Community fads
| “ | Gentlemen.
Click to listen
— The Spy
|
” |
Team Fortress 2 and its community are responsible for the birth of a variety of community fads. A fad, by definition, is "any form of behavior that develops among a large population and is collectively followed with enthusiasm for some period..."[1] The medium used in which to create the fads can range from not only Team Fortress 2 itself, but also Template:W and Template:W. These are some of the most frequent used mediums to create Team Fortress 2 fads.
Some of the more well-known fads have gone on to become memes, defined as "ideas or concepts that attain online popularity."[2]
Contents
Fads Found In Game
Crazy Legs
The Crazy Legs phenomenon has existed for as long as Team Fortress 2 has been public. Crazy Legs exist as a bug that affects the Scout's legs, turning them into something that has been described as "two raw bacon strips held up in a wind tunnel." As a result, Crazy Legs is also called Bacon Legs. Officially, the bug is fixed, and has been since the January 13, 2010 Patch. Unfortunately, or fortunately for fans of the bug, Crazy Legs lives on in the game. Although still present, the effects are drastically less blatant than before the fix.
The bug occurs when a Scout crouches and double jumps. The effect is also visible in third person.
Crazy Legs actually gained enough notoriety to get a back story and recognition on the TF2 Blog.[3]
What Crazy Legs looks like now.
Demopan
The Demopan fad originates from a Steam User Forums thread titled "The New Face of TF2." The thread contained a killcam shot featuring the Demoman (as seen to the right). It quickly became a fad as the photograph spread across the Team Fortress community. The Demopan, with the name "STOUT SHAKO FOR 2 REFINED", appears as a BLU Demoman equipped with a Frying Pan, Chargin' Targe, Bounty Hat, and Dangeresque, Too?. Several other images were made with the cutout of the Demopan to continue the fad such as the Demopan with an explosion, and a cutout of the Demopan in the deathcam. . A user on YouTube with the account name SpawnThemAll created a video that spoofs Meet the Demoman; the video features crudely cut out images of the Demopan's face and items over the top of the Demoman, whilst using audio mash up content to change certain lines of dialogue.
A fake class page was created and featured on the wiki for April Fools Day 2011. It was created by Wiki user Benjamoose, and turned into an official Team Fortress 2 Wiki article for the day.
Meet the Demopan footage.
- Demopan is a recognized meme.
Gentlemen
The "Gentlemen." fad 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 fad itself is a widely recognized image macro, originally spawned by a Garry's mod screenshot of the Spy with his mouth jammed with cigarettes followed by the caption "GENTLEMEN" in capital letters. It was soon remade into a cartoon 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" fad of the Heavy may involve a caricature of the Heavy with his custom bullets crammed into his mouth, with the text "BULLETS." underneath.
"Gentlemen" is also often deliberately misspelled "Mentlegen" and accompanied by altered versions of the original "Gentlemen" image macros. A bot can be randomly named Mentlegen as a tribute.
- Gentlemen is a recognized meme.
Original screenshot from Garry's Mod
The original image macro
The popular corruption of "Gentlemen"
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. 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 wearers 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 Menne. It is a common behavior that these people converse in an overly formal manner.
Saxton Hale
Saxton Hale is a non-player character that is viewed by most community members of Team Fortress 2 as a deity-like figure, often performing almost superhuman feats. His achievements in life include being the current owner of Mann Co, (as it descends down from Barnabas Hale's family) 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.
- Saxton Hale can be seen in Team Fortress 2 In The "vs. Saxton Hale Mod"
Spycrab
One of the most well-known fads within Team Fortress 2 is the Spycrab. The Spycrab is an animation oversight caused by looking straight up while holding the Disguise Kit, crouching, then walking in any direction. This causes the Spy to move around in an amusing fashion that resembles a crab. The Dapper Rogue Catalogue for the Gentleman Scoundrel referenced this by including 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.
Footage of a player doing the Spycrab.
- Spycrab is a recognized meme.
YouTube Fads
Bonk! Videos
Not to be confused with Bonk! Atomic Punch
Bonk or Boink videos include remixes of popular songs using only sound clips from the Scout’s signature “Bonk” or “Boink” sound that he makes when killing an opponent with a melee weapon. It started on Youtube in early 2008, the first ever bonk song was simply called ‘bonk song’ and was created and uploaded by Youtube user Foshnak. It is a remix of the Fox channel football theme. While it is not very tuneful, it inspired hundreds of Youtube users to do better and now there are many bonk songs flying around Youtube. A song named ‘Mortal Kombonk’ (a bonk remix of the Mortal Kombat theme) was used in the machinima mega-hit ‘The Idiots of Garry’s Mod’ by djy1991, which made the meme's popularity almost double. It has been notably used for mic spamming on Team Fortress 2 as well as many other Steam and non-Steam online games.
- Bonk! is a recognized meme.
Christian Brutal Sniper
A fad created by KelThuzadMadness, that stars the Christian Brutal Sniper, a RED Sniper that likes to slaughter and use parts of his victim's body for various acts. He tends to enter the scene by suspending himself through sometimes unknown means, then falling, instantly killing someone (who may or may not have been visible there beforehand) before producing an Aperture Science radio and setting it to play "The Millionaire's Holiday" by Combustible Edison. He is accompanied by a RED Spy that always happens to get blood on his suit. Usually when he doesn't want to use a certain weapon, he tosses it away, only to hear a Scout screaming seconds later. No one knows why he kills people nor why he is Christian. He makes an appearance in the fan made VS Saxton Hale Mod, where on Christmas and New Year's Day, there is a chance that he will spawn instead of Saxton.
He makes his first appearance here
- Christian Brutal Sniper is a recognized meme.
Nope.avi
Created with Template:W by YouTube user Jimbomcb, the nope.avi fad consists of a BLU Engineer on Gravel Pit who slowly approaches 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 similar videos were produced, consisting of other characters uttering a phrase before a drastic physical transformation takes place.
- Nope.avi is a recognized meme.
The Odd Scout
Created by dudeguy707 in Template:W, the Odd Scout first appears in this video as a severely deformed Scout with elongated limbs and an apparently broken neck. The Odd Scout says nothing and instead patrols 2Fort, while the "Item Room Ambiance" theme from Nintendo's Super Metroid plays. When encountering another person, the Odd Scout will either "oddify" the victim or cause the victim to implode.
The Odd Scout is often regarded as a surreal or even horror fad.
Painis Cupcake
Created by RubberFruit, this fad involves an insane Soldier named Painis Cupcake (a play on Penis Cupcake). Often seen crawling on the ground, writhing and making clicking sounds (while accompanied by the "Puzzle in the Caves" theme from Nintendo's Donkey Kong 64), the 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 ÜberCharging himself and flying. His first appearance can be found here.
- Painis Cupcake is a recognized meme.
Scout is Delicious
A fad initially spawned with the creation of ARMaster's 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."
- Scout is Delicious is a recognized meme.
Vagineer
Created by Youtube user J16FOX. This fad was made popular with the video upload of THAT DOGS A SPAH. The Vagineer is a deformed Engineer with heavily distorted facial expressions, giving his face the appearance of 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, self deformation, regenerating body parts and turning other people into "Vagi" versions of their characters.
As a slight nod, the VS Saxton Hale Mode has a chance that the player chosen to become Saxton Hale will instead become a Vagineer, with matching voice clips.
- Vagineer is a recognized meme.
Voice Clip Mashups
This fad consists of remixes of various songs or lines of dialogue in which the classes voice commands (for instance, Scout's "Bonk!") are used to create new character dialogue. Some popular examples that have caught on in the Team Fortress 2 community include "Mortal Kombonk" and "WAR!".
- ↑ Wikipedia article on fads
- ↑ Wikipedia article on memes
- ↑ TF2 Blog Post: Better Late Than Never
