Memes / Half-Life

Half-Life 3... confirmed?

"So, wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and, smell the memes."

—The G-Man

Being a critically-acclaimed game series from a certain memetic developer, Half-Life has accumulated a fair amount of memes over the years.

The Fan Game Hunt Down the Freeman has its own page HERE.

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Please add entries in the following format:

• The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] ^ExplanationLike this.
  • Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

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General/Meta:

• Half-Life 3 confirmed ^Explanation Due to the time people have been waiting for the third installment of the franchise, just about anybody is willing to grasp on to the slightest info for the game. Some people sometimes even resort to Insane Troll Logic, as exampled here◊.
  • This is also a gag where the logic is clearly demented and based on nothing more than reaching the number three, similar to the Illuminati Confirmed meme: This section has six examples. There are two numbered Half-Life games. 6 divided by 2 is 3. HALF-LIFE 3 CONFIRMED!
  • Parodied in Honest Game Trailer's TF2 trailer ^Explanation Wait, Team Fortress has 12 letters in it, and there are 9 character classes in the game. 12-9=3. Team Fortress 3 is Confirmed you guys!
  • The meme-filled Honest Trailers fake-yet-utterly-hilarious "HL3" trailer is just damn too damn funny to describe it plainly, you literally have to see it for youself.
  • Half-Life 3 actually confirmed!^{Explanation (spoilers)}The Stinger of Half-Life: Alyx has Gordon and Eli in the aftermath of the G-Man interfering with the latter's death and "hiring" Alyx, essentially setting up the next Half-Life title. Many fans were overjoyed.
• X but with Half-Life sound effects.^Explanation Sometime around 2019, dubbing over famous movie scenes, television shows, and viral videos with sound effects and voice clips from the Half-Life games (primarily the first, since they're lower-quality and more iconic, and therefore funnier) became popular on Youtube. Adding these sounds to short videos of cats is an especially popular form of this.
• Anime memes but I replaced the unfunny with X^ExplanationA meme about taking anime memes (usually from r/animemes) and replacing the intended punchline with pictures from the games; the most popular permutation uses images of the Citadel during Episode One coupled with audio clips of the disjointed Overwatch Voice. This often results in the memes making zero sense whatsoever.

Half-Life 1:

• The scientists are a Fountain of Memes:
  • "Do you know who ate all the doughnuts?"
  • "Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?" ^ExplanationOne scientist's complaint during Anomalous Materials.
  • "Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained professional."
  • "They're waiting for you, Gordon...in the test chamberrrr...".
  • The Black Mesa fan remake even recreated the bizarre way the scientist says this line in its redone voice acting.
  • "I predicted all of this you know, all of it." This one usually gets used as a comical I Warned You phrase.
  • HUEGH!/STAHP!/DARGH!/NO!/UGH! ^ExplanationThe Scientist NPCs scream this when they get wounded by enemies or the player character.
  • "Gordon, you lousy motherfucker. Get your dork ass down to the test chamber or else I WILL shove the sample up your ass!"/"AND STOP FUCKING WITH THE MICROWAVE!" ^ExplanationOriginating from a modded gameplay video by YouTube user The Pootis Saver (in addition to the ElevenLabs AI voice generator), where one of the scientists threatens Gordon for being late to the test chamber before chewing him out for nuking the microwave casserole.
  • (dives through window) "Greetings."^ExplanationA famous moment within the fandom in the "Office Complex" chapter, where a scientist escapes a headcrab zombie by diving through a window, rolling into an immediate upright stand and happily greets Gordon like nothing's wrong at all. Noted for just how weird the game's scientist AI can be.
  • "FOR GOD'S SAKE, OPEN THE SILO DOOR! THEY'RE COMING FOR US! IT'S OUR ONLY WAY OUT! OH MY GOD, WE'RE DOOMED!" ^ExplanationThe panicking scientist at the start of "We've Got Hostiles!" has become a bit of a meme in recent years. Partly because of how memorable his dialogue is the moment you first enter the level, and because said scientist running off into a trip mine is scripted really weird to the point of it coming off rather comically. He not only runs through the explosion perfectly unharmed, but he then immediately falls to the ground screaming in death shortly afterwards. A lot of players have found amusement in this, and has resulted in them messing around with the scientist.
• The game's sound effects and HUD are edited on other videos to spectacular use, especially with the health and HEV charge stations, the crowbar, and scientist lines.
• "MY. ASS. IS. HEAVY." ^ExplanationDue to the way most Marine dialogue is generated in the game's engine, players can make character voice clips play via console commands and have certain words play in certain order similar to a text-to-speech software. A video of an HECU soldier shouting "MY ASS IS HEAVY" gained popularity among the fandom and the quote is often associated with the old HECU grunt speech.
• Adrian Shephard from Opposing Force is an Ensemble Dark Horse Valve has been meaning to get back to including in the series. However in the interim, another series has sprung up with a lead also named Shephard. Cracking jokes about Adrian becoming Commander Shephard is fairly common.
• How Do I Shot Web? ^ExplanationNatural Selection, a mod for Half-Life, has an alien which can create webs; one hapless noob had his confused utterance immortalised. Often coupled with an image of Spider-Man, and used in any situation in which someone doesn't know how to operate something.
• There's an entire website (bullsquid.com) where you can watch a Bullsquid spin endlessly in a void (you can even click to change it!). There's also leaderboards for the longest times spent on the page, with the top person having 2248 hours on the site.

Half-Life 2:

• Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman. ^Explanation While G-Man's speeches are all extremely memorable moments in their respective games, his opening speech for this game is the most well-known, leading to it having the most amount of memes made out of it.
• Due to the rise of AI-generated text-to-speech in memes, there's been a surge in videos featuring the game's characters (most often Dr. Breen) reading out copypastas and other memes.
• "I still have nightmares about that cat..." ^ExplanationA line spoken by Barney before the teleporter test. Could be a reference to the 1950s film adaptation of The Fly.
  Alyx: ...what cat? What cat?
• "Don't forget to reload, Doctor Freeman!" ^ExplanationOne of the lines spoken by rebels to the player. They have some habits that the players find annoying.
  • "Didja see that? I just helped Dr. Freeman." "He's using his frigging crowbar!"
• "Rice." ^ExplanationFrom the introduction of Half-Life 2, part of the G-Man's monologue to Gordon Freeman. The original line is "Rise and shine, mister Freeman. Rise and... shine."
• The headcrab zombies' painful cries are actually reversed audio of a man screaming things to the effect of "Dear God, help! HELP ME!!," but it's also easy to interpret them as a straightforward mishearing: "YABBA! My icing!" (Or "My eyes sting!")
  • Russian gamers found it even more amusing because of mishearing combined with Bilingual Bonus and... Precision F-Strike: their cries sound very much like "Ебать! Больно очень!" ("Yebat'! Bol'no ochen'!"), which, astoundingly, means "Oh fuck, it hurts so much!".
  • Became an Ascended Meme in the SteamVR Home map Candy Emporium, which includes a poster and bottle for "Yabba"-brand icing.
• The protracted development state of Episode Three that has spanned at least 10 years has led to it being unfavorably called the successor to Duke Nukem Forever.
• "Pick up that can."^ExplanationEarly in Half-Life 2, a Civil Protection officer knocks over a can and tells you to pick it up because he can. You can either oblige to the order, step away, throw it at (or even past) him, but either way you advance.
  • "Pick up that can." "No fuck off" ^ExplanationA parody video showing a Metrocop doing the classic "pick up that can" bit on Freeman. Freeman responds with the aforementioned phrase causing the Metrocop to disintegrate. It's now a Garry's Mod SWEP!
  • "Pick up that can." "No fuck off—" "No, you." ^ExplanationAnother permutation of the above, where the Metrocop turns the tables and causes Gordon to disintegrate instead.
• Bla bla bla Mr. Freeman^ExplanationFrom the end of the video Half-Life in 60 Seconds, an animated recap of the first two Half-Life games.
• FULLY MODELED ^{Explanation (So NSFW it hurts)}FakeFactory's infamous Cinematic Mod has one change to Alyx that not many people noticed until going through the files. She's got a fully modeled vagina all the way to her cervix, complete with labia and clitoris.◊ This is actually because the character models used by the mod aren't optimized for games in any way, and every character as a result has fully modeled naughty bits.
• "Welcome! Welcome to City 17." ^ExplanationParodies of Breen's speech at the start of the game with other faces on giant screens, such as M&Ms.
  • "You have chosen OR HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO GET FUCKED IN THE ASS!" ^ExplanationOne of the more notable parodies of the speech, brought to you by AI speech synthesis.
• "In The Virtual End" ^Explanation A music video for Linkin Park's "In The End" featuring Eli and Kleiner, which was apparently created for a contest hosted by Machinima. The original video was uploaded in 2009 but has seen a surge in popularity in 2022, complete with a version that provides AI Cover vocals for Klein and Eli.
• Do you remember Jackson?^ExplanationSimilarly to the Graggle meme from The Simpsons, this is a fanmade character who many jokingly claim to have been Kleiner's lab assistant. Some have taken it a step further, inventing brand new scenes that he was allegedly in, and other fake characters who never existed. He also comes in Undertale flavor.
• Corpse01 uses a real corpse's face ^ExplanationEver since Richter Overtime uploaded this video making the fact that the face used for corpse01.mdl's texture is taken from a photo of a real burn victim more well-known, it's become popular to make memes stating this fact, or edits of the original photo used to make corpse01's texture.
• That weird noise Eli makes ^ExplanationWhen Gordon meets with Alyx and her father Eli at Black Mesa East, Eli lets out an unusual-sounding "Ehhh!" when teasing Alyx for being embarassed over his shipping of her and Gordon. It's sometimes referred to by the name of the audio clip, eli_handle_b.wav.
• Lazlo, the finest mind of his generation. ^Explanation In Sandtraps, shortly after the battle at Lighthouse Point, there is a wounded man on the sand named Lazlo who inevitably dies to antlions. His friend will always lament that he was the "finest mind of his generation". This is already a rather unusual thing to say about someone, but it's even more funny considering this was just a random rebel who died seconds after he was introduced, making it an Informed Attribute since we otherwise know nothing about Lazlo.
• Smiling Metrocop^ExplanationAn image◊ of a Metrocop with a smiling mouth between the two filters on his gas mask. Due to it being absurd and somewhat off-putting, it's inspired a couple variants.
• Mmm, soup! ^Explanation Some people have noticed that the sound that the Gravity Gun makes when failing to pick up an item sounds like it says "Mmm, soup". Videos of the Gravity Gun and soup have popped up because of this.
• The beta was better^ExplanationThe leaked pre-release build from 2003 provides a look into a game much different from the final version, with a Darker and Edgier setting and many scrapped weapons, enemies, and locations. While no one is going to actively play this build over the final version (it is, well, a "beta"), there are several mods that try to integrate its concepts into the final version.
  • The HL2 beta was dark and gritty^ExplanationA phrase often used to make fun of how dark the beta version is in comparison to the retail product.
  • The HL2 beta was dark and griddy^ExplanationA joke involving making characters do the memetic griddy dance.
  • GORDON THAT DROPSHIP'S COMING RIGHT FOR US^ExplanationHalf-Life 2 Beta Minimalist Mod, a parody of beta restoration mods which makes extensive usage of Stylistic Suck, has a scene where Captain Vance points out in a deadpan manner that a Combine dropship is approaching, then screams as he gets knocked into a pit by it and explodes. As one of the most iconic and absurd scenes of the mod, it's been subject to a few recreations.
  • One of (warning, LOUD) the Stalker's screams from the beta has been used in various memes, and is often used as a jumpscare sound in Garry's Mod horror maps.
  • GET YOUR FREE TVs!^ExplanationOne test sequence designed early in Half-Life 2's development centered around a skirmish between Metrocops and rioting citizens. Some of the rioters would break into stores and loot TVs while yelling the aforementioned phrase, which has become one of the more iconic and often referenced elements of the beta.

Half-Life: Alyx:

• When modders discovered that the cutscenes on in-game screens are simple .webm files that could be easily replaced, they wasted no time replacing them with all manner of silly things.
• Screenshots of the absolutely massive hordes of toilet paper found in certain areas, accompanied with phrases like "hit the jackpot" or "working on my hoard" are common, as toilet paper shortages are common during the real-life COVID-19 quarantine.
• Some of Russell's lines, particularly "I'm with you every step of the way" and "It's unloaded!" have been fuel for remixes and YouTube poops.
• Similarly, a variety of fake-spoilers about Russell's fate, especially "Russell gets turned into a Stalker" have been popular, each more absurd than the last.
• The Vortigaunt's "I have a brain injury. My Brain is Injured! Ow." is popular on forums.
• A resurgence of "My Name Jeff" memes has taken place in response to the "Jeff" chapter
• The playable in-game piano has led to videos of people playing both silly and serious things on it.
• "What would you want nudged?" [...] "That would be a considerably large nudge." ^{Explanation (Spoilers)}The conversation between the G-Man and Alyx has led to many variations on this exchange, with one person making an apparently unfulfillable request. Examples include asking for the release of Half-Life 3 or for the COVID-19 coronavirus to leave Earth. Some variants of the meme has the G-Man offer an unexpected but welcome alternative to the reader, playing off of the "Something you don't know you want" line that follows this exchange.
• Half-Life 3 confirmed. ^{Explanation (Spoilers)}As the ending and subsequent Distant Finale set up Gordon and a now-living Eli Vance gearing up to pursue the G-Man and rescue Alyx, the long-running ironic meme about Half-Life 3 being stuck in permanent Development Hell has given way to new, completely unironic memes about it finally, actually happening.
• G-Man's briefcase really did have Half-Life 3 in it^ExplanationThe G-Man's briefcase, which he keeps with him at all times, has been a long-standing mystery in the Half-Life series, especially following the Half-Life 2 Episodes (specifically, its absence in Episode One). Half-Life: Alyx sees the G-Man doing something that the player has never seen him do before: give his briefcase to the player character. Taking the case opens the door to Alyx saving her father from his original fate in Episode Two; this combined with the Distant Finale strongly implies that a new Half-Life game—possibly the long-awaited Half-Life 3—is finally in the works. This meme is basically a joke summing it up.
• It costs 113,000 hours to move the story of Half-Life forward...for 12 seconds. ^ExplanationA comment by YouTube user reach17 that parodies a line from The Heavy in Team Fortress 2 about the cost of $400,000 to fire his minigun for 12 seconds.