Samuel Rodrigues

Samuel Rodriguez is a Cyborg Ninja involved with the Desperado PMSC 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 codename is "Jetstream" and his serial number is 977-AZQEE.

Africa
Samuel Rodriguez, alongside Desperado, ambushed the African prime minister, N'Mani's convoy, blocking the lead vehicle. The lead man then tried to tell him to get out of the way, also warning that he'll use lethal force if he does not comply. Sam then proceeded to rush at the vehicle, dodging the gunner's machinegun fire before jumping at the air, proceeding to deflect the bullets and then taking him out with his sword. He is then surrounded by the remaining soldiers of Maverick while the prime minister's limousine escaped. However, he let off a smirk while watching them leave, knowing that their escape was fruitless. He then proceeded to take out the Maverick soldiers, as well as several national soldiers. Eventually, N'Mani was captured by the Desperado leader, Sundowner, and the two men rendezvoused on the train, the latter having boarded it to evade Maverick when surrounded. Afterwards, the Maverick member Raiden, having boarded the train himself in pursuit of Sundowner, attempted to stop Sundowner from killing N'Mani, but Sam stood in his way. After Sundowner made his escape, Sam then proceeded to duel with Raiden aboard the train while inside the train tunnel. 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 via his shoto ejecting its blade. 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!" Afterwards, after rupturing a propane tank, he then managed sever Raiden's arm nearing the end of the train. He then attempted to finish off Raiden when he had him in his mercy. However, he then realized that Raiden effectively stalled him with his abilities long enough for them to reach the end of the tunnel, and proceeded to hold off Maverick's reinforcements for Raiden before escaping onto the Tiltrotor, his escape also being ensured with the built-in flares of the aircraft when Maverick commander Boris attempted to shoot it down with a missile launcher.

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." Sam's weapon is passed down to him from his father, indicating that there is a lineage of Rodriguez ninjas/swordsmen.

At some point later, Raiden eventually encounters Sam at Colorado and gets into a fight with him. He later observed the duel between Raiden and Monsoon, and eventually he himself had a final duel with Raiden in the Badlands, with Bladewolf bearing witness to it. He is killed by Raiden in the Badlands following a swift stab through his stomach following an intense battle. He apparently planned to duel Raiden since 2016, but when he was about to do it, a blonde person cast him some doubts. Prior to his duel and ultimate death, he informed Bladewolf that, depending on what the outcome as, they'll either cover it up as an international incident, or he'll hand down his sword to Bladewolf, and leave Wolf with the decision of what to do with it. This eventually resulted in Bladewolf delivering the sword to Raiden when the latter was at Senator Steven Armstrong's mercy.

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. His debut is similar to his first appearance in the game, where he takes down a Maverick cyborg APC gunner and also ends up surrounded by Maverick soldiers. However, some differences include him smirking at Raiden (who is in his black armor instead of his white armor) instead of simply smirking at the limo's escape, as well as Boris, upon learning from Raiden and Courtney that Sam was a cyborg and learned that he is unaffiliated to any of their competitors, respectively, ordering Raiden to take him out. His appearance in the trailer was also slightly different, possessing a blue and white cyborg body. Fans initially thought that he was Vamp, due to his strong resemblance as well as their rivalry in the trailer. Sam was first briefly mentioned in a leaked casting call, causing some suspicion from the description that Sam was the cyborg Raiden encountered in the trailer. The pre-E3 show on Konami's website, when covering Metal Gear Rising, confirmed Sam's name and identity during the staff interviews. In addition, in an interview released on GameTrailers on June 7, 2012, 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 and was best known as the voice of Sanji in One Piece. In the English and international versions, Sam will be voiced by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez.

In a leaked casting call, there was a request for at least four actors for characters that would appear in an in-development (at the time) live action trailer for Metal Gear Rising. One of these characters, Sam, had the casting call request that the actor be between 25-26.5 years of age, possessing a tan complexion comparable to those of Italian, Sicilian, or Greek heritage, dark hair (misspelled as "Dark Hear"), a ponytail, some facial stubble, as well as, if possible, hand to hand/sword experience.

He was primarily designed by Kenichirou Yoshimura, and acted as one of the first Metal Gear Rising characters designed by him. He had initially planned on leaving Platinum Games early in the development process of the game after it was handed over to them. However, three days before he was scheduled to leave, Yoshimura by chance stumbled on what some of the concept artists were working on regarding Metal Gear Rising when asking if they needed any suggestions. He ended up enraged that they weren't taking the Metal Gear concept seriously in the development process and demanded to the art director that Platinum Games "cannot place this in a Metal Gear game!", so he decided to stay for half a year beyond schedule until he was certain that it was up to the standards of Metal Gear. He was tasked by the art director to make a character who was "Samurai-like." After initial designs, Yoshimura concluded that the character needed a lot of asymmetrical angles in his design, as well as having his samurai hilt have something of a guntrigger. He also wanted a Black Body/White Arm design for Sam's cyborg body, although a contest concluded that a White Body/Black Arm was more suitable to give a direct contrast between him and Raiden's Black cyborg body. As he wanted the design to be as close to Metal Gear as possible, he also utilized some of Yoji Shinkawa's artbooks as inspiration. Shinkawa, while not the main designer for Sam, did briefly draw a sketch during a meeting. Shinkawa also told Yoshimura when asked about the design that it "freed his mind," leaving Yoshimura very relieved.

Sam's boss theme is "It Has to Be This Way." The lyrics state that even if the enemy is just like himself/herself, violence still begets violence, and through no fault of their own nor for any real reason, they must fight.

He shares the same serial number as Mistral.

Sam will be given a DLC pack that expands on his background.