Latest Posts by tomatomustache - Page 6

also pre-snake eater naked snake could be grinning thinking about a hornet nest but it's inconvenient to make that on my phone so imagine it yourself

the duality of snakes (og under cut)

i wonder if the skull suit with mask from mgs2 or mgs1 sneaking suit with mask as seen right after arriving to the location could be considered a swimsuit since one of their functions is diving suit

I've replayed Metal Gear Peace Walker and Phantom Pain recently and I just realised a thing about a couple of outfits we can acquire.

-John finally found a way to take off his pants as well as his shirt.

- the only games where we have swimsuits that can be worn by both male and female soldiers are the ones where swimming is not an ability we have.

- Kaz was in his undies in the command center every time we called him on codec as Swimsuit Big Boss enough times during PW.

finished mgs4. naomi is straight up scariest and most "evil" mgs character to me (no hate though)

in mgs1 i kind of liked her trolling snake, injecting him with foxdie and then answering his question on how much longer he can live with some vague stuff like "doesn't matter how long, you should live good". but in mgs4 she's not only a threat (which is ok, in mgs4 many people try to kill each other) but is also trying to get close to her victims feelings-wise. and when she succeeds with otacon (which ends up not even being crucial to her mission), she keeps hurting him: first dying on live stream while even holding the mk (unnecessary) to keep otacon looking at her, and while i can understand the sentiment behind enjoying other people suffering from your death, acting on it that much is a different thing; and then in her recorded message after all the business stuff she takes time to be emotional with otacon and hurt him again. it's like she's the opposite of solid snake in the sense of expressing feelings.

i was irritated by eva's constant hitting on snake in mgs3 when he clearly couldn't trust her (and for a reason) or mb wasn't interested in general, and succeeding when he was distraught by what he later admits to be a deed after which he was dead inside for the rest of his life, and using him ofc, while continuing to force herself close to him by claiming they loved each other (funny how ground zero briefing mentions that the boss was the only woman he loved). in mgs4 her views on friendship are unconventional to say the least but she's a much more loveable character, especially since it turned out she didn't plan to force big boss to stay unconscious and alive infinitely in that form to maintain jd or out of some vile sentiment.

naomi in mgs4 though is trying to get close to other characters and each time (except vamp) it screams danger and ends up being successful and true and then she openly enjoys and prolongs the suffering she caused, which is scary and evil in my book. at least she didn't hurt sunny. at least it's rude but funny how she reminds snake to die every time they talk, even in the recorded message - i was surprised that wasn't the message she passed to him in the after credits scene, but even there big boss mentioned that it's ok that the new fox die will mutate too, as long as he dies first.

that being said, mgs is not about nice and kind people and she's not a bad character, on the opposite - quite interesting one. but i'm glad i am neither snake nor otacon when it comes to interacting with her, lol.

MGS3 arguably has the most relevant symbols of what I call the MGS Cycle (MGS1, MGS2, and MGS3... and MGS5. Though MGS5 is more like a supplement and less a cyclic element. )--

--The reason MGS4 doesn't count, is because it breaks the narrative cycle, by convoluting its characters, turning the symbols meaningless, and well, ending the story without use of the cycle motifs--

MGS3 is a kind of map legend to the MGS Cycle motif. It breaks down the basic archetypes into their most obvious selves. EVA represents the Love Interest, Ocelot still dominates his archetype as the double-triple-crosser, the Sniper character in the End, the Ninja in the Fear, the in-over-his-head science-tech type found in Sokalov...

Ecctra, ecctra.

But the one prominent one that's important, that MGS3 puts in your face Look-Here Blazing-Signs because it is that important... and that's who the Boss stands for.

The Boss appears out of the fog of her first introduction, like a legend out of the fogs of myth. She is constantly praised as not just a Legend, but The Legend, the Mother of Legends even. She is the mentor, to where even Big Boss is but a student.

( Character analysis? She is also a broken women that has had literally everything robbed from her, including cognition, but still marches forward regardless. She is the embodiment of the saying that one can control nothing in life but their attitude. Quite frankly, I got real sick of hearing people praise her and questioned how come nobody is trying to actually Help her. She says things that come out of left field and don't make a whole lot of contextual sense, like she's not always present, and that's saying something given that we're in Metal Gear. The only time she ever seems to truly focus and is present is when she's on mission--Yes she was a legend, we know, but fuck, she needed Help, not Praise. What the hell is wrong with the MGS3 Cast. )

The Boss is represented by a snake, yes, given she leads the Cobra Unit and she is arguably where Naked Snake himself gets all his icons (which he will later drop as Big Boss), but she is also represented by the Horse.

And not just any Horse either... though we do see her literal horse, which is why this narrative symbolism is even being considered.

And Remember that MGS3 is when we get introduced to Chinese elements through Eva, just as Ocelot introduced / introduces Wild West elements.

One of the more important Chinese Horse symbols, is the Idea Horse or the Horse of Will. It is the embodiment of the indomitable human body and spirit, and often paired up with the Monkey of Mind, or the embodiment of the unfettered human mind.

There was a famous Chinese story that ran with these exact motifs--and that's Journey to the West.

Only instead of Sun Wukong (Who is arguably the more fitting of an setting filled with Hollywood Action Films that MGS likes to mimic), MGS embodies and centers around one of the other disciples--Bai Long Ma, the White Horse Dragon, and representative of the Horse of Will.

( And that's not getting into how horses and snakes are often combined mythologically anyway )

Through both narrative motifs, ancient literary symbols (The Horse), and of course, MGS cycle archetypes (The Snake), the Boss represents the indomitable human will.

There is, in fact, no opponent in the MGS Cycle that we face, that represents that archetype, though it is the most important archetype of all MGS.

Because we've faced them as an opponent before, but we have played them as a player character.

And that's Solid Snake.

ADDENDUM: THE REASON MGS IS (MEANT TO BE) A CYCLE

The reason I call it the MGS Cycle, is because it is a repetitious story, inspite of background elements.

The Indomitable Will (Solid Snake) is at the end of his trials of Self, and takes his last trial of self--Facing the Building Blocks of Life and History experienced (MGS1 whose key word is Gene, the literal building blocks of Life and all villians in MGS1 will claim that the steps experienced in their history has made them who they are), and facing down his worse self, his shadow, (Liquid Snake).

A new trialer begins their trials of self (Raiden), which starts facing what makes up their mind (MGS2 keyword is Meme--is your mind real, or is it merely made up of what you're informed is real), where the rookie asks himself what is real, what to believe, what led him to this point, and facing himself lest he fall into delusion.

The Indomitable Will, seeking to break the cycle to allow the world to remain as it was, mentors the new trialer (often through grueling methods) as he takes on his new trials.

Now the mentoree (Jack / Naked Snake), strong through his teacher's teachings, after succeeding his Trial of Mind, he now must face his Trial of Reality (MGS3's keyword is Scene, the World is a stage, now that you know you are real, is the world you're in real?) as the warrior he was built to be. Unfortunately, this trial involves facing off against the Indomitable Will who has already taken all her trials (The Boss).

... and the Mentoree fails, because by defeating the Indomitable Will, he breaks his own will in the process and, wins the mission but fails the trial. He becomes an aspect of the trials for the next Indomitable Will to face down.

This is how the cycle, by its motifs, works. If MGS4 had followed the set narrative cycle, it would've resulted in Raiden killing Solid Snake, just as Naked Snake killed the Boss, and setting Raiden up to become the next "Big Boss" archetype.

... And then the cycle starts over.

MGS5 is an odd supplement, because its worth more if you place its story motifs between MGS2 and MGS3, rather following after MGS4. It details how the Indomitable Will, in spite of its rebellion against the cycle, would get re-entrenched into the cycle. The Boss, for all her will power, is, for some reason, insanely shackled by loyalty to something that she knows means her harm. MGS5 shows the metaphorical shackling--how do you shackle the Indomitable Will? By forcing it into a false form.

a bit of line of action on the train. i picked 30 minutes but don't have time to finish it before arrival anyway, so the longest one is 6 minutes. l like drawing this smiling lady ever since i started doing this exercise, it brings me joy to be able to convey more and more of the beauty of her curvy body and sparkling smile as my skill develops.

the boss herself craved "to make the world one again" which is not necessarily peace tbh, since the "being one" earlier in question is an alliance towards common enemy and she didn't shy away from nuking a place. but i agree that he's confused, trying to figure out stuff at least, ending up sometimes doing the thing his rivals did (you might be amused by portable ops antagonist if you play it).

i like that many things don't happen suddenly in metal gear games plot and am inclined to think there was no vital turning point for big boss and he was moving towards what he became steadily since mgs3. another thing i like about mgs is how war inevitably changes characters for worse (some disagree tho) - snake went from being a cheerful mischievous fella to a bit grumpy but still discussing che guevara with miller and calling support while wearing silly camo on missions, to the point when a smile looks unnatural and even uncanny on him. but there's no distinct event that caused that - it's a consequence of his war lifestyle which guarantees him one harsh event/decision after another, wearing him out and numbing his cheerful nature, despite that nature being probably the thing that set him on the path of becoming big boss in the first place. and miller going from a success culture, charming playful slut to the angry guy wearing gajillion clothing layers and refusing prosthetics and ability to return to field work, to hopefully a still angry but somewhat independent and happily (in my dreams lol) married with a kid guy, to divorced and assassinated without a chance to even see the man behind it bc he would be lucky to end up dying some other way. huey from being pushed around and having no self respect to learning to stand up for himself, calling out diamond dogs on treating things differently than they might be, but then killing himself anyway due to child abuse in his family or his wife "cheating" on him or news about death of big boss (i don't believe it's a coincidence). anyway i have only experienced war as a civilian and far from front lines but exaggerated individual glory and mystic/sci-fi stuff aside, i think big boss is pretty normal given his assumed initial views and the experience he'd been through that formed him further.

tbh no one in mgs is morally ok and i think one doesn't get to be a warlord and also ethically good and kind, but i wouldn't be surprised if the canon implied reason for big boss being vilified that much in mgs world mass culture is cia backed to justify destroying the only nuclear power left or smth and is not a direct consequence of his wrongdoings. in mg2 his former enemies tell solid snake that big boss is a good man, which can be just the cult stuff ofc but could as well be their genuine informed opinion.

p.s. also i doubt venom snake would be a great dad tbh, he looked at a child soldier and called him a natural lol

Venom's arc explained in a picture from the player's perspective

Playing MGSV:TPP you have 2 choices:

You can be good or bad. You can kill, destroy, use and do everything in your power to be the worst person alive. You can be kind, you can save animals, kids, soldiers, grow a family and be a respectable man.

There's actually no choice. There's no two-tracks. The ending is the same. History will see you as a villain. You are a villain. You are, currently, the perfect depiction of the most wanted and most evil man alive, according to the world.

You have no lever. You cannot stop this from happening. Either close your eyes or watch, the ending will be the same. Your life will end in misery. The only relief? Boss will pat your shoulder and let you die with a false sense of accomplishment. Congrats. That's the panthom pain everybody talks about.

i think that's part of the "live and die under your orders" thing. (more below bc long post)

he was willing to sacrifice his life to shield big boss, so it is possible to assume he would be willing to give the rest of his life to the cause of big boss, and being big boss himself is a reward of sorts. also it is not only for personal safety of ishmael but to raise the chances of him achieving his goals; i don't think he thought venom snake will be ok at all, but i think he thought it is worth it and that venom snake would agree. which is still a very questionable thing to do ofc.

it's funny that you see him as a villain only bc for me it's the opposite: i have to remind myself what's wrong with him to not just see him as a cool guy lol. i was looking closely while playing pw to see the hints of him becoming evil or smth, and there were very few. even in mgsv i was upset the game isn't finished bc among other things i hoped to finally get the explanation of how he became the evil guy (if ever). now i hope to get it in mgs4 but will see how it goes.

in peace walker and portable ops there were two "villainy" things i noticed: kidnapping people to his pmc (which i at first disregarded as limitation of gameplay mechanics but is more fun to take literally) and being really dedicated to his goals and putting them first (as in when chico feels bad for breaking, he comforts him in a way that will make chico join the msf). and the second part is rather likeable to me than a reason to think he's a villain ngl. people in real world (not everyone ofc but many) were happy to have an opportunity give their life and death to a cause. huey really highlights it in mgsv for me: in a way, dd is play pretend, but i don't think it's a delusion bc they make it real with their own effort: they do impact the world and even their big boss becomes real big boss via his accomplishments and struggle.

i think that the boss was so loved by her followers bc she gave it her all, and big boss tried to follow and surpass her in that, and that's the appeal and i can't really see him as a villain (especially since he's fictional and thus any of his wrongs can be forgivable). interesting to see a person with opposite opinion.

also earlier you've posted that ishmael, unlike ahab, didn't even cry for his dead staff or smth. that's creepy of you ngl :) as a person who doesn't always cry at funerals of people i cared about, kinda scary that it could be perceived as me being indifferent rather than expressing my feelings in a different way (or not expressing them at all). as for big boss, there is an entire scene in portable ops when a staff member dies. it is not a 100% proof of what snake thought and felt, but i assume the game should more or less reflect his pov, and he cared, just thought that whatever losses can't be prevented are acceptable for a worthy cause, among soldiers and military people who signed up for it at least.

Venom's arc explained in a picture from the player's perspective

Playing MGSV:TPP you have 2 choices:

You can be good or bad. You can kill, destroy, use and do everything in your power to be the worst person alive. You can be kind, you can save animals, kids, soldiers, grow a family and be a respectable man.

There's actually no choice. There's no two-tracks. The ending is the same. History will see you as a villain. You are a villain. You are, currently, the perfect depiction of the most wanted and most evil man alive, according to the world.

You have no lever. You cannot stop this from happening. Either close your eyes or watch, the ending will be the same. Your life will end in misery. The only relief? Boss will pat your shoulder and let you die with a false sense of accomplishment. Congrats. That's the panthom pain everybody talks about.

i don't think it's false sense of accomplishment at all.

yes, history will see him as villain, but, for example, at the start of metal gear 2: solid snake (iirc) it is said that there are no more nukes left in the world other than in zanzibarland, and while not explicitly stated so, i think dd's nuclear disarmament efforts in mgsv contributed to that - at least there is a cinematic in mgsv for total nuclear disarmament, which makes it canon enough for me. that's a big accomplishment that matters, imo.

it's really futile with the water reservoir and, mb, the child soldiers, since we don't know whether they got a chance at "normal" life (and it was miller's idea anyway) and know the fate of liquid snake and kids transferred to outer heaven later.

in shining lights mission he prevented a dangerous infection outbreak. like with many other things, it can be argued that he is responsible for it happening to begin with.

for me personally it is an interesting question how much of all of that did big boss - both ishmael and ahab - really want and how much was he being guided and/or manipulated to do, or left no choice. but i think the thing with playing as venom snake is doing the right thing at every given moment, even when war has already changed and is for money and revenge instead of making world a better place like the boss or ishmael wanted. but venom snake loved the legend of big boss the hero before becoming venom snake and my guess is he continued to do so and was happy or at least accepted the chance to contribute to it and become its co-creator. he contributed to the reason to live of his staff and completed impressive missions, and while that might seem shallow and lacking a bigger purpose, to me effort and passion in itself are never meaningless.

one can say that he has no lever and everything was decided for him, and that makes sense. but also it would be easier to give up or mess everything up; he needed effort and willpower to keep the tram moving, even if there was only one path - whether willingly or not and happy or not seems to be up to the player to decide.

also lmao, there was never a "good" option and non lethal metal gear gameplay is a joke. in mgs3 bosses even explode anyway, i think the only difference is difficulty and a little trophy to let the player feel like a good boy/girl/them. it is a game about supernatural cyber war and the very essence of all of your efforts (warring) is inevitably bound to people being killed. the closest to genuine non lethal i know is total stealth in mgs1 where at least the genome soldiers you sneak past are not even bombed in the end.

Venom's arc explained in a picture from the player's perspective

Playing MGSV:TPP you have 2 choices:

You can be good or bad. You can kill, destroy, use and do everything in your power to be the worst person alive. You can be kind, you can save animals, kids, soldiers, grow a family and be a respectable man.

There's actually no choice. There's no two-tracks. The ending is the same. History will see you as a villain. You are a villain. You are, currently, the perfect depiction of the most wanted and most evil man alive, according to the world.

You have no lever. You cannot stop this from happening. Either close your eyes or watch, the ending will be the same. Your life will end in misery. The only relief? Boss will pat your shoulder and let you die with a false sense of accomplishment. Congrats. That's the panthom pain everybody talks about.

having friends is great sometimes they draw naked women for you

i like the 5 minute ones the most

snake found a singular boob on the floor

it is very flawed but it's been 4 hours, i think i won't do any better and will just redraw everything piece by piece endlessly :')

first draft below, provided by posting shitty drawings policy

guysguysguys hear me out

doesnt this look a little like...Liquid Snake'!??!

finished mg2 yesterday. one of my favourite parts is the locker full of venomous hamsters. glad to see that my rodents were relocated from dd to outer heaven and then rescued to zanzibar land. they also killed solid snake at least twice, creating a different future for the world. go diamond rodents.

i will bring all the rodents of afghanistan to the mother base. imagining pequod having to catch that little fella on a small balloon and give him a gajillion km ride. it's a shame they are supposed to go into the zoo platform instead of running all over the place.

Jack the gifter 🎁

@mieowcelot everywhere

#1 gray fox fan is nice, he might be the #1 fan of solid snake but i'm the #1 fan of his own

stupid fucking metal gear stamps.

made by me

i made a fanart of your fanart >]

quick domestic strangeboss doodle

text below

did one hour today instead of the usual 1.5. i like the 5 minute pieces.

after the practice was finished, my mate did some corrections to the final one and gave some advice. i doubt i will be able to apply what he told me about faces for now, but at least legs should improve if i remember his tips.

i am not surprised with bad faces bc i am only learning, but i am surprised that i deprived the big back woman of her back and didn't notice it at all until it was pointed out.

a while ago i had fun drawing a blogger but making her muscles even bigger using a muscles anatomy picture reference. might have to do some anatomy practice now (not only muscles but bones too) bc i have little understanding how a human is built and it becomes a prominent enough issue to try to fix it.

also i enjoyed using a pen again.

delicious in tselinoyarsk

there's even more

these are so cool

i’ve been making metal gear reaction images for my personal use

come to think of it, in lobster the protagonist first suffers from loss of a partner and then suffers from having a partner but in difficult hostile societal conditions, and in the end he faces the choice whether he wants to do a reckless thing (sacrifice a body part, even) to abandon his current militant group together with her. more common details than expected)0

late night kazuhira

reference to the poster for "the lobster"

wow there's more

i’ve been making metal gear reaction images for my personal use

big boss from peace walker seems to be easy to draw. mb it's a perception issue bc i don't care much whether he will look attractive or not. i should draw some memes with him or draw him in silly situations tho, my ask is open for suggestions

tonight on things that never happened, or op's undisguised fetish

wanted to draw something different but noticed a similar pose while looking for references and thought it'd be funny to draw them like this. while drawing, i noticed that snake's face is right on the belt buckle but didn't want to change the pose and thought he might've disregarded such minor discomfort (if we ignore the possibly ooc nature of the pose in general) and wake up with a belt buckle print on his face.

why are they sleeping fully clothed? bc i have a thing for decency (tm). why is the book facing that way? so i could draw the cover ofc - if you recognise it, good job. also wanted to draw some funny camo, but most of them are funny due to color, so i went for the t-shirt that can be found in the target practice mission. snake's butt is that way bc it's funny to me.

previous time i thought "nice, finally nailing it". think again)0

You can do it, Boss.