Zoologically Improbable

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The reason why I don't think benrey is the "master manipulator" is that he's really just fucking around in the AI reading. Just, forgetting the non-AI reading/AU for a moment. He knows he's in a video game and he's fucking around. He understands that the streamer/Gordon is the player character and he cannot realistically hurt him. Whether he understands that he's a part of the stream or not is debatable. He might if he can access other parts of the streamer's computer. He might be able to tell that he's streaming for however many people. Or maybe he thinks he's putting on a show for just the streamer. But it seems he wants to spend this time with him well.

It's obvious Benrey has a big fat crush on the streamer, and he's trying to make the most out of those moments they have together. But the streamer has designated that he hates Benrey and is actively pushing him into being the antagonist role. And frankly, Benrey didn't help himself by working with Bubby in the betrayal.

But he knows when the streamer acts like he really just had his hand cut off, he's playing it for theatrics. "What a drama queen", is probably what he's thinking.

And not only that, but Benrey seems to have processing issues rather than knowing what he's doing. and when he does 'gaslight' Gordon, he's just doing the kind of gaslighting friends do on an online video game? It's literally like a guy lobbing a grenade in a COD match to blow himself and his teammates up and asking "why did you do that?" to his buddy type shit (and even then I don't think he does this a lot).

I'll be frank, Benrey seems rarely fully cognizant for whatever reason, and the time he seemed most cognizant is when Gordon mentioned not having his passport in Darnold's lab. That activated his sleeper agent.

And my metatextual evidence is scorpy admitting he had 0 memory of doing HLVRAI and that he wasn't paying a lot of attention throughout the streams since he was too busy experiencing HL1 for the first time.

Benrey comes across more like a shithead friend who is fucking with the streamer in my opinion. He's playing with toys.

I think Benrey is slightly bitter towards the end in the way a kid forced to play as the bad guy on the playground does. He wanted to be a good guy with Gordon. He wanted to be part of the Science Team and have a big pizza party with Tommy, Bubby, Coomer, and Gordon. But he has to be the bad guy. And the streamer acts like he had actually hurt him. Maligns Benrey as if he were a real threat. When Benrey understands that he isn't a real threat.

Since his emotions about this aren't really clear, we can see him still playing into the villain role and just kind of fucking around with it. He really doesn't actually attack the player much.

I understand this interpretation lowers the stakes a lot, but I don't think HLVRAI needs high stakes when I think the emotional turmoil Coomer is in is really the most intriguing and important throughline. Sure, the streamer might not be in danger, but this is the AIs' whole world as far as we're aware.

On an slightly unrelated tangent: Benrey is a character full of oxymorons. Between his lust for the streamer and his aggression, his hypocritical self-righteousness at random intervals, etc. It seems that Benrey is put on a certain pathway that he is actively going against. I think that the side of Benrey that's authentically him is the one that's being a jackass to make the streamer laugh (he will repeat jokes that the streamer laughs at) and lusts after him. While the inauthentic benrey is in the role he plays as the antagonist.

For speculation and NOT canon analysis: I think Benrey could have been much more dangerous if he wanted to be. I personally think that his ability to change his model and alter the boss battle meant that he was capable of making himself far more powerful, to the point of being an unbeatable boss. And yet I think since he had to be the antagonist, he decided to make himself beatable. The passports were a fun mechanic for that. But his performance at the end is lacking because he doesn't want to be doing this. In every reading of HLVRAI, I always see him as a reluctant antagonist. His purpose isn't to fuck with the streamer. I think his purpose is to entertain him at any cost.

Let me make this clear: I think he's still antagonistic. I think he wants to fuck with the streamer. I think his goal IS to fuck with the streamer and be funny about it. But I also don't think he's some master manipulator about it. Guys. It's not that deep. He's being mean in the way friends are mean to each other on a TF2 server. He's giving more 'shithead younger brother' than 'evil eldritch entity'.

Maybe Benrey hopes that by being entertaining, the streamer will play again or do another run? Who knows. His motivations can't really be extrapolated from his monologue. It's all nonsense. Other than the fact that he wanted to be good. But he was forced to be bad. SO he's going to be bad.

MAN if you think you can hide these tags boy howdy you WROOOONG. I wholeheartedly agree. My issue is with AU being treated as canon. It’s like people keep forgetting the AI!!! Part!!!

My favorite AU is the Not a Game AU. I actually prefer that reading. And in that I think Benrey genuinely doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions. For whatever reason? I don’t know. He’s playing touys, your honor. He was being a goofy goober, your honor!

plus not only that but imo since canon motivations and personality are still more or less the foundation on which any AU is built sometimes people will misinterpret canon so badly that the resulting AUs are like 'not only would he not say that and not only is it not even him anymore, but i can tell in your mind it wasn't even him to begin with' so just a complete miss in both directions

A lot of AUs have this issue. And like, I’m not going to pretend to be better because my fic Brokeback Mesa exists (sorry women). It’s not even entertaining the idea of being canon adjacent. I’m not gonna lie I think I fucked up characterization hardcore style. Anyways. The point is I support people having fun regardless. But I also want to have a good discussion on this piece of media without fanon influence. And that isn’t to say fanon influence is bad. Sometimes when characters are nothing like the way they are in canon it’s better (Cough cough Forzen is literally just Benrey and that sucks cough cough).

I want to see more canon compliant work is all. Not the fanon canon, the canon canon. And more strictly canon inspired work! Especially in AUs! I love AUs!

Not only that but this is further complicated by the differences in characterization between vids and VODs. Gordon is a lot less hinged in the VODs as an example.

So then it comes to the question of what’s your source material? Which one? Or how do you implement characterization from both? How much fanon inspiration is being used?

(For me it was a moderate amount of fanon, but mostly canon inspiration from the VODs with some of the dramatic flair of the YT cut).

this reading doesn't really hold up unless you're reading this from a non-AI standpoint. by canon, this reading falls apart because the streamer has incurred no damage, only the avatar. And it also falls apart in the VODs due to Benrey just being significantly sillier and more airheaded.

The reason why I don't think benrey is the "master manipulator" is that he's really just fucking around in the AI reading. Just, forgetting the non-AI reading/AU for a moment. He knows he's in a video game and he's fucking around. He understands that the streamer/Gordon is the player character and he cannot realistically hurt him. Whether he understands that he's a part of the stream or not is debatable. He might if he can access other parts of the streamer's computer. He might be able to tell that he's streaming for however many people. Or maybe he thinks he's putting on a show for just the streamer. But it seems he wants to spend this time with him well.

It's obvious Benrey has a big fat crush on the streamer, and he's trying to make the most out of those moments they have together. But the streamer has designated that he hates Benrey and is actively pushing him into being the antagonist role. And frankly, Benrey didn't help himself by working with Bubby in the betrayal.

But he knows when the streamer acts like he really just had his hand cut off, he's playing it for theatrics. "What a drama queen", is probably what he's thinking.

And not only that, but Benrey seems to have processing issues rather than knowing what he's doing. and when he does 'gaslight' Gordon, he's just doing the kind of gaslighting friends do on an online video game? It's literally like a guy lobbing a grenade in a COD match to blow himself and his teammates up and asking "why did you do that?" to his buddy type shit (and even then I don't think he does this a lot).

I'll be frank, Benrey seems rarely fully cognizant for whatever reason, and the time he seemed most cognizant is when Gordon mentioned not having his passport in Darnold's lab. That activated his sleeper agent.

And my metatextual evidence is scorpy admitting he had 0 memory of doing HLVRAI and that he wasn't paying a lot of attention throughout the streams since he was too busy experiencing HL1 for the first time.

Benrey comes across more like a shithead friend who is fucking with the streamer in my opinion. He's playing with toys.

I think Benrey is slightly bitter towards the end in the way a kid forced to play as the bad guy on the playground does. He wanted to be a good guy with Gordon. He wanted to be part of the Science Team and have a big pizza party with Tommy, Bubby, Coomer, and Gordon. But he has to be the bad guy. And the streamer acts like he had actually hurt him. Maligns Benrey as if he were a real threat. When Benrey understands that he isn't a real threat.

Since his emotions about this aren't really clear, we can see him still playing into the villain role and just kind of fucking around with it. He really doesn't actually attack the player much.

I understand this interpretation lowers the stakes a lot, but I don't think HLVRAI needs high stakes when I think the emotional turmoil Coomer is in is really the most intriguing and important throughline. Sure, the streamer might not be in danger, but this is the AIs' whole world as far as we're aware.

On an slightly unrelated tangent: Benrey is a character full of oxymorons. Between his lust for the streamer and his aggression, his hypocritical self-righteousness at random intervals, etc. It seems that Benrey is put on a certain pathway that he is actively going against. I think that the side of Benrey that's authentically him is the one that's being a jackass to make the streamer laugh (he will repeat jokes that the streamer laughs at) and lusts after him. While the inauthentic benrey is in the role he plays as the antagonist.

For speculation and NOT canon analysis: I think Benrey could have been much more dangerous if he wanted to be. I personally think that his ability to change his model and alter the boss battle meant that he was capable of making himself far more powerful, to the point of being an unbeatable boss. And yet I think since he had to be the antagonist, he decided to make himself beatable. The passports were a fun mechanic for that. But his performance at the end is lacking because he doesn't want to be doing this. In every reading of HLVRAI, I always see him as a reluctant antagonist. His purpose isn't to fuck with the streamer. I think his purpose is to entertain him at any cost.

Let me make this clear: I think he's still antagonistic. I think he wants to fuck with the streamer. I think his goal IS to fuck with the streamer and be funny about it. But I also don't think he's some master manipulator about it. Guys. It's not that deep. He's being mean in the way friends are mean to each other on a TF2 server. He's giving more 'shithead younger brother' than 'evil eldritch entity'.

Maybe Benrey hopes that by being entertaining, the streamer will play again or do another run? Who knows. His motivations can't really be extrapolated from his monologue. It's all nonsense. Other than the fact that he wanted to be good. But he was forced to be bad. SO he's going to be bad.

MAN if you think you can hide these tags boy howdy you WROOOONG. I wholeheartedly agree. My issue is with AU being treated as canon. It’s like people keep forgetting the AI!!! Part!!!

My favorite AU is the Not a Game AU. I actually prefer that reading. And in that I think Benrey genuinely doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions. For whatever reason? I don’t know. He’s playing touys, your honor. He was being a goofy goober, your honor!

plus not only that but imo since canon motivations and personality are still more or less the foundation on which any AU is built sometimes people will misinterpret canon so badly that the resulting AUs are like 'not only would he not say that and not only is it not even him anymore, but i can tell in your mind it wasn't even him to begin with' so just a complete miss in both directions

idr the exact phrasing so Apolocheese if i am incorrect on phrasing but in the QnA wayne and baaulp i think agreed that tommy wasnt really. qualified to work there which is already funny

warnings for the content ahead! this is a darker, grittier version of hlvrai with a lot of mentions of death, severe injuries, fatal disease, and body horror. this is also a real life version of hlvrai where the characters aren’t ai and they aren’t in a video game.

the general idea for this au is that on the day Gordon arrives at Black Mesa for the big test, every character in the main cast (except for Tommy and Darnold) through a series of unfortunate events ends up dying. then, the Resonance Cascade occurs, and the energy it releases removes the boundary between life and death and puts almost everyone and everything in the facility in a state of undeath. for some, this turns them into essentially zombies, for others, they become horrible fleshy monstrosities, but for the lucky few that are the Science Team, they’re brought back to life! mostly.

all that said, have a character lineup!

i have a longer post going into detail about what happens to each member of the Science Team, but the basics are this!

The reason why I don't think benrey is the "master manipulator" is that he's really just fucking around in the AI reading. Just, forgetting the non-AI reading/AU for a moment. He knows he's in a video game and he's fucking around. He understands that the streamer/Gordon is the player character and he cannot realistically hurt him. Whether he understands that he's a part of the stream or not is debatable. He might if he can access other parts of the streamer's computer. He might be able to tell that he's streaming for however many people. Or maybe he thinks he's putting on a show for just the streamer. But it seems he wants to spend this time with him well.

It's obvious Benrey has a big fat crush on the streamer, and he's trying to make the most out of those moments they have together. But the streamer has designated that he hates Benrey and is actively pushing him into being the antagonist role. And frankly, Benrey didn't help himself by working with Bubby in the betrayal.

But he knows when the streamer acts like he really just had his hand cut off, he's playing it for theatrics. "What a drama queen", is probably what he's thinking.

And not only that, but Benrey seems to have processing issues rather than knowing what he's doing. and when he does 'gaslight' Gordon, he's just doing the kind of gaslighting friends do on an online video game? It's literally like a guy lobbing a grenade in a COD match to blow himself and his teammates up and asking "why did you do that?" to his buddy type shit (and even then I don't think he does this a lot).

I'll be frank, Benrey seems rarely fully cognizant for whatever reason, and the time he seemed most cognizant is when Gordon mentioned not having his passport in Darnold's lab. That activated his sleeper agent.

And my metatextual evidence is scorpy admitting he had 0 memory of doing HLVRAI and that he wasn't paying a lot of attention throughout the streams since he was too busy experiencing HL1 for the first time.

Benrey comes across more like a shithead friend who is fucking with the streamer in my opinion. He's playing with toys.

I think Benrey is slightly bitter towards the end in the way a kid forced to play as the bad guy on the playground does. He wanted to be a good guy with Gordon. He wanted to be part of the Science Team and have a big pizza party with Tommy, Bubby, Coomer, and Gordon. But he has to be the bad guy. And the streamer acts like he had actually hurt him. Maligns Benrey as if he were a real threat. When Benrey understands that he isn't a real threat.

Since his emotions about this aren't really clear, we can see him still playing into the villain role and just kind of fucking around with it. He really doesn't actually attack the player much.

I understand this interpretation lowers the stakes a lot, but I don't think HLVRAI needs high stakes when I think the emotional turmoil Coomer is in is really the most intriguing and important throughline. Sure, the streamer might not be in danger, but this is the AIs' whole world as far as we're aware.

On an slightly unrelated tangent: Benrey is a character full of oxymorons. Between his lust for the streamer and his aggression, his hypocritical self-righteousness at random intervals, etc. It seems that Benrey is put on a certain pathway that he is actively going against. I think that the side of Benrey that's authentically him is the one that's being a jackass to make the streamer laugh (he will repeat jokes that the streamer laughs at) and lusts after him. While the inauthentic benrey is in the role he plays as the antagonist.

For speculation and NOT canon analysis: I think Benrey could have been much more dangerous if he wanted to be. I personally think that his ability to change his model and alter the boss battle meant that he was capable of making himself far more powerful, to the point of being an unbeatable boss. And yet I think since he had to be the antagonist, he decided to make himself beatable. The passports were a fun mechanic for that. But his performance at the end is lacking because he doesn't want to be doing this. In every reading of HLVRAI, I always see him as a reluctant antagonist. His purpose isn't to fuck with the streamer. I think his purpose is to entertain him at any cost.

Let me make this clear: I think he's still antagonistic. I think he wants to fuck with the streamer. I think his goal IS to fuck with the streamer and be funny about it. But I also don't think he's some master manipulator about it. Guys. It's not that deep. He's being mean in the way friends are mean to each other on a TF2 server. He's giving more 'shithead younger brother' than 'evil eldritch entity'.

Maybe Benrey hopes that by being entertaining, the streamer will play again or do another run? Who knows. His motivations can't really be extrapolated from his monologue. It's all nonsense. Other than the fact that he wanted to be good. But he was forced to be bad. SO he's going to be bad.

OK this one is a lot harder. Since Gordon is kind of. Well he's sort of a massive hypocrite.

Gordon is straight up kind of mean. He's usually exasperated. And the moment he gets to have a normal conversation, he reveals how fucking bizarre he really is. Gordon thinks he's the normal one. He really isn't.

like. gordon. we know that hes mean and jumpy and yells a lot when convinced that hes going to actually die at any moment, but really he seemed mostly polite and chill at the start, if a little easily frustrated. and that was because he kept having to interact with benry which is nobodys best environment. with love.

and benry himself is not in a great place either. if nothing else hes clearly unfamiliar with whats happening around him, which sucks for anybody.