History Headscratchers / MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker

** His age isn't specifically given in MGS3.

* "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 localisation team completely failed to translate? How can a plot element this redundant have more interpretations than the rest of the plot put together?!

* Coldman had the Boss killed because he feared her charisma and thought her a threat to the United States. Clearly, he doesn't think too highly of her - why on Earth did he approve using her personality as the blueprint for Peace Walker's AI?

** [[spoiler: Considering the codenames of the four basic A.I. Weapons, GW-Pupa, TJ-Chrysalis, TR-Cocoon and AL-Aurelia share the same initials as the later Patriot A.Is, the Patriots probably are the ones funding what Coldman was doing.]] Although it should be mentioned that the various mines and factories were probably already there, the CIA just moved in and renovated. The only location they built entirely themselves was the missile base.

* 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 [[hottip:*: 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]] [=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.

** 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.

* Does Coldman even know what "deterrence" actually means? There's one cutscene in particular where he flat-out admits a human submarine captain hesitating to launch during the Cuban missile crisis saved the entire world from all-out nuclear war - and then without even blinking, he talks up how Peace Walker would have pressed the button without hesitation and tries to ''pass that off as a good thing''. The best I can assume at this juncture is either A) Coldman's trying to deter nuclear war by ''causing'' it - which is only technically "deterrence" in the same manner that JFK can't run for a second Presidential term, or B) there's some politician somewhere who sincerely wants the "ultimate deterrence" - but passed the actual work off onto someone else, who turned out to be an incompetent fuckwit.

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

** [[spoiler: Considering the codenames of the A.I. Weapons, GW Pupa, TJ Chrysalis, TR Cocoon and AL Aurelia share the same initials as the later Patriot A.Is, they probably are the ones funding what Coldman was doing.]]

-->"Big Boss has a tense stand off with the enigmatic Dr Strangelove, who he knows little about and trusts even less. She goads and coaxes him, deliberately attempting to get a rise out of him emotionally. The scene runs to a tense fever pitch until she lures him into her lab by claiming she can reunite him with his beloved mentor. ''Then he sniffs snuff off her hand before going in''. Wait what?"

*** Correct, it's short for "Victory Boss". He still doesn't like being called Big Boss at this point, and prefers that if ehy insist on calling him something besides Snake it be this. Think about the dialogue at the beginning, it makes it pretty obvious:

***** 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 cuters first.

* If Coldman was exiled to that station in South America then how is it possible that he has the funding required to create and maintain all these high tech bases and machines? The Metal Gears and their mass production copies alone must have cost billions of dollars to create, and Big Boss even notes that the technology used to create them is more advanced than anything he has ever seen before and speculates that it might be alien technology from something like Area 51. This isn't even talking about the various mines, factories, and bases the CIA has all over the place, and the nuclear missile base where Peace Walker is stored. There is no way in hell a rogue CIA Agent has enough serious cash to fund all these endeavors. We are talking about billions of dollars here, only the Patriots would have any hope of funding what Coldman is doing.

** Not just anyone can join the Special Forces, the Pentagon puts a great deal of trust into the men who work in black operations, which means that very thorough background checks are given before they ever join. The age change makes his career prior to MGS3 highly implausible. I don't mind Jack joining the Army by lying about his age, but he is specifically mentioned as a Korean War veteran who was a member of the Special Forces. The Special Forces is a whole different game from the regular Army.

** First of all, [=MGS=] has his share of child soldiers (Raiden, Gray Fox, Chico, heck even [[spoiler: Solid Snake]]) so Big Boss joining the army at his teens is plausible. Second, where in Snake Eater do you they tell 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 Kojima makes retcons who create plot holes?

**** Good point, especially seeing how there was one MSF soldier onboard the chopper besides Kaz. Strangely enough, Kaz seemed quite surprised about the whole thing even before Kaz warned Snake about what was going to happen.
***** They were all riding the high of their victory over the Peace Sentinals, 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 deterance adminstered 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 boltcuters first.

** It is a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which was U.S. Strategic Air Command's prime airplane for long-range nuclear strikes. Large numbers of B-52's on constant alert status and could stay in the air for extended periods of up 24 hours, able to get airborne before their home fields could be hit by enemy ICBMs, were 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 nuclear deterrence.
** The plan for nuclear attack if the United States ever had to engage in such a war would be to send the B-52 bombers to key points of infrastructure like nuclear missile bases and points of economic and Military value to throw the Russian Government into disarray. Once the B-52 had nuked its intended target the American Military would see fit to follow up with a full nuclear assault from all of their nuclear submarines and missile bases, the B-52s purpose was to be the first responder so that the Russians' ability to counterattack would be severely reduced. This is brought up in the game by Huey, potentially the entire need for nuclear deterrence could be invalidated if one country could totally obliterate its enemy before they had a chance to counterattack.

** It is a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which was U.S. Strategic Air Command's prime airplane for long-range nuclear strikes. Large numbers of B-52's on constant alert status, able to get airborne before their home fields could be hit by enemy ICBMs, were 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 nuclear deterrence.

* Doesn't Big Boss becoming Outer Heaven's full time boss and operator, and outright leaving his country entirely, contradict earlier canon? Every game since Metal Gear Solid has emphasized over and over again that Big Boss was America's greatest Military Soldier and that he did countless black ops on their behalf, and that Outer Heaven was simply something he created on the side. Also how did Big Boss maintain enough trust with Zero to regain control of FOXHOUND if he has come toe to toe with his plans in this game? Snake Eater and Portable Ops were fine as they were with what they told us about Big Boss' future, Big Boss takes command of FOXHOUND and stays as their commander for 20 years until he has had too much of Zero's crap and finally activates Outer Heaven. This game raises a lot of questions.

* Doesn't Big Boss becoming Outer Heaven's full time boss and operator, and outright leaving his country entirely, contradict earlier canon? Every game since Metal Gear Solid has emphasized over and over again that Big Boss was America's greatest Military Soldier and that he did countless black ops on their behalf, and that Outer Heaven was simply something he was created on the side. Also how did Big Boss maintain enough trust with Zero to regain control of FOXHOUND if he has come toe to toe with his plans in this game? Portable Ops and its ending made sense, Big Boss takes command of FOXHOUND and stays as their commander for 20 years until he has had too much of Zero's crap and finally activates Outer Heaven. This game raises a lot of questions.

** Not just anyone can join the Special Forces, the Pentagon puts a great deal of trust into the men who work in black operations, which means that very thorough background checks are given before they ever join. The age change makes his career prior to MGS3 highly implausible. I don't mind Jack joining the Army by lying about his age, but he is specifically mentioned as a Korean War veteran who was a member of the Special Forces. The Special Forces is a whole different game from the regular Army.

** It is a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which was U.S. Strategic Air Command's prime airplane for long-range nuclear strikes. Large numbers of B-52's on constant alert status, able to get airborne before their home fields could be hit by enemy ICBMs, were 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 nuclear deterrence. Also, if you have a high resolution image of the logo, keep an eye out for the bombs that form the lower section of the circle.

** He could have lied about his age when joining up.

*** My point is that any number of soldiers could have called him on this and undermined whatever XanatosGambit was [[SchrodingersGun apparently in play]]. It would be more fair to describe this entry as "MSF: Nil".