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:
- Achievement Names:
- Item Descriptions:
- The Sun-on-a-Stick: "Spiky end goes into other man."
- Bootie Time: "You dasher! You dancer! You prancer! You VIXEN! Pull Santa's sleigh all by yourself, you sexy little man."
- The Boston Boom-Bringer: "Walkin' down the street to the hardcore beat while his Mann Co. boom vibrates the concrete."
- Front Runner: "This commemorative sweatband is a loving tribute to the heroes - and we don't use that word lightly - who live their lives like sweaty candles in the wind."
- Hero's Tail: "Possibly the result of pigmentation loss due to horrible experiments. Possibly a mop of some kind."
- Also, Sign of the Wolf's School.
- Troublemaker's Tossle Cap: "Straight outta control point."
- Whoopee Cap: "You'd have to be a jughead not to realize this cap is the pinnacle of fashion for the discerning youth."
- The Holy Mackerel's item level is always 42 for all players.
- Another reference is the Lucky No. 42, which includes a towel.
- One of the Scout's domination taunts mocking the Engineer:
- In the replay update page, the Scout is pointing towards the screen in a similar manner to Mike/Joel's pose in most of the pictures of the shad-o-rama◊.
- One of the Scout's lines to tell teammates to capture a point is: "Would you kindly move ya ass to the freakin' point?"
- One of the Scout's lines at Helltower when the enemy cart is being pushed is "You shall not freaking pass!!"
- The Scout's Home Run taunt has him imitating Babe Ruth's famous pose.
- The Swedish title for "The Big Hurt" achievement is "Ont, Det Gör Ont", a reference to the Swedish pop song Det Gör Ont.
- A popular, 1920s gangster/1930s bank robber-themed loadout set for the Scout is named The Public Enemy
- El Jefe.
- Flight of the Monarch, Hanger-on-Hood and Flunkyware.
- The Bonk Boy, Lightning Lid, and Speedster's Spandex allow the Scout to look like The Flash.
- One of the Scout's lines before starting a rare Competitive game is: "I gotta bucket of chicken and I'm here to kick ass... and I'm all outta chicken, so I lied about the chicken."
- One of Scout's special taunts is the "Carlton" dance.
- The Millennial Mercenary is based on the Zoomer◊ Wojak.
- In Meet The Medic, the Scout ends up with a dove inside his chest.
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:
- In "Meet the Demoman", an MIRV (the extra strong grenade from Team Fortress Classic used by Demomen and Heavies) can be seen in the back.
- Several Demoman achievements, weapons, and battlecries are references to Highlander and Braveheart.
- The Eyelander
- His battlecry of "FREEDOM!"
- "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!"note
- He occasionally gets this line when Dominating an enemy Demoman: "DOMINATED! I FEEL EVERYTHING! I KNOW EVERYTHING!"
- Some of the achievements include Bravehurt, Shorn Connery, Beat Me Up, Scotty, Laddy Macdeth, Something Stickied This Way Comes, and Left 4 Heads. Amusingly (or not, depending on your perspective), Left 4 Heads might also be a reference to the infamous porn video based on the first L4D game.
- The Chargin' Targe weapon references Captain America's Charging Star in name and nature as a shield Demoman can do a Dash Attack with.
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 "På Östfronten Massa Nytt", a reference to the book På 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:
- The Spy achievements feature references to several influential spy shows and movies:
- Burn Notice
- Come in From the Cold (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold)
- Point Breaker (Point Break (1991))
- Spies Like Us
- The Man from P.U.N.C.T.U.R.E. (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
- The Melbourne Supremacy (The Bourne Supremacy)
- Is It Safe? (Marathon Man)
- James Bond films:
- Die Another Way (Die Another Day)
- Dr. Nooooo (Dr. No)
- For Your Eyes Only
- On Her Majesty's Secret Surface (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
- The Man with the Broken Guns (The Man with the Golden Gun)
- You Only Shiv Thrice (You Only Live Twice)
- The Saharan Spy kit includes a knife called "Your Eternal Reward" (Additionally, its function, killing the target, causing their body to vanish, and disguising the Spy as them, is markedly similar to the Stealth Consume from [PROTOTYPE].), a revolver called "L'etranger", and a hat called the "Familiar Fez", a reference to a quote to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, where Austin told a fezed mook from the first movie that he doesn't remember his name, "but [his] fez looks familiar.
- There's also a Billy Joel song called "The Stranger" about putting on the faces of other people and becoming a completely different person. Might just be a really convenient coincidence, though.
- The Deep Cover Operator head band is a reference to a sneaky Snake.
- He can now sneak around in a cardboard box as well with the introduction of the Box Trot taunt. Often, the resultsare far too similar to the source material for anyone's good.
Other Games — Pre-Order Bonuses and Promotional:
- A hat was released as a Left 4 Dead 2 Preorder Bonus: Bill's beret.
- Later, as another bonus to commemorate the release of The Sacrifice DLC, anyone who buys L4D2 receives Ellis' cap for all classes and a frying pan weapon, originally for the Soldier and Demoman.
- Several items from Sam & Max: Freelance Police were added as a bonus for players who buy Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse. Cue backlash, as Valve was selling out.
- In the same vein, those who preordered or bought Worms Reloaded within the first week of its release received the Lumbricus Lid for Soldier, which gave him a Worms-style version of his standard helmet (complete with eyebrows), and two Holy Hand Grenades to replace his normal ones. A chorus sings out when he uses the Equalizer taunt.
- The Hitman: Absolution promo has a threefer in one item: The "Deadliest Duckling" is a reference to a Running Gag/Easter Egg (that extended to even the novel and film adaptions) with an appearance by a rubber duck in every installment. The two styles are named (Al) Capone and (Charles "Lucky") Luciano, and its description refers to the infamous scene from The Godfather with Jack Woltz and his horse's head.
- The "Siberian Sophisticate" suit for Heavy, also from the same promotion, gives the Heavy Agent 47's famous barcode tattoo on the back of his head.
- Another item from the promotion is called That '70s Chapeau, and references the hat/sunglasses combo's resemblance to Huggy Bear.
- Poker Night at the Inventory and Poker Night 2 contain other series' items and weapons that can be won for TF2:
- The first has: Max's Badge and Gun; Homestar Runner's shutter shades; and Gabriel's watch, which matches his Pac-Man tattoo.
- Additionally, the sequel adds: Sam's hat; Handsome Jack's mask; Brock Samson's knife; Dark Ash's crown; and Aperture Science long fall "loafers."note
Halloween Updates:
- During the Halloween event, there is a chance that when you taunt, your character would do the Thriller dance instead.
- The Halloween paper seal mask is an Ascended Meme: Someone misspelled "summer sale" in the official forums as "summer seal", and thus, a meme began.
- The update's backstory also has the (younger) Demoman reading the Bombinomicon while working as an apprentice for a magician.
- 2012's update gave us a nice number:
- One of the 2012 Halloween Unusual effects is called "It's A Secret To Everybody".
- Another one that's harder to pin down is called "Knifestorm."
- Among the sound bites added for the Heavy includes "Everyone! Friendship is stupid magic!" Considering Gabe Newell's fan of the show, this may be an Affectionate Parody.
- One of the Scout's quotes is "Wooh! Check it out Casper!"
- 2013 gave us quite a lot more (still trying to track them all down):
- Say hello to the Magical Mercenary! It is a model of Fluttershy's head, painted pink and given a gold horn to ward off Hasbro's lawyers. And every class (sans Medic) gains at least one voice line that's some variation of "friendship is magic".
- One of the Demoman lines is "Unicorn brothers! Tonight, we pony prance in HELL!"
- Say hello to the Magical Mercenary! It is a model of Fluttershy's head, painted pink and given a gold horn to ward off Hasbro's lawyers. And every class (sans Medic) gains at least one voice line that's some variation of "friendship is magic".
- When handing out Merasmissions, Merasmus name drops Gandalf and Harry Potter.
Mann vs. Machine:
- The Mann Vs. Machine update brought with it a few fun shout outs. Thus far:
- The Soldier: His line of "I am not trapped in a facility full of robots. You are all trapped in here with me!" references Rorschach from Watchmen.
- The Heavy: For one of his special ability quotes, he roars "I will break you!" in a nod to fellow giant boxing-gloved Russian Ivan Drago from Rocky IV.
- The Engineer's reference to sending robots back to robot hell might go unnoticed until you remember a show that rather prominently featured Robot Hell. Or a reference to a rogue AI reminding you that android hell exists.
- Finally, all of the characters with new voice responses upon spotting the Taaaaaaank! can't help but be references to Left 4 Dead.
- The Mann Vs. Machine achievements aren't any slouches in shout outs and/or bad puns either, including:
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:
- Soldier's added taunt, "Fresh Brewed Victory", is a direct reference to a famous WWII rationing poster◊, which has since taken on a very different connotation post-Internet◊.
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:
- The Batsaber should be pretty obvious.
- On a less obvious note, the Cadet Visor bears an odd resemblance to the Verpine Headband from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
- The new taunt involves a chestburster.
Scream Fortress 2015
- The Arthropod's Aspect and the Crusader's Getup allow Pyro to become Firefly and Ant-Man.
- Also, the Pyro can equip the Face of Mercy to become Jason Voorhees.
- The Dead'er Alive, for Engineer, should be recognizable to some fans of a certain law-enforcing cyborg. The Iron Lung also turns him into everyone's favourite genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.
- One of the unusual effects features 8-bit dancing skeletons that bare a Undertale-esque design.
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
- The Derangement Garment and Madmann's Muzzle is a reference to Hannibal Lecter seen in The Silence of the Lambs.
- The Mister Bones hat is based on Mr. Bones' Wild Ride.
Scream Fortress 2020
- The Fire Tooth and Flavorful Baggies makes Pyro look more like Sweet Tooth/ Needles Kane from Twisted Metal
- The Seared Sorcerer is the head of a Black Mage. Or Vivi Ornitier.
- A Handsome Handy Thing is a disembodied hand.
Scream Fortress 2021
- The Miami Rooster is based on the Richard mask from Hotline Miami.
- The Death Stare, a one eyed skull mask, has a strong resemblance to Sir Daniel Fortesque.
- The Goalkeeper is a shoutout to Jason's hockey mask. The "slasher" variant makes the mask closer.
Summer 2023
- The Brothers in Blues hat is based on, well, The Blues Brothers.
- The Medical Emergency is a Half-Life, and by extension Team Fortress Classic medkit.
- The Close Quarters Cover resembles Naked Snake's appearance in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Scream Fortress 2023
- One of Dracula's lines in the Mannsylvania map is "Unlucky and unwise is he who enters my domain, let's give them a warm welcome!"
- The Shortness of Breath resembles the gas masks worn by the HECU in Half-Life.
Smissmass 2023
- The Sleuth Suit and Clue Hairdo are both based on Columbo.
- Galleria contains movie posters that are parodies of Jaws, Evil Dead 2, Mad Max, Dr. No, Ghostbusters (1984), Weekend at Bernie's, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Major League, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And the Planes, Trains and Automobiles parody is directed by "Homesquare Runner".