THE THREE SNAKE CLONES
Jun. 20th, 2010 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hebbycakesNOTE: The following is just my thoughts and rambles about what I like and dislike about the three Snake clones, why I feel certain ways about them, etc. In FM chat we had a short discussion about it and it got me thinking, thus this entry came to be. Please do not think I am attacking anyone's beliefs or enjoyment of the game series of any of the characters, and please don't assume that I think my opinion is the only one that should exist. I just feel like talking about something for a very long time since my period cramps have started and I have nothing better to do.
Let's start with my least favorite of the three clones, Liquid Snake. To be fair, I'll give my points of why I do like him, and I don't completely hate him like I do other characters (COUGH FATMAN COUGH). There are no characters that I hate entirely, and if there are, there are usually simple reasons for them. As for Liquid, he's very complex, but his first impression wasn't the best for me. To start with some good points, he's handsome. True, he takes after his father, Big Boss, in that regard, but he also doesn't have any facial hair and that shows him off more. He's also in shape, and very confident about everything he does. He's strong, flexible, and very quick. Apparently he's even better at CQC than Solid is. And the major bonus is he's voiced by Cam Clarke, whom I adored as Kratos Aurion in Symphonia. I think, had he not been so mentally unstable, he and Snake could have worked well together. I find it extremely sad how these two twin brothers have such hatred for each other, though I don't see this as entirely Liquid or Solid's fault. It's true that Liquid was incredibly screwed up, and Solid didn't give much in the ways of trying to understand him, but I'm going to give Solid the benefit of the doubt here and point out a few important things: Liquid doesn't tell Solid anything about what he went through in the middle east. In fact, he barely tells him anything beyond "you were father's favorite" and "i hate you for having the better genes". Solid hadn't even known he had a brother, or that he was a clone until the end of the game. And Liquid never tried to actually sit down and talk with him about it, though it's unclear if Solid would have listened*. Instead, Solid was sent in on a mission to infiltrate Shadow Moses island and eliminate the giant weapon that Liquid had, not knowing anything about what was going on. He was lied to by everyone during the entire mission, as well as anything about Liquid Snake. Liquid killed Solid's beloved friend and teacher, Miller, and assumed him as a disguise, feeding Solid more lies. He also had Solid tortured, tried to kill him multiple times, without so much as a simple explanation. Just littered the air with "I hate you"s. The only thing Solid really knew about family was that his father had tricked him into killing him, pretty much. And the dying words as the man began to burn to death in front of Solid were "I am your father". True, at the time, Liquid was suffering elsewhere, hatred brewing inside of him, and I understand how horrible it was for him, that he ended up losing his mind. But I think something very important is that if I remember that Solid doesn't know anything about Liquid, and only sees this maniac that hates him and is trying to end him at every moment, he's not going to try and talk to the guy. Liquid has charisma, but he's so rash that he can barely formulate a proper thought when talking to his brother. Now that I know more about Liquid, I do like him more than I did in the beginning, and it makes me even more sad that he and Solid never got along in the games. Brothers should never fight as they did. But I also think that Liquid spent his entire life working to kill the wrong man. If he'd devoted that hatred to stopping the Patriots, it could have worked out for the better.
*= I'll explain this in further detail when I get to Solid's part.
Let's move onto Solidus Snake. Solidus is one of my most favorite characters, mostly because of his ideals for the world. He was not out to control the world, but to free it from complete control. However, he, like the rest of the Snakes, had major flaws to his character. For his good points, Solidus is an admirable thinker. He's always thinking, he uses his brain more than his brawn, he's been used countless times by the Patriots, and he's learned how to think like a Politician. He's a liar, and a damn good one. He's got charisma, whenever he speaks I feel myself become stuck and listening like an eager child. His eyes are also beautiful. Most of the facial expressions he makes in MGS2 have me feeling heartbroken, and at the same time, full of questions. When he's not saying anything, you can just tell he's thinking about a billion different issues. However, Solidus also has major flaws which even I feel ashamed about. These being his way of carrying things out. I can understand his anger at being a clone whose reproductive ability was genetically engineered out of his genetic code, but did he really want a son or did he just want a way to be remembered in history? For the way he raised Jack by killing the boy's parents, I think it becomes painfully obvious which mattered to him more. The Small Boy Unit is a horror to imagine, and how gunpowder was mixed into their food to keep the boys' emotions almost at null. It was sickening. And the fact that Solidus had organized it, too, was also quite disgusting. He told Jack that he raised him, that he named him, that he was his Godfather, but in reality, it seems all Jack was to Solidus was just a means to be recorded in history. Anyway to be remembered by the next generation. Solidus' methods were heavily misguided, just as Big Boss's were. Becoming President, he learned he had no power of his own, being completely controlled by the Patriots. His only real act on his own was the Shadow Moses incident, which ended up failing entirely, with the Metal Gear blueprints being leaked all over the web, and consequently, Solidus becoming a target for the Patriots' hatred. Dead Cell was his family, though they were made to look like a terrorist group by the Patriots. With what Solidus did in his past, though, it's no surprise. But I still find him incredibly intriguing. This is the game where you fight FOR the Patriots, not against them. It's incredibly sad. In MGS4, it sounds like Solid respects Solidus somewhat more than he did in MGS2, especially as he continually remembers what Solidus said about the future of war and the economy. Big Boss hated being seen as an icon, but Solidus loved it... Though it was hardly anything to do with Big Boss anymore. For Solidus, he wanted the same thing Liquid did: To be recognized. But for Solidus, being recognized was insufficient, he also wanted to be remembered. And the only ones that remember him in the end are his son, and his final brother, Solid.
Finally, my favorite clone: Solid Snake. The main hero of the franchise, who has good points but also a slew of negative points. However, perhaps I'm a little biased since I really love his character, but I really believe what he says about legends. "You'll fall back on them when you meet me. The reality is no match for the legend, I'm afraid." For good points, Solid is a huge derp at most things in life. He can't cook, he loves dogs, he loves boxes, and makes corny remarks about almost anything he can. He's also really sarcastic, which can be one of his major bad points, but it adds to his derp. He made friends with an anime otaku nerd scientist who named himself after an anime convention. That says a lot about Snake already. He's a persistent guy, and often times he fights for what he believes in, though he's unlucky in the fact that he's lied to in pretty much every game he's in. This also makes him really gullible. He has a sense of humor, but it only gets drier with each game, so often times he laughs at things that no one else finds funny. He also seems to like butts, which he comments on in MGS1 upon talking to Meryl in the bathroom. Though for his bad points, there are many. He's self-centered, hypocritical, antagonistic, easily angered, impatient, and not at all empathetic. It's a wonder how he's even apart of Philanthropy. Though he mellowed out some in MGS2, in MGS1 we can really see how bad he was. He even told Meryl he was never interested in other peoples' lives(* point from before), and never answered any of her questions when she asked. He's a good listener, and good at following orders, though not much else when it comes to dealing with people. He tells people not to do things and then does them himself, he lectures others about fighting for what they believe even though he's always just fighting because he's ordered to do it, he seems to have a knack for antagonizing the wrong people (COUGH SOLIDUS COUGH), and even throwing around defenseless nerds, which is also part of his way of being easily-angered. In Solid's defense, though, when he lifted up Otacon for the second time, he'd been tortured three times already and was at the end of his rope. In MGS4, he insulted Sunny's cooking a few times, which was not only hypocritical, but downright antagonizing. He can't cook worth shit, and she's just a little girl. Snake has pretty much zero-people skills, even though at times he's charismatic. Talking is not his specialty. After having killed Big Boss in MG2, Snake had gone off to Alaska to live by himself and raise wolf dogs. It's obvious that he'd been mentally scarred by the final words of Big Boss, and the sight of the man burning to death in front of him. From then on, he'd have to get used to being betrayed by almost everyone he knew, whether he liked it or not. Being told by Liquid that he was father's favorite, Solid was probably extremely confused, since he knew that Big Boss hated him, too, which was why Big Boss tried to kill him in Outer Heaven. "Snake, you enjoy killing!" To say that to a man that killed his own father was pretty damn low, and considering in MGS1 where you couldn't use tranqs, it just made things harder for Solid. In the very end, Snake ended up killing his mother, father, and uncle, all due to the foxdie within his body. And eventually, he'd die, too. Even though Solid fails entirely as a likable character, I still find myself attracted to his character traits. He's a clone, but he's also very human. And his life sucks balls. I guess if Liquid had been the main character of the series and hadn't been portrayed as a villain in MGS1, I would have liked him more, too, but the whining... I felt it was overkill on a man who was completely oblivious to having a family in the first place.
There's probably a lot more I'd like to add, but I can't think anymore.
Let's start with my least favorite of the three clones, Liquid Snake. To be fair, I'll give my points of why I do like him, and I don't completely hate him like I do other characters (COUGH FATMAN COUGH). There are no characters that I hate entirely, and if there are, there are usually simple reasons for them. As for Liquid, he's very complex, but his first impression wasn't the best for me. To start with some good points, he's handsome. True, he takes after his father, Big Boss, in that regard, but he also doesn't have any facial hair and that shows him off more. He's also in shape, and very confident about everything he does. He's strong, flexible, and very quick. Apparently he's even better at CQC than Solid is. And the major bonus is he's voiced by Cam Clarke, whom I adored as Kratos Aurion in Symphonia. I think, had he not been so mentally unstable, he and Snake could have worked well together. I find it extremely sad how these two twin brothers have such hatred for each other, though I don't see this as entirely Liquid or Solid's fault. It's true that Liquid was incredibly screwed up, and Solid didn't give much in the ways of trying to understand him, but I'm going to give Solid the benefit of the doubt here and point out a few important things: Liquid doesn't tell Solid anything about what he went through in the middle east. In fact, he barely tells him anything beyond "you were father's favorite" and "i hate you for having the better genes". Solid hadn't even known he had a brother, or that he was a clone until the end of the game. And Liquid never tried to actually sit down and talk with him about it, though it's unclear if Solid would have listened*. Instead, Solid was sent in on a mission to infiltrate Shadow Moses island and eliminate the giant weapon that Liquid had, not knowing anything about what was going on. He was lied to by everyone during the entire mission, as well as anything about Liquid Snake. Liquid killed Solid's beloved friend and teacher, Miller, and assumed him as a disguise, feeding Solid more lies. He also had Solid tortured, tried to kill him multiple times, without so much as a simple explanation. Just littered the air with "I hate you"s. The only thing Solid really knew about family was that his father had tricked him into killing him, pretty much. And the dying words as the man began to burn to death in front of Solid were "I am your father". True, at the time, Liquid was suffering elsewhere, hatred brewing inside of him, and I understand how horrible it was for him, that he ended up losing his mind. But I think something very important is that if I remember that Solid doesn't know anything about Liquid, and only sees this maniac that hates him and is trying to end him at every moment, he's not going to try and talk to the guy. Liquid has charisma, but he's so rash that he can barely formulate a proper thought when talking to his brother. Now that I know more about Liquid, I do like him more than I did in the beginning, and it makes me even more sad that he and Solid never got along in the games. Brothers should never fight as they did. But I also think that Liquid spent his entire life working to kill the wrong man. If he'd devoted that hatred to stopping the Patriots, it could have worked out for the better.
*= I'll explain this in further detail when I get to Solid's part.
Let's move onto Solidus Snake. Solidus is one of my most favorite characters, mostly because of his ideals for the world. He was not out to control the world, but to free it from complete control. However, he, like the rest of the Snakes, had major flaws to his character. For his good points, Solidus is an admirable thinker. He's always thinking, he uses his brain more than his brawn, he's been used countless times by the Patriots, and he's learned how to think like a Politician. He's a liar, and a damn good one. He's got charisma, whenever he speaks I feel myself become stuck and listening like an eager child. His eyes are also beautiful. Most of the facial expressions he makes in MGS2 have me feeling heartbroken, and at the same time, full of questions. When he's not saying anything, you can just tell he's thinking about a billion different issues. However, Solidus also has major flaws which even I feel ashamed about. These being his way of carrying things out. I can understand his anger at being a clone whose reproductive ability was genetically engineered out of his genetic code, but did he really want a son or did he just want a way to be remembered in history? For the way he raised Jack by killing the boy's parents, I think it becomes painfully obvious which mattered to him more. The Small Boy Unit is a horror to imagine, and how gunpowder was mixed into their food to keep the boys' emotions almost at null. It was sickening. And the fact that Solidus had organized it, too, was also quite disgusting. He told Jack that he raised him, that he named him, that he was his Godfather, but in reality, it seems all Jack was to Solidus was just a means to be recorded in history. Anyway to be remembered by the next generation. Solidus' methods were heavily misguided, just as Big Boss's were. Becoming President, he learned he had no power of his own, being completely controlled by the Patriots. His only real act on his own was the Shadow Moses incident, which ended up failing entirely, with the Metal Gear blueprints being leaked all over the web, and consequently, Solidus becoming a target for the Patriots' hatred. Dead Cell was his family, though they were made to look like a terrorist group by the Patriots. With what Solidus did in his past, though, it's no surprise. But I still find him incredibly intriguing. This is the game where you fight FOR the Patriots, not against them. It's incredibly sad. In MGS4, it sounds like Solid respects Solidus somewhat more than he did in MGS2, especially as he continually remembers what Solidus said about the future of war and the economy. Big Boss hated being seen as an icon, but Solidus loved it... Though it was hardly anything to do with Big Boss anymore. For Solidus, he wanted the same thing Liquid did: To be recognized. But for Solidus, being recognized was insufficient, he also wanted to be remembered. And the only ones that remember him in the end are his son, and his final brother, Solid.
Finally, my favorite clone: Solid Snake. The main hero of the franchise, who has good points but also a slew of negative points. However, perhaps I'm a little biased since I really love his character, but I really believe what he says about legends. "You'll fall back on them when you meet me. The reality is no match for the legend, I'm afraid." For good points, Solid is a huge derp at most things in life. He can't cook, he loves dogs, he loves boxes, and makes corny remarks about almost anything he can. He's also really sarcastic, which can be one of his major bad points, but it adds to his derp. He made friends with an anime otaku nerd scientist who named himself after an anime convention. That says a lot about Snake already. He's a persistent guy, and often times he fights for what he believes in, though he's unlucky in the fact that he's lied to in pretty much every game he's in. This also makes him really gullible. He has a sense of humor, but it only gets drier with each game, so often times he laughs at things that no one else finds funny. He also seems to like butts, which he comments on in MGS1 upon talking to Meryl in the bathroom. Though for his bad points, there are many. He's self-centered, hypocritical, antagonistic, easily angered, impatient, and not at all empathetic. It's a wonder how he's even apart of Philanthropy. Though he mellowed out some in MGS2, in MGS1 we can really see how bad he was. He even told Meryl he was never interested in other peoples' lives(* point from before), and never answered any of her questions when she asked. He's a good listener, and good at following orders, though not much else when it comes to dealing with people. He tells people not to do things and then does them himself, he lectures others about fighting for what they believe even though he's always just fighting because he's ordered to do it, he seems to have a knack for antagonizing the wrong people (COUGH SOLIDUS COUGH), and even throwing around defenseless nerds, which is also part of his way of being easily-angered. In Solid's defense, though, when he lifted up Otacon for the second time, he'd been tortured three times already and was at the end of his rope. In MGS4, he insulted Sunny's cooking a few times, which was not only hypocritical, but downright antagonizing. He can't cook worth shit, and she's just a little girl. Snake has pretty much zero-people skills, even though at times he's charismatic. Talking is not his specialty. After having killed Big Boss in MG2, Snake had gone off to Alaska to live by himself and raise wolf dogs. It's obvious that he'd been mentally scarred by the final words of Big Boss, and the sight of the man burning to death in front of him. From then on, he'd have to get used to being betrayed by almost everyone he knew, whether he liked it or not. Being told by Liquid that he was father's favorite, Solid was probably extremely confused, since he knew that Big Boss hated him, too, which was why Big Boss tried to kill him in Outer Heaven. "Snake, you enjoy killing!" To say that to a man that killed his own father was pretty damn low, and considering in MGS1 where you couldn't use tranqs, it just made things harder for Solid. In the very end, Snake ended up killing his mother, father, and uncle, all due to the foxdie within his body. And eventually, he'd die, too. Even though Solid fails entirely as a likable character, I still find myself attracted to his character traits. He's a clone, but he's also very human. And his life sucks balls. I guess if Liquid had been the main character of the series and hadn't been portrayed as a villain in MGS1, I would have liked him more, too, but the whining... I felt it was overkill on a man who was completely oblivious to having a family in the first place.
There's probably a lot more I'd like to add, but I can't think anymore.
