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“ | How pleased you are to chop away, Jack the Ripper. My name is Monsoon, of the Winds of Destruction. | „ |
~ Monsoon's introduction. |
“ | War is a cruel parent, but an effective teacher. Its final lesson is carved deep in my psyche: That this world, and all its people, are diseased. Free will is a myth. Religion is a joke. We are all pawns, controlled by something greater: Memes. The DNA of the soul. They shape our will. They are the culture, they are everything we pass on. Expose someone to anger long enough, they will learn to hate. They become a carrier. Envy, greed, despair... All memes. All passed along. | „ |
~ Monsoon's most famous quote, explaining his perspective about the world. |
Monsoon, also known as the "Wind of Southeast Asia", is one of Desperado's Winds of Destruction and a major antagonist in the videogame Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as well as the secondary antagonist of its Jetstream Sam DLC.
He was voiced by John Kassir, who also voiced Scuttlebutt in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island, and Adam the Clown in Dead Rising.
Biography[]
Past[]
Details of Monsoon’s past are somewhat sketchy, however, it is known that he managed to survive in Phnom Penh, during the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror and the Killing Fields. This gave Monsoon his views on the world and he eventually joined a Cambodian crime organization that was apparently involved in drugs and human trafficking. After getting caught in a gang shootout and being badly wounded, Monsoon was rebuilt with a cyborg body. He then joined the PMC, Desperado.
Recruiting Minuano[]
After Desperado joined forces with Senator Steven Armstrong, he and Monsoon became interested in recruiting Samuel Rodrigues and eventually arranged for him to show up at World Marshall’s Colorado headquarters. While they waited, Monsoon and Armstrong talked about the headquarters new reception area. The senator noted his dislike for the cherry blossoms and asked Monsoon what he thought. The cyborg replied that he thought the cherry blossoms were just part of nature, neither ugly nor beautiful, they just existed. Monsoon then said that Sam, or Minuano as he called him, was close.
After Sam had infiltrated the building, Monsoon appeared and welcomed him to Denver, introducing himself and saying they’d been expecting him. Monsoon mentioned how Sam had taken on an entire drug cartel by himself, but pointed out how defeating it would’ve been ultimately pointless. Sam replied that he’d just been out for revenge, which he’d gotten.
Monsoon said they should see what he had now and threw down a red phosphorous grenade, disappearing with a villainous laugh as a Metal Gear RAY was sent out to fight Sam. Monsoon later contacted him, saying that he was everything they’d said he was, but was still so naïve. He said that organizations like theirs were living things and couldn’t just be destroyed. Monsoon went on to say that while Sam could destroy a limb or two, the main body would survive. Sam replied he’d just have to kill all of them, but Monsoon said they weren’t just a bunch of thugs, they had offspring and influence, which were their memes. He pointed out that Sam had taken down many street gangs worldwide, but they were no closer to peace. Sam said he was here for himself, not the world and Monsoon said that was more like it, before wondering how far that attitude would get him.
Facing Down Jack the Ripper[]
Monsoon later appeared to face off against Raiden in front of the headquarters of World Marshall. He introduced himself, then leapt down in front of Raiden, noting how easily the cyborg ignored the loss of life when it was convenient for him. Monsoon then asked who saved the weak from the one who saved the weak and Raiden replied Desperado was the one exploiting the desperate men they recruited as cyborgs, setting them up as human shields. Monsoon retorted that the world was kill or be killed, which he’d learned in Phnom Penh. He said that war was a cruel parent, but a good teacher and it carved its lessons deep into his mind.
Monsoon declared the world was diseased, free will was a myth, religion was a joke, and all people were controlled by a greater power, the memes. The memes shaped people’s will and were everything that they passed on. Monsoon explained that they carried all the negative aspects of humankind, anger, greed, envy, and despair. He told Raiden he couldn’t fight nature and said that his habit of thinking of his sword as a tool of justice was an exquisite meme, saying that it spared him the burden of all the people he’d killed, until the illusion was broken. Monsoon said this was just nature running its course and Raiden had no choices to make and nothing to answer for, which meant he could die with a clear conscience. However Raiden admitted that Monsoon was right, regressing back into his Jack the Ripper persona, and said he was born to kill. Monsoon had his men attack Raiden, only for him to eagerly cut them down.
Sam moved to take Raiden on, but Monsoon told him to report back to the chief and leave Jack to him. Monsoon said he’d misjudged Raiden, saying he was like them after all and the two engaged each other. Monsoon put up a fierce fight, before he finally hurled a large obelisk at Raiden, who managed to run up it and drive him into a wall, before decapitating him. Monsoon contacted Raiden one more time, saying he passed one meme onto him, that sure as the sun will rise, the slaughter would continue. He went on to say he’d return to the earth and all was as it should be, before dying.
Appearance[]
Monsoon is a tall, (2.02 metres to be exact) slender man with numerous cybernetic enhancements. His cyborg body has been outfitted to bisect into many different parts, strung together using magnetic power that he can control. His main physical characteristic is his red visor, and his dark grey body (slowly fading to red on his left arm). His thighs represent baggy pants, and he has two shoulder pads, his left having Desperado's logo. His skin is somewhat pale, and his hair is a light blonde colour, bordering on white, reaching down to his shoulders.
His body can split apart and be put back together (via Magnetic Power). In concept art, he has highly, enhanced cybernetic eyes that can stretch out that is heavily similar to a snail.
Personality[]
Monsoon is sociopathic and hateful and thinks little of morality and humanity. He believes that the memes of humanity shape all things and people constantly pass them on through history. Monsoon cares little for humans and even for his own life, telling Raiden to finish him at the end of their fight. He believes that his actions are just nature running its course and that the world operates on the idea of survival of the fittest. However, this makes Monsoon somewhat arrogant, believing that he fights with nature’s force behind him. He equates his acceptance of his life as a killer to a meme passed on to him and says that whatever a person is exposed to will naturally influence their mind and personality. It is strongly implied that these views stemmed from his childhood under the Khmer Rouge regime.
Abilities[]
Powers[]
Cybernetic Enhancements: Being a cyborg, Monsoon possesses enhanced strength, agility, endurance, and durability. He is equipped with a unique cyborg body, built with numerous segments held together by electromagnetic energy. Monsoon can use this to separate his body parts while still maintaining control of them, allowing him to easily avoid attacks, stretch to increase his attack range, and strike from multiple angles at once. Monsoon can also use the electromagnetic energy generator in his body to pick up and throw large objects and stick to metal surfaces.
- Enhanced Strength: Monsoon's strength allows him to contend with Raiden and even physically overpowering him.
- Enhanced Speed: Monsoon's speed is great enough that he can literally run circles around Raiden.
- Enhanced Agility: Monsoon is capable of performing highly agile maneuvers in the middle of combat, even able to jump up and across large distances and heights.
- Enhanced Reflexes: Monsoon is capable of keeping up with Raiden in a fight, even capable of moving his segmented parts away from his attacks, even when the latter uses his Zandatsu blade mode.
Abilities[]
- Master Combatant: Monsoon is a highly skilled fighter. His fighting style seems to be comprised of Okinawin Kobudo, Taekwondo, Capoeira, and Jujitsu. He was able to fight against Raiden on near equal grounds when he was in his Ripper Mode.
- Sai Mastery: Monsoon is highly skilled at using his sais in combat, mastering them even before his cybernetic conversion. He can block, parry, strike, and stab in quick succession. He can even use his magnetic parts to attack from a distance.
- Expert Tactician: Monsoon is a skilled tactical planner. He can use the environment to his advantage, whether it be using his magnetic abilities to throw various objects in different forms at his opponents, or stick to the side of walls for a higher vantage point.
- Leadership: Monsoon is able to efficiently lead Desperado soldiers in the field.
- Stealth: Monsoon was able to surprise Sam and Raiden during his encounters with them.
Equipment[]
- Twin Sais: Monsoon wields a pair of tactical sais named “Dystopia”. The sais are durable enough to block strikes from a high frequency blade and can even pierce through the armored cybernetic chassis body of Raiden multiple times.
- Red Phosphorus Grenades: Monsoon uses red phosphorous grenades, which he uses to generate large fog-like clouds that let him suddenly attack foes from out of nowhere, disorient foes, attacking from multiple directions.
Theme[]
The Stains of Time[]
Trivia[]
- Monsoon is the only member of the Winds of Destruction who actually fights like a ninja. Originally the developers had considered making Monsoon originate from Okinawa, but decided that Cambodia was more fitting given his name.
- According to Kevin Washington in one of the codecs, Monsoon is fluent in 3 languages, those being English, Khmer, and Chinese.
- Monsoon is voiced by John Kassir, who also did the voice of other villains such as; Adam the Clown in Dead Rising (who coincidentally also became sociopathic from extremely traumatic circumstances: In Adam's case, watching his entire audience get devoured by zombies), Scorpion 2099 from Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Deadpool from X-Men Legends as well as both Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 1 & 2, and debatably, his most famous role, The Cryptkeeper.
- Monsoon is possibly based on Kotaro Fuma and he resembles the incarnation of Kotaro Fuma from Sengoku Basara.
- Monsoon made a name for himself in not just the Metal Gear community, but also the Internet as a whole thanks to the resurgence of Metal Gear Rising's popularity in 2020 through his speech that he gives to Raiden upon the latter's arrival at the entrance to the headquarters of World Marshal, wherein he says: "Memes. The DNA of the soul."
- The original context of the term "memes", comes from the 1976 book entitled "The Selfish Gene" written by British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, and author Richard Dawkins, wherein he explained that memes are essentially small units of culture that can be transmitted, like genes in a population. But with the advent of the Internet, the term "meme" has now been replaced with the funny and random photos and videos online. However, this doesn't detract from Dawkins' definition, and instead proves it, by how modern memes and trends replicate and spread.
- Another one of Monsoon's infamous lines in his speech to Raiden is "Now there's a pretty meme. Exquisite!"
- It is also during this time that Raiden sarcastically asks him, "How about 'full of shit'? Is that a meme?"
- At the end of the fight, Raiden says to Monsoon, "Your memes... end here."
- Whenever any "Metal Gear Rising" meme is shared online, the lines from Monsoon's screen time are the most common because of this.