Half Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware

Fandom
Name:	Half Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware
Abbreviation(s):	HLVRAI, HL:VRAI, HLAI
Creator:	WayneradioTVArchived Version
Date(s):	3/5/20 - 4/9/20
Medium:	Twitch Livestream and Youtube edited series
Country of Origin:
External Links:	HLVRAI episode playlist on YouTubeArchived Version
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Half Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware, or HLVRAI, is a Twitch (and later, YouTube) series set in the universe of Half-Life 1 directed by streamer WayneradioTV and a group of friends. His friends, improvising as NPC AI characters, would follow him throughout the game, annoying the main character while also creating a unique story. The series quickly exploded to become one of the most popular let's play styled series on Twitch or Youtube in early 2020, while also creating an entirely different story and world from the original Half-Life series. As such, the Fandom of HLVRAI was also quick to grow in popularity.

Category

Fans and on-lookers have found it difficult to describe what category HLVRAI fits into. The series has been considered a Machinima, improv theater piece, and roleplay series, but could best be put as a combination of the three. A Machinima is a type of skit or video recorded directly in a video game engine as opposed to being shot like a traditional film, however, one is not usually a let's play and often has scripting. (Though later in the series, the cast does begin following a vague plot, no lines were scripted and few events were laid out in full detail. Improv theater makes use of actors who go on to slowly form canon/plot through unplanned actions, however, HLVRAI would not count as a traditional "theater." Finally, roleplay, while fitting for the nature of the series, fails to describe the type of community and medium that the series is created in. It's more fitting, then, that HLVRAI takes practices from all three and has made them into a new type of category.

This isn't a video game anymore. This is an absurdist improv comedy about the last sane man trying to keep three lemmings and a god alive in a world gone mad.

Top comment on Act 1: Part 1 (referenced from TVTropes^{Archived Version})

A YouTuber by the name of Eddache^{Archived Version} discusses HLVRAI and it's categorization in a twenty minute video titled "When Lets Play Becomes Role Play." He goes through various forms of video content and compares them to HLVRAI, first stating that it's not a typical "let's play." He then discusses how Machinima works, but says that HLVRAI does things differently, such as having stagehands and being recorded live. Ultimately Eddache seems to decide that HLVRAI is closest to theater and goes on to compare various theater practices to the series, such as "the farce," "the straight man," and "the ensemble."

Another YouTuber by the name of NezumiVA^{Archived Version} made a nearly one hour long video on HLVRAI. However, they only begin discussing the series itself at around twenty minutes into the video. They describe the series as "roleplay improv." NezumiVA credits HLVRAI's popularity to the series having been edited down for YouTube, saying that the original streams were not any more popular than his other content.

Cast

The cast who play the characters are an important part of the series, as everyone involved preformed improv with their "AI" roles, which thus slowly formed the canon of the series.

WayneRadioTV both hosted the stream and played as the main protagonist, Gordon Freeman. Wayne also plays as himself, with part of the series being that he is an aspiring Twitch ("Justin.TV") streamer just playing in a VR game sent in by Valve as a new edition. He is more often than not frustrated with the cast of "NPCs" helping him and frequently loses his patience with them.

Socpens/Scorpy plays Benrey, who became the main antagonist late in the series. Benrey tends to sit in random, strange places rather than fighting against the enemies alongside the rest of the team, and makes remarks mostly towards Gordon. (Wayne has acknowledged that Benrey was "lusting" after Gordon in the series, based on the usually flirtatious way he's antagonized him.) Benrey also constantly asks for everyone's passports, which led to passports becoming a major plot point in the series. He "isn't human" and sometimes sings while producing multi-colored orbs from his mouth - Benrey refers to this as the "Black Mesa sweet voice."

Hollowtones/Holly played Dr. Harold Pontiff Coomer, or "Dr. Coomer." Dr. Coomer aspires to become a boxing champion and often punches things rather than using weapons (aside from "the Big One" throughout Act 4.) He is also one of the more AI-esque of the "NPCs," constantly repeating scripts such as "Hello, Gordon!" and tips such as "Look, Gordon, ropes! We can use these for big pits." In a Q&A with the rest of the cast, Holly states that Dr. Coomer is bisexual. (He had a wife, but 'they' took her in the divorce.) Dr. Coomer frequently suggests that Gordon give him "PlayCoins" to unlock certain features, including puzzle skips. He will often punch explosives and make them explode while everyone else is nearby.

During Act 3, Dr. Coomer takes the role of a minor antagonist, with his hundreds of clones tracking down Gordon Freeman as an effort to exit the game into the real world. This happens after a moment in Act 2, during which he uses his "Power Legs" to jump outside of the boundaries of the Source map, at which point he seems to become aware that he is a character in a video game. (Hollowtones is also a transgender streamer and goes by the pronouns of she/her.)

MasterGir plays as Bubby, an aggressive AI character who tends to give funny quips such as "that's what I said when I was born," after Gordon says "that's not your fucking name." and explaining Wikipedia to Gordon. Bubby curses constantly and is arguably the NPC who cares the least about Gordon. He is one of many, many "prototypes" and has been born in a test tube (which he doesn't seem to be fond of, as seen in Act 3.) Bubby was another minor antagonist, who helped Benrey give Gordon to the military, resulting in Gordon's hand being cut off, which he reconciles later. (Bubby is also a terrible driver.)

Baaulp plays as Tommy Coolatta. Tommy is seen as the "innocent" one, often talking about situations in confused or naive ways. He's also one of the more normal NPC characters, rarely acting unpredictably while also staying loyal mostly to Gordon. He is easily baited by the promise of being given Beyblades and created an immortal golden retriever named Sunkist. He is 37 years old at the end of the series. Tommy is the only one who knows what Benry's sweet voice orb colors mean, and deciphers them throughout the series. (For example, teal means "needs meal" and green means "he's not mean!")

Spaghoner/Mike played the G-Man. While he isn't changed much from Half-Life's canon and remains a mysterious force outside of nature, he is also Tommy's father (it's never certain whether or not he is adoptive). He heatedly debates whether Chuck-E-Cheese is a restaurant with Gordon at the end of the series.

Some of the cast also act as multiple characters, usually minor characters. Scorpy also played Forzen and the skeletons, and Mike sometimes played the skeletons as well. SaturdayNightSlamMasters/Lauren played Sunkist the dog, as well as the skeletons, and Logblaster/Logmore played Darnold the potion maker and the skeletons.

Canon of the Fanon

Gordon: My passport? Why do I need- What do you mean passport? You mean a company ID?

Benrey: [whispering to the security guard] He doesn't have his passport.

Gordon: I did-

Benrey: Yeah, he's telling me you're not allowed in here.

Gordon: [laughing] I don't have a passport! I have my Black Mesa ID.

Benrey: Look at- Look at how upset he's getting. Look at his fists. They're balled. [Gordon wheeze-laughs] He wants to beat you up so bad.

Act 1: Part 1 Gordon doesn't have his passport

The canon is established in four acts, which are split into parts on Youtube. In act one Gordon meets all the main characters and some of their character traits are quickly established, such as Benry's "sweet voice" and Dr. Coomer's "hello Gordon." The characters chat and argue, establishing the overall gaslighting gag in which anything Gordon says is usually considered incorrect. Benry follows Gordon around, constantly asking for his passport, which Gordon does not have. After meeting the main cast (sans G-Man) Gordon starts the Resonance Cascade, which is an event in Half-Life 1 that kicks off Half-Life's main conflict. Gordon slowly becomes more frightened of Benry's odd behavior and Benry becomes more and more suspicious that Gordon doesn't have his passport.

Everyone gets a gun or weapon and begin making their way up through the facility. They learn about each other's lives, such as Tommy's dog and Coomer's divorce. Then they meet the military, who they realize is trying to kill them. Sometimes Forzen shows up and they chase him. Once they reach the surface they first see the Skeleton and then are forced to head back into Black Mesa due to the military.

In act 2 the skeleton follows the crew around but only Gordon can see it, and Benry is supposedly dead. After killing a tentacle monster Benry is suddenly back. Soon the military shows up again and they catch Forzen. Forzen tells them that he and Benry were best friends, repeating were with emphasis, and that Benry also knows the way out, confusing and frightening Gordon. When they move forward they find Benry sitting with two soldiers and Gordon tries to convince the rest of the Science Team that Benry can't be trusted, but no one believes him. Coomer jumps over the mountains and when he returns he ominously says "there's nothing there," marking a turning point in his character arc.

In act 3 the characters continue heading towards the Lambda Lab, and Gordon keeps questioning why Benry and Bubby have been whispering among themselves. Benry says that Gordon keeps killing people and an NPC says his suit is full of tracking devices. Soon after, the Science Team tricks Gordon into a room and the lights cut out. In the darkness he is ambushed by the military and they cut off his left hand. After, Gordon wakes up alone in a trash compactor. He quickly finds Tommy, who tells him everyone else tricked him by giving him a Beyblade and telling him not to watch. After, the two discover a room swarming with Coomer clones. They attack, saying that they "want in" to the hole in Gordon's suit and "I know there's a world in your dreams and I need to go there," referring to Wayne removing his VR headset when the characters "sleep." Tommy thinks he kills all the clones but one was left, and after his death the clone admits that everytime Gordon "sleeps" he can feel himself being ripped apart atom by atom. Then the real Coomer shows up and joins the two once its clear he had nothing to do with the ambush. They move on and find Bubby in his original test tube. Bubby says he didn't betray Gordon and that after the ambush Benry shoved him back into his tube. Gordon is skeptical but lets him out. They move on and the skeleton returns. Soon Benry is back and so is G-man. The G-man asks Gordon to protect his progeny and teases him for not having his passport.

In act 4 they meet Darnold, who gives Gordon a "potion" that turns his wrist stump into a "fingernail gun." Darnold was going to follow them but then quickly changed his mind, so the team continues without him. As they move on they find Tommy's dog Sunkist surrounded by turret guns and being held hostage by Forzen. Forzen says he'll let Sunkist go if they can "dispel the rumor that Irate Gamer ripped off the Angry Video Game Nerd." They discover that the guns can't hurt Sunkist and Forzen gets away. Soon they find a portal where Gordon is teleported through just to find Bubby's "prototypes," who attack him. He kills them and escapes. The entire team goes through a portal that transports them to the alien world of Xen, where Benry is gigantic and antagonizes the smaller characters by looming over them and making comments. The team traverses Xen until they reach the main chamber, but before entering Coomer asks Gordon what he'd do if he woke up and suddenly realized the world wasn't real. The team enters the chamber where a giant final boss Benry gives a speech. He blames everything on Gordon having a "dick slip" in the beginning and says that this forced him to be "baaad." To defeat him and his skeletons the team has to destroy their passports, and upon destroying Coomer's Coomer says "none of this is real, is it?"

To destroy Gordon's passport Bubby has to send him back into the past, where giant Benry follows him. Gordon destroys his passport and a past Coomer, who Gordon gets to remember the future, makes a portal to send him back. Finally the team is able to kill Benry, and Gordon blacks out just to be teleported to G-man. G-man thanks him, says Benry's true nature was on a "need to know basis," and then the two go to Tommy's 37th birthday part at a Chuck-E-Cheese. After the credits roll, Coomer speaks to the player in the dark. He congratulates him for beating the game, meaning he has become totally aware and acknowledges he's just an NPC in a video game. He then voices worry about Gordon forgetting them, but suggests that he could download them onto a USB and move them. In the end he says they'll never forget him.

Fandom

A fandom quickly sprung up around HLVRAI for its interesting but comical character building. Fans, like with any other fandom, have created numerous artworks, videos, compilations, and fanfiction. Alternative Universes have been formed as well, such as the siren/mermaid AU seen in a fanfiction and adjacent fanart. Many of the characters are shipped together (not the actors, except arguably in Gordon's case) and thus most if not all of the ships for HLVRAI are slash. There has been some discourse in the fandom, most of it surrounding one particular artist (See Metrix-86) Overall the HLVRAI fandom appears to be rather friendly, mimicking the pleasant attitudes of the cast who played the characters.

The fandom often spells Benry's name as Benrey. Scorpy himself spells it with one 'e' as "Benry," (like Henry) as seen on his passport and in his username in the ACAB: AI CRUSH ALL BANKS stream. However, Wayne has spelled it as Benrey, like in "Barney," and the subtitles of the Youtube series would go back and forth between the two spellings, including the first time his name was subtitled on screen. The fandom uses both spellings.

The Half-Life Archive of Our Own has been flooded with HLVRAI content. On AO3's Half-Life tag there are 876 fanfics. Of those fanfics 647 include Gordon, though it does not make a distinction between HLVRAI Gordon and canon Gordon. However, after that there are 430 fanfics including Benry, or 49%, meaning at least half of the fanfics in the Half-Life section of AO3 must be related to HLVRAI rather than the actual canon material of Half-Life.

Some outside of the fandom see the popularity of the character Benry to be a case of the Tumblr sexyman. A user on Twitter said "this is who yall are making into the next tumblr sexyman??? this is who y'all are simping over?? he looks like a reanimated corpse who would ask you for feet pics." Others who are in the fandom have responded to this with a general consensus that calling Benry a "Tumblr sexyman" is incorrect. One Youtube video that directly discusses this makes the argument that artists rarely draw Benry "sexy," and instead claims that if any character were to be a "Tumblr sexyman" it would be Gordon Freeman. The Sexypedia (a Google Doc dedicated to documenting Tumblr Sexymen in detail, later turned into the Sexypedia Wiki) goes in depth into why Benry does actually count as a Tumblr Sexyman, and includes a long list of traits artists give to Benry.

There’s an important distinction to make. Benry isn’t 2020’s onceler. Onceler, sans, ect were SO out there that there probably will never be a “next onceler” or “next sans”, just smaller, more fleeting faces; benry is nowhere near them in terms of scale. Benry still has some stuff in common with what happened to sans though so I still feel confident calling him a sans-like

Sexypedia, Jul 27, 2020 (Archived Jan 30, 2021)

The All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 page of Wikipedia was protected on Jul 6, 2020 due to vandalism from the HLVRAI fandom. A joke in the canon about Benry editing Wikipedia to say Gordon was dead spurred this. Some of the vandalism said things such as: "The movie, right after Gordon Freeman dies," "also, Gordon freeman as gordon" (under voice cast), and "gordon freeman dies."

Interpretations and Headcanons

Most of the character interpretation is centered around Gordon, Benry, and Tommy. For example, though fans know what Gordon Freeman actually looks like they have begun drawing HLVRAI's Gordon differently. He is often either tan or black, with long hair (with varies degrees of curl), and a ponytail/rat tail. He usually keeps the facial hair of the actual character model and is interpreted as chubby (closer to Wayne's body type). Sometimes he will also be given some gray hair.

Some headcanons involve Gordon's son, Joshua, though "Joshua" was actually an inside joke relating to a bot in Wayne's Discord server. Often Joshua is written as having split custody with Gordon's ex-partner, who may or may not be his wife (whose name is up to the writer). When Gorden is written as living in a home or apartment, he may have an extra room for Joshua's visits. Joshua was called a "baby" in act 1, however some writers place him as a toddler.

Benry is usually blue or gray-blue. He is almost always given sharp teeth and a shadow across his eyes (regardless if he is wearing a helmet/hat). The part of his appearance that varies the most is his hair, though one popular interpretation is that he has long hair under his helmet. Other interpretations are: Karkat-esque hair, a buzzcut with or without an undercut, short messy hair, and nothing (not bald, just nothing). While there are fanfics that write him as taller than Gordon, most visual works draw him as short.

A very popular headcanon is that Benry cannot control his "Black Mesa Sweet Voice," resulting in other character's sometimes seeing emotions he doesn't mean to be shown. For example, it is a common plot point in Gordon/Benry fanfiction and visual art to have Benry accidentally let pink sweet voice slip out. Gordon may not know the meaning right away, but if Tommy is present he may tell Gordon, or otherwise lie to spare Benry the embarrassment.

Tommy is usually considered to be tall and gangly. Because it's unclear if the G-Man is human or not, some head canon G-Man and Tommy both as being alien or otherworldly. Some fans interpret Tommy as being angry or bitter about other characters seeing him as childish or young.

Tommy is also popularly depicted as autistic.

Bubby is usually drawn skinny with sharp angles, and like Benry is sometimes given sharp teeth. Though he is abrasive in canon, fanon tends to exaggerate this more. This can manifest by drawing or writing Bubby as almost always being argumentative, crude, or confrontational. He is less cowardly in fanon than he is in canon.

Coomer is usually drawn round and chubby. Coomer is sometimes given rubber hose-esque "extendo arms," which were mentioned in canon. In fanon he is usually the most understanding of the characters, giving heartfelt advice before "glitching" out again.

Many fans often see Bubby/Coomer as being an established relationship. In Benry/Gordon fanfiction sometimes they will be written as knowing about Benry or Gordon having a crush on one another. Bubby usually responds by dropping hints or trying to not so subtly tell them while Coomer scolds him for butting into their relationship too soon.

Shipping

The most popular ship on Half-Life's AO3 as of Jul 2020 is Gordon/Benry, with 259 fanfics. Out of the 876 Half-Life fics, this means Gordon/Benry takes up 29% of the Half-Life AO3 tag. After Gordon/Benry there are 107 fanfics for Bubby/Dr. Coomer, or 12% of the tag. Even though Bubby/Coomer is the second most popular ship in HLVRAI, the majority of the content listed under Bubby/Coomer are fanfics only featuring them rather than revolving around them. Fans don't usually ship Coomer and Bubby with anyone but each other, possibly due to them being more elderly. At least one Tumblr user sees shipping Bubby or Coomer with the younger (though adult) characters as being problematic, calling them "gross people" and "disgusting." This may be in reference to Metrix-86 (see Discourse). The rarer ships are Tommy/Benry and Tommy/Gordon. It's more common to polyship Tommy/Benry/Gordon, instead.

Even though Benry/Gordon is the most popular HLVRAI ship not everyone approves, though the cast themselves have so far not seemed to mind any shipping. When Tumblr user growing-past-me asked the Bendon tag why the fandom shipped them, one user responded:

Ppl are creepy abt it the same way they are with any media consumtpion- benrey is antagonistic and horny and Gordon wants nothing to do with it but folks do it anyway lmao

dollar-store-glados

Ship Names

Ships with Tommy sometimes use his last name rather than his friend name, which is Coolatta. At least one member of the fandom mistook the ship name "Frenry" as being a combination of "friend" and "Benry," when in reality the "Fre" came from Freeman, Gordon's last name. HLVRAI shipping overall uses Portmanteau (name smooshing) with at least one case of _shipping.

• Frenry/Frenrey/Bendon- Gordon/Benry
• Boomer/Cubby- Bubby/Coomer
• Frenmy/Frenreylatta- Gorden/Benry/Tommy
• Darmy/Soda Shipping- Tommy/Darnold
• Tomdarzen- Tommy/Forzen/Darnold
• Tomrey- Tommy/Benry
• Freelatta/Tomdon- Tommy/Gordon
• Benold- Benry/Darnold

Alternate Universes

Half-Life VR but the AI is Self Aware lends itself well to AUs. For example, a small semi-popular AU was formed out of a fanfiction called The Ocean Isn't so Scary^{Archived Version} by CrackheadMossMan on AO3. This AU follows Gordon as he works at a lab at the bottom of the sea and meets a cast of large sirens, who are the Science Team from HLVRAI. In the end Gordon is turned into one of them, too. This AU has a small amount of fanart on Tumblr, and the fanfic is also included in a series called HLVRAI Mermaid AU^{Archived Version}.

A common AU that multiple writers use is the trope of switching the characters' roles. This is most usually seen in fanworks that make Gordon the only A.I. among the rest of the cast, who are human. Another AU trope is that HLVRAI is actually in some form or fashion an experiment created by the real Black Mesa, and Gordon is someone who worked on it. In most AUs Benry remains non-human, though the way in which he's presented is varied across works.

Y2KVR

One popular AU on Tumblr is Y2KVR, created by user @year2000electronics, an AU run out of an ask blog in which the plot is moved along in a similar fashion to early Homestuck. Other Tumblr users can influence or even somewhat control the main character, Gordon Freeman, by sending in specific asks to the blog, such as sending in "try shouting into the darkness" to cause him to act. Because of the nature of ask blogs and this way of moving plot along, the AU is interactive but moves the plot relatively slow.

In Y2KVR, the events of the main canon didn't happen at all. Instead Gordon wakes up in pitch blackness with Benry, who says he knows all about him and that he has a letter for him from a secret admirer. Dr. Coomer then wakes up and Gordon realizes that he's inside his own computer. Coomer tells him that they're in the Y2KVR program, designed in 1999, which comes with AI assistance. Benry then implies to the audience that he is a computer virus, but that the firewall (Bubby) does not detect him as malware. Darnold patches Gordon into the internet where Tommy lives. Tommy tells him that the "Core" may be the exit to the computer. Soon Gordon opens the "love letter" and becomes infected, changing his appearance to a theme with hearts. Bubby removes the virus and Gordon goes back to normal, but Benry continues trying to get him to open it again. The rest of the AU centers around Benry trying to figure out how to infect the A.I.'s while Bubby is around, and the other characters trying to find a way to escape before the computer's clock hit's year 2000.

The love letter is a reference to the ILOVEYOU worm, which Benry actually says in one of the replies to an ask that said "benry ily."

This AU spawned quite a bit of fanart, resulting in a handful of HLVRAI fans coming upon the lovecore aesthetic and making lovecore HLVRAI art. It's also inspired a small amount of fan vids on Youtube, mostly anamatics set to music, and other AUs based upon it (most popularly CCY2K and VRY2K, which are roleswap AUs of Y2KVR).

Discourse

Some general discourse for the HLVRAI fandom is represented by discussions between Tumblr user Chillyarea (previously Akoicoolatta) and an anon (or multiple anons). Specifically, Chillyarea criticizes Wayne for being friends with another user named "Graynard." They also claim Wayne is friends with "racists and transphobes." They say in response to an anon:

i really feel you, i want to believe wayne is a person who wouldnt hesitate to cut all ties with shitty people once pointed out. he’s friends with trans personas and going up saying blm and trans rights while actively interacting with racists and transphobes is hypocrisy and just disgusting.

Chillyarea/Akoicoolatta, Jul 9, 2020

Wayne and the crew have also been accused of homophobia and ableism. In one of the cast commentary videos Wayne describes Benry's actions towards Gordon as "predatory," thus making at least Chillyarea/Akoicoolatta and the anon(s) call him homophobic. Then, because of the way in which he and the cast often refer to Tommy as a child, he and the cast have also been accused of ableism. Another Tumblr user, though not accusing the cast themselves as being ableist, believes that if fans "infantilize" Tommy they are ableist.

Metrix-86

HLVRAI Bubby/Tommy bitemark fanart by Metrix-86.

The fanart was memed in the HLVRAI fandom somewhat, as seen in neurotoxiicity's post.

A user named Metrix-86 made suggestive artwork for Tommy/Bubby that caused discourse through Twitter and Tumblr. Despite HLVRAI itself including explicitly sexual jokes (such as Benry and Gordon joking about Gordon's "sucking" ability) Metrix-86 received negative reception due to the artwork. Among these accusations, the relevant one to the HLVRAI discourse claimed that the artist "was a pedophile." According to Tumblr user ogeeeie the reason for the HLVRAI issue is as follows:

ogeeeie said: m*trix-86 is a well hated artist on tumblr that has drawn suggestive art of tommy and bubby involving a bite on the neck. this has caused people to rethink their teeth designs for bubby because the community tends to draw him with sharp teeth. i personally believe it’s okay to draw bubby with sharp teeth only if you don’t use it to be nasty. ogeeeie said: m*trix does not intend to stop drawing these types of things and doesn’t tag them correctly, leading to minors (a majority of the fandom) seeing it. i highly suggest blocking him to make sure you don’t see anything HLVRAI related he posts.

Ogeeeie's reply to What's Going on in hlvrai? Who's Metrix??^{Archived Version}

One user called partiallyobscuredclown said:

Nick you are literally a grown man who thinks being a freak online is a personality trait. Stop being a creepy fuck and putting your nsfw implied art in tags where minors can see. Either do us all a favour and deactivate, or fucking grow up and act like an actual adult when you get criticized for your abhorrent actions.

partiallyobscuredclown's response

Metrix-86 soon made a post saying:

“That thing” being a bite mark that was properly tagged with a blood cw.

The source material having blood, gore, violence, death, and mature themes.

Several of the crew members’ Twitch channels being rated 18+

The characters/crew joking ON STREAM in a sexual manner.

I think you can handle a fucking bite mark if you’re in this fandom.

Stop victimizing yourself over a harmless drawing.

I’ve seen much more graphic shit in the main tag. Get angry over something that matters, dipshit. This is bold coming from a fandom with a source material that is for mature/adult audiences.

Metrix-86, the "well hated artist," responding to a Tumblr ask, ^{Archived version}

Metrix-86 also made a post about receiving death threats, however it's unclear if this was simply a joke or not.

Youtuber T discuses Metrix-86 in a twenty-three minute video titled "We need to talk about this in the HLVRAI fandom..." ^{[Dead link]} The video follows some of Metrix-86's work since the original controversy, including the making of non-con and shota art for HLVRAI.

Though this discourse caused a handful of posts to be made in the "hlvrai discourse" tag on Tumblr regarding the artist, the issue seemed to die down around July 2020.

Fanart

Visual

• 

  by Black-Mesa-Slut-Voice^{Archived Version}

• 

  by Paintedhen^{Archived Version}

• 

  by Tommiecoolatta

• just saw there’s a wayne utau. now someone just needs to make a scorpy one and we’ll be in business baby!! by pfeldspart (2020) Gordon Freeman/Benrey parody of Magnet

Video

• AVGN ASMR - (HLVRAI fan animation)^{Archived Version}
• HLVRAI Animation: Feetman^{Archived Version}
• HLVRAI Animation - I Play Computer^{Archived Version}
• HLVRAI PMV Insecta Apostate^{Archived Version}
• DEAR GOD HLVRAI PMV^{Archived Version}
• "When Can I See You Again?" - HLVRAI PMV MAP^{Archived Version}
• ECHO | Complete HLVRAI MAP^{Archived Version}

Fan Music

• PASSPORT GUARDIAN - WayneRadioTV funny vs. benrey boss theme^{Archived Version}-- fan music that was included in the Youtube series
• Hello, Gordon! (Dr. Coomer's Bumpin' Mix) - WayneRadioTV Remix^{Archived Version}-- fan music used in the Youtube series' credits
• "Let It Rip" - A HLVRAI Tommy Coolatta Boss Battle Theme Concept^{Archived Version}
• Gordon's Haste (Song Based off Hlvrai)^{Archived Version}
• HL:VRAI Remix: Dr. Harold Coomer - Dr. Doomer^{Archived Version}
• TUBES | BUBBY BOSS BATTLE THEME | HLVRAI FANSONG^{Archived Version}
• HLVRAI FAN SONG | Tommy Likes Mean People | Tommy Boss Battle Theme^{Archived Version}

Fanfiction

• daisy, daisy^{Archived Version}-- the fanfic with the most kudos as of Jul 23, 2020
• black mesa university wants YOU to enroll!^{Archived Version}-- a college AU
• i have 40,000 hours in skate 3^{Archived Version}
• maybe that is why I'm enamored with the thought of seeing angels in the sky that are singing^{Archived Version}
• Takes A Village^{Archived Version}

Links and resources

• hlvrai transcripts^{Archived Version}
• Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware^{Archived Version} on Wikipedia
• Half-Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware^{Archived Version} fanworks on AO3