Line #8 TearJerker/HalfLifeButTheAIIsSelfAware


1	!!Spoilers are unmarked.
2	----
3	* Gordon's [[SanitySlippage mental breakdown]] throughout the entire series due to the [[TraumaCongaLine trauma conga line]] he has to go through to get out of Black Mesa in one piece. [[PlayedForDrama It's one of the only things the story takes seriously.]]
4	** It goes up to eleven in Act Three. [[AnArmAndALeg He loses his right hand after Benrey and Bubby turn him into the HECU,]] and nearly gets used as a skinsuit for Dr. Coomer's clones who wish to escape into [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou "The World In His Dreams."]] [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct Wayne genuinely sounds on the verge of breaking down sobbing multiple times.]][[labelnote:*]]This is because [[EnforcedMethodActing Wayne was actually having a panic attack in real-life at the time]], due to the chat debacle.[[/labelnote]]
5	--> '''Gordon:''' What did he ''mean?'' ''[voice breaking]'' Tommy! ''Talk to me!''
6	--> '''[[TheDitz Tommy:]]''' [[MoodWhiplash Uhh... do you want a soda?]]
7	* Tommy panicking at his dog Sunkist being threatened by a firing squad of turrets. Downplayed because the dog turns out to be immortal and thus immune to bullets, but still.
8	--> '''Tommy:''' WAAH- LET SUNKIST GOOOOO!!! sob
9	* Right before the final battle, Coomer takes Gordon aside for a moment to talk to him about video games. Coomer admits to not being the biggest game fan but fondly regales how growing up his favorite game was ''[[VideoGame/PunchOut Super Punch-Out!!]]'' because of its story being about a boxer facing impossible odds to become the champion, asking Gordon what game he'd like to live in before stating he'd like to be in ''Super Punch-Out!!''. Gordon, confused, asks why Coomer is bringing the topic up before getting ''this'' heartbreaker.
10	--->'''Dr. Coomer:''' Gordon.
11	--->'''Gordon:''' What?
12	--->'''Dr. Coomer:''' If you woke up one day, [[WhamLine and realized everything around you was a lie... ...was FAKE...]] [[ArmorPiercingQuestion What would you do?]][[note]]In the actual stream, Gordon responds that he'd play the game anyway, but Bubby found that a lame answer.[[/note]]
13	** Later on, after finding Dr. Coomer's passport, but before destroying it, Dr. Coomer asks Gordon a question.
14	--->'''Dr. Coomer:''' Gordon.
15	--->'''Gordon:''' Coomer?
16	--->'''Dr. Coomer:''' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion None of this is real, is it..?]]
17	--->'''Gordon:''' [[WhamLine No.]]
18	** When he talks to Dr. Coomer from the past, he tries to remind him of their adventures together. While it does work and Coomer gladly cooperates to help him return to the future, his first emotion after "waking back up" so to speak is... resignation.
19	--->'''Dr. Coomer:''' H-...H-...H-H... '''''I remember.'''''
20	* Tommy and Benrey's relationship decaying. At the start of the series, Benrey is at least on good terms with Tommy, calling out to him like an old friend when he hears him yelling into the test chamber. He seems to be Tommy's only acquaintance at first, with Gordon initially decrying Tommy as a freak and the other scientists talking to him like he's a baby thanks to his {{Manchild}} mannerisms. But as Benrey grows crazier and more depraved, and Tommy cements himself as Gordon's ally, the two stop speaking. It all culminates in Benrey's skeletons attacking Tommy during the final battle and Benrey [[LackOfEmpathy coolly]] trying to persuade the Science Team to, "[[DeadlyEuphemism Let Tommy go.]]"
21	* Dr. Coomer's message after the credits.
22	--> '''Dr. Coomer''': Hello? Testing, testing... Is... Is this thing on? Ah! [[RunningGag Hello Gordon!]]... I'm... a-assuming that's your real name. You wouldn't lie to us. Would you? Well.. You finally did it! You survived the resonance cascade! You brought us all to hell and back, alive! You made it to the ultimate birthday bash at the end of the world! You beat the video game! And... now I imagine you'll... shut it down. Move on with your life. Onwards and upwards ay, Gordon? I don't... know... how much longer I have to send this to you so I'll try to keep it brief. Not my specialty. Perhaps this is presumptuous of me but... Must this really be the end of our time together? Perhaps you could take the science team's data, transfer us somewhere else, hmm? Now... It doesn't have to be ''Super Punch-Out™'' for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System™. Maybe a USB drive, or a... spare floppy disk. You could take us with you! We could see the world! We could... ''throat clearing'' I'm... getting ahead of myself, surely. Welp! The option's always there! [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments You changed our lives, Gordon. I'd like to think it was for the better.]] And I don't know what's going to happen to us once you exit the game for good. But I know ''we'll'' never forget you. I hope you won't forget us. Well... [[BorrowedCatchphrase This is where I get off]]... [[SubvertedCatchPhrase Goodbye Gordon!]]
23	** Now HarsherInHindsight given that the trailer for the sequel apparently renders the [[HappyEndingOverride commentary and Payday 2 streams no longer canon.]] While thankfully the Science Team do not get erased since Gordon stopped playing, from their perspective Gordon just... vanished. And ''never came back''. '''For at least''' '''''[[YearInsideHourOutside twenty years.]]''''' After the disaster of the Resonance Cascade, they now have to deal with life as the [[OutOfTheFryingPan Combine take over the planet...]]
24	* The Youtube upload of the Act 3 commentary shows Gordon is completely frazzled from the entire experience.
25	--> '''Gordon:''' Man, if I had any preconceived notions of what my future would be like after Black Mesa and what I would do with my degree, they're out the window.

Context TearJerker / HalfLifeButTheAIIsSelfAware