Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove was an AI research scientist, responsible for the development of the Mammal Pod AI, as part of the 1970s Peace Walker Project. As her nickname implies, she had "a strange love"; a reference to her sexuality. She originally held a grudge against the mercenary Big Boss for his killing of The Boss.

Early life and career
Strangelove was born shortly before World War II, and spent her early childhood in Manchester, England. She was born an albino, and thus could not play outside without experiencing severe burns in a minute. She also didn't understand nor care to understand how kids of both genders seemed to behave towards one another. She usually goes out at night due to her love of the stars, even when going outside at night was far too dangerous at the time due to the air raids conducted by Nazi Germany. At roughly age ten, she was recognized for her talent in logic and mathematics, and was educated in these subjects by Professor Alan Turing. Under his tutelage, she obtained an appreciation for the concept of Artificial Intelligence. Several years later, while studying to be a computer engineer at the California Institute of Technology, the recently founded NASA (circa 1958) recruited her as a key staff member of Project Mercury. In early 1961, she was acquainted with The Boss, who was assigned to Mercury as a backup pilot and advisor. She tried to stop the launch, or at least stop The Boss from participating in the launch, after the Department of Defense requested that they add in a Window to the spacecraft. She also never bought the official reason for choosing The Boss, as her being irradiated once would actually place her in even greater risk than before. She also attempted to report that she found a damaged portion of her brain in an attempt to keep her off the mission, but The Boss stopped her, and explained the origins of the damaged brain portion: The Boss was distracted during a mission in 1943 because she found out that was pregnant with her child.

Owing to concerns for the safety of the official pilots, Strangelove oversaw the experimental launch of the first manned American spacecraft on April 21, 1961, piloted by The Boss -- an incident during which The Boss was severely injured. Strangelove tried to save The Boss, not caring whether her skin would burn. The Boss was rotated out of Project Mercury during her subsequent hospitalization, and Strangelove never saw her again.

Though Strangelove came to love The Boss in the course of their cooperation, their association never progressed to anything beyond a one-sided relationship, and she was aware that the woman's attentions were focused upon a certain individual whose identity she was never able to confirm. In 1964, after receiving notice that Naked Snake killed The Boss as a "traitor", Strangelove began to mentally identify him as this "certain individual". The thought that The Boss died at the hands of the student she loved filled Strangelove with jealousy and anger, and she was unable to believe that The Boss had truly betrayed the country.

Shortly thereafter, she was transferred to ARPA to pursue AI development, as a result of the disasterous results of the Lady Mercury project. She ended up being completely engrossed with her work, however, which didn't work well for her when her co-workers derided her for her orientation. She later ended up downsized from DARPA after Detente, and was brought into the Peace Walker Project, seeing it as her one and only chance at bringing The Boss back to life and clearing her name.

In 1973, Strangelove was recruited by CIA Station Chief Hot Coldman and the Peace Sentinels to create the AI pod BS-Imago, also known as the Mammal Pod ; a highly advanced AI that would be capable of handling complex decisions regarding nuclear retaliation, which would be housed aboard the Peace Walker unmanned weapon. She chose The Boss to be the model, as she was "the most logical" of the minds to do so, and requested all information on The Boss in exchange for her help in the project. Despite her participation in the project, she didn't care for Coldman's goals, as she only wanted to revive The Boss so she could learn the truth about what happened in Tselinoyarsk and then clear her name.

Ornithologist Cécile Cosima Caminades later stumbled upon the project while Dr. Strangelove was running a routine simulation with the Mammal Pod in Costa Rica. Strangelove was kind to Cécile despite her being a prisoner, feeding her and even bathing her. She also stated that she would be released in a month, but she had to keep her blindfold on. The reason for this was due to a compromise between saving Cécile and finishing the Mammal Pod on schedule, as she knew full well that if Coldman found out that the project had potentially been uncovered, he would have had Cécile executed as soon as possible.

Strangelove later encountered Big Boss (Naked Snake) outside of the AI Facility in an environment similar to Rokovo Berej, the setting of The Boss and Snake's final battle, and after verbally telling him off for murdering "the woman she loved." She then directed him to the facility where she explained that she planned on reviving The Boss as an AI. She then goaded him into trying to deactivate the AI pod if he could.

She later captured Big Boss and proceeded to torture him with Shock Rods (although, as a scientist, she personally felt disgusted with the philosophy of torture). She interrogated him for information on why he had wanted to kill The Boss, doubting that it had anything to do with betraying the United States, due to the fact that Big Boss still had mementos on her. The torture continued up to three times, with Strangelove slowly becoming more unwilling to continue with the torture to the point that by the third torture session, she admitted that she no longer hated Big Boss when refusing his request to kill him. However, she allowed for Big Boss to keep her film ID badge that he had swiped from her before being arrested, suggesting that she wanted him to escape.

Shortly afterwards, she discovered the final key to the Mammal Pod's completion, deducing as much from his lack of response to the torture. She later accompanied the Peace Sentinels to a U.S. missile base in Nicaragua, and input false data into Peace Walker, to initiate a retaliatory strike at the Militaires Sans Frontiers' Mother Base. However, Vladimir Zadornov broke into the base and demanded that she change the target to Cuba, threatening that he would kill her as well as her beloved if she didn't comply. Shortly afterwards, Zadornov was arrested by the MSF and his plans halted by his former Sandinista allies, led by Amanda Valenciano Libre). Strangelove then apologized to Big Boss about how she had treated him, and invited him to find out the answers about The Boss together from the AI.

While on their way to the Peace Walker unit, Coldman was able to activate the weapon, resulting in not only Cuba being targeted for a retalitory strike, but also relaying the false data to NORAD and the Pentagon, leading them to believe that a Soviet nuclear attack on the U.S. was imminent. Big Boss and the MSF were forced to destroy Peace Walker, as Coldman died before he could reveal the abort code.

After the fiasco, Strangelove joined the Militaires Sans Frontieres, due to being out of a job as a result of Coldman's actions and death, as well as being unable to return to England. She later worked with Huey Emmerich to develop Metal Gear ZEKE. After ZEKE was nearly destroyed during an attempted hijacking by an enemy spy, she informed Huey that its AI had a backup module, so at the very least it could walk again, although it would be up to Big Boss as to what would happen to it. When asked by Huey if she hated him, she wondered with astonishment if he's asking her out. Huey denied it, and she remarked that it was a shame, as she "had her heart broken before", and she wanted someone who could stand up for themselves, remarking that love was blind (implying that she was attracted to Huey).

Trivia

 * Strangelove is bisexual, as evidenced by her romantic fascination with The Boss, as well as her implied attraction to Huey Emmerich when he asked if she hated him.
 * Strangelove's sexuality was emphasized during a briefing between herself and Big Boss concerning the personal baths she had given to Cécile Cosima Caminades, while admiring her beauty. Additionally, when explaining why she hated Huey, she made a contradictory remark: she mentioned that the biggest reason she hated him was because he was male, when an earlier reason she stated had her indicate that she wanted him to be more of a man by standing up for himself. When attempting to give an unbiased opinion about Huey's credentials, Snake noted that it sounded slightly like praise. Also, Paz Ortega Andrade stated in her diary that Strangelove had attempted to seduce her while she was sun bathing.
 * Strangelove's nickname originated from the fact that she kept a photo of The Boss on her desk, as well as her apparently being completely uninterested in the opposite sex, during her time at DARPA. In essence, it was namely used as an insult to her sexual orientation by her coworkers.
 * Strangelove originally intended to commit suicide when the Peace Walker project was completed, but The Boss's sacrifice nearing the end inspired her to continue living as well as open up to people.

Behind the scenes
Strangelove is a character who appears in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. When Strangelove is first introduced in the game, the player can zoom in on her to see that her "heart" is full of lilies.

Strangelove's name is a reference to the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove (How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb). The film's plot concerns the Cold War crisis and a possible nuclear apocalypse. Strangelove also bears some resemblance to Dr. Strangelove from the movie; both have short hair and wear similar sunglasses and black leather gloves.

In the English version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Strangelove is voiced by Vanessa Marshall, who previously voiced the English versions of Olga Gurlukovich in Metal Gear Solid 2 and EVA in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

Due to their coming to a mutual understanding at the conclusion of Peace Walker, as well as In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth' s implications of Otacon being of English descent. some fans have speculated that Strangelove may have become the first wife of Huey Emmerich and the mother of Hal Emmerich (Otacon).

Torture cutscene
If the player fails to complete the interactive cutscene where Big Boss swipes Strangelove's film ID card, he won't have the card on him when the player takes control of Big Boss in the torture chamber/prison. However, he will still unlock his cell, using a hidden jigsaw stitched into his scar.

In the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, her method of torture was censored to be the use of "Laughing rods" that would tickle the victim, and was implied that the frequency that can tickle the victim can kill them if raised higher. This was because the Japanese rating simply could not allow torture to be used. On a related note, any future references to the torture were omitted or at the very least not directly stated (such as when Strangelove apologized to Snake shortly after Coldman and Zadornov were stopped).

Mother Base staff
Strangelove is a unique staff member at Mother Base, available after completing Chapter 4. Her skill (AI Development Technology) allows AI to be installed on Metal Gear ZEKE.


 * Life: 2000
 * Psyche: 8000
 * GMP: 4893


 * Combat Unit: E
 * R&D Team: S
 * Mess Hall Team: B
 * Medical Team: B
 * Intel Team: A

Strangelove's diary
The AI weapons in Main Ops have tapes apparently planted in between two sides of the AI's mainframe by Strangelove. To get them the player character must take notice to them by getting moving from one side of the mainframe to the other via choosing a memory board in a column. In the Pupa it's located between side A and B, in Chrysalis it's between B and C, and for Cocoon it's between C and D. There are 3 tapes in total.