I’ve been playing with Source SDK, and accidentally noticed this note, placed on the top of Kleiner’s corkboard.
It say’s “Mutation Evolution?” and there’s a scheme of something that looks like fast headcrab to me. What do you thing about it?
Before seeing that i thought that fast/poison headcrabs were made by combine, but it suggests that they were not developed by combine (kleiner surely would know) nor came from xen.
If there was a thread about it, i did not found it.
Marc Laidlaws simple explanation:
I think he’s hinting at evolution, although the fact that it says “mutation/evolution” is strange, considering it is the same
Actually there is a giant questionmark next to it instead of two seperates
It’s supposed to read Mutation? Evolution?
As if he was questioning how it happened
Mutations can be caused by external factors, like radiation, while evolution is natural adaptation to the environment.
You’re right, I didn’t think it through.
[COLOR=‘Black’]Although evolution isn’t necessarily adaption to an environment.
The thing that troubles me in this, is what could possibly alter a living creature in such rapid manner? These headcrab’s have very big differences, and yet it took them only some years, instead of millions of years.
A spider-man approach to radiation and mutation.
They’re also space aliens, their biology is probably some bizarre shit.
Stop applying your earthling attributes to things that aren’t from Earth, especially fictitious things.
Mark Laidlaw has always been lenient to new story adaptations, and I don’t think such a casual explanation would be set in stone, in favor of something more interesting.
The question mark says it all. For such a difference over 20 years, the Combine had to have genetically engineered them, in secret, of course. That’s why Kleiner and other Resistance scientists were perplexed.
Just play MINERVA: Metastasis if you want the interesting version. 
also evolution can happen very rapidly when circumstances are adverse enough and when reproduction occurs quickly, as seems to be the case with headcrabs
Kind of like frogs changing gender in times of population crises.
Fuck, there goes my original statement
Rapid change of environment + tendency to hang around radioactive waste? Sounds like a recipe for rapid evolution to me.
Well the Combine were responsible for mass ‘conversion’ and ‘mutation’ of species across many galaxies so it’s not hard to imagine they could ‘enhance’ a simple headcrab. Look what they did to us humans! (Stalkers)
If there wasn’t a thread about it, you would found it
^hehe, laughed my ass off 
For a creature that can literally jack straight into bipedal creatures nervous systems and change their entire DNA in a matter of hours I really wouldn’t find it surprising if they managed to change their own physical properties within twenty years.
Especially if you consider the idea of fast and poison Gonarchs. Ouch.
That said I think of fast and poison headcrabs as a different breed we simply didn’t see in black mesa.
DO WANT!
Do you think a Gonarch can attach itself to a Gargantua? Then you could have a fast/poison Gargantua zombie.
So long as the poison Gargantua zombie doesn’t start throwing poison Gonarchs at you…
How exactly do you know can a headcrab can even change DNA? Nothing about a zombie is really that different than a regular human.
My guess is mutation, seeing as there are copious amounts of radioactive waste sitting around.
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.