Drebin 893

Drebin 893 (or simply Drebin) is one of the many members of a group called "Drebin," a huge network of underground gun launderers who replace ID chips in guns so they can be used by anyone. This Drebin helped out Philanthropy in their mission to take down Liquid Ocelot, but unbeknownst to them, Drebin was also assisting the Patriots by encouraging them to take Liquid out. The Drebins' catchphrase, as seen on the side of his Stryker, is "Eye Have You." He is often accompanied by a hairless pet monkey named Little Gray.

Background
Drebin was a child soldier, under the fold of one of the Patriots' proxy wars, with him being the only survivor out of his family. He was kidnapped by the Ugandan anti-government rebel group, the Lords' Resistance Army (LRA), and raised on the battlefield, during which time he received a scar on the left side of his head. Drebin was eventually recruited as an agent of the Patriots, where he was then placed into the "Drebin" gun laundering company, saying that the real reason he was allowed to launder guns was not because he worked at ArmsTech, but because the Patriots "let him." During the advent of the war economy, his customers included various local militias and small PMCs in countries such as Somalia, the Balkans, Lebanon, Darfur, Chechnya, Timor, Peru, the Punjab, Kashmir, Colombia, and others.

In 2014, Drebin met Solid Snake early on in the latter's mission in the Middle East, and told him about his gun laundering activities, claiming to be an employee at ArmsTech Security. After giving Snake an M4 Custom as a "welcoming gift," he told Snake about the war economy, and how one day it will plunge the entire world into war. Drebin also provided Snake with an injection of nanomachines so that he could operate any weapons he might purchase from him, though he secretly infected him with a new strain of FOXDIE, which was programmed to kill former Patriot members Big Mama, Liquid Ocelot, and Big Boss.

Drebin next met Snake when he went to rescue Naomi Hunter from Liquid's base in South America, where told him about the Beauty and the Beast Unit, as well as the true nature of the Patriots' AI network. During this time, Little Gray smoked a cigarette of Snake's after swiping it and later gestured for another, though Drebin did not allow it. After Snake defeated Laughing Octopus, Snake called Drebin and accused him of both spying on him as well as injecting Snake with FOXDIE. Although Drebin admitted to spying on him, with preference to it being called "customer data management", he denied knowledge about injecting Snake with FOXDIE, and cited that it would be to his own benefit to keep Snake alive than kill him.

Drebin later came to Snake and Naomi's rescue when Naomi was seconds away from being taken by Vamp. He also came to the aid of Snake, and Meryl Silverburgh's Rat Patrol in Eastern Europe after they were nearly killed by Liquid Ocelot upon successfully hijacking the Sons of the Patriots System. In addition, beforehand, he had disabled the ID lock on Raging Raven's Milkhor grenade launcher for Snake, under the condition that he gain possession of it after the end of his mission.

Later, Drebin reunited with Snake and Otacon on board the USS Missouri. There, he offered Snake a discount on his weapons due to the slump in sales caused by the SOP System's inactivation. He was also the one who supplied the Missouri with catapults that would be used to launch Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, and Johnny Sasaki onto Outer Haven, Liquid Ocelot's warship, and also supplied some guns and ammunition to Johnny.

Following the Patriots' destruction, Drebin arrived at the wedding of Meryl and Johnny Sasaki, and unveiled several champagne bottles and doves as part of a magic trick. Little Gray also ended up winning the bouquet toss, which irritated Mei Ling greatly. Later on, Drebin revealed to Otacon that he had been ordered by the Patriots themselves to help Snake and Rat Patrol succeed in their mission to assassinate Liquid Ocelot. The Patriots did not conceive that their system of global control would be taken offline thanks to Sunny, Naomi and their FOXALIVE computer virus. He also explained that he and all of the other Drebins in the world had taken over the gun laundering business and formed their own "company," called DREBINS, and thus didn't have any hard feelings for Snake or Otacon for shutting down the Patriots. Drebin then became drunk, due to his alcohol-moderating nanomachines now being inactive, and commented on what the future likely held following the end of the war economy, with the United Nations playing a more important role in the world.

The FOXDIE virus that Drebin had used to infect Snake was discovered to have supplanted the mutated original strain in his body. This prevented the threat of an epidemic that the mutated strain had posed, ensuring that Snake did not need to kill himself prior to his death from advanced aging.

Weapons and equipment sold
These are the following weapons and equipment that Drebin sold:


 * GSR (at least two)
 * Glock-18 (at least two)
 * SCAR-H CQC rifle (at least two)
 * M4A1 Custom (at least two)
 * AK-102 (at least one)
 * M72 LAW (at least two)
 * Desert Eagle w/scope (at least one)
 * Custom parts containers (at least two)
 * HK21E (at least one)
 * Barrett M82-A2 (at least one)
 * Catapult (at least three)

Personality and traits
Drebin 893 often practiced magic tricks involving sleight of hand, such as using a white piece of cloth and making an apple and a hand grenade appear seemingly out of nowhere beneath it, and producing flames from his fingertips.

Drebin and Little Gray both enjoyed drinking Narc Soda. Drebin primarily drank Narc Soda rather than alcohol, during the time of Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, due to it agreeing with his nanomachines.

Drebin is a fan of rare and extinct animals, UMAs, and legendary units such as the Cobra Unit, Dead Cell, and the Beauty and the Beast Unit. He often collected photographs of these units, explaining the mass of photos in his Stryker that have the Beauty and the Beast members, as well as why he would want Raging Raven's grenade launcher as a condition in unlocking its ID lock for Snake.

Behind the scenes
The name Drebin is inspired by the Naked Gun movies. The late Leslie Nielsen played Lt. Frank Drebin in the films. Drebin 893 launders ID locked weapons into universally usable "naked guns," hence the allusion to the films. The number 893 is based on an old Japanese card name and can spell "Yakuza," being 8 (ya) 9 (ku) 3 (za). This designation is also mimicked in Drebin's Codec frequency of 148.93. Drebin's connection to the Patriots was briefly foreshadowed in Solid Sun, where he almost says "La Li Lu Le Lo" before stopping himself and then identifying the Patriots by name.

Drebin's appearance with the colored hair and earrings loosely resembles Dennis Rodman playing a gunrunner in the action movie Double Team. Drebin also resembles Smuggler, an arms dealer featured in the non-linear themed live-action game Deus Ex, also voiced by Khary Payton.

Throughout the game, Drebin makes several allusions to the previous games in the Metal Gear series:
 * During his first encounter with Solid Snake, Drebin refers to himself as being "neither enemy nor friend," similar to Gray Fox in Metal Gear Solid, and Olga Gurlukovich in Metal Gear Solid 2.
 * During the first meeting with Snake in South America, Drebin inadvertently referenced The Pain, The Fury and The Sorrow while speaking about the Beauty and the Beast Unit.
 * On board the Missouri, Drebin and Little Gray jump down from a gun battery and assume a pose resembling Solid Snake's landing on the USS Discovery in Metal Gear Solid 2, and that performed by Big Boss following his HALO jump in Metal Gear Solid 3. However, they end up killing the drama by belching loudly.

One of the monitors inside Drebin's Stryker also contains the codenames for Metal Gear Solid 4.

According to the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, Little Gray resembles an alien captured by the FBI. A reference appears during Act 2. In the cutscene just after Drebin's Stryker crashes, when Naomi and Snake walk out of the Stryker holding Little Gray, the player can press X to see an image of two men and the "alien" in question. Drebin also briefly chuckles when seeing them helping Little Gray up, apparently seeing the resemblance. In actuality, the photo shown is a famous picture of two men with a monkey, which resulted in a conspiracy theory believing that the monkey was actually an alien. Drebin also has this picture inside his Stryker. Also, Little Gray's name derives from a euphemism for an extraterrestrial. Little Gray was added to the game because it was felt that Drebin seemed too bland and boring by himself. Raiden's motion capture actor could do a good impression of a monkey, so Little Gray was added in.

Drebin 893 also makes an appearance on the official website for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where he will trade in the user's collected Drebin Points similar to the game. In exchange for Drebin Points on the site, he will also "sell" various items, including songs from Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and from Metal Gear Solid 4 itself, as well as wallpapers for the computer (nine), the PlayStation Portable (seven), and the iTouch (one) depicting the characters (and in the case of the iTouch wallpaper, the cover for Metal Gear Solid 4), two screensavers depicting Snake and Liquid Ocelot, as well as special items depicting a Solid Snake Email Signature Set, a Buddy Icon Set, a Sunny Camera, and a SWF Wallpaper depicting Raiden and Vamp. Upon arriving in the Drebin's Shop area, Drebin will be heard saying "Welcome, check out the new hotness I've got in this week." Buying these items will have them be placed in the Get Item menu folder, waiting for download.

During E3 2011, Kojima, while showing a demo of the Fox Engine, used a shirtless character that vaguely resembles Drebin.

Drebin also appeared in the official series site's Versus Battle.

"STRENGTHS: Snake Ally, Crafty Mercenary Arms Lord WEAKNESSES: War Economy, Little Gray’s Smoking FEATURED FACT: Drebin 893 played a big role as Snake’s ally by supplying him with weapons & key support in the Middle East, South America, and Eastern Europe FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION"

- Drebin's bio in Versus Battle

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
 * Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (trading card; Little Grey)

Notes and references
Drebin 893