Community fads

“

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, other were created by using tools such as Garry's Mod to manipulate TF2 characters.

Spycrab

One of the most famous memes of TF2 is the Spycrab, which is an animation glitch caused by looking up while holding the Disguise Kit and crouch walking. This glitch causes the Spy to walk in an amusing fashion that resembles a crab. Players with Your Eternal Reward equipped cannot Spycrab, as the Disguise Kit is disabled.

Spycrabs are often referred as a harmless species of Spy that walk gently through the battlefields. They are also cited as an endangered species, causing players to found "Save the Spycrabs" campaigns.

The Spycrab was made an official taunt for the Disguise Kit in the Sniper Vs Spy Update (which he does in place of the cigarette flick taunt at random), and a reference to him was made on Day 04 with the Crab-Walking Kit from the Dapper Rogue catalogue, stating that it allows the user to "change his skeleton in a excruciatingly painful but worth it" way.

Poor and Irish

The term Poor and Irish first appeared in a hidden link of the Classless Update, where the Gentle Manne of Leisure made fun of a hatless man by calling him "POOR and IRISH" and told him to "tarnish notte the majesty of his tower of hats".

The phrase Poor and Irish is also in the description of the Towering Pillar of Hats.

Since then, players often use this term to describe players with no hats, or players wearing only event hats like the Ghastly Gibus because of how common they are. Other terms also exist, like "Rich and English" for a player who wears hats, but they aren't as common as the original as they were created by the community.

The Gentle Manne of Leisure also causes many players to spell gentleman as gentlemanne, often in "fancy" conversations.

W + M1

The term "W+M1" is generally used to describe a Pyro that uses only a single tactic, to rush his(her?) opponent (Using the W key), spewing flames in his direction (Mouse 1). It is a derogatory term that generally connotes a low class player, or one that lacks the skill or thoughtfulness to be helpful to the team. Before they were nerfed, W+M1 Pyros were highly effective, and could rack up many kills on unsuspecting or inexperienced players. This resulted in a crusade against the Pyro, with most of the (non Pyro playing) community rushing the gates of the Valve offices with lit torches and pitchforks screaming "Nerf the Pyro! Nerf him now!". A young gentleman by the youtube handle of "hamps19" created a humorous video demonstrating the power of the W+M1. Thanks to general public outcry and serious doses of rage, Valve caved to public demand and reduced the offensive capabilities of our pyrotechnic friend. However, this has not quelled the rampant complaining, and players still tend to claim the Pyro is overpowered.

Saxton Hale

Saxton Hale's amazing achievements have caused the players to refer to him as a deity-like figure, capable of doing anything in a very manly way. He is also famous for his using his reputed "BARE DAMN HANDS" to do everything he needs (with assured success).

Saxton Hale's achievements can be considered a Team Fortress 2 version of Chuck Norris, as both are portrayed as tough, god-like men with superhuman abilities. 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.

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 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 Microsoft Paint 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, and many other characters from a variety of other games and media. The basic formula for the macro is straightforward; it is a caricatured head, modified to look like a character, with its mouth jammed full of objects that are closely related to them. Underscoring the picture is an address, as if the character was referring to an audience. For example, the Heavy, with his mouth full of miniguns, with the word 'Babies', or the Soldier, with a mouth full of rockets, saying 'Maggots.' This meme is often mixed with other memes for, as some say, "Epic Lulz".

Scout is Delicious

Scout is delicious!

ARMaster's initial two second video depicting a Heavy eating a Scout (whose head was replaced with a Sandvich) became incredibly popular, with thousands of responses matching the style of the original.

Following the trend of many other popular Youtube TF2 reworks, the Heavy had two separate lines of dialogue crossed to form the phrase "Scout is delicious." This kind of audio editing can be considered a more generalized meme, though, despite it's popularity, the origins of such alterations are not inherent to TF2.

nope.avi

Created with Source Film Maker 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 leaves.

nope.avi is frequently used on conversations where a negative response would take place. Instead of saying no, the person posts a link to the video or merely types "nope.avi".

Several responses to the video exist, where other characters say something while his body changes slightly (for example, one where the the hardhat descends, then the Engineer's head shrinks into his chest to accommodate this).

Vagineer

Hurrr...

Created by YouTube user J16FOX, the Vagineer, one of the first and most famous "TF2 monsters", is the Engineer with a heavily distorted facial expression, making his mouth look like a vagina (created by using the Face Poser in Garry's Mod and setting different values to higher/lower levels than the TF2 faces are used to.) Vagineer usually appears as a villainous character in Garry's Mod videos.

Vagineer's sounds are reversed Engineer voice lines, and it is usually seen grunting at other characters. Vagineer has a large arsenal of attacks, including launching his arms to grab distant enemies or objects, propelling its legs like rockets and becoming invincible. Vagineer 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, and when that happens, Vagineer usually regenerates and strikes again. Because of his popularity, many other creatures were created and are usually portrayed as Vagineer's enemies, but none of them are as famous as him.

Vagineer is portayed as doing horrible things when he is fed.

Although it is difficult to determine from fan media, BLU Vagineer appears to be moderately docile, whereas RED Vagineer is far more violent.

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.

Bonk Songs

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

Spammed Voice Commands

A common practice among some TF2 players is Spamming Voice Commands, which has given birth to a triplet of memes. The first one is "Gottam" birthed by the now-gone TheTentor on Youtube. A spin-off of "Gottam" is the Heavy's version, "Pootis". The final one was "Need a Dispenser here!" uttered by the Scout in a somewhat-demented tone.

-gineer/-neer

Various -neers

Created by OluapPlayer, this meme includes the Engineer, but with the head of another class or an item for a head. The character made by this has a name usually ending in "gineer" or "neer," depending on syllables (Such as Spygineer, Wrenchineer, Demoneer, or even Gineergineer; pretty much two headless Engineers fused at the neck). The meme originated from this video.

One of the most common ones used by the community is Paintraingineer, shown above, yet some people have combined the -neer fad with other classes, making characters such as Intellispy, and even combining memes, resulting in things such as Pain Trainis Cupcake.

Painis Cupcake

Created by RubberFruit, this meme centers on Garry's Mod videos of a Soldier (Painis Cupcake) crawling in the ground, meeting another class, and eating them after saying his signature line: "I am Painis Cupcake. I will eat you." and releasing a disturbing smile. This has caught on forums and youtube video makers. This is the first video featuring him.