Half-Life: Zero Viscosity is a web series based on the popular video game series Half-Life created by Bruva Alfabusa of If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device and Hunter: The Parenting fame. It stars a cast of characters completely separate from TTS and HTP, having different storylines instead of being a Universal-Adaptor Cast. The main characters are:
- Shock Trooper KSS KYUR MUB MUB KA MUB BLIS KA (or just Mub Mub for short), a Race X Shock Trooper on the run from the Combine, and a supreme lover of fluid.
- Gus, an ordinary and very dehydrated man Mub Mub finds during his escape.
- Pit Drone Po Ta Ter who acts as the moral support (and isn't good at it), and is obsessed with the Gene Worm.
- Doctor Bags, a resistance operative who eventually finds the others.
- And Timothy, a... thingnote that Mub Mub was apparently keeping in the house's basement.
Half-Life: Zero Viscosity has examples of:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Mub Mub fumbles his pronunciations frequently, often pushing the accent towards the end of a word. Race X members speaking at all is a marvel by itself, though.
- Adaptational Badass: Has intriguingly been applied to the Physics Gun. In its debut episode, the Physgun completely immobilises the Hunter-Chopper, as though it were freezing it & its pilot in time; NPCs held by the Physgun in Garry's Mod only have their movement restricted, with dialogue, combat actions or other behaviours not being paused or otherwise interrupted.
- Beware the Silly Ones: During the opening shots of the first episode which set the stage and introduce the two first characters to each other, the hyperactive and barely coherent Pit Drone, who is barely bigger than a domestic dog, ambushes and tackles two busy Metrocops off a ledge, killing both of them when they hit the ground hard. Pit Drone's fearless attack and evident success is a good reminder that it IS a combat-purpose extra-dimensional warrior, regardless of its rambling.
- Bizarre Alien Psychology: Subverted in the case of Mub Mub. Who despite being very ignorant of human biology, is also seen showing concern for the emotional well being of others, blushing when he believes Gus is complimenting his collection, bashfully stating that he feels that he and Gus and have become close friends over the course of the interview, to then having a panic attack when he realizes Gus could die from his allergic reaction to taurine and that he has no idea how to help. The kicker? The reason he survived Black Mesa's nuclear annihilation was that he left early because the whole situation was triggering his general anxiety disorder and claustrophobia. Dr. Bags even states that both of their species seem to share these conditions.
- Butt-Monkey: Gus is shaping up to be this, notably from all the fluids Mub Mub made him drink, including stagnant water in a ditch by the side of the road, ocean water,
canal sewage water, and fruity-smelling energy drink. Of course, Gus is allergic to taurine.Gus: That is why I am terminally ill. - Character Tic: Bags has a tendency to cock his shotgun.
- Chekhov's Gun: A literal example; the empty Gravity Gun husk in episode two is, well just an empty husk of a Gravity Gun, it also happens to be the basis for the Physics Gun when Shock Roach climbs inside of it.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Mub Mub is a weird one even by Race X standards, being not just entirely alien to human experiences, but also a neurotic pacifist with an obsession for fluids.
- Crapsack World: Par for the course for the source material, the opening shots of the first episode depict, among other things, what appears to be an older woman with graying hair cradling the bloodied body of someone, surrounded by the Metrocops, shortly followed by the camera viewing from around the corner to see the flash of a gunshot, spray of more blood and the shadows of the Metrocops. Black Comedy may be in effect, but the Black part of it is in full force instead of just being a sidelined tool for the Comedy.
- Dance Party Ending: The episodes end this way... well not for Gus, who is collapsed from dehydration.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: Bags does this with his shotgun at least 6 times in the first instalment. Without having fired it even once, so he keeps ejecting the cartridges and the in-game shotgun from HL2 only holds six shells. To make it even more ridiculous; the sound of the shells falling to the ground imply they are empty.
- Enemy Eats Your Lunch: The Metrocop taunts Gus and Mub Mub by drinking the glass of juice as a prelude to killing them. Bad idea.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Our final main character is an Eldritch Abomination by the name of... Timothy.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The relationship going on between Mub Mub and Chadwidge since episode 2.
- I Ate WHAT?!: The entire first episode is dedicated to Gus repeatedly experiencing this as he desperately sucks down samples of every horrible fluid his new friend has in his collection, thirsting urgently for proper hydration and willing to drink anything for the chance to feel better.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: While not necessarily a simpleton so much as just being oddly neurotic and understandably ignorant of much of the functions of the new dimension he lives in and the species who inhabit it, Mub Mub first meets Gus while he is being pursued by hostile Metrocops, and the alien's first instinct upon being shot at is to flee - but not before grabbing Gus and hauling him to his feet to drag him to safety, leading him away from the danger. This and Mub Mub's general lack of hostile behaviour and overall submissiveness would suggest an unexpected inherent friendliness for a literal alien shock trooper.
- Mundane Luxury: Gus loses his mind over finding a simple glass of soda, which evidently hasn’t been a thing under the Combine occupation.
- Mythology Gag:
- When Trooper and Gus get to the "EXPLAIN THIS PLEASE" segment of the former's show, Trooper takes out a picture of Gus, specifically Gus's HL1 model.
- The first two lines that Dr. Bags utters in his proper introduction are based on the dialogue from the Black Mesa scientist (which have become memetic).
Dr. Bags: Greetings! MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! - Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Our main entourage is three aliens, one a Mood-Swinger, one a fluid-loving Shock Trooper, and the last an unsettling creature that apparently's just there because he hates cops. The two humans are a fat man who most likely has at least 3 diseases from the fluids he drank, and an affably off the rocker (maybe) scientist. Who carries a SHOTGUN with him. This is gonna be good.
- Shout-Out:
- Episode 2 includes several notable Garry's Mod references; two of the inventions Dr. Bags demonstrates are the Hoverball and Weld toolguns, while a Physgun becomes integral to stopping the attack on Black Mesa North-by-Northwest.
- The beginning of the first two rounds of Headcrab Combat are shout-outs to different Fighting Game intros (delivered by G-Man, for some reason):
ROUND TWO: Heaven... or Hell. Hm? Duel 2. LET'S ROCK.- In the same episode, Mub Mub performs an Ashura Senku towards the doctor to get Shock Roach healed.
- Sole Survivor: Mub Mub most likely is the only Race X Shock Trooper alive, as he decided to screw off before the rest were incinerated when Black Mesa was nuked.
- Starfish Aliens: Mub Mub finds multiple aspects of humanity bizarre and confusing, such as the existence of multiple tastes, the inability to ingest seawater, and the biological need for water. What makes this even more bizarre is that in the official lore, Race X Shock Troopers have an amphibious larval cycle.Mub Mub: Wow! This lack of control of basic functions of your biology is indescribably frightening!
- Starfish Language: KSS KYUR MUB MUB KA MUB BLIS KA's full name is arranged from syllables that comprise the various Shock Trooper Mad Libs Dialogue responses from Opposing Force. From Episode 2 on, most characters just shorten it to Mub Mub.
- Visual Pun: The last drink Mub Mub has in his collection is a cyan fluid he calls "juice". When a Metrocop confiscates and then drinks it, it kills the cop, and the "juice" is revealed to be cyanide.Gus: Oh. God. What was that?!Mub Mub: CYANIDE!!!Gus: Wh— Were you trying to kill me?!Mub Mub: You cannot drink this? But it has 'cyan' in the name...
- Wham Shot: Mub Mub's personal Shock Roach crawling into the empty Gravity Gun husk, which turns it into none other than THE PHYSICS GUN.
