There's something about Huey

[Roger]

Why was this guy such a massive tool? I honestly don't know much about Peace Walker because I never been able to play it, though with the MGS VOL. 2 around the corner that'll change. But was he also a tool in that game too? I know Otacon said his family has a dark history, but I don't see Huey ever telling Otacon about his time being a total weenie. It really felt like, to me, that Huey was made to be this particular thorn for Diamond Dogs and served no other purpose other than to be a punching bag for problems he created. Is there any insight as to why Kojima went this route with Huey or is there some deeper meaning I'm not seeing?

[Dirty Duck]

In Peace Walker I remember Huey being a lot more normally represented. He was just Big Boss' Otacon. It wasn't until MGSV that they gave him this much darker edge if I remember correctly? But given his fate discussed in MGS2 he was always meant to be a sort of pathetic character, I feel. You don't have a character kill himself and try to kill his step daughter because his son slept with his new partner if you're trying to make a really awesome and lovable dude.

[Wayno]

Huey having the same character model and VA as Otacon is one of the things that bugs me so much about the series. Calling Kojima lazy or creatively shallow is something I'd never say with sincerity but it's so fucking lazy and shallow. THEY LOOK AND SOUND MORE LIKE EACH OTHER THAN TWINS AND CLONES! And don't tell me it's part of the themes because themes are for 8th grade book reports.

[Roger]

@Dirty Duck Well yeah. I guess for his "ending" it did have to have him be a bit of a shitstick.

@Wayno That is my issue too! I thought before I got to the end of MGSV, there was going to be a strong compare and contrast to Otacon and Huey. But what ended up happening is that Huey just dived down to Losersville with Otacon's face.

[Dirty Duck]

Huey having the same character model and VA as Otacon is one of the things that bugs me so much about the series. Calling Kojima lazy or creatively shallow is something I'd never say with sincerity but it's so fucking lazy and shallow. THEY LOOK AND SOUND MORE LIKE EACH OTHER THAN TWINS AND CLONES!

How dare you.

[Jassassino]

Tbh I like him

[Rising Shine]

Yeah, doing a MGS Story run, so recently played both PW and TPP. Huey certainly was more of a normal character(Well, aside him beeing unable to walk.)in PW.

[Roger]

@Jassassino Lmao yeah I was thinking of that film when I made the thread.

@Rising Shine I see, so it essentially was to make his character shitty for how he goes out in mgs2.

[starschwar]

I think for Peace Walker, Kojima was just following Back to the Future rules wherein ancestors tend to look, sound, and behave identically to their descendants. But then when TPP hit, I think it was meant to be more of a case of showing that, while Big Boss and Solid Snake started in similar places, they diverged dramatically, so too did the Emmerichs. More Scene than Gene so to speak.

That said, I think just about everybody in Phantom Pan was out of character, and I can't imagine that's a coincidence.

Big Boss (if the ending is not taken literally) - Goes from being a verbose know-it-all type with no shortage of opinions about anything to a borderline silent protagonist who winds up so detached from who he once was that he now deludes himself into believing he isn't even the same person.

Big Boss (if the ending is taken literally) - Goes from being someone who talked a big game about taking on the world to someone who hid from it, from a reluctant leader to a ruthless pragmatist who isn't above colluding with his arch nemesis to live another day. Gave up on "yesterday's enemy is tomorrow's ally" and utterly betrays Kaz for his dealings with Zero. Has no qualms about brainILACKORIGINALITYASAHUMANBEING and using a loyal soldier to be his decoy while stealing his identity. I could go on and on.

Miller - Jovial "we're gonna be big biz" idealist to a broken, spiteful man whose only aspiration is getting back at anyone he even thinks might be working against him. He treats "Big Boss" (I do believe the post credits scene happened very early in the game, at the very least before the battle with Quiet) like a subordinate, and goes so far as to countermand his orders or endanger his own safety for the sake of his vengeance. He's absolutely his old self in the Hamburger tapes though.

Ocelot - The schemer, the sadist, the poster boy for chronic backstabbing disorder. He's an amiable cowboy. Beyond some overly convoluted means of maintaining his cover and getting rough with Huey, he's generally a pretty nice guy. Maybe this was meant to show the side he presented to Liquid and Solidus? All I know is there's a huge disconnect between both his Snake Eater and MGS1 portrayals.

And my biggest surprise - Skull Face! Ground Zeroes (especially the tapes) presented him as this Joker-like figure, obsessed with using the most horrific acts man is capable of to find someone as resistant to death itself as himself. And while he has his moments (again largely only on tape), Phantom Pain's most important Skull Face scenes turn him into a huge goofball. "Whooooo?!" and so on. He doesn't seem like the same character at all.

I imagine there's some sort of point Kojima was going for. About how revenge changes people, and all that. But like much of Phantom Pain, he went far more subdued over his previous verbosity, and that worked to the story's detriment.