Gray Fox, the cool cyborg ninja, is a horror story and a warning |
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Main channel: @TBSkyen || Let's plays: @2BSkyen || Twitch: /tbskyen || Support my work on Patreon / tbskyen, or on ko-fi / tbskyen || Find me as TBSkyen on Bluesky (s**tposting) || I am ohnoitstbskyen on Tumblr (articles) || Editing by: Minimo - @minimoYT - / @minimoyt | #shorts #metalgear #metalgearsolid
Also- the war wouldn’t let him go even after he was literally fucking dead.
Even better, this is not the first time this has happened. Kyle Schneider, a former colleague, has in fact also been left behind and turned into a cyborg ninja in Metal Gear 2. This is just MGS’s version of that.
And it also poisoned one of his loved ones with a desire for revenge, which caused the creation of an horrific bio-weapon
Happens also with The Sorrow, Venom (kinda), Volgin and Solidus
Just like all the other protagonists of metal gear games. Even symbolically dead like venom, Raiden after MGR, or Officially dead like Solid after MGS1. They all should be dead or believed to be dead only to be brought back to fight another War. The prophecy of Big Boss rang true until the very end.
@victorminkov5183 I wouldn't call Raiden symbolically dead after MGRR, if anything I think he symbolically died between MGS2 and MGS4 but was revived in MGRR, as he now has his own war to fight
“Cool cyborg ninja” implies the existence of an uncool cyborg ninja, and I can’t imagine that
Well maybe he's a cyborg ninja who is just really cringe, clumsy and bad at his job.
kai leng from mass effect 3 somehow manages this
@@SalsaDeGranadalike he was so lame they had to make Shephard look incompetent for him to even stand a chance
@@SalsaDeGranadahuh, you’re actually right. I guess it’s more because he’s more mall ninja than a ninja classic.
@@SalsaDeGranadaliterally first thing I thought of
I feel like a nice part of his design is in his mask. It has eye holes in it to signify he's human, but you likely won't notice them thanks to the big red dot in the middle that makes him look like a robot. His humanity is literally being obscured by the weapon he's been turned into
These are the kind of yummy tidbits I come to the comment sections for!
Thank you for pointing that out; I would never have noticed. Design poetry, yeah?
Damn!
safe to say that the red death robot cyclops eye adds to that dehumanization theme
Even knowing that it's supposed to be an eye, I've never been able to view it as anything other than a clown nose.
Yes, the way it blink on and off with that red light makes him seem even more like a device without soul. Reminds me of things like smoke detectors lol, things that exist only for and by their very specific function.
@@rociopaoloni5080 nah, that light means the XBox died
Idk I think it was just made like this to look cool
@@DakovDakashyeah two things can be true in character design. You can go "Oh let's add this it looks sick" and then you or others can find some meaning in it
Forgivness and compassion is what saves the world.
Billions of us didnt get the fucking memo...
you said it
Jesus man, he got it right fs
Forgiveness and compassion is what psychopaths prey on. People will do incredibly horrendous things in the name of love. When people let their emotions come before their rationality it ultimately doesn't matter which emotion is driving them. They will get used and abused either way, and probably pass that pain on so someone else repeats their mistakes.
@@itsspookage5235was about to post this! Amen bro, amen 🙏
"HES A KAMEN RIDER! AND I MADE HIM! ..... oh, hes a kamen rider and I made him"
Otakon's narrative arch involving him realizing that he is essentially a member of SHOCKER will always be peak
Otacon realized the dark side of kamen rider lore in showa era
Much like the cyborgs in the later MGS Rising, being a cyborg is empowering physically but utterly dehumanizes the person into a weapon of war. The cyborg uniquely has the power to damage the war machine that created them, helping human allies that will hopefully improve the world to have no need for war machines like them.
I genuinely wonder if Skyen will do more of the Metal Gear franchise because I badly want to see his take on Samuel Rodrigues, who basically hits you in the face with the dehumanisation themes
@@dhampir_daysas much as mgr tends to come off as rather goofy sometimes it’s a product of it’s time and it’s storytelling is excellent especially with Sam’s. Samuel is such an excellent example of a character who has lost who he was and who he wanted to be and is fighting a war he doesn’t even care for.
Furthermore, I like that he is initially considered a full cyborg. Because functionally that means he really is no better than a person following Armstrong even if he is just merely beat down.
The horror and yet dark, terrible allure of a living weapon, of becoming a *thing* that doesn't need to feel the agonizing regret of ending lives, is a theme that seems to keep coming back up. People were just not made to kill.
That last part, people are not meant to kill is seen once again in mgsV during the cutscene where venon snake brings back child soldiers and Miller is absolutely disguted at the mere idea of making them child soldiers for the Diamon Dogs.
Specifically the moment after miller smacks one and the kid grab snakes gun and aims it at miller and snake says "see he is a natural" miller is thoroughly disgusted and one armed disarms the kid and says "not natural at all"
Even after miller has been so thoroughly been broken down both physically and mentally he still chooses to belive that humans are not natutally violent.
Gray Fox really is the embodiment of the franchise on multiple levels.
What's also sad is that the first game, Metal Gear for the MSX, has you rescue him from the forces of Outer Heaven. It makes his apparent death in "Metal Gear: Solid Snake" all the more tragic, and his "resurrection" in MGS all the more horrific.
Supposedly Gray Fox taught "the basics" to Snake and they did consider each other close friends...which made his betrayal in MG2 and return in MGS a whole more tragic
Furthermore, Snake even says the battle in Metal Gear 2 was something transcendental for it was just two people good at CQC battling each other with martial arts. He respected Gray Fox through and through.
I think it's interesting how Gray Fox bears a fair bit of conceptual similarity to the original Kamen Rider (And Shin, for that matter), but minus the recovering of humanity that would idealise it in Otacon's perspective
Gray Fox is also the culmination of Para-Medic (AKA Dr. Clarke)'s fascination with horror movies.
Like Liquid said:
“You enjoy all the killing! That’s why!”
Snake wants be more than just a killing machine. He wants to be human, his own person. And not follow his genes like how Liquid does. Nor have obsess over their father Big Boss. He just wants to live his life
I feel like Spec Ops The Line's "You wanted to be something you're not: a hero" the "You enjoy all the killing" line is aimed past the character and at the player
Thats present in MG2 too, when during Big boss’s war speech, Snake exclaims that he loves life.
Which is what made the ending so much deeper when Meryl simply asked "What is your name?"
It’s amazing how much artistry and carful visual storytelling went into Metal Gear that would later mutate or become a genre trope in later games because “It was cool in Metal Gear” the game really is up there with the greats for “Games are art”
He also reflects the faceless soldiers used by the governments. Thousands of unknown soldiers sent off to war to be gone in an instant, or coming back a shell of what they once were. When he opens the helmet to reveal a damaged human behind just being a tool, his face in turn his humanity being the connecting piece to Snake.
Its refreshing to find a RUclips channel that discusses the narrative purpose of design elements and how they play into the motif as a whole, instead of another deep lore channel. Love the work
I've been obsessed with Metal Gear since I was a small child, and this is some of the most poignant 60 seconds I've ever heard about written about the series. Well done!
“He’s a living weapon, an object whose only purpose is violence and death”
Solidus Snake: I should make on of those for myself….
Alright this concept alone has convinced me that now I actually really wanna play Metal Gear
The entire series is full of themes like this, victims of war who create more victims themselves.
There's also a mode where you get to play as him like snake he uses stealth but compared to snake who uses stealth to avoid combat and bloodshed he uses stealth to assassinate his enemies leaving no witnesses behind
I was literally watching the dumbsville video on metal gear solid and just as he got done talking about Gray Fox i got a notification for this short
I can’t believe Gray Fox and Carl Wheezer are voiced by the same guy
“I’m like you, Jimmy, I have no name”
Always loved Grey Fox. Made my Cyberpunk 2077 build around him.
God your videos on character design are amazing. If you ever get around to it, I would love to see a hottake on Hazbin Hotel character designs and maybe how you would improve them like your LoL videos.
i second this! i really loved hazbin hotel but i felt a lot of the character designs seemed a bit lacking. would love to hear your takes on this skyen
@@sejsuper4660 Exactly. It’s one of those things where I can still mostly tell who’s who or what they’re like from their designs, but you see what they could’ve been. Also, some designs, in my opinion, just need minor tweaks. For example, give Alastor his blood-red look back, get rid of his white and replace the bow tie with a regular one. See what I mean?
You’re that ninja…
Something interesting about Grey Fox’s design is that in some very early artworks, the eye slits actually have illuminated eyes in them. It’s an interesting feature - due to the colour contrast your gaze is immediately drawn to the red robotic eye but if you look long enough you can see the ‘true’ eyes behind - maybe a nice bit of design theming about there being humanity in Grey Fox after all?
I thought this was a new Genji skin from the thumbnail….can’t unsee the clear inspiration for him.
tbskyen talking about metal gear??? my favorite obsession overanalyzed by my favorite youtuber?? hell yeah!!!!
His memories? Grayfox still remember Snake.
At first, all he remembers is that he is desperate to FIGHT Snake, but by the end he recovers his memories fully, just before he dies.
@@TBSkyenShorts a month too late but that is false information. Before the Vulcan Raven boss fight, Deepthroat (Gray Fox) has a forced codec warning you about the claymore mines before calling himself Snake's biggest fan which is a direct parallel to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Additionally, the reason he considers Snake to be his idol is due to Snake not just liberating Gray Fox, but also taking down Venom Snake within the Outer Heaven mission within the game Metal Gear. The MG2SS reference may be due to Metal Gear Solid being an initial remake of said entry before becoming its own thing but it doesn't change that this exact dynamic is based on a prior installment, meaning that Gray Fox at the very least remembers Outer Heaven
Yess. You are SO good, my friend. I got to go play this game one more time now.
I’m really frustrated right now because this is the earliest I’ve ever commented on one of these videos but I can’t think of anything to recommend that clicks with his vibe.
He got me to actually care about the artistic effort that went into LoL skins, genuine miracle worker.
If nothing else I really hope he eventually covers Senator Armstrong. The gradual shift in the way the series portrays cybernetics from at first embodying the fear of being reduced to a tool to eventually symbolising the desire for unmatched physicality at the cost of becoming a monster, is really fascinating.
You say that but Naked Snake is recorded as saying "I WANT SOME MORE!" nearly 100 times during both the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater
Beautifully put
In Portable Ops its even worse because he forgets every mission he does basically reset
He's more then just a ninja... He's Legend! 🔪
The fact he can turn invisible, he's a ghost. The fear of becoming a weapon is embodied by being haunted by having been forced to kill his only friend.
War, war never changes
wa,r war has changed - mgs4
Then;
Now; War... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
war never changes.
this game in particular stands as my choice as the best game ever made. i am glad you are covering the characters and their designs
Isn’t it funny how his backstory was retconned so that he always had the cyber modifications even before he died and he was super into it
Grey Fox: My life is pain, Snake! I want to be free, so kill me! Finish the job and KILL ME!
Otacon: omg Kamen Riders I love those guys-
"We are not tools of government, or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing I was good at. But at least I always fought for what I believed in." -Gray Fox
Its a crucial theme in Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake as well, its essentially the driving force for both Snake and Big Boss, but while Boss went down a path of villainy over it Snake instead abandoned everything and went into isolation until he was forcefully dragged out for Metal Gear Solid
I don't know much avout metal gear, or most things you cover for that mater, but your voice is so soothing to listen to!
You are good :)
You are too!
You’re pretty good.
LETS GO METAL GEAR love your videos, im so happy to see your analysis on my favorite game series
The central theme of metal gear is actually shooting guns pew pew
Crushin these breakdowns fam
At least he always fought for what he believed in.
If you have played the first two games, the reveal in MGS hits much harder
“The first game”
NESbros, we lost…
I mean, no one cares about that version of Metal Gear beyond the fact that it exists. It’s the MSX2 versions people want to play and hear about.
Hello, don't you mean MSX bros
The story of Metal gear is fantastic throughout the whole series 👏
This might be your best short yet dude holy canolli
"we're not tools of the government" - Gray Fox
I always had that feeling of him being the opposite of Snake, like you mentioned, Snake's fear of becoming like him. Then in mgs4 Big Boss tells him he is nobody's tool and that just sealed it.
Can't wait for ocelot and MGR characters
I wish I knew how to read this game when I was younger. When you’re an American who is taught never to question the MIC you end up missing the point of stories like this and assume it’s just a weird specific story someone wants to tell.
As someone who has never played Metal Gear and only witnessed Gray Fox in Super Smash Bros., thus only seeing him as a cool cyborg ninja up until now…God Damn.
I love this metal gear analysis
This is the only skin i ever use in MGRR and i didnt even know his lore, he jist looks badass
Is it just me or does the running theme of various bosses in Metal Gear being personifications of different aspects of Solid Snake's psychological traumas kinda parallel with Silent Hill's story? Like, both games have the protagonist fighting against realized versions of their inner struggles. It's kinda wild and something I never would've noticed without watching these shorts. Very insightful.
the crazy thing is that what Gray Fox is, is the thing that surpasses Metal Gears in the end. cyborgs like Raiden in MGS4 make short work of the machines that were terrifying in MGS1 and I find that narratively and thematically genius and horrifying
having Gray Fox help destroy Metal Gear was a brilliant story choice, but also foreshadowing in a way.
Even worse, the fact that cyborgs are the future as seen in Revengance means that war only changed to become more efficient in waging war. For as cool as Revengance is, it is a very sad ending even if Raiden is empowered to try and end war. Heck, because all of the team around Naked Snake in the mission proper in MGS3 “were empowered to try and end war”, nothing really changed, except the technology used to wage war and the system that upholds war and the weapons of war (namely, UMGs/drones and cyborg ninjas).
As much as I love Raiden. I love Gray Fox and his tragedy and despite only appearing in the first MGS entry, he is the embodiment of how soldiers become...machines. How trauma haunts a soldier they're only a weapon meant to hurt people. Gray Fox is still one of the best characters in MGS because he is a simple synbolism of how war hurts people. It doesn't matter with the accolades or the motto of "toughening up" and "manning up". I've seen many veterans in videos still taumatized and they are essentially scared on danger. But because we as a society only see war as a victory game, these poor soldiers are becoming more numb and slowly justify hurting people. I feel that's why Gray Fox is important. Even he is gone, his legacy remains when his sacrifice shows there is still hope and empathy in all of us.
GRAY FOX MENTIONED RAAGAHHH😊
I just realised the titel "Metal gear solid" could be read as humanity is strong enough to withstand and overcome metal gear
And then Raiden being turned into a cyborg in MGS4 pisses all over this message and theme like a drunk family member as we're supposed to just be in awe at how badass he looks.
a cool gray fox fun fact is that in smash bros ultimate, the gray fox spirit isnt actually gray fox. its Raiden from MGRR in the gray fox costume
You’re that ninja!
Dudeeeee Skyen disappeared from my feeds and stuff for a few months and now he comes back with an MGS short right as I’m going through my annual MGS phase where I do nothing but watch MGS vids and play Phantom Pain. Also I can’t wait for the next comically long ladder climb so Skyen can sing Snake Eater lmao
And he’s voiced by carl wheezer
He’s also voiced by the same VA as Grim from Billy & Mandy and Aku Aku from Crash Bandicoot
Other metal gear games: The metal gear is the ultimate war machine, It knows nothing but to kill and is undefeatable by any mere man.
Metal gear rising: RULES OF NATURE 🗣️🗣️🗣️
I also just learned that he was voiced by Rob Paulsen in English. As in Pinky from Pinky And The Brain.
I know you just started talking about metal gear in these shorts but I hope you can get to the boss/joy as she is absolutely crucial to the story of the entire series. It was her dream of peace that influenced big boss and zero and their misunderstanding of how she wanted peace obtained that pushes the narrative of metal gear
Yush, moar MGS!
Nothing will give me 100% enjoyment of David hayter screaming like he meant it when Grey Fox got stomped by Liquid. Truely a powerful moment.
y'all gonna crucify me for this but hear me out
One thing I never understood was how Frank ended up on Shadow Moses island.
I've never seen you talk about nothing but despair bro😂😂
MGS writing is some of the best in all of gaming. Handles a lot of the themes incredibly delicately while still holding a lot of weight and meaning behind everything. Really wish the series would get more recognition for its storytelling. Feels like people focus more on the jokes about Snake’s voice, “!”, and almost all of MSG Rising Revengeance instead of the narrative. Could just be me looking in the wrong places though
I'm pretty sure nobody who focuses on Rising Revengance actually pays attention to it because it explicitly references recent real world shit like the Patriot act, dives into Raiden's child soldier background, and at the end of the day its main villain is a Republican senator whose entire plan is just doing right-wing politician shit
It kind a makes sense now why Snake could not take the shot at Liquid when he was exposed because Fox was right next to him. Even if Gray Fox was basically dead or about to die, Snake is not a heartless killing machine who will sacrifice his friend to beat an enemy.
Deep, true, and accurate
So gray fox is the masked man from Mother 3. Got it.
Fox and Snake's original fight deserves to be properly animated. Fox is the one who litters the area with mines. He knows Snake doesn't want to kill him. But Fox also knows that he has to fulfill his own mission and that he's BB's weapon just like Snake is Miller's, and he doesn't fault Snake for succeeding where Fox failed.
And then Clark comes along and destroys him.
Question: does the Metal Gear Solid 1's pre-game briefing explain the events of Metal Gear 1 and 2?
Because right away in MGS1 they're dropping lore like everyone knows it, with Snake going "Gray Fox?! Zanzibar!"
No, however there is debrief specifically to explain MG1 and MG2
idk man, you're the Xenoblade
ask zanza to give you a vision or something
I don't remember all details but I think there's the presumption that some things are already known. That said, I played it at 14-15 years old without any knowledge of the previous instalments and remember not really having any trouble understating and enjoying the game. The relationship between snake and the coronel for example is well stablished before the events of MGS 1 yet it becames evident they have a meaningful bond forged by their past jobs. The same goes for many other things, you are told what you need to know in order to understand the themes and the emotional connections between characters despite not knowing the lore that factually explains how those connections came to be in detail.
@@rociopaoloni5080 Same, I wasn't too lost on MGS1, but it really does start by expecting you to know a bunch of things and characters knowing things like they're perfectly natural, like Fox Hound going "Give us Big Boss' body! You totally know who Big Boss is right?", Snake going "Metal Gear?! Grrr, I know that mecha!" and the aforementioned Gray Fox and Zanzibar mission.
But honestly, I'm glad that Metal Gear is not like Kingdom Hearts. Aside from Peace Walker, if you stick to the numbered games, you're pretty good, you don't need to go play stuff like Portable Ops or Acid
@@3slicessenpai yeah, or reading books in order to understand a story originally told through videogames. I don't have a problem with books per se (I was a reader before I was a gamer) but feels a bit out of place that in order to understand where some games are at narratively you need to access another type of media instead of being accessory (I'm of the understanding that WoW did this for example).
When ever I hear "Military Industrial Complex", my mind goes to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
"Beware the Military Industrial Complex."
Man i though he was coolest when i was entering my edgey teenage phase. Lol.
There are people that try to say this game series isnt political LOL next level tonedeaf. Always nice to see antiwar pro-humanity media
Gray Fox's story in MGS1 puts all of snake beater to shame
Engagement!
Whelp, it looks like I'm actually going to have to play the Metal Gear series.
Lovely
Nowadays: $10 for a save slot. 😂
MGS isn’t the first game, it’s the 3rd.
First Solid game, the NES ones are rarelly played and while are cannon they still are different
@Voc_spooksauce the NES games are NOT canon, they're their own continuity. The MSX games are the first two main installments that Solid is a sequel to, the game even has a summary of them in a menu, handy since MG1 only released in Japan and a few European places and MG2 was Japan exclusive. There're definitely people that play them, though unfortunately lots also skip them. They're good and worth standing with the rest of the series.
OG MGR cyborg ahh
I genuinely want a remake of the first game (that's better than twin snakes)
People on shorts when they add text on their shorts : 🤩
People on shorts when requested to put spoiler warnings (their short will make less views cuz people who want to be spoiled will leave) : 🤐
The first game 👁️👄👁️
If you’re doing Metal Gear
Does this mean you’ll do the B&B Corps too?
This is why Metal Gear is so good. Tired of the "Metal Gear has no story/story is too hard to follow" mindset about this series.
Also the "Metal Gear isn't political" argument. Kojima could not be clearer about his views on war and humanity and I love him for it
MGS isn’t the first game in the series, 1987 Metal Gear is.