7-4: ...Like Antennas to Heaven
 |
This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it. Editing this page. | ||||
Progress status:  This article is somewhat established. It lacks some important pieces of information and may contain inaccuracies. | |||||
...LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN
| 7-4: ...LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| General | |||
| Layer & Part | VIOLENCE /// CLIMAX | ||
| Challenge | Don't fight the security system. | ||
| Music | War Without Reason | ||
| Tip of the Day | |||
A direct hit from the Knuckleblaster has extremely powerful knockback, making it extremely powerful for launching enemies into pits and other environmental hazards.
| |||
| Enemies | |||
 6 Filth 4 Strays 2 Schisms 4 Soldiers 2 Streetcleaners 3 Sentries 1 Gutterman 5 Guttertanks 1 Malicious Face 6 Idols 2 Mannequins 1000-THR "Earthmover"
| |||
| Rank Requirements | |||
| Rank | Time | Kills | Style |
| S | 05:30 | 32 | 16,500 |
| A | 06:00 | 28 | 15,000 |
| B | 08:00 | 18 | 9,000 |
| C | 12:40 | 6 | 3,500 |
| Levels | |||
| Previous | Next | ||
| 7-3 | 8-1 | ||
7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4 7-S
| |||
This article covers a simplified account of the boss fight for 1000-THR "Earthmover". For more detail on the boss, see 1000-THR "Earthmover".
7-4: ...LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN is the final level of Violence, featuring the Earthmover within the scorching third circle. The player emerges from a bunker, faced with the towering machine that must be scaled and killed from the inside.
The song used in this level is War Without Reason.
Level
Start
The player starts off in what appears to be an underground bunker, which they must slide underneath a gap and scale a small flight of stairs to exit. Upon exiting they will be greeted by a looming Earthmover, who prepares to fire upon them before being struck by another of its kind that it was battling across the pale sands and raining fire of the third ring of Violence. 
Hookpoints are generated throughout the level to aid in platforming.
A midair Blue Hookpoint allows the player to cross the gap, and two 
Green Hookpoints and another Blue Hookpoint allow the player to ascend up the Earthmover's leg. On a thin walkway, two Streetcleaners will spawn. Past them, two vents act as jump pads that take the player to the base of the torso, inside one of the legs.
Grappling the 
Yellow Hookpoint will activate a set of three platforms for the player to jump across, and at the end of them, lies a narrow catwalk where a Sentry will spawn, followed by a Guttertank. Beyond them and ascending a small platform to the back of the Earthmover are two red-hot pipes that deal 10 damage to the player upon contact, and a gap with another vent jump pad. Across the gap is a balcony where two Soldiers spawn, followed by another Sentry once the player steps onto the balcony. Once the player crosses to the far edge of the balcony where the Sentry is spawned, a Gutterman will spawn behind them.
Jumping onto the circular platform causes two Guttertanks to drop onto the arena. On the next ledge, there is a window displaying the fleshy interior of the Earthmover, and a small building where a Malicious Face and two Mannequins spawn.
Defence System
Passing the checkpoint will activate a miniboss encounter with the 1000-THR Defence System. The player is locked into the arena by a cyan barrier, and is first faced with two rocket launchers and an invulnerable laser tower that fires a large tracking beam similar to that of a 
Mindflayer. As the player destroys the rocket launchers, two mortar launchers will take their place, which will be joined by two rods that fire 
Hell Seekers. The weapons can damage each other.
Once all other weapons have been destroyed, the laser tower will become vulnerable and speed up substantially. When defeated, the laser tower explodes as the barrier shuts down, unlocking an elevator that will be available to ride upwards.
In an alley blocked off and beside the arena, there is a book.
WAR NO LONGER NEEDED ITS ULTIMATE PRACTICIONER. IT HAD BECOME A SELF-SUSTAINING SYSTEM. MAN WAS CRUSHED UNDER THE WHEELS OF A MACHINE CREATED TO CREATE THE MACHINE CREATED TO CRUSH THE MACHINE. SAMSARA OF CUT SINEW AND CRUSHED BONE. DEATH WITHOUT LIFE. NULL OUROBOROS. ALL THAT REMAINED IS WAR WITHOUT REASON.
A MAGNUM OPUS. A COLD TOWER OF STEEL. A MACHINE BUILT TO END WAR IS ALWAYS A MACHINE BUILT TO CONTINUE WAR. YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL, OUTSTRETCHED LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN. YOU WERE BEYOND YOUR CREATORS. YOU REACHED FOR GOD, AND YOU FELL. NONE WERE LEFT TO SPEAK YOUR EULOGY. NO FINAL WORDS, NO CONCLUDING STATEMENT. NO POINT. PERFECT CLOSURE.
T H I S I S T H E O N L Y W A Y I T S H O U L D H A V E E N D E D .
Interior
Once inside the player will be greeted with a message from the Earthmover's security system:
Inside the large blood chamber, 6 Idols are placed on a set of platforms that are powering a barrier in the ceiling, and must be destroyed as boiling blood rises from the floor. If the player falls into the blood, they will take 25 damage and be knocked back upwards. Once all of the Idols are destroyed, a vent jump pad close to the location of the former topmost Idol activates, giving the player a boost to the top of the Earthmover's neck. An additional Green Hookpoint allows them to alternatively grapple upwards, followed by a jump pad to the entrance of the Earthmover's head.
From within the base of the head, the player must complete a brief platforming section, consisting of three hallways containing glowing, red-hot floors that deal 10 damage and bounce the player upward, the first one of which contains another jump pad. Three Blue Hookpoints are placed throughout the hallways leading up to a small room with a Checkpoint, a Terminal, and another jump pad up to the Earthmover's control room, where its actual boss fight takes place.
Boss Encounter
Once the player enters the center of the head, the entrance from where they arrived seals itself off, as a steel barricade surrounding the pillar in the center of the room reveals the Earthmover's brain, in a cylindrical chamber surrounded by a raised platform along the walls. It defends itself against the player with a series of four horizontal, rotating pink laser walls, and fires large Hell Seekers that can be parried back at it. The brain is contained within an electrified barrier that is not bulletproof but will damage the player if they touch it.
After enough time passes, indicated by a blue bar below its health bar, it will spawn two Idols in cases that are open from the back, while the lasers start spinning faster. It can spawn these indefinitely, and it can also be killed before it spawns any.
Self-Destruct Escape
Once defeated, the brain will start exploding, and the player will be warned with a countdown signifying the Earthmover's self-destruct sequence:
If the timer reaches 0, the Earthmover will explode and the player will instantly die. They must go back down the neck the same way they came in, and will be faced with a wave of enemies in the large blood chamber, including 1 Sentry, 6 Filth, 4 Strays, 2 Schisms, and 2 Soldiers. Once six of these enemies are killed, 2 Guttertanks will spawn as well.
After all enemies are killed the door will open, leading to a jump pad that will launch the player away from the Earthmover as it explodes, leaving its debris in the ashen wastes.
Challenge
In order to complete the level's challenge, the player must find a way around the Defense System and enter the interior using a hidden path. Nearby the Defense System arena stands a crane carrying a bomb, climbing on top and using the 
Electric Railcannon or 
Jumpstart's cable on the electrical coils to power the crane, part of the Earthmover will be blown open by the bomb's detonation and reveal a new entrance leading into the blood chamber.
Easter eggs
- A plush of lead 3D-artist Victoria Holland can be found at a control panel when no-clipping inside the Earthmover's brain.
- The control panel reads "GORP LIGHT: ON", switching to "GORP LIGHT: OFF" once the Earthmover starts dying.
- A large plush of concept artist BigRockBMP can be found seated on the second Earthmover.
- A few buildings on the Earthmover's side make up the loss meme.
- A tiny top hat can be found on the Earthmover's head
- A potted sunflower can be found when no-clipping through a door located within a building nearby the Security System boss fight, alongside a warning sign written in Japanese, the text translates to "Generator Siphon Plant Plant", being a play on words.
Plush of Victoria found within the Earthmover's brain.
Plush of BigRock found on the second Earthmover.
"Loss" made up of buildings on the Earthmover's side.
A top hat found on the Earthmover's head
Plant within the Earthmover.
Trivia
- The level title is named after the album Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
- As the Earthmover itself is counted as an enemy, disabling enemies using cheats will spawn in a jump pad to ensure the exit door is reachable, currently making 7-4 the only level where additional objects appear when enemies are disabled.
- It is possible to unload a part of the level by hitting "Checkpoint" while in the flooding room with the 6 Idols, then proceeding to fall off the map. Doing so will cause V1 to spawn in the flushing room without starting the flushing sequence and will also prevent the interior of the Earthmover's neck from loading in.
- The roots keeping the Earthmover down are from the trees in prior level.
