Community fads

“

Gentlemen. Click to listen — The Spy

”

Team Fortress 2 and its community are responsible for the birth of a variety of memes. A meme, by definition, is "an idea or concept that attains online popularity." The medium used in which to create the memes can range not only from Team Fortress 2, as Template:W and Template:W are some of the most frequent mediums.

Memes Found In Game

Gentlemen

File:Gentlemen.jpg

The original image macro

The "Gentlemen." meme stems from one of the Spy's most ubiquitous catchphrases. His calm, suave, calculating persona is encapsulated in his utterance of the simple address, followed by the careful placement of a cigarette.

The meme itself is a widely recognized image macro, originally spawned by a Garry's mod screen shot of the Spy with his mouth jammed with cigarettes followed by the caption "Gentlemen." in capital, white letters. It was then remade into a crudely drawn Template:W caricature of the same picture. The concept quickly exploded, and expanded to feature a version for every Team Fortress character. The basic formula for the macro is straightforward; it is a caricatured drawing of a character, with their mouth jammed full of objects that usually pertains to aspects of that character. For example, a "Gentlemen" meme of the Heavy would involve a caricature of the Heavy with his custom bullets crammed into his mouth, with the text "Bullets." underneath.

Poor and Irish

See also: Gentle Manne of Leisure

You are as PRESUMPTUOUS as you are POOR and IRISH

The term Poor and Irish first appeared in a hidden link of the Classless Update, as a retort by the Gentle Manne of Leisure to a hatless man. It should be noted that this hidden page introduced the phenomenon and belief that hats show a form of higher social status and class. Since then, players often use this term to describe players with no hats, or owners of common hats such as the Ghastly Gibus. Players that believe they fall under the characteristics of the Gentle Manne of Leisure often refer to themselves as fellow Gentle Manne's. It's common behavior that these people commonly converse in an overly, perhaps Gothic, formal language.

Saxton Hale

Main article: Saxton Hale

Saxton Hale creating "PROPERTY DAMAGE!"

Saxton Hale is a non-player character that is viewed by most community members of Team Fortress 2 as deity-like figure, often performing almost superhuman feats. His achievements in life include being the current owner, of Mann Co, (after receiving it from Barnabas Hale) a popular company responsible for many of the weapons found in Team Fortress 2, being the 5th richest man of the world, and having his own line of comic books.

Saxton Hale is frequently considered a Team Fortress 2 version of the popular Template:W internet meme. Directly satirizing the phenomenon of Chuck Norris facts, a fansite called Saxton Hale Facts was created, where users can submit facts about Saxton Hale and his many incredible feats.

Spycrab

The Spycrab

One of the most famous memes of TF2 is the Spycrab, an animation glitch caused by looking straight up while holding the Disguise Kit and crouch walking. This causes the Spy to walk in an amusing fashion that resembles a crab. The Dapper Rogue catalogue includes a "Crab-Walking Kit" with the description "It will change your skeleton! Excruciatingly painful but worth it."

Due to its popularity, the Spycrab was included as an alternative taunt for the Disguise Kit in the Sniper Vs Spy Update.

Demopan

File:Demopan.jpg

Original screenshot

Demopan originates from a thread about "The New Face of TF2"", however it quickly changed into a copy-and-paste fad. "Demopan" appears as a BLU Demoman wielding a Frying Pan and Chargin' Targe, wearing a Bounty Hat and Dangeresque, Too? whilst smiling for the deathcam. His ingame name is "STOUT SHAKO FOR 2 REFINED". On the second page of the thread a user photoshopped the Demoman into an another picture of an explosion. This quickly caught on and several images were made with demopan.

YouTube memes

Voice Clip Mashups

This meme consists of remixes of various songs in which the classes voice commands (for instance, Scout's "Bonk!") are used to mask or mimic the aforementioned songs. Some popular examples that have caught on in the Team Fortress 2 community include "Mortal Kombonk" and "WAR!".

nope.avi

Nope.

Created with Template:W by YouTube user Jimbomcb, the nope.avi meme consists of a BLU Engineer on Gravel Pit slowly approaching the screen. As he stops his hard hat floats up, he utters the phrase "nope" and his neck elongates before he promptly leaves.

nope.avi is frequently used in conversations as a humorous negative response. Instead of replying no, instead the person may post a link to the video or type "nope.avi".

Several parodies of the meme exist, consisting of other characters uttering a phrase before a drastic physical transformation takes place.

Scout is Delicious

File:Scout is delicious.jpg

Scout is delicious!

A meme initially spawned with the creation of ARMaster's short two second YouTube video depicting a Heavy eating a Scout whose head is replaced with a Sandvich. Its popularity resulted in thousands of responses parodying the original. Following the trend of many other popular Youtube Team Fortress 2 Template:W, the Heavy had two separate lines of dialogue crossed to form the phrase "Scout is delicious."

Painis Cupcake

Painis Cupcake devours one of his victims.

Created by RubberFruit, this meme involves a crazed Soldier named Painis Cupcake. Often seen crawling on the ground, writhing and making clicking sounds, a demented looking Painis Cupcake introduces himself with the phrase "I am Painis Cupcake. I will eat you", followed by a devilish grin. After his introduction, he promptly devours his victims violently. He exhibits various superpowers, including instantly Ubercharging himself and flying. His first appearance can be found here.

Since then, various offshoots have been created, often using the same abilities, including Robot Painis Cupcake, a cybernetic version with rocket launchers for arms, and Painis Fruitcake, who gives gifts to his victims instead of promptly eating them. Their appearances are here and here

Vagineer

File:Vagineer.jpg

The Vagineer

A meme initially spawned with the creation of J16FOX YouTube video, the Vagineer is a deformed Engineer with heavily distorted facial expressions, giving his face the appearance of being a vagina.

Vagineer's speech consists of reversed and distorted Engineer voice lines, and is usually seen grunting at other characters. He has a large arsenal of attacks, including telekinesis and self deformation, and even launching its limbs (sometimes attached by a rope so it can extend back to its original state) like rockets. He is also capable of regenerating body parts and turning other people into "Vagi" versions of their characters.

Vagineer is viewed as a demigod-like monster, rarely being defeated by anyone. In the case of his death he usually regenerates and retaliates, often violently.

He also seems to be Snyphurr's master, summoning him by using his extendable tongue to obtain a Buff Banner bugle and playing it.

As a slight nod, the VS Saxton Hale Mod, has a chance that the player chosen to become Saxton Hale will instead become a BLU Vagineer, with matching voice clips.

Odd Scout

File:Oddscout.jpg

The Odd Scout in motion.

Created by dudeguy707 in Template:W, The Odd Scout first appears in this video and is a severely deformed Scout with elongated limbs and an apparently broken neck. The Odd Scout says nothing, and instead patrols 2Fort, while the "Room Ambience" theme from Nintendo's Super Metroid plays. There are 3 episodes of Odd Scout thus far, the first simply shows a RED Odd Scout crossing the 2Fort bridge, the second episode shows the RED Odd Scout encountering a BLU Scout and "oddifying" him, and the third shows both Odd Scouts encountering a RED Medic, twisting his neck around and causing him to explode merely by staring at him. Parallels between Odd Scout and both the horror manga Enigma of the Amigara Fault and the Slenderman meme have been drawn by fans, and the Odd Scout is often regarded as a surreal or even horror meme.