History Headscratchers / MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker

*** This troper sees that as Kojima deciding that EVA's "Big Boss helped found the Patriots" speech from MSG4 wasn't the direction he wanted to go with the story, considering Peace Walker goes out of it's way to contradict it as much as possible, even outright stating Snake left FOX immediately after he got his title and implies he spent the last decade more or less wandering the earth and living off the grid. EVA's assertion that he left over being cloned doesn't work considering he doesn't even seem to be aware they exist(and the only evidence Les Enfants Terribles has happened is from a very hard to unlock tape conversation where Miller mentions it). At best, you could infer broad strokes that Big Boss helped found the Patriots by getting them their startup funds(without realizing it). One could either see this as EVA either lying to Solid Snake wholesale or yet another of Kojima's Retcons(like the infamous non-existent "Snake, I am your father" moment from MG2).

*** Furthermore it establishes that by the 80s [[spoiler:Zero is in his comatose state and Skullface was running the show until Venom put him down. The [=AIs=] don’t exist, Ocelot and EVA are Team Snake and Para-Medic cares more about mad science. By the end of MGSV, friggin Sigint is running the Patriots. I don’t see Big Boss having a hard time convincing Sigint to let him come back, and they probably were acting as co-heads while BB had Venom and Ocelot set up Outer Heaven, plus we know that after the events of Phantom Pain Kas would leave Venom and join FOXHOUND, since he was part of Solid’s training. Plus if the Patriots’ membership is decided by vote, Ocelot and EVA would vote to let BB back in since they’re part of the team, Zero is in a coma so he doesn’t get a vote and BB would only need to sway Sigint or Para-Medic. She had an obvious crush on him and considers him to be the genetic future of humanity. Sigint and he never had any conflicts since it was Para-Medic that cloned him and not Sigint, so there’s no reason for bad blood.]]

*** Furthermore it establishes that by the 80s [[spoiler:Zero is in his comatose state and Skullface was running the show until Venom put him down. The [=AIs=] don’t exist, Ocelot and EVA are Team Snake and Para-Medic cares more about mad science. By the end of MGSV, friggin Sigint is running the Patriots. I don’t see Big Boss having a hard time convincing Sigint to let him come back, and they probably were acting as co-heads while BB had Venom and Ocelot set up Outer Heaven, plus we know that after the events of Phantom Pain Kas would leave Venom and join FOXHOUND, since he was part of Solid’s training.]]

** [[spoiler: Paz outright confirms Cipher(aka THe Patriots) were behind the entire Peace Walker incident when you fight her at the end of chapter 5]].

* Out of curiosity, how customizable was the whole Vocaloid thing? Could I, theoretically, have the AI Mechs {{Rickroll}} me?

*** His age is given, indirectly. He is stated to have been born in 1935. This makes him 29 in MGS3, 35 in Portable Ops, 39 in Peace Walker.

** I got the impression much of the game is essentially showing [[spoiler: How CIPHER(Major Zero and the rest of the Snake Eater Team) used all that Philosopher money to build the AIs that would later become the PATRIOTS]]. That and showing how Snake finally got over having to [[spoiler:Kill the Boss in MGS3]].

** I'd chalk this one up to a combination of the devs wanting to [[ContinuityNod reuse as many weapons from MGS3 as possible]] (hence why you get the old AK-47 and can upgrade it into the Hungarian copies the Ocelot unit had, rather than the -74) and [[ImproperlyPlacedFirearms nobody knowing AKs other than the original '47 model exist anyway]].

** I'd chalk this one up to a combination of the devs wanting to [[ContinuityNod reuse as many weapons from MGS3 as possible]] (hence why you get the old AK-47 and can upgrade it into the Hungarian copies the Ocelot unit had, rather than the -74) and [[ImproperlyPlacedFirearms nobody knowing AK's other than the original '47 model exist anyway]].

* So at the beginning of the game, Prof. Galvez/Zardornov claims to represent Coasta Rica in wanting to hire MSF to deal with the heavily armed Peace Sential troops, since Costa Rica doesn't have a standing army. However, it's also immediately pointed out that Galvez is actually a KGB agent and wants to kick the US out of Latin America in favor of the USSR. Which begs the question, did he ever represent Costa Rica's government in any way in this manner? Or was MSF essentially an invading force of it's own due to lack of sanction from the government? The ending timeline implies that Costa Rica was friendly to the US, impling Peace Sential might have been sanctioned all along.

* If Cecile stole the guard's ID card when she escaped, why does a guard have it when you find her? Did she get captured a second time during her escape and neglect to tell Snake?

*** They were all riding the high of their victory over the Peace Sentinels, and didn't expect Coldman to launch the Nuke after it's target had been changed, since nuking Cuba would run counter to his goal of mass producing Peace Walker for all of Central America. They underestimated how devoted he was to the idea of proving that the idea of deterrence administered by humans was a faulty idea. Plus shooting off handcuffs is movie stuff anyway, so they would have to wait until they found a pair of bolt cutters first.

** It is a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which was U.S. Strategic Air Command's prime airplane for long-range nuclear strikes. The organization known as Strategic Air Command always made sure that a large number of B-52s were patrolling the skies at any given moment as their job was to be the first responders in a nuclear war, they had to be able to get airborne before their home fields could be hit by enemy [=ICBMs=] and stay airborne for long periods of time for their patrols, this strategy was a cornerstone of American deterrence strategy. Using the plane's outline in place of the arms of the peace symbol plays heavily to the game's themes of peace via [[PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower nuclear deterrence]].

** Big Boss is simply that {{Badass}}.

** I'd chalk this one up to a combination of the devs wanting to [[ContinuityNod reuse as many weapons from MGS3 as possible]] (hence why you get the old AK-47 and can upgrade it into the Hungarian copies the Ocelot unit had, rather than the -74) and [[ImproperlyPlacedFirearms nobody knowing AK's other than the original '47 model exist anyway]].

* "Vic Boss! Vic Boss!" What was this meant to be about? Obviously it started out with the MSF goon on the beach referring to BB as such, but why? Is it due to mispronunciation? Is it a play on the word "Victory"? Is it a reference to [[{{Gradius}} Vic ''Viper'']]? Did it have a completely different meaning in Japanese which the localization team completely failed to translate? How can a plot element this redundant have more interpretations than the rest of the plot put together?!

* Despite the time period, there are no AK-74s in the game, not even the [[spoiler:Soviet soldiers]] have them. Ironically you use weapons that haven't even been produced yet.

*** Also, the secret briefing tapes, some of Paz's comments before the final boss fight, and the names of the A.I. pods themselves imply that [[spoiler: the Patriots, specifically Zero, were the ones backing the Peace Walker project. Zero was inspired by the Boss, and might have pulled the funding if Coldman had objected.]]

*** Also, the secret briefing tapes, some of Paz's comments before the final boss fight, and the names of the A.I. pods themselves imply the Patriots, specifically Zero, were the ones backing the Peace Walker project. Zero was inspired by the Boss, and might have pulled the funding if Coldman had objected.

*** He was implicitly stated to be afraid of the weight her image carried as a 'hero', and the influence she could have. Having her tactical mind and ability under his control in the form of a machine probably appealed to him much more.

** Given all the above I typed up about his idea of deterrence? He probably knew about Strangelove's relation to the Boss and did it just to be an asshole to her.

* Was it really necessary for Peace Walker to retcon Big Boss's age a second time? It was understandable the first time because he would have been an active fighter on the field of battle during his 50s and would have been the head of FOXHOUND in his 70s[[note]]even Generals have an expiration date on how long they can be on active duty and are usually expected to retire by the time they reach their 60s, the only exception is if they get an extension from special leaders like the Secretary of Defense or the President himself[[/note]] [=MGS3=] put Big Boss more comfortably into his 30s, and had Peace Walker followed that canon he could have comfortably stayed in his 40s (not terribly old for a Military Officer). Big Boss being 39 during Peace Walker means that he joined the Army at 14 (canon says The Boss left Snake June 12, 1959, meaning the 10 years as her disciple lasted 1949-1959), and first saw combat during the Korean War at 15. Changing his age just so they can make a throw-away reference to Big Boss being like El Che (both dying at 39) was pretty lame.
** First of all, [=MGS=] has its share of child soldiers (Raiden, Gray Fox, Chico, heck even [[spoiler: Solid Snake]]) so Big Boss joining the army in his teens is plausible. Second, where in Snake Eater do they mention Big Boss' age? For all we know, he could be under 29 (if we have to go though Peace Walker). And third, how many times has Kojima made retcons which create plot holes?

*** The United States was very backwards in many respects for a significant portion of the early 20th century. A great number of teenagers fought in both World Wars and Korea by lying about their age in a time when not everyone was issued appropriate documentation and when there really was no way for a military recruiter to gather that information if a person came from an out-of-the-way place. Big Boss is the world's greatest soldier (the legend meeting the man is a running theme of his story arcs) and so it hardly stretches believability that he was in the Special Forces as a teen, especially since the Green Berets are apparently inspired by a multinational team of soldiers possessed of supernatural ability and led by a woman who single-handedly won WWII.

** He does know what it means. His point was that when push comes to shove the majority of humans will refuse to press that button and start armageddon. From his perspective is that 99 out of 100 men, when faced with the decision to wipe out all human life, will refuse to go through with it, which defeats the purpose of a detterent if it's not a gaurentee. Hence Peace Walker; Creating a perfect detterent that will, without fail, retaliate 100% of the time without a moment's hesitation. He was so convinced of this fact he set Peace Walker to trick the Pentagon into thinking that there was a real nuclear strike coming to prove that they would choke and not retaliate and demonstrate the need for Peace Walker. Of course he wasn't anticipating that there were people in the Pentagon who were willing to retaliate and end all life.