Skip to main content

Someone parodied the A-Team intro with Metal Gear’s Diamond-Dogs, and it’s glorious

The D-Dogs 1980's TV Intro
Savvy Metal Gear fans know that Big Boss shares his code name with another 1980s bad-ass: Escape From New York‘s Snake Pliskin. But if you think about it, there is something of A-Team leader John “Hannibal” Smith about him. Maybe it’s his confidence, or his love of a fine cigar. Nick Hawryluk, owner of Level 17 Media and host of Press Play TV took advantage of this potential for ’80s awesomeness in his YouTube video featuring Snake and his band of misfits in place of Hannibal and his fellow soldiers. It’s a parody of the well-loved A-Team TV intro featuring the Diamond Dogs from Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.

Change the line “10 years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison for a crime they didn’t commit,” to “Nine years ago, their private army was decimated by a secret organization,” and the L.A. skyline to Mother Base while keeping the military drum track and fading to red and, voilà! If you haven’t played the new Metal Gear games Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, there’s a slight spoiler alert to follow.

Then again, it’s not too big a spoiler to say Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is a prequel set nine years after Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, and 11 years before Metal Gear, the first game in the series (set in 1995, released in 1987). To translate, that’s 1984, in the heart of the decade and the heyday of the A-Team‘s 1983-1987 run.

The A-Team intro - From the classic A-Team series re released on 19th July 2010!

If we compare the D-Dogs to the A-Team personality-wise, Kazuhira “Master” Miller is Face, literally wanting to put a face on the organization with his own plans and ideas that don’t always jive with Big Boss’). Odd Revolver Ocelot is kooky Murdoch and Sniper “Quiet” Tixij with her charming loquaciousness is clearly Mr. T. Finally, DD (the dog) stands in for Melinda (despite the order in the parody). Ok, so Melinda got the shaft a bit, but such is life. Melinda wasn’t in ‘Nam with the A-Team, and DD wasn’t in the jungle with Snake.

The only real tweak between the two intros was the omission of aliases in quotation marks, as seen in the original A-Team intro. MGSV’s subtitle hints at Big Boss’ identity, but that’s a complicated story too long to fit into a set of quotation marks between character’s names. Also, if you’re wondering about the gunfire text, that was added in season three of the A-Team. It’s also worth noting this certainly isn’t the first A-Team video game parody, it isn’t even the first Metal-Gear based A-Team parody, but it is the tightest we’ve seen.

If someone really wanted to be sarcastic, every character in the vid would be a Big Boss clone (or body double). But that would be no fun. You simply can’t do a Metal Gear parody justice without Revolver Ocelot, and he’s a great fit for Murdoch’s crazy-like-a-fox personality. We love it when a plan comes together.

Editors' Recommendations

Aliya Barnwell
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Aliya Tyus-Barnwell is a writer, cyclist and gamer with an interest in technology. Also a fantasy fan, she's had fiction…
Satire, subversion, and Sonic the Hedgehog: What a hit YouTube series reveals about web culture
Sonic gets ready to battle in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

When Sonic the Hedgehog 2 sped into theaters in April, its $71 million box office debut meant that it broke the record for the best-ever opening weekend for a video game adaptation. If the average theater ticket is, as recent research suggests, $9.57, that means that roughly 7.4 million people lined up to see the Sega mascot in the sequel to his 2020 original.

There’s no getting around how impressive those figures are. But Jehtt (his screen name, not his actual one), a 24-year-old YouTuber from California, may have one-upped Hollywood, even with all its infinite resources.

Read more
Arsenal vs Chelsea live stream: Can you watch for free?
top tech stories 08 04 2017 weekly rewind soccer goal getty8 4 17

Locked in an impossibly tight three-team battle for the Premier League title, Arsenal face Chelsea in an important mid-week fixture today at Emirates Stadium. Though the Blues are in the midst of a disappointing season, they still certainly have the talent to play spoiler as the Gunners chase their first league title in 20 years.

This one is starting very soon, at 3:00 p.m. ET, and will be televised on USA Network in the U.S. But if you don't have cable or don't have that channel, we've put together all the different ways you can watch a live stream of Arsenal vs Chelsea for free or cheap.
The Best Way to Watch Arsenal vs Chelsea Live Stream

Read more
The best sci-fi movies on Hulu right now
Caesar rides with a grim expression on his face in War for the Planet of the Apes.

Among the new movies on Hulu in April, the only prominent additions to the lineup of sci-fi movies were The Fifth Element and Pacific Rim, both of which have been on Hulu before. But as long as Hulu has top-tier titles like War for the Planet of the Apes and the 2021 remake of Dune, then sci-fi fans should be very happy with their options.

You can find the rest of our picks for the best sci-fi movies on Hulu below. They include the original Alien, Blade Runner 2049, and more. Not all of these films on this list are owned by Disney or 20th Century Studios, so catch them while you can. They won't be around forever.

Read more