iroquois pikmin

We’re never really told if Ocelot knows The Boss is his mother or not, but I do think it’s interesting either way. I’ve personally always imagined that he didn’t know in mgs3, but found out somehow later on.

I’ve always liked the idea that a small part of Ocelot’s infatuation with Big Boss (henceforth referred to as Bibo) has something to do with the fact that he had the motherly relationship with The Boss that Ocelot himself never got the chance to have.

If you haven’t read Kojima’s book The Creative Gene, he discusses (in relation to the book Satori by Don Winslow) the concept of a “merciful murder . . . where the main character kills his parent from a place of genuine love.” Obviously we all know how this relates to the boss, but I was sort of unusually moved by Kojima describing that type of action as having the “spirit of dignity and compassion”. Dignity itself, or lack thereof, is just an especially emotional concept for me. Bibo did definitely give the boss a dignified, compassionate death. Which contrasts his own death, but I’m not gonna talk about that too much right now. Stay tuned my father’s day post, which will be even longer and more incoherent. Anyway, what I’m saying is, read The Creative Gene.

Another mom in the mgs series is Dr. Strangelove. One of many women done insanely dirty in these games. Listen, I know there are some Huey Emmerich defenders. And many more Huey Emmerich sex perverts. But guys, I’m sorry, I fear I’m normal. So I fucking hate him. (Again, stay tuned for my father’s day post). But back to the topic of dignity and compassion, Strangelove absolutely did not get the same kind of grace that The Boss did. The Boss is killed by her protégé in a field of flowers with her loved ones’ spirits waiting for her to join them (which isn’t to say she had it easy or anything, you get what I mean). Strangelove was manhandled into a metal pod by the father of her child and left to suffocate, all because she stood up for and protected said child. Then the recording of her screaming for help is used in Huey’s “trial”, but not because Ocelot or Kaz or any of the other guys cared very much about her, but because they just wanted reasons to torture Huey to death.

I could talk about Dr. Strangelove for a while so I’m having to force myself to move on here so I can get to the next mgs mother of the day, Eva. Big Mama herself. I don’t have too super much to say, except that I love her. She carried Snake and Liquid out of that fucked up Bibo obsession that seemed to be all the rage in the late 20th century. Her helping Snake in mgs4 is so special to me. Especially her death, when she mistakes him for Bibo. Gang, just read the mgs4 novelization.

My final mgs mother of the day is Olga. I love her. I wish we got to hear more about what she got up to with Snake and Otacon. Another mother who died for her child. Snake and Otacon helping Sunny keep her mother’s memory alive is so so important to me.

Solidus did what he did to Raiden, and presumably the other child soldiers in his “care” (can’t think of how to phrase it sorry), as a nature vs nurture thing. He didn’t just condition Raiden to be a killer because he’s cruel and evil, it was an experiment.

Solidus was 17-25 during the first Liberian civil war. That’s still so young. What he did to Raiden has always read to me as a kids killing cats situation, if you know what I mean. Someone young doing something unbelievably cruel. It’s chilling. And it’s especially interesting when you think about how he was trying to understand himself through Raiden and the other boys. Of course I’m just assuming he already knew he was a clone at this point, but it had to be because he was questioning his own free will and nature.

I love how much character Vulcan Raven has, especially for how little time he’s actually in the game. They do good with Sniper Wolf, too. It always kills me when Otacon mentions her in mgs2 and mgs4. I really believe the only bad part about the mgs1 bosses as a whole was that Decoy Octopus basically isn’t a character at all.

My favorite mgs2 boss is Fatman. Easily. I’ll probably make a whole post about him later on. Most mgs fans I know either love him or hate him. His boss fight pisses me off, but I love him as a character.

It goes without saying that the mgs3 bosses are special. Come on. I’m maybe not as attached to them individually as I am to the mgs1 and mgs2 bosses, but as a group I think they’re the best. The Fear is the world’s biggest freak, and that’s saying something in the Metal Gear series. The Old or whatever that guy is called. Love his bird. The Sorrow’s boss fight is neat the first time, but after that it’s kind of nothing. But he’s so special to me.

I think part of that is because in mgs1, I don’t think the developers understood him either. There wasn’t really anything to understand. He’s just another rogue FOXHOUND member, and he just happens to have known Big Boss and says vaguely homoerotic things about guns.

But in mgs2, you realize that he has a character. He’s more complex than you might’ve thought. But you still don’t understand him, because they don’t want you to. He’s on everybody’s side, but he’s also on nobody’s side. He knows shit he shouldn’t, shit nobody else knows. He stole Metal Gear RAY. And he also stole Liquid’s arm off his corpse, stitched it to his own arm, and is known being possessed by Liquid’s ghost through that arm?

I didn’t feel like I knew this guy at all, until he showed up in mgs3 as a young, arrogant, loser. He’s an idiot. He’s a nepo baby. He’s a show-off. He’s obsessed with Western movies and American culture. He accidentally shoots his hero’s eye out. He gets run over by a motorcycle. But he’s so real. He gets upset when Volgin kills their fellow Russian men. He fell in love with Snake. He asked for his real name.

It’s not surprising to find out he was a triple agent, not after seeing him in mgs2. But everything made so much more sense to me. I’m not interested in arguing about if Ocelot is gay for Snake or not because, frankly, it doesn’t even matter. He loves Snake. He idolizes Snake. He is obsessed with Snake. Whether it’s romantic love or not is irrelevant. I don’t think it’s not NOT romantic love, but to me it’s some other, undefinable type of love.

People talk about how it’s impossible to know which side he’s really on, and what his motives are. But it’s incredibly simple. He is on Big Boss’ side. Everything he does is to further his goals and preserve his legacy. He and Eva worked together behind the scenes to support Big Boss’ will and take down Zero for years after mgs3, and then again in mgs4. He kept the Diamond Dogs alive while Snake was in a coma for nine years. He was involved in the making of Venom as a body double, and then brainwashed himself into forgetting it as to not compromise Snake’s identity. He raises that man’s dog.

The most damning thing for me, however, is what he does in mgs4. I think it’s funny that Liquid’s ghost is not real and was not possessing Ocelot. My friends and I love joking about how Ocelot is always just lying for attention. But it really is crazy how he brainwashed himself into believing he was Liquid. His hero’s son!! He strips himself of his own identity, his entire personhood, for this mission. Just to trick Snake and manipulate the SOP system. And everything he does in mgs4 is to take down The Patriots, to destroy Zero’s creation, just like Big Boss wanted. The Patriots, who were going to destroy the world.