Eldritch Horror but Cute With It

I, local family's resident literature fine arts and weird dead animals dork, have been having ENDLESS fun at his expense on this

Me: Well I'd have to do some research to be sure but if it didn't have a practical purpose and it wasn't a spiritual thing then my best guess is that it was either a novelty that had suddenly been introduced and found appealing, or it came to represent an important facet of the culture that suddenly gained relevance

Him: So why did it stop

Me: Fashions swing from one extreme to the other. People seek out what is desirable and unique, which is almost always unique because it's not produced or available very much. If enough people jump onto that bandwagon, demand goes up, so whoever can invent a way to get more or make more will make a killing. Once this innovation meets demand, the rhing will become commonplace, and no longer new or exciting. If it happens to be perfectly suited to a particular niche or image then it will become timeless as long as that niche or image is relevant, but the majority will move in the opposite direction once they hit the greatest possible extreme.

Him: That's stupid

Me: War is stupid. Ask grandma why she doesn't throw out old nylons and keeps turning old rags into bath mats

And GLaDOS interjects like, "You didn't do this. She did all the work!"

I find that interjection fascinating because. Like.

GLaDOS doesn't actually know anything about what happened behind the scenes. She lost track of Chell and Wheatley after Wheatley opened up a wall panel and they bolted off together into the facility's inner workings. She doesn't see them again until Chell falls for her fake door trap, at which point GLaDOS is unpleasantly surprised to discover that Chell's disabled the turrets and neurotoxin in the meantime.

She has no evidentiary foundation to base that accusation on.

This is also before GLaDOS recognizes Wheatley as the Dumbass Core, so it's not based on an assessment of him.

The only explanation it leaves is that it's based on her assessment of Chell. Despite GLaDOS's enmity towards Chell, the one thing she rarely goes after Chell for is her intelligence.

When she does, it's an admission of her high standards for Chell; Like when the fake door trap works and GLaDOS concedes, "I didn't actually think that would work. I already built a much better, smarter trap up ahead for when this one fails." That's a backhanded insult. It's calling her dumb, but in a disappointed way rather than an affirming way.

Chell tests very well. Between the two games, GLaDOS has developed a strong understanding of Chell's aptitude for critical thinking and problem-solving in stressful situations.