The Phantom Limb Project is the name of my new band, but it's also a project dedicated to giving a young man named James a prosthetic limb. Not just any prosthetic limb, but a Metal Gear Solid V-inspired bespoke limb, made with the help of Konami.
The team's work is going to be documented in a series of blog posts, culminating in a three-part documentary. There are no images of the prosthetic yet, but I'm presuming it will be outfitted with a range of modular combat upgrades, like Big Boss' metal arm in The Phantom Pain. Even if it doesn't, it should look pretty nifty—Sophie De Oliviera Barata, the prosthetics artist working with Konami, has made "SteamPunk arms and cyborg-inspired legs", as part of her Alternative Limb Project.
Here's Konami announcing the initiative:
"Inspired by the prosthetic limb seen in KONAMI s METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN, KONAMI is working closely with renowned prosthetics artist, Sophie De Oliviera Barata and a team of engineers, roboticists and product designers, to produce a highly stylized and multi-functional limb for 25-year-old James Young, drawing from the Metal Gear Solid aesthetic. James tragically lost an arm and a leg when he was dragged on to the tracks, between two carriages of the London DLR as it was pulling in. Despite his loss, James refuses to let it interrupt his life and hobbies of travel and video games. He has become extremely adept at playing games one-handed, and was carefully selected by Sophie as a candidate comfortable with the idea of an eye-catching alternative limb and who would benefit from the capabilities it offered."
"Sophie De Oliviera Barata started her career making hyper-realistic prosthetic limbs for amputees, but realized there was huge demand for more unique adaptations; ones that reflected the personality of its user. This lead her to establish the Alternative Limb Project, wherein users could have a say in their prosthetic, creating limbs that people look at in amazement instead of looking away. Her past designs have included SteamPunk arms and cyborg-inspired legs, and she also designed the crystal leg used by amputee performer Viktoria Modesta during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics. She enjoys a reputation as an innovator and a free-thinker and has given talks at TED and the Wired Medical Event about her work and its effects."
