Comments on: The Clone, the Cube, and the Construct: Part 1

By: Portal 2 and Feminism « Bakka's River

Portal 2 and Feminism « Bakka's River — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:44:15 +0000

[...] is Portal 1 commentary, but I just found these posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading them after I played the first game. Argues [...]

By: The Clone, the Cube, and the Construct: Part 3

The Clone, the Cube, and the Construct: Part 3 — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:28:32 +0000

[...] her. You already know how to avoid them. You could theoretically avoid them forever (you are an android, after all), so she gives you a pressure device which forces you to resolve the situation [...]

By: Nope

Nope — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 03:42:28 +0000

“But I certainly don’t think we can rule out clone.”
Someone hasn’t seen the co-op ending.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:43:32 +0000

Chell=Sheep? A sheep was cloned in 1997 called Dolly :l

By: jb

jb — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:59:23 +0000

Based on the info in Portal 2, some things look clearer. This is full of spoilers, so avert your eyes!!!!!!!

Based on the fact that Chell is the name of the person who created the huge mutant potato, Chell has got to be the daughter of one of the employees.

She may even be Caroline’s daughter (or granddaughter), but based on the interactions between Caroline and Cave, I doubt that she’s Cave’s daughter. Also, a man like Cave would have a SON! NO DAUGHTERS! REAL MEN, to do REAL TESTING! FOR SCIENCE!

I suspect the timeline went a little something like this.

1) Bring your daughter to work day. Someone throws a switch to turn on GLaDOS.
2) She fills a chamber with a deadly neurotoxin. Daughters cavort freely in another part of the facility
3) The engineers frantically install a morality core
4) She realizes how much she enjoys testing (Because of the test-based ‘feel-good’ boost they added, that Wheatley falls prey to)
5) She assumes everyone would enjoy testing, just like she does.
6) She grabs everyone, and puts a bunch of them in suspended animation.
7) But not Chell. She leaves her in a normal cell for ~10 years while she grows up. It is possible at this point that she clones the original Chell, and runs the little-girl clones through the test chamber, while the original Chell languishes in a cell.

8) The ongoing ‘satisfaction boost’ of testing stops working, and GLaDOS slowly goes insane.

Portal 1 occurs – whether we’re playing a clone of Chell or the original isn’t clear.

9) Something grabs Chell at the end and puts her into suspended animation

10) She wakes up (50 days or whatever it was) and does the standard orientation, like all the other suspended subjects

11) Somewhere during the next 50 days, without GLaDOS to oversee things, the suspended animation re-awakening process fails.

100 years pass

Portal 2

- based on what GLaDOS says, I think we can rule out android:
a) Weight gain
b) Parents
c) 60 years of remaining life.

But I certainly don’t think we can rule out clone.

By: Portal player

Portal player — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:29:16 +0000

I think that the clone theory is right because when u are defeating glados he say “I have your brain scanned and permanently backed up in case something terrible happens to you… ” that explains how we
die and appear again , glados use your brain scan and make another clone

By: D.Kop

D.Kop — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:58:31 +0000

Sorry, dude, but Portal 2 disproves your theories. The boots are just a piece of equipment, Chell doesn’t die at the end of the game, and it was the ratman who wrote on the walls.

By: Don

Don — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 02:04:55 +0000

To clarify what I was saying: Chell could be a lot of different things, but saying she’s an “android” just because the word was used in a level is kinda goofy.

By: Don

Don — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 01:57:26 +0000

The big problem with the “android” thing is that in the context of the android level, it’s pretty obvious that it’s supposed to be dry humor. Calling someone an android because they beat the course is funny, and there’s no good reason to look any further into it than that. Would you also suspect that android hell is real just because GlaDOS made a joke about that?

Obviously there’s something strange about Chell, and she is modified in some way. I would definitely see her being a clone, but it’s also just as possible that she was simply put into stasis between when she was caught, portal, and portal 2. I honestly have no clue which it is, both seem plausible. However, the whole android thing is a total non-sequitur. Keep in mind that you’re basically trying to redefine the entire premise of the first Portal purely based on a throwaway joke.

By: TheGreenCore

TheGreenCore — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:35:42 +0000

For the most part I believe your articles are very very interesting but at the same time I believe that you may reading into things a little too much. I firmly believe that Chell is, in fact, a human i.e. the blood splatters for one thing. As for being a clone I kinda get how that could work but I dont think thats the case will the test subjects. Instead of clone it could be that numerous people could have put into stasis to be used as lab rats. I remember reading somewhere that one reason why GlaDOS mentions the Bring Your Daughter to Work Day is because she have possibly been activated on that day. So if it was a bring your daughter to work day GlaDOS could have easily gotten numerous “daughters” as well as a few scientists/adults to use in her tests. Also the daughters could’ve been young and have grown up in stasis as numerous other subjects go through the tests. Chell probably is Cave Johnsons daughter and could have been the last child/teen left in the facility. I think this idea could lead to why Chell is a mute besides the fact that Valve just wanted her to be quiet. Chell could have been traumatized during the events of GlaDOS’s activation with her being stasis speech could have deteriorated and she can be very psychologically scared. Also, its a video game. everything does not need to make sense, the leg braces can just be a highly advance piece of tech just like the portal gun. Also they could be grafted to her legs permanently. Well, thats just what I think.