Board Thread:Metal Gear Solid V/@comment-98.234.99.168-20150703054955/@comment-64.33.250.214-20150723003108

Bluerock wrote: Kornflakes89 wrote: Liquid=Superior with recessive genes. Solid=Inferior with dominant genes. Recessive=/=inferior. Dominant=/=superior.

Given that Liquid was misinformed about LET, the relationship between superiority/inferiority and dominance/recessiveness cannot be defined, based on the available information. It can be argued that using hair/eye color as the determining factor of gene inheritance is a moot point, since these are often the result of character design choices, rather than being story-based.

As for the MGS1 briefing, it looks more like a dimly-lit holding cell than a medical bay. In The Twin Snakes, it does look like a well-lit medical bay (and less visually interesting, IMO). It was likely a stylistic choice to have Snake's hair appear fair-colored in MGS1's briefing, to contrast with both his face AND background being dark (or even black in some shots), an issue that doesn't exist in the Twin Snakes' briefing.

Regarding Solid Snake's potential appearance in The Phantom Pain, I believe he will make a brief cameo in the game, but not necessarily during the scene that is depicted in the E3 2015 trailer. Throughout the MGS series, Hideo Kojima's directing style has incorporated a lot of thematic visuals and symbolism, not to be viewed on a strictly literal level.

I wouldn't say the eye color issue is completely moot, when Kojima retconned the canon to make Big Boss's eyes blue. In MGS2, Solid appeared to have green eyes like Liquid. Which further validated Campbell's original statements in MGS1 that Solid and Liquid were exact duplicates aside from skin tone, as he didn't bring up the differences between eyes or hair. This was canon until Twin Snakes came along and changed a number of things. Twin Snakes made Solid's eyes blue, and I heard because of that Kojima made Boss's eyes blue in Snake Eater to match Solid. Boss's eyes were originally brown, which you can see in the original NES version where he was based off Sean Connery (who also has brown eyes irl).

When Kojima made Big Boss's eyes blue, he pretty much established that as one of the character's recessive traits. Blue eyes are recessive, so it would only make sense for the clone with recessive genes to have those features. It has also been established in MGS1 and later games that Solid and Boss have Japanese genes. Blue eyes are extremely uncommon for Japanese people. Yet both Boss and Solid did not inherit darker eyes from their Asian side. Which implies canonically and story-wise that these are recessive traits.

I'm sure there are ways to make a character stand out in a dark environment without making their hair look blonde. Several spots in the game don't have good lighting, yet it doesn't drastically change Solid's character model. You could dismiss the briefing as stylistic if it wasn't for Campbell's dialogue. Why mention that Solid and Liquid look like exact duplicates except for skin? Unless the dialogue was completely different in the Japanese translation. Even then, the fact it was presented that way in the USA version made the dialogue canon to American fans.

Regardless of whether or not Solid's hair was ever blonde at any point in the franchise, it COULD BE in Phantom Pain. An explanation given for why Liquid has blonde hair despite implications that he has dominant traits, and despite Solid, Solidus (who was the perfect clone), and Boss all having brown hair, is that Liquid had his hair bleached from spending too long in the sun (which also explains skin tone). If that explanation holds true in Phantom Pain, then Solid could also have bleached his hair in a similar fashion.

I'm not convinced one way or another that Solid is the other twin in the e3 2015 trailer. There's room to doubt because they appear to have the exact same scars. But that's not enough evidence to debunk the possibility entirely. It could be a stylistic choice, or Kojima/Konami not wanting to spend time and money doing additional coding for Solid's scenes. If it isn't Solid, then who could it be? Even though the left twin seems to fall asleep, the scene doesn't appear to be a dream sequence.

Why would Eli dream of a clone, the clone who he's eventually told is superior, to look exactly like himself? Why not imagine someone who doesn't look as beat up? Unless, again, Konami/Kojima didn't want to do extra code for that. If it's not a dream, and not David, then that leaves us with either Mantis or Decoy Octopus. As others (like Yong Yea) have explained, Eli and Mantis are both part of a special unit who are identified by carrying red berets.

One theory is that Liquid, Mantis, and other child versions of the Sons of Big Boss (such as Sniper Wolf) will be recruited to Mother Base. There's evidence for this in the fact that other units on Mother Base have been seen wearing red berets. So if the twin Elis are not Liquid and Solid, then they could be Liquid and Mantis, or Liquid and Octopus.