All There in the Manual: Difference between revisions

 

== Literature ==

* It may surprise some to learn that some of the most famous parts of ''[[The Iliad]]''—the invocation of the Achilles heel and the Trojan Horse, for instance—are not actually in the Iliad. Instead, they're in ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]''. Similarly, the cause of the war and the recruiting of many of the warriors are told in outside sources.

** To be accurate, the Iliad and Odyssey are the only surviving parts of a cycle of epic poems about the Trojan War. We do have descriptions of what was in those lost parts though, and that includes most of the background mentioned.

== Newspaper Comics ==

* As the clock ticked down to the retirement date planned for Lynn Johnston's comic strip ''[[For Better or For Worse]]'', she attempted to wrap up numerous loose ends in her ongoing story arcs. The sudden surge of activity in the previously glacial pace of the strips was too much to fit into her three- or four-panel a day limitation, so she set up a website containing letters written by the characters to their fans. In the letters she explained in more detail some of the sudden changes in plot or personality, and indulged in major retconning in response to fan outrage at some of the more absurd developments. Nonsensical in-strip events that were explained in the characters' letters became so commonplace they were a [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.strips/browse_thread/thread/bccd712ad44044f6/93196d1a9c75dd69?q=explained+letters+group:rec.arts.comics.strips#93196d1a9c75dd69 running gag] in [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.strips/browse_thread/thread/24951daaa8e2970c/36a68034b152b4d5?q=explained+letters+group:rec.arts.comics.strips#36a68034b152b4d5 discussions] on the Usenet newsgroup [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.strips/browse_thread/thread/15a446adb2e6fec4/75c1509c8aef080b?q=explained+letters+group:rec.arts.comics.strips#75c1509c8aef080b rec.arts.comics.strips].

 

 

** Although it is heavily implied in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', the ''Metal Gear Solid 4 Database'' is also the only place you'll find a direct confirmation that Ocelot is the son of {{spoiler|The Boss and The Sorrow}}. The ''Metal Gear Solid 4 Database'' also elaborated on what happened with the Metal Gear Gs as well as the history of Shadow Moses.

** The ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots|Metal Gear Solid 4 Database]]'' is has received some criticism for not resolving some things, getting some info wrong, and retconning some things.

** The ''[[Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake]]'' manual also elaborated quite a bit on the game's story and other things, and was absolutely vital to playing the game and understanding the story (in fact, it was even needed for a certain part of the game that probably made it far too difficult to be beaten otherwise). For instance, it elaborated on exactly how Solid Snake managed to infiltrate Zanzibarland, the history of Zanzibar Land as well as its statistics, including military strength and natural resources, a history of FOXHOUND, and bios for the main characters. It also explained a bit about the landmarks of Zanzibar Land, and the backstories of several bosses, and specifications of several vehicles encountered in the game, including the Goliath tanks, which were originally supposed to be fought as a boss but were removed due to time constraints and kept as part of the scenery on the first floor of Zanzibar Building, the Hind Ds, which explained that these were modified, the Gigant, and the Sikorsky Dragoon (the chopper that was briefly seen in the ending of the game that {{spoiler|took out a platoon of Zanzibar Land personnel when Snake and Holly White were surrounded due to running out of ammo.}}). Like its predecessor, it gave the statistics of Metal Gear D, as well as elaborated on the mass production of Metal Gear G that Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar alluded to in game. It also explained how to use tap codes in this game, which makes the manual absolutely necessary to use to get Dr. Madnar's frequency, and thus get further into the game. A fan translated version can be view [http://www.msxnet.org/gtinter/Operate.htm here].

** There was also a leaked voice casting document for ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater|Metal Gear Solid 3]]'' that elaborated on some details on the main characters. It gave the real name of Major Zero (David Oh), and elaborated on a few things about some characters, such as mentioning that the American colleague of Granin was actually Otacon's father (which was later confirmed by ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'').