A Visual History
| A Visual History | |
|---|---|
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| Comic Strip Info | |
| Released: | June 10, 2010 |
| Number of pages: | 4 |
| Artist: | Michael Oeming |
| “ | I like this gun.
— The Heavy, on Apple's newest self-blogging product
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” |
A Visual History is a comic released on June 10, 2010, along side the Mac Update. The comic features the RED Scout, the RED Soldier, and the RED Heavy getting more than they bargained for when they find themselves at the Apple Store.
Not included in the Team Fortress 2 background or storyline, this non-canon[1] comic places the Big Iron characters in the future days of curvy iMacs and egg-shaped single button mice.
Synopsis
In the comic, the RED Scout, the RED Soldier, and the RED Heavy are leaving a giant burning pile of rubble in Dustbowl after losing a battle thanks to their broken Mann Co. gear. After blaming their junk equipment and claiming they'll end up dying if they don't find a solution to their situation, they come across an Apple Store and enter it. Inside, they find Trent and Jessica. The Scout tries to unsuccessfully seduce the girl by telling her his achievements in his latest battle and by un-noticeably flexing. The employees also present the mercenaries to their high-quality, multi-use products, such as a new headset for the Scout, a Minigun that "fires biodegradable bullets that track kills on a blog and are programmed to set one up if you don't own one" for the Heavy, and a pig that cooks itself when plugged into a FireWire port, which interests the Soldier more than his flame-bursting Shovel. Shortly afterwards, Saxton Hale unexpectedly breaks into the store, claiming his unsafe and manly equipment is much better than any of Apple's little white egg gadgets. However, he discovers all the great things their products could do after pressing a tiny wireless mouse button that blows up the Moon. He decides to purchase the company, until the shop manager, whose identity is not stated, appears and rejects the offer. Hale, quickly recognizing the rival, claims the store has his curvy stink all over it and prepares for a battle, which is supposedly shown in the next issue, "When Titans Clash!".
Pages
Bonus cover, featured in the Valve comic collection
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Trivia
- In Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories, a hardcover compilation of earlier comics that are based on the lore of Valve games, the name of the story was changed to Mac. A bonus cover for the comic was also featured.
- Page 1
- "Yesterday"; June 9, 2010, the day before the Mann Co. released on the Mac OS X platform.
- First frame: As the comic alludes to the titanic Mac vs PC rivalry, failing Mann Co. products are proxies for Microsoft Windows operating systems and applications, reputed for crashing and security issues. (Soldier patriotically blames the user.)
- Third frame: Rather than sugarcoating, the Soldier obfuscates with Corporate speak; "... a just-in-time solution to resynergise our paradigm or we will be thinking inside the box [coffin] ....".
- Fourth frame: "... some kinda hospital for fruit." The Apple logo (a fruit) is partially visible while Apple store décor has been compared to hospitals.[2][3]
- Page 2
- First frame: Displayed products are consistent with (then) recently introduced MacBook (2006–2012) and unibody iMac.
- Page 3
- Fifth frame: "I have used this ... for twelve years!" Windows 98 was still in use in the real world and was 12 years old when the Comic was published.[4][5]
- The shovel that Soldier is brandishing is a non-folding design, different from any other shovel he uses in the game.
- Sixth frame: Catch Fire is an old computer programming idiom for computer failures caused by flawed design of hardware or software.
- Page 4
- FireWire was a proprietary Apple interconnect technology that was soon eclipsed by USB.
- Seventh frame: The lyrics that emanate from the TV after Saxton Hale destroys the Moon, "...Hope you had the ti-ii-ime of your life....," are from the Green Day song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)."
- Final frame: Steve Jobs, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc., wore black, long-sleeved sweaters daily as a personal uniform, and he often slid the sleeves up.
See also
External links
- A Visual History on the Team Fortress 2 Official Website.
References
- ↑ Blog post on the Offical TF2 Blog confirming the comic is non-canon
- ↑ Tom Keating, TCMnet Bloggers, Microsoft Store in Danbury Fair Mall Is No Apple Store "The Apple Store ... has this almost cold, hospital, sterile-like atmosphere.", July 9, 2012.
- ↑ Al Sacco, Managing Editor, CIO, Comparing Apple, Microsoft and BlackBerry Retail Stores, "Inside the Apple store looks a lot like a hospital waiting room filled with shiny gadgets.", June 7, 2012.
- ↑ Windows 9x still in use, GEEK.COM, 2003.
- ↑ John Sheesley, Is Windows 98 still an option?, TechRepublic, 2008.
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