Beauty and the Beast Unit

The Beauty and the Beast Unit, also known as the Beauty and the Beast Corps (BB Corps, spoken aloud as "B and B Corps"), were a group of female soldiers who commanded the private military forces of Outer Heaven. All four members were given special suits to turn them into incredible combatants, after each had suffered from intense Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by the horrors of war. Their usage of former FOXHOUND codenames, and their directive to hunt down Solid Snake, led to them being informally referred to as the SNAKEHOUND Unit.

Formation
The suits worn by the BB members, combined with their unstable mental states, made them into lethal soldiers, which caused them to be exploited for their skills. Although their damaged minds gave them an edge in combat, it was also their greatest weakness. The suits of each Beast resembled the animals after which they were named: Octopus possessed four tentacles (making a total of eight limbs); Raven utilized flight; Wolf was quadrupedal, complete with tail; and Mantis had multiple arms. Under their mechanical suits, each member wore a formfitting catsuit, connected to the outer suit via power lines and connectors.

Implanted with nanomachines, similar to those used to seal the mind of Big Boss, the Beasts were placed under Liquid Ocelot's control.

During Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, the group were convinced that their goal was to destroy Solid Snake, believing it would ease their anguish, and make them "whole" again. Because of this as well as their codenames bearing resemblance to those utilized by the 2005 FOXHOUND Unit, the gun launderer Drebin 893 informally referred to the group as the "SNAKEHOUND Unit." They were initially deployed into the Middle East, where they slaughtered a platoon of the local militia, which Snake later ended up witnessing. They had apparently done this multiple times, as several militia members were discussing their presence and actions, which Snake, at that time infiltrating the main hideout, overheard. Despite serving Outer Heaven, they could often prove difficult to control, such as when Laughing Octopus commenced wanton slaughter on a group of rebel prisoners, before being stopped by a throwing knife from Vamp, her superior.

Snake eventually fought each of the unit's members in turn, usually while they were accompanied by Haven Troopers or unmanned weapons. After Snake forced them to discard their outer suits, they began to relive their respective traumatic memories, due to their fragile mental state. Each woman attempted to force their anguish on Snake upon physical contact, causing him to maintain his distance from them or suffer physical harm. But despite the threat, Snake was successful in neutralizing each Beauty. However, regardless of the method in which he chose to do so, it was rumored that the women could only survive outside of their suits for a few minutes, making their deaths a possible outcome. In any event, however, Drebin remarked to Snake after each member's defeat that battling him cleansed their minds of their torment.

Members

 * Screaming Mantis (unit commander)
 * Psycho Mantis (unofficial leader, via implanted persona)
 * Laughing Octopus
 * Raging Raven
 * Crying Wolf

Character design
During development of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Hideo Kojima wanted the Beauty and the Beast Unit to be naked during cutscenes, though this would have severely affected the game's censorship rating. Yoji Shinkawa stated that the motion capture actors were asked to do the motion capture nude, though this could also not be used in the game. Instead of being naked, the BB members wore form-fitting catsuits, which show off their figure.

The form-fitting suits worn beneath each BB member's armor are labelled with bar codes and English text, with the latter describing some of the suits' functions:


 * The bar code and numbers "7 6927314 050701" are displayed on the upper chest, lower back, upper arm wire bundles, upper legs and lower shin straps;


 * The words "NEURO ABSTRACTION LAYER," alphanumeric "TOK 0078346-65B," and number "01" appear on the lower chest, and back of the hands;


 * The words "CAUTION" and "ENSURE LOCK IS TIGHT" appear near the wire bundle ends on the front (twice on the torso, and twice on each leg), the back of the neck, and on the sides (twice on each arm and ankle);


 * The words "IN AN EMERGENCY, OPEN HERE FOR QUICK SEPARATION OF SUIT SYSTEMS" appear on the lower back;


 * The words "POWER LINES BELOW" and "AVOID APPLYING PRESSURE" appear on the lower shin straps and upper arm wire bundles.

The name of the unit was derived from the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, about a prince who was cursed by a witch into gaining a monstrous body until the beauty (who in most renditions of the tale is unnamed) who is destined to break the spell falls in love with him. On a related note, Kojima, when discussing his love for movies, commented that he preferred Jean Cocteau's version of Beauty and the Beast over the Disney version.

Each of the four members' Beauty forms were based on a fashion model. In the case of Raging Raven, the same model that she was based on, Yumi Kikuchi, also voiced her.

Concept art for Metal Gear Solid 4 also included some artwork for two male characters known as Snake-Man and Adam that were cut from the final version. It is unknown if they were supposed to be two male members of the Beauty and the Beast Unit or not. Similarly, there was concept artwork by Shinkawa that had the Beauty and the Beast members resembling hulking monstrosities. The concept artwork was later reused with the Mastiff enemy in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

The Beauty and the Beast Unit share many similarities with the special forces units involved in previous events. As a result the name of each member was derived from those belonging to members of FOXHOUND (Metal Gear Solid), their weapons were a derivative of those used by Dead Cell (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty), and their emotions in battle were similar to those adopted by the Cobra Unit (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater):
 * Laughing Octopus: Derived from the name and abilities of Decoy Octopus, the P90 submachine gun and tentacles of Solidus Snake, and the emotion of The Joy.
 * Raging Raven: Derived from the name and the flying accomplices of Vulcan Raven, the explosives of Fatman, and the rage of The Fury.
 * Crying Wolf: Derived from the name and fighting style of Sniper Wolf, the rail gun of Fortune, and the emotion of The Sorrow and The End.
 * Screaming Mantis: Derived from the name and psychic abilities of Psycho Mantis, the throwing knife weapons of Vamp, and a mixture of The Fear and The Pain.

Game Informer ranked the Beauty and the Beast Unit #5 in their list of the top 10 villains of 2008.

The Beauty and the Beast Unit was omitted from the Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots novelization by Project Itoh.

Boss battles
If the Beast form of each BB member is defeated non-lethally in Metal Gear Solid 4 (with the exception of Screaming Mantis, due to the nature of the battle with her), a statue of their Beast form can be found and obtained during the "Beauty" stage of the battle. Collecting all four (as well as the Haven Trooper statue) will unlock the Solar Gun, from one of Kojima's other games, Boktai. Similarly, FaceCamo disguises for each of the Beauties can be unlocked by defeating their respective Beauty forms non-lethally.

At the point where they shed their suits, and go into their Beauty forms, they will reach for Snake's embrace, with lethal effects. Should they grab Snake, he will become immobilized and take health damage, so the player must break the Beauty's hold using the onscreen button prompts. If Snake drops to a crawl, while remaining at a certain distance, the Beauty will herself crawl towards Snake, halt upon reaching him, and lightly brush him with her hand, causing burn damage.

If the player does not neutralize them for several minutes, this will result in both Snake and the Beauty being transported to an infinitely sized white room, with a three minute timer. While the player is still free to attack, it is impossible to use either the Codec, or the Metal Gear Mk. II or III while in this room. Equipping the Camera will cause each Beauty to pose for photographs. If the player unequips then re-equips the Camera, she will change her pose. Playing the song "Oishii Two-han Seikatsu" with the iPod will make the Beauty dance, and unlock the trophy "That Tune Is His Mind Control Music," following download of the trophy patch (the name referring to "Mantis' Hymn" from the original Metal Gear Solid). If the timer expires, and the player has not neutralized the Beauty, she will then collapse and die.

If the BB Corps members die, they are engulfed in blue flames and their suits take on a charred ash-like appearance, in a manner similar to deceased Haven Troopers. If defeated by non-lethal means, they simply go to sleep, with their suits not turning to ash.

In multiple playthroughs of Metal Gear Solid 4, Emotion magazines are unlocked, which include images of the various BB members, in both their Beauty and Beast forms. Personnel who come across these magazines become overwhelmed with emotion, similar to the use of Emotion Ammo.

Other appearances


The Beauty and the Beast Unit collectively appeared as participants in the Konami-sponsored event E3 Battle, where they defeated Dr. Lautrec and Sophie from Dr. Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights. They then faced off against and defeated Harry Mason from the first Silent Hill game in the second round. They proceeded to fight against Revolver Ocelot in the third round, and lost to him.

"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST UNIT FIRST APPEARED IN Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) Commanders of the Private Military Corporations of Outer Heaven. All of them suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

- Beauty and the Beast Unit's bio from the E3 Battle

They later appeared again collectively in Versus Battle.

WEAKNESSES: Deranged from Post Traumatic Stress FEATURED FACT: Ordered by Liquid Ocelot to kill Solid Snake, the tormented corps used FOXHOUND call signs and were sometimes called the SNAKEHOUND unit FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION ''"
 * "''STRENGTHS: Deadly Beauties in Deadly Armor
 * -Beauty and Beast Corps in Versus Battle.