Board Thread:Metal Gear Solid V/@comment-4913740-20140331092208

So the topic of Big Boss returning to FOXHOUND is in debate currently. Us fans cannot possibly envision how Zero would allow BB to return to FOXHOUND and take command in any capacity, given the control he garners already over the United States at the time of Ground Zeroes.

But this is not a detail that is easily retconned. Snake will return to the United States and retake command of FOXHOUND in order to play the double role he undertakes in Metal Gear 1 and fight his son in order to pursue the Outer Heaven Uprising.

So how could he do it??

The answer, in my opinion, lies within the second enemy of Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. While Zero / Cipher is always the primary antagonist, GZ has introduced another: Skull Face, and his mirror unit XOF. The XOF name and patch are direct inversions of the FOX name and patch. He's basically ripped off the original FOX unit.

When you sneak into the prison camp in Ground Zeroes and break Chico out of his cage, you can eavesdrop on a conversation with two guards at the prison gate. They talk about an XOF patch in the area (there's one near the gate for those who want to collect it) and one of them muses about how he recalls seeing it before. He can't remember the full details however, and the two guards part.

So here we see, confusion for this guard. He recognises the patch partially, but because it's a mirror of the FOX patch, he doesn't fully recall.

And this is where more people will become confused. If a group of soldiers is seen killing children in a small town, with a patch on their arm that says FOX and has a picture of a FOX, would they be able to identify whether it was Snake's men or Skull Face's men?

The Phantom Pain will culminate with Snake destroying XOF and defeating Skull Face. But what reputation will XOF attract? And how much of that will be caused by confusion between FOX and XOF?

Snake will gain credit for taking out Skull Face, whose unit allegedly killed many innocent children and tortured POWs and committed atrocities. And Zero, having built up Big Boss as an idol, a legend, an image for the Patriots, will have no way of stopping Big Boss from taking command of FOXHOUND.

Because to reveal that information, information regarding Cipher and Skull Face would also need to be revealed. And that is how Snake ties Zero's hand in this affair.

Thoughts, anybody? 