The Aperture Science Enrichment Center will like to remind you that at the end of every test, you will be rewarded with a slightly humorous internet quip from our Aperture Science Humor Database. If at any time you find yourself unable to stop laughing after hearing one, causing a high probability of choking to death, please lie down and wait patiently for our staff to assist you.
Please add entries in the following format:
- The meme. [[labelnote: Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] ExplanationLike this.
- Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
- "The Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak. In the event that the Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice." ExplanationIn one level GLaDOS gives the player a Weighted Storage Cube that had to be carried through the level. Playtesters would often leave the cube behind and get stumped, so Valve gave the cube a Palette Swap and had GLaDOS talk about the cube constantly. As a result many players became incredibly attached to the cube and some even gave it a Memetic Badass status. Also a Trope Namer.
- "You will be baked, and then there will be cake." ExplanationGLaDOS, resident Exposition Fairy/Mission Control/Big Bad, is an immensely popular Fountain of Memes for her dark, dark comedy, with nearly every single one of her lines repeated or mutated in some form. Some other examples are listed below. Note that this example is what shows up in the subtitles, but you hear the full line.
- "This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction..."
ExplanationThe closing credits song of the first game, "Still Alive", is also immensely popular, with lines often taken out of context, most notably "This was a triumph" etcetera in response to anything good. - "Now You're [Verb]ing With Portals", "Now You're Thinking With [Noun]s." ExplanationFrom the advertising campaign, "Now you're thinking with portals". Often used when someone thinks of a weird but ultimately successful solution to a problem. The phrase may have originated from Nintendo slogan "Now you're playing with power!". One of GLaDOS' lines in Portal 2 co-op, when a robot dies, is "Now you're thinking with stupidity".
- The Cake Is a Lie the cake is a lie the cake is a lie—— ExplanationBoth GLaDOS and the escapee Doug Rattmann are a little cake obsessed, and later in the game there is a room where the phrase is scrawled over and over again. Used when something is an obvious scam or whenever cake is mentioned. This one is definitely a Discredited Meme; using it in most Internet circles will get people seriously annoyed and in certain places probably get you banned.
- "I wonder if the pancakes will be a lie too?" ExplanationIn the second Aperture Investment Opportunity video, "Bot Trust", the two robots are seen pancake-flipping. Cue YouTube comments like this. Unfortunately, the pancakes were indeed a lie, as none appeared in the game in any fashion.
- The meme has come full circle with the advent of the "Everything is Cake" meme; finally, the lie is a cake.
- "This party's cool, but I wish there was a way to find the geeks and gamers in the crowd..."ExplanationGirlz 'N' Games, a mediocre Two Gamers on a Couch-style webcomic, had a Christmas-themed comic◊ referencing the meme. The comic became infamous years later for its awkward setup and its use of a Discredited Meme as a punchline.
- "Cave Johnson here/Cave Johnson, we're done here." ExplanationCave Johnson, resident Crazy Is Cool Mad Corporate Executive, is a Fountain of Memes to challenge even GLaDOS, and though not all of his lines became memes it is damn close. This one is used at the beginning and end of all four of the Aperture Investment Opportunity videos, and is commonly used whenever fans say something as him.
- "That is not a panel. That's a crusher. We sell them too." ExplanationIn the first Aperture Investment Opportunity video, where he demonstrates the usage of panels, a crusher slams on Atlas, prompting him to say this line. It has been used as a snowclone: "That's not a <noun>. That's a <different noun>. We sell them, too."
- "That's 65 percent more bullet per bullet." ExplanationCave explains how the turrets' bullets work in the third Aperture Investment Opportunity video. Whenever the turrets are brought up or any instance of Cartridges in Flight is pointed out, this line is often quoted.
- When life gives you lemons, burn down life's house. WITH THE LEMONS. ExplanationCave's final pre-recorded message has him deliver an epic rant subverting the typical "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" idiom. It is widely believed he actually managed to do this. His "lemons" speech in particular is one of his most memetic quotes, and whenever a meme about Cave Johnson is made, it almost always involves lemons.
- I don't want lemons, I want pictures of Spider-Man! ExplanationJ.K. Simmons, the voice of Cave Johnson, also played J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man films, resulting in a lot of moments and jokes such as these.
- "The Solution? ROBOTS! Then... fire the guys who made those robots and build BETTER robots!" ExplanationFrom the second Aperture Investment Opportunity video, which is said after Wheatley is shown failing to make pancakes. A minor meme used whenever robots are seen failing at their job.
- "BAM! Robots gave us six extra seconds of co-operation. Good job, robots!" ExplanationA line from the same video which is another minor meme, this time used for heartwarming or funny moments between the two co-op robots.
- "Science isn't about "why?". It's about "why not?"!" note Often used whenever an unlikely, ludicrous, or unusually specific thing is made, or as a joking response to a question, whether it begins with "why" or not.
- "Chariots chariots." ExplanationFrom the over half hour of additional dialogue added with the Perpetual Testing Initiative (read: user-designed test chambers). Cave first says that due to the multiversal nature of the program, he'll precede all of his messages with "chariots" so the tester knows it's Earth Prime Cave. When he realizes there's a universe where his counterpart for no discernible reason says "Chariots" before his sentences, he adds another one on for good measure. Then Dark Cave Johnson starts saying "Chariots chariots chariots." The word "chariots" is often used whenever alternate universes are mentioned, or for no particular reason.
- "How are you holding up? Because I'm a potato." Explanation (spoilers)About halfway through Portal 2 GLaDOS gets attached to a potato, and says this. This potato version of GLaDOS (Also known as "PotatOS", taken from the developer commentary, and the official soundtrack features a track "PotatOS Lament") is quite popular and has appeared in much fan art, often with the quote attached to it. The "Because I'm a potato" line is also used to make people take perspective of their problems and realize they aren't as bad as GLaDOS's predicament.
- "Space space go to space so much space gotta see it all." "SPAAAAAAAAAACE!"Explanation (spoilers)One of the corrupted cores that have to be attached to the final boss of Portal 2, the "Space Sphere", is obsessed with space, and constantly streams lines like these. As a result, the Internet kept repeating the word "space" in reference to the Space Core, along with a few of the Core's other lines. It even spawned its own single-serving site, which is linked above.
- "Dad, I'm in space." "I'm proud of you, son." "Dad, are you space?" "Yes. Now we are a family again."
- "Space is boring. Gotta go back to earth."
- "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey lady. Lady. Space."
- "This should be its own holiday. EXPLOSION DAY!" Explanation (spoilers)Another of the corrupted cores, the "Adventure Sphere", is not as popular, but has still managed to achieve Memetic Badass status, with jokes such as "Saxton Hale in sphere form".
- They told me, that if I ever [insert action here], I would DIE! ExplanationWheatley was always told that if he performed just about any action, he would die. Has become a snowclone where any of the original actions, such as "disengaging from the Management Rail", is replaced with pretty much any action that is relevant to wherever it is being used.
- "Well, this is the part where [insert action here]". Explanation (spoilers)A parody of the infamous "This is the part where he kills you" scene in Portal 2, where the first two lines are spoken, then the chapter title appears, then the achievement is unlocked with its description, all saying variations of the same line. Upon the soundtrack's release, it was revealed that even the music track title was shown to follow this. The original version of the sequence is also quoted sometimes in the comments section for the music track or Portal discussions in general for its escalation.
- "Hello, this is the part where [insert action here]!"
- Ch. 9: The Part Where [insert action here].
- Achievement Unlocked: The Part Where [insert action here].
- Achievement Description: This is that part.
- Music Track Title: The Part Where [insert action here].
- And I-AH! BIRD! BIRD! BIRD! BIRD! ExplanationWheatley's line when he gets attacked by a bird.
- AH! BIRD! KILL IT! It's evil... ExplanationGLaDOS doesn't like birds either. Both lines are often quoted whenever the bird is mentioned, and the two are often flanderized into having a mortal fear of birds.
- Holmes vs Moriarty! Aristotle vs... MASHY SPIKE PLATE! ExplanationSaid by Wheatley when he tries desperately to make it look like he's your intellectual equal. Because of this line, the crushers are often called "mashy spike plates".
- "I AM NOT! A! MORON!"Explanation Wheatley really doesn't like being called a "moron". This line is sometimes used when someone is called a moron, directly or not.
- "COULD A MORON [DO] (insert action here)?!" ExplanationA meme derived from Wheatley's betrayal, with the original line being "Could a moron punch you into this pit?!". While the original is often quoted (usually in tandem with the above quote), it's also a snowclone where punching someone into a pit is replaced with another action, usually something humorous, improbable, or threatening.
- Fact: everything said by the Fact Core is a meme. ExplanationThe Fact Core's numerous inaccurate "facts" have become something of a meme.
- When drawing Wheatley as a human, he most often looks like Stephen Merchant (Wheatley's voice actor).
- You know, [action] just now taught me a valuable lesson... Explanation (spoilers)At the end of the game GLaDOS says three different variations on "[Doing something] just now taught me a valuable lesson", and during the Art Therapy co-op levels says a variant of "[Player] just taught [Other Player] a valuable lesson in trust".
- A rare case of a meme that never was: In the end of the first game, outside the facility, a hoop falls in front of the player, quite close to the camera, bounces and falls to the side. For whatever reason, Valve thought this would become a meme and waited for the internet to start talking about "Hoopy the Hoop", as they called it. No such luck for them - Hoopy went mostly ignored, and "the cake is a lie" instead became the go-to Portal meme. Despite this, Hoopy can still be found in some random places in Portal 2.
- It's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage. ExplanationA quote from Wheatley used to call someone stupid, or to imply that their opinion is.
- Hahaha, Wheatley Crab!ExplanationThis 2012 video showing off beta footage of Portal 2 contains several unused animations, including one where Wheatley morphs into a crab-like creature to move around (which was replaced by the Management Rail in the final game). The clip gained popularity after being featured in a Fish Dance Beach Parade meme in 2021, inspiring other similar edits.
- After the Portal soundtrack was updated to include an uncompressed version of the radio song, it became a trend for people to then re-compress the song via various methods.
- Portal Radio Loop 10 Hours ExplanationA video that is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: the radio music from the first game looped for 10 hours. Around 5 hours in, however, it suddenly cuts to footage of a hairy man in his underwear known online as "King Assripper" working out while farting and claiming he's "ripping ass", before returning to the music. It wouldn't be until 2021, 9 years after the video's upload, that the footage gained attention, resulting in the video receiving millions of views and spawning memes tricking people into going to the timestamp with the video of King Assripper.
- 5 hours and 17/18/19 minutes Explanation5:18:58 is when the video cuts to the aforementioned footage. A lot of comments on the video revolve around estimates of the timestamp, including more Schmuck Bait, the footage playing at the worst time possible, such as during a meeting or class presentation, and the clip playing at an event that just so happens to end at the timestamp, or an event that occurs exactly when it starts.
- I'm sad, Wheatley play Despacito ExplanationFor Steam's 20th anniversary celebration, Valve redrew memes from various eras of internet history featuring Valve characters, 2018's was a variant of the "This is so sad, Alexa play Despacito" meme where Chell says this to Wheatley. Fans were eager to point out that this was officially the first thing Chell had said in 16 years.
- Distracted Boyfriend Cave ExplanationA variant of the Distracted Boyfriend meme from the same timeline, where Cave Johnson looks at combustible lemons instead of Caroline.
