2015 Geek-A-Long: Brigid Tenenbaum

Bioshock is one of my favorite video games of all time. It’s right up there with Portal and the classics, Mario and Zelda. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m terrible at first person shooters, so I usually don’t play them. But one day, Mr. Llama convinced me to give it a try on easy mode and I never looked back.

The thing that sets Bioshock (and Bioshock Infinite) aside from other first person shooters is the atmosphere and the story. The moment the underwater city of Rapture came into view as I rode the glass elevator down into the sea, I knew my husband had been right. I loved it. The Art Deco architecture and overall style of the game is gritty and beautiful. Bioshock invokes this claustrophobic mood of dread, which is exasperated by leaking pipes and the sounds of a Big Daddies groaning farther down dank corridors.

Many scientists attributed their madness to the underwater city of Rapture, and then the floating city of Columbia. Jac and I deliberated over which scientist to chose from the Bioshock games, but ultimately we decided to honor Brigid Tenenbaum. She was like a light in the darkness in the first game. Alright, so she might’ve played a large role in creating the Little Sisters, but at least she wanted to repent in the end and save them.

We considered putting Brigid on the square and then we thought about putting some representation for ADAM on it. The final version is an interpretation of the icon for the “Rescue Little Sister” plasmid that Brigid gives the player. One of the things I love about the game is the choices it forces the player to make. In a very Milgram-esque situation, you can either rescue the Little Sister and gain Tenenbaums approval and gifts, or harvest them for ADAM. It’s worth noting that the gifts are worth less ADAM than you can get from harvesting. So doing the “right” thing can really screw you over. This square pays homage to one of Tenebaum’s greatest scientific achievements, and since that achievement is truly awful, we’ve chosen an image that is representative of her attempt to atone. Most of our squares don’t have that much subtext. ;)

Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download the Little Sister pattern here. When you’re finished making it, don’t forget to tweet or instagram your squares at me @Doctor_Llama or Jac @jac_attacking with the hashtag #geekalong, so we can all oooh and ah at it together.

If you’re having trouble with double-sided knitting, we have a how-to video here, and if you would like to learn to crochet, Jac has a fabulous tutorial here.  You can find moral support in the Geek-A-Long group on Ravelry here.

~ Megan-Anne
This square stared at me while I knitted it.

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