Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4913740-20130628164607

So I think it's safe to assume the majority of contributors on this wiki have seen all the Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes trailers. We're all hyped as hell for MGSV

Now in the very first Phantom Pain trailer shown at the VGA's, before it was confirmed as an MGS title, we see a Psycho Mantis lookalike about 48 seconds in

For posterity's sake, here it is:



This looks like kid-Mantis, with the mask and the hallucinations of a burning Volgin and whatnot.

Continuing on, an early theory (one that I endorsed heavily prior to the E3 trailer) was that Skull Face, then an unknown character following the GDC trailer, was actually Decoy Octopus. Of course, I have my doubts about that now, but as I was perusing the Metal Gear Solid Official Mission Handbook, a Konami strategy guide for MGS1, I noticed something interesting. It was artwork of Snake, along with the "good guys" next to Liquid, along with the "bad guys". A very poetic image of the "Twin Snakes" and their allies.

But what piqued my interest in this picture was one of the characters. I almost couldn't identify him, but by power of elimination, I think it's Decoy Octopus.



On the far right. He's not wearing his usual coat, but it appears that he has a lack of ears and a flattened nose; characteristics attributed to Decoy Octopus without a diguise.

Now, the reason this caught my attention is because of a certain resemblance it holds to a character (or a few) seen in The Phantom Pain E3 Trailer. If you are not sure who I mean, it's some of the soldiers that appear with the tagline "Those Who Don't Exist", along with good ol' Mantis and his hallucinations.

It's a big stretch, I know. But look. These three soldiers bear a resemblance to who I assume is Octopus in the above artwork.

It may be a Konami-licensed strategy guide and therefore unconfirmed canon in some places. But Shinkawa would've done the art. And when considering the  design of these soldiers, who may include Octopus and Mantis, Kojima and Shinkawa may have considered that drawing they did. Perhaps Octopus is one of many masters of disguise?

Let me know what you think below.  