Team Fortress 2/Tropes Q to Z: Difference between revisions

* [[Real Is Brown]]: Originally, in the development cycle, Valve intended to go with modern realism but trying to make the gameplay equally realistic was proving difficult, so they went with the stylized cartoon look. With the Mann-Conomy update, you can buy paint of various colors to make your accessories [[Rainbow Pimp Gear]].

* [[Real Time Weapon Change]]

* [[Recoil Boost]]: Rocket Launchers, the Detonator, the Force-A-Nature, grenades, stickybombs, Sentry Gun rockets, and pumpkin bombs can aid in a jump, though all of the except the Force-A-Nature will damaged the player.

* [[Recurring Riff]]: Several of the songs on the title screen, which are taken from the [[Animated Actors|"Meet the Team"]] trailers, use the bass line from the game's original theme. It's changed up quite a bit, ranging from obvious (as in "Intruder Alert," where it's played clearly on brass) to difficult enough to spot that [[Fridge Brilliance|you only realize it's there later]] (as with "More Gun," where it's played during the minor key portion of the song, but very slowly and in 3/4 time, giving it a totally different feel from the other versions).

* [[Red Eyes Take Warning]]: ÜberCharged BLU team members whose eyes are visible will have glowing red eyes and be invulnerable until the charge wears off. To quote the Heavy: "Is good time to RUN, cowards!"

** Also MONOCULUS! from the 2011 Halloween update, when he's pissed off.

** The Spy can equip an Oni mask, which is, appropriately enough, red or blue depending on which team he's on.

** Strangely enough, the general roles are reversed. On Attack/Defense maps, RED is the defender, and is more likely to dig in and build machines to defend them, while BLU are the attackers, more likely to bomb everything in sight to advance.

* [[RPG Elements]]: More than normal even for an FPS: [[Critical Hit|Critical Hits]], optional damage count displays, (cosmetic) weapon levels, [[Item Crafting]], [[Standard Status Effect|Standard Status Effects]].

* [[Rule of Fun]]: The realization of the insane premise that presupposed the game's fundamental elements caused a shift from the original concept of a serious military-styled action game toward the game's exaggerated and unrealistic theme and presentation.

* [[Schedule Slip]]: Valve Time applies.

** Notably, the [http://www.teamfortress.com/119/ 119th Update] was supposed to be the 100th Update.

* [[Score Screen]]: After each round, there's a list of the top three most valued players. After the map timer runs out and the server is about to switch to another map, the screen will show the scoreboard, which displays player information, server name, team scores, etc. Information about each player is shown, including Steam ID, team affiliation, points, and class. This scoreboard can also be accessed by pressing Tab on the PC while playing in a round, though it won't show much information about the enemy team, of course.

* [[Scoring Points]]: Points are used to determine who the most valuable players in a particular round are and otherwise don't do anything unless the server settings are such that it determines the winning side based on points under certain circumstances. Other servers have a separate ranking system that's just there for the bragging rights.

* [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]: Getting scared by either Zepheniah Mann's ghost or the Horseless Headless Horsemann results in a very unmanly scream.

* [[Secondary Fire]]: Some weapons.

** [[Splash Damage Abuse]]

* [[Spot the Imposter]]: A gameplay usage. A team who has difficulty identifying a Spy among them is going to find their buildings sapped and their critical players backstabbed.

* [[Sprint Meter]]: There are various meters, depending on weapons in one's loadout.

* [[Sprint Shoes]]: A few items and an item set can increase the speed of a class:

* [[Stylistic Suck]]: Why the accents and foreign grammar are sometimes incorrect--the game was modeled on American World War-era propaganda posters, or the view Americans have of other countries in the 60s.

* [[Sudden Death]]: If a round ends with neither side winning, servers have the option to go to Sudden Death, where all health packs are removed from the map and respawn is disabled. Teams can win either by accomplishing the objective or eliminating the other team.

* [[Supervillain Lair]]: [[Word of God]] states that the RED and BLU bases were designed with this idea in mind: a seemingly innocuous facade on the surface to hide the true sinister purpose of these buildings. This is even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the description of the map Double Cross.

* [[Sure Why Not]]: [http://buttfacemakani.livejournal.com/301005.html#cutid1 This popular fanart of the Administrator] ended up ''strongly'' influencing her official appearance (as revealed in [http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/ this comic as The Administrator] and foreshadowed two months prior with [http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/family_portrait/ this image] of [[The Clan]] that [[All There in the Manual|everything in the game traces its lineage back to]]). And now Makani even works for Valve, doing comics/"Choose A Game Mode" illustrations for [[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]], working on the science fair posters for [[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]], and [[Holy Shit Quotient|drawing all of the Steam Summer Sale front page illustrations for 2011]].

* [[Sword and Sorcerer]]: (Insert Class Here) + Medic, Heavies being designed as the priority Medic-buddy, though individual Medic players will have different preferences. (For example, Kritz Medics tend to favor Demomen.)

* [[Symbol Swearing]]: There is a custom Attack/Defend map where the BLU team has to try to capture 4 points in a fort. A wall in the BLU spawn that references the way the Steam Powered User Forums censor profanity reads "ATTACK THAT {{color|hotpink|♥♥♥♥}}ING FORT".

** There's even an achievement for backstabbing somebody who then switches to Pyro before they respawn.

* [[Take That]]: Two of the Soldier's Domination lines towards the Sniper has him mocking the Australian censorship of ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2''.

* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: Averted. The AI player bots in offline practice modes (and may also be in some servers) are based on the ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' bots and cannot see or do anything a human player couldn't. An update even went so far as to give each bot a "virtual mousepad" (complete with delays for re-centering their "virtual mouse" on it) in order to give them imperfect aim and avoid lock-ons.

** Although the 'death stare' they give to uncloaked, disguised spies (even [[Artificial Stupidity|with your own side's disguises]]) before firing is a tell-tale sign that they're only being held back by some fairly visible programming. The Snipers on hard are also difficult to beat.

{{quote| '''Spy''': "Here's what I have that ''you'' don't! A functioning liver, depth perception, and A PULSE!"}}

** Every Domination quote, basically. Especially entertaining are the ones from a member of one class to a member of the same class.

* [[Vendor Trash]]: Duplicate weapons and hats are often used in crafting or trading to make sure they don't take up space in the backpack.

* [[Victory Pose]]: Inverted; the losing team is forced into poses that look sufficiently frightened and/or annoyed, and they can't do anything but flee or taunt.

** The sincerity of the "thank you" commands (some of which are automatically used when using a teleporter or getting healed) are probably made that way to invoke this for a Medic, who otherwise would be very tempted to leave his teammates to die and go [[Combat Medic]] with another Medic.

** Heavies can drop any of their Sandviches to act as a medium health kit for their allies (or their enemies), which, since it's technically a medkit, also puts out fire.

* [[Weird Moon]]: Before a patch removed most of them, Double Cross inexplicably had seven moons in its skybox.

* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Cosmetic]]: When Team Fortress 2 first released alternative weapons, the only way to get them was to complete various achievements for the class in question. The achievements system is still in place, but the items can now drop, and you can trade, craft, or just buy them.

* [[The Wiki Rule]]: [http://wiki.teamfortress.com An official one], no less.

* [[William Telling]]: Invoked in the achievement "William Tell Overkill", though to achieve that, the Sniper must pin an enemy Heavy's head to a wall with an arrow. On May 3, 2012, a "Fruit Shoot" headwear item was added for the Sniper, which is an apple with an arrow through it.