There's currently a heated debate among the Metal Gear Solid community as to whether Big Boss can canonically smell or not, because the implications massively change one scene in The Phantom Pain. When you begin Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, you're prompted to enter your birthday. This isn't an age verification check - it's actually to prompt the scene just below, in which Diamond Dogs celebrate Venom Snake's birthday by rolling out a big birthday cake for him, accompanied by a cigar handed to him by Revolver Ocelot to mark the occasion.
This scene has weirdly caused a lot of newfound speculation among the Metal Gear Solid community. At the one minute, 33 second mark, you can see Venom Snake smell the cigar, and if you keep your eye on Kaz Miller during that sequence, you can see the character's face change to an almost quizzical look. This is what the Twitter user below has only just realized, nine years after The Phantom Pain released.
Miller's facial expression changing in this scene revolves around the fact that Big Boss, who Venom Snake is masquerading as, canonically can't smell anything. The Twitter user is positing that this is in fact a teaser that Venom Snake isn't who he's made out to be at all, which Metal Gear Solid 5 doesn't reveal until the closing moments of the entire saga. Many are now hypothesizing that this is very deliberate from game director Hideo Kojima , meant to signal to anyone paying attention that their Snake is something of a false idol.
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