History WebVideo / FreemansMind

* TrackingDevice: In Episode 33, Gordon is understandably upset when he learns his suit is full of these, which is how the HECU has been tracking him.

* AccidentalMurder: Gordon commits a few of these. A couple of times it's due to the stupidity of the other Black Mesa personnel, such as one unfortunate guard who ran in front of Gordon'sgunfire.

* InventionalWisdom: When Gordon runs the training course, he is immediately critical of the tutorial which instructs the participant to press the button ''before'' telling them that it resets the tutorial. He also thoroughly lampshades the HeKnowsAboutTimedHits parts.

** Two of these occur in Episode 8. Normally, the player is supposed to turn a valve to raise the water level so that they can swim to the other side of the wall. In this continuity, Gordon shoots at a manhack and accidentally hits an explosive barrel. [[StuffBlowingUp Cue a chain reaction of explosions that almost makes the sewer collapse]]. In the ensuing chaos, a pipe breaks and provides the necessary flood Gordon needs. Later in the episode, rather than risking getting electrocuted by walking through a shipping container, he instead shoots a transformer on a nearby utility pole, cutting off the electricity.

--->'''Gordon:''' Is that an MP5? It '''is'''! ''[EvilLaugh]'' Now I can solve up to 800 problems a minute!

* FailedACheckSpot: Gordon keeps looking for supplies on everything except the boxes labelled as "supplies".

* DramaticIrony: Gordon at one point muses he's being used as a scapegoat because he's not a political dissident people are rallying behind. If only he knew...

* CuttingTheKnot: At one point, Gordon discusses the story of the Gordian Knot and concludes that rather than making Alexander the Great look smart, it instead makes him look like a dumb brute incapable of solving a puzzle. He instead reasons that [[InsufferableGenius since he's obviously smarter]], he'd instead solve the knot and then use violence.

--->'''Gordon:''' Is that an [[CoolGun MP5]]? It '''is'''! ''[EvilLaugh]'' Now I can solve up to 800 problems a minute!

* LongRunners: The series started in December 2007, and is ongoing of today. The first season (covering ''Half-Life 1'') concluded in December 2014. That's ''seven years''.

** Gordon also likes to deconstruct common pop culture concepts; among other things, he says that [[Franchise/SpiderMan getting bitten by a radioactive spider]] would be more likely to kill you than give you super powers, and that {{Tinfoil Hat}}s, if anything, would conduct a signal rather than block it. He also thinks that the military cover-up is doomed to failure because the sheer size of Black Mesa would make it impossible to kill absolutely ''everyone'' involved.

On AprilFoolsDay 2017, Ross released the first episode of ''Freeman's Mind 2'', which uses ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''. [[TheUntwist And to the surprise of many, the episode wasn't a joke]]. The season is still in production, running a current total of 18 episodes.

* AccentuateTheNegative: The first rant of Episode 26 begins with Freeman acknowledging that he's doing this. He claims that to do otherwise would be absurd because he sees so little "positive."

* AccidentalMurder: Freeman commits a few of these. A couple of times it's due to the stupidity of the other Black Mesa personnel, such as one unfortunate guard who ran in front of Freeman's gunfire.
* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Invoked by Freeman upon seeing [[spoiler:the Nihilanth]] in the final episode:

* AllUpToYou: Lampshaded frequently. Freeman constantly complains that he has to do everyone else's job on his way through the facility.
* AlmightyJanitor: Freeman suspects that the janitors have the highest rate of survival out of all of the Black Mesa employees. They start out with a melee weapon, know the building inside and out, and have the keys to every door.

** Some of Freeman's references heavily imply the series takes place very early in the 2000s as opposed to later in the decade, given the lack of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror references when Freeman discusses the military, law enforcement, and Department of Defense (common topics, given his situation), and Black Mesa using [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrix Cyrix]] processors.[[note]]The company went out of business in 1997, but it's perfectly plausible that a government office could still be using their products in 2000. In 2009, substantially less so.[[/note]]

** All forms of alien projectiles are treated as non-lethal (to Freeman, anyway; soldiers and such can still be seen dying to lightning and bees) and thus Gordon getting hit with them is a source of humour. Whether it's Vortigaunts' lightning bolts, Houndeye's sonic booms, Bullsquid's spit, a swipe from a Headcrab, Grunt's BeeBeeGun or Alien Controller's energy blasts, getting hit with these will only annoy Freeman unless it gets him in the face, in which (based on his reaction) it leaves a bruise or laceration at worst. Bullets (especially high-calibre rounds), {{Death Ray}}s, and explosives are treated more seriously.

* AnotherDimension: Deconstructed by Freeman, who observes that the aliens are quite clearly three-dimensional, and [[YouKeepUsingThatWord shows a great deal of annoyance at the misuse of the word]].
* ApocalypticLog: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in regards to all the dead explorers Freeman comes across in Xen.

** 2014 gives us a trailer for ''Freeman Across the Universe'', in which Freeman enters every first-person game ever made, often with hilarious results.

** Zig-zagged with the soldiers. Ross adjusted the damage values in-game so that the marines, who are all carrying body armor of some kind at the very least, go down in three or so shots from the Glock 17 or [=MP5=] as opposed to the ten or so shots it would take in the original game under the reasoning that it makes fights come off as less video gamey. This makes for a slight case of RealityIsUnrealistic when considering that the type of armor issued to modern American soldiers (soft armor backed up by rifle-proof ceramic plates) offers superb protection against rifle rounds; against most pistol rounds, modern armored soldiers are outright ''immune'' bar shots to unarmored areas.[[note]]The ''Half-Life'' HD pack fixed this somewhat by replacing the [=MP5=] with an M4[[/note]] It helps though that Freeman tends to shoot the soldiers a lot more than he technically ''needs'' to and the game is set in an era where most soldiers wore simple PASGT kevlar vests and helmets without hard plates, which would indeed fail against several closely-spaced 9mm NATO rounds fired from a longer barrel at very close range (which every firefight in Half-Life is). The ones with the ISAPO plate add-on to the PASGT (which at least a few should have) would be pretty much immune to pistol rounds and somewhat resistant to rifle fire, but [[FanWank this can be justified]] as the lucky few with those plates being the ones he shoots in the head, blows up, etc. Ross also noted in an interview that some of the soldiers Freeman shot are probably still alive thanks to their armor, a fact Gordon echoes later on. However, he doesn't think he's at the point of checking his kills.

** Then there's the Alien Grunts: as in the original game, their armor deflects any type of small arms fire that hits it. Freeman notices this but is very confused as to why they seemingly wear armor everywhere but their torso, saying that their armor looks like something a stripper would wear.

** While ''Half-Life'' was praised for introducing tactically intelligent enemies when it first came out, the age of the AI shows. A lot of humour comes from Gordon's reactions to the soldiers' stupidity. While some of it comes from scripted sequences, like the friendly fire artillery barrage in Episode 13 and the odd (to say the least) ambush in Episode 29, there's plenty that's just a result of the AI, the most usual ones being soldiers killing each other with grenades, or running straight at Freeman around a corner even after seeing their buddies getting shot around the same corner.

** Another time, Freeman encounters a soldier in a hallway and, after shooting him about a dozen times, sarcastically compliments the soldier for his brilliant plan of attacking him in an empty hallway with no cover or room for hiding. Then he walks over and figures out that the door the hallway led to is actually open.

** In Episode 47, he witnesses an IFV hitting one of its own soldiers with its cannon in an attempt to kill Freeman, who wasn't even near the blast.

* BadassOnPaper: Despite all said, Gordon is still a delusional and neurotic CloudCuckoolander who has survived more than one encounter via pure luck. It doesn't stop fellow Black Mesa personnel from seeing him as a living legend and believing him to be the only one that can stop the alien invasion. Freeman lampshades his improbable luck repeatedly.

** Subverted with the alien BeeBeeGun used by the Alien Grunts. Freeman is not impressed by the ineffectiveness of alien bees.

* BigOMG

* BilingualBonus: Presumably to show off how smart and educated Freeman is.

** In the very first episode, Gordon recalls how once a squirrel died in the electric transformer of his college. Fast forward to Episode 46, and Freeman has to deal with falling debris falling from above, which could potentially trigger some mines. He wonders if there is a squirrel up there.

** In Episode 7, he reveals that he ''hates'' bad puns. Six years later in real-world time, in Episode 49, while crawling through a pipe, a soldier attempts to kill Freeman by throwing a satchel into the pipe Freeman is crawling through. After escaping the blast, Freeman comments that his only consolation is that at least the soldier didn't make a bad pun about it.

** At the start of Episode 50, Freeman makes a short comment about why it's safe in the pipe he was stuck in. At the end of the episode when the ceiling collapses and almost hits him he laments:

** In Episode 49, he is accidentally spooked by a guard [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace and shoots him]], after he had warned the guard not to take him by surprise like that. Freeman guiltily tries to justify it to himself before saying:

** Freeman ends up really used to having people and aliens wanting his head on a silver platter, and does this a lot in later episodes. He does this both when his enemies pose no real threat to him, like when he's beating Houndeyes to death with a crowbar, and against stuff like being pinned down by a [[ArmorPiercingAttack .50 BMG machine gun]], or when an IFV is shooting at him with rockets.

** Freeman overall seems really chill on Xen, a totally alien world from which he has no escape, after a little while. Especially when he's speculating on how the ''other'' scientists wearing the same suit as him and carrying the same weapons probably died (e.g. killed by the Gonarch, beaten to death by Vortigaunts, gored on the floor after falling off a ledge or out of the sky...).

* ColdSniper: Commented on by Freeman regarding the snipers he comes across during his trek through Black Mesa. Gordon actually theorizes that the multiple snipers he's encountered are actually all the same guy, stalking him.

* ComedicSociopath: Gordon keeps fantasizing about killing his coworkers. As well as scamming the company in various ways and it's implied at one point that he's ''already been'' stealing from them.

** In Episode 34, a security guard greets Freeman with a message: "Make sure you don't-" before being [[KilledMidSentence shot dead by an assassin]]. Freeman simply assumes the guy was trying to warn him not to kill himself and was using an overly dramatic way to get the point across.

** In Episode 50, a guard following Freeman says "Sorry sir, but I can't take much more of this". Freeman berates him for being lazy, as they'd only been walking for two minutes and completely ignores that the guard just took a blast from the Vortigaunt that would ordinarily be lethal.
** In Episode 51, he notices that a guard stopped following him and remarks that he probably wandered off and screwed around. Earlier in the video, the guard can actually be seen dying to BeeBeeGun fire. Freeman must not have been focusing on that.
** In Episode 57, Freeman comes across a dead scientist lying in a ''massive'' pool of blood. His response is startled shock, questioning how he missed... the first aid kit on the ground beside him, which could potentially contain morphine.

* CoolCar: Gordon and/or Ross might have a thing for Porsches as Gordon remarks about buying a Porsche with Department of Defense contracts, another when he remarks the military truck he didn't know how to hot wire wasn't a Porsche with a laser-cut key and the second time Gordon encounter's the room with the techno music playing, it was playing music from ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed:'' '''''Porsche''''' ''Unleashed''.

** After multiple encounters with lethal architecture and questionable research, Freeman decides that Black Mesa is surely run by one.

* CrapsackWorld: Not only is this series's interpretation of Freeman a selfish JerkAss, but his reactions also paint Black Mesa, the military, and the aliens as just as incompetent and corrupt as he is, overall leading to a much bleaker BlackComedy-filled interpretation of the Half-Life universe.

** In Episode 61, as he's jumping into the portal to Xen, Shepherd's voice can be heard shouting "Backrubs!" This is highlighted by a caption appearing at the bottom of the screen. At the equivalent point in ''Shepherd's Mind'', Shepherd is actually shouting "Get back here, you big orange fuck!" Krim, the creator of that series, requested that this line be included in the main series, but Ross Scott decided it would be too obvious, plus confusing for anyone not familiar with the spinoff, so went with something more unexpected. The explanation is that the noise created by the portal machine makes Freeman unable to understand what anyone is saying.

* DamageSpongeBoss: The Gonarch, to the point that [[LampshadeHanging Freeman gets annoyed and wonders why the heck what appears to just be a large animal can soak up so much damage]]:

* DeconstructorFleet: This show would rival ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' in deconstructing first-person shooters if it wasn't so hilarious. Plus, Freeman deconstructs other tropes as well not related to first-person shooters or even video games at all. For a full list of tropes that the series deconstructs, [[DeconstructedTrope/FreemansMind click here]].

* DisneyVillainDeath: One Headcrab inadvertently jumps off a cliff to its death while trying to attack Freeman.

** Parodied in Episode 46. Freeman decides to simply climb on top of a building after seeing that the way to the ladder is lined with mines and guarded by a sniper. The game of course intends you to go that way. Then he later finds out it's even more dangerous than he thought, making him extra happy that he didn't go that way.

* EEqualsMCHammer: When Freeman sees Newton's formula for gravity written on a whiteboard, it throws him into a rant. As he rightfully points out, any self-respecting scientist, especially one with a [=PhD=], should be able to recite that, as well as dozens of far more advanced formulae, in their sleep.
* EldritchAbomination: Discussed. One of Freeman's nicknames for the Bullsquids is "Cthulhu dog", because of their tentacle faces. He remarks that he was expecting to face one of these instead of a dog-sized beast, commenting "Cthulhu was supposed to be really big! Frankly, I'm quite disappointed." [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor He comes to regret his words]] when he runs into big, powerful aliens that actually can be considered such and which would fit in pretty well with the Great Old Ones.

* EnemiesList: Freeman puts a scientist on his list for annoying him during the experiment in the test chamber. One can only presume that the aliens and the "rescue team" are on it too if he hasn't completely forgotten about it.

* EpicFail: Any time the soldiers [[RunningGag blow each other up]] in their attempts to kill Freeman.

** Freeman's plans to terrorize and plunder cruise ships with a giant sea turtle, and explicitly ending Episode 26 with the comment "I shoulda' been a pirate." The results are mentioned above.

** In Episode 66, Freeman accurately predicts that the Vortigaunts will worship him once he kills their leader.
** He theorizes that the Administrator is a Bond villain. Said administrator would later take over the world and run it like a [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]] dystopia. Ironically, when he sees Breen in the early episodes of Freeman's Mind 2, he completely fails to recognize Breen as his old Administrator, thinking of him as one boss of many.

* GeneralFailure: Freeman theorizes whoever is in charge of the Black Mesa cleanup is this.

* GloryHound: In episode 12, Freeman accuses the "rescue team", aka the cleanup battalion, of being full of these. They all wanna be the big hero and are killing the base's personnel so their fellows cannot take credit for rescuing them.

** InUniverse. Freeman really gets annoyed when the Vortigaunts shock him.

* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: The series is generally [[GeniusBonus well done]], but it's clear that both Freeman and Ross Scott don't know anything about firearms.

** While fighting the Black-Ops assassins, Freeman says that he thinks their armor could protect them from his 9mm submachine gun, but not his buckshot-spewing shotgun. It should be the other way around; the 9mm round, especially the standard-issue NATO type, has relatively high penetration (at least compared to other common stubby pistol rounds in use in the 90s like .45 ACP or .38 Special), to the point of being able to breach lower-end (class II-A/II) soft body armor with multiple closely-spaced hits. Buckshot, on the other hand, consists of low-velocity spherical pellets that are almost completely ineffective against even the most basic types of body armor.
** When he first picks up the pistol, Freeman calls it a Glock, and notes that the safety is off. Glocks don't have safeties. Well, technically they do, but it's not something you can switch on or off. They just have a built-in "safe action" piece on the trigger to prevent the gun from going off too easily.
** Though this could all be a JustifiedTrope: Freeman outright states he's never had a gun before coming to Black Mesa and that [[TaughtByTelevision his only knowledge of them comes from repeated viewings of]] ''Film/DieHard''.

** Gordon usually doesn't take any real damage, because Ross is playing the game with godmode on, presumably. This is handwaved by the damage Freeman takes being written off as minor. Electricity hurts but doesn't injure. Most bullets bounce off the suit or [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy miss altogether]]. Pistol rounds and buckshot do so without hurting. Rifle rounds hurt like paintball, but are otherwise harmless. Large calibre rounds and explosives can kill him right through his suit, but he dodges them. Headcrab bites are scratches. Bullsquid spit stinks but doesn't hurt. Et cetera.

* HarsherInHindsight: In-universe example. In Episode 32, Freeman theorizes that his boss may be trying to take over the world. In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', his boss actually ''does'' take over the world, and it's implied [[spoiler:that Freeman's boss used the whole incident to do this]].

* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Averted. Freeman doesn't possess a helmet, [[RunningGag but really wants one]].

* HumansAreWarriors: Freeman hypothesizes that the reason for the aliens' bad tactics is because humans are just ''that much better'' at invasions than them. He cites the fact that scientists were still studying alien creatures ''as the facility was being invaded'' as evidence of how far ahead of them we are.

** When he finally gets his hand on the shotgun he was looking for, Freeman accidentally ''almost'' shoots a scientist who is holed up in the room where he found it.
** In Episode 47, Freeman accidentally shoots a Black Mesa guard who [[TooDumbToLive runs right through his line of fire in the middle of a gunfight with some soldiers]].

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In Episode 44, Freeman misses the attack helicopter with his rocket launcher, giving it a chance to blaze away at him with its machine gun. It somehow manages to miss every shot, letting Freeman live long enough to get back to cover and reload.

* InSpiteOfANail: The series makes some minor deviations from the canonical ''Half-Life'' (e.g. the way Freeman's armor works, ''Uplink'' being inserted in episodes 58-59, Freeman being able to pull the occasional DungeonBypass), but most of it remains unchanged.

** Black Mesa appears to be this to Freeman. One of the signs implores employees, "Work Harder, Not Smarter."

** As per Episode 40 it appears Black Mesa has been this for quite a long time, as Freeman implies that people have died regularly enough in experiments that the first thing that comes to mind when he sees a dead guy in a cage is.....

* InstantExpert: Zigzagged with regard to Freeman's aptitude with guns: most of the time he sprays bullets in the general direction of enemies, only surviving due to his superior armor and the sheer dumb luck that he never gets hit in the head. However, other times he takes careful aim and snipes a target from a considerable distance with little effort. He also has no trouble operating or reloading his weapons, even those that he's never seen before like the Gluon Gun. According to his monologue, he's never fired a gun before the resonance cascade incident, but [[IKnowMortalKombat learned all he knows about guns]] from watching ''Film/DieHard'' multiple times.

* {{Jerkass}}: In his April 2017 Videochat, Ross said he wrote Freeman like this:

** In Episode 49, Freeman decides that the aliens are this, on part of the soldiers being a much bigger threat to him due to their weaponry, and having the capability to hunt him down after he escapes Black Mesa.

* LudicrousGibs: This happens a few times, as this IS ''VideoGame/HalfLife''. Freeman also references this trope a few times in hypotheticals, like when he says that getting hit by a particularly powerful blast of electricity would cause his "head to blow up like a baked potato wrapped in tin foil", or when he thinks that the Bradley that's pinning him down will "turn [him] into red paste" if he tries to leave cover.

** Occasionally, Freeman is astonished that seemingly sturdy materials like metal gates or wooden crates burst apart with suspicious ease when he applies gunfire or a crowbar, especially when other objects, like doors, seem to be MadeOfIndestructium. In one episode, he shoots down a helicopter with an [=MP5=]. He spends the beginning of the next episode pondering how that's even possible. In another episode, he rams a series of concrete bollards with a tram, expecting nothing more than that the tram will explode, while it instead plunges right through without slowing down. He eventually concludes that the bollards must have been made of Styrofoam.

* MadScientist: Freeman wishes he could be one.

* {{Manchild}}: It borders on PsychopathicManchild in later episodes due to his mental breakdown, but Ross Scott once described Freeman in an interview as:

* MeleeATrois: Episode 49 has Freeman acknowledging that he's caught in one of these. He eventually concludes that, if anything, he'd want the aliens to win, since the soldiers are a much bigger threat to him, and if the aliens win all the charges against him will probably be dropped.

* MilitariesAreUseless: Freeman certainly thinks so, as he observes them spend most of their time trying to kill him, and killing [[ArmiesAreEvil unarmed civilians]] or [[TooDumbToLive each]] [[UnfriendlyFire other]], rather than actually doing anything about the AlienInvasion. When he sees them actually fighting and beating aliens in Episode 49, he seems more genuinely awestruck than anything else... only to react casually and with a lack of surprise when he sees the soldiers getting their asses handed to them by Alien Grunts a few rooms later. Including one soldier being punched through a concrete wall.
* MonsterCloset: Freeman points out that not only is this the reason the facility is falling apart, but that an alien could [[TeleFrag teleport into a person]]. [[ParanoiaFuel At any time.]]
* MoodWhiplash: Upon being teleported to the Nihilanth's lair, Freeman begins screaming in terror -- as the episode abruptly ends with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rsQKD4tGm0 this]] playing during the end credits.

* MuggingTheMonster: Freeman never looks for a fight. He just wants to leave Black Mesa. But then people get it into their heads that he needs to die and find out the hard way that he's a OneManArmy.

* NeverMyFault: Freeman blames a guard for opening a door, startling him and causing him to shoot the guard in Episode 48.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Freeman laments some of the things he has to do just to progress his own escape.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In Episode 41, Freeman has this opinion about a scientist who got shot in the leg by a soldier while helping Gordon escape the building:

** There was once a time when Freeman was juggled in the air besides Episode 49, and it was horrible.

** Episode 10.5 has Freeman jumping across a large gap to reach for a ladder, only to lose his grip on the ladder and fall to his death.

** In Episode 23, Freeman camps out behind a corner and waits for the soldiers to run around, because he had killed several soldiers like that already, and is confident that they'll continue to do so. One of them instead chucks a grenade. After running in terror, he comments that he is watching natural selection in action.

** In Episode 28, Freeman has this reaction to graffiti made by the military that reads "SURRENDER FREEMEN", since that means the military knows his name, and he's now likely a fugitive whose bank accounts have been frozen.
** Freeman has a pretty big one at the end of Episode 50 when the roof of the bunker he's in starts to cave in.

* OminousOwl: In Episode 28 when Freeman's mocking those who called him paranoid.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted, Freeman mentions having a cousin Jesse as well as another Jesse who likes to zap himself with a cattle prod for fun.
* OutrunTheFireball: Gordon sort of does this in Episode 49, after a soldier attempts to kill him by throwing a satchel charge in the pipe Freeman is crawling through. "Sort of" because he's close to the exit when it's thrown in, is able to get to the exit before the soldier detonates it, and spends less than a second in the pipe after it goes off, quickly dropping out.

** Freeman thinks that there's no way that the military can convict him for the killing of dozens of marines simply because it wouldn't make sense.

* RuleOfFunny: Freeman slurs to an extreme degree whenever dizzy. Why? Because it's goddamn funny.

* ScienceIsBad: Freeman declares as much during the Resonance Cascade.

* ShootingSuperman: This series does away with health packs and HEV rechargers in favour of simply having Gordon's PoweredArmor make him impervious to low level threats (low power rounds, Bullsquid poison, Vortigaunt electrical attacks, et cetera), with the higher level threats (such as explosives, high calibre rounds, and giant monsters) being instantly fatal, forcing Freeman to always dodge them at all costs. As a result, the marines' continuous attempts to kill Gordon by just shooting him in the torso with their [=MP5s=] comes off as this. Gordon lampshades it a few times.
* ShopliftAndDie: Freeman imagines that in 50 years, in addition to surveillance cameras, Wal-Marts will also come equipped with roof-mounted turret guns to gun down shoplifters.
* ShortRangeShotgun: Averted in that Freeman uses the shotgun at a much longer range than it is effective at in-game. Ross didn't modify it's accuracy or anything, he's just raised the damage to disguise the fact that only a few pellets are actually hitting the target in-game, making it look like it's taking several long range shots to down the target (usually a soldier). A similar thing is done with the [=MP5=].

** Ross Scott did enough research to ensure that any time Freeman spouts physics technobabble, it's accurate physics technobabble. He explained in a fan chat that this is a combination of remembering things from high school and doing just enough research to sound knowledgeable. Freeman's rant about scientists having trouble with Newton's formula for gravity is an example of the former, his lecture on fermions is the latter.

** More subtly, Ross is dedicated enough to verisimilitude that he avoided having Freeman make any pop culture references from after the year 2000, as the game is set somewhere between that year and 2009.

* ShutUpHannibal: In one episode, Freeman overhears two soldiers talking about how mad they are that Freeman killed all their friends (in self-defense). Gordon responds with machine gun fire.
-->'''Gordon:''' There, that's for trying to guilt trip me! Yeah, the BigBad Freeman. Of course! [[SarcasmMode You guys didn't start shit!]]

** We get one at the end of Episode 57 when Freeman steps into the teleporter, after he has spent the last minute or so insisting that the teleporters are just holograms. Episode 58 picks up the dialogue where 57 left off.
** Another one at the end of Episode 67, as Freeman screams upon seeing the Nihilanth for the first time. Again, the next episode finishes the scream.

** Freeman also likes to deconstruct common pop culture concepts; among other things, he says that [[Franchise/SpiderMan getting bitten by a radioactive spider]] would be more likely to kill you than give you super powers, and that {{Tinfoil Hat}}s, if anything, would conduct a signal rather than block it. He also thinks that the military cover-up is doomed to failure because the sheer size of Black Mesa would make it impossible to kill absolutely ''everyone'' involved.

** Some scientists save Freeman's life by teleporting him to their lab. Unfortunately, the shock and confusion of being teleported, right as he was about to die, causes Freeman to freak out and shoot one of them by accident.

* SurroundedByIdiots: Freeman's assessment of the situation, coming to the conclusion that literally everyone involved besides him[[note]]the military, the other scientists, the designers of the building and the aliens[[/note]] is an idiot.

** Freeman wishes he could do this, and constantly fantasizes about what he'd do if he ruled it. He also has always wanted to build a robot army, and live in a giant metal spider fortress. He has no way of actually following through on it, though, so it's pretty harmless.

* TanksButNoTanks: Freeman refers to two Bradleys as tanks, even though they're not. Justified in that Gordon, by his own admission, knows next to nothing about this stuff, and would likely make a mistake like this.

** Freeman somehow blows up an Abrams with a grenade launcher, and blows up a Bradley by shooting it. Both of these are obviously unrealistic, but the latter is particularly notable because said Bradley had just (realistically) taken dozens of rounds of small arms fire and three grenades without taking any damage. This is of course because the tanks and [=IFVs=] in ''Half-Life'', just like every other enemy, could succumb to DeathOfAThousandCuts from any weapon, including the ''crowbar''. Though these ones would only take damage from hits to the turret; their bodies were invulnerable. This is despite Ross Scott specifically saying that he wanted ''Freeman's Mind'' to be less "video game-y" than ''VideoGame/HalfLife''.
** The second Bradley Freeman comes across is dispatched realistically, with an anti-tank missile.
* TankGoodness: Freeman pines for this trope, having come across a tank with an open hatch but it's still locked (the actual reason of course being that ''Half-Life'' doesn't provide for driving any of the vehicles) and just thinking about it depresses him. He has to settle for using the mounted machine gun.
* TastesLikeChicken: One of Freeman's rants is against those who claim everything they haven't tried tastes like chicken, and he emphatically states that the giant tentacle he just barbecued likely tastes ''nothing'' like chicken. Though he does follow up by saying "this probably tastes like grasshoppers," which are on the list of things people claim taste like chicken.

* TeamKiller: Freeman has killed (or at least incapacitated) at least one security guard intentionally, shot another after he ran in front of his gun, and comments about how the soldiers have killed their own guys on several occasions.

** Freeman concludes that this is the reason the military puts trip-mines everywhere.

* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Freeman does it on occasion. See also BondOneLiner.

* ToServeMan: Inverted when Freeman contemplates eating the aliens in Episode 51, but lacks a means by which to cook them.

** Doritos. Freeman spends several episodes musing about them, and when he gets them in episodes 10-11, he thinks there's something wrong with them, in spite of other... virtues.

** In later episodes, he spends considerable time talking about pizza, and unusual ways of delivering it (via trams, amphibious deliveries to beaches, etc.). Unsurprisingly, this begins to happen not long after Freeman mentions that he's pretty hungry, and generally coincides with his surroundings - being near trams, water, etc.
* TrainingFromHell: Freeman is flabbergasted to see a squad of soldiers entrenched on the narrow paths of a mountain. He wonders if this is the reason that they're there.

* UnfriendlyFire: In Episode 30, an officer blows up a pair of his troops with a grenade launcher. Freeman theorizes this is the reason.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Freeman, and all the other mind series protagonists, to an extent, due to their blatant disregard for the life of others.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: As the series goes on, Freeman gets less and less surprised about the stupidity of the rest of the human species, and his constant near-death experiences. For example, in Episode 10, he doesn't even seem to care that zombies can punch right through concrete walls, even though that would be very bad for him if they ever got close. In Episode 46, he can't even bring himself to utter a "What the fuck?" when he sees an ''entire missile testing facility'' turned into a giant trip-minefield by the "rescue team". He just has a simple quip:

* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Invoked by Freeman, who makes a few attempts at communication with the aliens and HECU and comes to this conclusion because, well, they still try to kill him.
* WesternTerrorists: Discussed. Freeman notes that the government would have a hard time convincing people that he's a OneManArmy with dozens of kills to his name because he doesn't fit the profile of a typical spree killer and lacks connections to extremist organizations. In the course of his musings, he brings up Timothy [=McVeigh=], Lee Harvey Oswald, and Charles Whitman, and notes that each of them had military training, contrasting them with himself, a theoretical physicist who's never fired a gun before.

* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Mentioned when Freeman encounters a pair of [=NPCs=] located near a DoorToBefore for the second time, and gripes.

* AbridgedSeries: So far, the first series' habit of skipping over less interesting sections of the game has been ''inverted'' more than anything, with Freeman being clueless as to how to progress (the puzzle in the tunnels that involves flooding the room), getting sidetracked (searching for the G-Man), or just being unable to solve a puzzle the correct way and having to resort to almost ten minutes of extra busywork (the boat ramp). In all three cases, the game had to be modded to accommodate this.
* AdaptationExpansion: Ross added a lot of things that weren't in the original, such as Freeman shooting a friendly Vortigaunt after falling into a boxcar (not possible in the original game) and [[WhatTheHellHero his companion reacting accordingly]], crawling through a window to the back of a building to search for the G-Man (which was an entirely custom area built for the series), and him nailing boards to a ramp with a custom animation of him flipping his crowbar over to use as a hammer to name a few.
* AdaptationalJerkass: Barney. In the original, he was more of a snarky sidekick, while in ''Freeman's Mind'', he is more of a SmallNameBigEgo and KnowNothingKnowItAll who expects Freeman to instantly recognise him even though he is one of the dozens of Black Mesa security guards, pushes Freeman out of his way in the lab, and doesn't give him a gun when the Civil Protection is after him.

* BroadStrokes: Back in episode 61 of season 1, [[WebVideo/FreemansMindSpinoffs Shephard's Mind]] was implied to be in the same continuity as ''Freeman's Mind'' ([[spoiler:and by extension WebAnimation/CivilProtection]]) based on Robin Darnell's Shephard shouting at Ross Scott's Freeman while the latter jumps through the portal, an event that occurs in both series. Season 2 of ''Freeman's Mind'' leaves it ambiguous if ''Barney's Mind'' is in the same continuity (not only does Barney sound different, but Gordon also doesn't recognize Barney when ''Barney's Mind'' claims that Barney was Gordon's best friend and college roommate), despite a whole episode being devoted to Ian's Barney conversing with Robin's Shephard. This suggests that while ''Shephard's Mind'' happened, some of the details were different; funnily enough, this matches the canon position of ''Opposing Force'' itself pretty well.

* TheCameo: Mike and Dave from WebAnimation/CivilProtection make a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in Episode 7, at about 5:57, with Freeman hearing them talking about how they'll enjoy tacos on their lunch break.
** [[EasterEgg The All-Knowing Vortigaunt's]] voice is heard through a sewer gate by Freeman in Episode 15, but he decides it's best not to go after it.

** At the beginning of episode 16, while being still dazed by the knockout gas, Freeman complains about having had bad nachos, a call back to the beginning of episode 11 of the first ''Freeman's Mind''.

* CopKillerManhunt: Lampshaded by Gordon. After Alyx murders the Civil Protection officers beating him up, Freeman berates her for it, noting that killing a police officer means they will come after you with greater force and intensity. When he's hunted by the Civil Protection in the train station, he assumes that it's due to a "guilt by association" thing, and he's only making it worse by defending himself.

* GameMod: Ross is playing a custom mod that allows for moments where Freeman does something completely different than what was expected. At first, it was just mapping changes, but the bit with using the crowbar as a hammer had to be custom code.

* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: It's clear that Freeman's knowledge of guns has not improved after his time at Black Mesa.
** In Episode 12, Freeman attempts to shoot a Hunter-Chopper with his magnum revolver, guessing that the heavier caliber weapon would succeed where his [=MP7=] failed. Even when considering that he shot down a helicopter with an [=MP5=] at Black Mesa, there are two problems with that:

** Freeman begins to suspect he is when he hears a Breencast speech before he discovers the source. Implied when Gordon finds a dead body and says this:

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In Episode 10, Freeman lampshades the poor aim of a CP officer by calling him a stormtrooper in the making and nicknames him "Darth Uzi".

* PoliceBrutality: Freeman notes that the Civil Protection officers didn't even bother to shout "Freeze!" at him before opening fire.

* RememberTheNewGuy: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]. While Barney knows who Gordon is, Gordon has no idea who Barney is. He doesn't recognize Dr Breen either. He does, however, ''immediately'' recognize Dr Kleiner and seems to think well of him, despite not having mentioned him at all throughout the previous series. Ross Scott justified this in a fan chat when he explained that Barney is not mentioned anywhere in the original game, whereas Kleiner is at least mentioned in the manual as part of Freeman's backstory. Going on the canonical sources and taking them at face value, there's no reason to expect that Freeman knows Barney. He also has no memory of Breen or Eli Vance for the same reason.

* SarcasmMode: Alyx calling Gordon a "man of few words" is played as this since in this series Freeman doesn't shut up.

* TemptingFate: At the start of Episode 13, Freeman thinks the calm following the previous episode is a prelude to a plane passing overhead and bombing him, noting that it's what he'd do. He then spends the rest of the episode outrunning an ''attack chopper'' bombing (and shooting) him.

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:[[WebAnimation/CivilProtection Mike and Dave]] run past a sewer grate Freeman is looking out of in Episode 7]], and shortly afterwards, Gordon is ambushed by several CP officers. This prompted a small debate as to whether the two were among the cops Gordon killed.