#My MGSV theory

[love-bigboss1fan-me]

Spoiler warning if you haven’t played MGSV or not familiar with any of the MGS games. Please keep in mind that this is my opinion and interpretation of V if you have another that’s wonderful because V’s ending has evidence to support both sides. With that said here is once again my theory on MGSV’s ending just more organized 😂 Also warning that this is long.

After 9 years of MGSV being out yeah I still think Venom is in alter ego of Big Boss’s mind. I’m not an expert so if I get anything wrong please correct me. So the ending shares that one of the things that caused Big Boss to go into a coma was a heart attack and he enters a brain dead state. This has a possibility of allowing brain damage. The medicine that Ishmael uses a “pick me up” was once used to help people who had suffered heart attacks. It is interesting to think that Big Boss and Venom’s injuries are in the same place, the head and the heart. I like to think Ishmael is a representation of Big Boss’s survival skill because seriously no one reacts to him when he makes any kind of noise. Which is odd that XOF soldiers just ignore him during their search. It is also odd that his right eye is tracking. I know some say it could be a glass eye or something and but the thing according to Para-Medic it’s ruptured and nothing has mentioned his eye being removed before or after. Even before V starts we had a snippets of Big Boss’s PTSD in the form of flashbacks and hallucinations. The famous scene of when The Boss passes and the flowers turning red is hallucination of his guilt and grief the flower petal turns white the second it leaves his hand and when he is no longer in that field. It is easy to say that is just MGS imagery but because it is MGS it probably does have something deeper going on beneath the surface. Portable Ops and Peace Walker have shown us him having intense flashbacks and in PW it actually causes him to black out once in the AI pod. We even hear a mix of voices of The Boss and her AI pod that it makes hard to tell which is the one from the pod and inside his head. The AI pod even has phantom butterflies and flower petals inside it. That imagery only stops once the pod is destroyed. He has a tendency to lie to himself when memories are too painful to recall. Like in PW he knows full well what the truth is of 3 otherwise why would he eventually go off on his own but because the truth is too painful he goes with the cover story to prove some mental release. Can you imagine how much stress he must be under in trying to keep his trauma at bay and having people to rely and look up to him. He can’t show that he is cracking. Could you lead with all the questions and doubts inside your head? It is like with the clones he knows they exist but rather than admit that he dismisses any talk of cloning because wouldn’t you if it was done without your consent. So why not pretend that they have no relation. MGS4 even mentions that something about Solid and Liquid’s DNA having differences. Also who is to say Ocelot didn’t run the test and just lied to Miller by saying that they have no relation. After all Miller knows too much about Zero and the clones to be a simple “business partner”. It would serve Ocelot well to keep him in the dark for the time being. Instead of acknowledging past betrayals cough Miller cough why not pretend they didn’t happen. Most remembered him saying “they are much sicker than that” when Ocelot mentioned them being cell grown in a lab however not 2 seconds later he tells Ocelot to treat them like everyone else. That’s such a fast switch and why. I don’t think all the tapes are truthful since we have seen Ocelot and Miller in the Paz hallucination so who is to say there isn’t more. Speaking of Paz it is forgotten that she says in PW

“I am an angel of Peace I will be watching over you” it kind of makes sense why he would think about Paz that way. Before Zeke he did seem to care about her in some way and even sounds a bit upset after the battle. Despite her angel of peace act he did eventually warmed up to her and some of her ideas.

“Fighting is the only thing I understand but this doesn’t mean I have a grudge against those who believe in peace.”-Big Boss (this really needs to be talked about more)

I also noticed she sounds oddly cutesy in the truth tapes much like the hallucination tapes. Paz only sounds like that when she is undercover and drops it when she doesn’t have to hide anymore like her diary or Ground Zeroes tapes. So why is she doing the young voice when talking to Zero? It is strange unless it is a clue that V is still not being honest. The credits in V and the timeline also are a bit strange like Kiefer Sutherland being credited as Snake but not as Big Boss yes they share the same code name but if they are different why not credit them differently that’s like calling Big Boss and Solid Snake Old Snake you would be kinda of right but still wrong. The timeline says Big Boss’s Phantom ok if Venom is his own character why not call him Venom, use the player’s name, or heck call him Ahab as we hear from time to time. Why phantom? It sounds very vague.

In MG2 SS there is a codec you can read that talks about the rest of Big Boss’s limbs and right ear becoming cybernetics and MGS4 talks about rebuilding his body. We don’t know what that rebuilding means but the novel and database do lean into that rumor being true.

I also have some interesting snippets of Skull Face also being a potential alter ego even though I go back and forth with it but impossible to ignore. Skull Face and Big Boss have the same past. In the “unofficial” official Big Boss is a third generation Japanese American in Hawaii and became an orphan during WW II. You could go far as to say we don’t know what language he grew up using, a mix of Japanese and English or if one was more favored over the other. Skull Face is Hungarian and also became an orphan during a war. Skull Face is referred to as a ghost without a past well who does that sound like? Big Boss will not tell the other characters about his past other than The Boss. Heck as the player you actually have to dig around for it in the wiki or databases. Even the name John Doe is a reference to an unknown male. He is very much our ghost without a past. Skull Face has an odd interest in The Boss that only shows up when we are in the jeep with him and even holds onto some of her possessions.

“You left everything behind your country, your identity, your past, and ideals”-Miller about Big Boss

“His country, his family, his face, his identity, everything was stolen from him.” Ocelot about Skull Face

I don’t think I have to mention them being burn victims. They even share dialogue

“Nothing to be ashamed of pain gets the better of us all.”

“Chico, growing up means choosing how you are going to live your life.”

Lol I think that’s everything. If you read to this point thank you. As I said this is just my interpretation of V’s ending if you do believe Venom is his own character then go for it V has evidence to support both sides to keep us talking for years to come.

Happy 9 years MGSV

[myaoiboy]

OHHH MY GOD THAT LENS FLARE HES LYING I CANT BELIEVE I NEVER NOTICED THAT BEFORE

MGS has a very tight color language, especially obvious in V and PW, but it's present throughout if you know what you're looking for. The main ones that get played on are red, yellow, and blue.

Red is kind of obvious. Violence, etc. Ocelot is typically wearing a lot of red, like in this image. In V, characters who are doing/about to do violent acts are often back-lit with red lights that seem to come from nowhere.

In PW, red incites dissonance by foreshadowing Paz being a double agent, while *also* painting her as an innocent little red riding hood analogue. But I digress.

Yellow is also kind of a no-brainer. It's typically associated with allies, general good-heartedness, and maybe a sense of naivete. Think about Amanda and Cecile in Peace Walker.

Kaz even *changes his outfit* from yellow ascot (and blond hair) to red tie and beret post-GZs incident.

Blue is a little harder to tie down. It's best described as deception (including self deception), "something isn't what it seems." Sometimes it's used for grief as well. Think Paz's whole room's lighting, the blue butterfly, or the way Snavid is described as a blue rose-- pretty, technically biological, but unnatural.

The lens flares in V are used a LOT to toss a flash of the appropriate color behind someone. Here we have Ocelot saying "yeah boss I'm over it dw" and the lighting going

Which. We know he's lying. We know because of the way he acts for the next THIRTY YEARS. We know bc when he has a senior moment (a multiply-hypnosis addled senior moment, but still) and mistakes snavid for john, the first thing he does is plant a kiss on him.

But sure buddy. You're totally over it.

[notpocalypsenow]

“Snake…you stink.” -Revolver Ocelot, MGSV

The face Ocelot makes when he smells stinky Snake is something we need to talk about more as a community.

Fanfic update: Ocelot and Venom Snake shower together while Miller’s in America! Why let Quiet have all the fun? (God I hate that scene) but yeah, Ocelot tries to do some dubious mind control on Venom Snake and it doesn’t work this time, there’s a lot of kissing instead. Hope you enjoy some Ocelot and Venom while Kaz is away, I’m super busy lately but hope to update again in the next week.

As for Ocelot headcanons, I’ll make a longer post about them soon, but I’m curious what people think I’m doing with him without knowing my interpretation of the character. I’ve noticed a lot of folks seem to think his MGSV form is boring and doesn’t actively do anything wrong, so I’d love to hear other people’s Ocelot headcanons or theories of what my Ocelot is up to. Enjoy!

[simulatedstyx]

About Myself

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Has no clue how to work this site give me a break

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello,

My name is Mackenzie/Samantha (she/her),

Edit: I finally found a name I like and still go by Mackenzie, but Samantha is a more personal name to me so if we just met go with Mackenzie or Kenzie please.

I am Trans [MTF] and 24 years old.

This is my attempt at a bio post cause honestly I suck at starting conversations and connecting with people but like talking to them. I am often skittish in new situations that I know nothing about, I do try to learn everything I can though and sometimes I am very forgetful all the time. :3

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Things that interest me and I like talking about are:

Games (In general, developing games, game theory and cool mechanics)

Pets (grew up with cats and a dog, love them to death)

Horror (Grappling with what makes us human or how i can define myself within that subset if i even fit is always a nice mental workout)

Cooking! (I enjoy trying new recipes and new foods, as it also helps relieve stress and give me the short feeling of joy for creating something)

Coding (spent 6 fuckin years of my life with this bs may as well use it)

Computers in general (I built my own, her name is Samantha, I am not quite sold on linux yet but windows 11 fucking sucks ass and shouldn't exist)

Music (I enjoy singing [to myself that is], Maidcore, Whatever tf the cod zombies easter egg music has going on and just cool and moving pieces that invoke a specific feeling in me.)

Cyberpunk esc things (Mechs, futuristic guns, AI* [not the current slop that exists now], cybernetics and body modifications [MGSV is a huge influence here ironically]

Plushies (there are so many send help or more)

Any specific Hyperfixation i have at the moment {usually something grabs my interest and I will be sucked into it for a week or so}

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Bot accounts, Chasers DNI

Minors, DNI as well, This is a NSFW ish account and I try to go by the ideology of if i cant share a drink with you, I shouldn't be interacting with you in a non-professional manner.

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Games that i play/played include:

Minecraft, Cyberpunk 2077, MGSV, Warframe, Destiny 2, Phasmophobia, ROR2, PD3/PD2, Terraria, Division 2, BTD6, Borderlands 2 and 3, XCOM 2, Titanfall 2, Black ops 1, Black ops 3, Black ops: Cold war zombies, Barotrauma, Barony, Elden ring, Dark souls 3, Crypt of the necrodancer, every main series Pokemon game starting from gen 3, Darkest dungeon, Death Stranding, Deep rock Galactic, Deus ex (HR & MD ) Tales of Berseria, Doom eternal and 2016, Skyrim, Fallout 4, The forest, FTL, Guilty Gear: strive.

(this list is like half of the games i can remember, not ordered in how much i liked them or remember them, but mostly the ones i've played more than 50 hours in)

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Feel free to dm me to talk, or ask me something you'd like to know about me!

It may take a bit to respond but I do lurk in my free free time.

[callmearcturus]

friend is playing mgsv on stream and man the opening is strong. wish the rest of the game was as strong as this opening

specifically hes playing ground zeros and man. good audio direction in this game. i think my friend has gone through all of metal gear in such different ways that the series has become completely deconstructed for me

I'm with Chip on the "Ground Zeroes was removed from MGSV and sold separately as a way to bide time and also to make money" theory. Now that I've seen where it should have been implemented, the fact you can just play it separate is wild.

I still think the Big Ideas of MGSV are incredible, even if they are maybe too big for KojiPro to deliver on.

[farharbour]

you've been talking about your ocs a lot and i'm curious to who they are/what they're like! if you don't mind me asking, anyway!

i've been looking at this ask all day like a rabid beast waiting to get off work so i could answer it LOL it's so sweet of u to ask ily 🥺💖 i do have a lot of them but i think you might just be talking about jesse? he's the only one i've really been talking about lately

jess is my sosu & main oc; he's a doctor, a synth lover, and tbh he's about as close to a pacifist as you can get in the post-apocalypse lol. i'll talk more at length about some stuff under the cut (this got pretty long so feel free to skip it):

he's high intelligence/perception and low strength/luck. kind of the typical long-range stealth sniper build but it doesn't revolve around crits. truly hates killing anything, even raiders (he still sees the humanity in them despite what they do). he prefers to stay out of combat if at all possible and takes the long way around/will move at a snail's pace if it means he can avoid a fight. his main weapon is a sniper rifle he modified to be able to take custom tranq rounds (mgs3/mgsv tranq sniper my beloved). he has a 10mm sidearm and a knife on him too for close combat should he need it. like he Does know how to fight, he grew up in a military family, but he doesn't like it and would rather exhaust every other option before resorting to violence.

his story is ... complicated lol, it revolves a lot around some of my other ocs/npcs and i still haven't worked out all the nitty-gritty of it even after five years BUT basically pre-war he's a med student getting his doctorate in radiation medicine and his dissertation revolves around studying the new plague. his wife teressa was in law school at the same uni and had a part-time gig as a waitress.

post-war in game world he's aligned with the minutemen until around the time he finds virgil. that's when he decides that all of this is bigger than the minutemen can realistically take on even with his help building them up so he seeks out the railroad and joins up with them. he tries to broker peace with the other factions while working undercover but dez isn't having it so in the end both the brotherhood and the institute get fucking owned and he hates that he wasn't able to find a less violent solution. he breaks away from the railroad post-game and takes doc sun's place as the resident doctor in diamond city with curie as his assistant and nick as his malewife.

he's a synth too! some sort of experimental-type that shaun was working on in secret. he's kind of obsessed with the idea of this family he never had (see synth shaun) and not only wanted to meet his parent but he wanted to test the theory of a synth/robobrain hybrid if that makes sense? like. a whole human brain plopped in a synth body. still thinkin' about this bit tho and the intent/science behind it. mind changed! he is no longer a synth.

i think he's a more interesting character if he gets this idea in his head that he's this synth experiment, succumbs to the fear that plagues the commonwealth, reads too deeply into what kellogg and shaun do and don't tell him... but it's all subtle manipulation, on all sides. in the end he finds out the truth, though, no eternal "what if" question. it still makes the interaction with dima pretty awkward which i like, i love that tension.

a lot of this i've never talked about... and honestly there's a lot more i'm embarrassed to say right now LOL he's such a part of me and a bit of a self-insert in a lot of ways too. and there's a perfectionist streak in me that wants everything to be laid out and perfect before i talk about any of it publicly. but. idk this whole post feels like baby steps to talking out my process publicly instead of just hiding it away.

since you asked about ocs (plural) tho i do have others that aren't jess that are integral to jess' story like bec (my lw who's mainly just a fo4 npc at this point, she's a mechanic who lives at the red rocket and she owns dogmeat) and her girlfriend peaches (she basically takes over for jess when he leaves the minutemen). there's also the mojave gang... simon my dumbass courier, tex the escaped synth cowboy, cyrus the freelance (and recently ncr-contracted) hitman, and um. some other ones too that live in a different oc universe and that's a whole can of worms that i won't even touch right now because this post is absurdly long as-is nfkdfhsf

anyway THANK UUU for asking abt them it's nice to ramble a bit! hope this wasn't too annoying lol.. and i hope ur having a nice day today 🌻🧡💜💛

[icarusallusion]

This is not at all how I think their relationship is presented.

John is Big Boss' name, he uses it with multiple people and only uses Jack as a name for those he is extremely close with, like with Zero and The Boss, even Zero's usage feels tensioned and we know he viewed his relationship with Big Boss as far too invasive. The usage of his nickname is exclusive, Off limits to his lovers or close friends. People do not introduce their "family" only nickname to a stranger they have met. I took your post as John is something he gave to Ocelot for distance but John is the only name he knows

I do agree with the trickster tricking comment you made though and I find it very interesting as I put thought deeper into John's name. Because he does not have a name and is only known as John Doe, he is untraceable, Ocelot cannot find him if he tried. It's probably why he gives a smile when Ocelot asks and he answers. Big Boss does view John as his real name however, its the only name he CAN give, its not a lie or a fake name. Not supplying a nickname is normal, you typically introduce your name and then maybe the nickname but John and Ocelot are not friends at this point in time, barley even friendly, they are soldiers on opposite sides and give full formal first names.

Later, Ocelot uses the name John, not Jack, because he respects Big Boss, they still don't truly have a best friend thing going on, they never really do. Their relationship is built on a trauma bond, a murder of the woman they both viewed as mother, but they don't view each other as anything beyond heavily respected inappropriate coworkers and mild friends. EVA says Ocelot viewed Big Boss as an Idol, same as Zero. Ocelot respects John and refuses to believe they have a friendship, it's a reason why he does not use John's nickname and uses only formal language when speaking to him in all translations. (I think it also stems from Zero's clinginess too, but this is just a more theory territory, where Ocelot thinks "I should not be friend with my idol because Zero was and he was crazy".)

But then we turn to Big Boss who does use nicknames, so it is obviously not a "no nicknames" mutual basis. He calls Ocelot a friendly nickname and the tape where they exchange names plays as a form of separation not a form of endearment. The change of formal name of John to nickname within Adamska to Adam pretty much showed it. Especially with their manners of speaking, Ocelot again uses multiple forms of formal address while John always talks to him quite playfully and friendly. At least that's how I saw it. I don't think their whole relationship is built in one single interpretation, they're a very deep kind of relationship.

With Kazuhira, I think their relationship as lovers is what dictates their relationship and name usage. Snake as a name is seen as playful, youthful while also being respectful and separating other soldiers from Kazuhira within relationships to the Boss and provides a deep connection to them. I think the importance with the snake is shown in MGSV a bit. Kazuhira is in many desperate situations with who he thinks is Big Boss in MGSV, never once does he shout out John, never once does he shout out Jack, he doesn't even say "Boss" most of the time when in these kind of situations. He calls out Snake. The same name he used years(?) ago when they first met. I think it really shows what kind of relationship they have though. Their relationship doesn't command respect because it's shown.

This contrasts with Ocelot, where Ocelot thinks he must show his respect and gratitude to Big Boss all the time, even if Big Boss continues viewing them as friends. Ocelot knows almost everything about Big Boss, their years apart is spent with Ocelot studying him in his absence. Ocelot knows Big Boss' names, his goals, but he still uses John. Big Boss' lovers, EVA and Kazuhira, don't use John. Ocelot avoids playfulness in his speech when it comes to Big Boss when usually he is playful outside of that.

The contrast between how Big Boss utilizes his names has always been very interesting to me and I'm glad you brought it up! Even if what I said wasn't what you originally had in mind it spurred me on to talk again about Metal Gear. Even though my post is very long please just take it as salt of grain rambles! I am not word of god haha : )

Naked Snake didn't lie to Ocelot. Jack is a nickname for John. His name is John.

I would totally be on board with this if names weren't incredibly important in MGS. I think there's a reason why The Boss is the only person who addresses Naked Snake as Jack. Everything in MGS is very intentional, and while Naked Snake didn't necessarily 'lie,' he wasn't being entirely truthful either. If I give you a nickname instead of my real name, it's still deceitful.

I believe Ocelot felt special when Naked Snake shared his 'real' name with him, which is why he addresses Naked Snake as 'John' when they're alone. This, to me, further solidifies that Ocelot believes Jack's real name is John, and nothing more.

In MGS, sharing names is a sign of vulnerability and trust. Even though the ending isn't canonical, Solid Snake and Otacon exchanging names on the jetski is significant. There's also Kaz calling Big Boss 'Snake' instead of 'Big Boss,' and people referring to Naked Snake/Jack by anything other than his real name. These instances show the level of trust they have with each other. I also think it could be a reflection of their true selves. Does Big Boss ever truly return to his true self? I believe this also applies to Raiden—he was a child soldier raised to kill, and his real name is Jack. When people call him that, he gets upset. Jack (Raiden) admits in game that he likes killing, he is Jack the Ripper, but in the end, he prefers being called 'Raiden', someone who doesn't kill for the thrill of it. Kaz calling Big Boss 'Snake' is interesting to me as well because I feel like Big Boss respects Kaz more than Ocelot, yet not enough to be completely vulnerable with him. (This is more subjective.)

Anyway, nickname or not, there's a reason why Naked Snake did lie to Ocelot. It was a lie. Ocelot using Naked Snake's nickname/fake name makes me believe he genuinely thought Naked Snake was being honest. I think Naked Snake wanted to have fun and trick the trickster.

[lowpolyotakuconvention]

The symbolism of Venom zoning out while smoking an unlit cigar.

cinema

[vampirebiter]

why do i always wanna replay games I thought were disappointing instead of ones i actually liked

[myaoiboy]

Can you try explain what you mean about Ocelot looking like a drag king in mgsv? I feel like your boyfriend in that I just. Don't see it? I'm trying to understand why Ocelot would even have that applied when he's always been just A Guy™

Okay so I'm going to try to do this without getting into Grad-Level 5D Queer Theory Media Criticism, but I also fully realize that in doing that, a lot of this is going to sound very much like I'm saying "Source: Just Trust Me Bro".

(anon i am SO sorry that you happen to be the first person to directly adress me about gender in MGS)

I also wanna be straight up front here and say that I'm not trying to imply that Ocelot is anything other than a guy, he's just also a guy who's playing a million roles (this is important) and lying to damn near everyone, including himself. He has some of the worst identity issues I've ever seen in a character, and that comes to a head in 4 where he literally isn't even *Ocelot* until the final moments of his life. So yes, for the sake of not writing War and Peace, I'm going to assume Ocelot is "just a guy" and come at this from a pure queer theory/media analysis standpoint, not a headcanon one.

So first it's really important to point out the order in which we see Ocelot through the series. In the timeline, the last time we see Ocelot before V is 3 (or PO which I haven't played due to its placement in canon-limbo, but Ocelot looks basically the same). So we see him go from A to B here.

I am going to say something potentially controversial: even before saw V ocelot, I thought 3 Ocelot looked like he was wearing drag *queen* makeup. I don't know whether it's intentional, or an attempt to circumvent the lower poly models and lower definition textures of the PS2, but the first image looks like someone who is going for a highly exaggerated, feminine cheek contour. Here's a few drag queens who, imo, do a very similar contour look:

Whether the color filter or the texturing of the PS2 or something else, the MGS3 version of Ocelot also has a look of mascara and frosted lipgloss (frosted lips being much more popular at the time of MGS3's original release than today, but alas).

So from that I was already very much primed to look for femininity in Ocelot's whole vibe. It was actually kind of jarring how much more rugged he is in V than in any of the previous games, to the extent that it sent up alarm bells in my head that something was going on.

I don't remember the moment that I went "hey, wait a minute," but it was certainly pretty early on. As someone who's been on tumblr a hella long time and remembers when we used to swap passing tips, the specific combination of facial features remind me of a very specific genre of "ftm makeup tutorials" that were also pretty contemporarily popular on tumblr. A very quick summary being mascara on the eyelashes and specific peach fuzz to give the impression of a squarer jaw and having more facial hair, as well as specific contouring to give a "masculine cheekbone." Most of these tips basically came directly from drag king makeup.

Gonna include some drag kings as well, some things to notice include the tendency towards using stubble as contouring and vice versa, the shaping of cheek contouring, and the tendency to accentuate mustache and sideburns.

I'm pretty bad at wording descriptions of hair and makeup so you'll have to forgive me for not going ham on explaining the similarities bc now we actually get to the interesting part which is: so fucking what? If this is true, if you take my word for it, what does it say about the text? If I want to make this argument to someone else, what can I say that will convince them that, even if it's not *intentional,* it's a valid and meaningful view of his character?

Like, you can make a character based on anything you want, but why does it matter whether Ocelot is based on drag either direction?

Ocelot's "drag"iness is multipurpose. One: he's queer. Like, I grant that he never comes out and says "I love 'Big "Naked 'John' Snake" Boss'" but we get a hell of a lot more confirmation that he's gay than we get straight confirmation for a lot of presumed-straight characters. I feel comfortable saying he's canon queer.

Two: it's a visual metaphor for being a double/triple agent. While he's literally performing several roles (KGB/GRU/CIA, or MSF/Real BB/US, or US/Patriots/BB, or anything in between), he's also visually playing two (or more) gender roles, a feminine man, a mannish woman, something neither or in-between. The implication of drag specifically is pretending to be something that he isn't (which he literally always is, holy shit, again, does he even know who he realiy is?).

And before anyone says "Well, if it's so important to his character, why did they wait until 3 to start doing it?" They didn't!!

This is THE most classically masculine that Ocelot ever looks. But there's still precious polygons invested into giving him long hair and a flowing coat. Working with sprites and low-poly models means having to very carefully select traits that you want to display on your character, and Ocelot's go into making him a cringefail cowboy.

The fact that he's a cowboy in itself is also pretty important to the whole gender/sexuality situation. I mean, Brokeback Mountain might not have been out yet, but the male-to-female ratio in the west meant a lot of men cozied up together on the frontier. Hell, hankey code comes from cowboy culture, with men wearing certain colors to announce who would take the "man" or "woman" role while square dancing.

I could go a lot into gender and how it works on a social/societal level in general and why that matters, but OOPS I have been writing this for a WHILE.

I was actually going to go a lot more into queer theory and gender in MGS in general but ngl, I could write a whole doctoral thesis on gender and how different characters perform or subvert gender. Because holy shit when you start peeling back the very thin macho facade of Kojima's work to do a feminist reading of it, boy howdy do you get. A whole lot to talk about. (ask me about death stranding sometime i dare you)

Basically what I'm trying to get across is that Ocelot has a lot of roles that he's playing and NOT playing, and more than a few of those are gender roles, which is very much visually symbolic of his character.

I am so sorry anon I have been thinking about him nonstop for a full year </3 I hope at least the first part of this answered your question about what features I see that scream drag to me.

[metalgearstranding]

Okay well I failed my extremely vague attempt at a non-lethal run XD I guess all these guys were post river because the only people there were the bosses I killed.

Speaking of bosses, the Cobras are definitely a step over the bosses of MGS2. Ocelot and the Pain were pretty easy but still fun. The Fear, the End and the Fury all had this cat-and-mouse aspect to them, and because of that I loved them. MGS is a game about stealth after all, and setting traps, outsmarting your opponent feels a lot better thematically (and the less I have to shoot a gun with a controller the happier I am). The End is what I imagine when I think of a good sniper fight. Having an arena that allows you to move around instead of being locked in place waiting to be one shot is so much better. I knew the gimmick of the Sorrow so no surprise there obviously, but just as a concept for a boss "fight" it's so cool. I wasn't a fan of the fight against the Boss though. The camera being locked after spending the game being able to move the way I wanted kinda sucked. It was also a bit of a cat and mouse fight, but because of the open wide arena, it gave more of that annoying sniper fight feel to me. I set a few traps, but it wasn't satisfying. I feel like since the Boss is the person to teach Snake CQC, the fight with her should've have been exactly that. I'm sure you can tackle her with just CQC, but frankly I have neither the skill nor the patience and the fact that she has a gun doesn't incentivize me to get too close (and also she scawy when she runs at me lol). The CQC fight I wanted I got with Volgin, and that doesn't feel right lol

The camouflage and hunting for food mechanics are a cool idea in practice but boring in execution because of the limitations of the game. The hunt for food would be better in an open-world game like MGSV for example. For the camouflage, I think if would've been better if instead of camo we would've needed to use stuff in the environment like leaves and mud. The healing mechanic can absolutely go fuck itself lol Again, good idea in theory but not in practice. It completely interrupts the flow of a fight and it takes foreveeeer. If had been a post-battle thing only it would've been fine, but in the middle of it, it sucks balls. I've said it before, I'm curious about Kojima making an actual survival game because he has neat ideas, but they were too advanced for the time, and they don't integrate well with the rest of the gameplay imho.

What else... It was a bit of a disappointment to go back to a very linear map after MGS2. There isn't really a reason to backtrack in MGS3, and the map isn't that interesting anyway, so...

MGS3 definitely isn't my favorite game gameplay wise, and that's why it took me so long to finish it to be honest. But when it comes to the story, the themes, the setting, the characters, the music, it's still my favorite. So I guess MGS3 is a great movie, okay game? lol Now I'm curious to see if Delta will change my opinion. If it actually has good keyboard/mouse support, it might at least make the moving and the shooting less frustrating and that'd be great.

Alright, finished MGS1 for the first time! I don't think I did super well but whatever lol I was afraid I wouldn't like the game, and although it was a bit frustrating sometimes, I really enjoyed it. The boss fights were a bit too close together for my liking, I would've appreciated more time to breathe and sneak around, but I loved almost all them. I think they were challenging but fair, I'm just not super patient XD Wasn't a fan of the Sniper Wolf fights, having lived with the privilege of aiming guns with mouse/keyboard for so long, it was a struggle to do with a controller lmao The Rex fight was annoying because of how much switching between items I had to do, I was really wishing for shortcuts.

Now on to MGS2! (I'll try to kill fewer people, should be easier with a tranq gun :P)

[jesuscrab]

Death Stranding 2 thoughts and "analisis"

Written from school becuse im cool like that. Bitch.

(this is not gonna be formated at all so sorry if reading this will be confusing lol)

First of, something i don't see anyone mention: Louise repatriate?

After (presumenbly) beign shot by an unkown soldier, we see in a flash of red light a bb appearing in a pod - and they have angel wings, just like the baby shown previously had on her (cute) outfit

And this baby is safely confirmed as lou, as she has that emborided in her thingy too

(i would put a screenshot here but i cant get a good capture for it - sorry)

Now, the elephan in the room - fragile has lost her scars? That's really weird. There is not enough information to say why is that, but i think it's notable to note that it's implied timefall has stopped after sam "defeated" amelie, as we see normal rain falling down in the ending. Or maybe that was timefall and that's why sam's hair is gray like that... but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I think hideo will just pull some deus ex machina out of his ass that fixes timefall's effects. One i came up with myself was the idea of new reverse timefall, which reverses time - seems random but so does her younger body. I just hope it's gonna be explained in some capacity.

One common theory is that it's not actually fragile and it's older lou - that's dumb and im not gonna dwell into that. Moving on...

Cultists!

I fucking love cultists in video games. Not sure why? The vibes just click for me, i love a lot of weird video game shit. Im presuming that they are tied to higgs, since the ones we see on the end look vaugley the same with the red motife, but i guess i could be wrong.

Focus on them seems interesting, since DS never much focused on terrorists. Sure, higgs was a major antagonist which was a looming threat but the homo demens AS A GROUP was just cannon fodder and we dont even really see what they... do? What is their agenda, why they did they join higgs, what do they want, exacly? I really hope this focus in the trailer means that they are gonna be a bigger part of the story. The very idea of mules and demens where so cool and i loved fighting them.

But back to the cultists themselves. They seem to worship amelie, same with higgs. he has amelie hair with a mask of her face, the group has a thingy with her visage on it.

So, after learning of exticnion enteties higgs gathers some pepole to start a group to bring on the apocalyplse as some sort of death cult. But that doesnt make much sense, does it?

In the diary of higgs after his exile he seems pretty sad and remoursfull, understanding he was simply played by amelie to fuel her needs, thiking of himself as a stupid man blinded by a stupid goal. Doesnt sound like someone planning revenge to me.

So i dont think this is higgs - at least not entirely. Kojima loves his body doubles, repeated actors and scenarios to fuck with your expecations. I don't have any theories about that, but i do think it's probablly not fully him. Becuse lets be honest, how would he escape from that beach in the first place?

Now my favourite part to think about - fragile and her crew. And their cool as fuck ship.

It's a submarine. It comes from the tar, which is stated to be infittly deep and it has a sea monster logo on it. This is so fcking cool! I hope it's gonna be like the aac in mgsv, where you can have a mobile base to plan out your operations and fast travel around the map. We did have that kinda with the private rooms, but i feel they where a bit lacking. A mother-base type ship in death stranding where you can go around, talk to characters and maybe do some side mission stuff.... im smiling at the very thoughts, and i hope this is what kojima is going for with this. That would be so fucking cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and maybe the whale dream added in the directors cut was supposed to tease this - underwater exploration. Shits cool as fuck.

Drawbridge.

"both stick and rope, to protect and connect. together, for tommorow"

This ties to the common belief that ds2 will focus more on action and combat. its not stick vs rope anymore, it's both of them together, working as tools in an union. could tie with the tagline at the end - world has been connected now by bridges, so now they have to "protect it". changing the uca into a dystopia, maybe? would be boring.

One thing i have yet to see mentioned about the logo is that it looks like an umbrella, which is an obvious fragile connection.

Oh hey sam appears here too - not much to say about him other then he is way older then he should be, but we have simple in-universe phenomana which can cause this so. not much to talk about here imo. cool he's back - where the fuck is deadman tho...

"It wasn't the UCA that made the final decision. It was APAC. A private corporation." obvusly related to one of the logos kojima teased.

I can't think of any decision the uca has made - only thing that comes to mind is the bb project, but idk, doesnt fit to me. The logo looks like a compas, which could tie into the submarine/ship shown earlier. "automated public assistance" is such mgs speak, it doesnt make sense and doesnt mean anything, what is public assistance? Like, security? Could make sense with the drawbrige thing about using protection and stick + ropes. Automated... like robots? Like the technology uca uses? It's all so vauge and not giving much anything, but the fact it's inlcuded in the picture teaser AND the trailer must mean its someting very important to the story of the game. Can't glean much else...

And that's the trailer! I think i gave my thoughts on everything in the teaser that came to mind. But now, let's hear some... baseless speculation, yippe!!!

I think kojima will be pulling a mgs2 and sam is not gonna be the main character. Well, he may be, but i think we will be playing as someone else too. Sam is older, his story is kinda finished at this point. Addition to elle manning who was fthe first person teased for the project who we have yet to appear in the actual trailer BUT was present at the VGA. With her placement on the poster pepole speculate she's gonna be older lou - its possible.

(look at her heart brithmark, appearing right in the middle of ellies name!)

But i think it very much just be that kojima was saving all norman reedus promotion for later to give a bigger suprise. But even if it's not lou i bet we're gonna play as her. Could be cool!

There where many speculation how higgs is back, i touched upon one earlier, but i liked the theory i saw about him possesing amelie. Would explain the different hair, outfit, the mask... higgs somehow got control over her and her powers and uses them for his benefit. We have so little info it's as plasubale as any other theory you can come up with.

Lou transforms into some tentacle thing, and we saw before that bts can appear as sea monsters and are ocean themed - is she becoming a bt? We kinda saw her die... kinda, becuse she's back in the pod. Eh.

I could speak about a ton of things now since i am a weirdo who has lots of thoughts, but the main thing i wanna say is higgs's new getup looks organic. Look at his odradek, it looks more like a tentacle then a robot arm- it's weird, it's lumpy, it moves very naturally... is he mutating or something? Is it the same thing that's happening to lou? Maybe beach exposare causes some effects to the body...

And that's it i guess! I could probablly say much, much more BUT this post is going on waaaaaay too long and i think i already tocuhed on all the main thoughts i wanted to addres, and the rest would be just me looking at all the extremly little details and saying "oh hey that's there. it probablly means something" and i think that type of writing would be too borning!

AND ALSO I SPENT THREE LESSONS WRITING THIS AND I HAVE A THINGY TO WRTIE FOR SCHOOL NOW LOL.

Anywya feel free to write your thoughts in the notes, i will gladdly read yalls speculation! i love reading that shit! you guys are amazing!

STRANDHEADS ROLL OUT!

[garak]

any explanation for the ocelot kiss ends up being funny actually because all of them are insane. if operating under the assumption this was a liquid move, that leaves you with option a, the “brotherly kiss” thing, or option b, the taunt. now i dont know about you folks but i am a man with two brothers and neither of these things seems plausible to me, especially because liquid doesnt even like or respect snake that much nor is this actually an effective taunt. with liquid ruled out, we must now accept this was an ocelot move. the two subsections of the ocelot category are as such: subsect a, ocelot believes the man in his arms is solid snake, or subsect b, ocelot believe this man to be big boss. under subsect a, the options are either a, this is a kiss indicating positive emotions towards snake, or b, this is a russian tuant. subsect a option b has been argued to death so i wont be addressing it. subsect a option a is plausible since ocelot has previously shown interest in snake albeit as a proxy big boss and since snake has been providing him (& liquid) with a competent opponent for all these years. i think this conclusion, that its a sign of respect and affection, has a decent standing in canon and is an understandable analysis. however, i am a firm believer in subsect b, that ocelot believed snake to be big boss for a not insignificant part of the fight. i think the kiss is honestly evidence for this larger theory, since ocelots feelings towards bb are not exactly ambiguous. ocelot repeating big boss’ first words to him and reverting to his older fighting style give us the notion of him not being fully aware of his situation or really understanding where or when he is, since he acts like a younger version of himself, using dialogue, gestures, even music from mgs3 & mgsv. his twin guns gesture was only ever used towards bb afaicr. the kiss happens during a period in the fight meant to show the ocelot of mgs3 (with copious intercut footage that one has to assume is from ocelot’s memories) and i think its fair to assume that at least in that part of the battle he was perhaps not seeing snake as snake. by the end of the fight he seems to have regressed somewhat into his liquid persona, but even while speaking as liquid is still drawing on ocelot’s own recollection of big boss. in his final moments he acknowledges snake and himself as being other than liquid & big boss respectively, which adds another interesting layer to the “is he perceiving snake as bb” debate. i personally think that for that section of the fight he is, which means he was finally putting the moves on a dude he had been in love with for like half a century only for that to be the wrong guy. and he dies like 3 minutes later. so any way the cookie crumbles its funny but thats my analysis on the matter

[nyarmand]

Btw before my brother played mgs3 when I told him he had the option of killing raikov he was like "D: no way" and he's also sad that Raikov isn't in MGSV

he's a raikov ally 👍

everything you tell me about your brother makes me respect him more and more. i must induct him into the upper echelons of eva theory society.

[glostudios]

Holds your hand

I love love LOVE the way you’re fleshing out Mantis’ background, liquid too!!! Literally it’s been years since someones posted content about them so!! Ilu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, THANK YOU!

I am honestly so excited people seem genuinely interested in this project! I’ve always liked them but after MGSV I was like... Okay you can’t look me in the eye and tell me Liquid and Mantis just “part ways” that is iNCORRECT. I’m trying to adhere to canon as best to my abilities while interjecting some theories. 

 Thank you for your support, I sincerely appreciate it! I hope you like what I come up with! 

[gwynndolin]

every time it comes on my Playlist randomly i remember my conspiracy theory that Kojima couldn't get the rights to use Epitah by King Crimson in mgsv so he made Mike Oldfield write Nuclear