tears flowed from his remaining eye, he saluted her grave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metal Gear Profiles-Jack/Naked Snake/Big Boss-Part One

“Everyone dies. You can’t stop it. You can’t run away from it. Let me tell you something… Don’t… Don’t waste the life you have left fighting. I’ve never thought of you… As a son. But I’ve always respected you as a soldier. And… As a man. If you’d been in my place back then… Maybe you wouldn’t have made the same mistakes that I did. Ever since the day I killed The Boss… With my own hands… I… Was already dead.”

The man who would later be known as Big Boss was born in the 30s, and first fielded during the Korean war. Little is known about his past before then, except his name (Jack) that he celebrated Christmas, and believed in Santa well into his adult years. His fighting prowess caught the attention of the World War II heroine known as the Joy, or the Boss, and she took him on as an apprentice, teaching him the art of CQC (Close Quarters combat)-especially using a gun and a knife in tandem.

At the same time, he participated in the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests, making him sterile (although that didn’t stop hiim having sons, as we later find out). He also served with the Green Berets. Early in the 60s-and after a period of estrangement from the Boss (During when she partipated in the Mercury program and the seeds of Operation Snake Eater were planed), he was recruited into Major Zero’s Fox  unit. His first mission-where he would use the codename “Naked Snake”- was to extract scientist Sokolov from the Russian occupied Tseilonarsk. Sokolov was designing the mobile nuclear platform known as the Shagohod.However, during the extraction, he came across the boss on a drawbridge-carrying two small nukes and working with Russian colonel Volgin, who then recaptured Sokolov.

In an attempt to stop her, he engaged her in CQC combat on the bridge, but she quickly overpowered him, tossing him over the bridge (although he did manage to grab her bandana).

As Snake sat badly wounded (but able to tend to his immediate injuries with the help of Para-Medic), she waved goodbye to her former apprentice as Volgin launched one of the small nukes- a “Davy crockett” nearby-an act that would be the shot heard around the world, and would start a war with (almost) no end over the next half century.

Extracted, he was taken back to America, and put into the ICU, and interrogated as to why the mission went south-and threathened with execution, as it was thought he was ‘in’ on the Boss’s defection and the nuclear attack. He had one chance at redemption. Return to Tseilanarsk, rescue Sokolov again, destroy the Shagohod-and also kill his mentor. Doing so would not only clear his name, but also that of the US, whom the USSR was not pleased with since the Boss was a former American hero-who had technically launched a nuclear strike on soviet soil. Sent in on a capsule, he wore the bandana of his former mentor.

Operation Snake Eater had begun.