Gonarch's 'testicle' suggestion.

Jigglebones ftw.

you spin me right round baby right round…

I swear we’re going to have such fun reskinning that giant testicle.

Gonad + arch (suffix meaning ruler, leader, chief, etc).

So, quite literally, the Gonarch (“Big Mama”) is the Chief Testicle.

Agon was ancient Greek for “assembly for a contest”… which makes a lot of sense considering the boss fight.

In fact, the gon in gonad (as well as gonorrhea) originates simply from the Greek gone, for “seed (of a generation)”. There’s no need to specify gonad as being the root for it to make any sense.

Or how about gonia for “angle”, such as its sharp armoured legs?
Which itself derives from gony for “knee”, as her knees are the second-most prominent feature after the egg-sac?

Atlas, if its of any consequence, I agree with you 100%.

Yes, but the etymology of the word “gonad” notwithstanding, Valve states that it’s a portmanteau of “gonad” and “-arch” (as in “monarch”). shrug

Gonarch is testicle, No change is necessary…

I agree with you partially, but part of Valve’s focus when making this game that it would be different from other games at the time, and part of the solution was to go for a twisted homoerotic feel to try and scare the target audience (teenage boys basically). Also, Half-Life has always had a certain tongue-in-cheek element to it - it’s never been a wholly serious game and I think detracting from the scary testical would be detrimental to the effect that it creates. It’s not about taking the monster seriously - it’s about making you look in disgust and horror as you watch its ball sway.

:fffuuu:

:awesome:

"Sometimes we’re just sitting around and we’re tired and somebody comes up with a goofy idea like, “Why don’t we put a giant testicle on a 20-foot-tall armored spider?”
―Gabe Newell

I miss Half-Life from the old days… You must admit, they really shifted away from that desire to gently disgust. In HL2, we didn’t even get to have our corpses tickled by a bullsquid. It was just a mechanical anal probe.

THEY KNOW NOT THE BEAUTY THEY CREATE :’(

Maybe fewer things disgust you now compared to when you were younger.

Jiggleballs update video?? One can only dream.

The bodies in Route Kanal and Antlion grub tunnels with the blood and squelching sounds as you crawled through it always seemed “worse” by far than the Gonarch or indeed anything in HL.

Yeah, the big slimy blood puddles in the antlion caves in Ep.2 really got to me.

^This.

Nine times out of ten when I see a post I wanna disagree with, but don’t have the energy to sit and formulate a post explaining my position, my man jdowney’s there to pick up the slack. <3

Dream came true back in june:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVM_H7F2C8M

Jiggleplant may be the most awesome plant in videogame history, but there are no jiggly bawls!

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.