“when the human pilot gets in, that life is being breathed into the mech for the first time. Like, even though it's a weapon, when it moves it feels like a living creature. But when the pilot exits and it's left alone, it looks just like a jeep or tank or some regular vehicle, and once the pilot gets in and is driving it, it looks like a dinosaur.”
Kojima explained in 1998 the assignment he gave Shinkawa for the mecha of Metal Gear Solid: its codename is "Metal Gear Rex", named for the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and, being basically a weapon of war, he told him not to make it look like a robot from outer space; he wanted it to feel that when the human pilot gets in, life is being breathed into the mech for the first time — although it is a weapon, when it moves it seems like a living creature — while when the pilot exits and it is left alone it looks like a jeep, a tank or some regular vehicle, and only when piloted does it seem like a dinosaur.
"Rex". The dinosaur, that is—Tyrannosaurus Rex. The code name for this mecha is "Metal Gear Rex." [...] I told him "Don't make it look like some robot from outer space."