Grey Fox, Metal Gear Cosplay Costume

A motif in the Metal Gear games is the presence of a specialized team of commandos with unique abilities that serve as the bosses in each game, starting with the Outer Heaven forces in the original Metal Gear, followed by the Zanzibar Land forces in Metal Gear 2, Solid Snake's former unit FOXHOUND in Metal Gear Solid, Dead Cell in Metal Gear Solid 2, the Cobra unit in Metal Gear Solid 3, and the "Beauty and the Beast" unit in Metal Gear Solid 4. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops parallels Solid Snake's confrontation with FOXHOUND by having his genetic progenitor, Naked Snake, confront his own former unit FOX. A recurring theme amongst the bosses of Metal Gear Solid is that they adopt a name in the form of the "Sons of...". Liquid Snake referred to his army on Shadow Moses as the "Sons of Big Boss", due to everyone possessing genes from Big Boss's remains. Solidus Snake labeled Dead Cell and the Gurlukovich mercenaries under the unifying name "Sons of Liberty", to fit his goal of liberating a city from the Patriots. Though it was not mentioned as much in MGS3, The Pain and Colonel Volgin use the name "Sons of The Boss" in conversations with Big Boss, referring to those who were trained and have fought alongside the Boss. In MGS4, the term "Sons of the Patriots" is coined for the countless mercenaries and PMC soldiers whose minds are controlled through nanomachines.
Another motif is the presence of a Ninja-like character, starting with Black Ninja (Black Color) in Metal Gear 2, who is revealed to be Kyle Schneider, leader of the Outer Heaven resistance and one of Snake's contacts in the original Metal Gear. The Cyborg Ninja is featured in Metal Gear Solid, and revealed to be none other than Gray Fox, Snake's former war buddy turned enemy. The identity is later adopted by another character (Olga Gurlukovich) in Metal Gear Solid 2. The tradition of Ninja-like is continued by Null (who is revealed to be a younger Gray Fox) in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and even Raiden himself (who now dons a Cyborg exoskeleton) in Metal Gear Solid 4.
A final motif is the presence of support staff who can only be contacted by radio. Snake is generally inserted into a location as a solo operative without on-site backup. However, he is supplied with a "Codec" radio, which puts him in constant contact with a support staff who have been gathered to provide him with assistance. This staff generally includes: his commanding officer, who is in overall charge of the operation; a character or several characters who teach him to use any weapons and/or items he may procure on-site (often with direct reference to the DualShock controller the player is holding; the Metal Gear games often do not have a fourth wall); any on-site undercover or double agents Snake may come into contact with, including an anonymous contact if one is in the game; and a "data analyst" who allows him to save his game. They can be contacted at any time for advice or moral support; Snake may also be given opportunities to inquire about their histories, making them full-fledged characters in their own right. Codec conversations are so emblematic of the series that a number of them were included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, allowing Snake to call Col. Campbell, Otacon and Mei Ling for advice on defeating his opponents.