Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov
From the Metal Gear Wiki
| Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov | |
|---|---|
 Raikov in Metal Gear Solid 3. | |
| Nationality |  Russian
|
| Affiliations | GRU |
| Current status | Unknown |
| Appears in | Metal Gear Solid 3 Portable Ops |
| First game | Metal Gear Solid 3 |
| Created by | Hideo Kojima |
| English voice actor | Charlie Schlatter |
| Japanese voice actor | Kenyu Horiuchi |
Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov appears in the game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. He is a part of the Russian military intelligence agency known as GRU and Colonel Volgin's lover. He is very similar in appearance to Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty. His sexuality can be determined from his character trait: Artist - i.e. he is uninterested in women (while EVA may have also unsuccessfully tried to get information out of him attempting her womanly charm on him). He is also unresponsive to dirty magazines in MGS3 and MGS Online. Also, when Snake takes his clothes, it is revealed that Raikov wears a thong with a yellow bolt of lightining on them.
If you threaten him with a knife, he will give information about Volgin. In the Subsistence version, he'll also speak parts of Raiden's dialogue from MGS2. Raikov is defeated and stripped by Naked Snake, who uses his clothes to disguise himself in Groznyj Grad to get to the Shagohod. If confronted while the Raiden mask is on, Raikov will stare at Snake with a narcissistic beat to which Snake is then discovered. After subduing/killing Raikov and wearing his uniform with mask, the player can go out on a rampage throughout Groznyj Grad, beating up scientists and soldiers without reprise (some will even thank you).
In Subsistence, Raikov is available for use during online play as the leader of GRU. His special attack is the famous crotch grab, a special CQC move that knocks out the enemy in one painful strike.
Raikov also appears in MPO as an unlockable character. To find him, place spies in the Western Wilderness before rescuing Naked Snake. A spy report will flag. Raikov had lost his position due to his abusive ways against soldiers (a reference to MGS3, where you could attack Soviet soldiers without reprise when disguised as Raikov, as he was "just that kind of guy" from EVA's observations), and was imprisoned, to be released by Naked Snake and his team. Roy Campbell manages to convince him to join Snake's unit, telling him that he would be considered a hero for stopping a nuclear launch and would receive a promotion.
[edit] Trivia
- In the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, a family tree shows the characters of Snake Eater, with a line connecting Naked Snake and Raikov, with a red "X", although it doesn't specify whether Naked Snake killed Raikov or simply knocked him out before stealing his clothes.
- Raikov's patronymic (a personal name based on the name of one's father), Raidenovitch, means "Son of Raiden"; "Raiden" is Japanese for "lightning". The name was intended by Hideo Kojima as a play on words, as the name can be pronounced as "Raiden's bitch". This may refer to Raikov being Raiden's spoof, may more directly refer to his being "Thunderbolt's" (i.e. Colonel Volgin's) "bitch", or both.
| Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Characters |
|---|
|
Naked Snake — Major Zero — Para-Medic — Sigint The Boss — Colonel Volgin — Ocelot — EVA The Pain — The Fear — The Fury — The End — The Sorrow Sokolov — Granin — Raikov — Johnny Sasaki Sr. |
| Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Characters |
|---|
|
Naked Snake — Roy Campbell — Jonathan — Para-medic — Sigint Null— Gene — Python — Cunningham — Elisa and Ursula Colonel Skowronski — Sokolov — Ocelot — EVA — Major Zero — Raikov |
