Metal Gear Topics

The Women of Metal Gear
Thinking back, the Metal Gear series always had strong-willed and memorable women to match and balance out its distinctive men. The Metal Gear series is undoubtedly a men dominated game series, so the main storyline had always revolved around the men, with the women playing supporting roles in the background. But nearly with no exceptions, all the women characters managed to hold their own, and were each of them memorable in their own ways. Starting with METAL GEAR, resistance members Diane and Jennifer immediately comes to mind. At the time, Diane even had a bigger presence than Grey Fox. And the proud Jennifer who wouldn't respond to your calls unless you have high rank, who you need because she holds vital information. Even Elen, Dr Pettrovich's daughter who you only meet briefly, leaves the impression of a strong woman, despite being physically weak. Then comes METAL GEAR 2, which expanded multiple folds in terms of storyline as compared to the previous game. A lot more characters and drama were infused with the gameplay this time. And the female characters definitely played a role in this aspect. Most importantly of course is Holly White, the CIA agent who supported Snake inside Zanzabarland. It was always clear that other than the rough hard work macho stuff, Holly never really needed Snake to accomplish her objectives. Though flirtatious with Snake, she didn't really fall for Snake like the usual heroines do for the heroes. And after they escaped Zanzibar, they went their separate ways. Then there's the tragic Natasha Markova, the former lover of Frank Yaeger. Another strong woman. A successful professional figure skater in Russia, she gave it all up for her lover, and tried to defect to the Western world. Because of being rejected defection, she became a woman without a country, leaving her no choice but to agree to become an agent. While guarding Dr Kio Marv, she got taken together with him to Zanzibarland. By herself, she managed to escape disguised as one of the enemy soldiers. Uniting with Snake, she helped Snake rescue Dr Pettrovich, and eventually find Metal Gear. But she in the end died by a missile shot out of the Metal Gear being piloted by none other than Grey Fox himself. The sadness of her life and her death remains with the player even after the game ends. To many gamers, METAL GEAR SOLID was the first Metal Gear game. And many new female characters were in this one to give them a warm greeting. First one we meet is Naomi Hunter, who is the standard beauty. But the more we get to know her, the more we forget her beauty and see her intelligence and stunning inner strength. Her professional success despite childhood tragedies. Her life long crusade to find out truths important to her, and to do right what she deemed wrong. Behind her gentle and peaceful exterior is a determined and decisive mind. How early on she must have started down the journey she chose for herself, to seek out Solid Snake to avenge her brother Frank Yaeger. Going into the field of medicine, making her way into Fox Hound, and strong-arming the FoxDie Program from Richard Ames. What a long road it was for her to walk down alone. So strong were her convictions that people can't help but wonder exactly how much of the planned effects of the FoxDie virus were made to achieve her own personal designs. Second to appear was the cute little girl Mei Ling, who embodied the meaning of genius, and yet not in a geeky way like Otacon. Still a college student at MIT, she already designed the Soliton Radar that Snake uses. An expert in image and data processing. And at the same time an expert in ancient Chinese sayings and proverbs, though arguably so. Dreamed of becoming a pilot, and pursued the dream, but in the end denied eligibility because of her poor eyesight. (I think the English version voice casting missed the mark on her though. Her cuteness doesn't really come across, and the voice actress sounded more Korean to me than Chinese, and much older than Mei Ling should be. The Twin Snakes re-casting was closer on the mark, even though still a little bit off.) Last but not least, was Meryl Silverburgh. A female soldier. Trapped by a terrorist incident her first day reporting for duty. When given the choice to revolt with everyone else, she refused and was imprisoned. Even in her holding cell she kept her strength up, getting ready to break out the first chance she gets. Most recently is METAL GEAR SOLID 2, in which we meet for the first time Emma Emmerich, Otacon's non-blood younger sister. A genius to rival Otacon and Mei Ling. She is an expert in neural AI technology and computer data processing. At only such a young age, she was already the main programmer responsible for the Arsenal GW artificial intelligence. It is said, that fearing nothing is not true courage, true courage is fearing something but doing it anyway. This we see in Emma, who is the typical book worm, the kind who's afraid of everything. And yet, to stop the Arsenal Gear, and to meet her brother again, she managed to squeeze out the courage that she does not possess. That is probably more than most people can say about themselves. At least she got to see her beloved brother one last time before she died, which completed her tragedy. Otacon was definitely the more cowardice in this relationship. He was definitely the one in the wrong. Supporting Raiden was Rosemary, who was the first real womanly female character in the series. A complete civilian having nothing to do with the mission, she chose to give Raiden remote aid of her own will. Unlike with all the female characters in the past, this kind of thing was not her profession of choice. Her strength in supporting the man she loves is a first time in the series. Of course, we find out in the end that she was actually a spy sent by the Patriots to monitor Raiden. But she really did fall in love with Raiden. And from a certain point on, her actions were no longer the will of the Patriots, but her own. And lastly, Olga Gurlukovich. A woman with a mind of her own. She would rather be in the front line carrying out the mission she believes in than to listen to her father and retreat to safety. Strong both in body and mind, it's no surprise she would eventually lead a troop of her own. Knowing how important her soldiers are to her, one can only begin to imagine how hard it was for her to make a choice between them and her son. But it wasn't that much a betrayal on her part, because for her son, she was even willing to forfeit her own life. She was indeed a woman who's had to face some very difficult decisions. More difficult than the decisions most of the men in Metal Gear had to face. After remembering all the women of Metal Gear in the past, I do wonder, in METAL GEAR SOLID 3, what kind of women will The Boss and Eva turn out to be. At least one thing is to be expected, they will undoubtedly be remarkable women. 8.20.2004

The Women of Metal Gear

Thinking back, the Metal Gear series always had strong-willed and memorable women to match and balance out its distinctive men.
The Metal Gear series is undoubtedly a men dominated game series, so the main storyline had always revolved around the men, with the women playing supporting roles in the background. But nearly with no exceptions, all the women characters managed to hold their own, and were each of them memorable in their own ways.

Starting with METAL GEAR, resistance members Diane and Jennifer immediately comes to mind. At the time, Diane even had a bigger presence than Grey Fox. And the proud Jennifer who wouldn't respond to your calls unless you have high rank, who you need because she holds vital information.
Even Elen, Dr Pettrovich's daughter who you only meet briefly, leaves the impression of a strong woman, despite being physically weak.

Then comes METAL GEAR 2, which expanded multiple folds in terms of storyline as compared to the previous game. A lot more characters and drama were infused with the gameplay this time. And the female characters definitely played a role in this aspect. Most importantly of course is Holly White, the CIA agent who supported Snake inside Zanzabarland. It was always clear that other than the rough hard work macho stuff, Holly never really needed Snake to accomplish her objectives. Though flirtatious with Snake, she didn't really fall for Snake like the usual heroines do for the heroes. And after they escaped Zanzibar, they went their separate ways.
Then there's the tragic Natasha Markova, the former lover of Frank Yaeger. Another strong woman. A successful professional figure skater in Russia, she gave it all up for her lover, and tried to defect to the Western world. Because of being rejected defection, she became a woman without a country, leaving her no choice but to agree to become an agent. While guarding Dr Kio Marv, she got taken together with him to Zanzibarland. By herself, she managed to escape disguised as one of the enemy soldiers. Uniting with Snake, she helped Snake rescue Dr Pettrovich, and eventually find Metal Gear. But she in the end died by a missile shot out of the Metal Gear being piloted by none other than Grey Fox himself. The sadness of her life and her death remains with the player even after the game ends.

To many gamers, METAL GEAR SOLID was the first Metal Gear game. And many new female characters were in this one to give them a warm greeting.
First one we meet is Naomi Hunter, who is the standard beauty. But the more we get to know her, the more we forget her beauty and see her intelligence and stunning inner strength. Her professional success despite childhood tragedies. Her life long crusade to find out truths important to her, and to do right what she deemed wrong. Behind her gentle and peaceful exterior is a determined and decisive mind. How early on she must have started down the journey she chose for herself, to seek out Solid Snake to avenge her brother Frank Yaeger. Going into the field of medicine, making her way into Fox Hound, and strong-arming the FoxDie Program from Richard Ames. What a long road it was for her to walk down alone. So strong were her convictions that people can't help but wonder exactly how much of the planned effects of the FoxDie virus were made to achieve her own personal designs.
Second to appear was the cute little girl Mei Ling, who embodied the meaning of genius, and yet not in a geeky way like Otacon. Still a college student at MIT, she already designed the Soliton Radar that Snake uses. An expert in image and data processing. And at the same time an expert in ancient Chinese sayings and proverbs, though arguably so. Dreamed of becoming a pilot, and pursued the dream, but in the end denied eligibility because of her poor eyesight.
(I think the English version voice casting missed the mark on her though. Her cuteness doesn't really come across, and the voice actress sounded more Korean to me than Chinese, and much older than Mei Ling should be. The Twin Snakes re-casting was closer on the mark, even though still a little bit off.)
Last but not least, was Meryl Silverburgh. A female soldier. Trapped by a terrorist incident her first day reporting for duty. When given the choice to revolt with everyone else, she refused and was imprisoned. Even in her holding cell she kept her strength up, getting ready to break out the first chance she gets.

Most recently is METAL GEAR SOLID 2, in which we meet for the first time Emma Emmerich, Otacon's non-blood younger sister. A genius to rival Otacon and Mei Ling. She is an expert in neural AI technology and computer data processing. At only such a young age, she was already the main programmer responsible for the Arsenal GW artificial intelligence. It is said, that fearing nothing is not true courage, true courage is fearing something but doing it anyway. This we see in Emma, who is the typical book worm, the kind who's afraid of everything. And yet, to stop the Arsenal Gear, and to meet her brother again, she managed to squeeze out the courage that she does not possess. That is probably more than most people can say about themselves. At least she got to see her beloved brother one last time before she died, which completed her tragedy. Otacon was definitely the more cowardice in this relationship. He was definitely the one in the wrong.
Supporting Raiden was Rosemary, who was the first real womanly female character in the series. A complete civilian having nothing to do with the mission, she chose to give Raiden remote aid of her own will. Unlike with all the female characters in the past, this kind of thing was not her profession of choice. Her strength in supporting the man she loves is a first time in the series.
Of course, we find out in the end that she was actually a spy sent by the Patriots to monitor Raiden. But she really did fall in love with Raiden. And from a certain point on, her actions were no longer the will of the Patriots, but her own.
And lastly, Olga Gurlukovich. A woman with a mind of her own. She would rather be in the front line carrying out the mission she believes in than to listen to her father and retreat to safety. Strong both in body and mind, it's no surprise she would eventually lead a troop of her own. Knowing how important her soldiers are to her, one can only begin to imagine how hard it was for her to make a choice between them and her son. But it wasn't that much a betrayal on her part, because for her son, she was even willing to forfeit her own life. She was indeed a woman who's had to face some very difficult decisions. More difficult than the decisions most of the men in Metal Gear had to face.

After remembering all the women of Metal Gear in the past, I do wonder, in METAL GEAR SOLID 3, what kind of women will The Boss and Eva turn out to be.
At least one thing is to be expected, they will undoubtedly be remarkable women.

8.20.2004

← BACK