Myth of the 20th Century: Metal Gear – Legacy of the Patriots

Created in 1987, Konami’s Metal Gear series not only developed a new genre of video game with its incorporation of ‘tactics’ and ‘espionage’, it arguably transcended the entire video game category in its later iterations into the art, film and soap opera genres. Touching upon the human themes of duty, honor, and loyalty with the subjects of war, shadow governments, and technology, the series arguably captures more heavy political content in a single game than many academic scholars do in a lifetime. With the departure of creator Hideo Kojima, in the vein of Big Boss, who said the “best soldiers are useless without a war to fight,” perhaps the best franchises are useless without their original founders, whose creative vision is indelibly linked to the original art.

— Brought to you by —

Very special guest Borzoi
@EdwardBChang

— References —

– The Man Who Was Thursday, Chesterton (1908)
– The Crysanthemum and the Sword, Benedict (1946)
– Starship Troopers, Heinlein (1959)
– Forever War, Halderman (1975)
– The Black Company, Cook (1992)
– 20th Century Boys, Urasawa (1999)
– Blackwater, Skahill (2007)
– Corporate Warriors, Singer (2007)
– Seveneves, Stephenson (2015)
– Causes of Separation, Corcoran (2017)
– The Powers of the Earth, Corcoran (2017)
– Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi, Johnson (2017)
– AWS re:Invent 2017: #EarthonAWS: How NASA Is Using AWS (STG205) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh7FB-tkYXM
– Fire Upon the Deep – Speculative Fiction and the Sci-Fi Universe, Myth of the 20th Century (2019) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2019/07/10/fire-upon-the-deep-speculative-fiction-and-the-sci-fi-universe/
– Soldiers of Fortune – from Mercenaries to PMCs, Myth of the 20th Century (2019) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2019/10/03/soldiers-of-fortune-from-mercenaries-to-pmcs/
– The Russian Revolution and its Consequences – Dr. Matthew Rafael Johnson, Myth of the 20th Century (2019) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2019/11/27/the-russian-revolution-and-its-consequences-dr-matthew-rafael-johnson/
– Death Stranding, Kojima (2019)
– Metal Gear SAGA – THE MOVIE (All games in 12 hours) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K977NxGhyU
– Metal Gear Series – https://metalgear.fandom.com/wiki/Metal_Gear_series
– Deus Ex Series – https://deusex.fandom.com/wiki/Deus_Ex_series