>>12247 I'd forgotten about the word filter for a moment, and was amused. Then I remembered, and I was no longer amused.

Today while I was sitting around thinking about how badly I'd like to cradle Demoman's face in my hands, I came up with the theory that one of many reasons Demoman isn't as popular in fanart and fanfiction is simply that he's too real for most people's escapist fantasies. Fangirls can't fap to fancies of him sweeping their self-insert character off their feet and solving all their problems because, gasp, he already has problems of his own. And not all of them are sexy problems like, I dunno, being a controlling manipulative bitch, or whatever teenyboppers think is "deep" these days.
I'm pretty sure this theory or something very close to it has already been presented in the previous thread, but shit I thought I was being original at the time.

On the subject of something other than Demoman, not that I ever get tired of him--I am growing weary of all this fascination about what Pyro looks like, and what he has between his legs, and little to no dialogue about aspects of Pyro that are actually relevant to his character. For some reason it's perfectly acceptable to "develop" Pyro simply by giving him a face, without actually have to explore his personhood, what makes him tick, how he fits in with the rest of the team and the world at large. Just slap a few physical traits on that empty slate you call a character, and you'll have people lining up around the corner to tell you how much they love your interpretation. I'd say that on a list of things about Pyro that are absolutely fascinating, and worth exploring through stories, art, and discussion, his mysterious appearance is maybe twenty-ninth. The poor dear.

Captcha says "Confines Foressac," and for some reason I think it's talking about Soldier's junk.

>>12248

And yet it also appears to turn off the ones who want to cradle his face and help him with his problems, by which I figure it's implied his problems are the unsexy ones. He's not evil, misunderstood (or evil because he's misunderstood- I never understand how that one works...) or you know, conventionally HAWT so that he could be dragged into one of the above categories, but sheesh! He's a sexy MAN. That's what I like about the TF2 guys. They aren't boys (with the exception of Scout, and even he's on the cusp), they are MEN. Not angsty 'roided up posterchildren for manchildren who want to feel manly- MEN. And while I can understand the appeal of hot bishonen sometimes, I need a dose of MEN like some people need their daily iron.

And, just to make your day a little brighter, check this out, a parody of those " 'Roided Out Manly Men" stereotypes: http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/71

Orrr you could embrace the fact that you like him and others don't.

...I can't really follow why this is bad, you were on DA, what else did you expect?

>>12249
Shit, help him with his problems? That's a waste of a good alcoholic. I just want to cradle his face because it's a damned sexy face. Wipe some tentacle slime all over it.
Anyway, in regards to explaining the demoman shortage, I sincerely doubt that a lack of appreciation for manliness is really the problem here. If it was, then where do all these Helmet Parties come from? I think within the fandom itself--I mean, not including the necrophiles--it has more to do with the fact that he's a challenging character, and intimidating to writers. I don't know what the artists' excuse is, though; he's easy to draw.

>>12253
It’s cool if people prefer the perfect pretty-boys, or whatever. They can watch their Oiran High School and listen to their Jonas Brothers, and not love poor Demoman, if they want. It’s okay.
It’s not okay when they put our dear manly boys through the pinkwash and turn them into some simpering pansies that glitter in the sunlight and claim they can never live without you, for their personal fapping purposes. Like what you like, if you like, but while you’re at it, respect my drunk, bald, barrel-chested mercenaries, and allow them to be what they are. I’ll do the same for your skinny effeminate bishounen. That’s how diversity works.
I'm aware that you've said nothing to the contrary. This is my idea of a contribution.

>>12247
>I was faintly horrified, but it holds true to my "Demoman is too many, too drunk and too black for most necrophilia fangirls" idea. Sad to see it confirmed, though.
I don't get what's so tragic about there being close to no cliched spaghetti legs kawaii uguu fanart of my favorite class. Sure, it's sad that the fandom barely remembers that he exists, but unless a talented artist/writer portrays him in a way that can gather a fan following (like popular characterization and pairings have been in the past), it's going to be that way forever.

>>12253

Not everyone on DA is bad in that respect. I guess I should have suspected it from the name of the group.

>>12257

I agree. That's a damn sexy face. Of course, all women are there to make damaged men whole again. Why else do we have the magic healing hoo-ha if not for that? (tongue so firmly in cheek there...)

>>12258

There is, just not on that board- yet. And another thing that's currently annoying me? TF2 Pokemon teams. I mean, I don't really care, but honestly, how many pictures in this vein do you expect anyone to look at. I saw one thread with 80+ pictures of this character and his Gengar and that character and his Embreon. If I wanted to look at Pokemon, I could watch it- please don't mix it into my TF2, thanks. Especially don't spam an image board with 80+ Gary's Mod pictures crossing TF2 and Pokemon. I really don't care to mix the two. One or two pictures is fine, I can delete them with no problems. But 80-something? Way too much.

Maybe Demo's omitted because they worry they'd be interpreted as racist if they drew a dead black guy?

I can deal with a little Pokemon crossover, if only because there's so many 'Mons that many characters can have a plausible team based on their personality, looks, etc., but I do agree it gets a little excessive.

>>12262

"Necrophilia" is the replacement word the chan uses for Y a o i.

And they were all posted the same night. all 80+ pictures. It was like picspam.

When people do write Demoporn, why can't they refer to any portion of his anatomy without throwing in florid colour descriptors as "chocolate," "mocha," "ebony," "toffy?"
If Demoman had a coffee arse, then Demo/Sniper would be canon. But he doesn't. He has a regular old arse, which is presumably constructed out of arse, not coffee or haggis or any other sort of brown-coloured foodstuff. But if it's just an ordinary arse, I say, and not made out of chocolate, then how is it so lovely? Remember young artists, it is the skill of the creator, not the materials he uses, that makes great art great. Don't insult Demo's Mama by assuming she couldn't make her beautiful child using just flesh and blood like the rest of us.

To put it without Soldier Logic:
Your ability to fetishise "exotic" skin tones is not going to earn you admission into the Not Racist Club.

On the topic of Demofics, I wrote a 7,000-word Demo/Soldier story for the gift exchange this Christmas and I got exactly zero comments on it. This obviously doesn’t motivate me to write more Demo-centric pieces. If you want more Demo, anons, a little encouragement would go a long way—heck, even telling me my story sucks is better than nothing, if that’s the problem! I want to improve my writing, but more than that, I want to write something that people will actually read.

If you want to take a look and give me some feedback, any kind, on my characterisation of Demo, the story is posted to my tumblr - http://writingcyan.tumblr.com/post/14867117746/night-before-christmas-demo-soldier - and my ask box is open for comments.

>>12272
Ahh, I didn't know that. Disregard my previous comment then.

>>12274

You forgot "Mahogany", "Teak", and "Ebony" But then his ass would turn into splinters every time he got shot, also using Soldier logic. And "Maple Syrup" (for certain low-quality maple syrups, which are lighter in color the higher the grade they are). Yes, I AM the Queen of Useless Information.

But in the main I agree with you. For some people, though, difference is a Kink. Not something they have to have, but something they enjoy once in a while. I am not sure that referring to some sort of consumable thing means they are fetishizing Demoman. Some may just enjoy the color difference, but have a limited vocabulary. Or think the food analogies mean he tastes sweet and rich (Like chocolate) or be wanting to make such a comparison in the story. I know I am being optimistic that some people might think that far ahead, but there you go. Unless the writer/artist is fetishizing some other aspect of him as well, I tend to dismiss the foodstuff skintone stuff.

>>12275
Funny you mention something like that.

Really Demoman is just a bad circle on this site, people keep complaining about the lack of him, and the when someone finally does something with him in it, then people either ignore it or complain about all the things they don't like about it...

I am sick and tired of how death is portrayed in most drama-oriented TF2 fanfics.

Point one, why is Respawn so seldom explored? Getting killed just means you (or your identical replacement, if you don't believe Respawn actually resurrects you) come right back, good as new, in a few seconds.

Point two, these are hardened veteran mercenaries. Their ethics, morals and worldviews are not anywhere approaching what we'd consider normal. Even if their best friend in the world died permanently, they aren't going to curl up in a pile of angst and woe.

>>12275
Dear sweet Jesus this gave me the hardest boner. I didn't see this posted here, I apologize.

There will always be parts of fandoms that are 'meh' but for me it's how people react when you like/dislike something they do/don't and they basically call you a bad fan for not liking their 'canon' opinion.

>>12275

This was glorious! It made me hurt and smile in all sorts of ways.

I'm sure other fandoms do this too, but it's something I first noticed in TF2:

[Character 1] and [Character 2] are usually paired together. Author/Artist wants to pair [Character 1] and [Character 3] together. So to do that, they either write a scene in which they go out of their way to vilify [Character 2] or that they catch the character they're usually paired with in the act, and then run off and cry or feel miserable.

I don't care who you pair who with, or how much I like/dislike the pairing, that's not cool.

>>12291

Somehow, it's even worse when character 2 is female, and characters 1 and 3 are male. It actually smacks of some really bad misogyny. Y'know, "How dare vaginas get in the way of my slash!"

>>12292
I can understand when people just aren't turned on by homosexual pairings, or can't see a certain character as gay, but someone who constantly goes out of their way to do this really does worry me.

>>12275

Oh my god i remember this fic! I freaking loved this fic.Drunk-make-up-angsty-sex-times = lovely.

On another note, something that REALLY bothers me in tf2 fics isn't so much the drama, but the lack of comedy. Look, these guys are stupid. TF2 is stupid. Mannco is stupid. Saxton motherfucking Hale is stupid. THE RED AND BLUE CONFLICT WAS FOUNDED ON BEING STUPID.

Also- I noticed a lot of people are like "oh well we cant have the gays without angst i mean its 1968 blah blah blah BLAH" I dunno, I feel like the tf2 universe has more leeway. I mean, for all you know Hitler was a floating brain in a jar. With a mustache. and a cat.

So I guess what I'm saying is, dramatic fics aren't bad, but i feel like were all forgetting that this is a game where you smack people with fish and throw pee at them. Also the next update might have robots. Robots!

I want silly dumb funny fanfiction with some shipping on the side please.

>>12294

For what it's worth, I try to include humour in my writing, even in stuff where the situation isn't high-flying slapstick comedy... It's easier in art. Most of what I drew was weird faces and visual gags.

I'll definitely agree that when people take TF2, the fandom, or their favourite characters so fucking seriously, it loses its charm. You've got to be able to take things lightheartedly and laugh at yourself sometimes.

...truths, Captcha? Well, I guess it has the same opinion as me, anyhow...

>I mean, for all you know Hitler was a floating brain in a jar. With a mustache. and a cat.

This needs to exist hard. Bonus points if it goes into Bionic Commando territory.

>>12303

In the next tf2 update, Hitler's cat - who is also a vampire - exacts revenge on the GLORIOUS U-S- OF- A and it's up to a man named JANE FUCKING DOE and his rag tag team of underdogs with EVERYTHING TO PROVE to save the day! 'MERICA!

Also, the underdogs are actual dogs. Except for the one that's a snake. No one likes him.

>>12299

I feel like with dramatic fiction, there needs to be that ability to convince your audience. Cat Bountry does it very well actually. I actually like dramatical lurve fests quite a bit, I just wish there was as many crack/joke/funny/stupid fanfics as there are dramatic ones.

Also, more head canons:

Soldier doesn't understand a lot of basic math. It's why he has such a crappy apartment with such a crappy roommate. He has no idea how to manage his money. It is also because he's completely nuts, but the money thing does have something to do with it.

On that note, when he was growing up, soldiers parents realized something was wrong with him, but chose to just ignore it, so it got really bad, and it's part of why he's so crazy.

Pyro is a fabulous dancer.

Engineer may be parental towards his teammates, but he's a lot less innocent at sexytime. He's actually a total player.

SPY is the monogamous one. He's completely devoted to scoots ma. He has all these fancy proposal plans.

Heavy and Medic are deeply in love and they're totally gonna move to Russia one of these days.

Heavy's mama is this EXTREMELY tiny woman, whose really embarrassing and shows medic (and every girlfriend/boyfreind heavy has ever had) his baby pictures.

Heavy weapons guy was born premature. He was once tiniest baby of them all.

>>12319

Augh I'm so stupid. I got mixed up and put my head canons in this thread. Sorry.

This isn't "bad fanon stuff" perse, or exclusive to TF2, but I don't understand hatesex. I don't generally want to have sex with someone if they're a total asshole to me or threatening to kill me.

>>12495

I think it comes out of "Hate is the other side of love", in that it's a passionate emotion, and therefore is easy(?) to transmute into another kind of passion. But I agree with you. If someone is being a butthat to me, I don't want to screw their brains out.

Why is angst the default theme in fanfiction? I have to take an antidepressant after I read half the stories on this site. It's especially perplexing since Tf2 is a very lighthearted game and it doesn't take itself seriously at all. I understand that people are channeling their own feelings and experiences into these stories, but a bit of comedy relief is not going to ruin it.

Does anyone have some funny stories they could recommend? It's all I really want.

>>12294
Well I seemed to have reiterated what you said. Sorry about that.

Does anyone have some funny stories they could recommend? It's all I really want.

Here are a couple of silly, funny ones.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7017653/1/

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5766952/1/

I'm not linking to the funny ones in the Chan because I assume you already know them.

>>12497
This is one that always gets my goat, too. Not to say that there can't be some soul-crushing moments with TF2 if you do a little too much fridge thinking, but for a cartoony game, it does get a bit ridiculous.

Personally, I think tragedies, for the average person, are easier to write and relate to. I knew people that would purposefully kill their characters at the end of every story simply because they didn't know what to do with them otherwise. We all love a woobie, don't we? Plus, we're fighting against some popular belief that all stories end happily, so by making it a tragedy, we're being edgy and unique. This rarely pans out as it makes the main characters look like waifish asses who never learn anything. Hey, some people are thick as bricks, but that doesn't mean I have to like them or side with them because bad shit happened to them.

The only tragedy I've constantly enjoyed was Othello. That was because the main character acknowledged that he made a mistake and was flawed. Then suicide. (Sure, why not, Shakespeare?) At least he knew when he was in the wrong and was able to grow from it just a touch, even if he was just going to off himself in the next five minutes.

Coming up with a happy ending that people like? That takes work, creativity, and effort. It's just easier to fall to the sorcerer than it is to fight him.

Crap. I'm off topic. Let me swing it back on with this interpretation, then. Do you know why I like writing about these men? It's not because they're glass cannons that crumple every time someone pokes them in the back. It's because they are a bunch of crazy-ass bastards that try to survive and win, no matter what depravity they have to sink to. That insane ingenuity and fire is admirable, and I like to see it applied and rewarded.

>>12499
I love the second one, it's one of my favorites. Especially this line:
"He came three times," his mother said. The Scout banged his head against the table. "To the house," she added impatiently.

>>12500
I think part of it is that people like to see a different side to things in fanfic. After all, you do have fix fic and fluff for tragic stories, just like you have depressing fic for silly stories.

>>12294
I've been finding lately, through reading fanfictions for other fandoms (Avengers, etc.), that angst and drama are the mainstay. And, like TF2, there is much comedy to be had for these other fandoms. I have to wonder if the writers' own perception of things ties in. Certainly, making Cap' America a lovestruck, on-the-verge-of-tears, basically-a-teenage-girl is so OOC it's not funny and I've read many a TF2 fic (usually Scout-centric) that worked the same way. I just don't understand.

My theory is simply that angst and tragedy are much easier to write than comedy. Comedy is hard.

While virtually everybody can agree that the abuse and death of a woobie is sad, different people tend to have a completely different sense of humor: what's hilarious to one person is idiotic or offensive to another person. Writing a humor story that most people find funny takes *a lot* of work and skill.

That's not to say that well-written tragedy doesn't take a lot of work and skill. But, in general, it's *much* easier to hurt a character than to make a good joke.

>>12514
Maybe, but I doubt it's the only reason people write it. If someone really wants to write comedy, they'll write it even if they aren't the funniest person in the world.

Some people just gets off on the character's tears (even if crying is terribly OOC for the character).

>>12514
Some people just enjoy writing angst. I like to keep my stories lighter and softer when I do write TF2 fanfic, but when I write angst it's delicious. Not because I'm pouring a whole bunch of inner strife into this character and making him my avatar, but because I like to see these normally somewhat lighthearted characters get completely fucking wrecked.

Comedy is tough, but sometimes tragedy is just more satisfying.

>>12514
I don't think difficulty has much to do with it, because I don't think that there is much of a difference in difficulty between the two genres. Sure, some authors will be better at one than the other, and some readers will be more easily pleased by one than the other. But overall, comedy and tragedy are very comparable in terms of the skill necessary to pull off appropriately. Both can become annoying or hurtful if the author goes too far, and both can go flat if the author doesn't go far enough. Not everybody has the same sense of humour, or the same emotional responses to tragedies. Short story shorter; trying to illicit an emotional response in a reader is hard no matter what the emotion is.
Unless you're trying to annoy the reader. That's pretty easy.

I think it's just the fact that literature in general is an overwhelmingly "serious" medium, as compared to say, video games or comics or low-budget animation. Obviously, funny literature exists, but most of what is read and written is ranges between "sensibly lighthearted" and "bloody grim." Why? I'd assume that it's because books are very private by nature, and reading is a quiet, solitary, gentle endeavour. It's "alone time." People as a general rule prefer to laugh with their friends in a pub, and cry alone over a copy of The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Most writers, meanwhile, aren't feeling their silliest when they're sitting alone staring at their word processor, thoroughly contemplating every word and idea that comes to mind.

TF2 fiction just follows the same patterns as most fiction.

>>12598

Thank you for that.

>>12514

Your theory is wrong because I have read so many shitty tragic fics in my time you would not even believe how many people fall flat on their face with it.

I could hold up dozens of shitty tragic fics and be like, "explain this, if tragedy is so easy to write. OH WAIT YOU CAN'T."

As much as I would like more silly fics, I don't think comedy and tragedy angst are easier or harder than one another. They're equals to each other.

I mean, while I would like more silly funny fanfics, I don't think darker drama fics are bad or easier to write, But having more variation would be nice. Me thinks we should all have are hand at writing our dream fic, or at least outlining and discussing it, so as to inspire more of the same ya know?

Everythings great in its own way I guess.

>>12602
If we take the equation comedy = tragedy + time, comedy and tragedy are only equal to each other at the exact moment of the action being studied. Otherwise, any offset tragedy has on the scenario is eventually negated by the progression of time. Then again, this equation does not come with appropriate units, so I can't say as to what we're measuring here. It could just be -feels + seconds.

Wait. That's it. Feels = -feels + seconds.

My original opinion on this subject is that tragedy is often used as a creative cop-out, and that writing a successful optimistic ending is harder because of the scrutiny it receives. I stick by that. There are a lot of universal human tragedies that we can associate with--loss of life, possessions, finishing last, not finishing at all. Comedy tends to be populated with regional flavors, particularly if wordplay or puns are involved. If a work doesn't transmit to a wide audience, it will go unnoticed. Using simpler and more universal themes are a sure-fire way to get attention, so tragedy typically packs more bang for its buck, as far as efforts in getting readers go.

There's a three step set of actions to comedy and tragedy. One: an event happens. Two: the character did not anticipate this action. Three: the character reacts to this event. Confusion and anger to an unexpected event is...well, expected. Laughter and acceptance is less likely to occur. Finding humor in a bad situation is a bit unusual.

At any rate, relying on what we think to be solid facts, but in reality are actually poor tropes, is a terrible habit.

On that note--I loathe stories where the respawn system is turned off. It's a lazy cop-out for permadeath drama. Seriously, is nobody keeping data on these assclowns? Not even punchcards? How does your clicky-buzz machine work without being fed solid data on the people it's supposed to be reviving? Does everything just live in memory? That sounds like a terrible design.

>>12603
>On that note--I loathe stories where the respawn system is turned off. It's a lazy cop-out for permadeath drama. Seriously, is nobody keeping data on these assclowns? Not even punchcards? How does your clicky-buzz machine work without being fed solid data on the people it's supposed to be reviving? Does everything just live in memory? That sounds like a terrible design.

Wow I am so guilty of this, it's frightening, weh.

Anyways, back in my day, I used to do a whole bunch of comedy fics (for a different series), but it's hard feeling as proud of those - at least it was for me. They would be my most favorited works on DeviantfArt, while my more serious ones hardly received a glance. I didn't like that.

I think I still have a funny bone in me somewhere - I've done at least one humorous PG fic, and another funny PWP fic (that I went anon for), but for me, doing tragic fics is about wanting to take MYSELF more seriously. I do it for a sense of fulfillment.

but srsly tho, DF, like, is it ever acceptable, like, at all, augh I'm wounded i srsly am 4rlz

>>12598

That's a very good post. I'm not sure I agree with you, but it's definitely food for thought.

>>12600

I never said tragedy is easy to write. I said that (in general) tragedy is easier to write than comedy. Doing thing X can be much easier than doing thing Y, but that doesn't mean that doing thing X is not hard.

Since writing tragedy is hard, I don't doubt that a large percentage of tragic fics are shitty. But a large percentage of comedy fics are shitty too.

I also said "my theory." I don't pretend that my personal opinions are in any way universal objective truth. It's entirely possible that I'm really wrong.

>>12603

On that note--I loathe stories where the respawn system is turned off. It's a lazy cop-out for permadeath drama. Seriously, is nobody keeping data on these assclowns? Not even punchcards? How does your clicky-buzz machine work without being fed solid data on the people it's supposed to be reviving? Does everything just live in memory? That sounds like a terrible design.

Well... My theory is that Respawn doesn't clone the guys to bring them back to life, but actually brings them back to life.

A clone is not the same person as the original any more than an identical twin is the same person as the sibling. Even if the memories of the original are implanted in the clone, I imagine there would always be physical and behavioural differences.

And the TF2 Universe has machines that teleport matter, machines that can completely rebuild organs and bones and even teeth, and machines that can bring recently-deceased people back to life (the ones the Mann brothers use).

So, I think when a mercenary die, Respawn works by teleporting his remains back to base, rebuilding the body, and reviving it.

(If you believe that souls exist, you can assume that Respawn reviving the original body so quickly prevents the soul from leaving the body, which would explain why Blutarch Mann couldn't see anything)

Assuming that's really how it works, then it would be easy to justify stories with perma-death. The part of Respawn that revives the newly-rebuilt body only works on the recently-deceased.

At least, that's my headcanon ^^

>>12605

If I came off as rude, I'm sorry. I just think that writing to get an emotional reaction out of an audience is challenging, period. Having written both comedic and tragic work in my lifetime (though around these parts I'm probably more known for my serious stories), I can say that I find them both around the same in terms of difficulty to write. Actually I could say that comedy probably comes more naturally to me, if you'd believe that. But I enjoy doing a more serious take on these characters so much so I keep doing that. If I were in a fandom with more serious source material, I'd probably be writing sillier fiction.

I think the reason that more people might write serious fic is not because it's easier to write, but because serious fic begets serious fic. If that's the kind of stuff a lot of people are reading, then there's probably going to be more people posting it.

My solution would be that if there's not enough comedy fic out there, try and write some because I really can't think of any other solution that doesn't involve complaining that people aren't writing what you want them to write. If you write a funny fic, more people may be inclined to take your lead and try it. It's pretty much the nature of the fandom beast. It might not always catch on but at least you can say you gave it a shot.

Least that's how I see it.

>>12604
Sorry. I shouldn't have been so vehement last night with my words.

A lot of how I imagine the respawn system to work relates to my personal job--managing servers and websites. With these items, you always have back-up locations, development environments, and scheduled back-ups for any databases related to those environments. Since I'm in an environment that focuses so much on preventing total collapse, it's frustrating to me to see people writing about environments where negligence causes a catastrophe.

I do share some similar headcanons with >>12605. I do believe that if such a machine existed, it would have to be able to recycle parts from a deceased individual. I also think that there would have to be a database to store missing gaps and parts that are destroyed beyond repair (i.e. gibbing, missing atoms.) If you had this data system, you'd also want to update it with new statistics and changes in body structure from day to day to allow people to become stronger and fight better. (Of course, accidents happen--look at the Sniper's scar.)

There may be up several respawn machines operating at any given time. Both Mann brothers have one a piece just to themselves. BLU and RED each have one. The Administrator and her staff may have one in case of mutiny (and hey, it might happen.) There would most likely be a dev environment to experiment with various genetic codes and structures as well. This environment is probably what could create class derivatives (genetic mixes, splices, vivisection, etc). There many be other devices to which data is stored; most like some kind of glorified floppy disk, in this case. It's the 1960s in a screwy dimension. Who knows?

I'm not sure how mental transference or soul catching or what have you would work, however. I can't pseudo-science my way into understanding that, outside of traits and experiences being stored in some fashion. Even a huge genetic structure would be easier to store than that.

It's possible to still wipe all of that out, given a large enough EMP that could go through several states. It's just very unlikely. I just have difficulties believing someone would flip a switch, turn respawn off, and then whoops! Permadead teammate. If that were the case, they probably would have killed each other permanently the first night they went to sleep.

Of course, knowing how screwy the TF2 world is, the respawn machine could be something as simple as stapling a Ouija board to a Turing machine. What the hell. Who knows?

So, to summarize my rambling--I have difficulties with "respawn is down" stories because I'm paid to prevent that from happening in real life. Well, not so much respawn machines, but you get my drift. It's the same reason I loathe so many movies about computer hackers and viruses gone horribly wrong. I just can't stand it when someone designs a system without a sufficient level of complexity or security.

But, hey. People can still feel horribly bad about a death, even if the deceased comes back to life. That is a legitimate and human emotion to have.

>>12609
You didn't come across as rude, but I really appreciate the fact that you cared enough to apologize over possible misunderstandings. That was cool of you.

I completely agree with your solution. I've been trying to write a TF2 fanficion for months (a comedic, kinky and entirely consensual Engineer/Spy story that subverts rape tropes), and so far I've managed to write 3000 words. Sadly, writer's block has struck, but I'm trying my best to overcome it.

But... assuming I can finish it (kind of a big assumption), this will be my very first TF2 story, as well as my very first porn fic (all my other stories in other fandoms never went past kissing). So, a rookie's first experiment in a new direction. In other words, it might crash and burn. Just a fair warning.

At the very least, in my story the "Respawn is turned off at night" clichè is a pretty mayor plot point (albeit just used as motivation, nobody actually dies). D.F. 38's criticism is very fair and sensible, but personally I'm very fond of the ridiculous idea of RED and BLU using crappy equipment (after all, they buy their stuff from Saxton Hale, the guy who objected to Apple products because "it's not on fire! how do you even know it's on?")

Well, that was a lot of brackets. I shouldn't type when I'm sleepy.

>>12610
Ah, well that explains a lot. The way I think of respawn working is that you have to get... like... Scanned every day before battle, and then it'll bring you back like you were that morning by recycling body parts and clothing, even getting "raw material" from local livestock. I figure that, if you're far enough from the respawn system, it won't bring you back (aka, out of bounds in the maps). That's to keep there from being multiple respawns of a person at every base they'v already been in, resulting in a lot of confused clones.

okay, so I made most of that shit up right here and now. Thing is, I don't think much about respawn. I just tend to think of it as a "go off base, and respawn won't bring you back". I don't know why, but it's always been a theme in my mind. I just can't see something complex enough to be able to bring humans back to life as being as able to back up as data. Just feels... wrong to me. Like it cheapens it.

Moral values aside, I guess that's not a bad way of looking at it.

My personal fanon, that I've used in one RP, surrounding respawn is that it scans your brain, genetic code, etc. and makes a brand new you every time you respawn.
I think I just like this theory, simply because it means dozens of corpses lying out on the battlefield that someone has to get rid of, and for whatever reason, I find that hilarious.
Just some guys in little matching hazmat-esque suits, dragging a Heavy's corpse into a giant shredder or something to be disposed of.

I've been trying to read up on quantum mechanics a bit for my story as at least a partial explanation for how Respawn works. Not just genetic material gets respawned, there are also outfits, weapons, and ammo. Something is going on in order for a person's mind to seamlessly transfer from one body to another. Considering the game keeps tallies of who kills who, as well as cameras watching the battlefields, Respawn seems to be a widespread network of an area. Everyone is being constantly scanned, which is why Respawn is able to instantly detect a death and activate the algorithm to transfer the mind into a "new" body.

I dunno. I always just thought of respawn in the game world as how it actually is in the game. Your character dies, you are sent into a sort of waiting room while the game reorganizes your code and shit, (I know nothing about computers I am so sorry to anyone that does) and then you come back to fight again.

In my mind, the only way that the men in TF2 could really die is if their punch card/data file/DNA code or whatever you like was destroyed and/or removed from the computer's memory. (Or, I suppose, if the computer itself was completely destroyed.) Respawn can also be turned off, and if someone is killed while it's off, they just have to wait until it's back on again. I would also think that someone could change their spot to respawn. Say you die in gravelpit--you could reprogram the computer to recreate you up in Coldfront or something.

(shit this thread is degenerating into a headcannon for respawn and I'm not helping sorry.)

I thought that respawn would have to be mostly memory to function. At least in regards to their brains. Perhaps the body could be stored long-term, but all the information in the brain would have to be updated constantly, or else they’d unlearn things when they died, and Spy would forever backstab next to sentries.
There might be information backed up somewhere, but since it’s a back-up file, it’ll inevitably be two years out of date and probably corrupted. Best-case scenario is you’d manage to restore somebody but they’ll be a noob again, and have forgotten all those magical moments under the moonlight with Heavy, who will crawl into a hole and cry for the love that has been undone. Worst-case scenario is you get a puddle of organic matter with a hat.

(I’m not helping either, oh well.)

I always figured once the guys got too old to fight, or they were replaced by different mercenaries, then they'd no longer be immortal.

I find it annoying when people have Heavy speak Russian and write it out in the Cryllic alphabet. To boot, they hardly ever leave a footnote translating what he said, so I have no idea what Heavy said OR how to pronounce it.

I don't know how legit this complaint is, maybe it's just me, but I'd like to know what other people think.

>>12648
Bugs me too. Russian's a ridiculously annoying language to try to pronounce.
"What do you mean 'B' is a V? That's just silly! What's next, 'H' is N? What?! But that's crazy? What's an 'N', then?....X?! WHAAAAAT?"

It's a crazy language. Roman alpahabets I can do, but when you have like, half of the roman alphabet in there, and then throw in a bunch of 3's and upside-down M's, it just gets to be a headache.

Beautiful sounding language, but damn, it's a bitch to try to read sometimes.

This is something that irks me. I find that there's an overuse of unnecessary character descriptors. For example; 'the bushman', 'the Russian', 'the brunette' etc. Honestly, the name of the character suffices. You don't need a thousand synonyms to describe you character, and when you start saying weird things like 'the Bostonian' your story just become ridiculous.

It appears more often in novice writers, probably because they've read it so often in most of the fanfiction out there. But it's a trend has to stop.

>>12651
I personally think it's worse, when you're writing, to have 'Sniper did this, then Sniper did that, then Sniper looked at Sniper and sniped, and then Sniper said Snipery things'.
Honestly, I call Spy 'The Frenchman' more than I call him anything else.

>>12651
I totally agree with this.

>>12652
The thing is, when you're using character names while WRITING, it sounds extremely repetitive, however the READER just buzzes over character names the same way they buzz over the word "said". The same way it's distracting when you use many different words for "said", it's also distracting when you use a plethora of words like "the bushman" or "the bostonian" instead of character names.

>>12653
See, I'm the opposite. When I read, I do pay attention to the fact that people have used the word 'said' in the same sentence twice. I'm weird like that.

>>12654

Ditto, it bugs the hell out of me when I see the same word used more than once every couple of sentences. Whether it's "spy" or "said" or "ran" or "dick", Words like "Bostonian" bug the hell out of me too, but I'd rather see characters described in a simple recognizable manner now and then, than see:

"Heavy hugged Medic, then Medic said "Oh Heavy I am so excited" then Heavy said "Oh Medic I love you" and then Heavy and Medic ran off to do heavy and medical things.

I think for me, the problem is that all of their "names" are technically not names at all, but adjectives- descriptions of an attribute of each character (that being his occupation). We know a few of the characters' names, but not all of them, not enough to write a story where their occupations are referred to when it's relevant, and not every single time the character appears. If I could call them Tom, Dick, Harry, Larry, Barry, George, Joe, Beagle and Jim, I wouldn't have to resort to calling them by other adjectives than their adjective/"name".

Bringing this back to the topic of the thread, I can't stand it when people call the characters "my babies" and act like they're the ones who created them, to the point of telling other people that their way is the only "right" way to draw and appreciate the characters.

>>12655
Sentence like that just need to be rephrased. I think it's a bit lazy using a weird synonym to add some variety to to your paragraph. You need to maintain a balance of dialogue and description. Often you don't even need to say "he said" because it's implicit. A good writer is economic with their words.

I think some of these bad fanfic problems are just general inexperienced writer things, not just in TF2 or even in fanfic, but the good thing about this is that people who practice generally get better.

I found a few tips on writing from friends who have written fics before:

* Never call a foreign character "[insert food here]-colored" or "exotic", it's in bad taste.
* Keep in mind the feel of the character- a realistic character generally wouldn't do an evil laugh, but a cartoony villain would.
* You can use "he hissed" or "he snarled" instead of repeated "he said"s, but don't overuse it. Use synonyms a lot.
* Good description is always key.
* Using phoenetic accents is great, but don't make it unreadable.

>>12662
"foreign" doesn't mean "non-white" wow. not all americans/brits/whatever you're using as your baseline are white people wow and not all foreigners are non-white
phonetic accents are really fucking hard to do correctly which is why it is so rare for professional authors to use them in actual literature
there have been studies proving that you should pretty much just say "said" 90% of the time because the reader will just gloss over it, accepting it less as a word than as a placeholder which means "this is dialogue." only deviate from "said" if the new verb is chosen on purpose to be striking and express information about how the line was delivered (if the person literally whispered, or shouted, or something), NOT just because you think you were saying "said" too much.

>>12663
That isn't what I meant in regards to foreigners, but I apologize if that's how it came out. But that's true, you shouldn't say someone hissed, snarled, etc. if they said something normally.

>>12274
>If Demoman had a coffee arse, then Demo/Sniper would be canon.

I about choked right there. Thanks for the laugh.

Hmmm.... things that are fucking annoying in fandom...
Welll I don't know if this is still the case but there used to be a habit amongst writers of calling cigarettes "cancer sticks". Its like, Okay, we get it, cigarettes are bad for you. But you can just call it a cigarette its O.k. I promise.

Every time a new Meet the Team video comes out, there arises this small but obnoxiously vocal minority of critics throwing fits at fan creators because their portrayals of the class in question isn't exactly like the video in every way. Forget the game itself. Forget the comics. Forget the uncharted times between canon appearances. Apparently a few minutes of that character's life, as portrayed through the lens of the canonically-biased Director speaks for the character's entire personality, all the time, in every situation.
If you're not going to calm down and accept that the Meet the Team videos aren't the end-all be-all of class characterisation, then you could at least be equitably ridiculous. Don't just pick on the class that just had an update. Go antagonise some fanartists for drawing Soldier doing anything other than lecturing severed heads. They need a good laugh.

Also, there is at least one person in this fandom who continues to complain about the fact that other people overrespond to Meet the Team updates, even though all such updates have been made and it's no longer a problem. What an old curmudgeon.

>>12272
thank you for explaining that wordfilter, as I was otherwise alarmed and horrified at the OP.

This has been kind of bugging me lately

Why do we abuse scout so much?

I'm always finding fanfics, fanart, ask blogs and even gmod pictures dedicated to raping/mutilating/humiliating/beating up scout.

I know this is fandom and it pretty much happens toe very chracter, but it seems to happen to scout a lot. Its not that its a big deal to me (I've already seen all the terrors there can possibly be in fandom) but I don't get it- why scout? What, do we just not like him or something? Do we feel like he deserves it?

Also, I've been finding quite a few fics with spy fucking scouts mom, then turning around and fucking Scout. If I was scout mom I would beat the shit out of spy for that. And not just for cheating on me, but for having sex with my son!

Then there are fics where spy is Scouts dad, but he's still a douche to scout, and that seems really sad to me. Also, in those fics, why isn't scouts mom raving mad? And why isn't that ever talked about, you'd think she'd have all sorts of problems with someone hurting her kid. Why isn't she ever written as caring about her kid?

So yeah, why doesn't scouts mom ever care, why is spy always written to be an asshole with no consequences, and why is scout our punching bag?

>>12671
The only reasons I can think of are these:

1. Really, really good enemy Scouts are annoying. As are really, really newbish Scouts. But can't you say that about really good (or really awful) people of any class on any team?
2. At least one fic writer admitted she just hates him because he reminds her of people that bothered her when she was younger. Which is understandable, but Scout is not that same guy (same for people who hate Soldier because he makes them think of a gun-crazy Redneck neighbor).

I think there is a lot of good about Scout. He isn't a baby, and I don't think anyone could get away with attempting to sexually abuse him without being beaten to death. Although I'm not sure if everyone who draws that subject matter plays the game per se or if they only enjoy drawing the characters.

>>12671
I think it's either because he's the smallest of the group, and therefore super uke kawaii desu, or because he's such a little shit that the only way to write him without making him a little shit is to break him and make him super uke kawaii desu.

>>12672

Errrrgh that makes sense.

>>12673

Yeah that sounds right.

I guess I really do know why. I just wish people didn't go that route, cause its so lazy to me. Scout can be more than hyperactive little shit.

Actually, as long as were on this, solly and scout sure do say faggot a lot in fanfiction. I kind of get solly, but scout? That doesn't make any sense. Scout doesn't make prejudice jokes in his taunts, they're more like "ha ha fatty!" I don't get why they have to be homophobic.

As I've said before, I can kind of get solly, but scout feels like a stretch to me. I think it goes back to the idea that scout reminds people of someone who hurt them, and adding that because the person was a homophobe, or using it to further demonize them.

>>12674
I think it falls back to his attitude and possible upbringing. Tough neighbourhood in Boston in the 50's/60's? Pretty sure people weren't exactly rolling out the welcome mat for gay people. So it stands to reason that Scout wouldn't be exactly accepting of it. And because he can be an obnoxious, name-calling little butthead, people will throw in the word faggot.

And, of course, there's nothing the gay porn world love more than a homophobe who ends up loving to take it up the ass.

You know what I'm actually surprised at, though? That very few people have actually thrown any sort of racism into their stories. I mean, Demo's black, it's the 60's, and most of these guys are probably in their late 30's or older. Some of them likely grew up in environments were people of colour weren't treated quite equal to them, and might therefore have attitudes reflecting that.

I think that one boils down to writers feeling 'Oh, if I have a racist person in my story that's not a worthless sack of shit, then people will think I'M racist'. And they're probably right to feel that, given how defensive some people here can be in regards to issues like that (not saying they shouldn't be defensive. I'm just saying.).

>>12675

I always thought it was really weird that people interpret the tf2 universe like ours, and give it the same social standards and prejudices. Then again thats probably my preference for silly rolling in again.

>>12674
Have you noticed Scout's attitude yet? He's not exactly soft-spoken and neighbourly. I'm not saying he's a horrible evil person, but he does seem like the kind of the person who would end up saying horrible things for less than horrible reasons--because he's a boob and he doesn't think about the shit that comes out of his mouth, or because he's a boob and doesn't know how to interact with people in a positive way. I can easily see him pestering the newly-outed gay teammate[s] just because it's as close as he can get talking to somebody about something that matters.
That sort of characterisation constitutes most of the Scout saying homophobic things that I've seen.

I won't deny that there are plenty of authors who bastardize Scout into a caricature of homophobic evil, but there are just as many authors who do the same to Soldier or Spy or Medic [or Professor Snape or Doctor McCoy or anybody you like,] usually simultaneously transforming the protagonist into a perfect woobiemuffin, because heaven forbid the reader sympathise with the wrong character. That's just general bad writing, rather than a fandom-specific problem.

>>12672
I too have heard of people hating Scout because he reminds them of bullies. Not just one fanfiction writer either, but at least three different people.

To be honest, that baffles me.

I mean, really, let's look at what Scout actually does. In one comic, he is kind and friendly to a child (a child that's wearing a France costume, at that, something you'd expect a stereotypical "American with an attitude" to have a problem with), and in another comic he seems fairly comfortable working a job, Santa's helper, that requires A LOT of patience with kids. But in his Meet The video Scout gleefully picks a fight with the enemy Heavy, and again in the Smissmass comic he immediately challenges Old Nick. With friggin' wrapping paper.

In other words, he is nice with those who are smaller and weaker than him, but eagerly seeks out fights with those who are much bigger and much stronger than him. That's the very opposite of a bully!

Scout is indeed a little shit (but I love him anyway, because he is a funny little shit). He is (hilariously) obnoxious and he has an ego the size of a small planet, and he is constantly hitting on women.

But I honestly can't see him as a bully. I just can't see a guy who goes all "here kid, let me give you a cool present" and then turns around and goes all "holy crap, is that a scary giant with a huge gun? LET ME AT HIM!" as somebody who'd ever pick on weaker people.

>>12679
Scouts hardly my favorite character, but, yeah, he's not a bully. A two-bit thug, maybe, as well as a boorish boob, but, yeah, he's pretty kind when it matters. Call it ego, but he strikes me as the kind of guy who LOVES it when odds seem stacked against him (until he gets seriously hurt, like, say, if his leg bone was taken from him mid-fight). That, and I don't think Scout actually has the capacity to be venomous or spiteful if something (Medic and Heavy being gay or whatever) doesn't concern him directly.

I wish I had more to contribute to this thread, but, honestly, there's no real issues I have with writing/characterization/art in this fandom that isn't strictly "bad writing cliches".

>>12679
How, exactly, does the fact that Scout's nice to tiny little kids prove that he isn't a bullying type? What do to young children have to do with a twenty-something-year-old mercenary's social hierarchy?
And how the does taking a bat to poor Heavy, who at the time was just sitting there trying to enjoy a sanvich, make him not a bully?
How does picking fights with people who are physically bigger and stronger than him make him not a bully, when Scout obviously sees himself as being a better fighter?

>>12686
Well, it's not hard proof or anything. I just find it extremely unlikely that a guy who is always shown as kind and friendly to people who are smaller and weaker than him (yes, I know we have only seen that twice in canon, but TF2 has so little canon that we have to extrapolate from what little we do see) would pick on people who are smaller and weaker than him, which is typical bully behaviour. Believe me, bullies don't care about age, 20-year-old bullies are total assholes to small children and to the elderly.

The poor Heavy in question was the BLU Heavy. The enemy Heavy. The guy whom RED Scout is expressly paid to fight. Also the guy who is paid to fight Scout. And they were in the middle of a battlefield.

I don't consider a mercenary attacking an enemy combatant on the battlefield to be bullying. No, not even if the enemy combatant was enjoying a meal.

Whether he sees himself as the better fighter or not, the fact stays that he is only ever shown attacking strong people who can and will fight back. If it were simply a matter of him considering himself the strongest of all, then the strength of his adversaries would make no difference to him, and he would attack both strong people and weak people.

Again, none of that is hard proof. But personally I don't buy the portrayal of Scout as a bully, it makes no sense to me.

>>12687

Thats EXACTLY how I feel.

If scouts meet the team video was bullying, then by that logic, EVERY meet the team video was bullying. (well, maybe not pyro's. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing) besides, what about the sandvich vid? If we we're judging it like that, doesn't that mean Heavy's a bully too? He just runs into a kitchen and brutally murders two people trying to reason with him. Sniper? He throws piss at people. HUGE jerk. And engineer, look at him, sitting there enjoying a beer over a sniper corpse fire. AND HE HAS THE GULL TO CELEBRATE WITH MUSIC.

C'mon guys, c'mon.

talking about bullies in a game about mercenaries


you guys
they kill people for a living.

>>12691
Oh, there you go, talking sense and putting things in perspective like that!

Spoilsport :P

Oh come on guys.
Except pyro, those eight(including scout) are aggressive fighters who can bully and troll whom they hate enough when they want.
Neither all of them always nor never bully.
They have killed messangers who don't seem that guilty while they weren't quite hostile to civilians.
I think they bully if they want and don't if not.

>>12694
Yeah, for people who are supposedly murderers, they surprisingly have protected/not killed more people than they've actually killed. Maybe you have to be a threat, a mark, or a really massive asshole for the TF2 guys to kill you.

>>12694
To be fair, while the specific messanger they murdered might have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, they had just received threats to their families, private lives, and treasured possessions. The picures sent a very clear "your loved ones are at my mercy/I can destroy everything you hold dear" message.

And, as it turned out, the messanger really did work for the blackmailer. And judging from her threat to have Soldier immediately shot in the WAR comic, her messangers carry out assassination jobs too.

Dang it people! It says BAD stuff, all this serious talk is actually quite good and intriguing.

As for the bully idea, I don't think so. Many project a hard, rough and tumble exterior because that's how you have to look in that sort of line of work, and with the abnormalities of the job (Respawn, colourful characters, mercenary work) it probably helps to ease the tension with some banter.

The amount of fat-bashing that goes on involving Heavy, or this implication that he's borderline mentally disabled/incredibly clumsy because fat people can't be intelligent. This is literally the only complaint I've seen against his character.

Also, when Soldiers want me to exclusively pocket them when they've gotten angry at Medics exclusively pocketing Heavy. Medics should heal everyone and not play favorites. It depends on which Demoman, Soldier, Heavy, etc. knows the most what they're doing on the server or needs me most.

>>12817
Oh man I fucking hate fic where Heavy is written like some kind of idiot child. Now that we've all seen the MvM trailer, can we stop writing fic where he's not just an idiot, everyone also bosses him around all the time? Because what I saw was him figuring out some funny business is afoot before anyone else and taking the lead to go deal with it.

And also considering the description for the Solly poster, where it says Solly devised some bizarre tactics and asked Hoovy about them and got a "yeah, sure, whatever" out of him, it seems like he really is kind of an authority figure. Which would really make sense to me personally because he makes the most sense as having been a career mercenary before being hired by RED/BLU... but that's getting a bit off topic.

Anyway, his official bio basically states he's not dumb and not "your big friend"... has nobody read it, or are some writers just really contrary?

>>12819
I think he has some degree of cuddliness to him. He comforts a child and apologizes for calling him fat, and in Poker Night (which isn't canon, but still in-character, because everything was okay-ed by Valve) he shows a sweet side. He's not a harmless little teddy bear though, either.

>>12817
>>12819
>>12821

THIS THESE THOSE A THOUSAND TIMES

I mean, sure heavy could be a sweet heart, but he strikes me as someone whose only a sweetheart to select people he likes. Like medic hyuk hyuk hyuk

He's not a teddy bear dumbass peeps he's a badass mofo with a degree in russian literature. You know whats hot as hell? A 50 thousand word dissertation thats hot as hell

Also, really, why so many fat jokes is it really necessary. Heavy's a big guy but he's not morbidly obese. He's got a super strong mans body. Heavy weapons guy could take on saxton hale himself, hell, he could fight bears. He is a bear. Heavy weapons guy is a bear in teh sense that, sure, bears can be cute, but they can also rip your goddamn face off

I'm having so many feelings about heavy right now, can we do something to celebrate everything heavy? When need a national holiday

>>12824

I'm all for it.

>>12824

Incessant fat jokes are canon.

Also, Heavy is fat. He can be fat and in good shape at the same time. Indeed, because he has a vast build with incredibly powerful muscles to maintain, eating a fuckton and being able to store some of it as fat is part of what makes him fit. Embrace the fat, don't deny it.

>>12840
>Incessant fat jokes are canon.

Amen. Ever listen to Spy's voice files? 'What's the matter? Fat got your tongue?' 'You died as you lived, morbidly obese'.

>>12840
>>12841

Yeeeeeaaaah this is true, I guess I overreacted, sorry.

I'm sure this has already been covered but since we're on characterization I really don't like common portrayal of the Medic (in fanfiction especially). I get that it's the author's interpretation of the character yada yada yada, but I tend to see two very common Medic personalities: "team mommy Heavy's bitch ooh let me kiss that better" and "holy fuck I'm not just batshit insane but truly evil and I wanna see everyone's insides on my operating table no matter how much they scream and cry."

(And sometimes the guy will switch between the two extremes in a single story--god forbid a single chapter.)

This probably gets into headcannon territory, but I always imagine the Medic as dude who might cut someone open if he finds that person sleeping outside his lab (because come on, who's gonna let a perfectly good unconscious Demoman go to waste?) but who will also heal his team, because that's his fucking job.
I also imagine him as a pretty crazy badass bloodknight (the bloodknight thing came from hearing his new MvM lines), because how nuts do you have to be to run out onto a battlefield full of well-trained psychopaths mercenaries with incredibly powerful weapons armed with only a homemade needle gun and a bonesaw?
nuttier than a pecan pie that's how nutty someone stop me

So, with that in my head, it always annoys me when I see the two extreme personalities listed above.

>>12852
Also, about Medic, why do people write him as such a cranky guy? Kind of a generic grouchy German type? (Like this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermanicDepressives ) It doesn't seem at all like him to me. Particularly with the rather chirpy lines they've added for him in MvM ("Ooh! Money!" "I feel like a million Deutschmarks!"), the lines he's had all along where he's making puns about saws and singing "Danke Schoen", and the way he jokes around with Heavy in "Meet the Medic", he seems like much more of a cheerful, fun-loving guy than people tend to portray him.

I definitely got a sense from the van-stealing incident mentioned in the Archimedes description that it was some kind of manifestation of goofy eccentricity. Medic needs wheels? He's taking them. There's salmon, chicken, a cake, and a flock of doves in the back? Ooh! Free doves! You can just imagine him doing 90 mph while trying to reassure the doves that he'd have got his driver's license if that schoolbus hadn't pulled out in front of him, can't you?

>>12853

It might have something to do with how Medics are treated in-game. I mean, the character might be pretty happy (because hey he gets paid a ridiculous amount to cut people open and steal shit), but being a Medic kind of sucks. You get assholes yelling at you for not charging them, charging them too soon, not healing them, dying when they don't protect you, blaming you for their death when they run into a pit of rabid heavy/pyro/level ten sentry hybrids, and for sneezing when they didn't say sneeze. This might translate into the fandom, because a lot of fanfiction writers/fan artists play/like the Medic. That's where the "why do I put up with these idiots" mentality comes from. (lol this makes absolutely zero sense what am I doing)

But for the record, yes. I can see the Medic doing that. And it is glorious.

Am I the only one who concerns vavle can patch the balance(like buffing or nurfing unlocks) not based on the actual game but fandom?
For example, if some classes are generally portrayed as very weak and defenseless no matter how they actually sweep and slaughter their enemies in game, the Game makers buff them.
And if some are usually drawn to be more stronger and one-sidedly violate and rape the ukefied classes eventhough they are generally helpless and gets slaughtered easily by those uke in game, they are nerfed to be more vulnerable to those uke.

I hope this is just a thought in my mind that never happened and won't happen.

>>12856
Yeah that's not going to happen. Valve didn't create game balance just to arbitrarily screw it up because of what a minority of the fandom acts like they want.

I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen any game mods that make the Scout into more of a cutesypie twink or something, though...

And I don't know whether I'd think it's cool or weird if people at Valve were reading slashfic at all, though. Although the Gentleman's Ushanka makes me suspect they may have.

It won't be that matter if the fandom are reflected in just user created hats and clothes and etc, never influencing the actual game balance.

But, It is fact that Soldier and Scout have received unlocks in almost every update.