Web Video / Freeman's Mind Spinoffs

Here are the tropes for the various spinoffs that Freeman's Mind spawned. IRAMightyPirate and CyhAnide formed a new LP channel here.

Series with their own pages:

• Chell's Mind
• Shephards Mind

Tropes:

• Adaptation Expansion: The last episode of Barney's mind involves Barney hijacking a plane and escaping Black Mesa which wasn't in Blue Shift. (It's filmed in MS Flight Simulator X).
• All There In The Video Description: "Who's Felix?"
  • "What game is Parker's Mind really in?"
  • "Are you really a girl??"
• Almost Dead Guy: Corporal Shephard encounters one who tells him aliens will kill him and he has to leave.
  Thanks for the update! Dumbass!
  • Barney encounters one as well and he laments the fact this was the first guy who didn't try and kill him or was dead to begin with dies on him.
• Amusing Injuries: In Shephard's Mind and Barney's Mind.
  Shephard: "Aw, I have shrapnel in my ass now."
  Barney: "Oomph, Shrapnel in my BUTT!"
• Apologetic Attacker: Parker's Mind episode 6, when he shoots the technician who won't lower the submarine.
  • More or less Shephard, when he attacks the Black Ops agents that he wishes to go on a date with.
• April Fools' Day: The author of Felix's Mind pulled off a very convincing April Fools prank, having everyone think he was giving up his series with this episode. This became Harsher in Hindsight when he cancelled the series for real.
• Armor Meter: As in the game, Sheperd has a shield meter.
• Artificial Stupidity: In Parker's Mind, he is constantly raving about how stupid the Ultor guards are. This is subverted however, when he first fights the Mercenaries, who actually have proper combat training.
• Art Shift: The last half of the final episode of Barney's Mind are recorded in Microsoft Flight Simulator. And he jumps around several other games in an extension of the end of Blue Shift where Barney is stuck teleporting between Xen and Black Mesa in-game as well as Counter-Strike, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (Which is also heard from the other side in Felix's Mind), and Sector C of Black Mesa where he meets up with Corporal Shepard trapped in Gordon's locker.
  • Parker's Mind in episode 4, where Parker traverses through Half-Life, Doom 1 and real life.
• Axe-Crazy: Chell is slowly becoming this. She takes great delight in burning up many a Weighted Storage Cube, GLaDOS' cameras, and even a Radio when the lyrics to the song freak her out.
• Beard of Evil: Chell is convinced that her Evil Twin has one. She also thinks GLaDOS has this and eyeliner.
  • Shephard thinks that Gordon's beard is this. He's not entirely wrong.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Felix alternates between demonstrating attraction and clear disdain for "Joni" (Alyx). Particularly when she volunteers him potentially suicidal missions while she stands somewhere safe doing little, yet is routinely given a share in the credit afterwards.
  • From what he describes, Felix's relationship with Chell definitely appears to have been this.
• Berserk Button: Everyone mistakes Felix for being Gordon, much to his annoyance.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: Shephard when messing around with a steam valve.
  Shephard: "God damn it, steam! I HATE steam!"
• Blackout Basement: Shephard creates one of these to take out some Black Ops in ep 24.
• Bottle Episode: Shephard's mind Episode 12 takes place mostly in Gordon's locker. Where Sherphard has just teleported into.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Shephard at one point finds an alien gun and thinks it's like a cockroach. Which shocks people. A ... Shockroach. And then proceeds to make an advertisement out of it.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Barney's Mind Episode 15 Pt 2
  Barney: "What's this? Microwave, soda machine, bloodstain, plenty of soda..."
• Brick Joke: In the Barney's Mind/Shephard's Mind crossover episodes, Shephard finds a bottle of "antidepressants" in Gordon's locker, with the brick dropping in episode 18 when he finds out that it was actually oxycodone after he had already taken about four of them. Cue a Funny Moment that lasts all through episode 19 and partly into episode 20.
  • It is possible thought that Gordon simply overlooked it, as Shephard did find the pills hidden inside a thermos in Gordon's locker.
  • Also a cross-series Brick Joke, as in one of the very first Freeman's Mind episodes, Gordon complains about being unable to find his oxycodone in that very locker.
  • Remember when Gordon yelled "Sucker!" to the random guard banging on the door in the first episode of Freeman's Mind? The same joke gets shown again from Barney's point of view in the first episode of Barney's Mind, with Barney soundly thinking that he'll kill Gordon for that.
  • When Shephard and Barney are talking (with Shephard in a locker and Barney pondering how to get him out), they come to the conclusion that the electrified toxic waste is "an ingredient in Red Bull or something". In Chell's Mind, Chell says "Red Bull, now with more electrified toxic waste! Red Bull gives you cancer!"
  • Felix mentions Gordon Freeman's stash of gold.
  • Sadly, we don't get to hear Shepard screaming "Get back here you big orange #$@#!" as Gordon runs into the portal. Instead, he shouts "Backrubs!" (In-Universe, the portal to Xen is making a lot of noise and making it impossible for Gordon to hear anyone distinctly)
• Bullet Hole Spelling: Adrian does this in episode 15 of Shepard's Mind thanks to his Shock Roach weapon that spells out "ADRiAN kicks ASS!" on a large white wall.
• Call-Back: When Shephard is getting spat on by a great big Eldritch Abomination:
  Shephard: "Well at least it's not electrified."
• Calling Your Attacks: "BARNEY uses CROWBAR! It's super effective!"
• The Cameo: In Barney's Mind ep 1 you can hear Gordon Freeman shouting: "SUCKEEEEEEEER!" from Freeman's Mind ep 1.
  • In the Special Edition version, Barney watches a camera view of Sector C, and hears Gordon say "'Sup, Fool?" to a scientist as he greets Gordon while walking past.
• Celebrity Paradox: Present in the spinoff Barney's Mind. While chattering away at attacking soldiers, he asks them if they play various video games, including Counter-Strike. When you consider what game that was modded from...
  • Shephard at one point makes a Sniper reference.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Pretty much a must for any mind series but Chell is especially note worthy.
• Cold Sniper: Shephard wishes he could be one:
  Shephard: [Looking at the G-Man] Man how badass would it be if I just shot that phone right out of his hand right now. He'd just freak out for a second, then look around for where the shot came, then he'd see me with my smoking rifle and my cold emotionless mask, I'd slowly raise my hand, point to my eyes then back to him, and in that moment, he'd know I was the wrong person to— [G-Man walks into a teleporter] god damn it my monologue took too long!
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Shephard muses over who could play him in The Movie of his life, from Vin Diesel to Clive Owen.
• Companion Cube: Chell names her portal gun and has conversations with it (where it seems to talk back in a british accent). Ironically, she has no love for the actual companion cubes, and will gladly destroy them when the opportunity presents itself.
• Continuity Nod: Shephard gets dizzy from the spiralling elevator, just like Gordon did.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: In general, Adrian Shephard is a far more affable and selfless person than most of the other Mind protagonists who are usually full of themselves, insane, or straight up childish. Especially in contrast to Gordon, Shephard cares a lot more about the people around him and personally knows several of the other soldiers by name, while Gordon barely knows anybody else that worked in Black Mesa with him because he's too busy thinking about himself.
• Cringe Comedy: Shephard's interaction with the non-hostile Black Ops soldier, particularly how it ends.
• Crossover: Barney and Shephard meet each other at one point. And at the end of the 5th episode of Chell's Mind, Chell hears Barney's voice. Krimsin, Ian and CyhAnide all mentioned collaborating and borrowing jokes from each other.
  • Chell appears in episode 14 of Felix's Mind, just after he had been mortally wounded by a sniper.
• The Dead Have Names: Shepard often mentions the names of the dead soldiers he comes across. He doesn't know all of them.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Parker comments on a useless guard while searching for Gryphon. Said guard takes offense to the comment, causing Parker to invoke the trope.
• Dissimile:
  Shephard: "I hate being shot! It's like stubbing your toe repeatedly! With bullets!"
• Doom Magnet: Shephard lampshades it in Episode 22: Nobody he meets seem to stay alive for much longer.
  • Every friendly (the Red-suited people) Parker meets seems to die at some point or another.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: A big part of Barney's character later on in his series is his supposed friendship with Gordon Freeman, often mentioning him and showing concern when he sees two soldiers carrying him down a hallway. In the original first episode, Gordon passes by yelling "SUUCCKKEEEERRR!!!" and Barney wonders if he even knows him.
• Evil Twin: Chell thinks the voice in her head is one.
• Exposition Fairy: Shephard has a conversation with a Black Ops agent in episode 24 who basically serves this role.
• Expy: Harrison is pretty much just Barney in Alien vs. Predator. (Not that this is bad.)
• Failed a Spot Check: After having been told a way out of the complex, Shephard in his Series Finale encounters a gigantic portal which he can't enter. He walks away, bitching and moaning about everything going wrong and doesn't realize the Eldritch Abomination sneaking up behind him.
• Flat "What": Shephard lets out a string of these after releasing the snarks in episode 15.
• Fluffy Tamer: Shephard, who at this point has three alien creatures that he uses as weapons, who he's named Gil, Sparky, and Barney.
• Foreshadowing: Barney mentions having taken flying lessons a while ago, in episode 10 part 1.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Subverted by Shephard when the Gene Worm shoots "Mountain Dew" at him in the finale.
  Shephard: My eyes...! The goggles do, very well actually, but the rest of my body burns!
• Gratuitous Japanese: Chell will often break into Japanese phrases for no particular reason.
• Handwave: Shepard's Mind keeps the HUD despite the immersion breaking due to technical limitations, so he mentions how his suit analyzes his biorhythms and displays his health in his mask. Similarly, he doesn't do the pullups that Gordon can do because he's carrying an arsenal and thus is too weighed down.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Lampshaded by Shephard:
  Shephard: [Shooting at a giant alien worm] I'm carrying more ammo than should be physically feasible on one human being! I'll sit here and shoot at you all day if I have to.
  • Also averted, as he refuses to pick up the heavier weaponry (the missile launcher and the heavy machine gun) because it would be too hard to carry.
• Hypocritical Humor: In episode 10 (part 1) of "Barney's Mind", Barney complains how stupid scientists are for getting locked in freight trains. A few seconds later, he enters a freight train and it closes and locks on him.
• I Call It "Vera": Chell calls her portal gun "ASHPoD," and talks to it as if it were a person.
  • Parker likes the Semi-Automatic rifles used by the Mercs so much he gives his own one a name.
• I Fell for Hours: Shephard's Mind plays this trope about as straight as possible in episodes 10 and 11.
  • Chell falls several miles via portal recursion and is utterly terrified.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Gryphon: "Damnit Parker, I'm an executive, not a pilot!"
• Imagine Spot: Shephard imagining killing Vorts with his bare fists. He then lampshades it and attacks them for real with the machine, screaming like a pansy and barely controlling the gun's recoil.
  Shephard: Holy shit! This thing has a crazy fucking recoil!!
• Informed Attribute: The description for each episode of Shephard's Mind describes him as a "cowardly individual". He really isn't, and is actually fairly calm most of the time, being completely fine with drawing a knife and charging a pair of Vortigaunts.
• Intoxication Ensues: Actually, Shephard, those aren't antidepressants.
• It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: Shephard finds the "best ladder ever" at the end of episode 18. Then at the end of episode 19, when he's high off oxycodone, he finds another ladder and happily proclaims "I was wrong before! This is the best ladder ever!"
  • After he inadvertently uses the spore launcher blows up a headcrab zombie, he says "You are officially the best squid EVER!" He then proclaims "This is my weird squid, slime-spitting alien gun thing. There are many like it, but this one is mine!"
• I've Got an X, and I'm Not Afraid to Use It!: Shephard uses this line, sort of.
  Shephard: I've got a half-melted chocolate bar and I'm not afraid to eat it! 'Cause it would be good...
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Otis for Shephard.
  Shephard: (Vortigaunt teleports in) Oh not more of this sh- (Otis shoots the alien dead before Shephard can finish). Um, wow. What do you even need us soldiers for?
• Jerkass: Again, a must for any mind series, but the protagonists of Ander's and Parker's mind really stand out.
  • Of all of the Mind series, Shephard seems to be the most sociable one despite being a marine. He strikes a chord with Barney and treats other people reasonably friendly. On the flip side though, people around him seem to die quite frequently.
  • Toward the end of Parker's Mind, he starts to feel a little more for the people around him (even when he went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the mercs after they shot Hendrix), but still lives up to this trope.
  • Averted by Chell, who is more psychotic than a jerk. Then again, there isn't anyone to be a jerk to.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Barney and Shephard. The former starts off cold and detached, but eventually ends up growing fond of some scientists and helps rescue them. The latter is a marine, and is of course going to be combat oriented, but he genuinely cares for competent people, most notably Otis. He also mourns the loss of his fellow comrades, at one point believing he is hearing the ghosts of dead marines.
• Karma Houdini: Felix is starting to believe that his misfortunes are the result of the Universe actively punishing him for previously acts of jerkassery he got away with.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Shephard is in the middle of a battle and asking one of his comrades about the operation.
  Shephard: Hey, is it true this whole thing is all a government cover up?
  [Spore grenade lands next the medic]
  Medic: Government cover ups are—
  [Spore grenade explodes and kills him]
  Shephard: [To the aliens] Oh fuck off! He was just about to explain everything!
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: From Barney's mind episode 13:
  Barney: "Man this alien planet makes no sense. It feels like someone is recording my every move for some sort of a TV series, and then uploading it to a website for other people to look at."
• Leeroy Jenkins: Invoked by Barney at one point, running straight for a squad of enemy soldiers.
• Left the Background Music On: Inverted, when Barney breaks out his iPod for a couple of battles.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: In the middle of his Awesome Music / Theme Music Powerup in the Boss Battle, Shephard gets a leg cramp and the music promptly stops.
• Made of Iron: Unlike Freeman's Mind, the games in the "spin-offs" tend to be played unmodified, with just the base gameplay, rather than changing around the damage values. This tends to make things seem a bit less realistic. For a specific example, unlike Freeman, Shephard does receive damage from things like Vortigaunt shocks and small arms fire, but can also keep going on just fine after taking a point blank grenade explosion, or having a gallon of acid blasted straight on him, or a shot from a Browning M2, or being smacked by a giant monster, all of which would've been instantly fatal to Freeman. He can also recover all damage like a video game character by picking up health packs, something Freeman can't do, as Ross Scott thought it was too distracting and video game-y. Then again, it's not like Robin Darnell (aka Krimsin, the creator of Shephard's Mind) had any choice. The cheat code to disable the HUD doesn't work in Opposing Force. He had to explain it away by having Shephard "remember" that Drill Instructor Barnes told him it's his combat armor reading his vitals and displaying it on the inside of his gas mask. Besides that, the grenades and giant alien hits are explained away as being glancing blows or being partially absorbed by the shield power of the combat armor. He does milk it for some good jokes so it wasn't too bad.
• Manchild: Barney in particular sounds like a thirteen year old boy in the body of a thirty something year old security guard's body.
• Matchlight Danger Revelation: In episode 21, Shephard turns on his night-vision only to find an alien staring at him.
• Mondegreen Gag: After Shephard hears a Shock Trooper alien cry out "Kss wirt ras!"^Translation Throwing grenade!
  Shephard: What's it saying? "Sweaters"? That's right, the aliens are cold and they want our sweaters. I should have learned to knit. At least then I'd be valuable to them as a prisoner of war.
• Mook Maker:
  Shephard: "Hey! That alien is shooting smaller aliens at me! Well played."
• More Dakka: From Shephard's Mind.
  "On the other hand, do I really need four guns? Hell yes I do it's an alien invasion!"
• No Indoor Voice: Shephard gets annoyed with one Marine in episode 21 for this.
  Shephard: HI. HELLO THERE. DO YOU MAYBE HAVE AN INDOOR VOICE?
• One-Liner: Most Mind series protagonists are pretty prone to this, but Shephard in particular seems to absolutely love these. There are at least seven or eight in episode 22 alone, with plenty more to be found in other episodes.
• One-Man Army: Every main character, obviously. Well, except Chell. Special mention goes to Felix and his 1st season finale.
• Opposite Day: Shephard has a very confusing conversation with this. (For Shephard at least).
• Painting the Medium:
  • Isaac Clarke (Isaac Clarke's Mind) seems to be at least partially aware that he's in a video game, often acknowledging "plot holes" as he comes across them, as well as being able to hear the background music.
  • Barney, in musing about the strangeness of his situation, says that it's almost as if someone's "recording [his] every move and thought for some strange tv series and posting the videos on a website."
  • The HUD can't be disabled in Opposing Force, so it was left in. It's milked for a couple of jokes and is mentioned to be a Diegetic Interface (his Powered Combat Vest monitors his vitals and the power of its Deflector Shield, and projects it on the eyepeices of his gas mask).
  • Similarly, Cane's Mind (Quake IV) mentioned that people's names floating next to them comes from two seperate cybernetic implants, an ID tag in his heart, and bionic eyes, but could have been done far less invasively (and dystopianly) with NFC-enabled dog-tags and Augmented Reality glasses.
  • Samus' Mind (Metroid Prime) has the tutorial blurbs be part of her ship's safety protocols, which engaged after she hit her head getting up that morning.
• Percussive Maintenance: How Barney thinks he fixed the teleporter in the Border world, and how Felix (in the newer version of the episode) thinks he fixed the third core containment machine. It doesn't go over well with Felix, though.
  Felix: "OW! KICK WITH THE HEEL, NOT WITH THE TOE!"
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: From Shephard's mind Ep 23:
  Shephard: "You guys are right on time! It's quarter to SUBMACHINE GUN."
• Present Company Excluded: After being attacked by a shock roach: "Not today you jumping thunder***! No offense Sparky."
• Promoted Fanboy: In-universe example. The core Mind series group, called the "Masterminds," originally started out with just Ian (Barney's Mind) and Krimsin (Shephard's Mind). All the Masterminds that came after are pretty much one of these.
• Properly Paranoid: When seeing the G-Man for the third one, Shephard thinks that he might be an alien spy. Is he really that far off?
• Proud to Be a Geek: Shephard seems to enjoy tabletop Role-Playing Games and orders around a squad of soldiers as if they were all playing World of Warcraft together.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Done in emulation of the trope namer in Shephards mind episode 18 by smashing a window through kicking
  • And played for laughs in spin-offs were theres a SPARTA remix of certain lines (Like Barneys mind 300 bees for example).
• Punctuated Pounding: Shephard in Episode 24. With a shotgun.
  Shephard: Dammit! Stop! [Bang] Shooting! [Bang] Me! [Bang]
• The Quiet One: Douchebag in Barney's Mind, up until the final episode.
• Rummage Fail: In E6 of Shepard's Mind, he pulls the wrench when trying to grab the pistol and exclaims, "That's not my gun!"
• Running Gag: Chell is starving.
  • Parker hates Hendrix, and constantly comments on how ugly Capek is.
  • Felix is often mistaken for Gordon.
  • Barney hates bees. And stairs. Did he mention that he hates stairs?
  • Three words: Electrified toxic waste.
• Sanity Slippage: Chell is obviously starting to crack.
• Schizo Tech: Parker is quite weirded out when he has to send out an encoded message, that is stored on a floppy disk, when they are several decades obsolete.
• Shout-Out: Besides for the usual references, a lot of references are to other Mind series.
  • Shephard's Mind Episode 5:
    Shephard: I wonder who is this "Freeman" guy is any ways and why he has everyone so riled up. I bet he is some evil scientist who drops people down elevator shafts and collects skulls or something.
  • Shephard finds the portal gun in Episode 10:
    Shephard: I didn't expect a scientist to be carrying the BFG 9000.
  • Shephard's Mind Episode 11:
    Shephard: Now I'm thinking with portals.
  • Shepard's Mind Episode 18:
    '''(cue unforgettable pills acquisition sound from Afraid of Monsters, albeit slightly sped-up)
  • Shephard's Mind Episode 20:
    Shephard: Come to think of it, Mark Meer kinda sounds like me. 'I'm Corporal Shephard, and this is my least favorite tunnel in Black Mesa.'
  • Shephard's Mind ep 23: "Diplomacy with aliens is hard. That Iji chick makes it look so simple!"
  • To the Doom Comic.
    Shephard: "You are moderate sized! That means you have moderate sized guts!"
  • Shephard recalls a time he snuck into Aperture Science and messed with all the keyboards as a prank. This a reference to a small easter egg in Portal where all the keyboards have the letters ASHPD (Aperature Science Handheld Portal Device) highlighted but people mistook these as the letters in "Adrian SHePharD" instead.
  • To Transformers
    Shephard: "I only know one sentence in alien... Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong."
  • Barney's Mind Episode 14: After Barney rants about the Alien Grunts launching bees, he wants to know why they don't launch mollusks... or sea turtles.
  • Shephard's Mind Ep 13 had Shephard contemplate his legs needing to be replaced by cyborg ones.
    Shephard: "Man, I'd be up for that. I'd be some kind of an ... Iron .. person."
  • "This is my weird squid, slime alien gun thing. There are many like it, but this one is mine."
  • "COME OVER HERE."
• Speak Friend and Enter: After half an episode of trying to get out of a locker (with Barney's reluctant help), Shephard realises the door opens the other way.
• Stock Scream: Wilhelm appears in Episode 19 of Shephard's Mind.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Barney and Shephard.
  • Because some of the aliens can shoot lightning, both Shepard and Freeman have suggested the idea of using them as an energy source.
• Sudden Downer Ending: While those who played Opposing Force knew it was coming, Shepard being "detained" by the G Man at the end of Shepard's Mind is surprisingly somber compared to the rest of the series.
  • And his chocolate bar didn't even taste good.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Chell on the scent of the deadly goo:
  Chell: Ugh, it's worse than being trapped in an unventilated room after spraying an entire bottle of Tilex on every wall and rubbing my face in it! Which I have never done. Not even when I was drunk.
• Take That!:
  • When musing about being a vampire, Shephard notes:
    Shephard: "Well if I was a vampire, and I'd walk out in the sun, I'd BURST OUT IN FLAMES. Because THAT IS WHAT VAMPIRES DO. STEPHANIE MEYER."
  • One stinger in Shephard's Mind has Krim snarking that he's putting out episodes faster than Ross Scott.
• Talking to the Dead: Barney's Mind episode 4: "Hey dead guy, got anything useful on you?"
  • Also in Shepard's Mind episode 21. It turns out to be a few soldiers talking above the surface.
• Tap on the Head: Shephard tries this with a Black ops member. He's really bad at it.
• Teleporter Accident: Shephard at one point gets teleported into the floor from the waist down.
• Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: The whole point of Felix's Mind; Felix is Gordon Freeman's twin brother that everyone else is constantly mistaking for Gordon.
• Token Good Teammate: Well, for a given value of "team". Shephard is generally far nicer and moral than most of the other Minds protagonists, ranging from immediately trying to find a way to get a security officer out of an electrified cage he's stuck in without being asked^note He does get angry at the guy when he dies, but it's mainly because the guy decided to grab a fence labelled "High Voltage" that had electricity visibly arcing into it, to telling a security guard to get his hand out of a vending machine so he doesn't hurt himself, then giving him a quarter when he asks for one.
• Too Dumb to Live: Shephard believes this is the case for all of the soldiers and Black Mesa staff who seemed to have died within arm's reach of a perfectly good medkit or health dispenser. Why didn't they just use them if they were about to die?
  • Barney has shades of this, planning to blow open a locker door (in which Shephard is stuck) with a satchel charge, and then when talked down from that, a fire extinguisher (blown up). When he realizes Shephard is HECU like the ones trying to kill him, he wants to leave him to rot. Only to be bribed by a bar of chocolate.
• Total Party Kill: In Episode 21 of Shephard's Mind:
  (a Shock Trooper tosses a spore grenade at Shephard's squad; Shephard runs for his life)
  Shephard: Oh shit, scatter!
  (soldiers stand still perfectly still next to the grenade, resulting in two of them being blown to bits, with the last being heavily wounded)
  Shephard: Well good job guys! I asked you to scatter, so you scattered... all over the place!
• Unexplained Accent: The protagonist of Declan's Mind is supposed to be an American black ops agent, but he speaks with a Lithuanian accent. The series probably wouldn't be as funny otherwise.
  • Even Chell is confused why ASHPoD is British.
• Unflinching Walk: Shephard shows a fantastic example of this, during his fight with the lightning pigs in the finale.
  Shephard: This makes me ask myself, did teleporting to an alien planet make you completely Asiatic? To which I respond: "Yes, but watch this."
• What Does This Button Do?: Quite common in all Mind spinoffs. Except perhaps Chell's Mind, where it's more obvious as to what the buttons do.
• What Would X Do?: In episode 3 of Parker's Mind, Parker is hesitant to climb a rickety ladder due to his fear of heights but realizes he can't stay at the bottom of the elevator shaft forever. He wonders what Jesus would do — cut to a cartoon of Jesus telling Parker to stop being a wuss and climb the ladder.
  • Shephard's Mind ep 13 had Shephard stuck in the floor, so he thinks "What would MacGyver do?" and then come up with a bunch of Noodle Implements which he doesn't have, so he then thinks "What would Batman do?" and come up with the fact Batman is too Crazy-Prepared to even go into Black Mesa.
• What You Are in the Dark: When he's about to face down the final boss, Shephard admits that he'll probably never escape the facility, nobody outside would ever know what happened in Black Mesa, nor will they ever know he even existed. However, he resolves to go down fighting anyways.
• A Wizard Did It: Shephard decides that this is surely the reason for everything that's going on.
• Would Hit a Girl: Shephard, of all people, in a pretty brutal way, with a healthy dose of Sociopathy to boot.
  Yup. I'm a saint.

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