Gordon Freeman Versus The Caverse

[@captainhades1583]

Definitely not because of Caroline. That woman can’t be trusted.

[@BenevolentBratwurst]

Interesting theories, but I am of the mind that the Blaperture Science multiverse (0:07) is distinct from the Cave Prime universe. Like the AI Cave voicelines (1:00) leading up to the "cancelling the GLaDOS initiative" voiceline (1:20), I would say the Blaperture line comes from a separate, facetious multiverse meant to poke fun at the Half Life universe. However, I agree that the difference in the Cave Prime/Earth 1 multiverse is Greg/Cave, which I would chalk up to Greg being the assistant to Cave instead of Caroline. I developed this hypothesis back in early 2022 around the time Desk Job was announced and called it Greg Theory (I will warn you - this is a massive monolith of text. Proceed with caution): To compare Caroline vs Greg - Caroline seemed to be very dedicated to science. Cave says in one of the earliest messages that "...she's married. To science!" Meanwhile, Greg is implied to have a child (5:34, and there's even a "chariots" in that line which confirms it's canon to the prime multiverse), which implies that he has a family, or at least that he has adopted. Whatever the case is, he has a home life, which Caroline seems to lack. Additionally, Caroline seems to be almost entirely on board with Cave's ideas. I know we don't have a surplus of Caroline dialogue to sift through, but to our knowledge, there is only one disagreement she ever has with Cave. This is in the lines from the 'Sir, I don't want [to become GLaDOS]' moment which never made it to the final game, so the canonicity is questionable. On the other hand, we hear Greg disagreeing or correcting Cave all the time. Frankly, that's half of his entire character - muffled noises of exasperation counteracting Cave's inaccuracies, omissions, and general bad advice. Another thing I would propose is that the Cave Prime universe is the one where the investor opportunity ads would be from. All of the ads for Portal 2 that show off the test chamber panels, co-op bots, sentry turrets, and long fall boots are very unusual in the context of the mainline games as Cave is not alive during the period that any of these technologies are present (at least not in the level of development showcased by the trailers, which raises the possibility that the audio and visuals do not originate from the same source, be that time period or multiverse, but that's just a headache). Generating such content with the express purpose of drawing investors is very much NOT in line with Aperture from the main games. In the game setting, Aperture is extremely secretive and tight-lipped about their technologies and do not seem to be interested in selling items at all, only testing them in perpetuity. They have had portable portal device technology for at least four decades, and they're still testing it, at immense cost? The tests don't even seem to be related to the functionality of the portal gun itself, more like tests of human comprehension of its function & capabilities. Meanwhile, the investor opportunity ads have the throwaway line "I know you've sunk a lot of money into the dual portal device..." which is strong evidence that there's not a small number of groups financially staked in the project's success. What makes the most sense to me would be that Greg's presence (instead of Caroline) spurred Cave to be more shrewd and analytical in his approach in directing Aperture compared to the gung-ho style Portal 2 Cave clearly took. "Throwing science at the wall to see what sticks" & "seventy million dollars worth of moon rocks" and all that. Without the high profile test subjects being used for harebrained/lethal tests (something something 1968 senate hearing on missing astronauts), Aperture would not be nearly so destitute in the 70's & 80's, which would let them stay competitive with Black Mesa. This is key, as it prevents Cave from developing the paranoia of BM stealing his work which we see in the later stages of old Aperture in Portal 2. This leaves Aperture more able to capitalize on its breakthroughs with less employee turnover, leading to a universe where AI technology is not driven by the intention of uploading a sickly & dying CEO (or his assistant) into a rushed, ultra-powerful mainframe, but would instead be in-line with what we see in the form of lighter but more practical (or as close as Aperture ever gets to practical) artificial intelligence, such as with the turrets, Co-op bots, or Grady in Desk Job. Another interesting thing of note is that Cave refers to it at 2:48 as "Greg's Multiverse Theory," which indicates that Greg is essential to an Aperture developing multiversal capabilities, but that's neither here nor there. Now, there is one massive hole in all of this theorizing, which stems from the most canon of all portal content: the LEGO Dimensions Portal Expansion Pack. Jokes aside, this pack features both GLaDOS AND Greg, which shatters the general observation that the presence of the two are mutually exclusive per multiverse. Further, it indicates that it is not solely the presence of Greg that makes an Aperture not fall down the path of the mainline games, but rather the absence of Caroline (with a presumed Greg in her place). This is supported by the fact that Greg is present in some voicelines/scripts for Portal 2, though none were featured in the main game. This has the same ambiguity of canonicity as Caroline resisting the mainframe upload though, so take it with a grain of salt. In case you hadn't pieced it together yet, I've been tracking Greg as a character for several years. It takes a weird portal fan to get excited about the DotA Cave Johnson announcer packs, but I was so happy to get more Greg information. I think my spreadsheet of Greg facts nearly doubled in length. Also, Greg has a wife = confirmed. Cave thinks she's unpleasant. Got a bit carried away there, sorry for Gregsplaining. If you have any further insights into this nuanced and mysterious yet pivotal individual, do let me know. Either way, great video, and keep up the good work!

[@Greg3.14]

Greg is such an under appreciated character. I want to bring him to the spot light where I can. I am so glad you are Greg fan, he’s the superior assistant to Cave tbh. I honestly didn’t know the Dota packs had more Greg information. I’ve been trying to dig as deep as I can to be as accurate as I can. I only thought the Blappeture universe and Prime universes were one and the same because I assumed in a universe where Cave was better with his money would be one where he buys Black Mesa, gets multiversal tech which leads to the cancelling of GlaDOS. I’m glad you’re just as deep if not deeper into this than I am. I also feel like Chell is Greg’s adopted creepy daughter but that’ll never be confirmed lol.

[@BenevolentBratwurst]

@@Greg3.14 Oh, yep, it would be hilarious if Chell was Greg's adopted daughter! Greg's kid does seem to be vocal though, so I doubt that'd be viable. Still funny idea though

[@Greg3.14]

@@BenevolentBratwurstI think that would be the joke if true. Like she talks and loves to test. Either it’s Chell or it’s Caroline as a young girl 😂😂

[@soda7998]

What games are these from? Is it from multiplayer maps? Portal 2 dlc?

[@Greg3.14]

It’s the voice lines Valve made for the custom chambers on PC for Portal 2. It’s called the Perpetual Testing Initiative if you want to listen the whole set of voice lines.