All our onus are belong to him...
In celebarationg of the new Metal Gear Solid game, (Due to come out years from now, but why wait?) I'm going to wax fangirlishly a bit here and attempt to answer what is, for me, an age old question.
How old is Otacon?
I've liked Otacon since the first game. He was sweet, he was helpful, and he was well meaning. Consciously or unconsciously, they game designers set up an "Otacon or Meryl" dynamic, which only added to my like of Otacon because I hate Meryl.
The funny thing is, it seems occasionally like Otacon is an afterthought to the developers. Sure, he factored pretty major into the first two, but even Meryl, who didn't appear in the second except for in obscure training levels (Or were they bonus unlock levels? I forget) was handled with a bit more consistency.
For instance, how old is Otacon?
Admittedly, 90's graphics didn't do anything justice. But the vague smudge that was his hair implied he had at least gone prematurely gray.
So what, 40? 45? Although his character had many traits commonly associated with stupid kids. (Anime obsession, idealistic enough to think the government would allow him to make fun, cuddly, completely defensive robots.) Add that to the fact that his father had been born on the day of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing, and well, he can't be that old. MGS1 was one of those "Very near future, if not today" time settings.
(Incidentally, I'd like to take a moment to note that in crappy 90's graphics, Meryl and Otacon even looked a little alike. Maybe it's just me, but their smear of poofy hair thing begs to draw comparison. They really felt like "your choice of love interest.")
And yet, the re-skinned version, Twin Snakes (Which might or might not be real cannon. For many reasons I would consider it not.) has him very old looking indeed.
Well, hello grandpa. You look about as old, cannonly, as your father should be.
So, there we go. Obviously Otacon is the sweet, elderly scientist individuel, right?
Right?
But...
Then who the hell is the hottie? That's not Otacon! That's like... Hotticon!
Looks like while Snake aged, Otacon dropped a few years between stories. And yeah, I'm shallow enough to enjoy it, while still purist enough to wonder what the heck was going on.
Character/storieswise, it would make sense for him to be around the age he apears as in MGS2. (Well, maybe a tad older. Unless this kid went through college like a bat out of hell. Oh, wait, I think he did. Damn I need to play 2 again.) However, it's a rather large departure.
Now with the new, upcoming one, we have...
WOW. Who's the smooth criminal? And where is my mind mannered geek in converse and a lab coat? Someone seems to have aged again.
Then again, this is quite a few years in the future... maybe. When the hell is this game set? I thought Hideo was sticking to an almost real time timeline?
And seriously, Meryl looks, if anything younger then she did back in her Twin Snake days.
So, how old is Otacon anyway?
I could do something intelligent and look it up, (I'm sure the information is somewhere out there) but that's less fun then mindlessly speculating.
The most obvious is that Otacon is a consistent age, and that the graphical capabilities of our gaming consoles was unable to express him as he apears in MGS4. Thus the design team compromised by first making him apear older, then younger, before finally being able to render him accurately, somewhere in between.
Another option is that FoxDie was designed to kill him as well, and has begun to, just as it is (presumably) killing Snake. (By turning him into an old man with what is known in the BBM community as a "pornstache".)
The next possibility, (nearer and dearer to my heart) is that fan speculation on a "clone disease" is true. Snake is suffering from a disease that causes rapid aging. Obviously, it was sexually transmitted to Otacon.
Another possibility is that Otacon has aged naturally. This would presume at least ten years since MSG2. It would also assume Meryl has caught some rare disease that has reversed her aging process because, again, she looks younger.
Whatever the cause, I have to say I like his new look. Sure, Otaconverse still makes me drool, but he was almost too generically cute. The new Otacon has more personality to him. It's more... uniquely him. I hope, should he appear in future games, that his appearance doesn't change too much. (Baring aging, of course. If that's even a real mechanic.)
Note to designers: You've got it right. Stick with this.
I don't know what an onus is, but all my base are belong to you, Hotacon. Poor, poor burdened Otacon can cry on my shoulder any day of the week... ;)
How old is Otacon?
I've liked Otacon since the first game. He was sweet, he was helpful, and he was well meaning. Consciously or unconsciously, they game designers set up an "Otacon or Meryl" dynamic, which only added to my like of Otacon because I hate Meryl.
The funny thing is, it seems occasionally like Otacon is an afterthought to the developers. Sure, he factored pretty major into the first two, but even Meryl, who didn't appear in the second except for in obscure training levels (Or were they bonus unlock levels? I forget) was handled with a bit more consistency.
For instance, how old is Otacon?
Admittedly, 90's graphics didn't do anything justice. But the vague smudge that was his hair implied he had at least gone prematurely gray.
So what, 40? 45? Although his character had many traits commonly associated with stupid kids. (Anime obsession, idealistic enough to think the government would allow him to make fun, cuddly, completely defensive robots.) Add that to the fact that his father had been born on the day of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing, and well, he can't be that old. MGS1 was one of those "Very near future, if not today" time settings.
(Incidentally, I'd like to take a moment to note that in crappy 90's graphics, Meryl and Otacon even looked a little alike. Maybe it's just me, but their smear of poofy hair thing begs to draw comparison. They really felt like "your choice of love interest.")
And yet, the re-skinned version, Twin Snakes (Which might or might not be real cannon. For many reasons I would consider it not.) has him very old looking indeed.
Well, hello grandpa. You look about as old, cannonly, as your father should be.
So, there we go. Obviously Otacon is the sweet, elderly scientist individuel, right?
Right?
But...
Then who the hell is the hottie? That's not Otacon! That's like... Hotticon!
Looks like while Snake aged, Otacon dropped a few years between stories. And yeah, I'm shallow enough to enjoy it, while still purist enough to wonder what the heck was going on.
Character/storieswise, it would make sense for him to be around the age he apears as in MGS2. (Well, maybe a tad older. Unless this kid went through college like a bat out of hell. Oh, wait, I think he did. Damn I need to play 2 again.) However, it's a rather large departure.
Now with the new, upcoming one, we have...
WOW. Who's the smooth criminal? And where is my mind mannered geek in converse and a lab coat? Someone seems to have aged again.
Then again, this is quite a few years in the future... maybe. When the hell is this game set? I thought Hideo was sticking to an almost real time timeline?
And seriously, Meryl looks, if anything younger then she did back in her Twin Snake days.
So, how old is Otacon anyway?
I could do something intelligent and look it up, (I'm sure the information is somewhere out there) but that's less fun then mindlessly speculating.
The most obvious is that Otacon is a consistent age, and that the graphical capabilities of our gaming consoles was unable to express him as he apears in MGS4. Thus the design team compromised by first making him apear older, then younger, before finally being able to render him accurately, somewhere in between.
Another option is that FoxDie was designed to kill him as well, and has begun to, just as it is (presumably) killing Snake. (By turning him into an old man with what is known in the BBM community as a "pornstache".)
The next possibility, (nearer and dearer to my heart) is that fan speculation on a "clone disease" is true. Snake is suffering from a disease that causes rapid aging. Obviously, it was sexually transmitted to Otacon.
Another possibility is that Otacon has aged naturally. This would presume at least ten years since MSG2. It would also assume Meryl has caught some rare disease that has reversed her aging process because, again, she looks younger.
Whatever the cause, I have to say I like his new look. Sure, Otaconverse still makes me drool, but he was almost too generically cute. The new Otacon has more personality to him. It's more... uniquely him. I hope, should he appear in future games, that his appearance doesn't change too much. (Baring aging, of course. If that's even a real mechanic.)
Note to designers: You've got it right. Stick with this.
I don't know what an onus is, but all my base are belong to you, Hotacon. Poor, poor burdened Otacon can cry on my shoulder any day of the week... ;)