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1!'''All spoilers on this page are unmarked, per wiki policy. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!'''
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3[[AC: FridgeBrilliance]]
4* ID-tagged equipment is a convenient way for The Patriots to control precisely when and where conflicts can occur, effectively allowing them to maintain ForeverWar scenario.
5* Liquid's personal army is named the [=FROGs=]. At first, it seems stupid that Liquid named his army after an animal that has a given history of being eaten by snakes, but it might as well be {{foreshadowing}} of [[spoiler:Ocelot's plan all along.]]
6** Just as well, what does Liquid accomplish at the end of the story? [[spoiler:Sacrificing his life for the sake of what he believed in, painting himself as the biggest villain that needed to be killed by Solid Snake so the world could be saved from greater conflict. He essentially replicated the same scheme his mother went through with Naked Snake, except for more selfish reasons, on a grander scale and calling the shots for his sacrifice rather than being used as an expendable pawn by someone else. Just like his mother, unforeseen variables ruined his plan (Big Boss losing his way for The Boss, Sunny undermining Ocelot's plan for Outer Heaven), but he still went out on his own terms on the battlefield, in the hands of a Snake he held as family.]]
7* David Hayter is mocked for Old Snake's line to Raiden, "You were the lightning in that rain. You can can still shine through the darkness". The truth is that it completely fits the situation, as Raiden is Japanese for "lightning bolt." After the revelation that Raiden used to be Jack the Ripper, Raiden stated he found himself unsuitable to live a proper life as he was a killer. However, Snake states that back in ''[=MGS2=]'', Raiden stood out in Big Shell as ''Raiden'', not Jack the Ripper. Raiden appears to accept Snake's claim later as he says, "I am lightning. The rain transformed." when he saves Snake from the [=FROGs.=]
8* The muscle suit that Old Snake uses to be able to even continue doing the stunts he does throughout the game (combined with a bit of old-fashioned willpower) was built into the OctoCamo sneaking suit isn't really something notable, but then look back to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' - Solidus Snake not only had graying hair due to his advanced aging compared to Liquid and Solid, but was also packing the equivalent of an advanced exoskeleton that bulks him up and allows him to do superhuman feats. While it's not quite the same thing, Otacon probably took inspiration from the exoskeleton so that his Snake could have at least some sort of stabilizing equivalent in his own aging situation.
9* Everyone likes to complain about the whole "nanomachines being used to explain everything in Guns of the Patriots". But the reliance of nanomachines is a big part of the game's story. PMC's and the Rat Patrol 01's reliance on nanomachines show the dark future ahead and how lost they are without them. People disregard their own SENSES (''[=MGS4=]'''s [[CentralTheme major theme]]) in favor of technology.
10* [[spoiler:The identities of the Patriots being Naked Snake's former support crew from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' seems like a bit of an AssPull, until one realizes that it was Major Zero who coined the name of the organization, as well as the use of the term "La-li-lu-le-lo" (although the Director's commentary in the aforementioned game mentioned that "patriots" in that case were more a reference to the term rather than the name of the organization). It's also worth remembering that they aren't revealed to be the Patriots anyway, only the founders; it's just that the ''current'' Patriots, the AI system, aren't seen after the end of ''Sons of Liberty.'']]
11* One of the more subtle callbacks of the game--when Raiden makes his first appearance, he holds his sword out in front of Snake and Naomi in exactly the same way that Olga did when saving him in the second game. As if to say "You will go no farther."
12* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', The Boss made EVA and Ocelot swear never to kill nor aid in killing Naked Snake (the former was explicitly stated whereas Ocelot was more implied). When taking that into account, it's really no wonder why EVA and Ocelot ended up betraying (the former openly, and the latter covertly) the Patriots and attempting to destroy them after Zanzibar Land.
13** The nationalities of the three most prominent founders of the Patriots ([[spoiler: Big Boss (American), Revolver Ocelot (Russian), and EVA (Chinese))]] corresponds to the three countries that founded the Philosophers. This is fitting, since [[spoiler: the Patriots used the Philosophers as their cover to make it look like they had been around longer than they really had]].
14* Since Liquid was a clone just like his brother, he would have eventually fallen victim to the same accelerated aging that Snake did. This means that had Liquid survived [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid the Shadow Moses takeover]], he would probably look a lot like the seventy-something year old Ocelot does in [=MGS4=]. When you think about it, this makes Ocelot's masquerade just that little bit more believable: he looks just like Liquid would look if he were still alive.
15* [[spoiler: In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', we learned that Major Zero is a huge fan of the ''Film/JamesBond'' movies. Here, we see how much he resembles a James Bond villain himself. He's an affable, witty British man with an evil-looking scar over his eye, and he takes over America with supercomputers. But unlike a classic Bond bad guy, his plan actually succeeds. His Bond-like nemesis (Big Boss) doesn't defeat him until over fifty years later...when he's an invalid old man, and he only needs to unplug his breathing machine. Maybe watching all those Bond movies make him GenreSavvy enough to succeed]].
16* In Chinese Big Boss translates as Taipan, which is also the name of a group of the most deadly poisonous snakes in the world. (Though it's unknown if this was intentional).
17* This game represents Kojima's last attempt to duct tape every errant thread in the cloth of the pre-existing VideoGame/MetalGear continuity into a coherent whole, therefore an iota of contestable confusion was inevitable. That there aren't more is a testament to Kojima's writing skill.
18* Jack (Raiden) was presumably named by Solidus. Therefore, Jack was probably named after the diminutive form of Big Boss' real name.
19* The question has been asked as to why ''Snake'' has to go through the Microwave Hallway at the climax of the game, since it certainly appears that the Mark III does all the work anyway. But when you have the option to take control of the Mark II/III itself (using a Dual Shock 2 controller no less) you can only go a certain distance from Snake before it loses signal and disconnects. Snake (and his suit) are a ''router'' for the drone's controls. Too far from him and it'll stop working.
20* Snake's support team in Metal Gear Solid chide him for harming himself by smoking. When he said he didn't care about the risks of smoking compared to the risks of being a soldier, they responded that he hurt others with second hand smoke. So in [=MGS2=], he has cigs that give off no second hand smoke. When Otacon complains that he's still littering with his cigarette butts, Snake starts to carry around a portable ash tray in [=MGS4=]. [[spoiler:And after his life is free from battle, ''he quits smoking altogether.'']]
21* Some consider [[spoiler: Naomi's death after stopping her nano-machines to not make any sense, since she died very quickly afterwards.]] But the [[AllThereInTheManual [=MGS4=] database]] manages to fill in the blanks. [[spoiler: Her nanomachines only work around injuries, healing things only to the point that they're whole, but not very healthy as we saw with Vamp. Naomi was one of the new targets for Foxdie, and contracted it as soon as she met Snake in the Middle East. But because of her nanomachines her heart kept working even after FOXDIE went at it. Once they're stopped, there's no work around for the fact that most of her organs are cancer-damaged and she has another set of nanomachines eating away at her heart. It's even subtly implied in the game itself; when Big Boss says that FOXDIE killed Eva and Ocelot, the flashbacks show Eva, Ocelot and Naomi.]]
22* The Beauties. At first this troper thought they were [[FanService cheesecake]], but then he realized that the contrast between their attractive outsides and their horribly, horribly damaged insides made them even creepier.
23** Laughing Octopus did that for this troper- during the second playthrough, her lines about people hurt and dying being hilarious sound ''much'' [[NightmareFuel creepier]] when you know what she was [[BreakTheCutie forced to do]].
24** Additionally, they thematically fit with the growing themes of nature vs technology in the series. Compare and contrast say, Crying Wolf with The End. One is a sniper with an almost symboitic relationship with nature and uncanny talent which was honed through years of developing technique. The other is a machine mockup of an animal who barely adheres to proper tactics because the technology that made them allows them to do so. It goes on. Compare how the Fear could run on water to how Vamp is eventually theorized to. Or just Fortune's powers in general. The progression of bosses in the series (chronologically) traces a shift between natural talent with a tad of mysticism tossed in to full on, technologically dependent, VR trained soldiers.
25** How about the fact that Old Snake's namechange makes him fit the naming scheme of the Beauties? Snake was the other member of FOX-HOUND, and the 'emotion' he carries into battle is "End", signified by his "Old"-ness. He used to be gorgeous, but now he's ugly and dependent on his suit to fight. Makes Drebin's suggestion that Snake's just like the Beauties a bit more than just a generic NotSoDifferentRemark line.
26** This Troper saw the "Octopus" advertisement as an interesting aside. However, in the codec conversation about it, Snake mentions that you have to use what you have. Octopi are some of the most adaptable creatures in the ocean. And how do the members of the Beauty and the Beast Corps adapt? By using nanomachines! The ad has a second layer, saying that adaptability is better than raw power. This sums up the gameplay of ''VideoGame/MetalGear''
27* Why the crap Drebin keep telling Old Snake stories of BB squad members? Drebin considers Snake a living, breathing war legend, and seemingly happy to be working with the man himself. So it's possible that he's geeking out to some extent and piling some war stories that he knows on Snake.
28** Another way of looking at it is that Drebin is telling Snake their tales, not only in a parallel to how past enemies told their own backstory to Snake, but also because it shows just how much the B & B Corp have had their humanity stripped away from them. All past enemies who told their backstories fleshed them out, but also demonstrated that for all of their antagonism, they were ultimately still human, with their own distinct beliefs and ideals, and that ultimately they lived and died as humans. The B & B Corp by contrast have been brutally torn down into embodying one emotion against their will, trapped in cold machine shells and effectively being reduced into nothing more than parodies of human beings, only able to be released from their miserable state by death. Drebin telling us their stories, as distant and disconnected as an outside source as it is, is not only possibly Drebin's way of trying to remind us that they were once human too, It also underlines the tragedy of how they're too lost and driven to madness to be able to tell their own tale anymore.
29* It took me until my second playthrough of the fourth game to realize that, likely as a byproduct of the nanomachine control or similar, that some people are unable to hear or speak The Patriots as such and can only say or hear it as a bunch of garbled letters - La Li Lu Le Lo. It made the president's confusion at Raiden in the second game make a lot more sense, too.
30** It's worth noting that A-I-U-E-O is the way that many East Asian nations learn their vowels and the combinations of consonants and vowels. To Japanese players, this is most likely seen as the Chinese way of learning L sounds as a child.
31* In [=MGS4=]'s microwave hallway, one of the sequences on the top of the screen near the end is Sunny making eggs, and being happy at the result. It was a sharp contrast to every other scene which were 'sad' and 'downers', but then I remembered one of the conversations Sunny had with Naomi. It was her "sunny-side up fortune telling" - if the eggs came out well, something good was going to happen. And as such, something good ''did'' happen: the Patriots were destroyed, and the entire conflict ended.
32* Cynthia wasn't her real name. It's a reference to a real spy. Call Zero after the cutscene.
33* At first, the revelation that Major Zero and Naked Snake's support crew were the founders of the Patriots seemed like a random retcon in an attempt to shoehorn the supporting cast of ''Snake Eater'' into the Patriots conspiracy in ''Sons of Liberty''. But if you go back to the beginning of Operation: Snake Eater in ''[=MGS3=]'', the password Zero tells Snake to use on ADAM was "Who are the Patriots?" and "La-li-lu-le-lo".
34** I kind of felt the opposite way. Like the cast of Snake Eater was created specifically because Kojima didn't know where he had intended to go with the Patriot's storyline before then. Since he hadn't intended to make another MGS game after 2, he created these characters in 3 specifically so he could have a twist to reveal in 4.
35* In the second game, Otacon almost exclusively referred to his stepsister Emma as "E.E." Emma's wish was that Otacon respect her as a woman and refer to her as "Emma," which he [[spoiler: failed to honor before her death]]. Come the fourth game, he only refers to her as Emma; not once is her old nickname referenced.
36* So I was listening to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGf2b1H91JA Love Theme]]. It's got a very, ''very'' slow tempo, but it has a pattern of building up tension, pausing, then releasing all that energy in one euphoric go, gathering more and more tension as it goes (go to 3:50 for the climax of the song to see what I mean). Eventually I noticed that when I listen to the song, I actually breathe in time with it, breathing in as the song goes up and breathing out as it goes down - i.e. the song is basically ''sighing'', which fits the weary tone of the game fairly well. However, the true Fridge Brilliance came when I realised this matched up perfectly with Snake's smoking habit.
37* The Patriots were composed of five AIs. Four (GW, TJ, AL, TR) are named after four famous American presidents, the ones that are engraved into Mount Rushmore (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt), and the fifth is JD, which supposedly stands for John Doe. So what's the Fridge Brilliance here you ask? It may be unintentional, but JD is also the initials of Jefferson Davis, first and only President of the Confederate States of America.
38** I thought it was because [[spoiler: John Doe is stated to be Big Boss' real name in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''.]]
39* There's also some fridge poetic justice in the USS Missouri, a ''UsefulNotes/WorldWarII battleship'' and a bunch of Marines and sailors, themselves without the benefit of SOP, taking on Outer Heaven [[spoiler:and ''winning'']] while Snake does his job. The ship and soldiers represent in a sense the world as it was before Zero, Big Boss and the Patriots got into the picture. [[spoiler:And once all of them are out of the picture, humanity would effectively be brought back figuratively to that point in history to move forward. Although as ''Revengeance'' reveals, that doesn't exactly stop business from going on as usual, albeit without the Patriots' influence.]]
40* The symbolism of Big Boss killing Zero is rather ironic if you think about it. Zero made FOX and Big Boss made FOXHOUND, and as we all know foxhounds are specifically used for the purpose of hunting foxes. In that sense Big Boss (the FOXHOUND) killed Zero (the FOX).
41* The flashbacks we experience [[spoiler: during the final battle with Liquid Ocelot? They're Ocelot's own memories between his Liquid persona and his true self gradually returning to him. Note the order in which the fight takes place: he's referred to as Liquid in the first phase, Liquid Ocelot in the second, and Ocelot in the third before he reverts back to Liquid Ocelot for the final one. He goes from keeping his facade as Liquid, to the split persona he had in ''Sons of Liberty'' and finally, his original identity as the fight goes on.]]
42* Why Drebin accept Drebin Points and not money? Because Snake beign in a warzone would not carry the BILLIONS of money needed to buy all of Drebin's equipment. Also because Snake give weapons to him, he doesn't want to give money at Snake. And considering the finale make more sense either...
43* In the E3 trailer, Liquid Ocelot's nametag is introduced as "Liquid Snake", only for the "Snake" to be erased and replaced by "Ocelot." Even that was {{Foreshadowing}} that [[spoiler: "Liquid Ocelot" is really "Revolver Ocelot wearing a Liquid Snake mask"; Liquid's name, his ''real self,'' was replaced by Ocelot.]]
44* Eva's new title, "Big Mama" seems a bit on the nose when you know she is the mother of Solid and Liquid. But it has a second layer to it. Not only is it referential to the fact she's a mother. But specifically the "Big Mama" to the children of "Big Boss".
45* Eva ''did'' once say that the only time she would get off her bike for good when she fell in love or when she died. [[BackForTheDead And... Well...]]
46* Johnny's lack of shots actually explains why he seems to constantly be sick with diarrhea; if he skipped his nanomachine shots due to a fear of needles, he likely skipped his ''vaccine'' shots too, leaving him vulnerable to regional bugs that would mess with his stomach.
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48[[AC: FridgeHorror]]
49* Old Snake may be TheDeterminator, but his capability to fight almost entirely unimpeded outside of the crippling injuries he repeatedly takes towards the end game highlights that he's not just a BrokenAce; he's still a clone of Big Boss, and was intended from the outset of his existence as one of Zero's means of making sure Big Boss will be around to protect the world in the absence of The Boss. His entire body, right down to the degrading genetics and DNA, was built from the ground-up to ''fight'', even before he was made into a ChildSoldier with TrainingFromHell (being part of the [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous Green Berets]] ''as a teen''). Every time he tries to resist his lineage's destiny, [[YouCannotFightFate he's dragged back reluctantly or against his will]], and it takes every possible twist of fate, the help and sacrifices of so many to finally subvert that genetic fate once and for all, [[YourDaysAreNumbered suffering all the while]] for the twisted intentions behind his birth. "Snake had a hard life" is the only way one can lightly sum up his existence.
50** Now think about what he considers every day during his operation to kill Liquid Ocelot when he realizes he's going to become a PersonOfMassDestruction. His attempt to [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] at the start may linger with the player, but he has ''the entire rest of the game'' to mull over FOXDIE and his seemingly inevitable fate, marching forwards to the end with intent on finishing his mission and then dying to save everyone, all the while assuring never voicing his real thoughts except to his closest companion around at the time. [[HistoryRepeats Just like The Boss]].
51** Also it's supposed to be funny that Snake may occasionally strain his back or lose a bar of stamina during more depressing or mood-killing moments in cutscenes... but then you realize from his check-up with Naomi that he's functionally subsisting on HeroicWillpower to even ''stand''. Every waking moment is probably exhaustion, weariness from his bones, and a likelihood of never-ending aches, feeling like someone that would be in medical care or a home hospice, and Snake takes it in [[StepfordSmiler relative stride]] to do what he needs to while trying not to bring the mood down. So every time that stamina bar drops in a cutscene, ''that very determination keeping him up is faltering.''
52* At the end of the game [[spoiler: Snake has destroyed the Patriots, but that does not mean the Metal Gears have been destroyed and nothing will stop them from being rebuilt as long as the blueprints are still around. This was Snake's last hurrah, I don't want to live in a world without Solid Snake!]]
53** Very oddly confirmed in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. Gekkos and Metal Gears still continue to be made, and war continues like business as usual. [[spoiler: And the most Snake can do is have his soul empower a wooden, non-lethal sword for Raiden to utilize, as a bonus weapon that has no bearing on the story. At the very least, Raiden seems to be capable of destroying a few by himself.]]
54* After being defeated and either sleeping or dead, Crying Beauty is taken away by a wolf. It's all very symbolic given that she was known as Crying Wolf and all, but what normally happens to people taken by wolves...?
55** Made somewhat better by the fact that the wolf that picked her up was rumored to be the spirit of Sniper Wolf. She's likely carrying her fellow Wolf to a peaceful resting site.
56* The ShowWithinAShow commercials range from [[NightmareFuel nightmarish]] (such as "7th Circle"'s holographic demon heads) to [[BlackComedy morbidly funny]] ("Bomb Shelter Buffet" and its Leningrad Beets), but "Drill Sergeant's Recruit Workout" is more insidious than it looks. It's not just any ordinary exercise program--"[[IfYouCallBeforeMidnightTonight Call in the next 10 minutes]] and get two free [[{{Nanomachines}} Nanopacks]]!" Who's to say the workout's nanopacks aren't a Patriot attempt to introduce the SOP system's nanomachines to ''civilians''?
57* [[spoiler:Naomi's cancer being suppressed by the nanomachines is Grade-A BodyHorror if you think about it, even by the standards of this series. Her cancer has filled her body so thoroughly that turning the suppression off ''killed her within minutes'', near-immediately keeling over in body-wrenching pain and losing all the strength in her body. And to have a body filled to the brim with that much cancerous material should be non-stop suffering and agony by way of rendering most organs and material non-functional, unless Naomi's body being kept alive was functionally suppressing nearly all of her [[FeelsNoPain sensations of pain]] and rapidly substituting what functionality her remaining organs could salvage. Forget Vamp's pseudo-immortality through an immense HealingFactor, the pain of his brain matter mending together or his body shutting down from its wounds is ''temporary'' by comparison.]]
58** If you think that's bad, imagine what it would've been like ''before'' the [[spoiler:nanomachine suppression. Just what state did Ocelot find her in?]]

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