# Punished Snake > Punished Snake is a 2013 exploitable meme based on Metal Gear Solid V's scarred, eyepatch-wearing 'Venom' Snake, fueling 'Punished [Name]' identity jokes. Punished Snake is a meme identity and exploitable format based on the character "Punished 'Venom' Snake" from Hideo Kojima's *Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain* (2015). The character's brooding, battle-scarred appearance, complete with an eyepatch and a piece of shrapnel embedded in his forehead, became a popular template for edits and self-identification jokes, especially through the "Punished [Name]" naming convention and "literally me" culture on 4chan and beyond. ## Origin The character was first revealed at the Game Developers Conference in March 2013, when Kojima Productions showed a trailer for what was then being called *Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain*[3]. The trailer introduced a dramatically different version of Big Boss, battered and broken, far from the confident operative of earlier games. Hideo Kojima directed the game, while artist Yoji Shinkawa designed the characters, following his practice of creating designs with symbolic visual elements rather than focusing on fine detail[3]. The full title card reading "Punished 'Venom' Snake" appeared when the game launched on September 1, 2015. The naming convention, with its dramatic quotation marks and edgy modifier, immediately lent itself to parody. Users on 4chan's /v/ board began editing the title card format to read "Punished [Name]" for anyone who had taken a public L, lost a competition, or otherwise been humiliated. - **Platform:** Konami / Kojima Productions (source character), 4chan (meme format) - **Creator:** Hideo Kojima (game director), Yoji Shinkawa (character designer), community-created meme format - **Date:** 2013 (character reveal), 2015 (game release, meme spread) ## Overview Punished Snake refers to the protagonist of *Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain*, a grizzled soldier who wakes from a nine-year coma missing an arm and sporting a horn-like piece of shrapnel jutting from his skull[3]. The character's scarred, one-eyed look and tortured backstory made him a natural fit for internet identity humor, where users photoshop the horn and eyepatch onto other characters or public figures, or simply prefix "Punished" to a name to suggest someone who's been through an ordeal. The format typically follows one template: take a person or character who has suffered a setback, humiliation, or transformation, add "Punished" to their name, and optionally edit the image to include Venom Snake's signature horn and eyepatch. The joke works because it reframes mundane frustrations or public embarrassments as the origin story of a hardened anti-hero. ## How It Spread After the game's 2015 release, the "Punished" naming format and horn-edit images spread quickly across imageboards and into Reddit, Twitter, and Tumblr. DeviantArt saw a wave of fan art depicting Punished Snake, Venom Snake, and crossover edits placing the horn and eyepatch on characters from other franchises[1]. The meme picked up a second life through "literally me" culture, where users on boards like /tv/ and /v/ would post images of brooding, stoic male characters and caption them "literally me." Punished Snake fit this template perfectly. Urban Dictionary's top definition for Punished Snake is simply "literally me," capturing the way users adopted the character as a stand-in for their own sense of being a misunderstood, battle-hardened figure[4]. The meme also intersected with recurring Metal Gear fandom confusion. News outlets frequently misidentified Big Boss (the character Venom Snake is connected to) as Solid Snake when covering film adaptations and casting news, giving rise to the related "No! That is not Solid Snake" meme[2]. This confusion between the two characters added another layer to the joke, since the Punished Snake identity itself involves a twist about who the character actually is[3]. Political edits became common during election cycles and public controversies, with figures being given the "Punished" treatment after scandals, losses, or perceived betrayals. The format required zero context about Metal Gear to understand. All you needed was the visual shorthand: horn, eyepatch, dramatic name. ## How to Use The Punished Snake format typically works in a few ways: 1. **Name edit:** Take a public figure or fictional character who just experienced a setback. Add "Punished" before their name in a dramatic title card, imitating the *MGSV* style. Example: "Punished Zuckerberg: A CEO Denied His Metaverse." 2. **Horn and eyepatch edit:** Photoshop the shrapnel horn and eyepatch onto a photo of someone. The more mundane the original context, the funnier the contrast. 3. **"Literally me" posting:** Post an image of Punished Snake (or any stoic, scarred character) with the caption "literally me" to ironically or semi-ironically identify with the character's tortured anti-hero energy. ## Cultural Impact The "Punished" prefix entered the wider internet vocabulary as a shorthand for someone who's been through it. While it started as a niche gaming reference, the format became legible to people with no knowledge of Metal Gear. The character's design by Yoji Shinkawa, with its bold symbolic elements, translated well into quick edits and low-effort memes[3]. The "literally me" usage placed Punished Snake alongside characters like Ryan Gosling's Driver and Patrick Bateman in a specific genre of ironic male self-identification memes. This association sometimes drew criticism for romanticizing brooding loner archetypes, though most usage stayed firmly in joke territory. Fan art depicting Punished Snake grew into one of the more active Metal Gear fan communities, with DeviantArt hosting hundreds of illustrations, crossover pieces, and reinterpretations of the character[1]. ## Fun Facts - The shrapnel horn in Venom Snake's forehead actually grows longer during the game depending on the player's moral choices, a detail Kojima specifically requested from the design team[3]. - Yoji Shinkawa, who designed the character, said he focuses on symbolic elements rather than fine facial detail when illustrating, which is part of why the horn and eyepatch became such recognizable visual shorthand[3]. - The game's twist ending, which reveals that Venom Snake is not actually Big Boss but a body double, added meta-layers to the "identity" meme. You're not even the real Punished Snake[3]. - The "literally me" Urban Dictionary definition was written in character as Punished Snake, complete with the quotation marks around "Venom"[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Punished Snake? Punished Snake, full title "Punished 'Venom' Snake," is the protagonist of *Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain* and an internet meme format where users add "Punished" to someone's name or edit the character's horn and eyepatch onto photos to suggest someone has been through hardship[3]. ### Where did Punished Snake come from? The character was revealed in trailers at GDC 2013 and appeared in the game's September 2015 release. The meme format originated on 4chan's /v/ board shortly after launch[3]. ### What does Punished Snake mean? In meme usage, calling someone "Punished [Name]" implies they've suffered a dramatic setback that transformed them into a hardened, world-weary figure, usually played for comedy[4]. ### How do you use the Punished Snake meme? Add "Punished" before someone's name after they experience a loss or embarrassment, optionally editing their photo to include the character's horn and eyepatch[1]. ### Is Punished Snake still popular? The "Punished" prefix and horn edits are a well-known format that still gets used during major public events, particularly elections and celebrity controversies, though peak activity was in the mid-to-late 2010s[4]. ### Who designed Punished Snake? Character artist Yoji Shinkawa designed Venom Snake under the direction of Hideo Kojima, following Shinkawa's approach of emphasizing symbolic visual elements over realistic detail[3]. ### Why do people confuse Punished Snake with Solid Snake? Multiple news outlets have mistakenly identified Big Boss or Venom Snake as Solid Snake when covering Metal Gear film adaptations, spawning the separate "No! That is not Solid Snake" meme[2]. ### What is the "literally me" connection? Punished Snake became a staple of "literally me" posting, where users ironically identify with brooding, stoic male characters. Urban Dictionary's top definition for the character is simply "literally me"[4]. ### Is Punished Snake the same as Big Boss? The game reveals that Punished "Venom" Snake is actually a body double of Big Boss, not the original character. This twist made identity confusion a meta-joke within the meme community[3]. ### What does the horn on Punished Snake's head mean? The shrapnel horn is a piece of bone fragment lodged in Venom Snake's skull after an explosion. In-game, it visually grows depending on the player's actions, symbolizing moral corruption[3]. ## References 1. [Search 'punished snake, metal gear' on DeviantArt - Discover The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community]() 2. [Mistaking Big Boss for Solid Snake has Given Rise to the "No! That is not Solid Snake" Meme | N4G]() 3. [Characters of the Metal Gear series]() 4. [Punished Snake - Urban Dictionary]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/punished-snake Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library