History SupplementalMaterial / TeamFortress2

** A blog post titled [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3727 "Thanks for standin still, wanker!"]] exists. Judging by just the title, it seems to just be an innocent shout-out to one of the Sniper's lines. Then you notice it talks about changes to the [[RandomlyDrops drop system]] and how these changes [[FridgeBrilliance kill idling]].

** A blog post titled [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3727 "Thanks for standin still, wanker!"]] exists. Judging by just the title, it seems to just be an innocent shout-out to one of the sniper's lines. Then you notice it talks about changes to the [[RandomlyDrops drop system]] and how these changes [[FridgeBrilliance kill idling]].
** Steam links to Kotaku regularly. A few Kotaku regulars still raging over the ModernWarfare2 debacle photoshopped an update so it looked like Infinity Ward did it (hint:six-dollar DLC for three maps is '''not''' popular with the PC community). There was another showing if [=MW2=] was done by Valve (hint: the near-constant updating to [=TF2=] applied to MW2. Apparently, the people in question have never heard of CS:S updates... [[TakeThat wait, there aren't any.]]) Valve linked to both.

** Steam links to Kotaku regularly. A few Kotaku regulars still raging over the ModernWarfare2 debacle photoshopped an update so it looked like Infinity Ward did it (hint: six-dollar DLC for three maps is '''not''' popular with the PC community). There was another showing if MW2 was done by Valve (hint: the near-constant updating to [=TF2=] applied to MW2. Apparently, the people in question have never heard of CS:S updates... [[TakeThat wait, there aren't any.]]) Valve linked to both.

* FollowTheLeader - H.A.V.E. Online/Microvolts, a Korean [[BribingYourWayToVictory free-to-play]] game, has a trailer that shares '''a lot''' of similarities to the "Meet the X" videos. Gameplay itself is actually different (it's third person, there are no classes - only customizing weapons and appearance, it's got more in common with UnrealTournament or GunzTheDuel), but there's still a lot it owes to TF2 (giblets and the weapons).

* NoodleIncident: It appears that the TF2 development team are so mired in disaster that they're on a first name basis with the police, the fire department and "the nasal extraction emergency response team at Overlake Hospital".

** Steam links to Kotaku regularly. A few Kotaku regulars still raging over the ModernWarfare2 debacle photoshopped an update so it looked like Infinity Ward did it (hint: six-dollar DLC for three maps is '''not''' popular with the PC community). There was another showing if MW2 was done by Valve (hint: the near-constant updating to TF2 applied to MW2. Apparently, the people in question have never heard of CS:S updates... [[TakeThat wait, there aren't any.]]) Valve linked to both.

* WritersSuck: When the dev team [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4013&p=1 confront the writers with questions]] about how the Mac Update comic fits into the TF2 world, the writers take fright, shuffle their feet and make "a frantic search through the internet for fancy excuse words" before declaring it non-canon. The Engineer Update story is apparently intended to fill "a canon-shaped void in the lives of TF2's biggest story fans — our writers".

** "[[DrowningMySorrows * sadly, slurring gently* ]]"Ah got a manky eye... Ah'm a BLACK SCOTTISH CYCLOPS! They got more fu-[[SoundEffectBleep BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]][[OverlyLongGag EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP]]-than they got the likes of me."

!!The TF2 Blog

* ColbertBump: The developer of the indie game ''{{Minecraft}}'' suddenly sold about five thousand copies in two days after the TF2 official blog blamed it for a decrease in productivity at Valve.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The weekend before "Meet The Spy" was released, it was accidentally leaked due to a loophole in {{YouTube}} privacy settings not being applied to devices like the iPhone. In response, Valve [[http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/696431/Opening-The-Valve-The-Gabe-Newell-Interview.html#ixzz0ICpWoQaO&C added a gag about it to the video itself]] (and asked users to "Act surprised" when officially releasing the video), created an "achievement" for themselves screwing up, and posted [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2515 a]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2516 series]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2518 of]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2519 blog]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2520 posts]] about Robin Walker firing every employee in the company that [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2525 continued into the next day's announcement]] and even [[CrossOver crossed over]] to the Left4Dead [[http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2526 blog]]. It came to the point where people started to put "leaked" in quotes under the belief that Valve had [[XanatosGambit planned it all along]].

* FunnyForeigner: [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2525 This announcement]] of the announcement of The Ambassador.
** Australians in generally.

** While the first two are legitimate noodle incidents,the last was explained as someone had a peanut m&m lodged up their nose, in an attempt to explain the delay of the heavy update.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: All over the place in Scream Fortress. Mann Manor, Cadaver's Cranium, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann to name afew.

* InUniverseMarketing: Dapper Rogue

** GameplayAndStorySegregation? Well, * maybe* . It's true that on symmetrical map, each team should have an even chance of winning. However, on asymmetrical maps (where RED defense and BLU attacks), the odds tend to be weighted in RED's favor.

*** The practice of Valve including teasers for yet-to-be released items dates back to Meet the Sniper, which included a brief glimpse of the pyro holding a new gun, which was later added to the game as the flare gun--briefly enough to be considered a FreezeFrameBonus

* BrickJoke: The guitar eventually made its in-game debut as [[CoolGun Frontier Justice]]'s special taunt. If lucky, you can [[InstrumentOfMurder use it to crack heads]].

* AscendedExtra: First appearance of Jarate.

* FridgeBrilliance: When the Scout is reacting to the revealed photos... [[spoiler:It's not an act, the red spy is actually shocked and righteously angry that he was observed and that his actions with the scout's mother were not as private as he thought. It works so well simply because the emotion is real, and solidifies the disguise perfectly.]]

** It's [[FridgeBrilliance fairly ingenious]] as the other videos (except "Meet the Sandvich") are of the RED members talking about themselves, which would be out of character for a spy; telling it from the other perspective maintains the mysterious nature of the RED Spy.

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: Eventualities the BLU base monitor system is prepared to report [[http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/2080/intruderalertjpg.png]]:
** Found {{Dracula}}
** Lost {{Dracula}}
** Is A Man, [[SweetPollyOliver Is A Woman]], [[RoboticReveal Is A Robot]]
*** See AmbiguousGender entry above.
** Needs A Ride
** Needs Roommate
** Has EvilTwin
** Red Demoman Sleeping On Toilet, Needs Backup!
** [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs Owns Base]]
** Leaked Video, Is Fired
*** See RippedFromTheHeadlines entry above.
** [[DestinationDefenestration Defenestrated]]
** Hungry
** Smells
** Is Drunk
** Backstabbed
*** Again
** Stole A Car
** About To Explode
*** Exploding
**** Exploded
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: in-game, [[spoiler: Scout]] is easily the worst class for a Spy to disguise as (the Spy can't [[spoiler:match the Scout's speed]]), yet the BLU team STILL couldn't figure out who the RED Spy was.
** Probably because he never [[spoiler: had to run]].
*** Also, he [[spoiler:tries to open a password-locked door by force]]... though the others [[spoiler:have trouble remembering the password]] too.

* [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish The Password Is Always 1111]]: Made even funnier by the fact that although the "1" button on the BLU intel room keypad is dirty and worn out, implying that it has been used very often, the Soldier enters the first three digits, then has to stop and think to remember the last one. (You'd think he could use an easy mnemonic, like 11/11 being Veteran's Day.)
** Also made funnier by the way the Soldier grins when the door opens, like he's proud of himself for getting the code right.

* FollowTheLeader - H.A.V.E. Online/Microvolts, a Korean [[BribingYourWayToVictory free-to-play]] game, has a trailer that shares '''a lot''' of similarities to the "Meet the X" videos. Gameplay itself is actually somewhat different (it's third person, there are no classes - only customizing weapons and appearance), but there's still a lot it owes to TF2 (giblets and the weapons).

!!General

!!The Scout Update

* PArodyCommercial: The wording of all the item descriptions.

!!Other Valve-Community Interactions
* AscendedFanboy: The artist that drew [[http://buttfacemakani.livejournal.com/301005.html#cutid1 this image of the Announcer]] was eventually hired by Valve, with the image becoming her official depiction (see SureWhyNot).
** The unofficial TF2 wiki is now the ''official'' [[http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Main_Page TF2 wiki]], as of June 30, 2010. It is now being funded by Valve themselves.
* CheatersNeverProsper: Valve has taken many countermeasures to cut down on achievement farming, and have punished people who used an idling program for their stuff by either taking away items gained with it, or taking away items period. Inversely, those who didn't use said program received a new hat. There's already an alternate skin for it in response. They've [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3727&p=1 set limits on item drops]] we can expect cries of ''[[SkywardScream VALVE!!!!]]'' from idlers.
* IKnewIt: During the run up to the Scout update, people on the forum began to hypothesize that the update would not be the Scout update at all, but an update for the Spy (in disguise). Fast forward to the Sniper update, when, as time went by after the reveal of [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day03_english.htm the Razorback]], the image at the top of the page changed to show a spy decloaking behind the sniper. The next day, Valve showed that they were actually going somewhere with this, and revealed the next update would [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day04_english.htm actually be the Spy.]] (technically a double-update, with both classes getting unlockable weapons)
** And then, a few days after the Sniper update had been hijacked, the header image of the last published page, revealing [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day06_english.htm the Ambassador]], changed to show a jar flying in toward the Spy's head from the right. Soon later, the next and final page was revealed to be the Sniper reclaiming his update with the item it was [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2391 originally announced]] with (on AprilFoolsDay): [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day07_english.htm Jarate]], a jar of urine accumulated while the Sniper [[BottomlessBladder waited for his ideal shots.]]

!!Unofficial Community Maps
* BossBattle: A slowly developing trend in Achievement maps seems to be making a hidden boss battle activated by either waiting for the timer to trip the introduction, or doing something out of the ordinary. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNlFyxcncVc For example.]]
* CoolTrain: The community Payload map Frontier replaces the usual cart with a train that eats anything infront of it while moving. A few other maps (such as Well) also have insta-death trains that roll in every so often.

!!Audience
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Inevitable, since the only characterization the classes have besides the "Meet The" videos are their in-game quotes. Among the more popular fan-theories (see the WildMassGuessing page for more):
** The Heavy is ObfuscatingStupidity (supported by the Russian version).
** The Pyro is a woman (see AmbiguousGender).
** None of the classes are the nationality they pretend to be.
** the Engineer is a maniac who [[spoiler: cut off his own hand to replace it with a mechanical arm, or already had one]] ForScience
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItxeFoAM8a0 Every Class is Different]].
* AscendedFanfic: Long before the Engineer Update introduced the Frontier Justice, NerfNow made [[http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/144 a comic]] about the Engineer going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after the destruction of his sentry.
* AttractiveBentGender: There are rather popular images of genderswapped classes. Came to a head when two rather popular models that made the Scout into a female.
** There are ''lots'' of images with this for the Pyro, based on the Pyro's official AmbiguousGender.
* BossBattle: THE OCTO-HEAVY (link forthcoming)
* BrokenBase: After punishing everyone who used a third-party program to idle in servers for hats, the community has now been indefinitely severed into three categories: those who think Valve was wrong to punish people because the system was so broken (and idling ingame is still going strong), those who flaunt their "moral superiority" over the idlers, and everyone else who is just simply disgusted by the former.
** Not to mention the HUGE rift between PC players and console players. Seriously, just go on the Steam forums.
** [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/part1/index.htm Soldier VS Demoman.]] Whoever gets more kills versus the other gets a 4th weapon at the end of the week (On December 17th. alongside a brand spanking new 3 others.) Cue Valve forums erupting, as normal..
** Can't forget the rift that forms over nearly every new weapon during updates. Jarate: lulz or crude and tasteless? Chargin' Targe/Eyelander: Great new inventive play style or ruining the Demoman? The damage reduction to the Pyro's flamethrower: huge nerf or encouraging more creative techniques?
** Another Base Breaker is Valve's release of a set of commemorative gold, silver, and bronze medals for those who bought Team Fortress 2... but you only take home the gold if you bought it within 3 months of release.
---> Of course, not even the base can agree on exactly WHEN the release date even was.
** The Mac update has brought yet another war with the unlockable earbuds, only earned by logging in on a Mac computer. Seeing as not everyone uses/owns a Mac... Yeah.
** Let's face the facts that the limited edition 100 gold engineer wrenches, that can only be obtained by a random craft, are tearing the base asunder.
*** On top of that: "Drunken F00l", notable for creating tf2items.com -- which earned him a personalized Spy knife -- and a third party idling program (the infamous false client application responsible for the Cheater's Lament "Halocaust"), got Golden Wrench #58. Cue accusations of cheating, a VAC ban for F00l, and deep doo-doo for whoever it was at Valve who leaked him the algorithm that timed the Golden Wrench drops.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Ability to spray images on the environment in a match + Spy class being able to be invisible and [[InTheBack backstab]] enemies + Images of attractive women on the internet = IdeaBulb.
* {{Fanon}}: There is enough {{Fanon}} in the TeamFortress fandom to write a whole novel. Among the more popular ones, not including the various {{Shipping}}-related bits of fanon:
** The Soldier [[ConsultingMrFlibble takes advice from his Shovel]].
** There's a sub-class of Spies with NaughtyTentacles (teleporter / respawn accident, experiments performed by MadScientist Medics...)
** When bad things happen to Engie, the entire fandom cries. As well, when he's not [[SituationalSexuality gay]] he's got a wife and daughter.
* FanNickname: A demoman with the Targe/Eyelander combo is a demoknight. An engineer with the Gunslinger is Robo-engie, or the [[{{Terminator}} Engienator]].
* {{Flamewar}}: ''TeamFortress2'' is one of the most popular team-based online shooters ever. Beyond this, there is no aspect of the game that is not subject to actinic flamewars. There is no action Valve can take that will not spark flames on the forums.
* MemeticMolester: all of the classes has its own memetic molester fandom, but the big three:
** The Spy ([[TropersDoItWithoutNotability does it]] [[BackStab from]] [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean right behind you]])
** The Medic (does it ForScience!)
** The Sniper ([[strike: throws piss at people and]] lives in a van.)
** Meanwhile, the poor Scout tends to end up as the FandomBicycle.

!! Get your Crowning Moments offa me
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Near the end of the [[http://www.teamfortress.com/loosecanon/12.html Engineer Comic.]] Engi's been his usual friendly, quiet self up until he is physically threatened, at which point he calmly dishes out the largest amount of badassery yet seen in the canon, in a single sentence:
--> '''Engineer:''' I appreciate that you're my employer, and an old man besides... but if you don't take your [[PrecisionFStrike goddamn]] hands off me [[BewareTheNiceOnes I will break you in HALF]].
** Made even more awesome in that the Engineer is being ''electrocuted'' when he's saying this.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: [[http://www.teamfortress.com/1308.htm "[\]YOUR APPLICATION IS PENDING. [ ]I'M COMING FOR YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH."]] See also Fanon entry below.
** [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day04_english.htm UNDERWATER HYPNOPEN Hypnotize sharks. Write on them. It works!]]
** [[http://www.teamfortress.com/macupdate/comic/ The iJustBlewUpTheMoon.]]
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: The BLU Soldier initially refusing to kill his new best friend, even after the Administrator made it very clear that they'd kill ''him'' if he refused, gets to me.
-->'''Soldier''': "Then I guess you'd better take me out to that gravel pit and '''''shoot''''' me, lady. 'Cause if you ever ask me to kill my best friend again, I will put my '''''boot so far up your ass''''' it will be on the '''''news!'''''"
** And then, after they fake the Demo agreeing to kill him for weapons:
-->'''Soldier''': "Ahhhh, but ''dammit'', it doesn't matter '''''what''''' he said [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} in that weird robot voice I've never heard him talk in before]]. Once you've taken a man out for whiskey and ribs... then '''''fought''''' him... then fought the '''''police''''' with him... Well, you have forged a friendship thicker than any soup you can buy. That's not girl talk either. That is just '''''facts'''''."
** Let us stress the fact that, up until his BerserkButton was pushed, [[BloodKnight THE SOLDIER]] of all people, was willing to DIE rather than kill his best friend. The command angers him so much that he stomps his barricade into splinters. Now ''that'' is true friendship.
** The ''SamAndMax'' themed items were released because the Telltale people became good friends of the Valve people after 2010 [=TF2=] Studio Rumble. According to Telltale, the conversation for put the items were among the lines of:
--> Telltale: Hey wouldn't this be AWESOME?
--> Valve: YEAH!
** Not long after the Golden Wrench event, several of the wrench owners decided to host an event in which they deleted their wrenches and decide to raise a donation fund to Child's Play, and event called ''Golden Charity''. To see something so [[BaseBreaker base-breaking]] be turned into a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming for the community is beautiful indeed.
* FridgeBrilliance: When the Engineer update dropped, the Engineer's voice was deeper in his new lines and his attitude was more aggressive; when you consider that [[AppliedPhlebotinum Australium]] is a transformative metal, it becomes obvious why.
* FridgeLogic: Averted, in one case. During its extended development, the game changed from a realistic tactical shooter to a cartoony, humorous style. One of the reasons is the development team wondered why two opposing armies would build their bases within 50 feet of one another.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Russians ''love'' this game. It's the only other language of the [=TF2=] wiki, and is the host of several servers.
* HetIsEw: Surprisingly averted. Scout's Mom, the (until now) only canon female in the ''Team Fortress'' universe who is in a romantic relationship with Spy, has enjoyed a comparatively mild degree of bashing for a female of her circumstance in such a [[BlueBishonenGhetto male-dominated series]], in spite of being a very real impediment to the {{canon}}icity of [[FanPreferredCouple Sniper/Spy]], by far the most popular pairing amongst the [[YaoiFangirl yaoi fangirls]]. However, it already looks like Medic's supposed wife (who might not even exist given the nature of many of the Domination quotes) [[DieForOurShip may not be so fortunate]]...
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: YourMileageMayVary, but [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3692&p=1 A Week In The Life Of The TF2 Team]], if taken in a certain way, marks the TF2 team's descent into madness. And it is ''terrifying''.
** [[spoiler:Blutarch Mann, after 60 years of using the Life-Extending Machine with him being deader a little longer as it breaks down: "I have seen the other side. There is NOTHING there. FIX. THIS. MACHINE."]]
** BodyHorror and a few other equally terrifying things come into play in [[http://www.youtube.com/user/dudeguy707 the Odd Scout]].
* HypeBacklash: Given the fact that the game has ''loads'' of people loving it, a huge fandom (and an even bigger FanDumb), is often considered the new Quake or Counter-Strike, and is constantly praised on nearly every forum, with promises that it has stuff in the game for ''everyone'' (including FPS haters), is it any wonder this game suffers this?
* HypocriticalFandom: The fandom for this game insists that they're all FanDumb free and much more mature than the Left4Dead fandom (or any other fandoms [[FanHater they hate]], primarily RPG fandoms) despite that one look at the Valve official forums can tell them otherwise, they just [[SelectiveObliviousness ignore this]].
* InUniverseMarketing: Community artist [[http://www.fragimusmaximus.com/blog/index.php/category/splash-damage Fragimus_Max]] has set up websites for [[http://www.buildersleagueunited.com/ BLU]], which has been hacked by [[http://www.reliableexcavationdemolition.com/ RED]], causing pages linking to the support page for the vendor, [[http://www.spytechindustries.com/support.asp Spytech Industries]], a subsidiary of [[AuthorAvatar TF Industries]].
* MostFanficWritersAreGirls: There is an astonishing amount of homosexual erotica out there for a first-person shooter involving people finding more and more creative ways to blow each other into [[LudicrousGibs bloody red chunks]]. Though perhaps that may be part of the [[FoeYay appeal]], seeing as the classes are basically a BlueBishonenGhetto minus the {{Bishounen}}.
** [[http://humon.deviantart.com/art/Bishie-TF2-150911238 Minus, you say?]]

!!!also should go on its own page
* HeyItsThatVoice: One wonders if the same computer powers the [[{{Half-Life}} Combine overwatch]], [[{{Portal}} GLaDOS]], and the team loudspeaker announcement system.
** The Scout and the ''Left4Dead'' "church guy" are noted as sharing an actor. This got an ActorAllusion as noted below.
** And for the Nintendo players out there, the Engineer is voiced by Grant Goodeve, also known for ''StarFox Assault'' Wolf.
*** Since we're there, would it interest you to know that the Soldier is voiced by Rick May, the voice of Wolf in Star Fox 64?
**** Also General Pepper, Leon Powalski, and Andross from the same game?
**** [[MemeticMutation Can't let you bonk that, Scout Fox!]]
** Holy shit... Medic's voice actor did [[NoMoreHeroes Travis Touchdown]]!
** John Patrick Lowrie does Sniper and most of the random male characters in Half-Life 2. And he's married to Ellen [=McLain=], who does the Overwatch, Announcer, and GLaDOS. Valve's go-to couple I guess.
** Then there's the French voices. While otherwise forgettable, Heavy is [[ArnoldSchwarzenegger Ahnold]] and [[SplinterCell Sam Fisher]], Soldier is RussellCrowe and Sniper is [[DragonBall Goku]].

!!Can probably go back into the main article
* AscendedMeme: The sounds the Heavy makes while eating the Sandvich are unmistakably "NOM NOM NOM, OM NOM," which also appears in place of the usual "LOLOLOL" in the "Copyright Valve Software" text in the "Meet The Sandvich" video.
** The first words the Sniper says in Meet The Sniper are "BoomHeadshot".
** The word "BONK!", an embraced catchphrase of the Scout's when the game was originally made, appears in the Scout Update as the WrittenSoundEffect for getting hit by a ball from the Sandman, the KillIcon for getting a kill using the Sandman's taunt, and in the form of "Bonk!" Atomic Punch.
*** Also, after the Shamwow commercials drew several [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvzX_-c9kzs comparisons between Vince Offer and the Scout]], the Scout Update added multiple lines to the Scout that come directly from those commercials.
** The infamous "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29RE0blCV84 FYI I am a Spy]]" video (truly a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment Of]] MagnificentBastard) led to the Medic achievement "FYI I am a Medic" (for killing five spies who you have healed), and, much later with the Spy update, the "FYI I am a Spy" achievement itself (for killing a Medic healing you, like in the video).
** The Spy-Crab is the term given to crouching with the Spy's disguise kit out, looking straight up and walking around.
*** When the Spy update was released, Valve added an EasterEgg where 1 in 10 taunts with the disguise kit result in the Spy [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54jjmzgXoiQ&fmt=22 doing his impression of a crab]].
*** One of the products advertised in [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day04_english.htm the Spy's issue of "Dapper Rogue"]] is the "Crab-Walking Kit", saying that it will "change your skeleton", a reference to how the spy's animation skeleton and logical hitbox are noticeably different from how he is rendered when crab-walking.
** One of the common jokes about the inevitable Spy update was that Valve would release a few days worth of news, and then it would be revealed as the Spy update when he backstabs the previous class and takes the spotlight. Which is exactly what happened to the Sniper. See IKnewIt for more.
*** Not only is the Sniper is one of the most likely classes to ''get'' backstabbed, but this happened to him the day after the Razorback was revealed, which is a (single-use) shield that ''protects the Sniper from backstabs'', due to him being fooled by one of the ''Spy's'' unlockable items, a cloak that creates a fake dead spy when attacked.
** A common misconception is that any time a spy says "Gentlemen" it is a reference to [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gentlemen.jpg this image]]. In reality, this has been a catchphrase of the Spy's since the game was first released, and only a meme with a mouth full of cigarettes.
* CharlieAndTheChocolateParody: The Golden Wrenches during the Engineer update.
* {{Eagleland}}: The aesthetic design of the game, which according to Valve is inspired by artists such as J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell, recalls the Type One variation of America. The setting of the game itself is [[GovernmentConspiracy considerably less innocuous]] however, and the American characters themselves occupy various positions along the spectrum. The Engineer leans closer to Type One, while the Scout and especially the Soldier behave like Type Two.
* EvenBetterSequel / SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Inevitable, considering that the original was an independent mod made in 1998...
** [[StopHavingFunGuys Some people]] would tend to disagree.
** Worth noting that [[TeamFortressClassic the original]] didn't have a page until somebody brought it up here. The sequel just stands out that much.
* FoilerFootage: When hats were first announced, people revealed what each class's hat was planned to be by reading the game's string asset files (files which contain every phrase and term used in the game, so that different files can be used for different languages). Valve responded by filling the files with false positives in the future, such as strings for [[UnexpectedGameplayChange TF2's planned MMORPG functionality]] and a [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang boomerang]] for the Sniper (instead of the Jarate that was actually revealed).
** Not only do the localization files include MMO strings, the ''game's event system'' (as exposed to server mode) lists "raid_spawn_mob" and "raid_spawn_squad" events.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Shortly before the official lead-in to this December's update, a minor bugfix update introduced [[http://kotaku.com/5421317/next-team-fortress-2-update-to-get-friendly sounds]] that would only be heard by Soldiers and Demomen. The next day, [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/ a comic]] (featuring an Administrator similar in appearance to the woman in [[http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/family_portrait/ this image]]) was posted revealing that the Demoman and the Soldier had become friends. The day after that, the next update was announced, with kills between Soldiers and Demomen determining who would receive the last weapon.
* FriendlyEnemy: The BLU Soldier and the RED Demoman [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/ right before the WAR! update]].
* GuideDangIt: There is no manual. You learn to play by watching others play (the game is coded to show you other players of your class on your team when you die), or by reading the Wiki.
* JustForPun: Many of the achievement names. [[CoitusUninterruptus Constructus Interruptus]] brings one specific trope to mind.
* TropeOverdosed: #46 and climbing.
* MemeticMutation: See the heading on [[Memes/ValveSoftware Memes.Valve Software]].
* NumberedSequel: The original game wasn't even a standalone game until [[OddlyNamedSequel Team Fortress Classic]], which came out much closer to the original mod than the sequel.
* OneBulletClips: Played straight and averted, depending on the weapon. Some weapons like the pistol and syringe gun replace the entire clip. Others like the shotgun and rocket launcher reload one shot/rocket at a time. Miniguns and flamethrowers don't have a reload function, they just need an ammo supply to keep them loaded. The only weapon that doesn't reload like the others is the double-barreled Force-a-Nature; if you have one round in the barrel and reload, that unused round is lost.
* {{Ragequit}}: Mocked by the Scout in one of his voice clips.
** The Pyro has the "[=BarbeQueQ=]" achivement for making someone ragequit.
** Quitting during humiliation or after becoming dominated is announced by some servers as "RAGE QUIT!"
* RareGuns: Every character's weapons are supposed to look like custom jobs.

!!!gabba gabba hey


* PanderingToTheBase: See the AscendedMeme and SureWhyNot entries on this page.
* PeripheryDemographic: Some of [[MostFanficWritersAreGirls those authors mentioned above]] don't even play the game, preferring to [[SlashFic pair up]] [[{{Shipping}} the characters]] instead.
* PoorCommunicationKills: In the War update. The Administrator and Miss Pauling convince both the RED Demoman and BLU Soldier (who were both willing to be killed rather than take the offer of killing the other for custom weapons) that the other had already betrayed them, which led to the war. Sadly, they ended up believing that they'd been betrayed instead of contacting the other.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The weekend before "Meet The Spy" was released, it was accidentally leaked due to a loophole in {{YouTube}} privacy settings not being applied to devices like the iPhone. In response, Valve [[http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/696431/Opening-The-Valve-The-Gabe-Newell-Interview.html#ixzz0ICpWoQaO&C added a gag about it to the video itself]] (and asked users to "Act surprised" when officially releasing the video), created an "achievement" for themselves screwing up, and posted [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2515 a]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2516 series]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2518 of]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2519 blog]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2520 posts]] about Robin Walker firing every employee in the company that [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=2525 continued into the next day's announcement]] and even [[CrossOver crossed over]] to the Left4Dead [[http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2526 blog]]. It came to the point where people started to put "leaked" in quotes under the belief that Valve had [[XanatosGambit planned it all along]].
* SailorEarth: TeamFortress [=OCs=] are typically the (non-existent) "tenth class", the first female member (though most ignore all the possible ValuesDissonance), or the idea that uses the canon characters as a template and build original characters on top of them. The most obvious example of the third idea is CuantaVida, where even two members of the same class have entirely different personalities.
* SelfDeprecatingHumor: After the leaking of "Meet The Spy" from Valve's {{YouTube}} account, Valve unlocked the corporate achievement [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day05_english.htm Welcome to the internets: Fail to understand what 'Private' means on YouTube.]]
** It's a common feature of the [=TF2=] blog: the Announcer describes the [=TF2=] team as "goldbricking simpletons ... picking chiggers out of one another's hair"; Robin Walker was depicted as a crazed megalomaniac after the leaked video (See above in RippedFromTheHeadlines) and animator Matthew Russell was accused of laziness in the [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3368 post about]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny fixing the Scout's "Crazy Legs"]]. Then there's [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=1889 the saga of the Sandvich video...]]
* SequelEscalation: The original game (as ''Team Fortress Classic'') had nine basic models with one voice, weapons mostly shared with ''[=~Half-Life~=]'' and ''{{Quake}}'', and a text-heavy interface. [=TF2=] gave each class its own silhouette, voice, nationality, personality, game mechanic, personal HUD elements, and weapons (only 2 weapons are shared between 3 classes) fitting into an all-encompassing art style.
* SeriousBusiness: Miraculously averted with the game itself. Sadly, enforced to the max by the fans, who will break out into {{Flamewar}}s at the drop of a hat. Literally. Really. The NiceHats one can get in this game are obtained through a RandomlyDrops system, and are [[BrokenBase base-breaking]]. More {{Egregious}} is the YaoiFangirl segment of fandom, where {{Shipping}} is also SeriousBusiness to the point of overtaking discussion of the gameplay.
** The '[[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3692&p=1 A Week in the Life of the TF2 Team]]' blog post has it claim the developers are even bigger on hats; less a development team than a hat-obsessed cult.
* ShipTease: Did you think that the comic showing the BLU Soldier and RED Demoman with women was going to stop {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s from shipping them?
* ShoutOut: One of the Pyro's taunts has him lift his flamethrower over his head and thrust it up and down with a muffled bellow, like the Tusken Raider does after knocking Luke out with his Gaffi stick in ''StarWars''.
** The [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day05_english.htm Spy achievements]] feature references to several influential spy shows and movies:
*** BurnNotice
*** Come in From the Cold (''[[JohnLeCarre The Spy Who Came In From The Cold]]'')
*** Point Breaker (''PointBreak'')
*** SpiesLikeUs
*** The Man from P.U.N.C.T.U.R.E. (''TheManFromUNCLE'')
*** The Melbourne Supremacy (''TheBourneSupremacy'')
*** Is It Safe? (''Film/MarathonMan'')
*** JamesBond films:
**** Die Another Way (''DieAnotherDay'')
**** Dr. Nooooo (''DrNo'')
**** ForYourEyesOnly
**** On Her Majesty's Secret Surface (''[=~On Her Majesty's Secret Service~=]'')
**** The Man with the Broken Guns (''TheManWithTheGoldenGun'')
**** You Only Shiv Thrice (''YouOnlyLiveTwice'')
** The Sniper has an achievement called "MyBrilliantCareer" (an Australian film from 1979 starring [[JurassicPark Sam]] [[EventHorizon Neill]]).
** One of the Heavy's hats [[MemeticOutfit strongly resembles]] that of a certain [[{{Firefly}} Hero of Canton]].
** During the Halloween event, there is a chance that when you taunt, your character would do the [[MichaelJackson Thriller dance]] instead.
** A hat was released as a ''Left4Dead 2'' PreorderBonus: Bill's beret.
** [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/saxtonhale/poopyjoe.htm Poopy Joe's]] [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann is the Pickaxe that will pierce the vault of heavens.]]
** In "Meet the Demoman", an MIRV (the extra strong grenade from ''TeamFortressClassic'' used by Demomen and Heavies) can be seen in the back.
** The Sniper has a bobblehead of the ''[[TeamFortressClassic TFC]]'' "Hunted" (i.e. Civilian) model in his RV.
** With the release of some of the player-created hats, it really just begs for this. [[{{Futurama}} Brain slugs]], for instance. The same update also gave us a nice ElvisPresley reference with gelled-up hair and sunglasses for the heavy, named "Hound Dog".
** A handful of the voice clips that play when dominating a player reference the infamous milkshake seen from ThereWillBeBlood.
** Several items from ''[[SamAndMax Sam & Max]]'' were added as a bonus for players who buy ''The Devil's Playground''. Cue InternetBackdraft, as [[FanDumb Valve was selling out]].
*** In the same vein, those who preordered or bought Worms Reloaded within the first week of it's release received the [[ExpospeakGag Lumbricus Lid]] for Soldier, which gave him a Worms style version of his standard helmet ([[BigOlEyebrows complete with eyebrows]]), and two [[MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Holy Hand Grenades]] to replace his normal ones. A chorus sings out when he uses the Equalizer taunt.
** The Medic has goggles in one of the community updates. Their name? [[TheSimpsons Ze Goggles]]. To further the joke, their data description is "TF_MedicGoggles_Desc" "Nothing"
** The Dead Ringer announcement advertised that "[[MarkTwain reports of your death will be greatly exaggerated.]]"
* {{Squick}}: [[http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/the_last_will_and_testament_of_Zepheniah_Mann/ Zepheniah Mann's Will]] is a [[PlayedForLaughs humorous]] HumiliationConga for the unfortunate old man, until you get to the bottom of the first page...
-->''"Possessing no paper in this godforsaken land, I have penned this on my own skin, which has sloughed off in quantity since contracting impetigo."''
* StabTheSky: The Heavy in the "[[http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/battleofbothworldsfinalPoster Battle Of Both Worlds]]" poster.
* StopHavingFunGuys: Several types of these. The first guy plays nothing but 6v6 no-random-crit matches and talks down to anyone who isn't, the second guy believes hours played = skill and talks down to anyone with less hours than him, and the third guy insists that ''TFC'' is the better game and talks down to ''everyone'' playing ''[=TF2=]''. Oh, and don't get ''any'' of them started on whether or not you're using the right setup of weapons on your class, because one of them is ''always'' the clearly superior choice, no matter ''how'' balanced they are.
** With the exception of the Medigun/Kritzkrieg, Shotgun/Flare gun, and a few others; people who deprecate them are usually trying to invoke [[HolierThanThou Stop-Having-Funner Than Thou]].
** And then when it comes to the Sniper, there's a significant part of the player-base that despises the practice of "bodyshots."
* SupervillainLair: WordOfGod states that the RED and BLU bases were designed with this idea in mind: a seemingly innocuous facade on the surface to hide the true sinister purpose of these buildings. This is even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the description of the map Doublecross.
* SureWhyNot: [[http://buttfacemakani.livejournal.com/301005.html#cutid1 This popular fanart of the Announcer]] ended up ''strongly'' influencing her official appearance (as revealed in [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/ this comic as The Administrator]] and foreshadowed two months prior with [[http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/family_portrait/ this image]] of TheClan that [[AllThereInTheManual everything in the game traces its lineage back to]]).
** Many of the expansion items were suggested by fans. Before the Huntsman was released, there had been a 40+ page thread discussing a bow and arrow for the sniper on the official forums. The most requested ones were the Heavy's sandvich and the Scout's Bonk Energy drink. The Spy's Dead Ringer (cloak and leave behind a corpse) was actually programmed in on some fan-altered servers before Valve implemented the idea into the regular game.
** Several of the hats, such as the Scout's Bonk Helmet and the Pyro's Brigade Helmet, were originally created by [[http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=778551 a group of highly talented modelers whom Valve took interest in]]. Although Valve had already planned to include similar hats in future updates, they liked them so much that they based their versions off the custom models.
** The King of the Hill gameplay mode was originally a custom mod done by the No Heroes [=TF2=] community before Valve implemented a slightly modified version as an official gameplay mode.
*** Similarly, the Payload mode is based on the fan-made map Happycow.
** Valve has also opened a submission site for custom avatars and items.
* TakeThat: The dev team seems ''very'' aware of how [[BrokenBase broken their base is]], and enjoys poking fun at people who yell about hats, or about "disappointing" updates. One of the more hilarious digs was the Classless Update. The first page of it was basically a long love letter to hats, calling them the ultimate status symbol, and explaining how [[SarcasmMode having a hat made you better than everyone else]]. Each page also said something like "100% free!" "STILL free!" or "Holy crap! Better than expensive! It's free!"
** One of the Announcer's War Update-{{Foreshadowing}} voice files:
-->"All you ever do is disappoint and betray me! [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2787 Cheating!]] [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2732 Stealing!]] ''[[ArsonMurderandJaywalking Friend-making!]]''"
** Also, the page that shows us the [[http://www.teamfortress.com/crafting/ Crafting System]] tells us to "say goodbye to those enjoyable evenings spent complaining on the forums about which item in your inventory was the most useless, spraying anti-Australian racist hate speech all over Robin Walker, his lovely wife, and his beautiful children." They also mention that anyone who loves all the weapons in ''[=TF2=]'' is a "quiet minority".
** [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/part3/index.htm The page]] prior to that has some jokes hidden in the blackboard, most notably DROP=Infinity* (Robot/(1-Cat.3)) and Fire=Q^2 or QQ.
** Don't forget the [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/demo/index.htm this]] page from the War! Update, in which the Demoman's mother scolds him for his [[WeWait idleness]].
** A blog post titled [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3727 "Thanks for standin still, wanker!"]] exists. Judging by just the title, it seems to just be an innocent shout-out to one of the sniper's lines. Then you notice it talks about changes to the [[RandomlyDrops drop system]] and how these changes [[FridgeBrilliance kill idling]].
* TakeThatMe: Valve isn't afraid to make fun of itself. See, for example, [[http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3692&p=1 A Week in the Life of the TF2 Team]].
* TalkingToHimself: The Heavy and the Demoman share the same voice actor, while the Spy and the Pyro also are voiced by one man as well.
* TeasingCreator: See TakeThat. Valve are ''masters'' at trolling their audience.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Less InUniverse (see the entry for {{Nakama}}) and more meta-wise, as any particular group of people don't necessarily like each other very much even if they're on the same team (why bother, when most people don't play more than a few rounds and you could be autobalanced, ''multiple times'' if you're especially unlucky, in any given round?). See also VideoGameCrueltyPotential.
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: Fake deaths with the Dead Ringer have every outward appearance of a real death- they show a kill notification and they even report to server mods (for the weekend between when they were added and when Valve pushed additional fixes, they were actually indistiguishable to the server mod API.)
** It doesn't change your actual kill count (hit Tab to bring up the scoreboard, lower left) though. So always make sure you know what your kill count is, and when you shoot a spy, check to make sure it incremented.
** Not so much with the obvious exploit potential that most of the updates had. For example, the Spy recieved a killtaunt in his update he could use ''while disguised''. Although this was mostly fixed, it's still possible to cloak right as the killtaunt begins.
* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Typing ''mp_highlander 1'' into your console command on any game mode restricts 9 players to each team, and only one of each class per team.
* UnpleasableFanbase: At any given time, the first page of the official Steam forums will be dominated by threads, each complaining about how a different weapon, class, or game mechanic is an obvious GameBreaker.
** And then there's the matter of the hats. People complained endlessly when they didn't have hats of their own. Now that there's a hat that can be earned by dominating another person wearing said hat, people complain that everyone has it.
* VaporWare: Gabe Newell, in the first words of each map's commentary:
-->''"Welcome to ''Team Fortress 2''. After nine years in development, hopefully it will have been worth the wait."''
* VendorTrash: Duplicate weapons and hats are often used in crafting to make sure they don't take up space in the backpack.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Engineer update is currently in progress and it seems like [[http://tf2.com/post.php?id=3539&p=1 they have a ways to go.]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: How Valve counteracts InternetBackdraft to new features that are [[BeyondTheImpossible far outside the realm of anything in the game before]]:
** When revealing that the Heavy's final unlockable weapon was in fact a sandwich, Valve prepared a video and a purchasable poster celebrating it.
*** They later [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this, saying that they'd originally claimed that the video would be "our magnum opus," "over four hours long" and "make Citizen Kane look like something dumb a complete idiot would make."
** Before revealing that [[SarcasticConfession they were not kidding]] and that the Sniper's final unlockable item would be throwing jars of his own urine, they had the then-recently-introduced and fan-embraced MemeticBadass Saxton Hale, Australian CEO, [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2528 encourage players before reading to take a solemn oath that they utterly and wholly endorsed every aspect of what lied on the next page]], which featured a crude, Charles Atlas-esque [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day07_english.htm comic detailing the origins of Jarate]].
* XDaysSince: Parodied.
* YouHaveFailedMe: The Announcer posts on the ''[=TF2=]'' Blog when [[http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2262 players]] cheat... [[http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2293 repeatedly]]. [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3388 Even during the War of December 2009.]] And [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2732 when people end up stealing stuff.]]

** Also contains a hidden clue to the ending: [[spoiler: fourth line from the bottom, first three entries: "Blue Scout"--"Has Evil Twin"--"Red Spy"]]
*** also, more directly, going vertically rather than horizontally, [[spoiler: first entry, fourth and fifth lines from the bottom: "Blue Scout"--"Red Spy"]]

Click the edit button to start this new page.