The Forgotten Codecs of MGS2

This is the last of the Social Injustice Raiden codecs, I promise. And if you stay tuned to this blog, you'll find out why MGS2 Raiden's sexism is a crucial part of his characterization - not merely a gimmick to anger/enable the Anita Sarkeesians of the world (who weren't even a thing when the game was released back in 2001).

But wait, isn’t Rose the one being sexist here? “It’s not women that are strong” – you can’t get more blatantly sexist than that, right?

Actually, you can’t get more blatantly anti-sexist than that. Confused? Then consider the following:

A man with years of military training is walking down the street with some untrained male buddies when they see a woman being mugged at gunpoint. The trained man rescues her while the other men maintain a safe distance, only for the woman to remark, “I guess men really are heroic.” The trained man and his buddies exchange awkward glances as the woman’s comment simultaneously reduces the individual man’s years of hard work to a mere side-effect of his gender and burdens his same-gender untrained friends with the expectation of life-risking heroism.

Get the picture now? Congratulations, you’ve discovered the insidious trap of benevolent stereotypes that result in benevolent prejudice, including the benevolent sexism we see from Raiden in this convo. It’s “benevolent” because it says positive things about the demographic in question, but it’s still ultimately harmful because it reduces complex human beings to nothing more than a single aspect of their existence that isn't even within their control (gender, ethnicity, etc.), and fails to respect any of those people's individuality.

So when Rose says “It’s not women that are strong – it’s me,” she’s telling Raiden to stop assuming that everyone who just happens to be female must automatically be strong or that any individual female is strong only because of her gender instead of her personal effort as an individual. This is more obvious in the Japanese version, which syntactically isolates the words "women" and "I/me" to clearly indicate that Rose was taking issue with Raiden's unwarranted generalization rather than trying to brag about how she's better than other women.

For anyone who still doubts that Rose was correcting a sexist remark by Raiden, here’s a reminder that Raiden has a documented tendency to reduce Rose’s individual actions to her gender and further dehumanize other females. Raiden can’t be bothered to get to know them on a deeper level as individuals, even for the sake of getting into their pants. Again, stay tuned for future posts to find out why he behaves this way.

As the title suggests, you can get this as a random post-save call “a while after” the beginning of the game; how long that while is, I don’t know.

(Transcript under the Read More)

The lobster convo, by request. For the record, this is by far not the only convo in the game hinting at Rose's terrible cooking. The parentheticals are just the icing on the cake.

Afaik, this is a random post-save call that you can get at any time in the game.

(Transcript under the Read More)

[Homecoming party]

Rose: Jack... when you get home, let's have a homecoming party. Just the two of us. 

Raiden: Yeah, that's a good idea. 

Rose: I'll make dinner. 

Raiden: Eh? (You serious, please don't!)

Rose: What's wrong? 

Raiden: Well, that sounds good, but how about we eat out at that one restaurant instead? 

Raiden: You know, the place that we went to recently, with the amazing lobster... I really liked that place. 

Rose: Well...yeah, I guess that's okay too. 

Raiden: Whew... (relieved)

Rose: Huh?

Raiden: Er, nothing. I-I just love lobster. Yeah. Can't wait. Woo-hoo! 

Rose: ...? (thinking something's a little off) Well then, I'll make a reservation. 

Rose: Promise me you'll come back safely. 

Thought this might happen, so just a reminder:

Do note, though, that the blog url is “430 codec” so I’ll only be putting up ones that involve both Rose and Raiden.

I’m trying to stick to codecs that most people don’t know about, but since I’m running out of those, sure, why not. :>I GUESS THIS MEANS REQUESTS ARE OPEN. Do note, though, that the blog url is “430 codec” so I’ll only be putting up ones that involve both Rose and Raiden.

I wasn't originally planning to post it since so many people already know about the call (and therefore it wouldn't really count as a "forgotten" codec), but since you requested it, and since it fits in with some upcoming stuff I've got planned, sure thing! 

This conversation heavily implies that Raiden is incapable of being a psychological abuser because he sucks at even the most basic of emotional manipulation and he refuses to know anyone well enough to discover their "truths" which I assume includes psychological weaknesses. So I'm fairly confident that he'd be much more of a physical abuser.

If we’re talking about MGS2 Raiden, I think it would depend on how easily he could forget about the woman’s humanity. He clearly has an easy enough time dehumanizing complete strangers (Jennifer) and people he’s just met (Emma), but you don’t ever see him behave nearly as disgustingly with Rosemary whom he’s been in close and constant contact with for two years. I want to say that even in Emma’s case he’s incapable of doing anything to her while she’s conscious enough to object and remind him that she has thoughts and feelings, but the fact that you can have Raiden listen to Emma’s conscious objection as he’s doing it (I’m not big on trigger warnings but 1:20-1:27 is legitimately disturbing in context, so be careful) kind of throws a wrench in that theory.

Whoa there, friend. If you’re gonna bring the accusations, you gotta bring the evidence (as I have), otherwise I might have to invoke Poe’s Law and call troll on you. ;>

Ain’t much cultural appropriation from him in MGS2. MGR, maybe, with that weeaboo business about how he learned justice from samurai movies, but this is for the most part an MGS2 blog. Gonna have to question the racism too, all things considered: there was plenty of potential for him to be racist with Stillman and Fortune in the cast, but I got no record of any calls where he does that. Unless you’re again talking about MGR and stuff that happened in the Mexico chapter, in which case, welp, you might wanna make your own blog documenting the shittery of MGR Raiden, ‘cuz this blog is gonna stick to the shittery of MGS2 Raiden. Come to think of it, the body policing/weight thing is referring to an MGR thing too, isn’t it - the convo with Courtney?

So… Yeah. If you wanna point out how MGR Raiden was oppressive, I fully encourage you to make your own blog documenting it and calling it out. This one’s gonna stick to MGS2 Raiden, who somehow managed to avoid drowning pretty much all of the non-sexism-related SJ landmines.

Actually, he’s terrible to other people precisely because he hates himself most of all - people who hate themselves as much as Raiden does will inevitably express their self-hatred by abusing themselves or other people, sometimes both. Raiden doesn’t discover self-abuse until after MGS2, so during (and prior to) MGS2 his sole outlet for his self-hatred is abuse of others. Of course, the fact that his horrible treatment of other people comes from a place of self-hatred definitely doesn’t make it okay or even forgivable. Tragic, perhaps, but still just as heinous as it would be if it came from a place of pure ego. 

Raiden just doesn't know how to person. At all. 

They forgot to tell him not to do cartwheels.

The only difficult thing about getting this call is getting it before the Colonel AI goes crazy. If memory serves, it can go crazy as soon as Raiden is released from the restraints, so...

(Transcript under the Read More)

[Naked warning]

Colonel: Raiden, you won't be able to Hang, throw, or chokehold anyone in your current state. 

Raiden: Why not? 

Colonel: Is it really necessary to ask? It's just not a good idea to perform those maneuvers. There could be... complications. 

Phew, time for a break from all that douchebag Raiden, doncha think?

At first glance there's nothing really funny/special/interesting about this call, until you realize that Rose's suggestion leads directly to this:

Guess Rose wanted a longer look at those goods.

As indicated, this call can be obtained if you trigger Evasion Mode in Arsenal Gear and run back to the interrogation room.

(Transcript under the Read More)

In MGS2, Jack the Ripper was not a separate persona of Raiden’s. So no, the Jack the Ripper persona did not exist in MGS2. Raiden only has one personality in MGS2. There is no difference in personality between the Raiden who abuses Emma/harasses Jennifer/hits the hostages and the Raiden in the rest of the game.

Also, if you’ve played MGR at all, you should know that Raiden absolutely does control the Ripper persona. He can turn it on and off at will, which is incorporated into the actual gameplay itself (you must press buttons to activate Ripper Mode, and if you choose not to press them, Raiden will not go into Ripper Mode even when the gauge is full). He is also clearly shown controlling the Ripper persona in this cutscene.

In MGR when he attacked George he was not in the Ripper persona because the Ripper did not come out until the next chapter. And technically, his intention was not to harm or kill George - it was to kill the armed scientist. He just knew he couldn’t avoid hitting George, and even then he only attacked George when George said to do so. That’s very different from MGS2 Raiden intentionally beating up hostages without their consent and without any other main target. Also I have more proof that you’re wrong to think MGR’s Ripper can intentionally harm innocent unarmed civilians: There are some innocent unarmed civilians scattered throughout the game, and if you attempt to attack them, all you will do is cut off their clothes without harming them at all. To be fair, only one of them appears after you get Ripper Mode, but just try to harm that one in Ripper Mode - it won’t work.

You absolutely are trying to justify and excuse him, or you wouldn’t have opened your first ask with “why do you call Raiden an asshole and idiot,” nor would you still be saying stuff like “I’m just guessing that he doesn’t control that Jack the Ripper persona” which implies I should excuse him and not call him an asshole because it’s not under his control. That is the very definition of trying to justify him.

So if I read this question correctly, you are basically saying:

"Why do you call Raiden an asshole and idiot when you know that he has an asshole and idiot persona? Of course he is an asshole and idiot, he is a former child soldier."

Congratulations, Anon, you answered your own question.

But hey, look, you took the time to hit up my askbox; you deserve a slightly less dismissive response. So here goes:

1) You do realize that the Jack the Ripper persona was invented purely for MGR and doesn’t exist in MGS2? Kojima wrote MGS2 in 2001. MGR was written without any input from Kojima on the story in 2011/2012.

2) Even if for some crazy impossible reason MGS2 Raiden also had the Ripper persona from MGR, you do realize that the Ripper persona never ever intentionally harms innocent unarmed civilians, and only attacks hostile enemies? He also doesn’t sexually harass/abuse women. Yes, I know that doesn’t seem to make much sense, but the MGR writers were cowards who failed to make good on their promise of an amoral bloodthirsty monster who takes pleasure in hurting innocent and hostile alike. So all the stuff I’ve been calling Raiden an asshole for doing in MGS2 isn’t anything the Ripper from MGR would do. If anything, MGS2 Raiden is a bigger asshole than MGR’s Ripper could ever be. (Again, this isn’t a compliment for MGR - the Ripper should have been the biggest asshole of all the Raidens, but the writers chickened out.)

3) What’s the point of this ask again? Do you want me to stop calling him an asshole? Why? Because you think he isn’t one? Even though you just admitted he is one? Your reasoning literally sounds like “If you know that Raiden is a bad person because he was raised to be one, then you know it’s not his fault and therefore you should excuse him and not consider him a bad person.” What the flying fuck? How does that even begin to make sense? Fun fact anon: many of the people you would consider assholes - such as rapists, serial killers, and domestic abusers - became like that as the result of abuse they suffered growing up. Are you going to stop thinking of them as assholes now? Does their childhood trauma absolve them of their adult crimes and the damning labels that come with those crimes? (If your answer is “yes,” you need professional help.)

So there's Raiden being a misogynist. Then there's Raiden being an asshole to Emma. Both are fairly optional; play Raiden as someone with basic human decency and you'll never have those conversations.

But guess which conversation you will have regardless of how well-behaved your Raiden is if you call 140.85 with an unconscious Emma in tow? That's right, this one, in which he is both misogynist and an asshole toward Emma at the same time!

In other words, even if you never have Raiden do a single asshole-ish thing, even if you never have him peek at or take pix of Jennifer's panties, even if you never shoot Emma, or punch her, or do anything of the various other nasty things you're allowed to do to her, as long as Emma's unconscious you will still eventually get this call wherein Raiden the adult man has "unsavory" thoughts about an unconscious teenage girl. That makes this canon characterization of Raiden, each game every game, regardless of player or play style.

Girlfriend, what girlfriend?

Underage? Pfft, only if you get caught, right?

Consent? Who the fuck needs consent when your dick has needs and there is some really attractive tits-and-ass just lying there for the taking?

Now I know there are very, very few dedicated passengers of The Raiden/Emma (if you've only casually considered the ship or you only ship them as platonic friends, you're not one), but for those few of you out there with serious headcanons about Raiden/Emma happily ever after married with babies: now would be a good time to jump ship unless you genuinely believe that a teenage girl would have a deep and loving romance with the adult man who canonically, regardless of the player's actions, was thinking of pulling a near-Steubenville on her. If you are among the latter, I would politely ask that you leave my fandom for something more suited to your tastes.

And in case any of you suspect me of inaccurate translation, the word I translated as "unsavory" is "yokaranu." Click the link. Read the definitions and sample sentences. Honestly, if there's any inaccuracy it's that I was too nice about my choice of wording. "Evil" or "wicked" would've been just as fitting, if not moreso.

For those of us who would rather see Emma shipped with someone who isn't planning to make her the victim (click to see exactly what "unsavory" things Raiden was thinking of - keep watching for Emma's reactions to it as well) of a Class D Felony under New York State penal code section 130.65, may I suggest the gallant young woman who stood up to her own boyfriend for Emma's sake?

(Transcript under the Read More)

Most of this conversation, to my knowledge, does not exist in the English version script. An acquaintance generously attempted for a good half hour to obtain the entirety of the call, but only succeeded in obtaining the first line from the Colonel. Thus, I've had to translate the rest of the lines myself. If anyone does manage to get the entire convo in the English version, I would very much appreciate the official translation.

A real pity if this was indeed omitted from the English (and ostensibly any other international) version, considering that this conversation, much like some other ones, gives very telling if unpleasant insight into Raiden's character. And just like those other calls, yes you can choose to avoid this one if you play Raiden a certain way, but you cannot choose to avoid his decidedly callous reaction once he commits the act. What makes this arguably worse than the pantyshot incidents is that even if you shoot Emma completely by accident, our friend Raiden will still gleefully consider shooting her again on purpose.

Meanwhile we have Rosemary, bravely standing up to her shithead boyfriend for the sake of protecting Emma.

For the record, the shooting in question is technically sniping, as this convo is not about the shooting of Emma that you can do while leading her around the Shell 2 Core, but about the shooting of Emma that you can do when you're supposed to be sniping her to safety across the Strut L oil fence.

(Transcript under the Read More)

That's pretty rich coming from a guy who argued for hours about which building King Kong climbed. Then again, Raiden was never the best at self-reflection, so we can hardly be surprised at his utter failure to realize the pot is calling the kettle black.

You can get this call in the Shell 1 Core computer room (B2) if you stand near the Policenauts poster.

(Transcript under the Read More)

So for any of you starry-eyed fangirls out there who still think Raiden is p much a Perfect Purinsu aside from his violent tendencies which are safely directed away from any innocents (or so MGR would have us believe)...

I give you: Raiden going from mild sexism to full-blown misogyny. Yes, misogyny: treating women as sex objects with no consideration for their feelings as human beings. Also note how Raiden doesn't even think what he did was wrong - quite easy to think it's not wrong to humiliate another human being if you see them as merely a walking set of genitals. Oh and of course Rose's feelings don't count for anything either; nothing gets between a dudebro and some choice pussy, least of all silly wimminz and their silly, inconsequential feelings.

Now I can already hear the fangirls bleating: B-but but, this is optional! You don't have to make Raiden do that! My Raiden didn't do that when I was playing! 

True! But the fact remains that he 1) is always ready and willing to do this no matter who plays and 2) always has that particular reaction to being called out on his shit no matter who plays. That alone says a lot about what kind of person he is, and none of it's very nice.

And for anyone wondering why I'm not coming down on the Colonel like I am with Raiden, let me remind you that the Colonel is a frickin' computer program.

For those of you who can live without romanticizing Raiden for ten minutes, here's how you get these calls: when in the Shell 1 Core Hall (B1) where the hostages are, crawl under the table across from the female hostage (she's the one who calls herself "Jennifer" if you mic her), tranq her and wait for her legs to slowly slide open as she sleeps. Obviously, you can't get the second convo unless you have the digital camera equipped.

(Transcript under the Read More)