Shadow Moses Book Club

"He may be a child, but he's definitely one of yours." The year: 1964. The Cold War is at its height, with the United States and the Soviet Union narrowly avoiding all-out war just two years ago. It's an age of tradecraft, with CIA and KGB agents vying to outmaneuver one another in their worldwide game of musical chairs. Battle lines and allegiances shift with the wind. Desperate for the upper hand, the Russians are closing in on a weapons technology breakthrough deep in the darkest corner of the Soviet Union: Tselinoyarsk, the "Virgin Cliffs." Doctor Nikolai Sokolov, the would-be defector returned to Russia in the Cuban Missile Crisis, is worked tirelessly against his will to bring his project to fruition: the Shagohod, a nuclear-equipped battle tank poised to single-handedly swing the balance of the Cold War. With the clock ticking, the CIA calls on its brand new FOX unit and sends in a lone operative: a capable, young, and hungry soldier codenamed Naked Snake. The mission is simple: Get in, grab Sokolov, and get back out in time for dinner. Now, time to cross this rope bridge . . . Next episode: The rest of METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER --- The second Ocelot scene The DEATH STRANDING needle drop --- Ryan: @celebrityhottub.bsky.social Matt: @mattbrown.bsky.social Victoria: @dirtbagqueer.rocks Show account: @shadowmosesbook.club

"The world is being engulfed in truth. This is how the world ends." We're deep into the guts of METAL GEAR SOLID 2 now, and Raiden has crossed the threshold into outright absurdity: shadowy cabals running western democracy, nuclear mechs the size of city blocks designed to protect AI supercomputers, forty-minute cutscenes, sweeping digital censorship, extremely poor boss fights, child soldiers, baroque swordplay mechanics, psychosexual stepsibling drama, bisexual vampires, magic powers, and . . . whatever is going on with Rose. Ryan, Matt, and Victoria convene to see if they can possibly make sense of any of it, and in the end, agree that this video game is prescient, innovative, and extremely important. The much tougher question to wrangle: is it, like, good? Next episode: The first part of METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER (the climbing of The Ladder) (if you're playing for the first time you will know The Ladder when you get to it) --- Metal Gear Scanlon 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUwp0awYTh8 --- Ryan: @celebrityhottub.bsky.social Matt: @mattbrown.bsky.social Victoria: @dirtbagqueer.rocks Show account: @shadowmosesbook.club

"The Hudson River, two years ago. We had classified intelligence that a new type of Metal Gear was being transported. The whole thing stank, but our noses had been out in the cold too long." The year: 2009. The world has changed in the aftermath of the Shadow Moses Incident. After Revolver Ocelot leaks the specs for Metal Gear REX, the world has entered a new arms race, with every nation-state, organization, and dotcom seeking to arm themselves with nuclear battle tanks. Two years after the USS Discovery oil tanker is destroyed in the Hudson River, the off-shore decontamination facility, Big Shell - a symbol of environmental protection and cooperation - is seized by a terrorist group calling themselves the Sons of Liberty. Employing the rogue special forces unit Dead Cell, the group demands thirty billion dollars in ransom. Their bargaining chip? The President of the United States. Their leader? A man calling himself Solid Snake... the legendary operative presumed dead and responsible for the sinking of the tanker in the first place. While Navy SEALs are sent in to handle the crisis, American special forces unit FOXHOUND also deploys a rookie operative: a whiny seventh-grader with anime hair named Raiden, who quickly discovers that there's a lot more going on with Big Shell that he was briefed on. And when the Navy SEALs are massacred, one thing is certain: Raiden's accidentally become important at work, and it's ruining his life. Next episode: The rest of METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY. --- Ryan: @celebrityhottub.bsky.social Matt: @mattbrown.bsky.social Victoria: @dirtbagqueer.rocks Show account: @shadowmosesbook.club

"So the Snake's finally come out of his hole? Are you ready now... my brother?" In the first feature film-length episode of Shadow Moses Book Club, our intrepid hosts face a gauntlet of daunting questions: can they possibly make sense the last two acts of METAL GEAR SOLID in a timely manner? Are Solid Snake and Steve1989MREInfo the same person? Which United States Senator has FOXDIE? Is this game actually about eugenics, or is it about something else? Is it secretly a brilliant piece of fin de siècle art for the twentieth century? Has Hideo Kojima ever met a woman before? Is Otacon Mormon? And - most importantly - did Matt ever manage to beat the Ninja? All of these topics and more are covered in the following 100+ minute long fever dream. We're sorry/you're welcome. Next episode: METAL GEAR SOLID 2, up through the end of the harrier boss fight. --- Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes cutscenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8PrtD8aOTc Ryan: @celebrityhottub.bsky.social Matt: @mattbrown.bsky.social Victoria: @dirtbagqueer.rocks Show account: @shadowmosesbook.club

The year: 2005. While the end of the Cold War and an era of nuclear disarmament once promised a peaceful millennium, the world is less safe than ever. All around the world, governments struggle to dispose of the weapons of war they just spent a half-century developing. We now live in an age of genetic experimentation, classified weapons testing, and special forces units gone rogue. One such unit, FOXHOUND, has just seized the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island. Their demands? The body of their deceased commanding officer, the visionary Big Boss. Their threat? Nuclear annihilation. Twenty-four hours are on the clock, and there's only one man for the job. A stupid, gullible, horny American operative, the legendary Solid Snake. Because even if the Cold War might be over, the next war will be fought by those it left behind. Next episode: The rest(?) of METAL GEAR SOLID (1998). --- Ryan: @celebrityhottub.bsky.social Matt: @mattbrown.bsky.social Victoria: @dirtbagqueer.rocks