Line #7 Fridge/MetalGear


1	[[index]]
2	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSolid''
3	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''
4	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''
5	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''
6	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker''
7	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSolidV''
8	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSolidPortableOps''
9	* ''Fridge/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''
10	* ''Fridge/MetalGearSurvive''
11	[[/index]]
12	----
13	[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
14	* Metal Gear has a reputation of being filled to the brim with copious amounts of [[{{Retcon}} retcons]], ranging from relatively minor to dramatic ones that completely change what we're told about in prior games. While people have said that this worsens the overarching story in some form or fashion (especially in regards to the contentious [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots MGS4]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV MGS5]]), it's actually quite brilliant, given [[CentralTheme an overarching theme of the series is the power of information]], and how information can change, be altered, misunderstood or reinterpreted. And this is shown consistently throughout the series, since everyone involves is to varying degrees an UnreliableNarrator, who can only give information based on a mixture of hearsay and their own experiences, which is inherently colored by their biases and expectations. And it shows just how easily we as people cling to past information in light of this new understanding, because we are creatures of routine and pattern.
15	* I got into the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' series after hearing so much about it on this wiki. I finished Metal Gear Solid 2, and it occurred to me that the whole thing was Hideo Kojima telling the world that he simply didn't believe that he could make a good sequel to Metal Gear Solid that could live up to fans expectations. After I came to this conclusion, I realized that ''the very first action the player would take'' - saving - ''lampshades this,'' with [[IceCreamKoan Otacon's inability to quote correctly, unlike Mei Ling.]] Maybe I'm slow, but it seemed pretty clever to me.
16	** Also, I was very confused by the fact that Naked Snake kept on referring to EVA as Eva even after discovering her real name. Later I realized it was a deliberate reference to Rose referring to Raiden as Jack. In fact, the whole of Metal Gear Solid 3 is simply retelling Metal Gear Solid 2 in a way that people can swallow. Consider: A man named Jack is sent into a battlezone with no clue that his superiors are betraying him. His formally absent parental figure is the villain of the game. The woman he is in love with betrays him. He ends up killing his parental figure because an ancient conspiracy told him to, and he discovers that the whole mission he's been lied to and jerked around. I think it goes deeper than that, but there you go.
17	*** I haven't actually played a VideoGame/MetalGear game, but, y'know, PopculturalOsmosis and all that. So consider this in reference to the above: in [=MGS2=], "Jack" is an attempt at recreating Solid Snake's success at Shadow Moses Island. In [=MGS3=], "Jack" is Big Boss. In other words, in their attempt to create a reprisal of Solid Snake, they instead created a reprisal of ''Big Boss'' (A [[ReplacementScrappy dorky and whiny]] Big Boss, admittedly, but they knew ''that'' going in.)
18	* Snake is an anagram of Sneak. No wonder they keep using it as a codename...
19	* Why does Snake keep on [[ParrotExposition repeating information that he already knows, huh?]] In relation to the above analysis on Metal Gear's central theme of the power of information, Snake is repeating what the audience already knows in order to ensure that he can trust whoever he's talking to. Consider how in his [[VideoGame/MetalGear1 earlier]] [[VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake missions]] [[HeroicMime Snake didn't really speak too much.]] Snake blindly accepted instructions and orders, and in return for blind loyalty was betrayed. In future installments, Snake parrot speaks. Not only to gain information, but to verify whoever he's talking to is on the same page as he is.
20	* The series can be seen as an analysis of the nature of narrative and of the roles ascribed to its characters. In most instances, the villains seek to become heroes and desire to embrace that position, whereas the heroes resist this, often expressing displeasure with their narrative role, considering themselves killers. That's what separates our protagonists and antagonists. A noteworthy exception to this are The Patriots, who seek to control the flow of the franchise's story.
21	* Snake's real name is David, and Raiden's real name is Jack. Since the two of them are known for going up against two-story Metal Gears and winning, it's appropriate that they're named after legendary giant-killers.
22	* The controls and techniques for CQC change with each game. Like any good hand-to-hand combat system, it's constantly being updated to deal with new threats.
23	* The Codec/Transceiver frequencies are often quite a big hint when you look at the big picture.
24	---> 141.80 is the codec/tranceiver frequency for Master Miller in [=MGS1=], Iroquois Pliskin in [=MGS2=] and The Boss in [=MGS3=], All characters who deceive the protagonist and are really someone else, Liquid Snake, Solid Snake, and an agent working for the US as opposed to the defector she leads you to believe, respectively). Metal Gear Solid 4 kind of reverses this with Raiden, who was lied to, in this case, by Rose and the Colonel.
25	---> 141.96 is the frequency for saving, which is mostly covered by dorky characters, such as Mai Ling, Otacon and [=ParaMedic=].
26	---> 141.52 is usually your tech support, Nastasha in [=MGS1=] and Emma in [=MGS2=].
27	---> 140.48 in Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 are both augmented ninjas who go by obvious aliases.
28	* Big Boss was thought to carry on the emotion of The Boss, the Joy [of battle]. However, he's a conflicted individual that feels that he lives for battle and only battle, yet gets no enjoyment from it besides as a being that 'is a gun', in his own words. Who was the true inheritor of The Boss' emotion, and, unwittingly, her will for a world united as one in peace in the long run? Solid Snake, who Liquid outright states to his face was filled with the joy for battle while fighting FOXHOUND in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', even despite his claims to the opposite.
29	* Snake's signature weapon is the Mark 23 SOCOM, a .45 caliber pistol noted for being infamously large and heavy and having terrible ergonomics in real life. The devs have stated that the SOCOM was chosen because its huge size was easy to model and Snake handling the SOCOM well enough to take advantage of its full capabilities made him look really cool. But why do many players end up using the SOCOM as their main weapon? PunchPackingPistol aside, the SOCOM was originally designed to be used as a primary weapon in place of a rifle or SMG, and was found to be very accurate and reliable in extreme environments. This makes it ''perfect'' for Snake.
30	* In the very first ''Metal Gear'' game on the MSX2, radar is not used. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness It may seem weird, at first]], especially since the prequel game ''Snake Eater'' used one, but it could also be Big Boss neglected to give Snake radar to use, as an attempt to sabotage his mission.
31	* Playable Snakes use tactics borrowed from the animal they're named after
32	** Many species of snakes are ambush predators, who lay low and still, waiting untill prey comes to them, only to quickly strike and coil around it. Reminiscent of how Snakes can lure enemies to them, only to jump out and knock them out with CQC.
33	** Real life snakes often have camouflaging scales, with colors that blend into their surroundings, or with keeled scales that reflect light in a way that makes them harder to spot. Reminiscent of optic camo or even the camo index in Snake eater.
34	** Snakes are reptiles, which makes them cold blooded and very difficult to spot with noctovision. Various sneaking suits hide the wearers heat signature.
35	** Many snakes species have heat sensing pits along their lips, so they can better spot and track their warm blooded prey. Snakes in metal gear frequently use noctovisors.
36	** Snakes in game frequently use tranquiliser guns to incapacitate enemies. Some families of IRL snakes use venom to hunt.
37	** A few species, like garter snakes or hognoses play dead to deter predators. In Snake eater, Naked Snake can take a fake death pill to make enemies ignore him, only to revive himself and either escape or attack.
38	** Slightly more humorous one is that snakes are shy creatures, who spend most of their life hiding. Captive snakes feel uncomfortable if they aren't provided with a hide. In [=MGS4=] Snake's stress level goes down when he hides in a box.
39	* Otacon having a romantic relationship with his own step-mother comes off as contrived and forced... until you think about who his own father is. A similar face, similar interests, even the same voice-actor, put it together and it makes sense that his step-mother would feel for him in the same way she felt for his father. They're practically the same person
40	* For some meta: the entire series is described as a 'stealth-action' franchise, with lots of sneaking and shooting. But the games also have a strong anti-war stance, don't they? At first glance it seems almost like GameplayAndStorySegregation at best, and outright dishonesty at worst, constantly preaching anti-violence while giving the player guns, explosives and knives at every turn... but it's ''not,'' that's why it's so brilliant! Because if you ignore the stealth and go guns-a-blazing every second, you'll die ''constantly''. The stealth element forces the player to find other solutions to obstacles like armed guards and traps. It actually ''discourages'' using violence! Hell, the best codename rankings in the games almost always require you to kill ''nobody'' (except bosses) and never be noticed. The series is pushing as hard as it can for players to AVOID violence and killing, which fits perfectly with it's overall message: violence only begets more, bigger, ''worse'' violence. The games have never once gone against this message, in their stories ''or'' their gameplay.
41
42	[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
43	* The Patriots of the are creepy enough as it is, but then you get into Otacon's backstory and realize that the Patriots are responsible for ''all of it.'' [[spoiler: The sexual abuse, his father's suicide, his estrangement from his beloved little stepsister]]-- they did it all. They made the life of one of the nicest, sweetest, most truly good-hearted people in the entire series hell just because they decided that his brain would be a good tool. And they've done it before, to multitudes upon multitudes of innocent people. Nobody can trace them. Nobody can identify them. They are faceless and near-omniscient, and they might just be responsible for everything in your life you thought was just a cruel twist of fate. [[ParanoiaFuel Sleep tight.]]
44	** I thought that his estrangement from his little sister was when his little sister nearly drowned because he was too busy having sex with his stepmother to be able to try and save her?
45	*** Who's to say the Patriots couldn't have caused that?
46	*** Who's to say ''Kaz'' couldn't have gotten his revenge on the Emerichs?
47	*** You think that's bad? The Philosophers make this conspiracy way more far-reaching and disturbing. America, Russia, and China had selected children all over the world that they raised from birth to be agents in their organization, guys like Ocelot were kidnapped from their parents shortly after they are born and raised to be nothing more than a cog/screw in a very nuanced and complicated machine. This conspiracy has been going on since at least the time of the First World War and when the Patriots took over the international power the Philosophers once had this means that by the time of Metal Gear Solid 4 this has been going on for almost '''100 years.'''
48	*** Considering that The Patriots manipulated Raiden and Rose to get together, it isn't far-fetched to believe that they could have manipulated Huey, who's not the most moral character to begin with, into marrying an {{ephebophile}}
49	*** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'', turns out that one specific Patriot member (who's in this for himself) helped turn Huey into a sociopath. ''Now how many other significant characters in the series has he worked on''.
50	* In Big Boss's era of the Metal Gear Solid series all three of his games have the antagonist try to fire nuclear weapons at the United States. Think about that for a moment, this was during the Cold War when Americans and Russians alike lived in fear that their homelands could be turned into craters of radioactive dust at any moment, this illustrates how realistic the Cold War paranoia really was. Had it not been for the timely intervention of heroes like Big Boss the world could have ended like so many had feared during the Cold War.
51	* During the short period of time you have EVA in your party in VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater, so to speak, you can check her medical history. Turns out she has breast implants, eaten a {{Tsuchinoko}}, and [[{{Squick}} Proctitis]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proctitis NSFW image on Wikipedia page]]). Is it possible for Kojima to troll his own series? Considering that the proctitis is usually in the midst of electrical burns and other wounds caused by the BigBad, who's a [[DepravedBisexual sadistic pervert]].
52	* VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater shown that afterlife exists and is a dull and sad place. In addiction to this, the ghosts are condemned to reenact how they died, forever i.e. burning if they died by fire. For more sadness, almost everyone from generic soldiers to even super-soldiers like Solid Snake has died in one of the games, and probably ended there.

Context Fridge / MetalGear