Another "as the credits rolled" thought.
Listen to this for maximum effect.
What the fuck is the deal with Major Zero?
This dude went from a seemingly inconspicuous (dare I say
forgettable) 1960s version of Colonel Campbell in MGS3 to HISTORY'S GREATEST MONSTER in MGS4. "Holy fuck", I thought, as Big Boss unplugged his life support at the end of 4, "What the hell is up with this dude? I'd really like to know how this innocent dude who broke Snake's balls in the 60s for not liking James Bond became this tyrant of sorts and founder of the fucking Patriots. Too bad this is the last Metal Gear, cause there's lots of blanks to be filled in."
And then Peace Walker got announced. Well, shit, it's about Big Boss after the events of MGS3. Surely they'll go into Zero's backstory.
But... they kinda didn't. That story took place after Boss and Zero's falling out. After the Patriots were formed. After Les Enfants Terribles. Ok? There's a lot of talk about Zero and what he/Cipher is up to, but we don't actually see the dude. There is no communication between him and Boss... at all.
Then V gets announced. It's a chronological sequel to Peace Walker. Big Boss all up in this bitch. SURELY this time we'll see some of Zero, I thought. How did this dude become worse than Hitler?
But... fucking nothing again! Tons of talk about Cipher and Zero via tapes, of course, but I was baffled watching those credits realizing that Zero was never to be seen in the entire game. I figure the logic behind this is that you don't
need to see him, and all of the info gets across via text/dialogue. Kojima obviously wanted to keep the character all secretive and unseen, but I'm not sure if I like that. Instead we just get Ocelot and Miller telling me shit. Cipher this, Major Zero that, on and on...
But yeah, we don't see history's greatest monster basically at all. I'm pretty sure the only time he's animated in the entire fucking saga is at the end of MGS3 for like 5 seconds when Snake gets his title of Big Boss. I find it pretty hard to visualize his entire, crazy, important, series spanning arc from text and dialogue, honestly >_<