Team Fortress 2 TV Tropes
TF2's TV Tropes entry is one of the biggest on the wiki — split across A–G, H–P and Q–Z plus memes, items and Meet the Team subpages. This is the guided tour: the tropes TF2 invented and the ones fans still quote daily.
Tropes TF2 made famous
Ascended Meme
TF2 is the textbook case: Valve keeps putting fan jokes in the game. "FYI I am a Spy" — a fan video — became a real Medic achievement. The Scout got voice lines lifted from Shamwow-style commercials. The Spy-Crab went from a player-made joke pose to an official cosmetic taunt and in-universe creature.
Spy-Crab
Crouch as Spy, hold the disguise kit, look straight up — your character scuttles like a crab. Harmless, beloved, and now immortalized by Valve itself.
"It costs $400,000 to fire this weapon... for twelve seconds"
Meet the Heavy's opening line about Sasha's ammo bill. The community applies it to everything — including a fan-described hat that "costs $400,000 to wear for 12 seconds."
"Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
Meet the Sniper's "Professionals have standards" speech — endlessly remixed ("be polite, be polite, have a plan to be polite").
Pootis
The Heavy's mangled "Put dispenser here!" voice line, mashed through micspam until it became the class's unofficial cry — and the base of "POOTIS POW."
Hoovy / the Friendly
A Heavy who throws Sandviches instead of bullets. TF2's peace-treaty culture — conga lines, friendly fire-free zones on 2Fort — is a trope of its own: the game where not fighting is a valid playstyle.
Rocket Jumping as emergent design
Explosion-jumping was an engine quirk players turned into core movement tech; Valve leaned in and designed weapons (Rocket Jumper, Market Gardener) around it.
GMod Freaks
Fan-made abominations that outgrew the game: Painis Cupcake, Vagineer, Oddscout — the source of half of TF2's horror-comedy fanon.
"nope.avi"
The Engineer's neck-stretch refusal clip — the original video file behind a million reaction posts.
Schrodinger's Playerbase
The running joke that TF2 has been "dying" since 2009 while staying a top-10 Steam game — a trope fans cite whenever an update or bot wave hits the news.
Reading the full wiki
The complete entry lives on TV Tropes, split into Tropes A–G, H–P and Q–Z, with subpages for the Meet the Team shorts, items and audience reactions. Budget an evening — it's one of the longest game pages on the site.
FAQ
What is the most famous TF2 trope?
Ascended Meme — no major game has absorbed more fan-made jokes into official content than TF2.
Where does "Pootis" come from?
The Heavy's "Put dispenser here!" voice command, compressed through years of micspam into "pootis."
Is TF2 still getting tropes?
Yes — every Scream Fortress and community update adds entries, which is remarkable for a 2007 game.