Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker/Headscratchers

• How is Big Boss able to support entire multi-story robots above his head? Is there some kind of balancing quirk built into them, or did Big Boss magically develop super strength?
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation, my dear boy.
• Quoth the former Non Sequitur Scene entry:

"Big Boss has a tense stand off with the enigmatic Dr Strangelove, who he knows little about and trusts even less. She goads and coaxes him, deliberately attempting to get a rise out of him emotionally. The scene runs to a tense fever pitch until she lures him into her lab by claiming she can reunite him with his beloved mentor. Then he sniffs snuff off her hand before going in. Wait what?"

• • "Fever pitch"? Things calmed down before getting invited into the lab.
    • Redundant. He still had no reason to trust her enough to partake in her snuff. He could simply have declined.
  • Discounting the Neptune-sized Idiot Ball Big Boss needed excavating out of his anus that caused him to accept an unidentified narcotic from an untrustworthy ally of the enemy when she has just displayed immense contempt for him, are we to believe that he simply couldn't go for a few minutes without sparking up a stogy? When the alternative is literally getting on your knees before the enemy?
    • Actually, I'm not sure if the "snuff" that she gave him was even intended to drug him. In fact, Strangelove's reaction to Snake fainting (What? Damn It! End simulation!) indicated that this was not what was supposed to happen.
  • If you pay attention: She actually takes a sniff of the stuff herself at the beginning of the cutscene. He knew it wasn't drugged from seeing that nothing had happened to her. It still doesn't explain why he did it, but he knew it wasn't drugged or anything like that.
• "Vic Boss! Vic Boss!" What was this meant to be about? Obviously it started out with the MSF goon on the beach referring to BB as such, but why? Is it due to mispronunciation? Is it a play on the word "Victory"? Is it a reference to Vic Viper? Did it have a completely different meaning in Japanese which the localisation team completely failed to translate? How can a plot element this redundant have more interpretations than the rest of the plot put together?!
  • This one I would really advice you not think too much of and just let go. ^^U
    • I still don't know what the complaint is, here. It's an obvious play on the word victory.
    • Correct, it's short for "Victory Boss". He still doesn't like being called Big Boss at this point, and prefers that if ehy insist on calling him something besides Snake it be this. Think about the dialogue at the beginning, it makes it pretty obvious:

"Soldier: 'Thank you, Big boss.' Boss: 'Call me Snake' Soldier: 'Oh sorry, Vic Boss!' Snake: Listen up, for us there is no victory'" Snake directly acknowledges what it's supposed to stand for.

• • • Even you've had to change your tune as to what it was meant to be Jack (You originally claimed it was due to accents). My point is that whatever it was that Hideo was getting at, it didn't come across coherently. Thus I am bugged.
    • You are aware it's both? Remember Amanda mispronounces it and insists on mispronouncing it, then there's the whole "V for Victory/Peace Sign" theme going on.
• "Hey Kaz! You see that nuclear football the Big Bad has on a cuff? Why not shoot it off and secure it for transport separately from the dying mad man with nothing to lose?"
  • Listen to the after-game tape.
    • My point is that any number of soldiers could have called him on this and undermined whatever The Plan was apparently in play. It would be more fair to describe this entry as "MSF: Nil".
      • Good point, especially seeing how there was one MSF soldier onboard the chopper besides Kaz. Strangely enough, Kaz seemed quite surprised about the whole thing even before Kaz warned Snake about what was going to happen.
        • They were all riding the high of their victory over the Peace Sentinals, and didn't expect Coldman to launch the Nuke after it's target had been changed, since nuking Cuba would run counter to his goal of mass producing Peace Walker for all of Central America. They underestimated how devoted he was to the idea of proving that the idea of deterance adminstered by humans was a faulty idea. Plus shooting off handcuffs is movie stuff anyway, so they would have to wait until they found a pair of boltcuters first.
• Why does Snake not seem to remember the entire speech EVA gave at the end of Snake Eater. Why does he keep trying to figure out why The Boss defected when EVA spelled it out for in explicit detail? He seems to remember it perfectly fine in Portable Ops, or are we pretending that game didn't happen now?
  • It's implied from dialogue that he does remember EVA's speech, but he is beginning to think her debriefing was actually forged by the CIA for their coverup. Plus, if he didn't remember EVA's debriefing, then why was it playing shortly after he euthanized The Boss's horse? The fact that Gene pretty much mentioned that The Boss was set up by a single deviously cunning strategist would also have lowered some confidence in EVA's debriefing as well. Now what really doesn't make sense is why Big Boss seemed to not even know The Patriots or even the fact that he separated from them? Even when Paz flat out tells him about their history, the best he could give was a confused, unfamiliar "huh?"
• Why is the game's logo a commercial airplane? What does that have to do with the rest of the game?
• Was it really necessary for Peace Walker to retcon Big Boss's age a second time? It was understandable the first time because he would have been an active fighter on the field of battle during his 50s and would have been the head of FOXHOUND in his 70s ^[1] MGS3 put Big Boss more comfortably into his 30s, and had Peace Walker followed that canon he could have comfortably stayed in his 40s (not terribly old for a Military Officer). Big Boss being 39 during Peace Walker means that he joined the Army at 14 (canon says The Boss left Snake June 12, 1959, meaning the 10 years as her disciple lasted 1949-1959), and first saw combat during the Korean War at 15. Changing his age just so they can make a throw-away reference to Big Boss being like El Che (both dying at 39) was pretty lame.
  • First of all, MGS has his share of child soldiers (Raiden, Gray Fox, Chico, heck even Solid Snake) so Big Boss joining the army at his teens is plausible. Second, where in Snake Eater do you they tell Big Boss' age? For all we know, he could be under 29 (if we have to go though Peace Walker). And third, how many times Kojima makes retcons who create plot holes?
    • MGS3 commentary and promotional material listed Big Boss as being in his 30s, meaning that Word of God said so. This means that the earliest he could have been born is 1930 and the latest being in 1934. During World War II there were of course a small percentage of the Allies who were composed of teenagers who lied about their age out of a patriotic duty, so that at the very least is plausible for Big Boss during the Korean War. However what would be special enough about a young John to be noticed by The Boss who is made out to be one of the best Special Ops soldiers in the world? Also Special Forces in the United States are based off of the SAS and just like them you have to be a minimum of 20 years old and have a background in the Army Rangers and Army Airborne before you can be eligible for selection, meaning if Big Boss really was a teenager during the Korean War (1950-1953) then his status as a Green Beret would be impossible. Big Boss being born in 1930 (20-23 during the Korean War) makes his career leading up to Operation Snake Eater more plausible.
  • He could have lied about his age when joining up.
  • Not just anyone can join the Special Forces, the Pentagon puts a great deal of trust into the men who work in black operations, which means that very thorough background checks are given before they ever join. The age change makes his career prior to MGS 3 highly implausible. I don't mind Jack joining the Army by lying about his age, but he is specifically mentioned as a Korean War veteran who was a member of the Special Forces. The Special Forces is a whole different game from the regular Army.

1. ↑ even Generals have an expiration date on how long they can be on active duty and are usually expected to retire by the time they reach their 60s, the only exception is if they get an extension from special leaders like the Secretary of Defense or the President himself