Dr. Magnusson in HL1?

The Monkey

The Monkey

The Freeman
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I keep hearing that Arne Magnusson appears in Half-Life 1. If so, where? He doesn't look like any of the four scientist models from HL1.
 
He's the microwave guy. He might be Slick, though there is some debate over this.
 
Yeah he's the guy who's casserole you blow up at the start of HL1.
 
He's supposed to be the Einstein model, with the white hair and moustache. But in the Ep2 commentary, when discussing his voice, they said he sounded too much like a caricature. Hence they developed the character to be more tailored for the actor's manner and talent.

So he's supposed to be from Half-Life 1. They just remade him differently, I guess.
 
Einstein model? But he looks nothing like the Einstein model. He looks more like the Slick model.
 
Yeah, isn't he meant to be the Einstein "Gordon doesn't need to hear all this he's a highly trained professional" guy? I don't get how he can be that guy and the casserole guy at the same time. Unless he was just meant to be like the Einstein guy. Even so, I don't get how the Einstein guy was "gruff and arrogant", or whatever they called him in the commentary.

I don't suppose it matters though really; they did the same thing to all the other "characters" from HL1.
 
Narvi said:
Einstein model? But he looks nothing like the Einstein model. He looks more like the Slick model.
Click to expand...

They even referenced the original voice in the commentary. Played a clip 'n everything. It's supposed to be Einstein.

He just... looks nothing like him any more. He never reminded me of Slick any way.
 
He's written like the guy there, yeah, but the guy who's supposed to be Kleiner has the Einstein model too.
 
Kleiner is based off of the one with glasses. The "Walter" model if you ever called it that.
 
IIRC correctly after you have your training session with the Magnusson devices on the Strider, he says something about the microwave incident back at Black Mesa, before exiting through the door.
 
Valve have taken the generic repeating characters in HL1 and transformed them into singular characters for HL2. Kliener, Barney, Eli, etc. Magnusson is the guy whose casserole you blew up in HL1.
 
He is in fact two characters from the original HL (much like how Barney represents all of the security guards, rather than just being a specific one). He is both the scientist whose casserole the player can destroy and the scientist and the condescending scientist who lets you into the test chamber "Gordon doesn’t need to hear all this."

There's a debate as to whether he is supposed to be the slick model or the einstein model (the scientist who speaks the above line is an einstein model). I think he's slick. He has the same hairline and I really see no resemblance to einstein in him.
 
I see more resemblance to Einstein primarily in personality. It just seems to fit more. I envisage Slick being more... well, slick. Not a grumpy old man like Magnusson. They share the hairline, but that's about the only physical resemblance I can see. I know a lot of time passed between the two games, but if Barney's aging is any indication, I think Magnusson would have to look younger.
 
I can't believe you're trying to decide which actual character Magnusson was...

That's like me asking which Barney our Barney is. Sure, you can argue it was the guy locked out that you see right at the beginning of HL, but then Valve never agreed it was him. And what about the fifty other different Barney's that you see? The Egghead model in the cafeteria doesn't look anything like Magnusson, and frankly, he looks nothing like any of the other models. I can't think of many people who remind me of Magnusson's bossy and cocky attitude, and it certainly couldn't have been the Einstein right before the Test Chamber, as he seemed waay too friendly. The only character I recall from Half-Life giving the nearest experience to our Magnusson would be the Scientist talking over the intercom in Uplink, when you have to tune the radio in the tower. If you recall.
 
I'm just wondering if, assuming Slick and Einstein are distinct characters like Barney and Kleiner, which one Magnusson is supposed to be based off of.

I think it's pretty much established that the HL2 iterations of these characters never occupied one single specific place in the previous game. All the security guards were Barney. All the Egghead/Walter models were Kleiner. While they were basically just generic stock cannon fodder previously, now they're actually individual characters. So trying to pinpoint where exactly they were in Black Mesa isn't going to get you anywhere.
 
Absinthe said:
They even referenced the original voice in the commentary. Played a clip 'n everything. It's supposed to be Einstein.

He just... looks nothing like him any more. He never reminded me of Slick any way.
Click to expand...

Bastard found a way to grow younger.

BASTARD.

Oh yes im back
 
Tangent alert ...

I know the Black Mesa: Source project can't be considered canon, but I read they were going to make the HL2 Barney the one banging on the door at the start during the tram ride, and then never to be seen again.

I think they said they don't intend to feature Magnusson at all.
 
He's always looked like the dude with the moustache in the Black Mesa photo, to me.
 
Yeah I thought he looked like the big guy. Like someone mentioned the idea of his personality is derived from the Einstein character you meet right before entering into the test chamber.
Even though the Walter model runs over to the casserole when you overheat the microwave doesn't mean it was necessarily his. The thing does explode. Maybe he just ratted you out to Magnusson.
 
It's Slick. There aren't any other asshole scientists working at Black Mesa who aren't named Rosenberg, so it has to be Slick.

Einstein was a fairly pleasant fellow. Slick's a jerk.









I'm gonna kill you Slick
 
Slick wasn't that much of a jerk. He didn't have the right pompous attitude to be Magnusson.

I'll give you a review of my opinion when I've met a Slick in my current replay (who's not dead).
 
preview_scientist.jpg

He looks more like Einstein to me.

Druckles said:
I can't believe you're trying to decide which actual character Magnusson was...

That's like me asking which Barney our Barney is. Sure, you can argue it was the guy locked out that you see right at the beginning of HL, but then Valve never agreed it was him. And what about the fifty other different Barney's that you see? The Egghead model in the cafeteria doesn't look anything like Magnusson, and frankly, he looks nothing like any of the other models. I can't think of many people who remind me of Magnusson's bossy and cocky attitude, and it certainly couldn't have been the Einstein right before the Test Chamber, as he seemed waay too friendly. The only character I recall from Half-Life giving the nearest experience to our Magnusson would be the Scientist talking over the intercom in Uplink, when you have to tune the radio in the tower. If you recall.
Click to expand...
In all fairness, he could have gone through a personality change in the x amount of years that passes between HL1 and EP2.
Absinthe said:
I'm just wondering if, assuming Slick and Einstein are distinct characters like Barney and Kleiner, which one Magnusson is supposed to be based off of.

I think it's pretty much established that the HL2 iterations of these characters never occupied one single specific place in the previous game. All the security guards were Barney. All the Egghead/Walter models were Kleiner. While they were basically just generic stock cannon fodder previously, now they're actually individual characters. So trying to pinpoint where exactly they were in Black Mesa isn't going to get you anywhere.
Click to expand...
We know who Eli is, though. He was the black doctor who told us to get to the surface right after the incident.
 
I wouldn't say Einstein. Magnussons hair's too dark. I'm inclined to agree it was Slick.
 
But in the picture in Kleiner's lab there is more than the 4 scientist model shown.

url


He kind of looks like the guy with the mustache. He's also the only new scientist besides the 2 pictured in front of the Borealis.
 
I still find it weird that Gordon is pictured there...

It's the nearest thing to a mirror in any game...
 
Druckles said:
Slick wasn't that much of a jerk. He didn't have the right pompous attitude to be Magnusson.
Click to expand...

Slick wasn't that much of a jerk.
Click to expand...
I developed the gluon gun, but I can't bring myself to use it on a living creature. You don't look like you have that problem, however.
 
Darkside55 said:
I developed the gluon gun, but I can't bring myself to use it on a living creature. You don't look like you have that problem, however.
Click to expand...

Darkside, you prove yourself to be an intelligent fellow then you flush it all down the toilet faster than Lamarr headhumps Kleiner.

Gordon walks in, covered in blood, guts, gunshot dents and whatever else he happened to step in/fall in after the Resonance Cascade. Isn't it pretty damn obvious he has no problem with using the Gluon Gun against living creatures?
 
Phrasing it that way still makes him a jerk though.
 
Jintor said:
Phrasing it that way still makes him a jerk though.
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't.

Dude.

"I developed the gluon gun, but I can't bring myself to use it on a living creature [seeing how I witnessed how it tears apart and rips through living tissue, splattering the walls with whatever bodily fluids are on the walls]. You don't look like you have that problem, however. [as I can see you are covered in all manner of alien entrails and fluids, carry an arsenal of weaponry on your back and I heard about your exploits coming here.]"
 
That isn't the point. I'm not masking what I as Gordon Freeman am capable of; I wouldn't deny it. Yes, I can kill for survival, I can kill for a cause, I have no problem with that. I can blow alien species, sentient and otherwise, even other human beings to tiny little bits, riddle them with holes, smash their faces in with a crowbar. Oh, yes, Gordon Freeman is decisive and capable indeed. Truly, he--I--have no problems using weapons technology for what it's meant for.

The point is that he says it so damned derisively. So holier-than-thou, as though he, the weapon's creator, looks down at the weapon's user with contempt and revulsion. He makes the weapons, oh yes, but he's beyond using them. It's too base, too barbaric for him. That sallow-faced, slick-haired, sniveling little nobody who views his creations as magnificent works and yet frowns at their employ and turns up his nose at the employer. It wasn't what he said--it was how he said it. The way he looked at me, the tone in his voice, the words he used.

It was hurtful. Ten years and a hundred playthroughs later, it's so goddamned hurtful.

If you are a monster, you are aware you are a monster. Perhaps you can even come to grips that you're a monster. But to have someone look at you and call you one to your face, with that kind of connotation...it still wounds.

And that is why I turned the gluon gun against that Slick. Why I ripped him apart particle-by-particle with his own creation, his own weapon guided by the hand of someone who didn't have a problem killing another living being. And that's why I'll do it again. And again. And AGAIN, again until the end of time, again and again until I show him just how much I can bring myself to kill!

Gordon Freeman's not much of a vengeful man, as I understand it.

But I am.
 
What's Hansen gonna do? That makes no sense, no sense, no sense at all.
 
It's making me kind of hot, tell you the truth.

Both of you get a room and I get to watch.
 
Mikael, you're being foolish. You damn well know that Darkside is insane.
 
Did everyone who played Half Life blow up the dang microwave?
I think he looks like the Einstein character
 
Who didn't blow up the microwave? Who didn't blow up the teleporter?
 
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