I know it has a somewhat comedic tone but I can't help but think about poor Sniper as a kid wondering why he was so different but never knowing why. With other Aussies being huge and muscular he must have thought something was wrong with him. And I feel like you can actually see the relief on his face in the bottom panel.

Firstly, this also could be a read as queer coded or neurodivergent coded, (you know, how they do it in mass media, metaphorically, so they wouldn't receive backlash. You know, the "I've always felt different" thing)

And secondly, i think this childhood insecurity + his father's disapproval messed up sniper in a long run a little harder that one might think.

Imagine you're a total outcast. You don't understand what's wrong with you. You're excluded by peers and your dad is never satisfied with anything you do. You hide alone in the bush, mastering your hunting skills or whatever, convincing yourself that you actually like loneliness, it's other people who are stupid and too loud. You isolate from people even more because you're growing an ego, an ego of a "not like others" cool guy who thinks that he compensates being an outcast with being smart and precise with his arrow shots.

Now, I have nothing to support this suggestion, but I think there might've been a period of time Sniper would take his inner aggression out on the wildlife he hunts. He would just shoot or stab more and more little animals even though he doesn't even going to eat them or use them in some way, creating violent waste. Because you're a teenager and nobody taught you how to recognize and deal with your emotions.

Then there goes shame. You see yourself growing violent despite having high standards and moral values. There comes cognitive dissonance. He now switches to an idea that some living things DESERVE to be killed, and he is simply just an executor. He holds strongly about the predator vs pray narratives, the good vs bad, pure vs corrupt ideas...

And by the time he gets his sniper license (let's assume he has one), he already built an inner system of "morals" that basically say "you can kill PEOPLE if they asked for it. You're still a good decent person that way."

So that's why he emphasizes so much on being a "professional", having "standards" and values. He still separates himself from the other mercs, as if hinting at "they are lunatics, I am normal" train of thought. He does it in such a self conscious way, it's showing that he's overcompensating. Although it's pretty evident thar he's taking joy in killing people, just like any other mers.

There's no need in apologizing for being evil in Mann Co. But he's still pretending. As if he himself deeply disturbed by his own violent urges, it looks like a big trauma to me, there's a lot to unpack.

Sniper has just this air to him of artificial calm because he's actually afraid of being morally corrupted. This is because, on some level, he kind of is and he knows it. He's well aware what he's doing is probably wrong so he justifies it in his head somehow (like above said, "some living DESERVE to be killed")

But I think deep down he knows damn well that that's not true and this is all just a giant series of various coping mechanisms (stemming from past long term trauma caused by social isolation and emotional dissonance) that he only tells himself he isn't corrupted as hell so he doesn't take psychic damage from having to face the fact that it actually is and therefor he's a bad person.

I think Sniper has honestly one of the most complex characterizations out of the TF2 mercs simply just due to this split in his personality where he's grappling with whether he's some kind of monster or not. There's this question he's always asking himself; "I'm taking pleasure in doing what I've told myself is right, but that's just what I've told myself so is it really right?"

Obviously the answer is, no, it isn't. But to face that is something that can be incredibly painful and could literally cause a mental break, so most people grappling with that kind of question just don't face the truth. Sniper isn't really an exception, he has trouble facing this.

Although something I've learned is only hurt people hurt other people, and I don't think any of the mercs are exceptions. Sniper included. They're all in this job because they themselves are in pain in some kind of way or have an unaddressed wound somewhere. For Sniper it's this lack of stabillity in his moral identity and social life that just boils into this dispassionate anger. And because it's festered so long, even into adulthood, it's literally become not just anger, but straight up violence.

I do appreciate, though, that through a character like Sniper, these things don't just automatically make him pure evil or subhuman somehow. It has actual context and, while certainly not justified, is still understandable and makes sense.

There's something to be learned from the crazy of characters like the TF2 mercs. They're "evil" but they aren't necessarily non human. There's a point to make that even these cartoony stereotype characters are not just "evil" for the sake of it, but are "evil" because they're wounded. And I think that's the first step in radical empathy. Understanding the rhyme to reason, the method of the madness, that we aren't inherently evil creatures and sometimes shit happens that makes us lose ourselves.

Aside from Sniper, what are others' wounds that made them join this blasphemous corporation?? People don't pay much attention to it but how did the mercs join Mann Co. in the first place? They didn't just go there, knocked on the door and asked for employment, right? So what are the backstories?

I'm guessing Mann Co. wanted the best of the best men out there, but those who would actually take insane risks of their lives. This kind of reminds me of Portal but instead of Olympic champions and astronauts, Mann Co. wanted ABNORMAL men. What that means exactly is still an open question for now. But hear me out, Valve heroes are never trained fighters, they are just very desperate and have no other choice but to proceed.

Why would mercs be different?

I mean, is any one of them a certified fighter? I mean yeah, Engineer has 11 PhDs but he's still more of a mad scientist rather than a formal doc. Any other?? Soldier who has never been in a war, Medic with no license, unregistered demolition, mental hospital refugee, Scout who is just a street boy wtf is he doing at the frontline??

Smells fishy, isn't it?

They wouldn't be here if they were really trained professionals. So that's why I assume they got here because they had no other place to go. And Surprisingly, in here, they got everything they wished for.

(these are my headcanons that I tried to build based on logic, however, their bases aren't exactly stable, keep in mind)

Sniper wanted to be violent legally, so he doesn't think about his moral struggles anymore (except when he talks to his dad in the phone).

Scout was a school dropout who didn't have many options of what to work as. Although, while they were always diners and gas stations, his family of million brothers pushed him and his pride down, so in order to become a bigger man in society's eyes, he applied to military service. Probably meant to Korea or Vietnam but was redirected to Mann Co. instead.

Heavy had really difficult clashes with the Soviet Government (being a national enemy by many articles) he went to make money to US. He was probably known by Mann Co. even before his change of settlement, they knew the story about the Gulag demolition/escape, so they got interested in this person's potential.

While not being a nazi himself, Medic worked in the closed german experimental camps because it was the only place his unlicensed ass could apply (fleeing country in the wartime wasn't an option). And they needed mad scientist. However, instead of using prisoners as a resource, he made them super humans (baboon hearts kind of shit) so these prisoners killed the security guards and escaped. To avoid state persecution, Medic immigrated to America where was known and got invited to work for we-know-who.

Engineer's work is generational.

I don't know much about Demoman's lore (it's a little confusing) but "a reckless alcoholic extremist who desperately needs a job" sounds perfect for who they were looking for.

Spy is obviously not a real spy but rather a skillful conman who made through life by stealing, pretending and seducing rich women. Mafia history might be there too. But he wasn't invincible and the police was a pretty serious problem for him, so joining a secretive organisation was a solid solution. (Plus, someone could make a funny thing by setting up him and Scout together, because they knew.)

Pyro was a person who spent all their life in a mental hospital, seen as dangerous to society/unadjusted. Mann Co. reached to them and gave them a chance, which turned out great.

Soldier, too, was either a mental hospital often guest, a prisoner or a simple local crazy man who has severe amnesia and violent behavior. Good option too.