16. Gordon Freeman Was Originally A Ginger, Bearded Dude Nicknamed Ivan The Space Biker
ValveBelieve it or not, the bespectacled, goatee-clad nerd we know as Gordon Freeman was not how the character was originally designed. Rather, his first character model looked more like he belonged in Road Rash than Half-Life: with his flat ginger hair, large beard, distended stomach and demented eyes, he better resembles a mental hospital outpatient or a homeless man than an esteemed theoretical physicist. Rather aptly, the design has since been affectionately nicknamed "Ivan the Space Biker". Imagine if Half-Life had been released with Ivan as the protagonist instead of Gordon: would it have ever caught on in the same way as it did? Though the gameplay would've gone virtually unchanged (considering that we never see Gordon throughout the game), seeing that fat, hairy biker-looking dude on the front cover just wouldn't be as appealing as the down-to-Earth nerd we ended up with. A decision for the best, then.