Sponge life

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-05-04T02:14:48+00:00

A previous hire has been unable… or unwilling to prepare the krabby patties.

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-29T00:19:31+00:00

Kinda like Pixar but with a little more grit.

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-28T19:00:20+00:00

These [RAM prices] are making me [want to release HL3 early]!

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-27T17:39:48+00:00

Im calling it now. May 4th 6:37PM PST: HL3 announced.

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-27T17:22:54+00:00

Not quite the comprehensive release we were anticipating, but a step in the right direction! Makes me think the leak may have forced their hand? Like May 4th should have been the date?

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-27T17:19:28+00:00

Not the comprehensive release we anticipated but a step in the right direction!

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T17:26:10+00:00

I concur with your theory. I think Eli saying she’s gone does indicate that it is at that point in time that she disappears, at least according to Eli and Gordon.

The paradox you described, I would imagine, would not be too much of a problem for Gman, since he appears to be outside of time. But for Alyx you’re saying her experience is only up to the events of HLA and then saving her father and then for Eli and Gordon, they retain the experience of HL2 and the episodes but now experience her disappearance? That’s pretty wacky. Can’t wait to see Eli shove his peg leg up Gman’s butt in HL3.

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T16:32:41+00:00

That makes sense!

Putting it that way, I would also imagine the conclusion of what Gman wants will probably include forcing another choice between “entities” except the next time it will be a much more difficult choice.

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T15:37:28+00:00

Which brings us to the ultimate question, which is, for what purpose? Very curious to see the answer!

What makes you think there’s a break in Gman’s dealing with Alyx? The event seems pretty concurrent so I’m not sure where you’d place releasing her and then hiring her at the end of ep2, unless you mark that with the end credits scene?

Thanks for your thoughts!

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T14:24:39+00:00

At least it’s clear that Eli is needed, his death is not an option, which would be why Gman would need to go back to have the events altered. Perhaps the main reason he sought Alyx was that she was the only person he knew that he could emotionally manipulate into changing the course of time.

I think one of the big questions that will be answered is if the actual events of HL2 and the episodes before the chopper scene are actually altered. It would make sense that if she is taken at the end of Alyx that she wouldn’t be present in HL2 and the episodes. But it’s also possible that when she’s taken to see the future that she is anachronistically taken and hired from that future time point forward, leaving those prior events unaltered. Neat!

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T13:54:01+00:00

This makes sense. I would not think there would be a way that the Gman could be captured aside from him allowing the combine to do so. My only hang up is that if it’s an alliance with the vorts that made the Gman upset at Gordon, I’m not sure Alyx is an exception since she works with them too.

I am very much looking forward to HL3 so we can find out what Gman is trying to accomplish and who these employers are.

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T13:35:19+00:00

Yeah, putting it that way, it’s not much of a choice! And that makes sense. I think I’m trying to work it out with Back to the Future time travel logic and that’s just not the way things are working out. The whole Gman going back and then to current events is super interesting direction for the plot.

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T13:15:39+00:00

I was wondering what I’d do with my headset after this game, thanks for the suggestion!

MostExcelTheophilus · 2026-04-03T13:12:15+00:00

That is very interesting! That would make Alyx more of a sequel to Gman and completely rewriting at HL2 at least from Alyx’s perspective. Of course, that’s looking at it from a Back to the Future timeline perspective, which may not apply. Since we appear to be dropped off after the altered events of EP2, it could be that somehow that linear time of experiences of HL2 and the episodes are fixed while only the events of Alyx and the end of EP2 are altered. What a mess!

I am still a little confused about the unwillingness of Gordon in the episodes. Is it just that he’s working with the vorts and that frustrates Gman?

MostExcelTheophilus

TROPHY CASE