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Philanthropy was an anti-Metal Gear non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by Otacon and Solid Snake. The organization was created as a response to the abundance of Metal Gear REX derivatives being developed after the Shadow Moses Incident. The group operated by uncovering information on the development of new Metal Gears, gathering evidence of their existence, and then attempting to prevent their completion, often by destroying them.

History[]

The organization started off by attempting to expose the true events of the Shadow Moses Incident and the development of Metal Gear REX. Nastasha Romanenko wrote an autobiographical account, In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, though she experienced difficulty while attempting to have the book published, at best only getting a heavily abridged version published. An unknown source (implied to be Snake) later provided the book to a journalist, who later published his own article regarding the incident, and helped give the events more widespread attention. Nastasha was then able to get her book published unabridged, which became a bestseller, and donated profits to Philanthropy's cause.

Philanthropy became officially recognized by the United Nations, or in the words of Snake, "recognized, but still fringe." In addition, their actions also led to Philanthropy earning a bounty on their heads.[1] During one of their operations, Snake and Otacon also investigated a facility, stealing the corpse of Liquid Snake (who was kept in cold storage). In 2007, Philanthropy later went to New York City after it became apparent that the U.S. Marines were transporting Metal Gear RAY to a testing site, on a disguised tanker called the USS Discovery. Snake infiltrated the tanker in order to obtain and leak photographic evidence of RAY's development, and partially to learn more about the Patriots, whose name had come up during a previous failed investigation, involving rumors of a Navy version of Metal Gear being under development.[2] However, it soon became apparent that the investigation was actually a trap to lure them out into the open and stop their interference in Metal Gear's activities once and for all. After the events of the mission, known as the Tanker Incident, the group were framed by the Patriots as an eco-terrorist group. Although Raiden learned the truth of the incident, and allied with Philanthropy in 2009 to stop Arsenal Gear, he still considered some of their past actions to be more comparable to terrorism than grassroots activism, with Snake slightly conceding the point.[3]

Following the Big Shell Incident, Philanthropy ceased activity and Otacon changed gears to join Snake in commencing anti-Patriot activity.[4][5]

Former members[]

Although these are the only people identified as members, Otacon implied during the Tanker Incident that there were other members.[6]

Military resources[]

Behind the scenes[]

Philanthropy appears in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (MGS2). Although the game only confirms that Snake, Otacon, Mei Ling and Nastasha were founding members of the organization, Otacon implies that there were others besides the aforementioned when telling Snake about identifying Sergei Gurlukovich by using the first person plural pronoun on their discovery.[6] It also makes an appearance in the Snake Tales scenarios "Big Shell Evil" and "External Gazer" from Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, the former scenario had them conducting a rescue mission for Emma Emmerich, and the latter scenario had them acting as a private investigation business regarding UMAs such as the Genola and the Gurlugon.

Philanthropy appeared in the Versus Battle feature on the series' official website, where it competed against the Patriots.

Philanthropy

The "Ota-Tamashī" ("Otaku Spirit") symbol, featured in Philanthropy's Versus Battle entry.

"STRENGTHS:
Passion, Purpose, & Solid Snake
WEAKNESSES:
Outmanned, Outmaneuvered, & Outgunned
FEATURED FACT:
Founded to combat nuclear-capable METAL GEARS and the manipulation of society, Philanthropy included Solid Snake, Raiden, Otacon, Sunny, & Mei Ling
FEATURED GAME:
METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION
"
―Philanthropy on Versus Battle

Although Philanthropy officially ceased activity after the Big Shell Incident, the Versus Battle description claimed that Raiden and Sunny were members, the former only allying with the group in MGS2, and the latter having later assisted ex-members Snake and Otacon in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (MGS4). The feature also included the "Ota-Tamashī" symbol that was associated with Otacon in MGS4. Despite this, the description only lists Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection (containing MGS2) as the group's featured game.

In the initial translation for Metal Gear Solid 2 by Agness Kaku, Philanthropy was directly translated as OMEGA (Opposition against MEtal GeAr). Similarly, the line where Snake mentioned that Philanthropy was "recognized [by the UN], but still fringe" was originally more strongly worded, where Solid Snake specifically said that among NGOs (their official designation), they were a radical presence. [7]

The post-credits scene for Metal Gear Solid 2 revealed that despite setting Philanthropy up to be framed during the Tanker Incident, the Patriots were also in part responsible for providing them with the funding to create the organization via at least one of the names of the 12 Wisemen's Committee that Otacon discovered. The game never directly reveals their motives, but a published version of the Japanese script for the game revealed that it was because the Patriots intended to run an experiment to see whether or not Philanthropy could in fact defeat them.[8][9]

Even though Philanthropy was established to have been shut down after the events of the Tanker Incident in Metal Gear Solid 4, the helicopter that Otacon used to deliver Snake to Shadow Moses Island in Twin Suns had the word Philanthropy utilized on it, hinting that it was a holdover from 2007. This is not seen during normal gameplay, however.[10]

The group are the protagonists of the fan film Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy.

Notes and references[]

  1. ^ Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001).
    Solid Snake: By the way, Otacon, are you sure of this intelligence? // Otacon: Absolutely. Hacked it out of the Pentagon’s classified files myself. // Snake: No traces? // Otacon: Oh please. I’m too good for that. // Snake: But this might be a trap. Remember, there’s a price on our heads.
  2. ^ Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001).
    Otacon explains this in Codec conversations during the Tanker Incident.
  3. ^ Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001).
    Raiden: What you do isn’t grassroots activism. It’s more like terrorism. // Snake: I admit that...
  4. ^ http://mgsdb.com/en/enc/37/7
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ a b Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001)
    Solid Snake: Otacon, the ship appears to be under their control. The men have Russian gear, but I haven’t been able to find out anything else about their origin. // Otacon: (seriously) I know who they are. // Snake: You do? // Otacon: We’ve ID’d the old man. // Snake: Who is he? // Otacon: Sergei Gurlukovich. // Snake: // Gurlukovich...! One of Ocelot’s allies? // Otacon: Yeah... The GRU colonel. He’s the one Ocelot was supposed to meet up with, after Shadow Moses...
  7. ^ https://archive.ph/Ch7a9#selection-718.0-718.3
  8. ^ https://twitter.com/HEITAIs/status/1392466581116964864
  9. ^ Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (script; Japanese), Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001)
    オタコン「その中には 『フィランソロピー』の出資者の名前もあった……」 『愛国者達』はスネーク達を使って自分達が淘汰されるべきかどうかの実験をしていた、ということだが説明しない。 // スネーク「どういうことだ?」(Translation: Otacon: "Among them was the name of the investor of "Philanthropy"..." The Patriots used Snake to experiment with whether they should be culled, but they don't explain. // [Solid] Snake: "What do you mean?"
  10. ^ https://twitter.com/HEITAIs/status/1403651490917482503
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