Community fads
| “ | Gentlemen.
Click to listen
— The Spy
|
” |
Community fads are fads that circulate or originate throughout the Team Fortress 2 community. 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] Some of the most frequently used mediums to create Team Fortress 2 fads include not only Team Fortress 2 itself, but also Garry's Mod and Source Filmmaker.
Some of the more well-known fads have gone on to become internet memes, "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 exists as a bug that affects the Scout's legs when crouching and double jumping in unison, turning the legs 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. The effect is also visible in third-person, and is likely to happen when in third-person as the Civilian.
Officially, the bug is fixed, and has been since the January 13, 2010 Patch. Although the bug is still present in some form, the effects are drastically less blatant than from before the fix.
Crazy Legs gained enough notoriety to get a back story and recognition on the TF2 Official Blog.[3]
Demopan
The Demopan fad originates from a Steam User Forums thread titled "The New Face of TF2". The thread contained a Deathcam shot featuring the Demoman (as seen to the right). It quickly became a fad as the screenshot spread across the Team Fortress 2 community. The Demopan, with the name "STOUT SHAKO FOR 2 REFINED", is the BLU Demoman equipped with the 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 cutout images of the Demopan's face and items over the top of the Demoman whilst using audio mashup content to change certain lines of dialogue.
A fake class page was created and featured on this 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 and confirmed meme.
Spycrab
One of the most well-known fads within Team Fortress 2 is the Spycrab. The Spycrab is an animation oversight caused by the Spy 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. Dapper Rogue, a "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, and has a 20% chance of playing.
Footage of a player doing the Spycrab.
- The Spycrab is a recognized and confirmed meme.
- A fan-made game mode was made in honor of this fad.
Community created fads
nope.avi
| “ | Nope.
Click to listen
— The Engineer
|
” |
Created with Source Filmmaker by YouTube user Jimbomcb, the nope.avi video shows the BLU Engineer on Gravel Pit slowly approaching the screen. As he stops, his hard hat floats up and he utters the phrase "Nope" while his neck elongates. He then promptly leaves the scene.
The video is frequently used in conversations as a "humorous" negative response. Instead of replying "No", the person may post a link to the video or type "nope.avi".
- nope.avi is a recognized and confirmed meme.
Gentlemen
| “ | Gentlemen.
Click to listen
— The Spy
|
” |
The Gentlemen fad stems from one of the Spy's most ubiquitous catchphrases. His calm, suave, calculating persona is encapsulated in his utterance of this 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.". 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 the character with their mouth jammed full of objects that usually pertain to aspects of that character. For example, a Gentlemen fad for the Heavy may involve a caricature of the Heavy with his custom bullets crammed into his mouth and the text "BULLETS." underneath. Other characters have been integrated into this meme as well, such as a Gordon Freeman of Half-Life with a mouth full of crowbars, his signature weapon.
The word "Gentlemen" is also often deliberately misspelled as "Mentlegen" and accompanied by altered versions of the original Gentlemen image macro. A bot can be randomly named Mentlegen as a tribute.
- Gentlemen is a recognized and confirmed meme.
Original screenshot from Garry's Mod.
The popular corruption of Gentlemen.
Painis Cupcake
| “ | I am Painis Cupcake. I will eat you.
— Painis Cupcake
|
” |
The Painis Cupcake (or Penis Cupcake) fad is one of the most video-responded Team Fortress 2 community fads. Part of series on Garry's Mod, Painis Cupcake is a Soldier. He has no special equipment, but his eyes are always wide open and his head is turned about 70 degrees backward.
The original Painis Cupcake video, "AN UNTITLED PAINIS CUPCAKE REFERENCE VIDEO", was uploaded to YouTube on January 09, 2010 by "RubberFruit". The video description told YouTubers to post their video responses to "Painis Cupcake eats someone". In the video, Painis Cupcake introduces himself as "I am Painis Cupcake. I will eat you". The video has over one million views, more than 300 video responses, and over 2,500 comments per November 1th, 2012.
"Painis" is taken from a voice command where the Soldier says "Pain is weakness leaving the body". The Soldier says "Cupcake" when taunting with the Equalizer and "I will eat..." when dominating the Engineer.
Meet Painis Cupcake footage.
Wealthy Heavy
| “ | It costs $400,000 dollars to fire this weapon for 12 seconds.
— Heavy
|
” |
A major community fad that has been derived by Meet the Heavy, Valve's release. The fad came from this part of the video where the Heavy states that he spent $400,000 to fire the Minigun for 12 seconds.
Since the release of the video, people started to change the phrase (example: It costs $400,000 dollars to eat this sandvich for 12 seconds). The video, until now, still gets comments with this joke in them.
References
External link
- TF2 FreakShow Wiki - community wiki about Team Fortress 2 related freaks.
