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the_sun_is_upSo I was on TV Tropes this evening, and my wiki walk went something like this: Zero Punctuation -> Metal Gear Solid -> MGS HoYay -> I ended up on Youtube watching a cutscene from MGS 4, specifically the fight scene between Raiden and Vamp.
I've never played any of MGS, nor had I seen any of the cutscenes prior to now, and for that matter, I don't play video games period (except Minecraft, bawww). With that context established, I have a few observations:
1. I'll be honest here, I spent most of this cutscene laughing my ass off. I say this as someone who has watched a large amount of extremely weird and/or stupid anime: this is possibly the most ridiculous fight scene I have ever seen. When Raiden started his little breakdancing thing, I completely lost it, and it only got sillier from there. What is up with their shoes? Why does Vamp keep making those flamboyant poses? Why is there so much acrobatic flipping through the air? Why does Raiden feel the need to twirl his katana (I'm assuming it's a katana because they're Just Better) around in the air for about 5 minutes before sheathing it after the fight is over? (Okay I'll admit that Vamp shoving the dagger through his chest to retrieve it was pretty cool. And I like all the sword/knife sound effects and the music.)
Actually, thinking back over other ridiculous fight scenes I've seen in the past, I think this one would be a lot less giggle-inducing if it were done in traditional animation rather than realistic CGI. Which brings me to...
2. This cutscene reminded me of one of the reasons why I've never gotten into gaming: I can't stand the trying-to-be-realistic CGI art style of so many current video games. It just falls straight into the Uncanny Valley for me. I kept being distracted by how Raiden's hair swished in a way that screamed CGI and how Naomi (?) and Otacon's facial expressions looked unsettlingly off. I remember a while back when I got on /u/'s Fang/Vanille bandwagon and googled up some shippy fanvids of them, but found myself completely repulsed and unable to enjoy the LesYay because the characters looked like moving plastic dolls with eerily glossy skin and very limited facial musculature. I guess one gets used to the art style if one plays these sorts of games a lot, but personally it creeps me the hell out.
3. I am amazed, nay, impressed that so many straight men are able to enjoy this game series. I mean, don't gamer fanboys have a reputation for freaking out when presented with anything remotely feminine or homoerotic? By which I mean to say, THIS IS THE GAYEST SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN, YOU GUYS. I knew MGS had a reputation for large amounts of HoYay, but good lord!
Let's see, we have a pretty white-haired bishonen who appears to be wearing skintight latex and high heels; we have a guy who seems to be the gender-flipped version of a Lesbian Vampire and who also dresses in very tight clothing which reveals most of his hairy chest; we have a fight scene in which the vampy guy ties up the bishonen guy and proceeds to gleefully and sadomasochistically stab him several times with aphallic symbol knife that he keeps in his crotch, and then he licks the bishonen guy's white blood off of the phallic symbol crotch-knife, and then there's the end of the fight which... I don't know if I can properly describe, but I'll try: Vamp jumps behind Raiden and gets him in a chokehold, so Raiden takes his katana and stabs himself through the torso and pushes the blade through so that it also stabs Vamp through the torso. And then they're stuck like that, in the upright spooning position, joined by the katana that's impaling both of them, and they're like struggling around and grappling with each other and grimacing at each other and they're doing this for a good twenty seconds.
...
Actually forget what I said about the creepy art style and the silly fight choreography — I should definitely play this game. It seems relevant to my interests. It seems relevant to most fangirls' interests.
Also, the main character's default outfit is a skintight latex suit that makes him look like he's wearing a corset. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the costume design meetings for these games.
4. What's up with Raiden's jaw?
I've never played any of MGS, nor had I seen any of the cutscenes prior to now, and for that matter, I don't play video games period (except Minecraft, bawww). With that context established, I have a few observations:
1. I'll be honest here, I spent most of this cutscene laughing my ass off. I say this as someone who has watched a large amount of extremely weird and/or stupid anime: this is possibly the most ridiculous fight scene I have ever seen. When Raiden started his little breakdancing thing, I completely lost it, and it only got sillier from there. What is up with their shoes? Why does Vamp keep making those flamboyant poses? Why is there so much acrobatic flipping through the air? Why does Raiden feel the need to twirl his katana (I'm assuming it's a katana because they're Just Better) around in the air for about 5 minutes before sheathing it after the fight is over? (Okay I'll admit that Vamp shoving the dagger through his chest to retrieve it was pretty cool. And I like all the sword/knife sound effects and the music.)
Actually, thinking back over other ridiculous fight scenes I've seen in the past, I think this one would be a lot less giggle-inducing if it were done in traditional animation rather than realistic CGI. Which brings me to...
2. This cutscene reminded me of one of the reasons why I've never gotten into gaming: I can't stand the trying-to-be-realistic CGI art style of so many current video games. It just falls straight into the Uncanny Valley for me. I kept being distracted by how Raiden's hair swished in a way that screamed CGI and how Naomi (?) and Otacon's facial expressions looked unsettlingly off. I remember a while back when I got on /u/'s Fang/Vanille bandwagon and googled up some shippy fanvids of them, but found myself completely repulsed and unable to enjoy the LesYay because the characters looked like moving plastic dolls with eerily glossy skin and very limited facial musculature. I guess one gets used to the art style if one plays these sorts of games a lot, but personally it creeps me the hell out.
3. I am amazed, nay, impressed that so many straight men are able to enjoy this game series. I mean, don't gamer fanboys have a reputation for freaking out when presented with anything remotely feminine or homoerotic? By which I mean to say, THIS IS THE GAYEST SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN, YOU GUYS. I knew MGS had a reputation for large amounts of HoYay, but good lord!
Let's see, we have a pretty white-haired bishonen who appears to be wearing skintight latex and high heels; we have a guy who seems to be the gender-flipped version of a Lesbian Vampire and who also dresses in very tight clothing which reveals most of his hairy chest; we have a fight scene in which the vampy guy ties up the bishonen guy and proceeds to gleefully and sadomasochistically stab him several times with a
...
Actually forget what I said about the creepy art style and the silly fight choreography — I should definitely play this game. It seems relevant to my interests. It seems relevant to most fangirls' interests.
Also, the main character's default outfit is a skintight latex suit that makes him look like he's wearing a corset. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the costume design meetings for these games.
4. What's up with Raiden's jaw?
no subject
Date: 2014-07-01 06:38 pm (UTC)"What is up with their shoes?"
They have claws on the toes; there's an enemy you encounter earlier that uses them to stick to walls.
"Why does Vamp keep making those flamboyant poses?"
Vamp's movement's (and to a slight extent his appearance) was modeled after flamenco dancer Joaquín Cortés.
"Why does Raiden feel the need to twirl his katana (I'm assuming it's a katana because they're Just Better) around in the air for about 5 minutes before sheathing it after the fight is over?"
He's cleaning it by flinging the blood off of it.
"...appears to be wearing skintight latex and high heels;[...]What's up with Raiden's jaw?"
Raiden is a cyborg, whose body from the lower jaw onward was replaced with synthetic parts; it's not so much skintight latex, as it is tight latex skin.
The high heels are actually opposable, allowing him to hold swords with his feet.
...we have a guy who seems to be the gender-flipped version of a Lesbian Vampire
During MGS2's production Vamp's design went from
"Sexy Bisexual female vampire" to
"Sexy Bisexual male crossdressing vampire" to
"Sexy Bisexual male vampire"
If you haven't already played this series and still want to, I should warn you that the series is fairly lore-heavy.
Ideally, you would start with MGS1, the series that was popular enough for a sequel,
followed by MGS2, the game Director Kojima decided to experiment with postmodernism, confusing and angering many into badgering him for a "proper ending" over the next half decade,
and ending with MGS4, the hastily-written-due-to-death-threats explanation of everything that happened in MGS2.
You could admittedly start with MGS2, but then you wouldn't have your experiences in MGS1 as a context for your experience in MGS2 (a necessary component of the aforementioned postmodernism).