History Fridge / MetalGearSolid

* Liquid and Mantis both proclaim that Snake "[[BloodKnight enjoys all the killing]]", something Snake tries to deny but can't really find himself capable of doing in this game. While you had to kill the bosses and guards in previous titles, to which it seems Snake gained some amount of PTSD over, he has absolutely no hesitation or compunctions about it in this game still and even outright encourages Meryl to kill as a completely green rookie for the sake of survival. This is, of the 3D games at least, the ''only game'' that actively encourages Snake to shoot his way out of danger given few little options in such an isolated and dangerous location, and given how many lethal weapons you get, it's likely most players who don't ace the PacifistRun will. The VillainHasAPoint, and it says a lot that the second game onwards introduce non-lethal options right as Snake tries to work towards his own more peaceful goals rather than as a soldier under orders, and partly why Old Snake is so absolutely ''bitter'' by the fourth game beyond his crappy life up to that point; he's priming lethal guns, hired to assassinate, and effectively right back where he was in Shadow Moses under orders from Campbell to kill if necessary for the sake of the world.

* Liquid and Mantis both proclaim that Snake "[[BloodKnight enjoys all the killing]]", something Snake tries to deny but can't really find himself capable of doing in this game. While you had to kill the bosses and guards in previous titles, to which it seems Snake gained some amount of PTSD over, he has absolutely no hesitation or compunctions about it in this game still and even outright encourages Meryl to kill as a completely green rookie for the sake of survival. This is, of the 3D games at least, the ''only game'' that actively encourages Snake to shoot his way out of danger given few little options in such an isolated and dangerous location, and given how many lethal weapons you get, it's likely most players who don't ace the PacifistRun will. The VillainHasAPoint, one Snake genuinely can't shoot down, and it says a lot that the second game onwards introduce non-lethal options right as Snake tries to work towards his own more peaceful goals rather than as a soldier under orders, and partly why Old Snake is so absolutely ''bitter'' by the fourth game beyond his crappy life up to that point; he's priming lethal guns, hired to assassinate, and effectively right back where he was in Shadow Moses under orders from Campbell to kill if necessary for the sake of the world.

* This troper was like thousands of others who got really, really annoyed with the [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Recessive And Dominant]] [[MotiveRant Genes Rant]] Liquid gives in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', until a bit of a replay and then some reading of [[Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFoxhound a certain webcomic]] made this less of a wallbanger but some sheer brilliance. What's the best way to raise a {{Super Soldier}} that will do ''anything''? Fuck with his [[MindScrew mind]]. Tell him he's the [[CloningBlues child of the world's]] greatest soldier, but that he wasn't chosen to be a successor, because he's weaker, and that he was rejected in favor of [[CainAndAbel his brother]], do this to him all his life, while making him go through the most [[TheSpartanWay rigorous training in the world, courtesy of SAS]], and oh yea - tell him that he can't get a [[WellDoneSonGuy pat on the back by daddy]] because his brother killed him, and destroyed the WarriorHeaven that Daddy spent the latter part of his life constructing. The Dominant and Recessive Genes is just a way to drive Liquid off-rails, if he didn't [[BreakTheCutie break under the pressure]], he would be insanely devoted [[FreudianExcuse to proving everyone wrong]], he just a little nudge for how to do so. - {{Shini}}

* After playing MGS 1-3, and reading the comics for 1 & 2, I read this page, lo and behold the light shines brightly. What the troper above mentions about Liquid's tantrum, makes it weirdly plausible that Solidus anticipated that the two most dangerous individuals to his plans were unlikely to be easily eliminated-unless the killer was one of the brothers. Given that Liquid and Solid are on a whole new level compared to any other soldier alive at the time, it makes sense for Solidus to set them up to kill each other. The only way he could pull this was to isolate them from society, place them in a perceived high stakes situation, wait for a body, and nuke an already irradiated island, safely in the knowledge that he could blame the detonation on terrorists mishandling the warheads. It further makes more sense when we examine the presence of a Metal Gear, its the only prize big enough to get Liquid there, and scarier enough for Solid to come out of retirement. The sheer size of Rex makes covert transport from such an isolated area, quite difficult, and despite the complexity only the plans are necessary for Solidus to build a Rex in new location. Nuking the island destroys any records of Rex. Kills the CEO and DARPA representatives who knew about Rex. Removes the Next Generation Special Forces who were slowly coming apart genetically(covering up that little not so legal experiment), wipes out Fox Hound which seems to be a pointless liability given its tendency to do TheStarscream to the [[strike:US Government]] [[strike:United Nations]] unlucky bastards stuck with telling them what to do. Foxdie is the chancy bit however, as Solidus's ace in the hole required someone he did not have complete control over to seek vengeance at a jeopardise-the-entire-mission level. Ocelot's selling of the plans is just his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, something Solidus could not stop (and probably anticipated) as he needed Ocelot to rig this GambitRoulette, hence why Ocelot does not show signs of Foxdie (Haven't played MGS 4 but if he does turn out have Foxdie then it kind of changes Ocelot into Snake Plisskin from the second movie...). I nearly wrote off my computer with a glass of coke when this clicked ;)- Eyclonus** And the phrase "code". It refers to both codename, and ''genetic'' code. - pinkdalek

* Why did FOXDIE kill Liquid instead of Snake? Because this virus is partly Naomi's own revenge for Gray Fox and Liquid is the one who killed him.

* Rewatch the scene where Snake meets Donald Anderson. Knowing that it's Decoy Octopus impersonating the DARPA Chief to the point of taking the guy's blood into him, you have to wonder just how much he suffered from taking a ''double'' hit of FoxDie. Baker after all, despite being more out of shape, lasted longer when the virus hit him.

* Donald Anderson reacting so strongly to Snake mentioning he's encountered Metal Gears before seems strange, as someone like him should know full well about Snake's previous operations thanks to his connections to the REX project as well as his high position in the U.S. Government. Sure, there were cover-ups by NATO and all, but nothing implies they're ''that'' classified. [[spoiler:Then you realize he's Decoy Octopus, and is improvising on the fly to trick Snake for FOXHOUND's plans -- and clearly was missing a bigger picture of Snake's previous operations. Either he didn't know he was talking to ''Solid Snake himself'' [[OhCrap until that moment]], or Liquid and Ocelot had left him out on details like that, meaning he was effectively in the dark about past uses or Solid in general, and nearly broke character.]]

* Kenneth Baker is surprised to hear that Solid Snake's encountered Metal Gears before, uttering how the whole REX project was top-secret. Given he has Pentagon access and a pretty damn huge check [[spoiler:as a Patriots-backed project]], it is weird that he doesn't know anything about Outer Heaven's operations. But given how little he knew of the bigger picture without an ounce of knowledge of FOXHOUND or other matters, and that REX was primarily designed by Otacon as a direct successor to the designs his father had made, it's entirely plausible that Baker, being a former president of [=ArmsTech=] rather than its active head and effectively just working as a funding source with some creative control, had been completely LockedOutOfTheLoop of the project's designs being lifted directly from Big Boss and his Metal Gear attempts. He was little more than a disposable patsy that decided to get creative with the silent nuke-launching railgun, and little else beyond carrying one of the access codes.

* Psycho Mantis [[spoiler:is repulsed by the idea of sex because he's picked up on the thoughts of others for decades, and that's generally what people think about (as he states in the game). He's assuming Snake would want to have sex with Meryl, and as such tries to deceive him by having Meryl beg Snake for sex. But why doesn't it work? Because Meryl said, in the bathroom, not even a full 5 minutes earlier, that she's had psychotherapy to destroy her interest in men. Psycho Mantis must have, somehow, not known this. Snake is clearly attracted to Meryl, but she said herself that she has no interest in him, or any man for that matter. When she suddenly pulls a heel face turn, begging for sex, he immediately realises just how strange it is, thus making him realise it's the work of Psycho Mantis. Had Meryl not mentioned it, he may not have reacted so quickly.]]

* So we all know about Johnny Sasaki and his family's history with bowel problems, but upon replaying MGS1, when Liquid Snake mentioned 'Gulf War Syndrome', I realised I had no idea what it actually consisted of, and looked it up. It turns out that the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome include cognitive problems, fatigue and diarrhea. It could be put down to Johnny's family history... or it could just be that Johnny, being in the military, served in the Gulf War and came back affected by it, hence his general lack of awareness and digestive problems.

* A bit of fridge creepiness. Before the the Psycho Mantis fight in ''MGS'', there are a couple of unsettling details. 1. The door at the end is closed. 2. Once Meryl becomes possessed, you notice that the first person view is.. third person - through a mask of sorts. That leads me to conclude that Psycho Mantis is in that hallway, stalking you. It also points it out as when you enter the commander's room, the door waits for a second (perhaps someone's in the doorway?) until he comes inside. Creepy.

* So we all know about Johnny Sasaki and his family's history with bowel problems, but upon replaying MGS1, when Liquid Snake mentioned 'Gulf War Syndrome', I realised I had no idea what it actually consisted of, and looked it up. It turns out that the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome include cognitive problems, fatigue and diarrhea. It could be put down to Johnny's family history... or it could just be that Johnny, being in the military, served in the Gulf War and came back affected by it, hence his general lack of awareness and digestive problems