#pyrovision

WHAT IS KNOWN

Let's go over the known inhabitants first. Besides our star, Pyro (more on him later!), we can get some information from Balloonicorn's in-game description:

"Oh my goodness! Is it Balloonicorn? The Mayor of Pyroland? Don't be ridiculous, we're talking about an inflatable unicorn. He's the Municipal Ombudsman. Between you and me, Balloonicorn's a joke down at City Hall. Gary Brottman, the inflatable Sewer Superintendent, is sleeping with Balloonicorn's wife. Anyway, when he's riding around on your shoulder don't mention ANY of this to him, because Balloonicorn is on a hair trigger and he's usually pretty drunk."

So from this, we have:

☆Balloonicorn; the Municipal Ombudsman (the entity in charge of representing the interests of the citizens within a town or district). According to his in-game description, he is "on a hair trigger" and "usually pretty drunk". As we know, he's an inflatable unicorn.

☆Balloonicorn's wife; her appearance and occupation are unknown. She is having an affair with......

☆Gary Brottman; the Sewer Superintendent (the entity in charge of the sewage system). He is an inflatable of an unknown species.

This would have been all the info here; however, I wanted to share an alternate/extended take on Balloonicorn's description, which could be found on multiple websites where the IRL piece of merchandise, the Inflatable Balloonicorn, was sold.

Aside from how Balloonicorn is portrayed as a moocher in the second paragraph...

"Gary Brottman, the inflatable Sewer Superintendent, was seen playing patty-cake with Balloonicorn's wife."

...Since we know from the original description that Balloonicorn's wife and Gary are sleeping together, this could mean that patty-cake is an equivalent to sex in Pyroland. Whether this is canon or simply a nod to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?—or both—is up to interpretation. (I'm choosing to believe it's canon because it's funny <w<)

Next up! We also know what Pyroland looks like, thanks to Meet the Pyro and to various pieces of concept art.

While the six images above are concept art, they bare heavy resemblance to, if not resembling outright, the Pyroland seen in Meet the Pyro, so we can safely assume it is canon. If anything, some of the concept art is clearer!

WHAT WE CAN ASSUME

Based on our observations, we can rather safely assume the following:

☆Pyro is the mayor of Pyroland. Rather obvious of a point, since it's in the name, but I did notice that one of the archways bear Pyro's resemblance, and so do the party streamers. Pyro is clearly an important figure here.

I lean towards Pyro being the mayor, as opposed to any other leadership title, because Balloonicorn's description mentioned there being a "mayor of Pyroland", while dismissing the idea of Balloonicorn fulfilling that role. It just makes sense for it to be Pyro.

☆Pyroland is made up of things that Pyro likes. If one can create their own city, why not truly make it their own? From this, we can assume that Pyro likes:

Music - his weapons are replaced by musical instruments, and "Do You Believe in Magic?" is quite literally about finding the magic in music. I'd be willing to bet that music is one of Pyro's all-time favorite things, second to fire.

Animals - specifically "cute" ones like kitties, puppies and hamsters (all inflatable animals we see during Meet the Pyro). This is also supported by the comics, as Pyro adopts a dalmatian!

Sweets - There are many candies and other sweets scattered around. In-game, medkits are replaced by cake while using Pyrovision.

Flowers - Big, bright flowers decorate the land, both in grassy areas and within the town itself. Plus, Pyro's purse (which can be seen in multiple respawn rooms in the cubbies) has a flower on it :)

Parties - There are party streamers hanging around the town, and medkits become cake while in Pyrovision. Also, Balloonicorn and the other inflatable animals (plus the unseen Gary Brottman) are all balloon-like.

[Note: from this point on, I delve a bit into theory territory and express my own opinions. I do keep it all backed up by evidence, however :>]

SOMETHING I NOTICED!

Upon a rewatch of Meet the Pyro, I noticed that the set of matches on the title card not only has Balloonicorn, but also text that reads "Est. 1956"!

If these matches, and thus Balloonicorn's likeness, exist outside of Pyroland and within the TF2 world at large, then what does this mean for Balloonicorn?

Considering how Pyroland has party elements (the streamers, balloon-like inhabitants, and cakes), it wouldn't be too far off to assume that Balloonicorn could be a party mascot, and the matches he's printed on could be for lighting birthday candles.

With the establishment year being 1956, and TF2 taking place in the late 1960s and beyond (taking the game and comics into account)...could it be that Balloonicorn was a key figure in Pyro's life when he was younger, and that's how he ended up with a prominent role within Pyroland? Perhaps; while Pyro's age is unknown, one can form attachments to characters at any time of their life.

Whether Balloonicorn's lore is a result of him taking on a life of his own within Pyroland is a mystery. Although, with the tone of TF2 in mind, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for their real-world Balloonicorn to possess those same qualities as well.

My Own Thoughts

Some people argue about whether Pyro is aware of what he does. I have reason to believe he is aware; in Meet the Pyro, he shut the present that the baby Medic hid inside of, while, in reality, Pyro had trapped the actual Medic inside the wooden shed and burned him. If Pyro truly believed he was playing with a baby...why would he so confidently encase the baby inside the box, and risk harming the poor thing? He knew what he was doing. He's playing with babies in Pyroland because that's what it feels like to torture his targets. It's similar to how Heavy taunts his opponents by calling them babies. (For that reason, I believe the babies aren't truly inhabitants of Pyroland, though that's just my opinion.)

I've always seen Pyroland and Pyrovision moreso as representations for how Pyro feels when causing carnage. After all, it seems fire is what fuels Pyrovision. It brings Pyro much joy. So much, that it quite literally restores the color to his life.

Pyro needs a rework, they were supposed to be cinnamon candy based. Difficult to do when 90% of cinnamon candy is just flat red. Scout is based off of my favorite candy cane which is a skittles flavored. Soldier was gonna be Bazooka bubble gum, but it wasnt as notable color wise as the Double one.