YMMV / Quarter-Life: Halfway To Destruction

• Alternative Character Interpretation: What exactly were Bad Guy From the Game's demands? Did he declare that it was 'TOO LATE' to agree to them because he has zero patience, or was it because the demands already became impossible to meet by the time Gordon and Jimm arrived?
• Angst? What Angst?: Gordon isn't shown to be upset about Jimm's death. While he may have be preoccupied by the meltdown, that doesn't justify why he doesn't even acknowledge his death after he "scucceeded at winning the mission".
• Ass Pull:
  • Apparently, Gordon keeps a claymore sword in his lab in case he needs to borrow it. He never uses it again, not even when he encounters Bad Guy From the Game.
  • Gordon ultimately stops Dallas from melting down by pushing the 'henemy headquarters' into a portal. Gordon's ability to create portals was never foreshadowed, nor was it explained.
• Awesome Music: Aside from Djy's Public Domain Soundtrack, the video was made into a remix titled GORDON FREEMAN.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The headcrab that attacks Cow-orker Jimm. The only purpose it serves is to distract Gordon while Bad Guy From the Game steals the isotope. Also, the claymore sword that Gordon used is never mentioned again.
• Common Knowledge: Bad Guy From The Game interrupting himself from giving his demands to declare “TOO LATE”. While this is the case in the machinima adaptations, in the original story, the “TOO LATE” was in a new paragraph, indicating that someone else (presumably Gordon or Jimm) said it.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Cow-orker Jimm^note played by the Engineer in the Djy adaptation.. He has three lines and doesn't survive the second chapter, but he is well-remembered as the guy who gets "blowed to smitheroons".
• Fanfic Fuel: Invoked, as the story ends with a cliffhanger that encourages the viewer to decide what happens next.
• Fan Nickname: The antagonist is not given any name at all, simply described as "a bad guy from the game". Many people like to interpret that as being his name, and call him Bad Guy From The Game.
• Fanon Welding: This is regarded as a prequel to Half-Life: Full Life Consequences. One user even wrote a Fan Sequel called Quarter-Life: Origin of Doom, which ties into the events of the first part of the story.
• Funny Moments:
  • "ATUHOR'S NOSE: Uncyclopedia (which is online encyclopidia like wikiped) said I was writing story called Quarter-Life: Halfway to Destruction and dontn't know where come but I decide to write anyway."
    • Can be found here on YouTube.
    • Djy's adaptation shows the author's nose at the beginning of the scene.
  • "Juts then a headcrab went on Jimms head OH NO WHERE DID HEADCRAB COME FROM! GHordon wents to get his crowbarb ut it was missing so hhad to borrow a claymore sword."
    He hits teh headcrab and Jimm was okay but his head was cut
    "Watch where you swings at me just kidding thanks"
  • There's a quick moment in Djy's adaptation where Gordon and Jimm arrive at the scene of a crisis, and they touch their crotches together.
  • Before he hits quarterlife with the isotope, Bad Guy From the Game threatens to cause the meltdown if they don't agree to his demands. He then declares that it's too late before he's even done telling Gordon his threat, let alone his demands. falconer02's adaptation has Bad Guy From the Game pause and look at a clock before declaring that it's too late.
    "IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO MY DEMANS"
    "TOO LATE"
• Hilarious in Hindsight: A YouTube commenter described the story as "The Dark Knight Rises in two minutes." More hilarious when you consider that Gordon + Jimm = Jim Gordon.
• Inferred Holocaust: Gordon drops a radioactive environment with enough destructive power to level the entirety of Dallas, and possibly even beyond, into the Atlantic Ocean. Yep, nothing will definitely go wrong there.
• Moral Event Horizon: Despite only appearing in one scene, Bad Guy From the Game crosses the MEH when he hits quarterlife with the isotope, with the intent of destroying all of Dallas.
• Older Than They Think: The term "cow-orker" was actually popularized by Scott Adams in an old Dilbert newsletter.
• One-Scene Wonder: Bad Guy From the Game only appears in one scene, where he deliver two lines, but his hammy delivery and the hilarity of him declaring that Gordon and Jimm were too late to fulfill his demans even before he got a chance to list them has made him just as memorable as Cow-orker Jimm.
• So Bad, It's Good: Djy's adaptation is just as hilarious and over dramatic as his Half-Life: Full Life Consequences video series, despite its short length. Ditto for falconer02's adaptation.
• Tear Jerker: At the end of chapter 2, cow-orker Jimm is blowed to smitheroons. The fact that Gordon either didn't notice or didn't care that he died just makes his death scene worse.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Gordon is the closest thing the story has to a developed character, being knowledgeable on nuclear physics and is able to create portals, which shows his high intelligence. Jimm could be removed from the story and change nothing, and Bad Guy From the Game is a Generic Doomsday Villain that appears in one scene to create the conflict, and is never heard from again.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Despite all of the build up to the isotope hitting quarterlife, the meltdown is contained in under a minute thanks to Gordon using portals.

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