Meet the Sniper

Meet the Sniper
Video Info
Released:	June 7, 2008
Run time:	1:40

Video transcript

Transcript

[A lone RV is driving down a desert road. Camera cuts to the dashboard, where a bobblehead of the former Civilian sits. A hand comes from offscreen and flicks the head.] Sniper: "Boom. Headshot." [Meet the Sniper text appears. Cuts to the Sniper driving his RV as Valve's edited version of Magnum Force plays in the background.] Sniper: "Snipin's a good job, mate! [He pauses to make a right turn] It's challengin' work, outta doors. I guarantee you'll not go hungry-" [Cuts to a shot of the Sniper brushing his teeth. There are three photographs on the right of his mirror of a BLU Engineer, Heavy, and Scout - the Engineer and the Scout are crossed off, but the Heavy is not.] Sniper "-'cause at the end of the day, long as there's two people left on the planet, someone is gonna want someone dead." [Scene cuts to view inside the Sniper's scope. The Sniper headshots the Heavy from the previous scene; the bullet shatters the Bottle of the Demoman behind him, causing the top half of the Bottle to embed itself in his remaining eye. The Demoman flails around, takes out his Grenade Launcher, fires three grenades wildly in the air and falls over a ledge, with his stray grenades igniting a cluster of explosive barrels below and causing a chain explosion.] Sniper: "Ooh." [Cuts to the Sniper talking on a pay phone.] Sniper: "Dad? Dad, I'm a- Ye- Not a "crazed gunman", dad, I'm an assassin! ...Well, the difference bein' one is a job and the other's a mental sickness!" [Back to Sniper in the RV.] Sniper: "I'll be honest with ya: my parents do not care for it." [Cuts to Sniper climbing the tall tower in Gold Rush Stage 3, Cap 1. The Sniper now is waiting at the top of the tower for a shot.] Sniper: [Glances away from his scope briefly to address the viewer] "I think his mate saw me." [A bullet ricochets off the ledge under the Sniper.] Sniper: "Yes, yes he did!" [The Sniper takes cover as return fire ricochets off the tower.] [Cuts to a time-lapse image of the Sniper waiting for a shot. Several jars of urine fill up to his side, as the Sniper drinks coffee and waits. As the sun starts to set, the Sniper smiles and finally takes his shot.] [The Sniper backstabs a Spy through the chest with his Kukri on Gold Rush Stage 3, then slides him off the knife with a satisfied expression.] Sniper: "Feelins'? Look mate, you know who has a lot of feelings?" [Cut back to the RV] Sniper: "Blokes that bludgeon their wife to death with a golf trophy. Professionals have standards." [Sniper takes off his hat and puts it on his chest, standing over the dead Spy.] Sniper: "Be polite." [Sniper headshots a Medic, a Soldier, and a Pyro, blowing the last's head clean off.] Sniper: "Be efficient." [Slow-motion shot of the Sniper reloading his rifle.] Sniper: "Have a plan to kill everyone you meet." [The Sniper fires directly at the camera. The screen blacks out.] [Team Fortress 2 ending flourish music plays.] [Cut back to the pay phone.] Sniper: "Dad.... Dad p-, yeah - put Mum on the phone!"

Notes

• The title card displays 'COPYRIGHT LOLOLOL' on the bottom right corner, a recurring joke throughout the Meet the Team videos.

• The same valley model in the opening shot was also used in Expiration Date, but without the signs.

• The billboard in the opening shot and behind the Sniper in the pay phone scenes reads 'FOAD: Camping Fun, All year round!'. This is both a reference to the "camping" style of gameplay Snipers employ and the acronym FOAD (Fuck Off And Die).

• The sign that appears at the beginning of the video displays the Sniper Rifle's old headshot kill icon.

• The Sniper drives a 1965 Land Rover Series I Camper Van, a hint to his game style. The van appears to be painted in "Sahara Dust", a green-grey tone.

• The Sniper's van bears the Team Fortress series logo on the roof.

• One of the bumper stickers on the camper reads 'MY OTHER CAMPER IS A SWORD VAN!', a reference to one of KC Green's Custom Comix.

• A note taped to the windscreen of the camper reads 'TAX IN POST', a reference to the British comedy Only Fools and Horses.

• The Sniper's camper van was eventually turned into a model by Valve for map and machinima makers, and also appears in Thunder Mountain in the very back of the map, by a water tower on a cliff near the RED side, and Mannhattan, by the ramp leading up, away from the robot entryway.

• The bobblehead on the Sniper's dash is a caricature of the Civilian as he appears in the original Team Fortress Classic series of games.
  • It was originally a bobblehead of the "Old Geezer" from the "Old Geezer Draft Beer" poster found in-game. It was later replaced because the intended Sniper reference was too obscure for people to understand.

• The phrase "Boom, Headshot.", popularized by the character FPS Doug in the online comedy series Pure Pwnage, is common in the first-person shooter genre.

• The music in the video is a homage to the "Magnum Force" theme by Lalo Schifrin.

• In the scene where the Sniper brushes his teeth, his signature Sniper Rifle is reflected in the mirror. It appears correctly right-handed in the mirror, so out of the mirror, it would appear to be designed for use by a left-handed person.

• The jars of urine are the very first glimpse of Jarate, which may also be an explanation for Jarate being referred to in the game files as "urinejar".

• In the timelapse scene, the Sniper drinks a brown liquid (most likely coffee) out of a mug with the words "#1 Sniper". This is a reference to the RED team always beating the BLU team in the Meet The Team videos. It is also a reference to the "#1 DAD" and "#1 MOM" mugs that are often found in novelty stores.
  • Additionally, the first few frames of the scene show the time to be 4PM, but it changes to be a little past 3PM after the Sniper takes a sip.

• The Sniper's "standards" are very similar to the rules that James Mattis gave to the United States Marine Corps as quoted in Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (2006) by Thomas E. Ricks: "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."

• All three of the Sniper's "standards" were later turned into achievements (there are a total of four, as "Have a plan to kill everyone you meet" is broken into two), and the first two correspond to what the Sniper does in the clips (doffing his hat, and killing three enemies without missing). When he is speaking to his father on the phone, he says that he is "not a crazed gunman, Dad", which is another Sniper achievement [kill 3 enemies achieving an objective in a single life].
  • The phrase "Professionals Have Standards" is a StarCraft II achievement, in reference to Team Fortress 2. The achievement in StarCraft II is to destroy 20 units with Sniper Rounds in a single Unranked or Ranked game, and is the only phrase of the Sniper's standard speech not used as an achievement in Team Fortress 2.

• The map used is a modified version of Gold Rush, the train tower climbing sequence (0:49) being the most recognizable reference point, which is the first section of the map outside BLU spawn. Sniper doffing his hat (1:11) is based on the upper parts of the final point of the map.

• The Sniper's Sniper Rifle is leaning against the wall during the enactment of the achievement Be Polite (at 1:11). In the shot directly preceding it, where the Spy is stabbed with the Kukri (at 1:05), the Sniper Rifle is missing.

• The Pyro is wielding the Flare Gun, an unlockable weapon which had not been publicly revealed at the time of the video's release.

• When the Sniper shoots the Soldier (1:13), the Soldier begins to fall over before the sound of the Sniper Rifle firing plays.

• When the Sniper shoots the Pyro (1:15), it is implied that Sniper blew up Pyro's mask since there are bits of mask falling as if it exploded; however, Pyro's head cannot be seen due to it being behind their torso. This idea was later revisited to design the Voodoo-Cursed Pyro Soul.

• The Sniper appears to have a Garand Thumb, which was an injury common among riflemen in WWII by getting their finger caught in the receiver of an M1 Garand while reloading.

• The ending group shot with all the classes has the Sniper with a different facial expression than usual, and uses different lighting.

Related merchandise

• 

  Meet the Sniper Lithograph

External links

• Meet the Sniper on IMDb