7-4: ...LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN (2024)

For more information about other missions, see Levels

A direct hit from the Knuckleblaster has extremely powerful knockback, making it extremely powerful for launching enemies into pits and other environmental hazards.- The Tip of the Day.

7-4: ...LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN is the climax and final mission of the VIOLENCE layer. Similar to [2-4: COURT OF THE CORPSE KING] and [ 5-4: LEVIATHAN ], it has a titanic sized boss fight that has been waiting for you amidst a great Plain of Burning Sand; the final destination for blasphemers, sodomites, and usurpers. This time, however, it is too distracted fighting off another Earthmover in the distance to be bothered with you right now.

Major Areas[]

Bunker/Entrance[]

Inside the bunker is a crawl space you can slide under which leads to the exit, revealing the Earthmover towering right over you recognizing you as a threat. It will now try and vaporize you, and then get shot by an Earthmover in the distance. The Earthmover itself is trapped by large roots due to the trees from earlier ^[1]being fed.

Outside of the Machine[]

Along the way up the Earthmover, there are numerous small areas to fight enemies. Up the first leg of the Earthmover are two Streetcleaners guarding a vent. After activating a couple of platforms, you will come across a Sentry sniping you from a distance and a Guttertank.

Town[]

Along the back of the boss is a small town that humans used to live on after the war as seen in the index for the creature. You'll be met with a narrow passageway, but not before two Soldiers spawn in to block your path. Down the narrow passageway is a single Sentry at the very end, and then a rear flanking Gutterman. On a massive exhaust platform drop down, two more Guttertanks spawn in.

One of the buildings holds a Malicious Face and two Mannequins.

1000-THR Defense System[]

Upon reaching the end of the street you come across the defense system of the giant machine. It consists of a few parts; The system itself, with a giant beam identical to a Mindflayer's emanating from it causing damage if touched. Two laser guided missile defense systems on either side of the system. Upon destroying those two the system deploys on either side two artillery cannons shooting projectiles similar to those from Hideous Masses. There are also two poles shooting out homing orbs. Additionally, When all but the main security system have been destroyed, it will get a slight boost, giving it faster tracking.

Upon defeating the system, a blue explosion will occur, and an elevator from underneath is revealed, leading you into the interior.

Behind the buildings to the right of the defense system is a small alleyway. The alley is empty, except for a book on a pedestal.

Unique Passage[]

Interior Space / Brains[]

Inside the fleshy interior of the Earthmover are 6 Idols that block the passage leading into the brains of the machine above. Upon entering, the machine detects that you are inside and begins flooding the interior with boiling blood, giving you a set amount of time to destroy them. Destroying the idols powers down the shield, taking you into the head of the creature.

Inside the head is a cylindrical shaft with the brain of the machine in the center. Four rotating walls of lasers force you to constantly move, with a small space in each to allow you to pass through without taking damage. The brain shoots giant homing orbs that can be parried to restore health and damage the boss. After 15 seconds, the Earthmover will be protected by two Idols in cylindrical containers either side of the brain - the containers have a wide opening behind them, allowing you to go into them and destroy the Idols. These containers can also be used to protect you from the lasers if needed.

After destroying the brain, the machine goes into self-destruct mode and begins to melt down, giving V1 around 80 seconds to get out before exploding. But not before giving you one last hurtle, spawning in a Sentry, four Strays, two Soldiers, six Filth, two Schism, and two Guttertanks either side of the stairs once you've killed all of the Filth.

After jumping on the final vent, the self-destruct timer is automatically set to 3 seconds, no matter if it was higher or lower before. The player is unable to move, dash or slam until after they land, allowing for a clear view of the machine's destruction. The level timer stops as soon as the Earthmover explodes.

Ranking Requirements[]

Challenge[]

To skip the 1000-THR Defense System, the player must activate a nearby crane by firing the Jumpstart Nailgun or Electric Railcannon at the electric coils on top- like the ones seen in [ 1-2: THE BURNING WORLD ]. This causes it to smash the bomb it holds into another building, creating a new opening into the Earthmover. This is not possible on a P rank run, however, as the defense system counts as a required kill.

Trivia[]

Gameplay[]

• Knocking enemies off of the Earthmover nets the unique [+LONG WAY DOWN] Style Bonus. This does infinite damage to enemies. This includes bosses and blessed enemies.
• All the enemies that appear before the defense system fight will not get killed with the Earthmover, nor will they fall to their death if the Earthmover is destroyed by either time running out after jumping on the final vent, or touching the ground of the exit area. The rest of the enemies despawn when this happens. The reason for this might be due to P-Ranks being easier this way, seeing as how the player themselves would not have to kill the enemies. Note that if the player lets the final timer run out without touching the final vent, or the ground of the exit arena, then the enemies get killed with +M.A.D style bonus.
• This level is currently the biggest map in the entire game. For reference, flying across the entirety of [ 4-1: SLAVES TO POWER ] or [ 4-2: GOD DAMN THE SUN ] using noclip takes about a minute, while flying across the entirety of this level takes over 15 minutes.
• Having the Disable Enemy Spawns cheat enabled before entering the level will make the Earthmover simply not appear; a Bounce Pad is placed on the first platform that sends V1 all the way to the exit.
• It's possible to get two uses out of the final terminal, as the player backtracks past it during the escape sequence. But is that really your top priority during a meltdown?
• Clash Mode adds several changes to the level - A bounce pad leading to the Earthmover's leg, many boxes in the platforming sections, and green teleportation pad that skips the hookpoint platforming section right before the brain.
  • Two of these additions have major glitches. Firstly, the security system fight has two boxes placed in front of the missile turrets to allow V1 to reach said turrets, however these boxes are breakable by both V1 and the security system - they will not respawn after restarting from a checkpoint, causing a softlock. The second major glitch is in the second teleportation pad's collision, which causes V1 to die when simply walking into it. This forces the player to always jump into the pad.
• Though the player cannot move after jumping on the final vent, they can still launch themselves using explosions such as Pump Charge's overcharge. They will still be unable to move until they land, however, which makes it possible to land out of bounds and have to respawn.
  • It's also possible to land on the roof of the exit, but the player will still not be able to move, as the trigger to allow moving presumably only exists on the regular floor. The only way to regain control after this is to explosive jump back to the exit floor or out of bounds again (or die, if you don't have the health for it).
  • if you play this level while the enemies kill eachother cheat is active everyone will fight themselves

References and Easter Eggs[]

• The level is very likely named after an album by post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor named "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven" (and specifically the final song, "...Like Antennas to Heaven".)
  • Footnote, on Hakita's RateYourMusic page, Lift Yr. Skinny Fists is rated five stars (along with the Swans 2010s trilogy and GY!BE's "F♯A♯∞".)
• On some of the walls of the machine are Japanese text. Translated they read: "Safety equipment is required from this point forward!" and "Generator Siphon. Caution!"
  • The number 1000 is pronounced "sen" in Japanese, so 1000-THR could be interpreted to mean sen-thr = centaur.
  • The number 1000 is also M as a roman numeral, so 1000-THR could be interpreted to mean m-thr = mother likely based on Mother Brain from Metroid due to the fact you fight the Earthmovers brain and the following escape sequence.
• Inside the building where you fight the Mannequins and the Malicious Face, if you no-clip inside a door on the side of the building you will see a sunflower and a sign in Japanese that says "Power Plant, Caution"
• Within the 'brain' of the machine, a plushie of ActionDawg, an ULTRAKILL developer, can be found piloting the Earthmover, engaged in battle with a faraway BigRockBMP plushie (also piloting a tiny Earthmover).
  • The music playing when in the vicinity of the ActionDawg plushie also changes to include the MIDI soundfont of a barking dog in its melody.
  • On the console that ActionDawg uses to pilot the Earthmover, green text reads "GORP LIGHT: ON." When the Earthmover's brain is destroyed, the text turns red with the words "GORP LIGHT: OFF."
• Neither the faraway Earthmover, the BigRockBMP plushie piloting said Earthmover, or the ActionDawg plushie piloting the main Earthmover have Santa hats, as is customary for the Christmas event.

Lore[]

• The pages of the book in the alleyway don't have any writing on them. Judging by red text and space out letters, it can be implied that Hell Itself is speaking directly to V1, the player.
• In Dante's Inferno, the third circle of Violence was reserved for the damned who committed Violence Against God, Art, & Nature. The Earthmovers can generously be considered affronts to God and Nature, and may have been the reason (or one of the reasons) God left, which is in line with the theme of the circle.
  • Earthmovers caused The Long Night, which is another reason they are in this circle of violence. The Long Night was a climate catastrophe on Earth; Violence against Nature.

Development[]

• Upon the first release of the level, it was possible to activate the brain fight early without being in the boss room; the lasers would quickly damage the brain and essentially fry the brain, killing the Earthmover early. This strategy, while it still worked, was nicknamed the Lobotomy. This was patched in a hotfix the next day, and the current world record time stands at a (now unbeatable) 21.845 by reWRKK.

Misc[]

• Along with [ 0-4: A ONE-MACHINE ARMY ], [ 2-2: DEATH AT 20,000 VOLTS ], and [ 7-3: NO SOUND, NO MEMORY ], this level is one of the few whose title contains punctuation.
• The 1000-THR Defence system is actually considered to misspelled in some regions. For American English, it should be "1000-THR Defense System.”
• If the music that's triggered during the Earthmover's escape sequence doesn't play and the brain is killed, the timer won't flash to the beat of the music, and will stay yellow.
• This is the only level in violence (excluding [7-S: HELL BATH NO FURY]) that does not include two songs or more.
  • This is due to the fact that the level's song, War Without Reason, has a structure in which certain parts of the track are played at different intervals when climbing Benjamin the Earthmover.
    • In game files there are 13 music files used for this level. (Actually 14, but I don't know where "centaurbeat3.ogg" is used)
      • And every file is a fucking banger, as well as a part of a BIGGER FUCKING BANGER.
      • The self destruction explosion theme after touching the final jump pad strangely won't play if the sound effects setting is turned all the way off.

Gallery[]