About

Metal Gear Solid "Invisible" Edits refers to a series of fancam edits on TikTok that uses the song "Invisible" by Duran Duran and centers on the Metal Gear Solid universe. Although edits combining Duran Duran's music and MGS have been shared since April 2022, a fan edit focusing on Big Boss gained virality in February 2024 after Duran Duran's TikTok account shared the video, which sparked other fans to post videos combining the character and the song "Invisible."

Origin

On April 11th, 2022, the YouTube^[8] channel n0zo.14 uploaded the earliest known example of a Metal Gear Solid meme edit set to Duran Duran's "Invisible," titled "bad anime memes but I changed the unfunny with Big boss." The meme received over 85,000 views, 5,000 likes and 200 comments in three years, with many of the comments claiming that it was the originator of the trend.

A year before the upload of the more notable Metal Gear Solid "Invisible" edit, on March 12th, 2023, Redditor^[1] Steel_ball_runn posted a video featuring several Metal Gear Solid (MGS) memes paired with Duran Duran's "Invisible." The post (shown below) amassed roughly 255 upvotes and six comments in a year.

On February 1st, 2024, TikTok^[2] user @dripsnake44 posted a fan edit focusing on the Metal Gear Solid 3 character Big Boss, using the 2021's "Invisible" song by Duran Duran. The video (shown below) amassed over 2 million plays and 256,000 likes in a month.

@dripsnake44's fan edit was later shared on Duran Duran's official TikTok^[3] account, amassing 564,000 plays and 73,000 likes in a month.

Spread

The MGS Duran Duran's "Invisible" edits were then popularized in late 2023, being incorporated into random memes about the game's lore or just focusing on the story of a specific character. For example, on December 9th, 2023, YouTube^[4] user @thatfamouslake posted a fan edit using Duran Duran's "Invisible" song, focusing on Metal Gear Solid V. The video (shown below, left) amassed roughly 193,000 views and 9,300 likes in four months.

On February 11th, 2024, YouTube^[5] user @444angelheart7 posted a fan edit of MGSV using the same music (shown below, right), which garnered more than 4,600 views and 244 likes in a month.

Going into February 2024, edits featuring "Invisible" and MGS content became viral meme subjects on TikTok. For instance, on February 3rd, 2024, TikTok^[6] user @pyrvmidsimp posted a gameplay video of Metal Gear Solid 3 gameplay with the overlay text making fun of the game. The post (shown below, left) amassed over 1.8 million plays and 361,000 likes in a month.

On February 6th, TIkTok^[7] user @rustyv4 posted a meme referencing Duran Duran's "Invisible" as "this song from Metal Gear," which amassed more than 1.1 million plays and 174,000 likes in a month (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References