#stalingrad tf2

[daily-heavy-tf2]

Day 12 👊

[paranoidginger]

@another-delta-lover Come get your man.

[moderncha0s]

CALLING ALL TF2 COSPLAYERS AND ENJOYERS ALIKE!!

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A stalingrad cosplayer has joined the party...

IM SHISTING MYSELF. IT LOOKS SO BAADDDD. I still need to put a gloss finish on the mask, I don't have any fingerless gloves or a suit and tie. The hat looks like shit and AUGHHHH.

But whatever, I was just too eager to get this out there. @another-delta-lover this was the Stalingrad masterpiece I was cooking up.

What do yall think?

[thatonesimp-e]

stalingrad,, genuinely I'd let him crush my spine

(Choking under le cut)

[dotflare]

mr stalingrad...

well the posing went.. well to say the least no more horrible melting wax demon which i will gladly take

[alicewhimzy]

My Dad and I like to talk about a lot of stuff. One of the things he's been fascinated by is media transmutability and using existing media to make new things. One example he mentioned is "This Spartan Life", a talk show done in the first person shooter Halo 2. This reminded me of the many many animations that many many creators have made over the years out of a game I've liked for a while and unfortunately have only recently been able to start playing; Team Fortress 2. One film in particular stuck out in my mind. I brought it up, we discussed it and after a while he agreed to watch it with me. That was a week or so ago.

🪚🩺🩸

Last night I watched Emesis Blue with my Dad. He was a bit surprised at how little dialogue there was but overall we both really liked it. The stylized design of the nine mercs and the other models works in this film's favor, giving the film a sense of identity that a more conventional live action film wouldn't have. It reminded my dad of the comic Sin City. It is a story with quite a lot of violence, which I think is to be expected considering what it's based on, but even then, it's not gratuitous, not much you wouldn't see in the game proper. It's in support of the plot, and even if there's not as much dialogue as other films, the visual storytelling makes up for it. Also the references to other horror works such as the shining are a nice touch.

One element I like in particular is the fact that the film misleads us so well. At first it seems to be a standard noir outing, especially regarding the storyline of Jacques and Columbo. There's a short fight and a mcguffin in a briefcase is introduced. But once we reach Conagher Slaughterhouse, there's an uncanny eerieness that quickly comes over the audience and never really leaves. We have no way of knowing how much of what we see is real or not, and neither do the characters involved, and nowhere is this doubt in reality shown more prevalently and brilliantly than in Dr. Fritz Ludwig.

Of all the stories told about the tf2 Medic I think this is the greatest I've ever seen. In game, Medic is famous, or infamous, depending on perspective, for being not quite all there in the sanity department. The kind of person who will brag about stealing someone's skeleton. The kind of person who can and has performed soul-transplantation multiple times. The kind of person who will casually mention implanting someone with a fully functioning baboon uterus pregnant with triplets, only a slight exaggeration. He's crazy, he knows it and we love him for it. In Emesis Blue however, this component of the Medic's character, the concept of being mentally unwell, is shown with care and nuance. He is never referred to by his class, but instead has the full name, Dr. Fritz Ludwig. This well-meaning but unstable man is put on a downward track from the moment we first see him, by forces he can neither understand nor control. He blames himself for Jeremy's kidnapping and later death, and wants to find a way to save or at least avenge him or redeem himself. But once he does so and the brothers are dead, his hope is only to survive. Every time he must fight for his life it deeply affects him as he is faced with unbelievable hallucinations. Is it some twisted effect the malfunctioning respawn machine is having on the world around it, or is it his own sanity slowly abandoning him. We see other characters hallucinating, but him? He has no idea. Fritz is constantly fighting a losing war with his own troubled mind, and the situation he's stuck in and trying so hard to get out of is only making it worse, as he gets closer and closer to what the enigmatic undertaker in black has already become. An unstoppable undying force of violence. Not even the others are safe from this, as Jeremy, Stalingrad, Mundy and Jacques clearly show.

Oddly enough however, the film ends on a somewhat bittersweet, if not uplifting note. The two timing schemer Archibald is dead, so is that asshole Jacques, and with no one else to run the company and its involvement in the gravel war coming to light, it's clear that it's going to crash and burn. Good riddance. Mr. Doe survives and makes it out of the funeral alive, secure in the knowledge that many, if not all crimes against him and the other mercs will finally come to light. Fritz is the last one holding the briefcase and even gets to finally reconcile with Jeremy at Dell's bar in the afterlife, even if he respawns one last time soon after. But by far the greatest thing about this film, and the thing that made up for the minimal dialogue for my dad, is the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is nothing short of mesmerizing, there's very little music, only just enough to supplement the tone in a few scenes. All other times the ambient sounds of the environment are all the scene needs to establish how creepy, surreal or hopeless the tone of a scene is. The nigh-omnipresent contrast of red and blue throughout this film, directly calling back to the opposing teams and their perpetual pointless war, is employed to masterful effect, whether to indicate a turning point in a scene, or to illustrate how conflicted a character is. It's simple, maybe even a bit obvious, but it's great nonetheless.

More than anything, watching this film feels like descending into madness in a way that I personally haven't seen an animated film do before now. The feeling that you have while watching Emesis Blue is like swallowing a hungry parasite, and I mean that in the best possible way. It comes upon you slowly but surely, you almost don't perceive it, and by the time you do, it's already got its fangs into you. It nestles deep inside your brain and squirms there long after the credits have run, so that hours later, awake in your bed, you're still thinking about it. Visceral. Terrifying. Beautiful.

Emesis Blue is a modern work of art. My dad thought it was a bit lacking in the script department, but I loved it. If you like your horror with existentialism, surrealism and lots of guns, then I recommend you check it out. It's available on YouTube and I only hope that Fortress Films projects will continue to entertain us in the future. Until next time, how long have I been waiting to do this one?

~A.W.

[heavyweponguy]

Hello, Stalingrad! I came to inform you that I have captured a BLU Spy and I need you to interrogate him

@ask-redsoldier-tf2

Starlingrad? My name is Misha, but I don't mind helping interrogate.

[stinkle-mcfuckwit]

am i the only one who takes issue with the fact that the tf2 fandom seems to have named the emesis blue red heavy "stalingrad"

it's a derogatory nickname that doe gives him. and as someone with an interest in history, particularly wwii and soviet history, stalingrad was named after josef stalin. yk. the guy that fucking sucked and killed millions. not to mention the city of stalingrad was renamed in 1961, well before emesis blue takes place, to volgograd because they didn't want the association with stalin.

it fits with doe's character, and canon soldier to boot, to use a soviet-related insult against a russian. in fact, it's taken from a domination line in the game. however, does the fandom really need to make it heavy's name, can't we just call him mikhail

it's like the russian equivalent of calling medic some nazi shit man

[1-800-deactivatednearu]

Naming Conventions: EMESIS BLUE is a Beautiful Name for a Baby Girl

analysis below read more :)

Detective Mannix and Lieutenant Columbo

[I.D.: Spy introducing himself and Soldier at the investigation at Scout's house: "I am Detective Mannix. This is Lieutenant Columbo (17:57-18:00) /end I.D.]

Funny enough, these two are referred to in the end credits as The Detective and The Soldier respectively. Are these their actual names? Fake aliases made up by Spy? Who knows!

So if their names sound familiar to any, it's in reference to two pop culture detectives! (I will now read the Wikipedia articles on these two LMAO)

Mannix falls under a very archetypical private eye, going about investigations by opposing his higher ups and finding his own solutions.

Interestingly, I believe this parallels the nature of Spy's own investigation, confusing and raising suspicion among government authorities. I doubt it would be a reach to assume that he and Soldier are acting on their own accord with the amount of trickery and probably illegal activity it takes to gain all their knowledge. (Seriously, did no one worry about the whole Soldier on the police radios ordeal?)

Colombo is known for his unassuming everyman appearance, acting clueless or bringing up seemingly unrelated evidence to slowly corner suspects into incriminating themselves or to simply confess.

While none of these comparisons necessarily scream "Soldier," it is interesting to consider how many on the receiving end of a good old-fashioned Colomboing are the wealthy upper-class.

[I.D.: Soldier repeatedly shooting Blutarch, the former of which is sitting in a black car. (1:40:46) /end I.D.]

A good old-fashioned Colomboing.

Whether this is their actual names or fake names made up by Spy is a funny thought to me. Keep in mind that the end credits does canonise some names while decanonising others, such as with Scout and Medic.

[I.D.: 2 screenshots. First is of Scout's termination notice. He is referred to as "Patient SC-10498 (Jeremy E)." (18:11) The second is a credit card of Cameron Nichols featuring as Scout. /end I.D.]

One such instance is Scout. We know his name is Jeremy in the canon of TF2 thanks to the comics, and yet he is still referred to as "Scout."

... Don't tell me his last name is "E." for "Elbertson" like Jerma, this is inhumane.

We know the files are likely trustworthy enough considering how Medic is given similar treatment.

[I.D.: Medic's termination notice, his picture captioned "Dr. FRITZ LUDWIG / authorized personnel of Builder's League United Industries. "(18:51) /end I.D.]

...His name in the end credits shows up later in this post. I'm not putting it up again. Trust me, it says Ludwig, which was canonised in the comics.

So the end credits can be a little inconsistent!

So in context of Spy and Soldier, it is interesting to consider whether the names Mannix and Columbo are their actual names and an interesting reference by the writers or a fake alias by Spy.

To be honest, I didn't read the description of the video, which confirms that Spy is a detective, and just decided he absolutely could not be telling the truth when introducing himself as a detective. I kind of think it is cute to imagine he sees himself as just (and committing so many crimes in doing so), as well as Soldier as smarter than people give him credit for.

Which would assume Spy thinks nice things about Soldier though. :(

Dr. Fritz Ludwig, Cyclops, and Stalingrad

On to the rest of them, we have...

[I.D.: Credits card for Chad Payne featuring as Dr. Fritz Ludwig, The Detective, Cyclops, Maynard Conagher, Redmond Mann, The Hunter, Agent Stemmons, and Stalingrad. /end I.D.]

Wait.

[I.D.: TF2 wiki page of Soldier's domination lines of Medic, Heavy, and Demo. Highlighted for each character are the lines following lines:

Medic is "You just got dominated, Fritz!"

For Heavy is "Checkmate, Stalingrad!"

Demo has two highlighted quotes: "I love your death, cyclops; your death is sweet to me like love is sweet." and "You're like the Cyclops of Greek myth; except you are Scottish, and I hate you!" /end I.D.]

I love how Fortress Films took Soldier using vaguely ethnic-sounding names for characters as an insult and just running with it. It's not a bad thing, I just need the people to know that Soldier said "your death is sweet to me like love is sweet."

People are so mean to Demo. :( Yeah, I know it's not unique to Sodlier to point out the man has only one eye, but I think it's funny enough that three characters' names in film match Soldier's domination lines.

Heavy being called Stalingrad is real funny, especially since he has a given name in the comics--Mikhail.

Stalingrad isn't actually a name for a person. Rather, it's the former name of the Russian city Volograd. It breaks down into "Stalin" and "-grad," the Russian suffix for settlements (like the English "-town"). It's like naming your kid Bakersfield!

And now I skip this part of analysis because talking about history, especially in context of war, for an animated SFM with cartoon men fighting feels weird.

While a funny coincidence, Medic actually shares a name with the director of M (1931), Fritz Lang. (M (1931) is the VHS that Scout steals from Medic.)

Zed and Maynard Conagher

[I.D.: Credits card for Anton Pelizzari featuring as: Zed & Dell Conagher, injured police officer, funeral director, the bartender, police chief, and the limo driver. /end I.D.]

On the topic of films, isn't it real interesting how we don't learn the names of the Conaghers who run the Conagher Slaughterhouse until the credits? Their names are Zed and Maynard Conagher.

It's a Pulp Fiction (1994)* reference, in spite of being a good 16 years early to reference it accurately. It features accomplices sharing a name with the brothers, who fall under the archetype of hillbillies.

*Exercise caution in doing your own research on these characters, content directly related to them contains sexual assault.

Zed from Pulp Fiction is shot and killed with his own shotgun, mirroring the death of the second Conagher to his own sentry. Given these parallels, it's hardly a stretch to guess which is Zed and which is Maynard.

It's also a more exact science than comparing vocal performances with the other listed roles of the voice actors! I got the same answers though. Does this mean anything.

Honestly, it just means that there were some pretty solid voice actors on the cast. We should appreciate them more! Let's go rewatch the end credits and appreciate how much life they brought to the animation. :)

...the more I look, I realise there are more references to Pulp Fiction than I anticipated. There will be an attachment to my thoughts on this later. When I post it.

[crewtawn]

If you wanna use any of my art pleeease credit me pleaseeee...

[crewtawn]

Lazy little comic I can't be bothered to finish!

[thatonesimp-e]

Can u draw him.ples

How could I say no? I love stalingravmbdbsjjzj :)

[another-delta-lover]

Goin to sleep now.

IF THIS FUCKIN POLL ISN'T AS HOW I REQUESTED U ALL AREN'T GETTING ANY CONTENT, ANY FUNNY HAHAs FROM ME UNTIL NEXT YEAR.

/THREAT

(/nf... /Jk... UN-FUCKING-LESS....)

Me killin u all /w my mind if u all don't vote for yes:

[moderncha0s]

I made my stalingrad cosplay but I don't know how to cosplay. Like... this is the first time I've ever cosplayed... what do I do...

[moderncha0s]

how did you make your stalingrad mask? it’s really cool :D /gen

YAY AN ASK!

I made the hat and mask out of cardboard. Then I just went over with some paper mache and paint.

For the straps, I used connector buttons and black electrical tape (gave a leather effect)

In all honesty it was pretty simple XP