Why do people argue that Opposing Force is non-canon?

[Vedris]

There's more that can support it being canon than not being canon.
Black Mesa is still destroyed in Half-Life 2. This can be explained by the nuke the Black Ops detonate.
The disappearance of Race X monsters can be easily explained by not being seen near City 17 because they are extinct and or in the Wasteland.
Gina Cross (as well as Colette Green) disappear after the Black Mesa incident and probably died in the nuclear explosion or during the 7 Hours War. This hasn't been disproven despite what some claim.
Other events proving Opposing Force as canon is the tie-ins to Half-Life 1 itself such as the "Forget About Freeman" transmission.
Why do people argue Opposing Force is non-canon, and by extent the Gearbox games? Even Valve themselves made Barney Calhoun an official character in Half-Life 2!

[PsyWarVeteran]

How convenient.

[Madhouse Man]

Nuke or not, Black Mesa is destroyed and I don't expect government to try to rebuild the area.

The "Forget About Freeman" transmission doesn't make it more canon, Gearbox just wanted to make a "cameo" about some first Half-Life part.

Barney Calhoun is basically a character from the first Half-Life. Actually, every security guards are named Barney, and each one refer to the "beer he owe you". There probably one that is the "Barney Calhoun" from Half-Life 2 (one that didn't die of course)

Actually, the real (canon) Barney Calhoun must have worked in Anomalous Materials instead of the security post in Blue Shift.

I think even if Valve don't recognize Blue Shift and Opposing Force as canon, nothing prevent you to consider it canon.

[Tiretracker]

When asked about it, Marc Laidlaw I think was quoted in saying he considers Opposing Force to be non-canon "except for Black Mesa being nuked" which is where I think the breadth of the "argument" comes from.

Frankly I take it not much different than if George Lucas considered The Force Awakens to be non-canon just because he didn't write it

Ultimately whatever isn't explained directly can be freely interpreted, which in honesty leaves more for the viewer to play with.

[Cat]

No gonomes in Half-life 2 unless you wanna argue HL2 is not canon and opposing force is.

[PINGVINATOR TERMOREGULATOR]

Originally posted by Cat:

No gonomes in Half-life 2 unless you wanna argue HL2 is not canon and opposing force is.

Headcrabs are genetically modified in HL2

[Cat]

Originally posted by Zorlagger:

Originally posted by Cat:

No gonomes in Half-life 2 unless you wanna argue HL2 is not canon and opposing force is.

Headcrabs are genetically modified in HL2

Source, please.

[PINGVINATOR TERMOREGULATOR]

Originally posted by Cat:

Originally posted by Zorlagger:

Headcrabs are genetically modified in HL2

Source, please.

Gordon never encountered Fast and Poison headcrabs in Xen so they are a creation by the Combine. And Gonarch doesn't produce them either. And whenever you fight Standard Headcrabs in HL2 they 95% of the time came from Headcrab Shells, which is also the creation of the combine. Not to mention that standard zombies in HL2 are slower than those in HL1.

Opposing Force starts when Gordon is in late part of the chapter Surface Tension, and the last time Gordon encountered the zombies was in the chapter Apprehesion, so that's why Gordon never saw any Gonomes in HL1

[Cat]

Originally posted by EN UJ'O:

Originally posted by Cat:

Source, please.

Gordon never encountered Fast and Poison headcrabs in Xen so they are a creation by the Combine. And Gonarch doesn't produce them either. And whenever you fight Standard Headcrabs in HL2 they 95% of the time came from Headcrab Shells, which is also the creation of the combine. Not to mention that standard zombies in HL2 are slower than those in HL1.

Opposing Force starts when Gordon is in late part of the chapter Surface Tension, and the last time Gordon encountered the zombies was in the chapter Apprehesion, so that's why Gordon never saw any Gonomes in HL1

I don't think that was explained anywhere. The writer didn't consider gonome's existence (or the opposing force events) when making Half-life 2. It was just a fan theory some random YouTube jokingly made up.

[Doc Tear Popper]

Originally posted by Cat:

Originally posted by Zorlagger:

Headcrabs are genetically modified in HL2

Source, please.

Gonomes actually do make a return in Entropy Zero 2. They're incredibly rare which possibly explains why Gordon didn't encounter a single one. Valve did originally plan for the Gonome to be in HL2 but they scrapped it for some reason.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Originally posted by Doc Tear Popper:

Gonomes actually do make a return in Entropy Zero 2. They're incredibly rare which possibly explains why Gordon didn't encounter a single one. Valve did originally plan for the Gonome to be in HL2 but they scrapped it for some reason.

1- Who cares if Gonomes exist in a fan modification?
2- Gonomes were never scrapped from HL2 because they never planned to begin with.

[PINGVINATOR TERMOREGULATOR]

Originally posted by Cat:

Originally posted by EN UJ'O:

Gordon never encountered Fast and Poison headcrabs in Xen so they are a creation by the Combine. And Gonarch doesn't produce them either. And whenever you fight Standard Headcrabs in HL2 they 95% of the time came from Headcrab Shells, which is also the creation of the combine. Not to mention that standard zombies in HL2 are slower than those in HL1.

Opposing Force starts when Gordon is in late part of the chapter Surface Tension, and the last time Gordon encountered the zombies was in the chapter Apprehesion, so that's why Gordon never saw any Gonomes in HL1

I don't think that was explained anywhere. The writer didn't consider gonome's existence (or the opposing force events) when making Half-life 2. It was just a fan theory some random YouTube jokingly made up.

He didn't consider them for hl2 for that exact reason. He decided Headcrabs in hl2 should be used as a weapon that combine modified. By your logic we can say that hl2 isn't canon because Bullsquids and Houndeyes don't appear there, but there is an answer on why is that.

Also, quoting Marc Laidlaw from q&a when he answered fan mail:
"There was pressure on us to set Half-Life 2 at Black Mesa, which a lot of us felt would be creative death; it was important to break new ground. Nuking Black Mesa was a good way to ensure that we had a way to avoid setting Half-Life 2 there."

The only game you learn that Black Mesa was destroyed by the nuke is Opposing Force. So that's that

[Cat]

Originally posted by EN UJ'O:

By your logic we can say that hl2 isn't canon because Bullsquids and Houndeyes don't appear there,

How is that my logic? Bullsquids and hounds don't appear because they were wiped out by the combine and became too rare. That is not the case for zombies, they weren't all wiped out and there were lots of them in Half-life 2 that were alive longer than opposing force events. Not a single one of them reached the next stage of evolution? Big mommas not appearing makes sense but gonomes?

Opposing force is great and all, but the original writer never said all those race X aliens, gonome zombies, black ops gone rogue are canon. The only thing that were accepted was the black MESA nuke, which was only approved because "it was a good way to ensure that we had a way to avoid setting Half-life 2 in black mesa".

[PsyWarVeteran]

Black Mesa doesn't even have to get nuked for HL2 to make sense. What the hell are Gordon and the gang are supposed to do, return to New Mexico desert when they can master freaking teleportation technology in their dingy basement? They don't need Black Mesa.

The real answer to this damn question that keeps popping up is that Valve simply grabbed whatever idea they liked for the sequel and that outcome doesn't change the canonity or non-canonity of the expansions. I still think they're not canon.

[Mersh]

Because people got no better things to do other than argue over the lore of a 20+ year old games online

[Doc Tear Popper]

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

Originally posted by Doc Tear Popper:

Gonomes actually do make a return in Entropy Zero 2. They're incredibly rare which possibly explains why Gordon didn't encounter a single one. Valve did originally plan for the Gonome to be in HL2 but they scrapped it for some reason.

1- Who cares if Gonomes exist in a fan modification?
2- Gonomes were never scrapped from HL2 because they never planned to begin with.

1- That "fan modification" is better than both Episodes One and Two imo.
2- Yes it was. Look up the Zombie Assassin and it's pretty much the Gonome with a different name.