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“

Gentlemen. Click to listen — The Spy

”

Team Fortress 2 is home of several memes created by its community. While some stem from the game itself, others were created by using tools such as Template:W to manipulate TF2 characters.

Gentlemen

Original image macro.

Gentlemen.

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 crudely crafted Template:W caricature of the Spy, with his mouth jammed full of cigarettes. 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. The phrase "Gentlemen." may be replaced with other addresses.

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. Since then, players often use this term to describe players with no hats, or owners of common hats such as the Ghastly Gibus.

A popular associated meme involves players conversing in overly formal language, such as that used by the Gentle Manne of Leisure.

Saxton Hale

Main article: Saxton Hale

Saxton Hale's amazing achievements has resulted in players referring to him as a deity-like figure, capable of superhuman feats.

Saxton Hale can be 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.

Spammed Voice Commands

A popular practice among some TF2 players is Spamming Voice Commands, resulting in humorous phrases. Popular examples include the Heavy's "Pootis" and the Scout's "Need a Dispenser here!" spammed continuously.

Spycrab

One of the most famous memes of TF2 is the Spycrab, an animation glitch caused by looking 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.

W+M1

The term "W+M1" refers to a technique used by perceived amateur Pyro players, which involves running forward (The W key on the PC) and spewing flames in the general direction of an enemies (Mouse 1) without any thoughts to tactics or self-preservation.

In a chaotic battle a W+M1 Pyro can be highly effective, racking up many kills on unsuspecting or inexperienced players as shown in this video. Because of its perceived simplicity, "W+M1" is often used as a derogatory term for one's playstyle as a Pyro.

YouTube memes

Bonk mashups

This meme consists of remixes of various songs in which the Scout's "Bonk!" and "Boink!" voice clips are mashed up with popular songs. The most popular of which is "Mortal Kombonk", which has had over 1 million views.

nope.avi

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.

Painis Cupcake

Created by RubberFruit, this meme involves a crazed Soldier named Painis Cupcake. Often seen crawling on the ground, a demented looking Painis Cupcake introduces himself with the phrase "I am Painis Cupcake. I will eat you." before devouring his victims violently. His first appearance can be found here.

Scout is Delicious

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."

Snyphurr

Vagineer has a weird taste in pets...

A meme involving a very deformed Sniper, who is a floating torso with his hands poking out of his rear end. He approaches his victims uttering intelligible phrases before revealing his Medusa like face, upon which his victims turn to stone. The original video can be found here.

Spyper

A genetically altered version of the Sniper, Spyper is a Sniper/Spy composite that seemingly changes his personality by cricking his neck. although friends with Intelligent Heavy, he attacks/scares the other classes. His Spy alter ego is polite and friendly in contrast with his Sniper alter ego who hates everyone. The orginial video can be found here.

Vagineer

Hurrr...

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

Vagineer's speech consists of reversed Engineer voice lines, and is usually seen grunting at other characters. He has a large arsenal of attacks, including telekinesis and self deformation. 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 allied with Snyphurr, summoning him by using his extendable tongue to obtain a Buff Banner bugle then playing it.

In the VS Saxton Hale Mod, there is a chance that the player chosen to become Saxton Hale will instead become a BLU Vagineer, with matching voice clips.

-gineer/-neer

Various -neers

Created by OluapPlayer (Youtube channel), this meme involves the Engineer with the head of another class or an item. The characters name is constructed from the characters choice of head with an "gineer" or "neer" appended on the end. The meme originated from this video.

Popular variations include Paintraingineer, Spyneer and Demoneer, all shown to the right.

Weaselcake

Created by Sonicrulez11, Weaselcake appears as a floating Sniper who is quick to anger and uses a wide variety of attacks on his victims.