Cuanta Vida (abbreviated CV) is a popular Team Fortress 2fancomic by Kerry Lynn Thompson, also known as Kytri or Heironymus. It started on October 12th, 2008 and ended on December 9th, 2011 with 159 pages.The story is centered on a BLU Spy (commonly referred to as Bleu) who has just arrived at 2Fort, though he's never been in a war setting before. Finding the similarities between the BLU and RED corporations suspicious, Bleu begins to investigate, and stumbles upon several hidden places, relationships, and, most importantly, a plan to escape the meaningless fighting...The comic is well-praised for its storytelling, weaving Bleu's narrations into the main events, and especially well-loved for its characters, who are all far more unique than the TF2 classes they represent. It's also loved for its tame but relatively abundant Ho Yay.Meet the Team like never before. (Link leads to first page.)WARNING: It's safe to assume that just about any link on this page contains spoilers. Click at your own risk.
All There in the Manual: One page's update notes establish that the comic takes place around twenty years after the game. This is the information you need to understand why The Unreveal below is, well, an unreveal.
Artistic License - Medicine: Of the "We Have To Get The Bullet Out" flavor. Pyro removes a bullet from Scout's arm, though this may be justified as Pyro is (probably) not a doctor.
Bare-Handed Blade Block: Bleu when Rojo tries to backstab him. Slightly backfired as he didn't so much catch the knife that it went through his hand instead.
Boomerang Bigot: The BLU Scout spends most of the comic hurling gay slurs at the BLU Spy. He has a crush on the BLU Spy. Justified, however, as virulent homophobia is a phase some people have to pass through before facing up to the fact that they are in fact gay.
Break the Haughty: Rojo, first after being severely burned by the BLU Pyro and again when he fails to heal himself with the RED Medic's medigun, realizing he's going to be heavily scarred.
Cassandra Truth: "Well, it could be anyone, right? I could 'ave killed 'im." Luckily for Bleu, BLU Heavy thinks he's joking about accidentally killing BLU Medic.
Cold Sniper: No Sniper perfectly fits this trope, but the first RED Sniper seems to most closely match.
Compressed Hair: How can Bleu fit his hair in his balaclava? Maybe he's trading tips with the new RED Sniper, who manages to keep his Elvis hair under his hat.
Conflict Ball: The BLU soldier has decided that Bleu is going to die like a man today. Even the RED Soldier has a look on his face saying "Why is he making him go to his death?"
Dangerously Genre Savvy: Bleu, of all people. When Rojo is on the ropes, he tries to push Bleu's buttons, namely, his fear of killing, to get him to turn on Scout and help him instead. Despite Rojo being exactly right about how much Bleu's recent kills bother him and how much he doesn't want to add another, Bleu doesn't take the bait and shoots him. He's willingly sacrificing his innocence, and for awhile, his sanity, because he knows the other choice will lead to even worse things.
Diabolus ex Machina: Red's death comes off as this (seriously, what a senseless waste of human life—which may have been the point, but still).
Heroic BSOD: Bleu when he realized that he killed BLU Medic and RED Pyro.
Hey, You!: The BLU Scout refuses to address the BLU Spy by anything but gay slurs. Even after he confesses his feelings towards the Spy. However, around page 136, when a certain sort of understanding has developed between them, he gives this up and calls him "Spy".
Hoist by His Own Petard: BLU Medic - He ended up receiving his own lethal injection, the one he intended for BLU Scout.
Ho Yay: Bleu and both Scouts (though there's far more with BLU Scout) which eventually crosses into text at the end. invoked
Irony: Page 97 reveals that for all that Bleu feared the RED Pyro's fire, the Pyro despised him because he thought Bleu wasn't being affected by his flames at all.
Limited Wardrobe: Justified, since the characters wear uniforms, complete with the classic Lampshade Hanging of opening the closet to reveal a row of identical clothes in page 111.. But sometimes the characters are seen in incomplete uniforms.
Man on Fire: Seems to be a prerequisite for being a Spy.
Meaningful Name: Arguably, this could apply to TF2 classes as a whole, considering their jobs, but really, the Spies' suits aren't the only indicators of their teams. See Fan Nickname.
Reluctant Warrior: Bleu makes an effort to only disarm or incapacitate his opponents rather than kill them while on the job. And that's only when he's desperate.
And as of the second to last page the Red Scout apparently becomes one for them, too. Yeah, he interrupts their first real kiss to tell them they need to get moving, but adds that they "can makes out on the bus", and is smiling quite happily while he says it.
Shoot the Dog: The first person Bleu kills on purpose is the RED Pyro, in order to save the BLU Pyro. The second person he kills is Rojo. Both times, he was rather shaken up that he just killed someone.
Shout Out: Several, throughout the comic, to some rather unexpected things. For instance:
pages 152 and 153 both contain subtle references to WarGames. (See the title of the comic and the handwritten list of passwords respectively.)
the title of this one is a reference to a Homestuck meme. (Read the comments on this one to see reactions from people posting in character as a number of the trolls, and at least two of the kids.)
The Unreveal: They never do learn any more about why the war is going on than the hints from the old RED Medic's logs and the old BLU Sniper's crazy notes. More blatantly, Bleu fails to access the computer in the abandoned building and thus never learns what it has to do with anything beyond "it has something to do with the trains and probably runs them automatically."
Verbal Tic: In the beginning of the comic, BLU Scout couldn't go a single panel without shouting a homophobic slur. To the point where the artist herself jokingly thought he might have Tourette's.
Villainous Breakdown: Rojo doesn't exactly take the injuries BLU Pyro gave him very well.
Visible Invisibility: The "shown as an outline" variety is how Spy cloaking watches are rendered.
Bleu, after having the tar beaten out of him by Rojo on page 94. Later, when the RED Pyro scares the living daylight out of him on page 97.
Even Rojo, when BLU Pyro lights him on fire.
Bleu again, after he shoots Rojo.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Rojo seems to be under the impression that he is the hero of the story.
You Always Hear The Bullet: There's usually a sound effect whenever a gun is fired. However, when Red shoves Sniper out of the way of a bullet, the reader doesn't realize anything's wrong until...
(Link leads to first page.)WARNING: It's safe to assume that just about any link on this page contains spoilers. Click at your own risk.
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