I still will never understand the whole facade idea/ putting up a front when it comes to Scoutâs character neither the âinsecure and constantly needing to prove himself as a tough guyâ , toxic masculinity, as core personality traits because the only ones weâve seen doing that is Spy.
Remember, Scout was the one to say that Spy was better than him when it came to dealing with smarter, classier women. And SPY is the one who went out of his way to shove a microphone in front of his face to announce it to the entire team.
Now tell me whoâs the boastful one who feels the need to prove himself all the time?
Who is the one who feels he needs to maintain a facade or certain reputation?
Who is the one literally wearing a mask?
Who is the one who we still do not know the name of?
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I feel like I'm in the minority because I take a more grounded approach to the tf2 canon and focus on making things accurate to the time. I understand that others have different priorities, and you're not wrong for having your own ideas of canon, I just want to find others to talk to who think similarly.
Btw when I say "accurate to the time" I don't mean make the mercs homophobic bigots. I mean in terms of music, clothes, interior design, tech, counter culture, ect. Without stonewall which took place during tf2s time we wouldn't have pride! Which is why I think the tf2 fandom (esp the lgbtq side) should research more, because tf2s time was such an important part of queer history.
Are there any other tf2 fans who feel the same sentiment as me? If there are I'd love to be friends with you, shoot me a dm!
Iâve been vaguely following TF2 comics (Iâve read 6 and 7 and know a few plot beats and the general storyline) and from the outside it seems like Engineer and Pyro have gotten way less âscreen timeâ than anyone else
Pyro makes sense, thereâs only so much you can do with them but Engineer feels way to engaging to be left out like that
so am i wrong or is Engie just not shown to much, and if so why?
Engineer is noticeably out of focus in the comics, and there are two important throughlines in his characterization contributing to this.
The first is that out of the nine mercenaries he's always been the most plugged in to the backstory- the comic where we learned his real name is the one that introduced the backstory, he's the only one of the mercenaries to have actually canonically met one the Mann brothers, the only one who for sure knows what the gravel wars are ostensibly being fought over- and that level of involvement with the background plot, coupled with his genius, level-headedness and comparatively high empathy, makes him difficult to position front-and-center as a protagonist without breaking a bunch of things.
The second thing setting him apart from the rest of the mercenaries is that while he's enough of an eccentric to rise to the challenge of the setting's gonzo insanity, he's almost never the instigator of any of it. His Meet the Team video consists of him sitting and relaxing while his sentry guns mow down waves of assailants, monologuing about the measured practicality of his escalating response. His response to the teleporter tumor problem in Expiration Date is a grounded and practical approach to a ridiculous situation (that's exacerbated by Soldier.) He's minding his own business when a rocket full of space guns lands on his back acre on Christmas Eve, he spends the entirety of Loose Canon flummoxed by Blutarch's amoral insanity (though importantly, he's nonetheless willing to take the man's money for services rendered.) He's a fantastic straight man when the narrative needs such a figure, but his isn't a flashy insanity. He's not Soldier, he's not Medic, he's not even Heavy as far as out-of-pocket gag behavior goes. Almost all humor involving the Engineer has to do with his reaction (or lack thereof) to the bizarre carnage around him.
These factors are reflected in the role he ends up playing in TF comics 6 and 7. He's kept in the background of the plot in a reactive role, doing his professional best as an Engineer to maintain the Administrator's life extender- a frustated care-provider to a deeply unwell patient who doesn't always take his advice, a grounded, practical facilitator of what ultimately turns out to be the most deranged behavior of the entire story, seeing his contract out to the bitter end. And this is the way in which his apparent groundedness wraps back around into a distinct brand of crazy, no better than anyone else. The Administrator's real plan is something he's a reasonable enough person to disapprove of in the abstract. He's clearly aware something is rotten at the core of all this- he describes Miss Pauling actually managing to recover more Australium as her having created a problem rather than having solved one, he was on some level relieved to realize this was all drawing to a close. But none of this was something he was willing to break his professional obligations over and thus something he (and two generations of his family before him) deliberately kept themselves in the dark about so that they wouldn't have to reckon with it or make that call.
This passivity and level-headedness allow him to play an extremely important narrative role once everything is out in the open- he's the only member of the main cast who can present Miss Pauling with her Road-to-Damascus moment over what to do with the remaining Australium with any credible gravity. He's the only character left in the main cast besides Pauling herself who's plugged in enough that his analysis of her situation carries any weight. He's the only one of the Mercenaries from whom "If you keep it, I won't help you" means anything at all or is even a believable ultimatum- the rest of the mercs might have been freaked out by The Administrator specifically, but do you really think they wouldn't have just kept following their friend Miss Pauling if she kept signing their checks? He does what he's always done- he examines the situation, lays out the available options, and leaves the final call up to others. The only thing that changes- and, to some extent, a sign of his off-screen character development- is this time is that he finally draws a line in the sand as to what course of action he'll lend his expertise to. He threatens to finally, finally remove himself from the situation unless Pauling decides that she wants him to help her finally, finally solve the problem once and for all.
You can see the rage in there. This is why I left haha.
Also, go read the blogposts on the TF2 website! There's loads of them, and they're hysterical. Some of them are written from the POV of the mercs (by which I mean, from Soldier's POV 90% of the time), and there's a couple by the Administrator as well.
Oh yeah if Miss Pauling was on this list she'd be behind Spy but ahead of Heavy bc she's kind of the de-facto main character in the mainline comics, she gets cool stuff to do in expiration date and a couple of the update comics, but the writers like putting her into horrible scenarios, they didn't let her show up at the end of comic 7, and they STILL won't confirm for sure whether or not she's gay. Tragedy. At least she has a name now.
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I have been wanting to explore Pyroland for a while. There's a lot of untapped potential here, and while TF2's canon is somewhat conflicting, I wanted to put together some pieces of information that are integral to not only Pyroland, but also to our beloved masked friend :D
This is a long post so I will be hiding it under the cut. I hope that it is interesting to you all! While I don't dive too much into theories (I do explain some of my own thoughts later in the post), I think what I have here could help fuel headcanons and such.
Let's get started :)
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:
âBalloonicorn; 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.
âBalloonicorn's wife; her appearance and occupation are unknown. She is having an affair with......
âGary 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?âor bothâis 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:
âPyro 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.
âPyroland 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.
How I wish we were given a comic about the inner workings of Pyroland.
This is a repost from my TikTok, where I usually put these, but I might as well put this here. Remember this if the wording gets patronizing, because it is a lot harder to have civil analysis on that platform LOL
Spy, I think, has a lot of misogyny that goes quite unchecked by the fandom due to his relationship with scoutâs mother. yes, he does love her to some extent, but there is also a lack of respect for women that he views as âunclassyâ that we see in expiration date. Plus, Iâd argue his relationship with Scoutma actually supports the whole misogynist argument, but weâll get there when we get there.
voice line wise, spy doesnât have nearly as many misogynistic quotes. the one notable one is âgood lord, you fight like a woman!â when dominating a pyro. However, his misogyny is a lot more covert than most of the cast. He does not necessarily scream it out from the rooftops, but his actions show how he (SUBCONSCIOUSLY) sees women as lesser
In expiration date, when advising scout of how to engage with miss Pauling.
"im not one of your fried chicken tramps! im a WOMAN." He implies here that women who are interested in casual sex are inherently devalued, despite not treating men like scout or even himself to the same standard.
In âMeet The Spyâ, he humiliates Scout by publicly showing off Polaroids of him and his motherâs sexual affairs to him and his colleagues. Later on, it is shown that he does have some sort of romantic affection in the short, but he still uses her and their relationship as a vehicle to embarrass and emasculate another man. Not only this, but keep in mind that he abandoned scout. He may love her, but by all means, he has done little in terms of actual help for all of his childâs developing years. He likely didnât mean to hurt her, but he is still using the woman he left with a baby as a thing to humiliate him with.
Both in expiration date and MTS, he implies women with higher sex drives are lesser, and that women can be categorized into neat groups depending on it. Itâs very indicative of the Madonna-Whore complex. In MTS, he uses sex with women, specifically someones mother, as a means to show superiority and "ownership" of someone elses property to humiliate them, rather than treating said woman with respect as his lover.
In the comic, he is cowardly when on the subject of acknowledging that he is Scoutâs father. In the two times he has the ability to take accountability and be honest, he doesnât. He instead disguises as Tom Jones and lies about simply being a friend of Scoutâs. Though this may seem sort of an improvement, it just shows that spy still has issues with accountability and to get to, which I think applies a lot to his relationship with scoutâs mother.
I want to be very clear when I say he does not hate scoutâs mother. There is clearly some sort of love heâs got for her. But it is very telling that he uses those photos of her, a woman he holds closely, to humiliate another person with. He has very clear biases.
There is one emblem missing or removed. This emblem likely sported the letter F and guess what word starts with F[ortress].
Second, Hale will answer Helenâs orders, no questions asked. But when itâs Miss Pauling acting as the teamâs managerâŚ
He knows the team exists and buy supplies for an endless war between the Mann brothers. But other âtop mercenariesâ also exist, and its not them.
Perhaps back in the year 1850, the first gravel warâs mercenaries were the worldâs best (maybe even the founding team for TF Industries, which is why they share names). Classic Fortress branch fought through the 1930âs making easy money. Our batch, the rejects, theyâre nobodies. As far as the company knows, Team Fortress was never replaced.
Why? So the Administrator can feed her insatiable craving for unethical torture of a literal goul without getting caught. Didnât you read comic #7?
Now, how?
How did she keep it a secret from Miss Pauling, the mercenaries, and her own company that team F exists? Wouldnât someone accidentally slip that she hired a team of mercenaries not affiliated with her company?
She didnât keep them a secret. She kept their contracts a secret.
Whenever the mercs are brought up, everyone assumes they are fighting for the Mann brothersâ worthless land. As if the land was their payment. Whereas Helen enforces to the mercs they are only paid to do their job, no bonus, no disclosure. Hale seems to be the only party who understands the full picture, but as long as the money flows, he keeps out of Helenâs affairs.
Yet the whole time, despite lies, neglect, and lacking repect, Team Fortress was her most vital team.
They accomplished everything she needed
Continue the gravel war
Defend against Grayâs robot armies
Defeat team Classic
Find the Austrailium
Miss Pauling claimed the âbetter teamsâ didnât find the Austrailum. But since the front desk didnât recognize Austruilum (supposedly the highest priority of all the teams), I donât think they didnât find it from lack of effort.
I think ONLY team Fortress was instructed to find it, because Helen trusts they wonât betray her. Team Classic proved the teams will turn and take spoils for themselves. Never have they threaten her for their own gain (For the record, the team did betray her once, and that was just Soldier and Demoman being bffâs during their off hours. And the one time in âShowdownâ she thought Heavy wanted to end her, but he actually wanted more guns).
In the end, to the Administrator, team Fortress made her world go around. The one team that was not official, the âlaughing stock of the mercenary worldâ populated by âsub-normalâ men.
They will never be recognized for their years of accomplishments or loyalty. Probably never received mercenary work again due to their reputation. 100% be sent to an insane asylum if they mention anything they experienced from their careers.
