#the Kaz arc is fully self-contained because he goes through a whole meet-bang-betrayal-death thing within the shell of the other stories

[daisyachain]

The post-4 games seem to have been designed to form a self-contained arc in the name of fixing a minor plot hole in a series with much worse plot holes (a la Rogue One) and yet the picture they paint is so hard to square with the actual timeline if you’re abiding by Occam’s ‘All Plot Threads Must Wrap Back In On Themselves’ Razor of fiction..…

the 3 gang has to make contact again ASAP after 3 (1964) in order to fit the necessary drama in that leads up to the cloning project (1972). This seems to be implied by ADAM showing up right at the end of 3, if that isn’t a joke. But then, EVA fakes her death relatively late on in 1971, meaning she either was a triple agent nominally acting as a double agent for whatever government and secretly working with the 3 gang, or she agreed to work on the cloning project around the same time she joined. In any case EVA is a founding member of the Patriots (between 1964 and 1972), and she spends enough time with BB during that interval to form a lifelong bond while still being distant enough by PW time (1974) to be an old friend.

So the EVA timeline is 1964 - meet the gang, 1964-1971 - still working her old job, sometime between 1964-1971 - co-founds the Patriots, 1971 - 1972 - working exclusively for the Patriots proper + joins the Enfants Terrible project, 1972-1974 - part of Cipher + minimal contact with the Snake branch apart from the tapes, 1975-1984 - protecting BB and formulating the doppelgänger plan with Cipher/ADAM, 1984-1999 - ???? total unknown, 1999-2014 - elaborately planning demise of Patriots with ADAM and Naomi.

Zero, Para-Medic, and SIGINT can be assumed to be a coherent cell 1964-1984 ish so that’s simple. BB’s timeline is surprisingly vague despite being the focus of the games. Sometime between 1964-1971 - co-founds the Patriots, 1972 - leaves the Patriots + founds MSF + meets Kaz, 1972-1975 - running misc MSF stuff with Kaz, 1975-1984 - coma time (;, 1984-199?? - misc MSF, sometime between 1984 and 1997 - joins FOXHOUND and trains Snake II, 19??-1999 - misc MSF, 1999-2014 stasis time (;

The ADAM timeline is then the most mysterious. 1964 - spying on the GRU for the KGB and on the KGB for the CIA + rendez-vous with 3 gang in USA, sometime between 1964-1971 - co-founds Patriots, 1972 - presumably leaves Patriots???, 1972-1975 - ????, 1975-1984 - protecting BB and formulating the doppelgänger plan with Cipher/EVA, 1984 - working with V, 1984-1999 - ?????, 1999-2014 - elaborately planning demise of Patriots with ADAM and Naomi

Combining the 3 we’ve got:

1964 - the 3 gang meet

between 1964-1971 - the 3 gang found the Patriots and start working together in earnest

1971 - BB helps EVA fake her death, EVA agrees to work on Cipher’s clone project

1972 - BB and possibly ADAM split from the Patriots, BB founds MSF, the remaining cell becomes Cipher, BB meets Kaz

between 1972-1975 - Kaz becomes XO, Kaz and Paz are recruited by Cipher to undermine MSF, EVA sends information to BB but they do not have formal contact, ADAM’s whereabouts unknown

1975 - Cipher creations XOF and Skullface destroys Mother Base, BB and V stowed away in hospital

1974-1984 - Zero and his cell realize they’ve gone too far and start trying to dismantle Cipher, remaining Patriots come up with doppelgänger plan, ADAM becomes agent for GRU(?) in Afghanistan to stay in area, Kaz and remaining MSF work with guerilla fundamentalists, Zero tries to undo Cipher AI development and fails???

1984 - BB and V awake, BB runs off to make new mercenary groups, V takes over existing project, ADAM acts as agent for V but also apparently stays aware of BB/switches programming on and off to work with both???, Kaz works as XO to V, EVA’s whereabouts unknown

1984-19?? - V and BB now best bros, V and Kaz create and run Outer Heaven, BB does mercenary things all over the place incl. rescuing Naomi, ADAM and EVA’s whereabouts unknown, Para-Medic and SIGINT take over the Patriots’ work along with Cipher AIs

19?? - Kaz leaves V, trains Snake

19?? - BB joins FOXHOUND, trains Snake

1997 - Snake kills V

1999 - Snake almost kills BB

1999-2014 - ADAM, EVA, and Naomi devise anti-Patriot plot

2005 - ADAM kills Kaz and SIGINT

2009 - ADAM sets up plan that Liquid would fall for, recreates personality and lets alternate personality do the job