Familiar Fez

“

Oh dear, I've made quite a mess. Click to listen — The Spy

”

The Familiar Fez is an unlockable headwear item for the Spy released with the Polycount pack. It appears as a team-colored Fez that sits atop the Spy's regular balaclava along with sunglasses. As with all of the item set hats, Valve has stated they are going to create a specific crafting recipe for the Familiar Fez.

Item set

This item is part of the Saharan Spy set. When the entire set is worn, the set provides these additional stats:

• Reduced decloak sound volume
• 0.5 sec longer Cloak blink time

The other set items are:

• L'Etranger
• Your Eternal Reward

Trivia

• The hat is a reference to Mustafa, one of Dr. Evil's henchmen in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. In the film, Austin says to Mustafa "I don't recall your name, but your fez is familiar." [1]. The artwork used for the pack's Polycount entry image was a recreation of a still of Mustafa in the same pose, and the creator had admitted to watching Austin Powers a week prior to designing the pack.
  • This is furthered by the entry's description mentioning a "line of three-question-format". In the film, Mustafa was unable to withhold answers after being asked the same question three times.
  • The Spy's reluctance to die with the Dead Ringer may also be a reference to Mustafa's seeming incapability to die, somehow managing to (painfully) survive various tortures and accidents.
• This hat might also refer to the French film OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies a parody of the Spy film genre set in the 50s in which the eponymous character, played by the French comedian Jean Dujardin, wears in a scene a similar fez and a costume. [2]
• The hat may also a reference to the henchmen from the video game No One Lives Forever.
• The hat might also refer to the 1960's cartoon Secret Squirrel, in which the title character (a Spy) has a sidekick, Morocco Mole, who has similar headgear.
• The hat also bears a strong resemblance to that of the enemies spotted in No One Lives Forever, which is also placed in the 1960's, in Morocco.
• This is one of five hats to add an accessory in addition to the hat itself, the others being:
  • The Hound Dog, also giving the Heavy a pair of sunglasses.
  • The Pugilist's Protector, giving the Heavy a mouth-guard.
  • The Attendant, which gives the Pyro a bow tie.
  • The Lumbricus Lid, giving the Soldier a cosmetic set of Holy Hand Grenades.

• When this hat is worn with the Camera Beard, the resulting look completely covers all of the Spy's distinguishing features (eg. eyes, face shape). This makes it the perfect combination for the Spy, as it would be even harder for his enemies to recognise him.