The Last Days of FOXHOUND

From Comixpedia

The Last Days of FOXHOUND is a webcomic hosted on www.gigaville.com, and made by Chris Doucette.

It features the villains from the video game Metal Gear Solid, who were all members of the fictional "Foxhound" unit, before the events of Metal Gear Solid.

In the comic, the Foxhound members get important missions, screw around, and frequently try to kill each other. At the same time, the comic's complex plot tells the story of how Foxhound became a terrorist group. Each character is a parody of the actual characters featured in the Metal Gear Solid series.

Chris Doucette has said that he will finish at the 500th comic which will be about 2008.

The comic makes various references to the series, and assumes the reader has a great deal of knowledge about Metal Gear Solid. Reading those articles related to Metal Gear Solid would probably help greatly in understanding the comic and the information presented below.

[edit] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

FOXHOUND MEMBERS

LIQUID SNAKE: Arguably the main character of the comic. Hired as the new point man for Foxhound at the beginning of the story. Only hired initially because he changes his scorecard from 'Snail' to 'Snake'. He is the twin brother of Solid Snake, the former point man of Foxhound, and of Solidus Snake, aka President George Sears. All three are clones of the legendary soldier Big Boss, but Liquid is under the impression that he got all of Big Boss' inferior genes while Solid Snake was born genetically superior to him. This is actually a complete lie meant to create the inferiority complex which dominates many of Liquid's actions. Generally seen (quite rightly) as an idiot by the other members of Foxhound, he may be more intelligent than he or anyone else knows, due to brain damage. This was suffered while he was a mercenary in North Africa when he was sucked into the turbofans of an F-16. He was put into a coma for a few years and as a result lost most of his memory, and woke up just prior to joining Foxhound. He is primarily motivated by the spirit of his dead father, Big Boss, and his hatred of Solid Snake and his 'superior genes'. Infamous for not dying easily, suffering multiple mental zaps by Psycho Mantis and a sword through his chest by Cyborg Ninja (Aka Grey Fox)during the course of the comic, as well as the punishment he later takes in the game. He gets along reasonably well (by Foxhound standards) with most members of the unit, and has been romantically interested in Sniper Wolf. Appears to be getting smarter after his spirit was displaced and replaced. Liquid was recently promoted to Foxhound's squad leader after Colonel Campbell retired, and has convinced them to aid his revolution against the U.S. government.

REVOLVER OCELOT: Specialist revolver wielding maniac. Ocelot has been working as an agent for the secret organization known as the Patriots his entire life, and as such is insanely skilled at manipulation and conspiracy. He is also pretending to work for President Sears to disrupt his plans against the Patriots. Can act friendly and even charming when he needs to, to the point where Sniper Wolf was briefly attracted to him despite her knowledge of his character. However, most of the time Ocelot gives free reign to his psychotic impulses, and treats other people like the expendable pawns they are. Everyone else at Foxhound loathes him, especially Mantis, due to his insults and later invulnerability to mind control. He also suffers from the rare disease Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, or CBD, causing him to double cross anyone or everyone in a compromising position (i.e., litreally backstabbing someone bending down to pick up a penny). He is a shooter of unparallel skill, once managing to shoot a bird behind him while sticking his gun in his mouth, causing him no harm. Only uses the ancient Colt Single Action Army. He is also a skilled interrogator and torturer, having worked with the KGB for many years, and when he was younger he faced off against Big Boss. Ocelot is bisexual and deeply perverted; he was powerfully attracted to Big Boss and earned the nickname 'Shalashaska' while working for the Russians due to his more... humiliating methods of interrogation. He still has contacts in Russia, which frequently come into play in the comic. Recently participated in a convoluted plot by the Patriots- under the cover of an equally convoluted plot by President Sears- which set Foxhound on their current revolutionary path as well as making it impossible for them to talk about the Patriots.

PSYCHO MANTIS: Gas mask wearing psychic psycho. For years he thought he was working for the Patriots, but recently discovered that he'd been manipulated by Sears the entire time. Briefly left Foxhound on behest of the Patriots (actually Sears), but returned later. After being betrayed by Ocelot and finding out he'd been played for a fool by both Sears and the Patriots (who were planning to use Mantis' genes to mass-produce psychic soldiers), Mantis went on a rampage, trying to kill his teammates and destroying part of Foxhound headquarters before being subdued by Liquid. One of the most powerful psychics in the world, Mantis often travels into the subconscious of other members to break them out of comas, having done so to Liquid and Ocelot. Also has acquired a stealth camouflage prototype. He has a paranoia of sex, and especially hates women. Mantis is fully aware of his superior mind and powers, and as such is incredibly arrogant and coarse to all of humanity. Is very intellectual, and it is a running gag that Mantis is infuriated by the pseudo-science which appears in the Metal Gear series. Had a long-running antagonism with Ocelot. More or less hates, and is hated by everyone on the team, yet is arguably the most powerful person in Foxhound.

SNIPER WOLF: Deadly and beautiful sniper. Used to be an old flame of Big Boss and still carries a torch for him. She has somewhat passed this crush onto Liquid Snake, and showed attraction to Solidus due to his physical similarity to Big Boss. However, most of the time Sniper Wolf only falls in love with her targets, due to the weeks on end she sometimes follows them for; however, this never stops her from killing them. Acquires her signature PSG-1 midway through the comic. Addicted to the drug Diazepam, a tranquilizer. Due to this addiction, Wolf never sleeps anymore; this causes her to have a psychtotic breakdown every few years. Usually the most serious and competent member of Foxhound, and on numerous occasions dispatches foes easily while others fail miserably. Her strange accent, a parody of how she sounded in the game, has been a running gag in the comic; Wolf almost never pronounces English properly. Interestingly, Wolf is a fan of the Twilight Zone and enjoys doing Suduko puzzles in her head while waiting for a target. Usually accompanied by her loyal Wolf Berthold.

VULCAN RAVEN: Inuit shaman with vaguely phallic weapon. Raven is the most serious member of Foxhound in principle but various jokes are made around him, and he occasionally makes unintentional puns or reveals surprising quirks. Carries a huge Vulcan Cannon, hence his name. Dislikes when others suppose the reason he carries such a large straight cylindrical weapon is to compensate for something. Takes horse tranquilizers infrequently to communicate with the spirits of his tribe and gain visions of the future. He also is moderately psychic, and can communicate with animals, though this is rarely shown. Due to his mystical powers, he often works with Psycho Mantis and serves as a stable counterpart to the irrational psychic. Raven's beliefs prevent him from using CODEC, due to his objections to having unnatural nanomachines put in his body. Extremely strong. Raven gets along fairly well with most members of the team, though Liquid's idiocy and Mantis' sociopathy especially annoy him. His philosophy is that when you kill someone you should not do it half-assedly, so he kills them a lot with his overly powerful weapon.

DECOY OCTOPUS: Disguise master. Octopus never comes out of disguise ever, and has not done so for many many years. He uses the blood of the people he wants to imitate mixed with special chemicals to impersonate those people. When he assumes the form of women he does lose his man-parts. He has been in disguise for so long, he no longer knows what he originally looked like, so his spiritual projection has no face or body, and is just a trench coat and fedora (He's a fan of Humphrey Bogart). Impersonates Ocelot as his default form at first, then a terrorist leader that is killed near the beginning of the comic. Once the blood from him runs out he returns to impersonating Ocelot. Recently began using Liquid as his default form. A mischevious and fun-loving personality (with a taste for booze and smokes), Octopus often plays pranks on the other Foxhound members by impersonating them. Naturally, Octopus tends to stay in the background in the comic, and rarely if ever fights. Never uses a gun, and until recently, had never killed anyone. Points out that he is not is intended to actually be a decoy on what he perceives to be a suicide mission.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS

BIG BOSS: Although dead for some time, killed by his own son Solid while trying to overthrow the world via nuclear terrorism, Big Boss still exerts a lot of influence upon his son Liquid. Appears to Liquid as hallucinations, and at one point, when he feels Liquid isn't living up to his legacy, posseses him and displaces his spirit. The greatest soldier of the 20th century in life, Big Boss actually taught Liquid directly in England, driving him to be better by telling him that he had recessive flawed inferior genes, and that Solid had the superior dominant genes, and that he could never beat him. This is of course complete bullshit, as has been pointed out by various people at various times, including that the reverse is true, with Liquid having all the dominating 'strong' genes. Has lost his eye many times, the first time to a young Revolver Ocelot, which has left Big Boss less than fond of the gunslinger.

Big Boss has a longstanding hatred of the Patriots, mainly because of what they forced him to do over the years, including kill his former mentor so that the Patriots could acquire more money. He sees them as a force that abuses warriors like him for their own ends, so he fights against them, and appears to have recently swayed Liquid towards his viewpoint. Big Boss admires his son Solid Snake, despite being thwarted and killed by him, and constantly acts contemptous of Liquid in order to manipulate him. He dismisses his third son, Solidus, as a "Patriot stooge", indicating that he is unaware of Solidus' machinations against the Patriots. Is possibly the only person on the planet who Psycho Mantis fears. He knows many things about Liquid's past that Liquid himself does not know, such as his old bank account number.

BERTHOLD: Sniper Wolf's pet wolf. Berthold is telepathic and can communicate with people, but tries not to do so except when necessary. Wolf herself is unaware of his abilities, and thus far he has only spoken to Liquid, Octopus, and Raven. Over the course of the comic he has gained optical camouflage. Supposedly met Wolf when she accidentally hit him with her car, and has loyally followed her ever since. Often threatens to bite people’s balls if they do not comply with his wishes.

COLONEL ROY CAMPBELL: Until recently, he served as the constantly put-upon head of Foxhound, mainly serving to brief them on their missions. Not very competent, Campbell stood a great deal of insubordination from his unit, possibly because they could all kill him in a heartbeat. After Psycho Mantis' rampage, Campbell finally retired from the unit full of freaks, allowing Liquid to take over.

NAOMI HUNTER: Foxhound's doctor. Foster sister of Gray Fox, she protects him while he is in hiding. Hates Big Boss and his sons Liquid and Solid for getting "Frankie", as she calls Gray Fox, hurt. To this end she once posed as Liquid Snake's girlfriend in order to get close enough to kill him. Was manipulated by Ocelot and the Patriots into developing the virus "Foxdie", and has recently been overseeing the Genome Soldier Project. Has also agreed to sabotage the Patriots' psychic soldier research on Psycho Mantis' behalf.

CYBORG NINJA: Formerly Big Boss' lieutenant, Gray Fox ("Frankie" to his sister Naomi) was defeated by Solid Snake and thought dead. However, Foxhound's former medical officer, Doctor Clark, revived him through torturous experiments, genetic therapy, and cybernetic implants, transforming him into the Cyborg Ninja. During and after escaping Foxhound HQ, the Ninja proved himself able to take on all of Foxhound, surviving encounters with Psycho Mantis, Revolver Ocelot, and Vulcan Raven with ease. Impaled Liquid with his sword, only to be beaten into submission by him, earning Liquid Naomi's hatred. Was killed by Psycho Mantis in a later encounter, only to be recently revived and set free by Mantis during the latter's rampage as leverage over Doctor Naomi.

SCRATCH AND EDDIE: Introduced early in the series during an attempt to take revenge on Ocelot for an undisclosed incident in Prague, Scratch and Eddie wound up joining Foxhound as computer specialists. Scrach is a computer hacker with a coffee fixation. Eddie is also a hacker, but is also a big guy who is moderately psychic and capable reading minds and placing suggestions. They rarely appear in the comic.

SOLIDUS SNAKE: Known to the world as George Sears, President of the United States of America. Created to be an exact clone of Big Boss (and as such is almost physically identical to him), Solidus has been controlled since birth by the Patriots, who later arranged for him to be the President. However, he secretly despises them and wants more freedom, either for himself or the population at large. Ran on the platform of the Libertarian party (ironic because there are actually no real elections or freedoms in the Metal Gear Solid universe, thanks to the Patriots). Has hatched a number of complicated schemes against them using Mantis and Ocelot; however, since Ocelot is secretly a Patriot operative Solidus has been strung along by his enemies since the beginning. His plan is to provoke his brother, Liquid, into a terrorist action which will harm the Patriots. Despite his skill at scheming, Solidus has been shown to have a number of quirks and incompetencies, namely only using AOL Instant Messenger to communicate with his operatives, and once calling Revolver Ocelot for help with his computer. Seems somewhat to want to carry on his Father's (Big Boss) legacy of taking down the Patriots; however when he encountered his father during the latter's possession of Liquid Snake, the two showed nothing but antagonism towards each other.

OTACON: A major character in the main MGS video games, has only made minor appearances in the comic, which invariably portray him as incredibly naive and geeky. Otacon is designing a new Metal Gear weapon for the U.S. government, and honestly believs it is only for defensive purposes, completely oblivious to all evidence that it might be used to kill millions of people. During an encounter with Liquid Snake, he 'gives' him a stealth camouflage prototype which is later acquired by Mantis, and loses another one to Berthold.

SERGEI GURLUKOVICH: An old pal of Ocelot's from the latter's Cold War days, Sergei currently runs a private army of former Russian special forces operatives on behalf of Russia's criminal elements. Madly patriotic and not terribly bright, Gurlukovich has crossed paths with Foxhound several times in the past, and has recently agreed to lend his army's support to Liquid's revolution.

NANO JACKAL: A member of the Foxhound reserves (nicknamed "Dogpound"), she has numerous nanomachine implants that give her the amazing ability to calculate trajectories and other factors to make amazing shots with her pistol. Worked on the Metal Gear, but fled when she found out its true purpose, and was unable to do anything about it in order to avoid being silenced. Has not appeared since.

DESERT VULTURE: Also a member of the reserves, is a very British sniper. Uses an old WW2 era anti-tank rifle, which is very distinctive. Uses terms like 'tally hoe' and 'what what' 'quite' often. Knew Liquid before he joined Foxhound, and openly flirts with Sniper Wolf. Helps in rescuing Dead Cell.

DEAD CELL: For a short period of time the bosses from Metal Gear Solid 2, Dead Cell appears and needs to be rescued. In the comic, Chinaman and Old Boy are still alive; Col Jackson is in charge with Fortune being absent (presumably having not joined yet). Like Foxhound, Dead Cell is constantly bickering.

Chinaman is very overeager and incompetent, trying hard to show off his minimal skills while trying to explain why his codename is somewhat racist, and why it is that while he is Vietnamese. It is also revealed that he is a stage pyrotechnics expert, a skill of dubious value for which he always tries to overcompensate.

Old Boy is a quite delusional former Nazi general, and only speaks in German. It has been revealed that he was 'recruited' by the Cobras during World War 2.

Fatman, the team demolitionist, is a megalomaniac with an explosives fixation and a major weight problem. Uses roller skates in combat.

Vamp, a knife expert, displays a variety of paranormal abilities, drinks blood, and is bisexual. Openly hits on Liquid Snake during the rescue.

THE SORROW: A character from Metal Gear Solid 3, he is a ghost, and as such was brought in by Ocelot to help when Big Boss possessed Liquid. In life, he was a spirit-medium member of the Cobras, and lover of the Boss, who led the Cobras and mentored Big Boss. A former teacher, he's big on testing people by forcing them to confront the spirits of those they've killed. Constantly tries to remind people to respect human life, something difficult to do in Foxhound. According to the game, he is Ocelot's father, though it is not clear whether either of them know this. He appears to be aiding the ghost of Big Boss in manipulating Liquid from beyond the grave in order to strike against the Patriots. Currently haunting Foxhound's library 'to give it the proper atmosphere'.

THE COBRAS: A World War 2 special-forces group, they were sort of the inspiration for Foxhound. The bosses in the third Metal Gear Solid game, they have appeared several times as ghosts or in flashbacks. One of the running gags with the Cobras is that whenever Cobra member The Pain appears, he'll point out that he's "covered in bees!", a joke about how gimmicky and outlandish the Cobras were perceived to be.

[edit] Credit