Saxton Hale
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| “ | I'll beat them to death with my bare hands!
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Saxton Hale is the daring Australian CEO of Mann Co., sixth richest man in the world, and star of the Saxton Hale's Thrilling Tales comic series. His favorite pastimes include fighting, drinking, and battling with ferocious animals. His identifying features include a mustache, rippling muscles, crocodile-tooth lined hat, and a patch of chest hair shaped like Australia. He also refuses to wear clothes on his upper body "for obvious reasons".
Saxton is the current part of the Hale family to take up the reins of Mann Co. since Zepheniah Mann left its ownership to loyal aide and tracker [Hale] in his last will and testament. His boisterous presence is felt in all areas of the company, from the slogan "We sell products and get in fights" to Gorilla Wrestling Fridays, his attempts at employee morale building. He also fills out customer forms with tick-boxes to either intimidate any product-thieving rivals or commend new inventors submitting a new product idea to him. His inspiring image also features on numerous Mann Co. catalogs and promotional materials. He is known (and feared) for his belief in handling customer service issues personally, with his official policy being: "If you aren't 100% satisfied with our product line, you can take it up with me!".
Contents
Notable Achievements
- Cutting his way out of primate hell.
- Teaching his Girl Scout troop, the 'Saxtonettes', fire safety tips such as: "Grizzly bears burn."
- Fighting off a lion while simultaneously having his hair cut.
- Single-handedly wiping out the Indonesian Berserker Shark (and making it cry).
- Retrieving a stolen puck from a thieving tortoise, despite its thirty minute head start.
- Inventing the ancient and mystical Jarate fighting style after kicking a chair across the room in an agitated rage.
- Becoming the wealthiest man in the Western Hemisphere.
- Firebombing Woodstock from a helicopter.
- Being in no way involved with the explosive death of [[[1]|American Monkeynaut Poopy Joe]], and not being anywhere near the launch site at the time.
- Publishing a special issue of his magazine (with a price of 20 cents, even though it was demanded to be free) to answer questions made by his fans about, among other things, playing Team Fortress 2 on a Mac.
- Discovering the Internet and starting the Mann Co. store.
- Owning England, despite the fact that Australia was an English colony.
- Having a website made entirely about absolutely true facts about him.
Mann Co. Comics
Saxton Hale's Thrilling Tales
| “ | You Will Believe a Shark can Cry
— Issue #55
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Saxton Hale's Thrilling Tales first arrived on newsstands in 1961 as part of a bold Mann Co. initiative to sidestep an increase on postage costs for their weapons catalogs. The first 64-page issue contained four pages of thrilling tales and sixty pages of ads for exciting new Mann Co. products. But Thrilling's editors quickly discovered that showing Mann Co. founder Saxton Hale using a product in the story itself tripled its sales. Ads were cut to 32 pages to accommodate longer, product placement-based stories.
Saxton Hale's Barbershop Action
| “ | We Make Comics and Get in Fights
— Issue #12
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Saxton Hale's Barbershop Action capitalized on the brief "haircut" fad of the early 60s. Its breakaway success would lead to the ancillary titles Saxton Hale's Barbershop Romance and Haircut Horrors Starring Saxton Hale's Ghost. By Issue #40, however, the Peacenik movement had gripped America in its filthy, tangled mane, and haircut fiction saw a steep decline. This would be the start of a lifelong feud between Hale and hippies, which would culminate in his firebombing Woodstock from a helicopter.
Saxton Hale's Jungle Brawl
| “ | 64 Pages of Gorilla Stabbing
— Issue #44
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Saxton Hale's Jungle Brawl debuted in the U.S. in 1962, riding a wave of anti-gorilla sentiment following Russia's successful launch of the first monkey, Vladimir Bananas, into space. America's rage was not isolated to communist primates; that same year, monkeynaut Poopy Joe cruelly dashed the U.S.'s hopes of reaching the stars when its shuttle detonated on takeoff. Brawl was notorious for inflaming human-gorilla tensions during its ten-year run, most famously in issue #50, which was printed with gorillas' blood. Issue #50's print run of 17 million copies left only five gorillas on the planet.
Saxton Hale's Mildly Thrilling Tales
| “ | Modest Suspense for the Faint of Heart
— Issue #4
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As the youth movement of the 1960s escalated, manufacturers produced fewer and fewer products for the elderly. By 1963, only four items remained: hats, meat, caskets, and Saxton Hale's Mildly Thrilling Tales. Naked from the forehead down, lying in their coffins gumming Salisbury steak, an entire generation of despondent, forgotten consumers was left with just one thing on which to spend their government checks: Hale's tepid, senior-friendly tales of modest suspense. Saxton Hale Visits His Mother Monthly and Soothing Stories of Familiar Things soon followed. Hale quickly became the wealthiest man in the Western Hemisphere.
Girl's Adventure Starring Saxton Hale
| “ | Preparing Young Women for a Life of Action
— Issue #6
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Boy's Adventure with Saxton Hale came under fire from the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1968 for teaching boys aged 6-16, among other things: moral turpitude, arson, vandalism, hippie assault, tax fraud, at-home laryngectomies, car theft, gorilla slaughter, and the Heimlich Maneuver (which had just been invented and was still considered controversial). Pressured by the Senate, Mann Co. changed the name to Girl's Adventure With Saxton Hale, as it was commonly thought at the time that girls couldn't do anything, so any lessons taught to them would be harmless.
Saxton Hale's Mail Storm
| “ | A Question-Answering Thrill Ride!
— Issue #1
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Saxton Hale’s Mail Storm had its first and only issue published in March 1964 to help explain the new Federal recall of all 36 million Gold Coast-Tweed personal apple corers, due to their tendency to not only core apples, but fingers, lamps, and small furry animals. When the government demanded the comic be issued for free, Mann Co. responded by raising its usual price of twelve cents an issue to twenty, reasoning that if anyone was going to get something for free, they were going to pay for it.
Apple
During the Mac Update, a non-canon comic was released that once again contained Saxton Hale. In this comic, Saxton Hale smashes through the Apple Store's window, and claims he is going to burn the aforementioned store to the ground. Saxton picks up a nearby device, presses a button, and blows the Moon up with the Apple store's product, the "iBlewupthemoon". The product impresses Saxton so much that he decides he will instead purchase the store, however, the store's manager appears, and refuses to sell the Apple Store. Saxton instantly recognizes the man, and insults his curvy designs. The comic ends with the title of the next issue When Titans Clash.
Hale Mail
The lucky few who sent in the Force-A-Nature order form found in The Scout Update - Day 5 to the relevant address received an invoice from Saxton Hale himself, sadly informing them that the requested item was out of stock. In compensation, the senders received a signed photo of Saxton Hale standing in front of Ayers Rock with the words "Thanks for writing, little fella!" and a keychain featuring a random Team Fortress 2 class. The letter also advised them to keep an eye on their mailbox, as new products could be on the way.
Yet more lucky senders who mailed the coupon found in The Sniper vs. Spy Update - Day 4 to the relevant address received a letter bearing the Mann Co. logo and the snarling face of Saxton Hale. Inside was another letter, yet again informing the recipient that the requested product/s were out of stock but that they should continue to check their mailbox as new items/legislation could be on the way, as well as several postcards bearing random cover images from Saxton Hale's Thrilling Tales. At this point, Valve started requesting that people not send them money due to legal reasons, and donated all money already received to gamer charity Child's Play.
Letter from the Force-A-Nature giveaway, notice the Scout keyring.
A close up of the Invoice, at the time of release the Ambassador had not been announced.
Letter from Saxton Hale, contains the comic postcards.
Letter from Hale again, addressing the creator of the 'Guard Dog Update', as seen in this blog entry.
Related Merchandise
Trivia
- An image of Saxton Hale can be seen briefly on a calendar inside the BLU base in Meet the Spy.
- Saxton Hale's Thrilling Tales is illustrated by comic artist Mike Oeming.
- An unofficial fansite by Travis "Sivart0" Prue called Saxton Hale Facts allows users to submit facts about Saxton Hale and his many incredible feats (a parody of Chuck Norris facts, an internet meme).
- Saxton Hale occasionally makes posts on the TF2 Official Blog.
- Saxton Hale's name is an anagram for a sexually explicit phrase that Valve may not (or may) have originally intended.
- Saxton Hale's chief accountant is called Mr. Reddy. He also has a personal butler called Mr. Bidwell and a pilot named Jerry.
- Saxton Hale is implied to have been in a relationship with the Administrator some time ago, referring to her as a "chain-smoking seductress" and being on first name terms with her.
- One of the blood vessels on Saxton Hale's left bicep is shaped in the form of the lambda symbol, (λ) as can be seen in Mail Storm. This is likely a reference to the Half-Life series of games, also by Valve.
- Saxton Hale has had a river named after him.
- Saxton Hale is also known as "Scoutmaster Hale" to his girl Scout troop, "The Saxtonettes".
- Saxton Hale's comics to this date have always started with a leap from a plane and have always ended with Saxton Hale beating up hippies.
- In Template:W, an image of Saxton Hale makes a cameo appearance as the Ace of Spades in the "TF2" card deck.
Related Achievements
See also
External Links
- The Sniper vs. Spy Update - Day 4 (First Appearance)
- The Sniper vs. Spy Update - Day 7 (Saxton Hale's Complete Jarate Course)
- TF2 Official Blog- Sniper vs. Spy Update, Day 7
- TF2 Official Blog- Patent Pending: #1308 - "GUARD DOG"
- TF2 Official Blog- It's a Bloodbath!
- TF2 Official Blog- Team Fortress News Roundup
- The Administrator- Saxton Hale
- Saxton Hale Facts
- The Mann-Conomy update
