FAN rationalization: aka head canon for the unexplained.

yeah long thread title. but simple objective what is your head/fan canon for systems and functions in black mesa.

example of mine.

green glowing goop
RL: in real life radioactive material is not glowing instead it generally has no signs that it is radio active unless it is marked some how. this is where my head canon comes in. I think the green goop is actually a radioactive marker used to warn the science team if their is a leak. simply a glowing dye put into it for safty.

lack of iron sight aiming on H.E.V
ok this is one of my bigger head canon or fan theory things. The reason I think Gordon doesn’t use iron sights on the weapons with them is cause of the H.E.V suits build. it is designed to project a hud with an aim point on the helmet (as freeman doesn’t have a helmet guessing he has something similar to google glass) allowing users to hold weapons like the gluon gun with out worrying about their aim point. it also alows for better handling on some weapons like SMG’s which from personal experience are better to fire from the “hip”.

As for why freeman uses the sights on the revolver. my fan theory is the H.E.V suit is not calibrated properly for it, while it does show the aim point well it can be excused that it doesn’t have an accurate aim point meaning Gordon may have to rely on the sights with it and it alone.

The idea behind this is the science teams on xen. they would likely be geared with weapons as such the H.E.V suit is equipped with systems to make combat “easier” for them, as they are still science team members and not trained soldiers.

Gordons hammer space pack
we have seen in the original half life that their are supply packs dropped and carried by H.E.V personnel my head canon for gordon’s hammer space is each suit having several of these packs which by default are packed similar to a collapsing cup. when Gordon needs more room for ammo and supplies he just opens one of these and snaps it onto his back. heavier weapons like the RPG and gluon likely have mounts in the HEV suit. Seeing as the Gluon was likely used by H.E.V personel it is highly likely that the suits are built so both can be equipped comfortingly.

this topic is here for debate on theories like this, post your own and poke holes/add to the ones above. lets see if we can “reasonably” fill in the canon.

The ridiculous ties

Whoever was assigned with choosing the latest neck clothing to be worn by the Black Mesa employees was clearly not the right person for the job, either for lack of proper eye for fashion or lack of time to choose a more aesthetically pleasing clothing item. This in turn resulted in employees disliking such piece of work attire, which led to general discontentment and lack of motivation among the working populace, making them less effective at their jobs, therefore eventually culminating in the huge catastrophe that was the Casserole Incident.

  1. All the calendars in BM show ‘December’. The inbound tram announcement states that the topside temperature is 93 degrees Fahrenheit at 8:47 in the morning with a high of 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Those temperatures are way out of line considering the fact that all of the BM calendars show it to be December. The average highs in New Mexico for December are in the 50’s (Fahrenheit).

  2. The ‘Minimum Wage’ poster that states that the minimum wage is $4.75 per hour. New Mexico went from a minimum wage of $4.25 per hour (1998-2002) to $5.15 per hour (2003-2007). There never was a $4.75 per hour minimum wage in New Mexico.

  3. Whoever wrote the script and created the scientist in the locker room complains about having to wear “these ridiculous penny loafers”. He’s not wearing penny loafers, he has lace up work boots on.

yup, noticed the min wage dates too. as for no iron sites while wearing the hev, having any type of weapon that is braced against your shoulder or body, makes it incredibly awkward when held up to the eye while wearing any type of mask, it’s too close to the mask face shield, the angle of the shield while you tilt your head to look through any type of iron site that is close makes it damn near impossible. I’ve worn many different gas mask, aviation face shields, nvg’s and so on, you just have to wing it while masked up. fun fact, m16’s and m4’s have two modes of fire for the basic army soldier, single shot semi and 3 round burst, the 3 round burst is only taught for when wearing a mask, they also come with a flip iron site that has a much larger hole/eye site because of having vision obstructions from wearing any type of mask. you can go through all 30 rounds of your magazine in less than 2 seconds on burst. that type of ammo expenditure is not good.

Black Mesa (and Half-Life) takes place on May 16th and 17th.

The calendars also show December 31st being a Sunday, which happens only in 1989, 1995, and 2000. If we go by the above idea that the Resonance Cascade instead takes place on May 16th and 17th (where is this from?), then presumably these are the old calendars and new ones have yet to be distributed, which would put the events of Black Mesa in 1990, 1996, or 2001. Considering the computers shown I’m thinking '96, although '01 might also be a possibility.

From the half life manual: https://archive.org/details/Half-Life_Manual, and it’s definitely 200x, so probably 2001. Also see https://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/200-#200- for more details and other theories.

also, the kxbm website, talked the explosion/earthquake. if I remember correctly, it was dated February according to general (something) I have spent hundreds of hours on the arg. there have been several continuity issues. I have also looked at it as the dates were on purpose. there is the minimum wage papers on numerous boards, pictures from what looks like cern, dates of clues received for instance “authorised for release 12.12.12” a poster on dr. horns taco shack wall that was from an actual conference in a year around 2007. the december calendars, the dates on the bmrf.us website, the kxbm website dates. the said date of the bmrf dam becoming a historical landmark. the dates of the emails/news stories. I’ve asked before if some of these were on purpose or mistakes but did not get a response. hundreds of hours, I don’t know what’s intentional and what isn’t so I try to consider that both are true.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.