Halo 4 designer David Ellis has called out Hideo Kojima in relation to the Japanese developer’s recent explanation that he wanted to make the character designs of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain more “erotic,” by stating that the comment is “disgusting.”
The controversy over Kojima’s comments all started out, as most things do these days, over some Tweets sent out on September 4th. In describing the on-going development of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Kojima posted:
“I’ve been ordering to Yoji Shinkawa to make the character more erotic, and he did it well. Recently I’ve been making characters this way. I create the setting thoroughly, how he/she spent early life, name, style, favorite phrase, fashion, action to stand the character out. The initial target is to make u want to do cosplay or its figurine to sell well.”
Kojima’s message was specifically referring to the character of Quiet, who will look like this:
Yeesh. How is that outfit even practical on the battlefield? I’m more mad about that than anything else.
At a press event on Thursday, Kojima clarified that he didn’t mean to say that the character designs should be “erotic.” He meant to say that they should be “sexy,” which, uh, is not that much better. Surprisingly, this clarification has done little to stem the tide of controversy and now other designers are weighing in on the issue. The most notable figure weighing in would be 343 Industries’ David Ellis, who had this to say about Quiet’s design:
However, while I do think Ellis is kind of in the right here, 343 Industries has not been entirely innocent when it comes to redesigning characters to make them more attractive. Just look at Cortana, your blue-hued companion from Halo, who went from looking like a normal, albeit feminine, AI program to being a busty space woman. So, a little bit of “pot calling the kettle black” is going on here.
That doesn’t change the fact that both Kojima’s explanation and the character design of Quiet are absurd. While Kojima has certainly never met an odd character design he didn’t love, Quiet may just be the most ridiculous. I simply cannot think of a logical reason as to why this supposedly unique character chooses to walk around in a bikini and leggings in the middle of a battlefield. This is not an example of a unique character design; this is Kojima trying to appeal to a horn-dog, male audience.
What do you think of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s noted character design? Are you offended? Bewildered by Hideo Kojima and his way of thinking? Totally fine with it? Let us know!