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The list below is far from complete. The Official TF2 Wiki has a page of references, along with individual pages for each class. Several of those listed are Shout Outs.


  • On the whole, the map design takes a lot of cues from James Bond, especially from the elaborate bases seen in Dr. No and You Only Live Twice. The music also clearly draws inspiration from the films.
    • The numerous War Rooms seen in some maps are inspired by Dr. Strangelove. A smaller version of the actual room makes an actual appearance in Coldfront as the initial spawn room, complete with a round table.
    • The giant laser cannons that appear on maps such as Gravel Pit are very similar to the industrial laser seen in Goldfinger.
  • The Grappling Hook launcher added in the Mannpower game mode bears a resemblance to the Hookshot from the Legend of Zelda games. When in use, some players have compared it to the 3-dimensional maneuver gear from Attack on Titan.
  • One of Pyro's achievements for setting four enemies on fire with the Rainblower is Full Spectrum Warrior, an obscure, realistic tactical series.
  • One of the Heavy's hats strongly resembles that of a certain Hero of Canton.
    • And the Soldier's name appears to be "(Mister) Jane Doe". Another "Man they call Jayne".
  • Poopy Joe's is the Pickaxe that will pierce the vault of the heavens.
  • With the release of some of the player-created hats, it really just begs for this. Brain slugs, for instance. The same update also gave us a nice Elvis Presley 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 scene from There Will Be Blood.
    Scout: I. EAT. YOUR. SANDWICHES. I eat em up!
  • The Dead Ringer announcement advertised that "reports of your death will be greatly exaggerated."
    • Playing as a Scout in Mann Vs Machine and getting revived results in a similar line.
    Scout: Reports of my death were bullcrap!
  • AI bots go by many names, including BoomerBile, TAAAAANK!, The G-Man, Black Mesa, The Freeman, GLaDOS, Companion Cube, Delicious Cake, Mentlegen, and Nom Nom Nom.
  • The Carouser's Capotain was initially submitted under the name The Inquisitor, and while the name was sadly changed before final release, it still has the truly befitting description of "Suffer not a sentry to live".
  • The Ad for Jarate from the Sniper vs. Spy Update is based on this 1940's advertisement.
  • Added in the Replay Update, the Team Captain hat looks suspiciously similar to the hat of a certain dictator. The description lampshades this by referencing the infamous scene from the Street Fighter cartoon: "Our Lawyers Say 'YES! YES!'"
  • Both Spy's talking, severed head and Medic's Halloween backpack with glowing green liquid inside are references to Herbert West.
  • A Summer Sale promotional item, the Summer Shades, is a reference to this fine fellow who lives up to the expectations Robin Walker sets for Australians.
  • The comic for the second Australian Christmas appears to contain a shout out to Engineer and Pyro fans, both of whom have received relatively few weapons compared to other classes.
    "Greetings, emissary from another dimension! We have heard your plea."
    • Same comic has the Engineer thinking they might have adopted a super baby after a rocket crashes into the building.
  • An older version of Meet the Medic has a BLU Spy beg for death while the RED Medic is trying to kill him, phrased like a similar exchange in Stargate: The Ark of Truth.
  • The Spy and Medic can get a cool bowtie to wear. Its name is "Dr. Whoa". If you need more proof of what it's referencing, it was released on the show's 48th Anniversary. (For added fun, wear the Familiar Fez with it as Spy.)
  • A secret page in the Pyromania Update gives us a rather subtle one to a Robot Chicken sketch.
    "TF Industries agreed to shoot a monkey into space for one dollar.
  • The comic "Unhappy Returns" involves a courtroom scene, with the Spy and Scout on death row. In bursts the Soldier with an outstretched pointer finger and a boisterous cry of "Objection!"
  • The miscs Flapjack, Chronomancer, and The Medical Mystery are all based off of clothes from AKIRA
  • Soldier thinks two things attract bears. One is honey. The other is menstruating women.
  • The Half-Zatoichi is a reference to a film series about a blind swordsman. The half part refers to the fact that the characters who wield it are half-blind in some way (Demoman has one eye while Soldier has his vision obscured). Also that they only use one sword, while Zatoichi used two.
  • All the covers of the comic series thusfar are references to other famous comics. Ring of Fired is an homage to Amazing Spider-Man #50 (uniquely homaging a page; the rest are homaging covers), Unhappy Returns is one to Giant-Size X-Men #1, A Cold Day in Hell to Action Comics #1, Blood in the Water to Batman #9, Old Wounds to Watchmen #1, and The Naked and The Dead to Crisis on Infinite Earths #7,
  • The achievement "The Great Deflate" is a reference to the philosophical argument of the unfalsifiable being, a.k.a. the Invisible Pink Unicorn. What really drives this reference is the fact that to an normal player without the Pyrovision goggles, the Balloonicorn cannot be seen, but when worn, the Balloonicorn can be seen in a different dimension, a quality that the particular Pink Unicorn has.
  • "Blood In The Water" reveals that 40 years ago, New Zealand had a a giant glass dome built over it by the brightest and best intellectuals, who then sunk it to the bottom of the ocean. Oh, and Sniper's true parents accidentally launched their son in a shuttle when the city began to collapse.
  • The ending of "Old Wounds" has Miss Pauling and co dashing around the outside of their prison, which has a lot of concrete walls, barbed wire and an overall bleak appearance, while the Classic Heavy's face is projected on every wall. Oh yeah. And eventually, the team gets attacked by security camera kill-bots. The themes seem familiar...
  • In "Unhappy Returns", the design of John Phantom, Ghost D.A, is rather similar to the original James Bond; cruel-looking and a black comma of hair which falls on his forehead.
  • The back cover of the "Fight Songs" soundtrack album features pictures of the mercs with injuries ranging from minor to severe. Heavy's face in particular is bandaged almost exactly like Marv from Sin City.

Scout:

Soldier:

  • The cosmetic hat, Dr's Dapper Topper is very similar to the hat in The Cat in the Hat
  • The Soldier's Tin Soldier Halloween set replaces his usual voices with hilarious robot imitations. Four of them are taken from Terminator:
    "Hasta la vista. Feliz Navidad. Hasta gazpacho."
    "Come with me if you want to live. With me. In my apartment. I need a roommate."
    "I cannot be bargained with. I cannot be reasoned with. I do not know where I am. I am a robot. I don't understand anything!"
    "I will never feel pity, or remorse, or fear, or comfortable...in this costume."
  • The Soldier has Ground Control, which makes him look like Zero.
  • An update in July 2019 added Dancing Doe, which gives the Soldier a team-colored bandana covered in the TF logo and a soul patch not unlike the Brazilian adult model Ricardo Milos.
  • One of his Merasmus lines involves butchered names of Lord of the Rings characters. Same line also mentions Snoopy.
  • Achievement Names:

Pyro:

  • One of the Pyro's taunts is shaking the flamethrower over their head with a muffled bellow, like the Tusken Raider does after knocking Luke out with a stick in Star Wars.
    • Additionally, Pyro's taunt when equipped with the shotgun/flare gun is a classic Hadouken, complete with muffled call out.

Demoman:

Heavy:

  • The Heavy often says his fists are made of steel. This is almost certainly a reference to when Rocky was fighting the huge Russian Ivan Drago, where Drago says Rocky's fists are made of steel. (And now he has a melee item that literally gives him fists of steel.)
  • When the Heavy taunts with the KGB, GRU, Warrior's Spirit, Fists of Steel, or Eviction Notice equipped, he will perform several uppercuts in succession like Mr. Sandman in the NES version of Punch-Out!!.
  • The Heavy sometimes says "I Live!" and "Run, Cowards!", just like Sinistar.
  • Much like the Spy's headgear below, the Heavy can get a cosmetic that makes him look like the revolver happy Ocelot.
  • In the Swedish achievements, the "Vanguard Party" achievement is called "PÃ¥ Östfronten Massa Nytt", a reference to the book PÃ¥ västfronten intet nytt.
  • The Heavy has the Yuri's Revenge, facial hair modeled after Yuri's goatee.
  • The Gun Mettle update introduced the Proletariat Posedown taunt for the Heavy, which is almost certainly a reference to this mashup of Team Fortress 2 and Rhythm Heaven Fever.
  • An update in March 2018 added the Tsar Platinum and Starboard Crusader cosmetics, which are modeled after Jotaro Kujo's outfit and hat, respectively.

Engineer:

  • The third Halloween update introduced a mutant fly costume set for the Engineer. Fittingly enough, the set is called The Brundle Bundle.
  • Amid other shoutouts already present, the Engineer's Gunslinger is quite similar to the Miniturret Glove from the Ratchet & Clank games. Given how off-the-wall TF2 is, it is right at home. Granted, the Miniturret Glove didn't require Ratchet saw his arm off. The Engineer's Wrangler appears as an Atari 2600 joystick (more or less) and after a minute or so of continuous fire your character will work out the cramps in his hand as soon as fire is released which can only truly be appreciated by someone who played a 2600 game long enough to get a hand cramp.
  • One of the Engineer's achievements is named Best Little Slaughterhouse in Texas.
    • Similarly, the Engineer has a taunt-kill where he smashes a guitar over an enemy's head. The achievement for doing so is named Honky Tonk Man.
  • The Scotch Saver and Antarctic Researcher cosmetics, both in name and design, are direct references to The Thing (1982).
  • The 2017 Rainy Day Pack gave the Engineer a hat and a mustache that makes him look like a certain Italian plumber.

Medic:

  • Much like Nikola Tesla, Medic is an eccentric man who adores doves.
  • When set on fire, the Medic may say "I am melting!"
  • The Medic has goggles in one of the community updates. Their name? Ze Goggles. To further the joke, their item description is "Nothing", and that was before new descriptions for other items poured in. (Ze Goggles, incidentally, are straight out of Ghostbusters.)
  • The Medic's Vita-Saw looks like the syringes the Little Sisters carry.
    • So much so that even though it was a community weapon, Valve went ahead and got 2K's permission before adding it.
  • The Medic's "Second Opinion" hat/face will occasionally have him mutter "Red rum, red rum..."
    • Said face is pretty much the medic turning himself into Two-Face all the way down to the coloration.

Sniper:

  • In the End of the line update video, the BLU sniper being frozen in the way he was is a reference to The Shining When Jack was frozen in the snow at the end of the film
  • The Sniper has an achievement called "My Brilliant Career" (a novel by Miles Franklin and also an Australian film from 1979 starring Sam Neill.)
  • The Sniper's outfit is exactly like one of the bad guys of Surviving the Game.
  • The Sniper's selection menu pose and default Sniper Rifle reflect this specific picture of Carlos Hathcock, one of the most famous snipers of the US Marine Corps.
  • The Sniper has a bobblehead of the TFC "Hunted" (i.e. Civilian) model in his camper van.
  • The Sniper's parents are an Australian Eustace and Muriel! Confirmed by the artist herself. (It was a running gag in the fandom that his parents were Eustace and Muriel.)
  • The Pyromania Update gives the Sniper a set called "The Urban Professional", which includes a black knitted woollen hat and round dark sunglasses, just like Leon (or, The Professional), who was also quite a sniper.
  • The comic "Blood in the Water" reveals that New Zealand in the TF2 universe is basically Krypton, with the Sniper (who is revealed to born there) being launched to Australia in a rocket and discovered by the Mundy family a la Superman.
  • As shown here the Sniper's "Most Wanted" taunt has him cross out a name on his hit-list. Names on the list's model include "G. Freeman" "G. Newell" and the only name not crossed off is "T. Aokaka" note 

Spy:

Other Games — Pre-Order Bonuses and Promotional:

Halloween Updates:

Mann vs. Machine:

Mecha Update:

  • One of the computer screens on the Mecha Update page features a Mecha-Engineer reenacting the infamous All Your Base Are Belong to Us meme, except with hats.
    • The Mecha Update page also features a poster designed as an homage to the theatrical poster for 90s-era Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, complete with the Sniper in a crocodile hat standing in for Baby Godzilla.
    • Engie's shotgun introduced in that update is called the Rescue Ranger. Does that make Engie Gadget Hackwrench?
    • Four [adult swim] Cosplay outfits were introduced as promotional items during this update: Heavy became Carl and Brock Samson, Scout became a Monarch Henchman, and Pyro became Dr. Rockso, complete with the description that he lights propaaaaaane!

Love and War:

Scream Fortress 2014

  • One of the achievements, "Up All Night To Get Ducky" is a shout out to Daft Punk.
  • One of Scout's item sets from the Scream Fortress VI event is a Hunter costume.
  • One of the cosmetic items for Sniper in the Scream Fortress VI event is an ostrich-riding costume named Mr. Mundee's Wild Ride. (Alternatively, the name could reference Mr. Toad's Wild Ride from the Disney theme parks, but the Steam Workshop submission references the meme in its description.)
  • The Facepeeler item is a reference to the mask worn by the Joker in the New 52 comic series.
  • The Nightmare Hunter is based on Freddy Krueger's hat.
  • On the Rocket in the Halloween version of Doomsday, two of the arrows read He Man.
  • An unused duck texture has the words "Let's Eat" written on the file.

Gun Mettle:

  • The Low Profile SMG in the Powerhouse Collection contains a reference to the Native American aiming a bow and arrow at a star on Tootsie Roll Pop wrappers, but with the Native American replaced by a Sniper with the Huntsman, and Jarate in the place of the star.

Invasion:

Scream Fortress 2015

Scream Fortress 2018

  • The Vampire Vanquisher makes the Soldier look like Simon Belmont.
  • Mini-Engy's looks like it's modeled after a Mini Mario toy.

Scream Fortress 2019

Scream Fortress 2020

Scream Fortress 2021

Summer 2023

Scream Fortress 2023

Smissmass 2023


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