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all based on charlotte rampling

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messy doodle of the disdainful ocelot

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ocelots don't throw birthday parties... they prefer to celebrate alone

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offering for the 80-year old birthday boy

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ten second dedication rip kaz

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MGS3 NOVEL FAN TRANSLATION

@hylaversicolor @laezels and I have finished translating the mgs3 novelisation from japanese to english. the foreword explains everything you need to know about the process. please enjoy :D

read here

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ocelot's most memorable quote

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one of the reasons kaz is drawn to big boss is literally just because he's american... young kaz struggled with accepting his japanese heritage and years later, must still have subconsciously associated the US with strength and triumph - bb defeating his unit in columbia and besting him at every challenge kaz set would've provoked his childhood insecurities about his japanese "weakness" and reminded him of the victorious american soldiers he admired when he was growing up in japan. kaz sought success and a sense of belonging when he travelled to the US to find his american father, which was exactly what he was trying to achieve with bb and msf

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r3volv3r oc3lot

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sorry if you've sent me an ask recently but I probably won't be able to answer for a little while

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I hope you didn't get too much hate, you express your opinion in a respectful and meaningful way and without homophobia (that I unfortunately saw too many times when people disagreed with m/m ships or theories). And you accept other people holding a different opinion, that's literally so rare online.

thank you so much!! <33 I always try to be mindful of what I'm writing. I never answer the asks from people who are obviously not interested in entertaining any line of thought but their own. it's totally pointless. I'm not looking to trade insults or argue and my followers probably didn't follow this blog for that either. this subject in particular is contentious and I suppose those who sent me critical messages are used to reading the same opinion from people who deny even the possibility of romance between two male characters, which is ridiculous and ignorant - especially in mgs, a series with explicitly gay, lesbian and bisexual characters

I tried my best to explain how I reached my conclusion and I hope it's clear that my reasons don't stem from hatred. I know it's an unpopular opinion to have on here but it's all part of the study of the ocelot.....

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I got a few asks after my post explaining why I wasn't entirely convinced ocelot was canonically in love with bb. I'm not going to answer any of them. sorry. we'd be going round in circles and I don't want to drag this out or have it become a big THING. interpreting their relationship/ocelot's feelings as romantic is not without basis but it's not really how I see it anymore after reading so much about him, especially after learning that all of the japanese words for love used in relation to ocelot do not have exclusively romantic connotations and carry more nuance than eg. "fallen for him?" does in english. there are other examples of this from guidebooks/interviews, etc. that have come up while putting japanese text through online translators. in the mgs3 scenario book, the script note (all major ocelot script notes here) on ocelot's feelings after snake defeats his entire unit and lectures him on his technique is:

オセロットはこの時の強烈すぎる屈辱でスネークに惹かれる。

The initial result from deepl is:

"Ocelot is attracted to Snake because of the intense humiliation of this moment."

if the words "attracted to" were used in english, the implication would be pretty clear in this context - ocelot has a crush on bb. however, if you look up the japanese word used here - 惹かれる -the meaning is actually closer to charmed by/fascinated by/captivated by/drawn to - none of which are exclusively romantic. "attracted to" still technically fits but is a very literal translation. a more suitable choice would be one of the above because an english audience would commonly associate the phrase "attracted to" with romantic or sexual feelings

if ocelot could ever be described as having a crush, it would be in mgs3, when he first meets bb. in japanese, that type of passionate love would apparently be described as 恋 (koi). this is never used to describe ocelot but it is used to describe volgin and raikov, who are confirmed lovers:

大佐とイワン少佐は恋仲。

"Colonel and Major Ivan are in love."

恋仲 - being in love with each other

when ocelot is described as "longing for snake", the word for "longing" used is 憧れる, the main meaning of which relates to admiration. according to this page, it can also have romantic connotations but 焦がれる is more frequently used to express that

it seems a deliberate choice to make ocelot's feelings ambiguous by selecting words that convey a complex range of emotions rather than stating them to be outright romantic. the words used always have alternate meanings unrelated to romantic love, which is why I'm hesitant to acknowledge "ocelot is in love with bb" as solid concrete definite 100% canon, seeing as I'm incapable of understanding the nuance of japanese as a native english speaker. as far as I'm able to understand, it's up to individual interpretation imo

whether you believe ocelot's feelings for bb were romantic or not, we can still agree that everything he did for him was out of some form of love, that type being 愛 (ai) - the deep, unconditional love that might drive a person to dedicate their entire life to another and alter their mind and body to enact their will of eternal global warfare. aww <3

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ocelot and love has been a topic I've wanted to write about for a long time. hope neither of you mind if I answer you both together. I want to make it very clear that the only reason for my scepticism is because we're talking about ocelot, my favourite character of all time in anything, ever. I feel like I dreamt him up sometimes. it does not come from a place of malice. I want to have the most thorough understanding of my fave and I don't want to misinterpret him. I also wouldn't show doubt without having a canonical basis for it. I'm only interested in what we are told in canon

it's undeniably true that the driving force of the series is ocelot's love for bb. you've given examples like the mgs4 kiss achievement literally saying the word "love" in japanese. since I've only ever been concerned with cold hard evidence like this, I used to believe ocelot was in love with bb, too. back when I first got into mgs, I was convinced that he was gay. shipping has never really appealed to me regardless of the series/characters but I actually liked bosselot. I used to read fanfic, something I don't usually do. I even wrote some of my own (that no one will ever ever ever be allowed to read). once I really started to think about ocelot, the way I saw their relationship/dynamic changed. my thoughts on that are probably clearest in the post I made about the westerns mentioned in mgs3, which is the first game we learn about the "true" ocelot, rather than the persona he adopts. we learn about his abduction as a baby, his oppressive upbringing, his connection to the boss and why bb is so important to him. obviously I've spent a tragic length of time writing about ocelot, so I'm no longer content to condense everything about his character into "he was in love with bb". I know this is a wildly unpopular opinion to have, especially on tumblr, but I'm only sharing it because I've been asked. I don't think ocelot being in love with bb is clear cut canon, like the anon before said. it is a matter of interpretation and I do not mean that to sound dismissive

there are multiple instances of the word "love" being used in relation to ocelot and bb. here's a list:

• the emblem for the "you're pretty good" trophy in mgs4 is "love" in japanese

• kojima describing the relationship between snake and ocelot as part of his commentary on mgs3:

「スネークとオセロットはひと目会ったときから、お互いに気になっているんです。純愛です」

"Snake and Ocelot have been interested in each other since the moment they first met. It's a pure love."

• this line after ocelot praises snake for surviving the colonel's torture in the novel (not strictly canon but kojima-approved):

「それは皮肉などではなく、本物の親愛の情動だった。」

"It was not sarcasm, but a genuine, affectionate sentiment."

• mgs3 leaked casting doc description of ocelot:

「常にしのがれることの畏怖に、オセロットはスネークを尊敬し深い愛情を抱くようになる。」

"In the awe of constant shunning, Ocelot comes to respect and develop a deep affection for Snake."

I've always been hesitant to share this because although I find it interesting, I do NOT understand japanese and I always make that clear when I post machine translated text. mgs is a japanese game series, originally written in japanese, so the connotations of certain phrases will be lost on non-native japanese speakers. there will be cultural references that we will not understand and nuances we are unable to comprehend. the explanations and translations I post here are inadequate and should never, ever be taken as fact. I rely on machine translation, online dictionaries and forums. this is based only on my own understanding after minimal research and I am ALWAYS happy to be corrected.

every one of the above examples uses one of a multitude of japanese words for "love": 愛 - pronounced "ai". translated directly, it does mean "love" in english and it can be used romantically. however, it's a term used to convey other forms of love too, many of which I believe are overlooked in favour of romantic love. this explanation is talking specifically about romantic love but the depth of feeling fits ocelot imo:

there's also this from an article by journalist based in japan in which he briefly describes the same phrase kojima uses in the mgs3 commentary:

those two examples were both romantic lol... but I'm using them because of the way they explain "ai" love as being all-consuming and selfless. it seems to be a charged word full of nuance and depth. this is the type of love mentioned in every example of ocelot being "in love" with bb. it's not an exclusively romantic word and changes meaning depending on context

"fallen for him?" and "in love with the legend" are not as simple in japanese as they appear in english either:

「伝説の英雄 に惚れ込んで いるだ。」

"She's in love with the legend"

「 惚れたのか?」

"Fallen for him?"

this is from the interview with kojima in mgs3: the countdown:

「スネークを追いかけるうちに、ほれこんで しまう。」

"As he chases after Snake, he falls in love with him. "

these examples all use variations of the word 「惚れ込む」, pronounced "horekomu". direct translations to english give "to fall deeply in love". the following screenshots are explanations from people who are japanese and/or based in japan, i.e. people far more qualified to explain this than I am:

(x)

(x)

(x)

I'm well aware that this the most pedantic, joyless post but as I said, I want to have the fullest understanding of ocelot's character and this is part of that. for me, a lot of indecisiveness on the exact nature of ocelot's love for bb comes from reading about "horekomu" in particular, especially since the above screenshot mentions allegiance to a boss. my thoughts on their relationship are all over this blog, so I'm not going to write more of the same here. imo there's not enough solid canonical evidence to entirely convince me that ocelot is romantically or sexually attracted to bb. there are lines or actions that can be interpreted as such but those have valid alternative explanations, too. his feelings are deep and nuanced and I don't think the english translation can convey them properly

thanks for the ask x2

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🎶 happy birthday congratulations 🎵 happy birthday with salutations 🎵 happy birthday may your skies stay blue happy birthday to yooou 🎶 happy birthday mgsv!!

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as far as ocelot’s love for bb goes, i think kojima was intentionally vague (as he is in all his work, this is his storytelling MO lol). kojima’s characters are often only fleshed out offscreen and thru shorthand (references to film usually) so it’s often REALLY hard to tease out kojima’s intentions in any particular scene. ultimately ocelot’s actions (sacrificing his literal entire life for bb including his personality and significant chunks of his time) speak way louder than a deliberately obfuscated line or a note in a script (as fun as those are to decipher). so to me both romantic and aromantic interpretations of the line are valid. all that is really clear is ocelot’s lifelong devotion to bb.

yeah I guess there's no definitive answer

no facts only interpretations...

ty for your balanced thoughts ^_^

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idk probably bc he literally says it? "She's in love with the legend. I was the same way once." youre being deliberately obtuse if you don't accept that as the "proof" that's so important to you.

yeah you could interpret that romantically. the original japanese line even specifies "legend" as being in reference to a person and not a story myth fable etc. but there's something I read that makes me unsure. since I'm completely reliant on machine translation, I was hesitant to post about it. there are a lot of machine translated posts on my blog though so I guess it wouldn't be any more dubious than what I've already posted :|

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Why did you ignore that ocelot was canonically in love with big boss and since Mgs3? Devotion, yes, admiration, yes but no mention of the motivation behind it all?

tbh I'm still not convinced that it's canon. if you want to see romance in their relationship, you can but equally, their relationship can be fully explained without that element. back when I first got into mgs, I thought ocelot had an unrequited love for bb, so it's not like I don't know where it comes from. now, I don't really see it as a romantic thing. his motivation is love but not in a romantic sense... imo... I think...

ty for the ask! :) I'm fully aware this is an unpopular opinion lol... I'd actually really like to hear from people who disagree. let's discuss our beloved ossinglot