Tommy

Tommy with his iconic Propeller Hat.

> "*Grab a soda, it'll help you see faster!*"
> ―Tommy upon seeing the first set of vending machines.
>
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**Tommy Coolatta** is the deuteragonist in the HLVR:AI saga. Following the Resonance Cascade, he becomes a part of the "Science Team" along with Gordon Freeman, Bubby, and Dr. Coomer. He seems to assume the role of the team's sharpshooter, especially during Act 2, while also providing important information about the facility that he's picked up from books (including the 7,271 pages of the "Nuclear Guideline Documents"). Tommy is also one of the only characters that can read the Black Mesa Sweet Voice. Despite pushing 40, Tommy has a childlike nature, being an avid fan of Beyblades, the Minions, and soda. It's revealed, near the end of the saga, that he is the G-Man's son.

Tommy is voiced by Baaulp.

## Relationships

### G-Man

Tommy is G-Man's biological son. Though it's implied that G-Man abandoned Tommy for a long period of time, for unknown reasons, they do not have a strained relationship. G-Man watches the science team mainly to ensure Tommy is safe and happy. G-Man even rented an entire Chuck E. Cheese for Tommy's birthday, and had his favorite Illumination characters, The Minions, appear at the party.

### Sunkist

Sunkist is Tommy's massive pet dog, who he created himself at Black Mesa. Tommy loves Sunkist dearly, and is very concerned for her safety when and after she is captured by Forzen. When Gordon brings up how Sunkist looks like a JPEG, Tommy asks what a JPEG is.

### Gordon Freeman

Gordon and Tommy met during Act 1, while Tommy was on lunch break. Out of all the other members in the Science Team, Tommy probably has the best relationship with Gordon, who showed disdain for Tommy after their first encounter, but gradually took on a sort of father figure role, showing care for Tommy’s well-being, and regarding him as a friend. Tommy was the only member of the Science Team who didn’t betray Gordon, and was horrified when the military cut off Gordon’s hand. Tommy was always a loyal companion, and Gordon thanks Tommy for this before the battle with Benrey in the final act.

### Dr. Coomer

Dr. Coomer and Tommy appear to be on good terms.

### Bubby

Bubby and Tommy appear to be on good terms.

### Benrey

Benrey and Tommy are assumed to have already known each other prior to the beginning of the series. When in the test chamber, Benrey yells to Tommy, saying the latter's name. Tommy is also the only character able to read and understand the Black Mesa Sweet Voice that Benrey uses. Tommy also refers to Benrey with "sir" multiple times, and seems to respect him. It's unclear if Tommy holds any grudge against Benrey after he betrays Gordon, however he was not in on the scheme and was disturbed by it greatly.

### Darnold

Tommy and Darnold appear to be on good terms, and Tommy was aware of the fact that Darnold works with potions and drinks.

### Forzen

Tommy, along with the other science team members, interrogated Forzen. However, when Forzen brings up that he can find a beyblade for Tommy, the latter blindly believes him and follows him.

## Quotes

* "Right, very carefully, slower than molasses drips off a spoon. :)"
* "I'm an orphan, but I have a dog!"
* "When it's L-...purple, like the evening, of a spring evening, then it means he's okay." (Regarding the Black Mesa Sweet Voice)
* "I'm always squeezing the trigger! Should I not be do that-? …doing that?"
* "It's all- this is all mechanically necessary!" (Regarding the speeding platforms that take Bubby)
* "Hey look! Look! It's a va- uhh... a va- uhhhh... va- uhh... a turnwheel!" (Regarding a valve)
* "They don't- There's no article about that on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia!" (Regarding The Black Mesa Golem Ape)
* "Mr. Freeman! Be careful! More careful... than a badger going after a... a den of snakes!"
* "I drink soda for lunch!"
* "You're more perfect... than two mint juleps on a hot summer evening!" (To Sunkist)
* "I only do what I read in books."
* "When we get outta here I'm gonna write the Wikipedia article for the thing we just killed!" (Regarding The Black Mesa Golem Ape)
* "Black Mesa makes ALL the Powerade™!"
* "This is all instinct, Mr. Freeman! I'm scared!"
* "I'm sorry about... uh- about the.. about earlier. Time moved faster for me then.. then it has been." (To Gordon)
* "I can recognize Beyblades when I see 'em!"
* "I hate trains! But I'll do anything to go home!"
* "Yup! And it's all built to code. The U.S. lets us do this. This is all to regulation. Everything."
* "This is all built to CODE!! It'll be okay."
* "Is it befitting?" (Regarding his iconic propeller hat)

## Trivia

* Benry informs Gordon that Tommy "likes mean people," though this may refer to himself or be a lie.
* Tommy drinks only soda for lunch, and enjoys looking at "The Billboards" in the lunch room, though he does not seem to know what they say.
* He has a good trigger finger, his reasoning being fear-induced instinct.
* Tommy's favorite element is boron (the fifth one)
* Tommy is the son of the G-Man.
	+ Wayne has stated this to be canon due to the two sharing visual similarities.
	+ It's possible that thanks to this biological relation, Tommy may very well not be human.
	+ Although Tommy states near the beginning that he is an orphan, its possible this was retconned, false information, or that the G-Man abandoned his son for a time being before later reuniting with him.
* Tommy is capable of creating living beings that disobey the laws of the natural world, as seen in Sunkist, his immortal, sentient, and flying golden retriever.
* Like all the other AI-Enhanced NPCs, it's easy to tell them apart because of their animations, taken from the Half-Life 2:Deathmatch Citizen's and combine.
* Tommy says that he is an orphan, and was adopted by G-Man. His last name is Coolatta since when "they" let him pick his last name, he was in a Dunkin' Donuts and just looked around for inspiration.
* His favorite Coolatta flavor is strawberry.
* Tommy is not affected by electricity.
* His favorite food is pizza.
* Apparently, Tommy only does what he reads in books.
	+ Tommy has also stated he read all of Wikipedia.
* Tommy's favorite Illumination characters are The Minions.
* During a Q&A stream, Baaulp stated that he believes Tommy doesn't know what sex is.
* Tommy has around 365 kills in the full series, having the highest kill count of any science team member.
	+ Although, 300 of those kills were the Coomer Clones.
* Like Bubby, Tommy likes marzipan.
* Tommy's favorite TV show is "Invitation to Love."
* He has a drawer full of Tic-Tac's .
	+ According to Baaulp, this is based on himself and is actually true as at one point he did store Tic Tacs out of their containers in a drawer.
* Baaulp has said that, as far as he knows, "Tommy wears the same exact thing everyday, like Pee-Wee Herman."
	+ Afterwards, Wayne says that he imagines Tommy wears similar articles of clothes everyday but with different colors.
	+ Trog and Gir agree that out of the HLVRAI cast, Tommy is the most likely to wear jeans and a jean jacket.
* When Tommy acquires his iconic propeller hat, Gordon assumes he found it in one of Darnold's crates of "mystery gadgets", however, Darnold claims it was not his. It is unknown where Tommy actually got the propeller hat.
* Tommy doesn't know what a JPEG is.
* According to Baaulp, Tommy works in Human Resources.
	+ According to Wayne, however, he imagines Tommy as someone who just roams around because he's too sweet to fire.
	+ Tommy was originally going to be named Timmy

## Gallery

Tommy without his iconic Propeller HatTommy in the distanceTommy's gun power stanceTommy with his father, G-Man, at his Chuck E. Cheese birthday partyTommy with Bubby at his Chuck E. Cheese birthday party
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