is there anything you don't like about the mgs fandom? and is there popular fanon you wish wasn't popular?
hey anon thanks for the ask <33
well, in my experience with the metal gear solid fandom it feels like if you arenât apart of a certain ship between two characters then you are wrong, or sometimes in my case if you like a certain character, that can become a problem because people donât agree with your opinion. also collectively it feels like the fandom (especially people who grew up with the series) can never just agree on something completely.
going back to character ships, i think itâs perfectly fine if you donât like a ship or necessarily even agree with it, people are allowed to have their own desired dynamic between two characters, as long as it isnât hurting anyone, it is fiction after all. my general criticism for the fandom is probably just to relax and let other people, enjoy the characters they love without harassing them for it. my biggest issue is definitely the toxicity of the fandom, but no matter what fandom anyone is apart of thatâs always going to be apart of the equation.
there is a general gripe i have with the fandom, not everybody who likes metal gear solid have played the games. but from all of the content creators iâve seen play through some of the games, thereâs something thatâs always bothered me. complaining about someoneâs play style isnât productive, you can give them advice and support if they wish (donât even get me started on backseating). but the amount of people iâve seen telling players that they arenât ârealâ metal gear solid fans because they arenât playing on an extreme difficulty is astounding. usually thatâs a tell tale sign for how old they are, and if they want to do that then thatâs fine.
playing on a highly difficult mode doesnât make a player superior, all it proves is that they know the game well with time on their side. new players of metal gear solid wonât necessarily be good or even particularly like stealth, though as long as they understand the general consensus of the game and itâs mechanics i donât think people need to worry about how someone else is playing a game. anyway, personally i love the metal gear games, as well as the cqc and stealth mechanic of the games too, but i would never play on extreme or european extreme it would just be deemed unplayable. i play the games to goof around and have fun, not to prove a point to anyone.
to be honest, itâs more about ships that donât make sense to me. the ship between kaz and ocelot has always been more of a joke ship to me, considering the circumstances of what happens to miller before the events of metal gear solid 1. now i donât know how big of a proportion of people ship ocelot and volgin. mostly i just find that it doesnât make much sense, and there isnât anything that happens between them to suggest a romantic pairing between the two, thatâs just my opinion though. also, thinking about the age difference between ocelot and volgin just makes me dislike the dynamic even more (volgin was in his fifties during the events of snake eater, and ocelot was twenty years old.) also the idea is comical considering ocelot helped take part in the death of volgin in the first place.
the ship between vamp and raiden isnât one i wished didnât exist, itâs more that i donât understand where it came from, not that itâs inherently bad or anything, because if anything i encourage and invite it in. the small group of people i can count on my left hand who are huey emmerich enjoyers is something i wish i could rid of, because my question is⌠have you played the game? or have you even watched what happened because of the involvement of that man? an overall complaint i have is with some of the fanon itself over-sexualising the characters they are shipping, i wish that would tone down at least.