‘Metal Gear Solid’ Director Teases Incredible Artwork to Celebrate Series Anniversary

Metal Gear fans around the world are celebrating thirty years of one the most cherished stealth and action series of all time. Celebrated director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has been deeply inspired by Metal Gear over the years, and will eventually be bringing his own Metal Gear Solid vision to the big screen. He, too, is celebrating #MetalGear31st by sharing some incredible original artwork by notable industry artists. Today, the featured Metal Gear is REX. Check this out:

Any mech lover can appreciate the design, intimating stature, and cold utility of this machine, but for the hardcore nerds we have some background info from the Fandom wiki:

“In the early 1960s, Soviet scientist Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin created designs for a REX-like bipedal tank. However, Colonel Volgin of GRU rejected his ideas in favor of Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov’s Shagohod. Drunk and bitter, Granin sent his designs to an American colleague, revealing this to CIA operative Naked Snake during Operation Snake Eater. Later, triple spy Ocelot also stole and delivered duplicate designs to his CIA superiors.”

Given Vogt-Roberts’ open involvement in the upcoming film, I think it’s safe to say that this artwork, as well as the artwork to come in the following days, will in fact serve as inspiration for the film. How could it not? We do not envy him the challenge of crystalizing decades of narrative and design into a single cinematic vision. It has to be an incredible honor, but also an incredibly daunting responsibility.

His creative struggle has been a somewhat public one, which as fans, we appreciate. A GameSpot report from August 2017 explains how Vogt-Roberts had to pump the brakes on the project in order to revise the script; determined to align it more directly with Kojima’s vision.

“I really give credit to the people I’m working with at Sony, the executives and the producers,” he said. “I was able to go to them and say, ‘Let’s stop where we are, because I think we’re heading down a direction that doesn’t fully capture why people love this game, what Kojima’s voice is, why people who have played this game for decades love it, why people who have never played this game will love it.’ I was able to say, ‘Let’s really think about whether we’re making the truest, most balls-to-the-wall Metal Gear version of this–the most Kojima version of this. And even if that means we make it for a little bit less money, let’s make the version of this that’s true to what it is, fully committed to what Kojima’s voice is.’”

We’re excited to see what kind of collaborations and artwork he’ll be sharing over the next few days, and we know you will be, too! Stay tuned for all of the latest.