The Colonel was an AI recreation of former FOXHOUND commander Roy Campbell, produced by multiple AIs under the Patriots' control during the Big Shell Incident.

Quick Answers

Who created the AI version of Colonel in Metal Gear Solid?

The AI construct known as Colonel in Metal Gear Solid, specifically in the Plant Chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2, is the creation of The Patriots. This AI impersonates Roy Campbell, a character from the same game series, without the player and protagonist's initial knowledge.

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What role did the Colonel AI play during the Big Shell Incident?

The Colonel AI, a blend of GW's AI and Raiden's perception of Campbell, guided Raiden through the Patriots' S3 Plan during the Big Shell Incident. This AI accessed Raiden's brain through nanomachines when the Codec was used, generating memories and scenarios from real experiences. The Colonel AI also deceived Raiden about various mission events.

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How did the Colonel AI access Raiden's brain in Metal Gear Solid 2?

In Metal Gear Solid 2, the Colonel AI contacts Raiden via nanomachines implanted in his brain. These nanomachines manipulate memory by linking or stimulating synapses, creating a 'vision' of the Colonel. The AI can alter its appearance, such as appearing more skull-like. It also tries to deter Raiden from his mission by falsely claiming that the Sons of Liberty have taken Rose hostage.

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What is the relationship between Colonel AI and Roy Campbell in Metal Gear Solid?

Colonel AI, appearing in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, is an artificial construct representing Roy Campbell, known as Colonel in the game. Affiliated with The Patriots, the AI Colonel is often used for specific tasks, including mocking Raiden about the S3 Plan. In some scenarios, like a Codec call in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the AI Colonel replaces the real Colonel Campbell.

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What are some memorable quotes from the Colonel AI in Metal Gear Solid 2?

In Metal Gear Solid 2, the Colonel AI delivers memorable lines. During a malfunction, it recites past Metal Gear dialogues, including Big Boss's mission briefing. It instructs Raiden to 'turn the game console off,' echoing Big Boss's words to Snake. The AI dismisses links to Snake in a conversation about Iroquois Pliskin and criticizes Raiden for ignoring his past.

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History

The Manhattan Incident

See also: Tanker Incident and the Big Shell Incident

Posing as Raiden's commanding officer during the Big Shell Incident, the Colonel was a combination of GW's AI and Raiden's "expectations" of Campbell (when Raiden used the Codec, GW was able to access his brain through the nanomachines, thus creating memories and situations based on actual experiences, so Raiden couldn't tell the difference). The Colonel was designed to lead Raiden through the Patriots' S3 Plan. During the events of Raiden's mission, the Colonel also lied to Raiden about several of the events of the mission, namely that the Sons of Liberty demanded a ransom of $30 billion in cash, their murdering a hostage on top of the Big Shell in retribution for thwarting the C4 demolition plan, and that blowing up the Big Shell would result in a chloride holocaust. Most of the lies were in an attempt to mirror the Shadow Moses Incident as part of the S3 Plan.

Emma Emmerich eventually uploaded a virus onto Arsenal Gear's systems, which caused the Colonel to start acting very strangely. When Raiden remembered that he never even met the Colonel once, the Colonel signed off, although not before implying that the Patriots were holding Rosemary hostage as leverage against Raiden. During the infiltration of Arsenal Gear, Otacon concluded that the Colonel was in fact an advanced AI and not a real person. Under the effects of the virus, the Colonel attempted to "dissuade" Raiden from continuing his mission, claiming that the Sons of Liberty were holding Rose hostage in the holds of Arsenal Gear, although Solid Snake told Raiden that it was a trick. The Colonel AI was eventually deleted by the virus.

However, after Arsenal Gear crashed into Manhattan, another AI of the Colonel and Rose contacted Raiden, announcing the true intentions of the S3 Plan: manipulating history and individuals and censoring the digital flow of information, as well as telling him that the S3 Plan was a resounding success thanks to Raiden. The Colonel ordered Raiden to kill Solidus Snake; if Raiden either refused or died, the Patriots would terminate Rose, their unborn child, and Olga Gurlukovich's daughter Sunny. Midway through the fight, the Colonel alongside the Rose AI contacted Raiden to goad him into finishing off Solidus. When Raiden tried to reason with them, the Colonel and Rose AIs implied that they ultimately viewed all of humanity as being tools to be discarded once their usefulness was at an end, as well as everything being a game to them.

Behind the scenes

Conception and presentation

In Hideo Kojima's gameplan for Metal Gear Solid 2, the "Colonel" (大佐, Taisa^?) was originally intended to be a new character named Daniel Quinn, who takes his name from the Paul Auster novel City of Glass, along with two other rejected characters, Max and Doc (Peter Stillman is the only character with this naming theme to appear in the final version). The Colonel is never once referred to as anything but "Colonel", although the name tag on his Codec screen's character model reads "Campbell."

The AI that contacts Raiden after Arsenal Gear crashes into Manhattan is referred to as "JFK" in the game's script^[1], although it is never mentioned in the game itself. Although Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots reveals the designations of the existing Patriot AIs, including the core AI JD that served as authority following GW's destruction, it is not specified which one had spoken to Raiden. Even when Raiden references the AI in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, he only states that it was "one of the other AIs."

Player interactions following revelation

When the Colonel AI begins to malfunction, among the random phrases that he says to Raiden by Codec is dialogue from conversations in past Metal Gear games (some of which also displays a video of related gameplay footage), including:

• Big Boss's mission briefing to Snake, and telling Snake to enter the truck on the right, from Metal Gear. His remarks for Raiden to "turn the game console off" while claiming that the mission was a failure was also similar to when Big Boss tried to tell Snake to "turn off your [console]", telling him to abort in order to impede his progress.
• The real Roy Campbell's mission briefing from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
• Several quotes from Metal Gear Solid, including Campbell encouraging Snake to rescue President Baker, Campbell telling Snake to hurry and use the PSG1 to defeat Sniper Wolf, Campbell telling Snake to use the card key to stop Metal Gear REX's launch, Mei Ling quoting Shakespeare when telling Snake not to be greedy, and Mei Ling quoting De Gaulle when telling Snake to avoid fighting.
• Level descriptions from Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions, including Weapon Mode SOCOM Level 01, Variety Level 7, and Variety Level 13.
• Codec conversations from Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, including Snake's mission briefing, instructions on using a cardboard box on the conveyor belt, Snake being instructed to take out the power plant, and Snake being told to take out the power plant's main turbine.
• He will also say, "Kawanishi-Noseguchi, Kinunobebashi, Takiyama, Uguisunomori, Tsuzumigataki, Tada, Hirano, Ichinotorii, Uneno, Yamashita, Sasabe, Kofudai, Tokiwadai, Myokenguchi" in an extremely sped-up manner. These names, said in the same manner, are the chants that Gray Fox utters when around offscreen in Metal Gear Solid, and are the names of train stations of the Myōken Line, operated by Nose Electric Railway in the Kansai region of Honshū, Japan. Similarly, in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the Mammal Pod sometimes says this when Big Boss removes enough of its drive uplinks. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Sunny was also seen saying those names in the form of song while making her famous "Sunny's Sunny-Side-Up Fortune Eggs." The names are also heard in the Deja Vu mission in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain if the player shoots a tranquilizer dart at Ocelot.
• The Colonel AI's face occasionally changes to the real Campbell's face from Metal Gear Solid and Ghost Babel.
• He also quotes a game outside of the Metal Gear series, Snatcher, as well as IdeaSpy 2.5, a radio play that aired on the HideChan Radio.
• He'll also shout "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo" three times.

In addition to the aforementioned references to past Metal Gear games, he also says other things that are otherwise random:

• At one point, he implies that Rosemary had cheated on Raiden.
• He says he saw "Gubayama the other day in Shibomnigee," and that he had said for the Colonel to give Raiden his best.
• He also "apologizes" to Raiden for making him pay for lunch, as he had been in a bad financial situation after a messy divorce.
• He also implies that he was abducted by a UFO while driving home from work. This line plays in Metal Gear Solid 4 if Snake discovers the crop circle Easter egg even though Snake never heard it.
• The Colonel is allegedly interrupted from having a meal by Raiden's call.
• The Colonel claims that he was formerly a North American Fall Webworm before asking about Raiden's previous life, apparently referring to the concept of reincarnation.
• The Colonel, having apparently lost patience, tells Raiden to go home and leave the fighting to him.
• In one particularly nonsensical call, the Colonel expresses his amazement regarding the "famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork" doing a raw blink on Hara-kiri rock, before demanding scissors and then randomly shouting 61.
• He admonishes Raiden for possibly using a code to gain a high score, considering it cheating.
• The Colonel breaks the fourth wall by asking Raiden if he has other things to do besides playing the game for a long time.
• The Colonel notes Raiden enjoying slaughtering the enemy if he killed numerous Gurlukovich Mercenaries during the game.
• The Colonel advises on how to prune anemone or clematis plant juices without leaving a rash.
• The Colonel will state he is not home right now and to leave a message after the beep, mimicking an answering machine.
• The Colonel will remark that he can't believe Raiden has made it this far while committing twisted acts within the women's bathroom. The Colonel then remarks that this is the end of the world.

Similarly, the Colonel occasionally laughs during the game over sequence if the player shot Solid Snake after reuniting with him. Largely due to the audio pitch, it was debated to be Solidus, though the game script confirms it was the Colonel.^[2] This was made more clear in the Japanese version due to Takeshi Aono's voice being heard.^[3]

During its conversations to Raiden, the Colonel's face occasionally becomes skull-like, either permanently throughout dialogue or blinking between it and the Colonel's normal face. A similar occurrence happens with the Rosemary AI, where her eyes will occasionally become blank. At times, the Colonel's model may flash and the Colonel's codec portrait from Metal Gear Solid will appear for a split second. Other times, the Colonel's model may appear in awkward positions such as being zoomed in, faced toward his backside, or upside-down. Under the effects of Emma's computer virus the pitch of the Colonel's voice heightens and generates static as he malfunctions.

There is also some foreshadowing with regards to the Colonel's artificial nature throughout the Big Shell Incident in his speech. Whereas the real Roy Campbell speaks to Solid Snake in a calm, casual manner during the events of the Shadow Moses, signifying his history and friendship with Snake as his former commanding officer in FOXHOUND, the AI Colonel expressed a direct and shrewd demeanor in conversation with Raiden, and his speech patterns reflected a stilted, regimented monotone when giving the player hints and directions. The AI Rose's voice also started to display a similarly cold, inhuman cadence in her and the AI Colonel's mocking speech to Raiden about the purpose of the S3 Plan.

References in other games

Although the Colonel AI itself doesn't appear in the Snake vs. Monkey mode from Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, the radio portrait images for Roy Campbell reused the Colonel AI's facial images, albeit more fleshed out and more photo-like.^[4]

If Snake makes a Codec call when fighting Luigi in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Colonel AI will come in instead of the real Colonel Campbell, and will immediately start insulting Luigi, calling him "King of Second Bananas" and saying unusually offensive things. Snake rebukes the Colonel for his harsh words ("Hey, that's Luigi! Show him a little respect!"), then the Colonel starts saying "La-li-lu-le-lo" over and over again. The Colonel AI also appeared as a sticker in the same game, of which, when the player uses it on a character, it will increase energy attacks by 8.

The Colonel AI is indirectly referenced in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Strangelove tells Big Boss that it would be possible for an AI to impersonate her on the radio without Big Boss ever knowing the difference, which he found difficult to believe.

In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the Colonel AI is mentioned when Raiden asks Blade Wolf whether he knew anyone named Gubayama or knew where Shibomnigee was. Wolf was unable to help.^[5]

Appearances

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (Snake Tales; non-canon)
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (flashbacks)
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (indirectly mentioned)
• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (mentioned)

Gallery

Official artwork of the Colonel.

The Colonel in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

The Colonel's "skull face."

References

See also

• Roy Campbell
• S3 Plan