Samuel Rodrigues

"Not so black and white now is it? Is your cause just or is that just what you tell youself?!"

- Sam taunting Raiden

Samuel Rodriguez is a Cyborg Ninja involved with the Desperado PSMC group who fought against Raiden during the events of 2018. He is a master swordsman of the Brazilian technique "New Shadow School", which had some derivations from the Japanese. His nickname is "Jetstream Sam."

Biography
He and Raiden first encountered each other inside of a town, where Sam participated in Desperado Enforcement's attack on an African Prime Minister's convoy. During the fight, he had killed a Maverick soldier manning an Armored Personnel Carrier's gun turret as well as three national soldiers. Maverick, after learning from Raiden that Sam was a cyborg and learned that he is unaffiliated to any of their competitors, ordered Raiden to take him out.

When the prime minister was eventually kidnapped by Sundowner, Sam fought with Raiden on a train and stalled him from rescuing the prime minister. Sam easily blocked Raiden's attacks thanks to their different sword techniques and Sam's cyborg enhancements. Raiden, in his white armor, could not keep up with Sam's blows and Sam managed to dismember Raiden's left arm and damage his left eye. During this encounter, Sam managed to see through Raiden's technique, causing Sam to tell Raiden that the latter was "denying his weapon its purpose!"

Following this encounter, Raiden would hold a deep grudge against Sam. With his enhancements, the only problem Raiden saw this time was the nickname, "Jetstream Sam." Sam would also tell his comrades, particularly Monsoon, of his observation from earlier that Raiden saw his weapon "as a tool."

Behind the scenes
Samuel Rodriguez first appeared in the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards trailer regarding Metal Gear Solid: Rising becoming Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Fans initially thought that he was Vamp, due to his strong resemblance as well as their rivalry in the trailer. The pre-E3 show on Konami's website, when covering Metal Gear Rising, revealed Sam's name during the staff interviews. In addition, in an interview released on GameTrailers on June 7, Yuji Korekado revealed that Sam is not supposed to be Vamp. In the Japanese version, Sam will be voiced by Hiroaki Hirata, who previously voiced Balthier in Final Fantasy XII. In the English and international versions, Sam will be voiced by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez.