Otacon is a warning about the danger of otaku fantasies as life goals  

I've once seen someone say that what makes metal gear so insane yet so gripping is that Kojima is extremely anti-war ideologically but he also just can't help but think tanks and spies and big murder robots are awesome. So he's basically the good ending of otacon

“That is his anime fantasy come to life, and it is screaming for death” is such a raw line holy hell

One other thing worth mentioning is when Snake asks him what Metal Gear is designed for, Otacon tells him he had built REX to shoot down nuclear missiles before Snake reveals to him the horrifying truth

Otacon, before meeting Gray Fox: Oh man oh boy would it be cool if I could meet a real life Kamen Rider Otacon, after meeting Gray Fox: Oh dear lord I'm a SHOCKER general

Good thing Kojima, while being obsessed with american military movies, decides to make metal gear instead of making military technology

Small correction, Otocon is shocked to discover that MG was used as a launching platform: It was being designed to take them down, not launch them, but the higher ups had it rearmed to launch. It does deepen the tragedy, though, considering supportive tech ends up being reworked into hurting people instead.

Kojima understands what makes Gundam so good: that it's anti-war but also deeply understanding of the reasons war happens and the appeals that it has. And one of those is just, quite simply, that some parts of war are REALLY COOL.

Otakon at the start of MGS1 is every techbro today who is psyched about working on the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.

The main theme of Metal Gear, in one sentence: War is cool and bad and awesome and should be stopped.

"That is his fantasy come to life and it is screaming for death" Jesus christ, Skyen

Otacon is the epitome of that meme where he's like "cool robot!" While the point soars over his head.

I think it's so fasinating to compare Otacon to his father, who constantly shifts blame from one aspect to the other. Never taking accountability for the monstrosities he created whether it's peacewalker or continued engineering for the big boss. Everytime he sidelines responsibility constantly shifts blame about the horrors he created culminating in his worst act. Yet Otacon steps back and realizes the monster he can soon become and understands the horrors and grow to stop creating these monstrous machines. Really cool dichotomy between father and son.

Otacon screwed around and he was forced to watch the world find out

I like how theres literally no comment on Otacons visual character design here. Its literally just "Otacon is a fucking nerd. Like for more"

I can't think of a modern creator who compares to Kojima for striking the age old tension between war as horror in reality and glorious in advertising

Warning: you will get a superspy as a boyfriend

I know it's a Sokolov quote, but I think, "All I wanted to do was build space rockets" whenever I think of Otacon's motivations. He never wanted to build weapons of war, he simply saw advanced robotics in anime and thought of how many ways those sorts of things could help people. That's why the Mk.II is such an important aspect of his character, it shows what he really wants to do. Even as a machine meant to assist a person in a war zone, that machine itself has no lethal options. I really don't think it's fair to compare him to the kind of people who want to storm a battlefield in a mobile suit. ;p

Otacon and Snake have one of the best bromances in gaming.

When people say that metal gear is ahead of it’s time THIS IS WHAT THEY MEAN. Otacon is all those young engineers flunking on their mandatory ethics courses in their engineering curriculums

"Because that's his anime fantasy come to life, and it is screaming for death" IS SUCH A RAW LINE HOLY SHIT

It was supposed to be a defense weapon too. They modified it without his consent or knowledge.

"This is just like one of my japanese animes!" Yeah, evangelion, and not even the rebuilds but the original

I was expecting a quick character analysis, and I got one, but I also did not expect that fucking RAW final line

Screaming and pissing instead a locker. But can you blame him when there’s an unhinged cyborg ninja in the building?

Metal Gear: "Raiden and Gray Fox being turned into Cyborgs is really bad and terrible for both them and the world." Also Metal Gear (especially Rising): Cyborgs are really freaking cool though.

i think the inclusion of Huey in prequel entries did a great job of emphasising Hal's virtues. Despite familial relation and superficial similarities in appearance and mannerisms, Hal's ability to turn his life around and atone for his mistakes puts him LEAGUES above his dad, who is a bitter sociopath who whines about being held accountable for his actions It's a nice message about 'breaking the cycle' imo, which I feel like is another big theme in the series

I'm pursuing an engineering degree because of mecha. I've become what you sworn to destroy, Kojima. I'm sorry

Otacon was a fun character in MGS and probably fairness to him the most dangerous as the one who brought Metal gear Rex to life with nuke launching capabilities. Still, as the seemingly blind onlooker looking in, there’s no denying he does his role well. Don’t recall if it was also playing an “assistant role” to Snake, but in a way, he could be seen as what Tails is to Sonic.

I see Otacon aa a representation of people who believe war is cool. After all he created the inventions thinking it will exist in real life. But Otacon doesn't realize his wishes shouldn't have come true, and because of that Otacon is the best supporting character for Snake. One of them has no idea what war is while the other one does know the hardships of war. War isn't fun...war is horrifying.

Music: Mantis' Hymn.

he redeemed himself and bagged the baddie in a gray skintight suit, what an icon

LITERALMENTE Boston dynamics

tbf, he design REX to shoot DOWN Nukes and IIRC(been years since I played Solid1) he was kept in the dark about the railgun being configured to shoot nukes. Which I think further serves your point,tbh. He naively thought he could manifest his fantasy in reality and it would DEFEND people from the most horrific weapon humans have ever developed only for the Military Industrial Complex to mix Otacon's weabo peanut butter with their nuclear chocolate.

“Hal I miss you.” I’m still crying about it 20 years later

I like how he had natural anime eyebglasses shine

Genuinely so psyched to be a fan of someone who tries to do their best in media analysis

I think one of the biggest themes in Metal Gear is fiction vs reality. It's okay to like war in fiction, it's cool, guns are cool to look at, military equipment tends to be sleak and well, cool looking. In reality, those cool looking toys are actually responsible for untold amount of death, misery, suffering, and destruction. MGS takes both of these ideas, and says both can be true.

Ooooh, that last line of “and it is screaming for death” just sends shivers down my spine. Amazing delivery

off-topic: metal gear rex is so cute, i love its dopey little hammerhead face with the tiny lil eyes ❤

His name is literally just Otaku. This is ridiculous. Who allowed Kojima to do that?😂

MgS, One Piece, Pokémon, FF.... Duuuuude stop doing this full quality reviews of the greatests things in this world ! I'M FALLING IN NEED FOR YOUR VIDEOS NOW ❤️❤️😭

Otakon is the type of mf to build the torment nexus, from famous sci-fi novel called: Don't create the torment nexus

You can't just drop lines this hard

I never noticed the parallels before watching this, but there’s a strong one between Otocon and the protagonist of The Wind Rises by Studio Ghibli. Both want to create wondrous military creations while trying hard not to think about what they will actually be used for.

Just in time. I'm cosplaying him tomorrow

Thanks for doing a short about snake's weeb husband👍

Outside looking in. Until he actually opens the door.

Otakon is what Kojima could have become if he took a different path

"Don't build the torture nexus"

Well written 👏. You audibly made me say "Damn!" at the end of it

“I thought I can use my science to help people but I realised I was the one being used” 😢

Kojima's biggest strength is that he can take very goofy concepts and execute them in a way that can genuinely disturb as well as amuse.

"Cyborg Ninja?? That's so cool 🤩!" Gray Fox: "Every second I am allowed to live is a second I am forced to suffer"

Fantastic explanation without any spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the games

Jeez, I think I never quite realized how eery Metal Gear Rex looks like.

Absolutely love your short Bloodborne analysis shorts and these Metal Gear ones! Please keep up the great work!!!

One of the things I love most about this channel is the writing. I love to see educated views on the designs of media I like as much as the next guy, but the way TBSkyren can describe it so succinctly and poetically is genuinely inspiring.

So recently I started learning Japanese and learned what the actual meaning of the word Otaku is. It basically describes a person with unhealthy obsessions that can even lead to life threatening decisions.

What an incredibly prescient analysis. You forget that characters you might find weak or slightly off-putting could be mirrors for yourself in a story, but Otacon's development is such a good reflection of the public at large and our responsibility in clamoring for entertainment while letting our countries use our resources for war.

Y u gotta attack me like that

its very funny that the specific japanese anime otacon was talking about was the Unit 02 from mobile suit gundam 0083 stardust memory. im not kidding, it even has a nuke. maybe none of this wouldve happened if he watched 0080 war in the pocket

I think Otacon is actually the self insert character for Kojima here. He's just not afraid to critique himself.

As an AI engineer who's working for a military contractor: gulp.

@tbskyenshorts have you thought of doing a short on Strangelove? Her arc as an AI researcher, similar but so different to her son Hal’s journey with tech an the military-industrial complex, is compelling. Plus she is canonically a lesbian who somehow got comphet into a relationship with Huey Emmerich of all people. And that seems like fertile ground for critique.

Pro: Anime became real. Con: Its based on Junji Itos work.

love hearing your analysis and love the mgs games so seeing this was a delight :]!! would absolutely be here for any more metal gear thoughts

For a quick second I thought you were going to talk about Armored Core lol

The one thing I'll contest with this is the mentioning of him designing a nuclear equipped walking battletank: the weapons Rex was to be armed with were designed by a different department. He was under the impression that Rex was being designed as an ANTI-missile system, with the railgun being used to shoot down warheads at great distances. He never knew it was meant to be the means of launching a nuclear weapon until it was too late. His role was in overall design, armor, and locomotion.

Otacon is basically the next Oppenheimer of Metal Gear's world the more you think about it. He basically created MG-REX as a *defensive tool* against nuclear weapons. A LITERAL nuclear deterrent. Only for it to be used as the foundation for every bad thing that happens in the franchise's timeline from that point on.

Imagine being a weeb desgining a giant metal robot only to realise your creation was meant for war, not the pleasure of recreation. Reminds me of Albert Einstein's formula E=mc(squared) and shared it to the world, but however the folruma was able to be used to create atomic bombs. This is what I love about Metal Gear Solid, not just it's a game but a franchise filled with philosophcal, deeper meanings under the surface. Just like icebergs.

Fun fact: Otacon was named after the Baltimore (now Washington DC) anime convention Otakon.

Holy shit this is a PACKED 60 seconds that make me thirsty to replay MGS 1-2. Nicely done.

And Rex, piloted by Liquid, is confronted by Fox which is what ultimately causes his death.

I immediately think about metal gear awesome scene with Otacon

You ate with this one fr

That was an eerie delivery

Hell yeah you're covering MGS

Can you do more character analysis on the metal gear series, I love you short analysis videos and MG and MGR have such great characters

Need to replay MGS1 someday, what a fantastic game.

otacon is my favorite character in metal gear. solid snake is a close second, but otacon is just such a compelling guy. he’s portrayed as weak and bumbling especially in the beginning but over time he grows the same steel of will of purpose in him that his mother had. a sense of righteousness. he and snake are the two characters who truly inherit the boss’ will, and i think the only ones that could. they are not mired in the sinkhole that woman left in the world like so many else, and it is what strangelove wanted most. for her son to inherit those values strangelove held so dear even if she could not fulfill them. this comment is already so long but man. what a great character. also i love the romance and family arc between him and snake

One of the best parts about this are the many people who played the game, understood that Otakon is a nerd who’s being used and gets used because they appeal to his nerdy fantasy but then they see gray fox and think it’s the coolest thing ever and miss the point. I’m at my cousins house the first time I saw this game. He gets to the part where Otakon comes to terms with how the appealed to his love of making cool ass mechs to make a horrific machine designed to murder in mass. He’s like “yeah, that’s messed up, man.” And we have a conversation about how a lot of shows, movies, anime, etc glorify weapons of mass destruction and the like because of the awesome spectacle they can put on display. Like how at the time I wanted to be a fighter pilot and he wanted to be a marine sniper. We talk about a bunch of things that may have influenced our desires to do those things and what those jobs would actually entail and all that jazz. Then he see’s gray fox and thinks it’s the coolest thing ever. A few months later he’s taking martial arts and going tk classes to learn swordplay and it’s like… uh… did you forget that whole ass conversation we had?

I do love that his most famous quote is honestly the most important one about his character - because otherwise its just a throw away line but when you realize this is him trying to live his weeaboo fantasy - AT THE COST OF WHAT 😂

The wind rises

Also he and snake fall in love and stuff

Ironically, mechs are most plausible in a logistical role rather than a combat role.

tfw you played metal gear as a child and didn't understand the subtext and have now grown up to play the roles it warned you about

I am become death destroyer of worlds

Do you think love can bloom on the battlefield?

Finally, I can learn MGS lore the ideal way

There’s also one other little detail with metal gear solid when it comes to Otacon’s character. When Grayfox shows up the scientist isn’t just scared of the cyborg ninja. He is literally pissing himself in fear. And well, some players back in the day when reviewing this game with point and laugh at him. If you really think about it, it makes sense. He truly had no idea of what the horrors of war actually were. He had no understanding of what his invention would be used for. So when Grayfox shows up, it makes sense that the scientist truly is terrified beyond bodily control at what is standing in front of him. It’s basically used to show how out of his depth he truly was at that moment.

Helldiver fans take notes

You forgot to talk about the character design

Average mechanical engineer

Other day I saw a tweet of one of the producers of an anime studio who was a realy fan os MGS and when he met with Kojima he asked about making an anime of MGS, and Kojima laughted and called him otaku.

To be fair though the “nuclear” part wasn’t done by him and the secret nuclear armament was made without his knowledge or consent. REX’s main cannon, according to him, was designed as a ground-to-air defense weapon, basically to track and snipe incoming missiles out of the air, and the thought of converting it to surface-to-surface use, let alone one capable of nuclear payload, honestly never occurred to him until he found out the hard way somebody had modified his life’s work to something he would never condone

taking responsibility also ties him back to his father who refused to take responsibility for anything really, so that's cool

oh hell yeah an MGS character analysis sereis

METAL GEAR ANALYSYS LET'S GOOO

Okay but very serious people on Twitter have assured me that there is nothing political about Metal Gear and there never has been, so who's to say?

Good thing he didn't inherit his father twisted mindset