That actually annoyed the shit out of me. The Muramasa blade would have been made out of bloom steel at best and as such would be objectively inferior to any modern blade assuming it was forged by a competent smith. Either Muramasa forged his swords with magic or the HF-Blade is a shitty wallhanger coasting on its HF properties.
I thought that was all nanomachines? Everything "magic" in the past games has been largely explained through technology. The only exeption to this is Vamp who was origionaly a legit vampire but even then it was retconned in MGS4. Regardless, the game tries to pass of the Muramasa Blade's extraordinary properties as being something bestowed by its equally extraordinary smith. That is an entirely mundane explanation which is for the most part grounded in reality. The problem is that Muramasa, virtue of 16th century Japanese metallurgy, could never produce a sword which is superior to a high-carbon equivalent. Japanese smiths could be good but most of their skill was in compensating for Japan's lack of access to blast forging. In a world where swords have made a comeback as battlefield weapons I doubt they would settle for anything less than the best blades they can make. This is why it bothers me, I find it hard to believe that when swords have made a comeback as battlefield weapons anyone would be caught dead using a vibed-up wall-hanger, which they must be if Raiden's sword is better than theirs and a blade from 16th century japan is better than that. Long story short they give a grounded explanation which doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
So you think the fact the story has a consistent over the top tone is worse than having full retarded aspects like pants shitting scenes right in the middle of scenes that are supposed to be serious?
Because his tropes are terrible? How about when Otacon pisses everywhere during Snake and Grey Fox's reunion, a moment that is absolutely soul crushing for snake. Or when The Boss's C-Section scar literally slithers off her body like a Snake? Or that time Big Boss pushed away a Metal Gear stomp? Or when he fought a Bee Wizard and a Flame Thrower Astronaut? Or that time Liquid Snake survived a Helicopter Crash, a Fall off a Metal Gear, and about 200 Machine Gun rounds to the chest? And let's not forget the fights with guys who shoot out lightning, ghosts, Shamans, a girl who uses photosynthesis, psychics... oh yeah, and a vampire. But no, the futuristic cyborg tossing a Metal Gear is too far.
+Alex Wayne And you don't see the hilarious hypocrisy? I'm not nitpicking minor points of the plot to skew the tone of the series, these are all major characters and moments in the series. I'm not exaggerating to make them seem sillier than they are, if anything I'm leaving out the more absurd aspects... Like the guy who pretends to be possessed to trick the world governing AI Illuminati.
+Alex Wayne And I'm just pointing out to you how absurd it is getting salty about Future Raiden's Mech Suplexes when normal 1970's human Big Boss can overpower a mech stomp with his barehands. I'm not twisting anything, The "remaining objective" is "Fight a Anime Mech" Even at the most basic level cutting out the extreme moments it's still anime as hell. It's literally named after Mechs. The basic premise of every game boils down to "Spy fights a Mech, crazy anime shit happens throughout". Hell, Big Boss even gets a Rocket Punch. MGS1 had a robot ninja that swiped his sword faster than the human eye could see. Otacon even says "This is just like one of my animes!"
+stevemcquark you clearly know your mgs lore,people seem to think your comment was coming from someone who dislikes mgs.you clearly are a fan,its just that,you are objective and logical.
@l3054 what? yeah ok turn children into androids and kill all who are weak. Lmao youre a joke, sure he has his points here and there but chill tf out half of armstrong is enough
These replies are nuts. He literally wanted to turn the entire country into a functionally anarchic hellhole. "Might makes right" is the bottom of the barrel as far as ideologies go
As soon as Armstrong showed up in the last chapter, the game became instant gold. That last stretch of cutscenes is absolutely hilarious and the final battles so cathartic and awesome. That was just great.
You wouldn't think a villain that comes out of nowhere at the eleventh hour with little to no buildup or relation to the protagonist would be my favorite of all time, yet here we are.
Since kojima is leaving and rising is the game furthest in the future, does that mean all of metal gear was leading up to armstrong, the true final boss?
HyperBitHero I think this does mirror actual politics pretty well. Many people only hear what they want to and ignore the details that could change your outlook on someone. I mean, in a land where the majority of people wouldn't benefit at all from a republican president, I think that's the main reason they get as far as they do. If people knew their shit and actually paid attention people like Romney wouldn't even have a chance at becoming president.
WaddleDee105 Well, it's the same thing for democrats. I'm actually in favor of a Hillary presidency because I want to see how badly she'll fuck everything up. She's a walking disaster.
I like the interaction between Armstrong and Sam in the DLC. You can see through Sam's words that he's actually a lot like Raiden in their ideals. In the brief codec conversations and final battle with Armstrong. Sam changes after his arm's severed which kind of explains his behavior in the main game. It's rather interesting to note. Even when both Sam and Raiden fight Armstrong for the first time they say "Let's dance." Both used the Murasama so when Raiden fights him with the sword I feel like Sam eventually succeeded in the end. His 'Revengeance' if you will.
if you look at the lyrics of sams theme its all about this concept how sam esencaly lost who he truly was when he agreed to work for Armstrong only realizing it when he sees riden fighting the fight he used to with the line that hamers it home for me being "its me that I spite as I stand up and fight the only thing I know for real there will be blood" as by fighting for Armstrong he is spiting everything he ever stood for leaving only blood in his wake
''So by defeating him, Raiden proves Armstrong that he was wrong in this fight of ideology.'' No, Raiden proved Armstrong was 100% right. That's the only thing I disagree with in this whole review, yes Armstrong is a crazy villain and anyone who tries to say he's not a bad guy is also crazy. Yes, you really nailed down his ideology unlike so many others I saw who seemed confused by it. But with Raiden killing Armstrong with his own strength for what he believed in, he was also proving Armstrong right. Raiden had no right legally to kill Armstrong, that's the irony of it, the American system Armstrong was trying to destroy was also protecting him, it is what was allowing him to do everything he did. If Raiden had tried to let the American justice system and democracy take Armstrong down, Armstrong would have come out unscathed as the new president and Raiden would have been thrown in prison. So the American system and democracy Raiden was fighting for failed him and was pretty much proven by the end of the game to really be rotten to the core. So Raiden had no choice but to use Armstrong's own philosophy to take him down. It's not democracy that prevailed at the end, it was the strongest, it was might make right. The only thing Armstrong was wrong about was that he was stronger than Raiden. Now mind you, none of that changes the fact that Armstrong was a huge asshole and a crazy villain or the fact that Raiden is the hero. Because at the end of the day, protecting the weak and trying to save as many people as possible even when it harms them or their reputation is the thing heroes do and Armstrong didn't need to kill thousands of innocents, lots of which were kids, or start a war to accomplish his goals. Especially since one of his goals is to end wars like those. Raiden did prove Armstrong was the villain. But he absolutely did not prove him wrong, quite the opposite.
Some might make an actual argument though, that Armstrong might not have really had many other options to try and reform America and strengthen it's people.
@@gen-zboomer Yea put in his shoes it wouldn't have been so easy. Doing what he did maxe it easy for raiden but if armstrong was starting out fresh then he'd have been facing all that corruption on his own. Even Raiden had to kill hundreds of men just to get to him who were just doing their job for the most part. That's the level complexity here. I'd still say Raiden is "right" but not in the neccesarily pure sort of sense.
@@lastmanstanding7155 thats part of the point Illustratrating no human will ever have a perfect idea there will be flaws no matter thre intention Armstrong truly believes he's the good guy Like many other evil dictators of the past they think they know best That something makes them superior The problem is the amount of effort luck charisma and iron will it takes to get to the top of a truly fucked western system means you ARE special... maybe not smart or deserving of your position but you've proven you can manipulate any given room of humans fairly easily The difference between a "born leader" and a "dictator" is who currently owns the company that writes the history books in many cases You dont hear anyone talk about the fact Winston churchhill was an idiot and a drunk most of the time but in that one time and place was exactly what England needed
The final battle song represents the situation really well, with Raiden and Armstrong realizing that they are the same, but with Armstrong wanting to destroy the weak and Raiden wanting to protect them, they both knew that only one was leaving that base alive hence the name of the song 'It has to be this way'.
But I think there is something to be said that Armstrong and Raiden fundamentally see the "weak" as different. Armstrong doesn't hate the poor and "defenseless", but rather, he admires their will to survive. You know who Armstrong wants to purge? Those who live without struggle, ambition, passion. The elites of this country, who have devoted their lives to comfort even as they knowingly bring this whole fucking country down with them. Armstrong doesn't want to rule America - he could do that at any time. Rather, he wants to reform America to a world where living comfortably without growth and struggle is impossible. He wants to take the elites elevated standing, and as he said, return power and justice to where they belong, " in the hands of the people. "
5:22 I love how he touches his chin like, just showing he’s aware of how much he gets hit in the chin, and then gets punched across the face and ends up chin surfing. Best boss fight ever crafted.
I gotta say, you really hit a nail on the head with that final boss thing. Nothing is worse for a final encounter than it to be built up for nothing, and most AAA games seem like they have absolutely no idea how to do a proper finale anymore. I guess one silver lining to this is the final boss(es) of say; Dragon's Dogma. Grigori is such a well done battle that challenges you and yet commends you, egging you on and somewhat mentoring you the entire fight. Essentially building you up for what is to come, mindfuck and all.
Notice how when Raiden is setting up that betrayal line, Armstrong literally picks him up off the ground and dusts him off, truly glad that Raiden might've seen his way after all.
HyMyNameIsMatt That part was cool, but not battle itself. It was just kinda weird especially when he starts sending gekkos out and blowing them up himself.
+DatDamn MegaBusta he does every time and during those times I just went for the geckos to do a zendatsu I assume thats how the devs decided to help you if you were out of nano paste and low on HP
Armstrong isn't completely wrong but he takes it too far. He wants to create a civilian Outer Heaven where the civilian life truly matters and has a voice and is needed, but at the cost of those who don't possess the might and strength to overpower those who oppose them. In short, the weak. Civilian life is not a battlefield. It is, in theory, supposed to be a democracy....a true one...you can't apply Outer Heaven principles to a land of non soldiers
I think when Armstrongs talks about the strong and wek, he's more referring to people's wills than physical strength and money, and he (somewhat like Solidus) is angry/ disappointed with a nation built by those with such strong wills turning into one where people either blindly follow ideology or sit apathetic, cowed by media or political establishment. To boil down what I think his ideology is, beyond his metaphorical bluster, he wants to build a country where people are free to act as individuals and where the ability to truly think for one's self is rewarded.
@l3054 This analogy is old, tired, and also completely incorrect. I will make a correction to it so you know what I mean: Democracy is a herd of sheep and 2 wolves given the right to vote on whether or not the wolves should be allowed to continue to prey on them. In case it's not clear enough already: The 2 wolves are the actors of autocratic, top to bottom kinds of governments that persisted in the past. YOU are one of the sheep. Don't be dumb. Stupid analogy.
@l3054 True, yes. Personally I am not a big fan of pure, direct democracy for that exact reason, and vastly prefer a representative democracy over that. However that being said, and if you may indulge me here and answer a question, what is preferable in your opinion: 1) "Mob rule" in the interest of the many, the vast majority of a population; or 2) absolute monarchy in the interest of one or, at best, very few?
@l3054 No, of course those are not the only options! I was trying to speak in the context of the analogy of the sheep and the wolf/wolves. Going back to why I originally responded to you in the first place, I was offering the two options of either mob rule by the majority of sheep, or rule of a few by the wolves, and asked what would be preferable to you. Quick response to your second comment: It's not wrong that I'm white, but I didn't put that into my channel description. I state "male", "straight", and my age (which I now updated), that's it.
I don't see how Armstrong is more similar to Volgin than any of the other villains. Volgin is probably the only true villain in the series. He's iredeemedly evil. Armstrong and Solidus are anti villains. They definitely have the most in common with each other, but I felt myself rooting for Armstrong more, just because of how charismatic he is, and the fact that the it's not a game that requires you to think much at all.
Clearly there's something wrong with him considering he's desensitized himself so much to harvesting the brains of actual children, but he really is more like Solidus. You never saw him doing it himself as apposed to someone like Volgin, who would definitely be in there with the brains. You see Volgin beating PoW's and just regular people up for fun while getting a clear pleasure from it. The only time we even get something close to that is Armstrong fighting every person he employs, and he doesn't give off a vibe of getting satisfaction when beating up anyone we see.
MGSR Is special in a way that the songs playing are also considered "canon" to the storyline. His song with its driving theme of "In the end we are both the same" is actually really good and enhances the story quite a bit.
"So by defeating him, Raiden proves Armstrong that he was wrong in this fight of ideology." I don't know to whom the word 'he' refers to. But when you take it logically, Raiden was wrong and Armstrong was right. Because Raiden was proven stronger and deeated Armstrong for what he believed in. In fact, everybody opposing Armstrong is actually agreeing with him that he should have a say in the matter, no matter what the standards of society tell them. After all, there is this sweet irony. Raiden used Armostrong methods and ideology to protect the system that both Raiden and Armstrong were actually attacking, because it condemned those methods and ideology. The system was actually trying to prevent the good guys from acting and protecting the bad guys in doing what they wanted. It was giving power to the wealthy and turned even the law protectors against the good guys, because law and order demanded it. So when Raiden turned against the system, he actually was doing the exact same thing as Armstrong. Armstrong accepted all the bad that comes with working to achieve the change. Raiden looked like he kept doubting his own ways... but in the end, he was forced to proceed regardless. For example, realizing that the cyborgs he was killing were most of the time innocent in a way - but he in the end stopped caring and started enjoying ripping them apart regardless. That means that Armstrong was proven right. Raiden was more just forced to kill him by his own locomotion and rage. And also, Raiden was in it because of his personal experience. He didn't want the same suffering he himself had for anyone else. Possibly thinking that if he gives other people the chance he didn't get, it would ease his own burden. But if Raiden had a different backgroud, he could equally intensively hate those who would be chopping the police cyborgs into pieces. And not care about the reasons of those people for doing such a heinous act.
@@oakdoll5929 Which I personally don't agree with. Because nobody should "deserve" to die. All life is sacred, no matter what path they walk. The fact that some people have to be stopped by way of murdering them is tragic, because everybody has the choice to make themselves better and it's sad that so many people don't take it.
@@Shadethewolfy And that is why Armstrong was wanting people to acquire improvements, whether cybernetic or via exoskeleton, so that they could be free to live and fight their own battles in the name of what they believe.
The genus of MGR is that it's criticizing MGS4. Armstrong's parallels to Big Boss are so strong and obvious that the only way that they could have had it flashing in neon lights during his scenes and it would make a difference.
@@SlurpeeTheUnholy But _HE_ didn't. "Fucking piece of shit dares to compare himself to Big Boss. " isn't true. I doubt even the writers were comparing them, and parallels aren't good enough evidence of it.
Armstrong was right, to his own downfall. By preaching that the weak should be purged in a personal crusade to establish strong memetics in accordance to what people believe, for themselves in a super egoist society, it enabled someone like Raiden who, through his own will and personal crusade, kills Armstrong. Armstrong realizes this at the end, and is proud that he won his war by losing his battle. Thus, one can argue, it is the duty of people who believe themselves righteous, to grow stronger, and to avoid trampling on the weak lest they be reminded that they are not the strongest, and will be usurped.
See, some of the people who agree with Armstrong do so because they THINK they're the strong ones, the ones that will claim this new nightmarish dystopia of violence they want to create. Everybody likes to think they're the one that will survive the apocalypse "just like in the movies", and that's why some people agree with this blatantly insane, cynical, ironic villain.
"All I know for certain is that I know nothing." Socrates, said to be the wisest man in ancient Greece. That's exactly why raiden wins this fight. The only thing that can stop you from dying is acknowledgement and acceptance of your own mortality without censorship or shame. That's exactly why this sort of mentality is bound to crumble in on itself.
Partly, though it depends on how you define strength... And "Nightmarish" We already live in a weird Nightmare of being a meaningless species that just happened to develop self-awareness and are on a dying planet. It'd be nice if all the dumb bastards went and offed 'emselves so the race as a whole could survive, even if it means people like me being culled.
"We'll have to wait for a sequel" Ah, but for the days when Kojima and Konami were still an item and Konami wasn't intentionally dragging Metal Gear as a franchise through the shitter just to hurt Kojima.
Words cannot express how hyped I am for Metal Gear Rising 2: Revenge of the Revengeance I'm more hyped for it than MGSV: The Phantom Pain. Some may say there's something wrong there. But I don't care. It has to be this way.
One thing seemingly no one mentions when discussing Armstrong's might-makes-right philosophy is that in his world, people buy physical strength through cybernetic implants, and it requires the resources of a huge PMC or a dirty-ass politician to even compete. It doesn't matter whether you played college football or not, or how much Ayn Rand you've read; if you can't afford a rad cyber-body like Raiden's, you're going to get stomped into mush by someone who can and decides he wants your stuff.
I thought when he means by burning it all down it was even that, the companies and making sure everyone fought hand to hand or even craft their own weapons, again, not too farfetched by his standarts
I can certainly say that Armstrong has me split on whether he's good or bad. A man with good intentions (subject to opinion) with a questionable plan and performing crimes against humanity to back that up. Really makes for good discussion. I'd agree with bits of his speech if it weren't for his inhumane Sears Program and his malicious way of kicking Tecumseh into gear. Perhaps the origin of my like for Armstrong stems from his patriotism, his respect for Raiden due to how he became the man he is from where he began, and how his philosophy can symbolise America's odd liberty so well.
Armstrong believes in this country at it's core so deeply, that'd he rip it apart to bring back what made it so great. I think that's incredibly respectable. Also, his respect for those who picked themselves up off the ground is admirable. You can agree with what someone wants, but not what they do to get it. But, for a country as fucked up as ours, maybe there's no other way.
I remember making a comment asking for you to make an Armstrong video when you made your Solidus Snake devious intent. Thank you for listening to my request.
HyperBitHero To clarify I did not watch that video when you released it. Looking at the comment it says that I watched it 10 months ago. So that "when you made" part should have been "when I watched your". Still a really good video man, definitely worth the wait.
Armstrong does bring up some good points, and it seems like his character has been made to sincerely want them, as opposed to the politicians which fake it.
To all of them, actually. Armstrong has real ideals, an actual drive to make this world into what he thinks of as a better place. That's more than I can say for almost all politicians, and people too.
In a alternate reality this guy is the president right now And one where the sequel exists And if it's a really really good one then it will have both the sequel and him a president
The irony is that Armstrong is only strong because of the efforts of the weak. No scientists and engineers to create those Nanomachines, then No Nanomachines Son. I'd honestly like to see a fight between Armstrong and Armstrong, and Armstrong and Mercer or Heller.
Senator armstrong is one of those characters that becomes a real gem the more you think about him. He is a hilariously entertaining and fun character that is filled with epic all around him, but as you think of his intent and dream, he proves to be a more interesting character than almost all of the villains you can see in video games. His intentions may not be that different from others, but the way they are told, represented and then explained, gives off a really new and unique experience that probably no other villain could ever give or replace, no matter how well written they may be.
I still wish I could go back in time and play this game for the first time again without knowing about Armstrong. You go in to the final mission of the game expecting him to just be a guy and Metal Gear is the only way he has a chance, only for him to get out and be like “you fool, METAL GEAR WAS HOLDING ME BACK!”
Holy shit he even says "make America great again" and a lot of people like his confidence while ignoring or missing the crazy things he says. This game was a premonition of Trump in this year's election.
Minus the nanomachines. Or... maybe that was accurate too? God I hope we have nanomachine-robot-suplexing-punch-outs at the elections. There's a historical presidential debate you don't want to miss.
SWR 360 Well saying that is a bit much. Or giving Trump too much credit. The "Make America Great Again" was something that Ronald Reagen said during one of his speeches. A term I see in books of Patriotic villains or heroes in the fictional books I have read. Hell, Tom Clancy loved that tag line in his early books. It just happens that the phrase is more relevant than ever.
There are parts of Armstrong's message that really resonate with me as a libertarian, but his means of achieving his goals and an-cap take on society are certainly what puts him into the villain category. But with current politics it's easy to see why more people are resonating with a message of freedom and anti-establishment than anything else, which is why people get sucked in to see him as more of a hero.
yes, but... he killed so many people, for example on the tanker in mgs2, in the first scene you see him in mgs3 (even it was not necessary), he tortured the darpa chief to death in mgs1 and killed many more in mgs4
MGS2 predicted the future in a really weird way, too. Censoring information not by holding info back, just by information overflow. So much good and fake info that facts don't matter anymore, cause hardly anyone verifies facts. People just react emotionally or according to how they're politically aligned now. Everything from CNN to Breitbart news, you're getting distorted info. MGS2 predicted that in like 2001, I think. This is why immigrants get blamed for everything instead of the people at the top causing all the problems (no one ever reads the research, cause it directly challenges their emotions and isolationism) Propaganda using simplistic narratives that appeal to emotion always seem to win.
"even in a world ruled by strenght some will choose to defend the weak" i think that's the plan. if you have strenght and that's what really want you will be able to do it.
Yeah he actually isn't against that. He has issues with people being all talk and no action being valued. Politics are not what the dude cares about, passion and willpower is, which is why he calls Raiden a successor. Armstrong believes value isn't built off an argument, but the willpower those that force change. It's an old concept, people can and will argue anything, but it's means nothing compared to those that are willing to fight and die for their thoughts.
6:51 The real question is HOW THE HELL DID HIS GLASSES STAY INTACT THROUGHOUT THE FIGHT? But also let’s give him he D4C Stand. Then he’d be a *real president*
I think they could've done a better job at building Armstrong by showing short clips of his election campaign speeches and then showing more of his batshit insane motives behind the the scenes. I enjoyed the thrilling last fights with Armstrong not knowing "is this his final form? but as he was so entertaining and over the top I didn't really wanna punch him in the face so badly. Although that quickly changed in the final battle where he started kicking my ass. What I found more disappointing was how Jetstream Sam was handled. He was Raiden's rival who was built up since the first cutscene as a cocky adversary who is always one step ahead of Raiden. I kinda wish he would've been the final boss because in the end the fight with him was handled just in one short chapter. After Raiden and Sam's fight and the emotional cutscene it was such a drastic change fighting this corny senator which was just loosely tied in with Sam's blade. I spent the entire game hating this cocky samurai but when I found out his true motives he's gone and then there's this crazy politician with a giant robot spider as consolation prize. MGR's storyline was quite the roller coaster but it did fit the fast action packed gameplay. I'm sure MGR was big test for both Hideo Kojima and Platinum games so hopefully there's gonna be sequel that could provide us longer gameplay with new tricks and a more polished story.
You make some brilliant points, but I actually like how nothing about him was mentioned. With the way no one was talking about him I expected some generic weapon's dealer who's a bit of republican stereotype. When he bust open that handle, drained the machines energy and then started quoting martin Luther king my mouth dropped open. I dident expect anything from him at all because as you said, nothing was told about him, making it even more surprising when he was talking about his ideologies, which instead of republican stereotypes, where amazingly over exaggerated republican values.
I think it was kind of the point to have him just sort of come out of nowhere with this crazy as hell ideology that makes you question what you've been doing the whole game, the entire time you think Armstrong must just be some mustache twirling big money cartoon supervillain who is just evil for the sake of being evil like the Claw from Inspector Gadget or something from other Saturday morning cartoons and yet he shows up and just starts beating the living shit out of you whilst hurling his political and social commentary at you. Ontop of this having the entire reason for him being such a strong person both physically and in personality is due to the goddamn Nanomachines used in every Metal Gear game to explain everything :L
But those on top of the system likely view themselves as the strong. Armstrong is just an exaggerated reflection of the ideology of those already in charge.
Proving that either this game's writing is kinda prophetic, or humanity is so mindnumbingly stupid nowadays that its modern political history would echo the ramblings of a batshit-crazy character from a batshit-awesome action game!!
Thank you for this insightful video! MGR is one of my favorite games and I'm glad that you made this video. There's so much hate for Rising, but I love it nonetheless!
This guy was a character in a half. I think out of all the Devious Intent's I enjoyed Talbot's analysis the most. I would love for more disappointing villains and/or overhyped games to get a similar analysis highlighting what they did right and what they did wrong....or entirely what they did wrong. Sort of as a cautionary tale.
I'm pretty certain after the upcomming Bioshock Infinite video or whatnot we'll see another Devious Intent about them. More likely Vergil will take center stage with some references to Mundus. At least it's my guess.
Yay! You finally made it! It's an awesome work, it's been months since I asked this on your MGR video but it was well worth it, keep up the good work. Good luck.
Not sure why some people see him as the villain. He is basically pro-evolution and evolution is what created life itself. The only reason why you can enjoy this comfortable lifestyle at the top of the Earth food chain is because billions of other living things had to die.
The term "Libertarian" is actually very broad and can represent both Anarcho Capitalist and Anarcho Syndicalist philosophies and anti-authoritarian principles. Even some of the most die-hard Objectivists (Think Ayn Rand) would say that all individuals have some objective rights in a state of nature.
Christopher Wilson The term "Liberal" is also etymologically identical to the term "Libertarian", yet it represents a range of polarly opposed ideologies. Ayn Rand was not a libertarian, and actually she disliked any association with the term. The vast majority of people who actually identify as libertarians are usually capitalist minarchists and anarcho-capitalists. When I go to a libertarian festival or meetup, I expect to meet capitalists, not socialists.
HamsterPants522 "When I go to a libertarian festival or meetup, I expect to meet capitalists, not socialists." In the US perhaps, nowhere else in the world though. With that said, Armstrong is clearly a parody of US Libertarianism and it's absolutely sociopathic, social darwinistic nature.
This was an interesting video to watch for several reasons. The biggest being Armstrong himself and there is also the fact that you really seemed to like talking about it.
When Armstrong says that "everyone can fight their own wars", I don't think that line is meant to be taken completely literally. In the context of what he is talking about, he means that everyone will be free to fight for their own personal destiny. Also, I don't think that when anyone says that "Armstrong is the good guy" they mean that all of his actions were right. No one I know has every meant that. What they mean that his ideology for the most part is actually admirable compared to Raiden who doesn't seem to have an ideology. It's in the same way people note that Solidus had the right ideas, and that you the player and your avatar Raiden's actions were actually doing more to help the Patriots than help save the world. No one excuses either Solidus or Armstrong for the heinous things they did. The part of his ideology that's obviously the weakest is the idea of purging the weak. But the problem in the writing is that so much of what Armstrong says makes so much sense, that the part about "purging the weak" almost feels like it was thrown in there just to throw a little villainization into his ideology to make him seem like more of "the bad guy". It's cheap writing in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with having an antagonist who has completely good intentions, but his extremist methods are completely evil. There really was no need to throw in that little bit of villainization in there, his actions do enough to tell us that he's gone too far.
+ZerogunRivale well, IT IS part of the "might makes right" thing. it probably doesnt even mean actively going out and 'purging the weak,' what armstrong is saying is that in his vision there will be no place for weak people, as they will be in smaller and smaller numbers in time -- a lot like how selective evolution works in nature. makes a lot of sense.
I'm not sure how you think purging the weak is weakness. Even mother nature targets and kills the weak, so if its good enough for the "oh so gentile" Mother Earth why not us, her "children"? Natural Selection is a universal law. If your society conforms to universal law, it will prosper, but if it goes against universal law (i.e. by protecting the weak and allowing them to live long enough to breed) it WILL fail. No ifs, no ands, and absolutely no buts. Mother Nature doesn't give one teeny, tiny little shit about your precious fee fees. That's the only reason we haven't had a great empire that lasted more than a few millenia, because none of them have been full Darwinist empires like the Sith or the Tal'Darim (Starcraft 2)
@@StarboyXL9 The problem is that you have a very flawed idea what "natural selection" actually means. This is what is always so wrong with the idea of "social darwinism" that some people buy into, they always seem to think that what Darwin and natural selection say is "the strong survive, the weak die". It doesn't What natural selection is, is the fact that beings with traits that help them survive, will survive, and therefore reproduce and pass on those traits, while beings that have the traits that don't help them survive, won't survive, and therefore will reproduce less and not pass on as much of their traits. This makes evolution work in a way that helps species survive rather than hinder them. But what helps a species survive doesn't need to have anything to do with strength. For many species being able to run faster helps them survive, or being able to hide better, or reproduce faster, or even being able to identify better what's good to eat and what's not. Anything really, and while that may include being "strong", it doesn't have to. It's "survival of the FITTEST" not "survival of the STRONGEST". And importantly, it is all about the species as a whole, and how they evolve, not about specific individuals. It's also not a "universal law" that we must follow like it dictates how human should behave, but rather just an explanation why evolution favours good traits. That all being said, one of humans greatest strengths, one that natural selection helped us evolve and a huge reason for our success (along with our ingenuity) is our ability to work together. Our ability to band together, help each other, cover each other weaknesses, to communicate complex ideas to each other and form plans together. Humans are a social creature by nature for a reason, it's what makes us strong. A single human individual, no matter how strong, no matter how smart, will never be better than a human society. Individual strength doesn't compare to the strength of humans banding together. Society is why we rule the world, even if no individual does. And it's why no man rules alone, why having power is all about getting people to give it to you, being charismatic or popular or lucky enough to get people to follow you and keep you in charge. And being in charge isn't about strength, it's about belief, because being strong doesn't actually help you get power, but rather being in power (through people that believe in you and give you that power) makes you strong. The "strong" are simply those who have power, and the "weak" those that don't, and there is very little genetically or naturally different about them that causes this, it is simply a question of being lucky enough to be in the right position and then capitalizing it successfully. A poor person often isn't poor because they're weak, they're poor because they're poor, and without power they won't be able to do anything about it without help from somebody (even if that help is just someone hiring them) People often dislike governments because governments often care less about the individual people without power than they do about those with power (who have a say in things) and about how society is as a whole (which they control). And more socialist ideas are about trying to help the individuals without power, the "weak" (really often just the unlucky, those without power) by using the power of the government, society helping every individual that needs help (however well that idea works is up to debate). And as such an individual without power lives best in a society where even the "weakest" person has some power, through votes (democracy), and lives the worst live in a society where they have no power or say in anything (dictatorship) Anarchy and social darwinism however are both flawed because it seems to be based on the idea of everything being about the individual, with dislike of the government and the power it has, but not having any true ideas of a society or a way to distribute power. They seem to want to tear everything down, and then just imagine that somehow everyone will be "free" and able to do everything they want if they have the "strength" to do so. The reality is that this simply creates a power vacuum that will quickly be filled when humans do what comes natural to them and form societies, some people will get other to follow them and new governments will be made. And no matter how strong or weak you are (or feel you are), what will really matter is on whose side you're on, cause nobody can fight alone against everybody else. Everyone "fighting their own wars" as Armstrong puts it won't happen, because either people will start fighting for somebody else or get somebody else to fight for them, and everyone who tries to be a lone wolf just won't last. (wow this turned out long. sorry for the word vomit, i kinda got really deep into writing this. you are allowed to disagree with me or whatever, i just got a lot of opinions on this topic)
I was actually considering making a video discussing and talking about the themes and motifs of MGR (And might still), but was very pleased to see somebody already beat me to the punch! This video was very well written and examined Armstrong really well. I absolutely loved this and subscribed solely from this. You're very clearly a person who's able to examine things very well and discuss it in an interesting way!
"Nice knife" *breaks it*
"B-b-but... my katana... nippon steel... folded 1000 times..."
NANOMACHINES, SON!
Chips Light Your nippon switch-blade cannot beat MY AMERICAN HANDS.
That actually annoyed the shit out of me. The Muramasa blade would have been made out of bloom steel at best and as such would be objectively inferior to any modern blade assuming it was forged by a competent smith.
Either Muramasa forged his swords with magic or the HF-Blade is a shitty wallhanger coasting on its HF properties.
Imperium Americanum Why not magic? Ghosts are a thing in MGS.
I thought that was all nanomachines? Everything "magic" in the past games has been largely explained through technology. The only exeption to this is Vamp who was origionaly a legit vampire but even then it was retconned in MGS4.
Regardless, the game tries to pass of the Muramasa Blade's extraordinary properties as being something bestowed by its equally extraordinary smith. That is an entirely mundane explanation which is for the most part grounded in reality. The problem is that Muramasa, virtue of 16th century Japanese metallurgy, could never produce a sword which is superior to a high-carbon equivalent. Japanese smiths could be good but most of their skill was in compensating for Japan's lack of access to blast forging. In a world where swords have made a comeback as battlefield weapons I doubt they would settle for anything less than the best blades they can make. This is why it bothers me, I find it hard to believe that when swords have made a comeback as battlefield weapons anyone would be caught dead using a vibed-up wall-hanger, which they must be if Raiden's sword is better than theirs and a blade from 16th century japan is better than that. Long story short they give a grounded explanation which doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
I honestly don't know how MGS fans can say Armstrong is "Too Much" when MGS2 ends with Evil Clone President Doc Ock Samurai.
So you think the fact the story has a consistent over the top tone is worse than having full retarded aspects like pants shitting scenes right in the middle of scenes that are supposed to be serious?
Because his tropes are terrible? How about when Otacon pisses everywhere during Snake and Grey Fox's reunion, a moment that is absolutely soul crushing for snake.
Or when The Boss's C-Section scar literally slithers off her body like a Snake? Or that time Big Boss pushed away a Metal Gear stomp? Or when he fought a Bee Wizard and a Flame Thrower Astronaut?
Or that time Liquid Snake survived a Helicopter Crash, a Fall off a Metal Gear, and about 200 Machine Gun rounds to the chest?
And let's not forget the fights with guys who shoot out lightning, ghosts, Shamans, a girl who uses photosynthesis, psychics... oh yeah, and a vampire.
But no, the futuristic cyborg tossing a Metal Gear is too far.
+Alex Wayne And you don't see the hilarious hypocrisy? I'm not nitpicking minor points of the plot to skew the tone of the series, these are all major characters and moments in the series. I'm not exaggerating to make them seem sillier than they are, if anything I'm leaving out the more absurd aspects...
Like the guy who pretends to be possessed to trick the world governing AI Illuminati.
+Alex Wayne And I'm just pointing out to you how absurd it is getting salty about Future Raiden's Mech Suplexes when normal 1970's human Big Boss can overpower a mech stomp with his barehands.
I'm not twisting anything, The "remaining objective" is "Fight a Anime Mech"
Even at the most basic level cutting out the extreme moments it's still anime as hell. It's literally named after Mechs. The basic premise of every game boils down to "Spy fights a Mech, crazy anime shit happens throughout".
Hell, Big Boss even gets a Rocket Punch. MGS1 had a robot ninja that swiped his sword faster than the human eye could see. Otacon even says "This is just like one of my animes!"
+stevemcquark you clearly know your mgs lore,people seem to think your comment was coming from someone who dislikes mgs.you clearly are a fan,its just that,you are objective and logical.
" I played some college football back in the day" haha this guy is the perfect villian for a off the wall game like this.
Could have gone pro if I didn’t join the navy
I was actually sorry when Armstrong died. He is a fantastic villain.
he was the hero all along
@@privatemcprivateson1054 yeah, he wanted to make america great again... through force.
@l3054 what? yeah ok turn children into androids and kill all who are weak. Lmao youre a joke, sure he has his points here and there but chill tf out half of armstrong is enough
These replies are nuts. He literally wanted to turn the entire country into a functionally anarchic hellhole. "Might makes right" is the bottom of the barrel as far as ideologies go
@@whensomethingcriesagain They're not nuts, normies like you are just incapable of understanding the world we live in.
As soon as Armstrong showed up in the last chapter, the game became instant gold. That last stretch of cutscenes is absolutely hilarious and the final battles so cathartic and awesome. That was just great.
so tru
Not so instant if he's the final boss but he's still awesome
You wouldn't think a villain that comes out of nowhere at the eleventh hour with little to no buildup or relation to the protagonist would be my favorite of all time, yet here we are.
"My favourite?" Bitch it's everybody's favourite
“He wants to become the president of the United States in the 2020 election”
Me, an American in 2020: *hol up*
Well, he did say he will "Make America Great Again." Armstrong for president 2020. MAGA!
@@juanzingarello4005 Trump's orange skin is infused with nanomachines and his hair is hardened in response to physical trauma.
Liberty Prime Trump would say “My new America will be the greatest America ever! The strongest will be so proud!”
Instead, we have the oldest and the weakest candidates in American history.
@Forsaken Pumpkin You joking right?
Since kojima is leaving and rising is the game furthest in the future, does that mean all of metal gear was leading up to armstrong, the true final boss?
+serp3n1 that sounds pretty awesome
If you mean he's the final boss of entire MG franchise then no. He's just the final boss of the final MG game.
@@ainguyenhoang1734 Chronologically he should be, right?
It's a spin-off so no.
@Ignacio Puente The absolute opposite is confirmed. Look it up.
I guess the writer for the game must've succeeded if people only hear half the argument, it's kind of like with real politicians and their supporters.
MrAgentIncognito Good point, haha.
HyperBitHero I think this does mirror actual politics pretty well. Many people only hear what they want to and ignore the details that could change your outlook on someone. I mean, in a land where the majority of people wouldn't benefit at all from a republican president, I think that's the main reason they get as far as they do. If people knew their shit and actually paid attention people like Romney wouldn't even have a chance at becoming president.
WaddleDee105 Well, it's the same thing for democrats. I'm actually in favor of a Hillary presidency because I want to see how badly she'll fuck everything up. She's a walking disaster.
HamsterPants522 Why would you vote for someone that you think would fuck everything up? It'd probably screw you over, too.
WaddleDee105 Hillary is terrible in an incompetent way. Much better to have a fatuous lord than one who can realize tyrannical agendas successfully.
Armstrong wanted to make America great again.
+Neoshenlong Trumps evil plan has been revealed!
Neoshenlong Archivo 2008 - 2011
He wanted to make it grape again
Still better than Hillary.
evil ?@@dud5606
@JezBollah 667 We haven't nuked Russia yet so...good luck with that belief.
I'm not sure anyone can really comment on Armstrong's ideals, I mean WHO'S TO JUDGE THE RIGHT FROM WRONG.
Yes, man... Violence breeds violence.
But in the end it has to be this way...
but...maybe you're both the same....
***** But... No one is the same...
Turbo Button I honestly just think he's just some madman with no real interesting background
+Da Focri God for christ sake get the lyrics right...
I like the interaction between Armstrong and Sam in the DLC. You can see through Sam's words that he's actually a lot like Raiden in their ideals. In the brief codec conversations and final battle with Armstrong. Sam changes after his arm's severed which kind of explains his behavior in the main game. It's rather interesting to note. Even when both Sam and Raiden fight Armstrong for the first time they say "Let's dance." Both used the Murasama so when Raiden fights him with the sword I feel like Sam eventually succeeded in the end. His 'Revengeance' if you will.
What an awesome point. You're awesome
That's actually awesome
if you look at the lyrics of sams theme its all about this concept how sam esencaly lost who he truly was when he agreed to work for Armstrong only realizing it when he sees riden fighting the fight he used to with the line that hamers it home for me being "its me that I spite as I stand up and fight the only thing I know for real there will be blood" as by fighting for Armstrong he is spiting everything he ever stood for leaving only blood in his wake
''So by defeating him, Raiden proves Armstrong that he was wrong in this fight of ideology.'' No, Raiden proved Armstrong was 100% right. That's the only thing I disagree with in this whole review, yes Armstrong is a crazy villain and anyone who tries to say he's not a bad guy is also crazy. Yes, you really nailed down his ideology unlike so many others I saw who seemed confused by it. But with Raiden killing Armstrong with his own strength for what he believed in, he was also proving Armstrong right. Raiden had no right legally to kill Armstrong, that's the irony of it, the American system Armstrong was trying to destroy was also protecting him, it is what was allowing him to do everything he did. If Raiden had tried to let the American justice system and democracy take Armstrong down, Armstrong would have come out unscathed as the new president and Raiden would have been thrown in prison. So the American system and democracy Raiden was fighting for failed him and was pretty much proven by the end of the game to really be rotten to the core. So Raiden had no choice but to use Armstrong's own philosophy to take him down. It's not democracy that prevailed at the end, it was the strongest, it was might make right. The only thing Armstrong was wrong about was that he was stronger than Raiden.
Now mind you, none of that changes the fact that Armstrong was a huge asshole and a crazy villain or the fact that Raiden is the hero. Because at the end of the day, protecting the weak and trying to save as many people as possible even when it harms them or their reputation is the thing heroes do and Armstrong didn't need to kill thousands of innocents, lots of which were kids, or start a war to accomplish his goals. Especially since one of his goals is to end wars like those. Raiden did prove Armstrong was the villain. But he absolutely did not prove him wrong, quite the opposite.
Just like Raiden said "Just because it's legal doesn't make it right" and that's exactly what Armstrong's mentality is
agreed
Some might make an actual argument though, that Armstrong might not have really had many other options to try and reform America and strengthen it's people.
@@gen-zboomer
Yea put in his shoes it wouldn't have been so easy. Doing what he did maxe it easy for raiden but if armstrong was starting out fresh then he'd have been facing all that corruption on his own. Even Raiden had to kill hundreds of men just to get to him who were just doing their job for the most part. That's the level complexity here. I'd still say Raiden is "right" but not in the neccesarily pure sort of sense.
@@lastmanstanding7155 thats part of the point
Illustratrating no human will ever have a perfect idea there will be flaws no matter thre intention
Armstrong truly believes he's the good guy
Like many other evil dictators of the past they think they know best
That something makes them superior
The problem is the amount of effort luck charisma and iron will it takes to get to the top of a truly fucked western system means you ARE special... maybe not smart or deserving of your position but you've proven you can manipulate any given room of humans fairly easily
The difference between a "born leader" and a "dictator" is who currently owns the company that writes the history books in many cases
You dont hear anyone talk about the fact Winston churchhill was an idiot and a drunk most of the time but in that one time and place was exactly what England needed
Like a really wierd mix of Solidus and Volgin.
Perfect villain
+Trojan Hippo Solidus' ideals, methods and political experience. Volgin's strength and insanity. Whew thats nasty
+BokuNoPico Weebfag dont forget,donalds hair is to ridiculous to be real
+Dr. Lemons A what? What is an Aetherian?
Dr. Lemons ...You mean an Aryan? What does that have to do with anything?
Dr. Lemons Holy shit dude calm down with that stupid, that's dangerous stuff.
The final battle song represents the situation really well, with Raiden and Armstrong realizing that they are the same, but with Armstrong wanting to destroy the weak and Raiden wanting to protect them, they both knew that only one was leaving that base alive hence the name of the song 'It has to be this way'.
But I think there is something to be said that Armstrong and Raiden fundamentally see the "weak" as different. Armstrong doesn't hate the poor and "defenseless", but rather, he admires their will to survive.
You know who Armstrong wants to purge? Those who live without struggle, ambition, passion. The elites of this country, who have devoted their lives to comfort even as they knowingly bring this whole fucking country down with them. Armstrong doesn't want to rule America - he could do that at any time.
Rather, he wants to reform America to a world where living comfortably without growth and struggle is impossible. He wants to take the elites elevated standing, and as he said, return power and justice to where they belong, " in the hands of the people. "
5:22 I love how he touches his chin like, just showing he’s aware of how much he gets hit in the chin, and then gets punched across the face and ends up chin surfing. Best boss fight ever crafted.
I gotta say, you really hit a nail on the head with that final boss thing.
Nothing is worse for a final encounter than it to be built up for nothing, and most AAA games seem like they have absolutely no idea how to do a proper finale anymore. I guess one silver lining to this is the final boss(es) of say; Dragon's Dogma. Grigori is such a well done battle that challenges you and yet commends you, egging you on and somewhat mentoring you the entire fight. Essentially building you up for what is to come, mindfuck and all.
Grigori was so great... Though he isn't the final boss right?
Drakengard had some great boss fights. The REAL bosses. Iunno about Nier but I am betting the same there as well?
Jojo, devil may cry, and metal gear? Oh yeah, I can get behind this channel.
Senile Snake not just metal gear it's metal gear rising so I can definitely get behind this
Ma Outer Heaven
all its missing is eva and berserk
unless its not? :thonk:
I know this is a four year old comment but I love your va work and panic rocks
I dont see jojo! You lied to me!
Notice how when Raiden is setting up that betrayal line, Armstrong literally picks him up off the ground and dusts him off, truly glad that Raiden might've seen his way after all.
Are you saying going blade mode with a fuck-everything giantsword in your hand is forgettable?
Also Armstrong is the best.
HyMyNameIsMatt That part was cool, but not battle itself. It was just kinda weird especially when he starts sending gekkos out and blowing them up himself.
+HyperBitHero He did that? OMG, I don't even remember, but that sounds HILARIOUS!
+DatDamn MegaBusta he does every time and during those times I just went for the geckos to do a zendatsu
I assume thats how the devs decided to help you if you were out of nano paste and low on HP
Armstrong isn't completely wrong but he takes it too far. He wants to create a civilian Outer Heaven where the civilian life truly matters and has a voice and is needed, but at the cost of those who don't possess the might and strength to overpower those who oppose them. In short, the weak. Civilian life is not a battlefield. It is, in theory, supposed to be a democracy....a true one...you can't apply Outer Heaven principles to a land of non soldiers
I think when Armstrongs talks about the strong and wek, he's more referring to people's wills than physical strength and money, and he (somewhat like Solidus) is angry/ disappointed with a nation built by those with such strong wills turning into one where people either blindly follow ideology or sit apathetic, cowed by media or political establishment. To boil down what I think his ideology is, beyond his metaphorical bluster, he wants to build a country where people are free to act as individuals and where the ability to truly think for one's self is rewarded.
Are you also against the idea of competition and meritocracy?
@l3054
This analogy is old, tired, and also completely incorrect. I will make a correction to it so you know what I mean:
Democracy is a herd of sheep and 2 wolves given the right to vote on whether or not the wolves should be allowed to continue to prey on them.
In case it's not clear enough already:
The 2 wolves are the actors of autocratic, top to bottom kinds of governments that persisted in the past.
YOU are one of the sheep.
Don't be dumb. Stupid analogy.
@l3054
True, yes. Personally I am not a big fan of pure, direct democracy for that exact reason, and vastly prefer a representative democracy over that.
However that being said, and if you may indulge me here and answer a question, what is preferable in your opinion:
1) "Mob rule" in the interest of the many, the vast majority of a population; or
2) absolute monarchy in the interest of one or, at best, very few?
@l3054
No, of course those are not the only options! I was trying to speak in the context of the analogy of the sheep and the wolf/wolves.
Going back to why I originally responded to you in the first place, I was offering the two options of either mob rule by the majority of sheep, or rule of a few by the wolves, and asked what would be preferable to you.
Quick response to your second comment:
It's not wrong that I'm white, but I didn't put that into my channel description. I state "male", "straight", and my age (which I now updated), that's it.
I don't see how Armstrong is more similar to Volgin than any of the other villains. Volgin is probably the only true villain in the series. He's iredeemedly evil. Armstrong and Solidus are anti villains. They definitely have the most in common with each other, but I felt myself rooting for Armstrong more, just because of how charismatic he is, and the fact that the it's not a game that requires you to think much at all.
Clearly there's something wrong with him considering he's desensitized himself so much to harvesting the brains of actual children, but he really is more like Solidus. You never saw him doing it himself as apposed to someone like Volgin, who would definitely be in there with the brains. You see Volgin beating PoW's and just regular people up for fun while getting a clear pleasure from it. The only time we even get something close to that is Armstrong fighting every person he employs, and he doesn't give off a vibe of getting satisfaction when beating up anyone we see.
MGSR Is special in a way that the songs playing are also considered "canon" to the storyline. His song with its driving theme of "In the end we are both the same" is actually really good and enhances the story quite a bit.
Judging on what Armstrong said at 8:12, I take it that he really hates TMZ.
I can't really blame him though since I fucking hate that show too.
"So by defeating him, Raiden proves Armstrong that he was wrong in this fight of ideology."
I don't know to whom the word 'he' refers to. But when you take it logically, Raiden was wrong and Armstrong was right. Because Raiden was proven stronger and deeated Armstrong for what he believed in. In fact, everybody opposing Armstrong is actually agreeing with him that he should have a say in the matter, no matter what the standards of society tell them.
After all, there is this sweet irony. Raiden used Armostrong methods and ideology to protect the system that both Raiden and Armstrong were actually attacking, because it condemned those methods and ideology. The system was actually trying to prevent the good guys from acting and protecting the bad guys in doing what they wanted. It was giving power to the wealthy and turned even the law protectors against the good guys, because law and order demanded it. So when Raiden turned against the system, he actually was doing the exact same thing as Armstrong.
Armstrong accepted all the bad that comes with working to achieve the change. Raiden looked like he kept doubting his own ways... but in the end, he was forced to proceed regardless. For example, realizing that the cyborgs he was killing were most of the time innocent in a way - but he in the end stopped caring and started enjoying ripping them apart regardless.
That means that Armstrong was proven right. Raiden was more just forced to kill him by his own locomotion and rage. And also, Raiden was in it because of his personal experience. He didn't want the same suffering he himself had for anyone else. Possibly thinking that if he gives other people the chance he didn't get, it would ease his own burden.
But if Raiden had a different backgroud, he could equally intensively hate those who would be chopping the police cyborgs into pieces. And not care about the reasons of those people for doing such a heinous act.
That's the beauty of the Sith philosophy: when your enemy kills you, you win the debate.
Your words of wisdom are astounding.
His ideology is might makes right in his ideology we are weak and fit to be purged by those who aren’t
@@oakdoll5929 Which I personally don't agree with. Because nobody should "deserve" to die. All life is sacred, no matter what path they walk. The fact that some people have to be stopped by way of murdering them is tragic, because everybody has the choice to make themselves better and it's sad that so many people don't take it.
@@Shadethewolfy And that is why Armstrong was wanting people to acquire improvements, whether cybernetic or via exoskeleton, so that they could be free to live and fight their own battles in the name of what they believe.
The genus of MGR is that it's criticizing MGS4. Armstrong's parallels to Big Boss are so strong and obvious that the only way that they could have had it flashing in neon lights during his scenes and it would make a difference.
+TronZEROPi Which is why I can't fucking stand him as a character. Fucking piece of shit dares to compare himself to Big Boss.
@@SlurpeeTheUnholy he doesn't compare himself to big boss at all.
He doesn't but the writers clearly are.
@@SlurpeeTheUnholy But _HE_ didn't. "Fucking piece of shit dares to compare himself to Big Boss.
" isn't true. I doubt even the writers were comparing them, and parallels aren't good enough evidence of it.
Slurpee the Unholy the writers did not you MGR hater
Armstrong was right, to his own downfall. By preaching that the weak should be purged in a personal crusade to establish strong memetics in accordance to what people believe, for themselves in a super egoist society, it enabled someone like Raiden who, through his own will and personal crusade, kills Armstrong. Armstrong realizes this at the end, and is proud that he won his war by losing his battle.
Thus, one can argue, it is the duty of people who believe themselves righteous, to grow stronger, and to avoid trampling on the weak lest they be reminded that they are not the strongest, and will be usurped.
1st time fighting excelsus: WAIT TILL I GET YOU OUT OF THAT METAL GEAR! *armstrong comes out* WTF DIZ DUDE.
Batshit insane as he was.. I'd still vote for him!
Eh, he'd still do better than the republicans.
You're exactly the type of person mentioned in the video who thinks hes the good guy
master2497
Might makes right.
Better than being one of the Last Men.
master2497
Just saying Armstrong although fictional, you can't doubt the charisma of the guy! :D
Nanomachines, son.
See, some of the people who agree with Armstrong do so because they THINK they're the strong ones, the ones that will claim this new nightmarish dystopia of violence they want to create. Everybody likes to think they're the one that will survive the apocalypse "just like in the movies", and that's why some people agree with this blatantly insane, cynical, ironic villain.
How positions work.
"All I know for certain is that I know nothing."
Socrates, said to be the wisest man in ancient Greece.
That's exactly why raiden wins this fight.
The only thing that can stop you from dying is acknowledgement and acceptance of your own mortality without censorship or shame.
That's exactly why this sort of mentality is bound to crumble in on itself.
Partly, though it depends on how you define strength... And "Nightmarish"
We already live in a weird Nightmare of being a meaningless species that just happened to develop self-awareness and are on a dying planet.
It'd be nice if all the dumb bastards went and offed 'emselves so the race as a whole could survive, even if it means people like me being culled.
they'ed vote for him because they think they're the strong ones! holy shit that's crazy true!
r/armstrongwasright
"We'll have to wait for a sequel" Ah, but for the days when Kojima and Konami were still an item and Konami wasn't intentionally dragging Metal Gear as a franchise through the shitter just to hurt Kojima.
Words cannot express how hyped I am for Metal Gear Rising 2: Revenge of the Revengeance
I'm more hyped for it than MGSV: The Phantom Pain. Some may say there's something wrong there. But I don't care. It has to be this way.
Revenging the revenge of the revengeance from vengeance
+Nuclear Cherries Metal Gear (a)Rose Revengeance 2: THE REVENGEANCENING
Metal gear Rising: Second File
One thing seemingly no one mentions when discussing Armstrong's might-makes-right philosophy is that in his world, people buy physical strength through cybernetic implants, and it requires the resources of a huge PMC or a dirty-ass politician to even compete. It doesn't matter whether you played college football or not, or how much Ayn Rand you've read; if you can't afford a rad cyber-body like Raiden's, you're going to get stomped into mush by someone who can and decides he wants your stuff.
doolenmeyer Just use Nanomachines son
@@publius7023 what if you can't buy nanomachines?
I thought when he means by burning it all down it was even that, the companies and making sure everyone fought hand to hand or even craft their own weapons, again, not too farfetched by his standarts
Like ancap
@@oakdoll5929 mgs4 land is very ancap
Armstrong was a freaking pain to kill in the end. for the first time hahah but it was one of the best boss fights in gaming history. IMO
I never did it. I always failed the blade mode sections.
I don't know why but they felt incredibly short timed in the steam version.
I'd love a sequel to MGR, it was my personal GOTY2013
I can certainly say that Armstrong has me split on whether he's good or bad. A man with good intentions (subject to opinion) with a questionable plan and performing crimes against humanity to back that up. Really makes for good discussion. I'd agree with bits of his speech if it weren't for his inhumane Sears Program and his malicious way of kicking Tecumseh into gear.
Perhaps the origin of my like for Armstrong stems from his patriotism, his respect for Raiden due to how he became the man he is from where he began, and how his philosophy can symbolise America's odd liberty so well.
Armstrong believes in this country at it's core so deeply, that'd he rip it apart to bring back what made it so great. I think that's incredibly respectable. Also, his respect for those who picked themselves up off the ground is admirable. You can agree with what someone wants, but not what they do to get it. But, for a country as fucked up as ours, maybe there's no other way.
*_200% ANGRY_*
"we have to wait for a sequel" *muffled cry*
Never really thought about this when I played the game but Armstrong was trying to create his own twisted Outer Heaven.
I remember making a comment asking for you to make an Armstrong video when you made your Solidus Snake devious intent. Thank you for listening to my request.
PKDeviluke25 But I made that video in 2012!
HyperBitHero better late then never
HyperBitHero
To clarify I did not watch that video when you released it. Looking at the comment it says that I watched it 10 months ago. So that "when you made" part should have been "when I watched your". Still a really good video man, definitely worth the wait.
This is one of the best boss battles in gaming history. Just pure, interactive, over the top fun.
Jesus, I'm late for the party, but goddamn I always loved the game, from the soundtrack to the *memes* to Jetstream Sam, it's just so goddamn perfect
Armstrong does bring up some good points, and it seems like his character has been made to sincerely want them, as opposed to the politicians which fake it.
To all of them, actually. Armstrong has real ideals, an actual drive to make this world into what he thinks of as a better place. That's more than I can say for almost all politicians, and people too.
@@gen-zboomer Plenty of people really want to make the world a better place, but they don't have nanomachines.
"They make me sick. They go from full blossom to bare in a week, one f****** week!"
6:37 Armstrong " DON'T FUCK WITH THIS SENATOR!!"
A true badass quote
I will never forget fighting Armstrong for the first time. He is so incredibly unexpected but at the same time, perfectly normal for the MG universe.
I've played this fight dozens of times and didn't realize what you told me
In a alternate reality this guy is the president right now
And one where the sequel exists
And if it's a really really good one then it will have both the sequel and him a president
The irony is that Armstrong is only strong because of the efforts of the weak. No scientists and engineers to create those Nanomachines, then No Nanomachines Son. I'd honestly like to see a fight between Armstrong and Armstrong, and Armstrong and Mercer or Heller.
Senator armstrong is one of those characters that becomes a real gem the more you think about him. He is a hilariously entertaining and fun character that is filled with epic all around him, but as you think of his intent and dream, he proves to be a more interesting character than almost all of the villains you can see in video games. His intentions may not be that different from others, but the way they are told, represented and then explained, gives off a really new and unique experience that probably no other villain could ever give or replace, no matter how well written they may be.
5:57 "NANOMACHINES SON!"
best memorable line of armstrong lol
I still wish I could go back in time and play this game for the first time again without knowing about Armstrong. You go in to the final mission of the game expecting him to just be a guy and Metal Gear is the only way he has a chance, only for him to get out and be like “you fool, METAL GEAR WAS HOLDING ME BACK!”
Holy shit he even says "make America great again" and a lot of people like his confidence while ignoring or missing the crazy things he says.
This game was a premonition of Trump in this year's election.
Minus the nanomachines. Or... maybe that was accurate too? God I hope we have nanomachine-robot-suplexing-punch-outs at the elections. There's a historical presidential debate you don't want to miss.
Nothing either of them say is crazy though.
SWR 360 Well saying that is a bit much. Or giving Trump too much credit. The "Make America Great Again" was something that Ronald Reagen said during one of his speeches. A term I see in books of Patriotic villains or heroes in the fictional books I have read. Hell, Tom Clancy loved that tag line in his early books.
It just happens that the phrase is more relevant than ever.
Still better than Hillary.
If you think that anything Armstrong said is crazy you are part of the fucking problem
There are parts of Armstrong's message that really resonate with me as a libertarian, but his means of achieving his goals and an-cap take on society are certainly what puts him into the villain category. But with current politics it's easy to see why more people are resonating with a message of freedom and anti-establishment than anything else, which is why people get sucked in to see him as more of a hero.
Too bad we'll never see MGR2.
Thanks Konami, you sacks of shit.
"we'll have to wait for a sequel"....... Ye... yeah..
I would've still voted for the guy~
Redgrave192 Well did you? You were basically given the opportunity
lol
List of people who did nothing wrong in the metal gear universe:
The Boss
Big Boss
Solidus Snake
Ocelot
Ocelot? Are you kidding me?
he pretended to be Liquid in order to trick the SOP system
yes, but... he killed so many people, for example on the tanker in mgs2, in the first scene you see him in mgs3 (even it was not necessary), he tortured the darpa chief to death in mgs1 and killed many more in mgs4
Bob Lee
So did everyone else.
BOSS What about this ol' warmonger
I've done nothing wrong!
10:11 Hmmmm.....
Bob the Monitor holy shit
Reagan said it first, if I'm not mistaken.
It's haunting...
MGS2 predicted the future in a really weird way, too. Censoring information not by holding info back, just by information overflow. So much good and fake info that facts don't matter anymore, cause hardly anyone verifies facts. People just react emotionally or according to how they're politically aligned now. Everything from CNN to Breitbart news, you're getting distorted info. MGS2 predicted that in like 2001, I think. This is why immigrants get blamed for everything instead of the people at the top causing all the problems (no one ever reads the research, cause it directly challenges their emotions and isolationism) Propaganda using simplistic narratives that appeal to emotion always seem to win.
"we have to wait for a sequel to see what he means by that"
*cries intensely*
Well, now that we have Trump as president, let's see if he'll make a Metal Gear and SOP system.
Or Kanye needs to become a cyborg ninja by 2020.
Why Kanye, specifically?
we know he'll get elected
Actually he wanted to assassinate the current president. In otherwords, Armstrong wants to assassinate Trump to start a war.
Kylesico912x
But then again, he can blame the president for murders happening throughout the Middle East...
"even in a world ruled by strenght some will choose to defend the weak"
i think that's the plan. if you have strenght and that's what really want you will be able to do it.
Yeah he actually isn't against that. He has issues with people being all talk and no action being valued. Politics are not what the dude cares about, passion and willpower is, which is why he calls Raiden a successor. Armstrong believes value isn't built off an argument, but the willpower those that force change. It's an old concept, people can and will argue anything, but it's means nothing compared to those that are willing to fight and die for their thoughts.
6:51 The real question is HOW THE HELL DID HIS GLASSES STAY INTACT THROUGHOUT THE FIGHT? But also let’s give him he D4C Stand. Then he’d be a *real president*
Might makes right, historically.
The question is which right you wish to put your own might behind.
Darwinism for me
Might and morality aren't exactly one and the same, though.
I swear RZA played this game and then said "I want a dude like Armstrong in dis new movie of mine" and then there was Brass Body played by Bautista.
MioRaem SUUUUU
Senator Armstrong was definitely unforgettable. Man, MGR:R is so great, I gotta replay it some day.
I think they could've done a better job at building Armstrong by showing short clips of his election campaign speeches and then showing more of his batshit insane motives behind the the scenes. I enjoyed the thrilling last fights with Armstrong not knowing "is this his final form? but as he was so entertaining and over the top I didn't really wanna punch him in the face so badly. Although that quickly changed in the final battle where he started kicking my ass.
What I found more disappointing was how Jetstream Sam was handled. He was Raiden's rival who was built up since the first cutscene as a cocky adversary who is always one step ahead of Raiden. I kinda wish he would've been the final boss because in the end the fight with him was handled just in one short chapter.
After Raiden and Sam's fight and the emotional cutscene it was such a drastic change fighting this corny senator which was just loosely tied in with Sam's blade. I spent the entire game hating this cocky samurai but when I found out his true motives he's gone and then there's this crazy politician with a giant robot spider as consolation prize.
MGR's storyline was quite the roller coaster but it did fit the fast action packed gameplay. I'm sure MGR was big test for both Hideo Kojima and Platinum games so hopefully there's gonna be sequel that could provide us longer gameplay with new tricks and a more polished story.
You make some brilliant points, but I actually like how nothing about him was mentioned. With the way no one was talking about him I expected some generic weapon's dealer who's a bit of republican stereotype. When he bust open that handle, drained the machines energy and then started quoting martin Luther king my mouth dropped open. I dident expect anything from him at all because as you said, nothing was told about him, making it even more surprising when he was talking about his ideologies, which instead of republican stereotypes, where amazingly over exaggerated republican values.
I think it was kind of the point to have him just sort of come out of nowhere with this crazy as hell ideology that makes you question what you've been doing the whole game, the entire time you think Armstrong must just be some mustache twirling big money cartoon supervillain who is just evil for the sake of being evil like the Claw from Inspector Gadget or something from other Saturday morning cartoons and yet he shows up and just starts beating the living shit out of you whilst hurling his political and social commentary at you. Ontop of this having the entire reason for him being such a strong person both physically and in personality is due to the goddamn Nanomachines used in every Metal Gear game to explain everything :L
The credits should've included all of his speeches and campaign ads.
it is an action game first and foremost it would've been a pain sitting trough such a long scene as you describe it here.
Let's see Jetstream Sam's devious intent.
So nanomachines give you armament haki...
Finally, I'm not the only one.
NANUMUSHEENS , SON!
Wait... is trump senator armstrong? With the whole MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN maybe trump is just a hardcore senator armstrong roleplayer.
He's a shittier version of Armstrong.
wait until he reveals metal gear trump
Like his wealth it only is called METAL GEAR Cause it's badass.
But those on top of the system likely view themselves as the strong. Armstrong is just an exaggerated reflection of the ideology of those already in charge.
Proving that either this game's writing is kinda prophetic, or humanity is so mindnumbingly stupid nowadays that its modern political history would echo the ramblings of a batshit-crazy character from a batshit-awesome action game!!
Since you started this series I keep rewatching it after so many years
you have such a enjoyable way of presenting this series, cheers man
Hard times create strong men
Strong men create good times
Good times create weak men
Weak men create hard times
My man started playing The Battle For The Dream! Gigachad! 😎🙏
Thank you for this insightful video! MGR is one of my favorite games and I'm glad that you made this video. There's so much hate for Rising, but I love it nonetheless!
"We'll have to see what he means in a sequel"
Haha...
So...
About that sequel
5:23 If your jaw didn't hurt then, it'll hurt in a moment, that's for sure!
This guy was a character in a half. I think out of all the Devious Intent's I enjoyed Talbot's analysis the most. I would love for more disappointing villains and/or overhyped games to get a similar analysis highlighting what they did right and what they did wrong....or entirely what they did wrong. Sort of as a cautionary tale.
Which DMC?
I'm pretty certain after the upcomming Bioshock Infinite video or whatnot we'll see another Devious Intent about them. More likely Vergil will take center stage with some references to Mundus. At least it's my guess.
Yay! You finally made it! It's an awesome work, it's been months since I asked this on your MGR video but it was well worth it, keep up the good work. Good luck.
I'll admit, I use to hate Senator Armstrong, but after playing Revengeance more and more, I began to enjoy his character.
STANDING HERE
I REALIZE
shajita YOU WERE JUST LIKE ME TRYING TO MAKE HISTORY
SNAKE EATER
g morel CALLING TO THE NIGHT
I'M NUCLEAR
By far one of my favorite videos and villains of all time! Thanks for making this video, it inspires me.
ugh.
Not sure why some people see him as the villain. He is basically pro-evolution and evolution is what created life itself. The only reason why you can enjoy this comfortable lifestyle at the top of the Earth food chain is because billions of other living things had to die.
If they made an Armstrong spin-off game, I would definitely play it
I couldn't even wait for the video to start, had to give this a 'like' just for the subject matter alone!
Loved the video and loved the game. One of the most satisfying feelings when I finally beat Armstrong.
Easily one of the better aspects of MGRR.
Favourite villains.
1. Edgar from Men in Black
2. Senator Armstrong
Armstrong is basically what every libertarian thinks they look like.
Whats_with_the_under_scores.
Libertarians don't normally believe that might makes right, they mainly just want private property rights to be respected consistently.
The term "Libertarian" is actually very broad and can represent both Anarcho Capitalist and Anarcho Syndicalist philosophies and anti-authoritarian principles. Even some of the most die-hard Objectivists (Think Ayn Rand) would say that all individuals have some objective rights in a state of nature.
Christopher Wilson The term "Liberal" is also etymologically identical to the term "Libertarian", yet it represents a range of polarly opposed ideologies.
Ayn Rand was not a libertarian, and actually she disliked any association with the term.
The vast majority of people who actually identify as libertarians are usually capitalist minarchists and anarcho-capitalists. When I go to a libertarian festival or meetup, I expect to meet capitalists, not socialists.
HamsterPants522 "When I go to a libertarian festival or meetup, I expect to meet capitalists, not socialists." In the US perhaps, nowhere else in the world though. With that said, Armstrong is clearly a parody of US Libertarianism and it's absolutely sociopathic, social darwinistic nature.
This was an interesting video to watch for several reasons. The biggest being Armstrong himself and there is also the fact that you really seemed to like talking about it.
I'd like to believe Armstrong had genuinely good intentions in the beginning. But needless to say, they got twisted along the way.
I couldn't stop saying "Well if it isn't saucy Jack!" all day. Gotta love Armstrong.
When Armstrong says that "everyone can fight their own wars", I don't think that line is meant to be taken completely literally. In the context of what he is talking about, he means that everyone will be free to fight for their own personal destiny. Also, I don't think that when anyone says that "Armstrong is the good guy" they mean that all of his actions were right. No one I know has every meant that. What they mean that his ideology for the most part is actually admirable compared to Raiden who doesn't seem to have an ideology. It's in the same way people note that Solidus had the right ideas, and that you the player and your avatar Raiden's actions were actually doing more to help the Patriots than help save the world. No one excuses either Solidus or Armstrong for the heinous things they did.
The part of his ideology that's obviously the weakest is the idea of purging the weak. But the problem in the writing is that so much of what Armstrong says makes so much sense, that the part about "purging the weak" almost feels like it was thrown in there just to throw a little villainization into his ideology to make him seem like more of "the bad guy". It's cheap writing in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with having an antagonist who has completely good intentions, but his extremist methods are completely evil. There really was no need to throw in that little bit of villainization in there, his actions do enough to tell us that he's gone too far.
+ZerogunRivale well, IT IS part of the "might makes right" thing. it probably doesnt even mean actively going out and 'purging the weak,' what armstrong is saying is that in his vision there will be no place for weak people, as they will be in smaller and smaller numbers in time -- a lot like how selective evolution works in nature. makes a lot of sense.
I'm not sure how you think purging the weak is weakness. Even mother nature targets and kills the weak, so if its good enough for the "oh so gentile" Mother Earth why not us, her "children"?
Natural Selection is a universal law. If your society conforms to universal law, it will prosper, but if it goes against universal law (i.e. by protecting the weak and allowing them to live long enough to breed) it WILL fail. No ifs, no ands, and absolutely no buts. Mother Nature doesn't give one teeny, tiny little shit about your precious fee fees. That's the only reason we haven't had a great empire that lasted more than a few millenia, because none of them have been full Darwinist empires like the Sith or the Tal'Darim (Starcraft 2)
@@StarboyXL9 The problem is that you have a very flawed idea what "natural selection" actually means. This is what is always so wrong with the idea of "social darwinism" that some people buy into, they always seem to think that what Darwin and natural selection say is "the strong survive, the weak die". It doesn't
What natural selection is, is the fact that beings with traits that help them survive, will survive, and therefore reproduce and pass on those traits, while beings that have the traits that don't help them survive, won't survive, and therefore will reproduce less and not pass on as much of their traits. This makes evolution work in a way that helps species survive rather than hinder them.
But what helps a species survive doesn't need to have anything to do with strength. For many species being able to run faster helps them survive, or being able to hide better, or reproduce faster, or even being able to identify better what's good to eat and what's not. Anything really, and while that may include being "strong", it doesn't have to. It's "survival of the FITTEST" not "survival of the STRONGEST". And importantly, it is all about the species as a whole, and how they evolve, not about specific individuals. It's also not a "universal law" that we must follow like it dictates how human should behave, but rather just an explanation why evolution favours good traits.
That all being said, one of humans greatest strengths, one that natural selection helped us evolve and a huge reason for our success (along with our ingenuity) is our ability to work together. Our ability to band together, help each other, cover each other weaknesses, to communicate complex ideas to each other and form plans together. Humans are a social creature by nature for a reason, it's what makes us strong.
A single human individual, no matter how strong, no matter how smart, will never be better than a human society. Individual strength doesn't compare to the strength of humans banding together. Society is why we rule the world, even if no individual does. And it's why no man rules alone, why having power is all about getting people to give it to you, being charismatic or popular or lucky enough to get people to follow you and keep you in charge.
And being in charge isn't about strength, it's about belief, because being strong doesn't actually help you get power, but rather being in power (through people that believe in you and give you that power) makes you strong. The "strong" are simply those who have power, and the "weak" those that don't, and there is very little genetically or naturally different about them that causes this, it is simply a question of being lucky enough to be in the right position and then capitalizing it successfully.
A poor person often isn't poor because they're weak, they're poor because they're poor, and without power they won't be able to do anything about it without help from somebody (even if that help is just someone hiring them)
People often dislike governments because governments often care less about the individual people without power than they do about those with power (who have a say in things) and about how society is as a whole (which they control). And more socialist ideas are about trying to help the individuals without power, the "weak" (really often just the unlucky, those without power) by using the power of the government, society helping every individual that needs help (however well that idea works is up to debate).
And as such an individual without power lives best in a society where even the "weakest" person has some power, through votes (democracy), and lives the worst live in a society where they have no power or say in anything (dictatorship)
Anarchy and social darwinism however are both flawed because it seems to be based on the idea of everything being about the individual, with dislike of the government and the power it has, but not having any true ideas of a society or a way to distribute power. They seem to want to tear everything down, and then just imagine that somehow everyone will be "free" and able to do everything they want if they have the "strength" to do so.
The reality is that this simply creates a power vacuum that will quickly be filled when humans do what comes natural to them and form societies, some people will get other to follow them and new governments will be made. And no matter how strong or weak you are (or feel you are), what will really matter is on whose side you're on, cause nobody can fight alone against everybody else. Everyone "fighting their own wars" as Armstrong puts it won't happen, because either people will start fighting for somebody else or get somebody else to fight for them, and everyone who tries to be a lone wolf just won't last.
(wow this turned out long. sorry for the word vomit, i kinda got really deep into writing this. you are allowed to disagree with me or whatever, i just got a lot of opinions on this topic)
I was actually considering making a video discussing and talking about the themes and motifs of MGR (And might still), but was very pleased to see somebody already beat me to the punch! This video was very well written and examined Armstrong really well.
I absolutely loved this and subscribed solely from this. You're very clearly a person who's able to examine things very well and discuss it in an interesting way!
Me in 2020: something's wrong I can feel it
Washington DC has its own cherry blossom festival, kind of weird that Armstrong hates them.
To all who thinks Armstrong is a good guy, I'd like to remind you that he willing kicked bladewolf. I rest my case.
Bro where did you get your profile picture?
@@demon108hunter6 in some fantasy world, like middle earth or denmark or something
'Make America great again' amazing when I just remembered that this game came out in 2014
"Played college ball you know."
7 years old dang