The combine stopped not only 9/11, but also every problem we’ve faced so far in the 21st century! This proves our benefactors are completely benevolent and we should serve them! (Please help dr breen said if I don’t say this I’ll be turned into a stalker)
What are you talking about? They made the immigration crisis worse by design to make it harder for groups to rebel. The same way Amazon prevents Unions.
@@notdoppler9833 >looks inside deeper >plane hit me tower >no more protective paint >ow (very hot) >oh fuck my back (steel shiddid itself anyways cus plane up my ass; kinda fell ☹️)
Lol, good one, didn't think of that! Perhaps they listened to the actual Hybrid Theory album, which released on the 24th October 2000, almost a year before the album's final single, In The End, came out.
There are also issues with the calendar being used at all given it doesn’t even have 31 days. Assuming the first row was meant to be properly spaced (as it has seven days on it that are just improperly spaced) then the calendar would point to this being the 1996 calendar or the 2002 calendar and given that we know this took place after 1996 it points to being January of 2003
This video is proof that people have been waiting on half life 3 for way too long. How the fuck does one ask themselves the question "Did 9/11 happen in the half life universe?". Like holy shit, if valve had just continued developing episode 3 instead of giving up, because "It wasn't advanced enough", people wouldn't be asking themselves these kinds of questions. 10/10 video, keep up the good work. Subscribed
Oh believe me people would still be making videos like this but they will just have more information to work with, it seems to be a trend with every community at the moment to ask themselves absurd questions that dont fit with whatever game/show/etc they are fans of.
Nope, ever since I played hl1, I was wondering on when was it set, and what events coincided with it's settings, especially 9/11 and the Afghanistan/Iraq War, because the US military response to Black Mesa incident is VERY lackluster, there must be something else going on that caused them a shortage of military resources.
I'm pretty sure Kliener met Freeman back in college because Klieners hosted some classes or seminars there. So Kliener met a young Gordon and was the reason Gordon was allowed to join Black Mesa over Judith and how most of the other Scientists didn't think much of Freeman, saying "I don't see what Kliener thinks of the young man"
eh it probably still happened, they can drain a significant amount of ocean in 4 years or less but that won't completely prevent it from causing damage
Unfortunately, there are specific post-9/11 posters about events that happened directly as a result of 9/11 in Half-Life 2 decals so it actually DID definitively happen.
In the beginning of Half Life: Alyx, there is a globe which has North America crossed out with a red X, implying that the continent is wiped out/ straight up destroyed by the Combine, so..
Half life lore expert here, although I believe the work that Neinfeld did is extremely amazing, it is incorrect. The Resonance Cascade and Black Mesa Incident both happened atleast after January 2, 2002 due to one of the very unknown posters in Half Life 2. There is actually a poster in Half life 2 with George Bush on it, and the poster directly mentions both September 11th and the date of January 2, 2002. If you don't believe me, look up "Making the World Safe for Terrorism, George Bush Crimethinc Poster" and then look up similar photos of it in Half life 2, you could also find it yourself at the plaza at the beginning of Half Life 2, it is right against the monolith that the propaganda screen is on.
Just opened HL2 and yup, the poster is definitely there. On said monolith it's on the side facing the train station entrance, in the upper right corner.
potential implication: the resonance cascade DID happen in 2000, but the combine let george bush be president anyway and 9/11 still happened under combine rule
For real... Before the Combine had even shown up, like half of the Earth's population had already been killed by Xen aliens, portal storms, rioting, or some combination of those.
Did you notice the calendar only has 30 days instead of 31, or that some weeks only have 6 days? The calendar wasn't created with much thought, I'm quite sure. Plus, the first week starts on the 1st of December, the second starts on the 8th. It doesn't point to any year, it just looks like they threw the numbers in there without giving it any thought at all.
@@ondraspendlik9759assuming you correct for that mistake on the challenger by pushing the numbers so that they’re in rows of seven and the calendar year lines up to December of 2002 which would, of course, be after 9/11/2001
2:56 Honestly if you plan ahead enough (think ~4 months of preparation) an intercontinental move in 10 days is completely doable. I've personally done it in half that (Asia to Europe). Considering Gordon probably had very little personal effects as a postgrad it seems plausible enough.
The Newspaper in Eli's lab shows the United Nations HQ burning up and the state of the building looks quite simular to the WTC after the plane crashes and the United Nations HQ was quite close to the WTC so even if the Combine invaded before 9/11 its likely that the WTC suffered the same injuries as the United Nations HQ and ultimately still collapsed. Also the Combine invasion would probably be considered a terrorist attack to most so you could even argue that the combine did not prevent 9/11, but caused it earlier.
From what I could gather back when I played the game.... The cascade happened around 1998-2000 (possibly early 2001). There are more than hidden calendar's and news papers that say this, like for instance the technology used
Coming from the Raising The Bar, it took place at 2003, which a lot of people in the HL fandom considers. Although this isn't fairly considered canon, so I believe the range of years can be from late 1999 (since I don't really believe it could take place prior to 2000, and the common year date is just 200X) to 2003.
May 16th, 2002 [was, at least] my best guess for the BMI, in order to remain consistent with as much canonical material as possible. [HL:A, the Portal comic. etc.], with Gordon becoming employed at Black Mesa about a year or two prior. [In keeping with Breen's line about his 'Brief tenure.'] I would possibly say December 5th, 2000 as per Neinfeld's analysis, but you hear crickets chirping on the surface during on a rail. Keep in mind this is at nighttime. If it was december, it'd just be too cold for them to be active. The ID cards in Alyx also have the wrong dating format for the region, so this makes them [and the newspapers] dubious sources of evidence.
@@Exuberant-323 I always thought the "Brief Tenure" and "barely got his PHD" lines were mocking the same way somebody with 20 years of experience doesn't respect someone with less than a year. After replaying the HL games, my friends joke about how the old scientists have a superiority complex over Gordon, treating him like a newbie that just pushes heavy things around despite having full college credits.
15:54 that is the wonkiest calendar. the first two weeks have 7 days for the week which are now aligned properly followed by the next 2 weeks having only 6 days each and they through the remaining days on there to finish it. except they didn't realize that december is supposed to have 31 days and not 30. i wouldn't use this calendar for any head cannon because it's clear that someone that worked at black mesa must have printed it out as a joke.
Not only that the videos whole point instantly falls apart when you realize that no matter when combine invaded earth they completly destroyed america and the towers included
@ As far as we’ve been shown New York is likely still a population center. With much of the rural areas of the US being completely uninhabitable. I imagine New York is very similar to the HL2 Beta, with a Citadel placed slap bang in the center of Central Park.
@@Pendleton115 correct me if im wrong but isnt there only one citadel? Hence why combine forces on entire earth became much weaker as their main hub was destroyed
@@wastoxic From what I was aware there were multiple citadels, one in each capital city. However City 17 was the base of combine operations, with its Citadel being the largest and the only with a dark energy teleporter.
The real poster mentions 9/11, but the in-game texture is illegible. George Bush Jr.'s face has also been completely cut out because the poster is torn to shreds. I'd consider that more of an easter egg than something with real lore implications.
the fact that this guy answered alot of questions we had regarding the lore of half life 2 all because of him wondering if the combine stopped 9/11 is just crazy
In half life 2 episode 1 alyx makes a comment talking about Gordon and barney in a vent looking for kleiner's keys, witch must mean that Gordon has established a large relationship with the black mesa personnel.
i think even if combine didn't invade before 9/11 could happen, i think the chances of it happening would be already low due to the black mesa incident. the alien invasion and portal storms would destabilize any number of events or conditions that could lead to 9/11. people would be busy fighting aliens, not each other
yeah, even if half life timeline was real and happened, guess what? really save anyone from suffers and divide? if doesn't then this video is all about selling craps.
i mean to be fair, id want to be long time friends with the coworker i only knew for a day who ended up being a murderous rampaging messiah that can stare alien zombies in the face and not give a fuck. i dont need to develop a relationship to know thats one cool ass dude that needs to be protected. especially if he disappeared for 20 years after the most horrific shit to happen to humanity and then just reappears out of no where not having aged a day lol
Great video but unfortunately, the "posters001a.vtf" decal in Half-Life 2 features a scratched out version of the Crimethinc "Making the World Safe for Terrorism" poster, an anti-terrorism poster from after 9/11 featuring the likeness of George W. Bush.
During the tram ride to Sector-C it's mentioned that the current topside temperature is 93 degrees, with an estimated high of 105. This would place the events of Half Life 1 firmly in the summer months between June and August.
This really made me realize how messed up the half-life timeline is. Ive accepted May 16th as the date of the experiment for years but im not even sure where exactly that comes from anymore
Small issue at 15:17; the military (usually) doesnt change out handbooks until absolutely necessary, even more likely that it won't be for smaller, specialized detachments like the H.E.C.U. So, making the assumption the notes were made in the year of publishment is pretty massive assumption.
about making friends at black mesa Kleiner was his teacher when he was in collage he was the one that recommended Gordon to Breen for hire so im pretty sure they know eachother
I mean, Even if all flights and air travel get cancelled due to portal storms, aliens, and a combine invasion... Then terrorists could still hijack a gunship (by sitting on its back like a horsey) and fly it into the now-abandoned and Xen-infested towers.
The calendar is also weirdly aligned. In spite of the first appearing on a sunday, it's offset from the rest of the weeks. It also only has 30 days, but December has 31.
Also, some weeks have just 6 days! It was likely made in a hurry with no second thought (the 1st day of the month even perfectly lines up as the 1st day of a week, suggesting they just threw the numbers in there without thinking about it).
I'm sold. This video has me completely convinced that the combine prevented 9/11, a fact which I previously did not even think a single person on this planet would have. I am 100% convinced.
Good video, but unfortunately I know of at least two 9/11 references in HL2: 1. In Eli's lab, one of the newspaper headlines on his poster board seems to say "Learning about 9/11" at the top. It's barely legible though, so it could just be an easter egg similar to the text on the Black Mesa security poster in HL1. 2. On the obelisk outside the train station, you can see a bunch of old Soviet propaganda posters plastered about the monument -- but one of them is actually a torn up anti-Bush Jr. propaganda poster that was created IRL in 2002. However, there's no legible text referencing a date and Bush's face is completely cut out, so I would consider this an easter egg. In-universe the person in the photo could be anyone and 9/11 is not visibly mentioned. That said, I personally prefer to think of these as easter eggs with zero lore implications. HL2 has a lot of themes and subtext that make it work as a post-9/11 allegory, and it feels thematically weird to me if 9/11 actually happened in this universe and then 9/11 Times 1,000 happened in the same country a year or two later, completely unrelated. I'm strongly in the camp of the Black Mesa mod team: December 2000 all the way!
The problem with setting the events of Half-Life in mid-December is the very first piece of information the game tells you: that it's 8:47 AM and current topside temperature is 93 degrees. New Mexico is warm, sure, but it still experiences winter. There's no way that it would get that hot, that early in the morning in December.
7:54 I'm pretty sure black Mesa wasn't publicly traded, since it's entirely government funded. Aperture probably was though, since cave Johnson addresses "investors" in the perpetual testing initiative videos
Private companies have investors too, and I should also point out that I don't think there's evidence Black Mesa is 100% publicly funded. Many public and private companies have government contracts that don't account for their entire budget, and my favorite joke in HL1 -- "Well, there goes our grant money" -- implies that they're competing for government grants and not receiving taxpayer money directly. I'm pretty sure there's also a Powerpoint slide in Portal 1 that mentions competing for grants, too.
The only issue I find with the dates 15-16th December is the fact that there is not a single Christmas reference in Half Life 1. Sure, one might assume a sterile research facility wouldn't put up lights and mistletoe, but given the hours of casual NPC dialogue in the game, one would also assume at least one mention of the encroaching holidays about to be ruined.. I would rather place the time of the Black Mesa incident some time just after Christmas of 2000, when all the talk of it usually simmers down in real life. The actual seven hour war might have been weeks after the fact, as the Combine would probably have had quarrels with G-man's employers over Xen.
My headcanon is that Gordon was hired on May 5th, 2000, and arrived at Black Mesa and began his HEV training on May 15th, 2000, and Gordon worked at Black Mesa up until the cascade in December of 2000. The HECU have been on standby since March of 2000, because the G-Man had scheduling conflicts.
Valve games' fans are in such a mental decay state that I cannot love how deranged our imagination has gotten. TF2 creators have this same mindset with videos like "to which circle of hell belongs each merc".
I love the deep dive into the dates! Unfortunately, I think the real answer id that it is ambiguous. You mention how the calendar is just a random prop not made by the lore department, but so is that keycard. Furthermore this is Bulgaria. Whose to say they’re updating their software correctly for expired keycards? Even if that was concrete, we honestly can’t be sure that Alyx is even in a similar timeline to HL2. The combine have seemingly very different styles of troops and types of tech so it’s very possible alyx’s timeline diverged well before Gman was released. After all, he had been meddling before his capture too. All this is to say I think it’s most likely that it occurred between 2000-2005. I choose to follow Mark’s timeline because that makes the most sense but that’s just me. I love the idea that the Combine may have stopped 9/11 though. Hell, maybe in the same way we got pissed and invaded Afghanistan, they got pissed and invaded the Earth!
12:27 It's more likely that Gordon got his HEV Training on may 16th, since the events leading up to the Resonance Cascade are treated more so as a 'routine test'
The combine stopped not only 9/11, but also every problem we’ve faced so far in the 21st century! This proves our benefactors are completely benevolent and we should serve them! (Please help dr breen said if I don’t say this I’ll be turned into a stalker)
Better than a grub
What are you talking about? They made the immigration crisis worse by design to make it harder for groups to rebel. The same way Amazon prevents Unions.
Thank you Dr. Breen 🥰
No Isreal🎉🎉🎉
@@Vienna3080 More like isn’t real
>Combine stops 9/11 from happening
>Towers still explode
>Look inside
>Jetfuel cannot melt steel
@@notdoppler9833 DARK ENERGY CANNOT VAPORIZE METAL
dark energy fusion core meltdowns cant melt xenian beams
Theres a explaination for that@@notdoppler9833
@@notdoppler9833
>looks inside deeper
>plane hit me tower
>no more protective paint
>ow (very hot)
>oh fuck my back (steel shiddid itself anyways cus plane up my ass; kinda fell ☹️)
Bold of you to assume the Combine didn't destroy the Twin Towers themselves
''Mr president! There's a second gunship coming!"
@@denifnaf5874 No it would prob be more "President Bush, A second alien flying object has hit the Twin Towers."
Portal storms.
@@toby6566that or Portal storms throwing random crap or Xen forces didn’t destroy before combine
Well yeah but if it didn't happen on September 11th it's not REALLY 9/11.
It's like that episode of Family Guy where Brian stops 9/11 and suddenly the world turns post-apocalyptic 😭😭😭
Brian Griffin was behind the 7 hour war all along
NOO IM DEAD 😭😭😭
So it's Brian's fault eh?
@@MrOrang_JuliansEditorBrian caused the Black Mesa incident
@@spencerworld3167 Brian created Glados Brian stopped 9/11 Brian invited the combine Brian caused the black mesa incident
Brian griffin is a menace
when the combine prevents 9 11 but the towers catch fire eitherway
it was a prescripted sequence
It's a canon event
impossible, energy balls can't melt citadel steel
That dropship wasn't hijacked
It was an inside job
@@denifnaf5874 love how grown ass men are discussing twin towers which is just a mod lol in a 20 year old game lol
@bluntweaponenjoyerthe vortigaunt cries out in pain when it strikes you...
"Mr. Collaborator there is a second Gunship heading towards the citadel!"
Lol said Dr. Breen. Lmao.
breens chilling realization when its headed for his office in particular
His elite guards: theres a dropship jeading right 4 us!!!
@@circleinforthecube5170 "You NEED me"
Mr.Administrator, there’s a freeman heading straight for the citadel!
@@Papapsoso carefull, theres a freeman behind that butt!
If the Combine invaded before September 11 2001, then how do Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner know the lyrics to In The End, released October 6 2001?
Oh my God...he's right!
Lol, good one, didn't think of that!
Perhaps they listened to the actual Hybrid Theory album, which released on the 24th October 2000, almost a year before the album's final single, In The End, came out.
LMAO
There are also issues with the calendar being used at all given it doesn’t even have 31 days. Assuming the first row was meant to be properly spaced (as it has seven days on it that are just improperly spaced) then the calendar would point to this being the 1996 calendar or the 2002 calendar and given that we know this took place after 1996 it points to being January of 2003
kleiner was really into nu metal and got a leaked demo tape
This video is proof that people have been waiting on half life 3 for way too long. How the fuck does one ask themselves the question "Did 9/11 happen in the half life universe?". Like holy shit, if valve had just continued developing episode 3 instead of giving up, because "It wasn't advanced enough", people wouldn't be asking themselves these kinds of questions. 10/10 video, keep up the good work. Subscribed
i have been saying that for weeks now. the combine prevented 9/11
Oh believe me people would still be making videos like this but they will just have more information to work with, it seems to be a trend with every community at the moment to ask themselves absurd questions that dont fit with whatever game/show/etc they are fans of.
This seems to have started on reddit with those dumbass circlejerk subreddits then it spred to the rest of the internet
Nope, ever since I played hl1, I was wondering on when was it set, and what events coincided with it's settings, especially 9/11 and the Afghanistan/Iraq War, because the US military response to Black Mesa incident is VERY lackluster, there must be something else going on that caused them a shortage of military resources.
Why not, its a very, very interesting question
I'm pretty sure Kliener met Freeman back in college because Klieners hosted some classes or seminars there. So Kliener met a young Gordon and was the reason Gordon was allowed to join Black Mesa over Judith and how most of the other Scientists didn't think much of Freeman, saying "I don't see what Kliener thinks of the young man"
Good Thing Kleiner Put him on Black Mesa
@@SpartanAnimations. Crazy how this one guy has stopped 2 alien invasions over what felt like a week to him
It's Kleiner, pronounced Kleye-ner
Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained professional.
@@dagobahstudios3662 yep The True Freeman
At least we know they definitely prevented the indian ocean tsunami in 2004, because... you know.
Because why??
eh it probably still happened, they can drain a significant amount of ocean in 4 years or less but that won't completely prevent it from causing damage
@@CheeseYTgamingthey slurped up all the water
@@goobermcnoober8140 oh thank you
@@goobermcnoober8140SLURPED😭
Sir… a second freeman has just hit the south citadel.
How?!
@@therealjoshiewoshiethe teleporter split Gordon in half
Crowbar akbar
This is some shit 2017 game theory would make
All game theory videos in general are crackpot theories atleast a little
exactly
pretty sure that combine could 9/11 the pearl harbor and it still would be just a small drop in the ocean of combine oppression
@@wastoxicmore like a lot.
If it more half-assed reading of a post on reddit and loaded with unnecessary filler jokes, then yes you would be right
@@Myne1001 don’t forget long ads and some videos just being irl science lessons that has barely anything to do with the game.
What 16 years without HL3 does to a community
*20
@ESalim123 Hl2 not Hl1
LMAO
Good one
twin citadels is crazy
“Dr breen! They hit the second citadel!”
"Gordon, if you truly want to become a Free Man, you'll have to fly this dropship into the twin citadels"
Unfortunately, there are specific post-9/11 posters about events that happened directly as a result of 9/11 in Half-Life 2 decals so it actually DID definitively happen.
Hi bimonthly uploads guy 👋
I think you mean hla newspapers, the texture resolution on hl2 ones is too low to read anything
@wastoxic Nope, you can still tell the covers they used on a few of them
Colonel say it isn't so!! What events were referenced??!?
Valve clearly covered it to show it’s no meaning
These videos are the peak videos you find at 3:00 am
Yup, can confirm, I'm watching at 3:28 AM right now
@@abuchi2248 Good morning
Especially the “what class would hitler main in tf2”
@@cyaneetnoodlesmaker2251 that's a video that actually exists?
@@Sotarkish_win Yeah, I saw the video. He said medic which seems about right
So first we got the tf2 video on what class hitler would main and now we have this, whats next, gLados role in the cold war 🙏😭
That would actually be a pretty interesting topic
Thanks for the video idea LMAO
Valve fans really are going insane over a lack of Half Life 3/Portal 3 and L4D 3
gLadOs was a member of the KGB
Valve theoretical youtube content renaissance
@@Deadbrah I just want my TF2 comic.
"They killed billions to save thousands" - Undeadbro
They killed billions to save two big piles of glass and rebar that would inevitably be destroyed anyway
"Hey guys like the whole Human species was bought to near extinction but at least the towers are still standing right???"
The inability of so many people not being able to understand sarcasm/mild sarcasm should be studied (im sure it already was but just sayin)
In the beginning of Half Life: Alyx, there is a globe which has North America crossed out with a red X, implying that the continent is wiped out/ straight up destroyed by the Combine, so..
I thought it was more because the combine invasion crippled the continent before it was overtaken by race X / Xen creatures
@kovacsabelkristof3566 deserved
@kovacsabelkristof3566 More likely destroyed by what happened in Black Mesa.
Someone, please post this to r/combinedidnothingwron
g
"They killed billions... to save thousands. That's the work of a true hero."
Legendary.
It be funny to think that the combine prevented 911 but due to the portal storms, it alrighty collapsed
Also, I don't think the twin towers are going to be still standing DURING the combine invasion, you know, THEY DESTROYED IT.
What if the combine caused 9/11?
Dr. Breen akbar!
What if 9/11 prevented the resonance cascade?
@@AhuizotlXiuh wasn't the resonance cascade before 9/11?
Then the war on terror would be the war on combine!
@@SR-72_DARKSTARDID YOU JUST SAY OIL?
Half life lore expert here, although I believe the work that Neinfeld did is extremely amazing, it is incorrect. The Resonance Cascade and Black Mesa Incident both happened atleast after January 2, 2002 due to one of the very unknown posters in Half Life 2. There is actually a poster in Half life 2 with George Bush on it, and the poster directly mentions both September 11th and the date of January 2, 2002.
If you don't believe me, look up "Making the World Safe for Terrorism, George Bush Crimethinc Poster" and then look up similar photos of it in Half life 2, you could also find it yourself at the plaza at the beginning of Half Life 2, it is right against the monolith that the propaganda screen is on.
Thank you! You're the first person who mentioned this AND pointed out where it was exactly! I'll have to take a look
Just opened HL2 and yup, the poster is definitely there. On said monolith it's on the side facing the train station entrance, in the upper right corner.
potential implication: the resonance cascade DID happen in 2000, but the combine let george bush be president anyway and 9/11 still happened under combine rule
Why in the world is a George Bush campaign poster in Eastern Europe?
@@plutoniumrocks because its just an asset lol
mythical youtube video pull🙏🙏🙏
fr 🙏🙏🙏🙏
"Hey babe, what are you watching?"
Sir, a crowbar has hit the second citadel
What having no Half Life 3 at The Game Award do to a fanbase.
how can 911 be worse than an multiversal alien invasion
It is a threat to american democracy🗣️‼️🔥💯🦅🦅🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
smartphones
@@MillywiggZyeah 😁
@@MillywiggZwhat does that have to do with this
For real... Before the Combine had even shown up, like half of the Earth's population had already been killed by Xen aliens, portal storms, rioting, or some combination of those.
I didn't expect spending 16 minutes of my afternoon watching FitMC talk about 9/11 and Half-Life 2
11:22 - I would put it as the 6 or 7th December, that low-res moon looks as if it's waxing rather than waning.
Did you notice the calendar only has 30 days instead of 31, or that some weeks only have 6 days? The calendar wasn't created with much thought, I'm quite sure. Plus, the first week starts on the 1st of December, the second starts on the 8th. It doesn't point to any year, it just looks like they threw the numbers in there without giving it any thought at all.
@@ondraspendlik9759assuming you correct for that mistake on the challenger by pushing the numbers so that they’re in rows of seven and the calendar year lines up to December of 2002 which would, of course, be after 9/11/2001
Very skibidi thank you Combine for your service
2:56 Honestly if you plan ahead enough (think ~4 months of preparation) an intercontinental move in 10 days is completely doable. I've personally done it in half that (Asia to Europe). Considering Gordon probably had very little personal effects as a postgrad it seems plausible enough.
PEAK 1:35 AM content big man
The Newspaper in Eli's lab shows the United Nations HQ burning up and the state of the building looks quite simular to the WTC after the plane crashes and the United Nations HQ was quite close to the WTC so even if the Combine invaded before 9/11 its likely that the WTC suffered the same injuries as the United Nations HQ and ultimately still collapsed. Also the Combine invasion would probably be considered a terrorist attack to most so you could even argue that the combine did not prevent 9/11, but caused it earlier.
But then it's most likely not on the same date, meaning it's not 9/11.
From what I could gather back when I played the game.... The cascade happened around 1998-2000 (possibly early 2001). There are more than hidden calendar's and news papers that say this, like for instance the technology used
Coming from the Raising The Bar, it took place at 2003, which a lot of people in the HL fandom considers. Although this isn't fairly considered canon, so I believe the range of years can be from late 1999 (since I don't really believe it could take place prior to 2000, and the common year date is just 200X) to 2003.
Happened in 200X, and the calendars show the rest of the date.
May 16th, 2002 [was, at least] my best guess for the BMI, in order to remain consistent with as much canonical material as possible. [HL:A, the Portal comic. etc.], with Gordon becoming employed at Black Mesa about a year or two prior. [In keeping with Breen's line about his 'Brief tenure.']
I would possibly say December 5th, 2000 as per Neinfeld's analysis, but you hear crickets chirping on the surface during on a rail. Keep in mind this is at nighttime. If it was december, it'd just be too cold for them to be active.
The ID cards in Alyx also have the wrong dating format for the region, so this makes them [and the newspapers] dubious sources of evidence.
@@SaLDestic Why people ignore the keycards from Half-Life Alyx which would have been expired if cascade resonance took in 2003
@@Exuberant-323 I always thought the "Brief Tenure" and "barely got his PHD" lines were mocking the same way somebody with 20 years of experience doesn't respect someone with less than a year.
After replaying the HL games, my friends joke about how the old scientists have a superiority complex over Gordon, treating him like a newbie that just pushes heavy things around despite having full college credits.
im extremely sleep deprived rn, and i heard:
"In Half Life 2, the CUMbine occu-"
... i died laughing
Me too
This is like preventing the loss of a pinky by sawing your legs off.
0:32 “From the moment i understood the weakness of flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel”
15:54 that is the wonkiest calendar. the first two weeks have 7 days for the week which are now aligned properly followed by the next 2 weeks having only 6 days each and they through the remaining days on there to finish it. except they didn't realize that december is supposed to have 31 days and not 30. i wouldn't use this calendar for any head cannon because it's clear that someone that worked at black mesa must have printed it out as a joke.
This is one of the most comprehensive and lore accurate timelines I’ve ever seen made into a UA-cam video… AND IT’S A 9/11 JOKE!?
Not only that the videos whole point instantly falls apart when you realize that no matter when combine invaded earth they completly destroyed america and the towers included
@ As far as we’ve been shown New York is likely still a population center. With much of the rural areas of the US being completely uninhabitable.
I imagine New York is very similar to the HL2 Beta, with a Citadel placed slap bang in the center of Central Park.
@@Pendleton115 correct me if im wrong but isnt there only one citadel? Hence why combine forces on entire earth became much weaker as their main hub was destroyed
@@wastoxic From what I was aware there were multiple citadels, one in each capital city.
However City 17 was the base of combine operations, with its Citadel being the largest and the only with a dark energy teleporter.
Not breen speaking to the combine soldiers about Gordon "barely earning his PHD" as if the combine still have memories of what a PHD is.
One of the decals ingame contains the *Making the World safe for Terrorism* poster that has 9/11 written on it.
The real poster mentions 9/11, but the in-game texture is illegible. George Bush Jr.'s face has also been completely cut out because the poster is torn to shreds. I'd consider that more of an easter egg than something with real lore implications.
What 20 years without a new game does to a gamer.
the fact that this guy answered alot of questions we had regarding the lore of half life 2 all because of him wondering if the combine stopped 9/11 is just crazy
In half life 2 episode 1 alyx makes a comment talking about Gordon and barney in a vent looking for kleiner's keys, witch must mean that Gordon has established a large relationship with the black mesa personnel.
i think even if combine didn't invade before 9/11 could happen, i think the chances of it happening would be already low due to the black mesa incident. the alien invasion and portal storms would destabilize any number of events or conditions that could lead to 9/11. people would be busy fighting aliens, not each other
Good job diving into any counterpoints! thank you combine for preventing the invasion of Afghanistan
This is what 20 years of no sequels does to a fandom, we start speculating on the most random things like this.
yeah, even if half life timeline was real and happened, guess what? really save anyone from suffers and divide? if doesn't then this video is all about selling craps.
i mean to be fair, id want to be long time friends with the coworker i only knew for a day who ended up being a murderous rampaging messiah that can stare alien zombies in the face and not give a fuck. i dont need to develop a relationship to know thats one cool ass dude that needs to be protected. especially if he disappeared for 20 years after the most horrific shit to happen to humanity and then just reappears out of no where not having aged a day lol
Mr Breen a Freeman has hit the second Citadel
When you started talking about the moon phase in "on a rail" I knew the lack of a half life game has driven community insane
Great video but unfortunately, the "posters001a.vtf" decal in Half-Life 2 features a scratched out version of the Crimethinc "Making the World Safe for Terrorism" poster, an anti-terrorism poster from after 9/11 featuring the likeness of George W. Bush.
That's neat! I didn't know that. Just goes to show that the Half Life rabbit hole always goes deeper
why would it be in bulgaria though, i feel like it’s most likely a generic asset
Dude, the calendar has 6 day weeks! I don't think it's gonna be reliable.
During the tram ride to Sector-C it's mentioned that the current topside temperature is 93 degrees, with an estimated high of 105. This would place the events of Half Life 1 firmly in the summer months between June and August.
Oh cool, the resonance cascade happens on my birthday, that's great.
Sir a second gunship has hit the citadel
Sir, a second anticitzen has just hit the Citadel.
This really made me realize how messed up the half-life timeline is. Ive accepted May 16th as the date of the experiment for years but im not even sure where exactly that comes from anymore
from the fucking half life 1 opening
10:47 Why does December have 30 days? Also two weeks only have 6 days?
Good question
There's proof of the date on the airboat in half life 2. There's a date, 2004.
Small issue at 15:17; the military (usually) doesnt change out handbooks until absolutely necessary, even more likely that it won't be for smaller, specialized detachments like the H.E.C.U. So, making the assumption the notes were made in the year of publishment is pretty massive assumption.
the no citizen reference caught me off guard
1:03 caught me off guard
10:57 why does December only have 30 days? Also the weeks dont line up
16:04 XD
0:49 sounds an awful lot like chell
about making friends at black mesa Kleiner was his teacher when he was in collage he was the one that recommended Gordon to Breen for hire so im pretty sure they know eachother
what 20 years without half life 3 does to a fanbase
I mean,
Even if all flights and air travel get cancelled due to portal storms, aliens, and a combine invasion...
Then terrorists could still hijack a gunship (by sitting on its back like a horsey) and fly it into the now-abandoned and Xen-infested towers.
... Well Laidlaw did say in the EMails that the invasion took days after the cascade.
Someone’s getting their extra rations
The calendar is also weirdly aligned. In spite of the first appearing on a sunday, it's offset from the rest of the weeks. It also only has 30 days, but December has 31.
Also, some weeks have just 6 days! It was likely made in a hurry with no second thought (the 1st day of the month even perfectly lines up as the 1st day of a week, suggesting they just threw the numbers in there without thinking about it).
This means hl2 takes place in 2021…
I'm sold. This video has me completely convinced that the combine prevented 9/11, a fact which I previously did not even think a single person on this planet would have. I am 100% convinced.
You could check the computers, to see what type of hardware is inside
Releasing workshop support for HL2 eventually raised the bar for peak videos like these.
"I wouldn't say freed, more like, under new management."
Good video, but unfortunately I know of at least two 9/11 references in HL2:
1. In Eli's lab, one of the newspaper headlines on his poster board seems to say "Learning about 9/11" at the top. It's barely legible though, so it could just be an easter egg similar to the text on the Black Mesa security poster in HL1.
2. On the obelisk outside the train station, you can see a bunch of old Soviet propaganda posters plastered about the monument -- but one of them is actually a torn up anti-Bush Jr. propaganda poster that was created IRL in 2002. However, there's no legible text referencing a date and Bush's face is completely cut out, so I would consider this an easter egg. In-universe the person in the photo could be anyone and 9/11 is not visibly mentioned.
That said, I personally prefer to think of these as easter eggs with zero lore implications. HL2 has a lot of themes and subtext that make it work as a post-9/11 allegory, and it feels thematically weird to me if 9/11 actually happened in this universe and then 9/11 Times 1,000 happened in the same country a year or two later, completely unrelated. I'm strongly in the camp of the Black Mesa mod team: December 2000 all the way!
what 17 years without half life three does to a man
this is like saying youve gotten rid of the bug infestation by burning down the whole house
this is what no half life 3 for 15 years does to a man
The craziest part about this video is that it is the second 9/11 Half Life 2 video I’ve seen today and it’s only 8:50am
gordon freeman blew up the world trade citadel
The problem with setting the events of Half-Life in mid-December is the very first piece of information the game tells you: that it's 8:47 AM and current topside temperature is 93 degrees. New Mexico is warm, sure, but it still experiences winter. There's no way that it would get that hot, that early in the morning in December.
that calender in hl1 has 6 day weeks and is missing december 31st. i think we can excuse it maybe pointing us to 2002 randomly
This man skipped literally all the other theories on the date, truly dedicated
7:54 I'm pretty sure black Mesa wasn't publicly traded, since it's entirely government funded. Aperture probably was though, since cave Johnson addresses "investors" in the perpetual testing initiative videos
Private companies have investors too, and I should also point out that I don't think there's evidence Black Mesa is 100% publicly funded. Many public and private companies have government contracts that don't account for their entire budget, and my favorite joke in HL1 -- "Well, there goes our grant money" -- implies that they're competing for government grants and not receiving taxpayer money directly. I'm pretty sure there's also a Powerpoint slide in Portal 1 that mentions competing for grants, too.
@QuintessentialWalrus yeah
The only issue I find with the dates 15-16th December is the fact that there is not a single Christmas reference in Half Life 1. Sure, one might assume a sterile research facility wouldn't put up lights and mistletoe, but given the hours of casual NPC dialogue in the game, one would also assume at least one mention of the encroaching holidays about to be ruined..
I would rather place the time of the Black Mesa incident some time just after Christmas of 2000, when all the talk of it usually simmers down in real life. The actual seven hour war might have been weeks after the fact, as the Combine would probably have had quarrels with G-man's employers over Xen.
This is exactly the type of content that needs to be on youtube. i give it 9 out of 11 stars.
My headcanon is that Gordon was hired on May 5th, 2000, and arrived at Black Mesa and began his HEV training on May 15th, 2000, and Gordon worked at Black Mesa up until the cascade in December of 2000. The HECU have been on standby since March of 2000, because the G-Man had scheduling conflicts.
I first red the title as „columbine prevented 9/11 in halflife 2“ and was utterly confused
This also proves that HL1 is a Christmas game
Valve games' fans are in such a mental decay state that I cannot love how deranged our imagination has gotten. TF2 creators have this same mindset with videos like "to which circle of hell belongs each merc".
this the kind of half life 2 content im looking for
I love the deep dive into the dates! Unfortunately, I think the real answer id that it is ambiguous. You mention how the calendar is just a random prop not made by the lore department, but so is that keycard. Furthermore this is Bulgaria. Whose to say they’re updating their software correctly for expired keycards? Even if that was concrete, we honestly can’t be sure that Alyx is even in a similar timeline to HL2. The combine have seemingly very different styles of troops and types of tech so it’s very possible alyx’s timeline diverged well before Gman was released. After all, he had been meddling before his capture too. All this is to say I think it’s most likely that it occurred between 2000-2005. I choose to follow Mark’s timeline because that makes the most sense but that’s just me. I love the idea that the Combine may have stopped 9/11 though. Hell, maybe in the same way we got pissed and invaded Afghanistan, they got pissed and invaded the Earth!
12:27
It's more likely that Gordon got his HEV Training on may 16th, since the events leading up to the Resonance Cascade are treated more so as a 'routine test'
Am i the only one whose headcannon is that the resonance cascade happens in 1998?
frfr
Y’know what guys, maybe these Combine aren’t so bad. They’re preserving the American spirit!
They hit the second Citadel!