6. A Final Note
I previously mentioned one of my friends, and how much she helped with writing this video.
When discussing with her, I expressed frustration with the fanbase. I put so much effort into this video, and yet deep down, I know that, no matter how bulletproof my arguments are, and no matter how much I reinforce them with objective facts and evidence, there are still going to be people who split-hairs, cherry pick, or simply dismiss my work.
It was here, when she told me the most important thing I’ve ever heard: “You can’t control anyone but yourself. Master yourself, and you won’t need to control anyone else.”
I can’t control how the fanbase receives my video. I can’t control whether or not my video influences the production of Metal Gear Rising 2. I can’t control whether or not Kojima finds a new successor (to fill the void left by the loss of Project Itoh), before he finally gives up and hands off Metal Gear’s future to Etsu Tamari, or someone just as bad.
I can’t control Metal Gear’s future.
But I can control what I do. Everything I felt, thought about while playing the “A Hideo Kojima Game” Metal Gear games, is my own, and what I decide to do with them is up to me.
Furthermore, my friend explained to me that creation is the best way to “master one’s self”, because you’re no longer depending on others to create things for you; you create what you want to exist for yourself.
Hideo Kojima created the original Metal Gear because he wanted to create something new, something that had never been done before. He didn’t sit around and wait for someone else to make the game for him. He took initiative and made the game he wanted to exist.
And after watching Kojima’s USC interview, and how he explains that “creating something new is all about making the impossible possible” (31:55), it finally dawned on me; Kojima doesn’t want fans, followers, or know-it-all Lore Gurus, who endlessly obsess over the petty details of his work while ultimately missing the point. He wants people to use his work as a jumping off point for their own creations, and “make the impossible possible” in their own way.
Hideo Kojima’s philosophy is about creation.
Kojima first met Project Itoh at TGS of 1998. Itoh was moved to tears by the game’s trailer, but Kojima simply considered Itoh another fan. It wasn’t until Itoh started to work on his own creations (such as Genocidal Organ and Harmony) that Itoh began to truly earn Kojima’s respect (so much respect that Kojima would dedicate one of his game’s to Itoh, after his death.)
Hideo Kojima, holding a book written by his only known disciple.
No one was ever going to make my review of Metal Gear Rising… not Super Bunnyhop (01:58), not Matthewmatosis (25:35), not even Mr.Wolfe. I had to make it myself. I had to stop being a consumer, a follower, and become a creator.
I hope that this is the start of a new precedent for me. That I’ll be able to create my own things, and grow past being dependent on Hideo Kojima, the Metal Gear fanbase, and even the Metal Gear franchise itself. That I’ll move past the “crying fanboy” stage that Itoh moved past.
That I’ll find my own name, and my own life.
But for now, I’ve spent nearly five months with nothing but hating Metal Gear Rising on my mind. Full of sorrow, hurt, and pain.
I think it’s time I take a break from that, and instead fill myself with love
Once again, I’ll replay the games that I love… divided from the shitty spin-offs.
