ElPatron said:
8-Bit_Jack said:
Raiden was a badass. They just made him more badass.
I actually like the MGS dialogue and I have no problem with it.
You can't make someone more badass. I think the only way you make someone badass is to tone it down. "HURR DURR LETS MAKE HIM A ROBOT NINJA" isn't that interesting because it's toning things up to the point you just ask "Really, Mr. Kojima? Frank Jaeger was a lot more badass".
You aren't familiar with the entirely scientific process of badassification, then.
Badass naturally occurs when a person or object is or appears able to kick asses.
You can then artificially induce more badassitude by enabling to object kick MORE asses, or ALL the asses, as the case may be. This heightened badass level is then known as being "totally radical". One becomes totally rad (scientific abbreviation for radical) by adding cool things to an already badass person or object. In the case of Raiden, we add robots (equal to dinosaurs on the OCI, or objective coolness index), making his already impressive ninja skills even more powerful. Once his body is replaced by crazy future robo-parts, he becomes a cyborg. Cyborgs, being partly organic and partly robotic in nature, are usually regarded as more badass than a normal robot or organism. The exception to this is when the wrong parts are made cybernetic (itself a different scale I won't go into here, for the sake of brevity). Essentially, if the subject is still recognizable as an organism, only more powerful, the rule is in effect.
In a specific comparison between Raiden and his direct competitors for "most badass" in the MGS series, we most consider both his human and cyborg states.
Raiden vs (Solid) Snake
Raiden is more athletic than his counterpart, but more soft-spoken (See the "Oh Crap" incident) and lacking in the highly important facial hair. Snake on the other hand is noticeably more musclebound and battle-hardened. While Snake engages in his standard punchpunchKICK! attack, Raiden possesses instead the punchpunchDOUBLEKICK! attack. Here we find the conversation of badass rule. While Raiden's athleticism and agility is impressive and certainly to be commended, his attack is only cosmetically different from Snake's. Snake is able to accomplish the same amount of asskicking in fewer moves, therefore he is superior in that regard. Furthermore, while Raiden is a blood-soaked battle-hardened murderer, he loses points for pretending not to be/not remembering his child soldier history. Snake, on the other hand is and has always been knee-deep in a sea of corpses, and lives with that every day, driving him to near-alcoholism at one point (alcoholism being one of the most badass personal afflictions your character can be afflicted with, as it displays his tormented nature but carries none of the ethical baggage that drug addiction might carry stemming from the illegal nature of the substances). The fact that Snake's drinking problems stem not only from his guilt but also his restlessness at not being out fighting only adds to the badass level. Raiden merely has suppressed trauma in his background. Good, but it pales in comparison. Therefore, though badass in his own right, human Raiden is less badass than Solid Snake. The comparison in the player's mind causes Raiden to seem not badass at all, which is not the case.
Cyborg Ninja Raiden vs The Ninja
Frank Yaeger, known as Gray Fox prior to becoming the Ninja, is certainly a badass. He comes back from the dead stronger, faster, and tougher than he was before dying at the hands of his best friend. This is already high in badass level. However, despite his definitely cool death wish, he loses points for his masochism. When you have an orgasm in a form-fitting suit as a result of a brutal beating, that is not badass. It is gimphood. Gimps are never badass, despite their amazing ability to absorb physical assault. Furthermore, the fact that yaeger wears a suit is less badass than raiden, who has lost most of his human parts. However, the knowledge that knowledge that Raiden's blood now looks like he is leaking milk does even the playing field some. Then, the Ninja loses an arm to a laser. Cool, but not AS cool as having your arm crushed and being forced to cut it off yourself. and he has both arms gone and learns to summon lightning. Obviously much more badass.
I hope this was adequate to explain the topic
