Medic²

The receptionist, also known as Helen (and formerly Elizabeth and Emily), is an elderly but incredibly domineering woman whose image has become iconic. She has sharp, piercing eyes, dark hair with a distinctive white streak (Mallen Streak) and an invariable cigarette. She wears a strict purple blazer and skirt, a color symbolizing a mixture of red and blue, with red accents in the form of earrings, nails and stockings. Her appearance, originally created by a fan artist, has become canonical and highlights her status as a secret puppeteer.

By nature, the Receptionist is a calculating, cruel and cynical schemer who enjoys manipulation. Her voice, coming from the speakers, brooks no objections, and her mood fluctuates between mild anger and bitter disappointment. She considers friendship between mercenaries to be a breach of contract and does not hesitate to destroy anyone who might attract unwanted attention. At the same time, she is capable of a kind of attachment: for example, Saxton Hale called her a "seductress with a cigarette," and she once admitted that she spends her only hour of vacation a year chasing pigeons in the park.

The character's story goes back to the 19th century. In 1850, she took a job as a governess to Zephenaiah Mann, and later, after inheriting the stock of Australia, she organized an endless conflict between his sons, Redmond and Blutharch. For a century, she secretly ran both RED and BLU companies, pitting their teams against each other for her own benefit. After the takeover of Mann Co. She was forced to hide by Gray Mann, and when her energy reserves ran out, an engineer connected her to a life extension machine. In the finale of the comic, realizing the futility of an age-old feud, she reconciled with Zefenaya, and both turned to dust as soon as their Australian ended.

Miss Pauling (full name — Flo Pauling) is a short woman (about 150-160 cm) with dark hair gathered in a strict bun, green eyes and black-framed glasses. Her invariable outfit is a purple shirt (a symbol of neutrality between the RED and BLU teams), a black pencil skirt, tights and high—heeled shoes. In the early comics, her appearance was rather ordinary, but in the short film "Expiration Date" she turned into a well-groomed "fatal beauty" in a business style.

By nature, she is a dedicated, hardworking and extremely competent Administrative assistant who performs a wide range of tasks, from background checks and cargo delivery to murders. Despite her outward composure, she is neurotic, a little awkward and has a dark sense of humor, while she treats violence casually and indifferently. For fear of angering her boss, she usually follows her boss's views, although she admits that the Administrator is "not so bad if you get to know her better." She consistently ignores romantic attentions from the Scout.

Pauling first appeared in the comic "WAR!" (2009), where she revealed the friendship of a Bomber and a Soldier and, acting on orders, provoked a seven-day war between them, personally delivering weapons to each in exchange for agreeing to kill each other. She later supervised an interview with the mercenaries for the "Director" and then lured him into an abandoned mine, after which he went missing. In the short film "Expiration Date", she received an official 3D model and voice, and in further comics she became one of the main characters, trying to gather mercenaries, return Mann Co. and figure out the plans of the Administrator, right up to her death.

Demoman, real name Tavish Finegan DeGroot, is a tall (about 187 cm) dark—skinned Scotsman with a strong build. He is easily recognizable by the permanent patch over his right eye, the beret (or helmet) of the team's colors, and the fireproof EOD suit of a sapper. He has dark hair, a short beard, and a distinctive husky voice with a strong Scottish accent; in the comics, a scar is hidden under a blindfold, and his only surviving eye is brown.

By nature, Demoman is a short—tempered, but deep down good-natured and cheerful man, whose life is literally saturated with a love of explosives and alcohol (he constantly sips a "scrumpy" from a bottle that serves him as a melee weapon). He is prone to melancholy and self-irony, calling himself the "black Scottish cyclops", but at the same time remains a cheerful and devoted companion, ready to help.

The character's story is tragicomic: at the age of six, he lost his foster parents due to his failed plan to kill the Loch Ness monster, after which he ended up in an orphanage school, where his talent for bombs blossomed, but his character and the number of whole eyes did not. Later, his real parents took him away, explaining that according to the ancient Scottish tradition, all Demomen are abandoned before they show their abilities. He lost his eye while trying to stop the Bombinomicon that possessed him with a magic spell — this episode is revealed in the comic book of the same name. In the comic "WAR!" there is also a portrait where he has two more eyes, which creates a plot discrepancy with the biography. In the future, Demoman works as a mercenary for RED or BLU, participates in court proceedings and remains one of the most colorful and tragicomic members of the team.

The soldier, whose real name is unknown (he calls himself "Mr. Jane Doe"), is a tall, powerfully built man with rough features and a short crew cut. He is easily recognized by his invariable helmet, which almost always covers his eyes and the upper part of his head, creating the image of a stubborn soldier. He wears a team-colored coat, several military belts, dark trousers and boots, and a pair of grenades is strapped to his chest. A soldier never takes off his helmet, even outside of combat, which underscores his obsession with military aesthetics.

By nature, he is a crazy, chauvinistic patriot from the Midwest of the United States, whose aggressiveness borders on psychopathy. He is loud-mouthed, violent, and loves everything related to the army, often quoting Sun Tzu and the Marine Corps regulations. Despite this, the Soldier is capable of loyalty: he refuses to kill a Bomber even under threat of death and sometimes shows unexpected sentimentality. He lives in a cluttered apartment, eats army rations and ribs, and has seven locks on his door and two holes for his hands to strangle uninvited guests.

The Soldier's story is full of tragicomies. He desperately wanted to go to World War II, but was rejected by all branches of the US military. Undeterred, he bought a ticket to Europe, made it to Poland, taught himself how to handle weapons, and staged a real Nazi hunt. For his "exploits" he invented and made medals for himself, and his "war" ended only in 1949, when he heard about the end of the conflict. He later served in the 101st Air Division and participated in the Vietnam War, which explains his hatred of hippies. In the TF2 comics, the Soldier appears as a lonely man immersed in his own military fantasies, who eventually finds himself embroiled in a confrontation with the Administrator.

Pyro is one of the most mysterious characters in Team Fortress 2. Outwardly, he is a pyromaniac of indeterminate gender and origin, whose body is completely hidden by a fireproof asbestos suit, and his face is covered with a thick gas mask with a filter, which turns speech into unintelligible mumbling. According to rare hints, the mask hides the most ordinary face, but even in comics they try not to show it completely. Because of this outfit, people are arguing not only about gender, but also about whether Pyro is a human at all.

By nature, Pyro is an infantile and cheerful pyromaniac who perceives reality through the distorted prism of "Pyrolandia": in his eyes, flames from a flamethrower turn into rainbows, and enemies into laughing babies. At the same time, Pyro is able to behave like a normal member of society and even demonstrates unexpected talents, for example in finance, but consciously chooses life in his colorful fictional world. In the comics, this duality is more pronounced: in "Ring of Fired", without fire, the world around becomes gray and dim for Pyro, and in one of the stories he brutally kills a bear who "told" him that "fire is no one's friend."

The character's story in the game and the comics is intentionally left vague. All that is known for certain is that Pyro is a mercenary of Mann Co. and a participant in Gravel Wars, and his past before the war is hidden behind a mask. Fan theories and semi—official hints include a variety of versions, from the arson attacks in Rome to the connection with Abraham Lincoln, but the canon does not confirm any of them. In The Naked and the Dead comic, Pyro briefly removes his mask in front of his comrades, but this moment remains without a definite solution, only emphasizing that one of the most incomprehensible figures in the team is hidden behind the external simplicity. My hedkanon: Pyro is a 30+ year—old man with light burns on his face, blue eyes and blond hair.Without a mask, he is much more adequate

The engineer, whose full name is Dell Conagher, looks like a stocky man of short stature (about 170 cm) with a dense, muscular build. He is easily recognizable by his invariable yellow construction helmet and dark safety glasses, which almost always hide his eyes (with the exception of the comic strip "Loose Canon"). He wears a red shirt, a dark brown jumpsuit, one yellow-gray glove and heavy boots, and his hands look disproportionately large for his figure; he is bald, has light stubble and blue eyes.

By nature, he is a quiet, good-natured and unflappable native of the Texas town of Bee Cave, who appreciates barbecue, guns and higher education. He's calm and reasonable, but he can flare up if he gets mad. Behind the appearance of a simple hard worker lies a genius with eleven doctorates in exact sciences and ten years of experience in the oil fields, who loves solving practical problems and making deadly devices.

The character's story is closely related to his family. His grandfather, Radigan Conagher, was hired by the Mann brothers to create a life-prolonging machine, which marked the beginning of the endless war of RED and BLU. Dell himself appears in the comic strip "Loose Canon", where he is called to repair that very car, and in "True Meaning", where he reads the Pyro Christmas Story, demonstrating his caring and somewhat detached nature.

Scout, whose real name is Jeremy, is the youngest mercenary in Team Fortress 2, originally from south Boston, where he grew up the youngest of eight sons in the family. His appearance matches the image of a street urchin: short, but wiry and fit, with short brown hair and brown eyes; he wears a team T-shirt, a black and blue baseball cap with a headset, sweatpants, fingerless gloves and army badges, and his main attributes are a bat, shotgun and pistol. The Scout's character is an explosive mixture of hyper—energy, self-confidence and childish bullying: he is fast both on his tongue and on his feet, loves to show off his speed, constantly provokes teammates and solves problems with his fists, but behind the ostentatious bravado lies a deeply insecure guy who desperately wants to prove his own importance. His story began with the need to survive: having seven older brothers, he trained running to be the first to get to a fight (or get away), and this speed made him an ideal aggressive flanker capable of hit-and-run tactics. In the TF2 comics, it is revealed that Jeremy is at least 26 years old at the time of the main events; he has a romantic interest in Miss Pauling, and his main storyline is related to the Spy — their constant rivalry and mutual barbs turn out to be a family drama, since it is the Spy who is the biological father of the Scout, which he has not known for a long time. Thus, Scout remains a tragicomic "eternal teenager": fast, daring and vulnerable, whose story turns a banal fight for money into a search for a fatherly figure and a place in the world.

The spy from Team Fortress 2 is an elegant and mysterious French mercenary, whose appearance and character have become the hallmark of the character. His standard look is a strict pinstriped suit (red or blue, depending on the team), an obligatory tie and a balaclava hiding his face, from under which only a piercing look is visible, and a cigarette is almost always smoldering in his teeth. For a long time, his true identity remained a mystery, but in the final comic of the series, released in 2024, the Spy finally removes the mask, and it turns out that underneath it lies an attractive man with dark hair and noble features that make him look like an adult Scout. The character's height is about 180 centimeters.

By nature, a Spy is the epitome of composure, prudence, and sarcasm. He holds himself aloof and arrogant, but at the same time has a peculiar charm and sense of style. His speech is refined and his manners impeccable, which stands in stark contrast to the rudeness of most of his fellow mercenaries. Despite his outward equanimity, he is no stranger to deep feelings: behind his ostentatious cynicism lies a capacity for affection and even sacrifice. In the official comics, his image is revealed more fully, showing that this "mystery man" is capable of sincere care and bitterness of loss.

The character's story is shrouded in mystery. A native of an undetermined region of France, he worked as a freelance assassin for most of the first half of the 20th century. Around 1945, the Spy began a whirlwind romance with the mother of seven children from Boston, as a result of which Jeremy, the future Scout, was born. The boy grows up not knowing his father, while the Spy realizes his paternity from afar. In 1968, a Spy joins the ranks of nine mercenaries hired to continue the endless war between the Mann brothers, and among his new colleagues turns out to be his own 23-year-old son, who does not even suspect their relationship.

The sniper is a tall, thin and wiry man whose appearance stands in stark contrast to typical Australians.:he is quite thin and tall. His face is decorated with a scar, received in a skirmish with a Spy. He wears a brown hat, partially transparent sunglasses, a dark vest over a team-colored shirt, plain dark trousers, and brown shoes. He wore a fingerless glove on his left hand. He has a quiver on his back, and he lives in a camper, which often becomes a reason for ridicule.

By nature, a Sniper is a closed, cold—blooded professional who puts efficiency above all else. His credo is: "Be polite. Work efficiently. Kill everyone who gets in the way." He rarely swears profanely and tries to maintain an appearance of civility, although in the heat of dominance he can brutally insult opponents. The long years spent alone in the Australian wilderness had taught him to rely only on himself. He takes his job as an assassin very seriously and is proud of it.

The character's story is full of unexpected twists. His real name is Man-Dii, but he grew up as Mr. Mundy in a family of Australian foster parents, with whom he has a difficult relationship due to his dissimilarity and career choice. The comic "Blood in the Water" reveals that the Sniper actually hails from the sunken country of New Zealand, and his biological parents are mad scientists Bill-Bel and Lar-Na, who accidentally sent him to Australia as a baby on a rocket. It is the lack of Australia's influence on his development that explains his lean physique. This fact comes as a deep shock to him, as it destroys all his ideas about his own origin.

Heavy, whose real name is Mischa (Mikhail), is a huge, imposing man from the USSR, who is a living personification of strength and might. His appearance is the classic image of a "mountain man": a bald head with light stubble, piercing blue eyes and a massive build. He wears a black bulletproof vest, a shoulder bandolier, a T-shirt in his team's colors (red or blue), gray pants and plain black shoes. His main weapon is a huge minigun, which he affectionately calls "Sasha" and treats with reverent love, comparing him to a family member.

Heavy's character is ambivalent and represents the classic trope of the "good-natured giant," which, however, can easily become deadly. Off the battlefield, he seems slow, taciturn, and even apathetic, preferring to be left alone. He is not stupid, but his manner of speech is simple, and his behavior is often compared to a wintering bear: he may seem sleepy and harmless until he is angered, after which he is able to "tear to pieces." Despite his rudeness and short temper, Heavy is very devoted to his team and family, whom he financially supports and protects. The comics also reveal his sentimentality: for example, he sleeps in the same room with "Sasha" and can be horrified if he accidentally upsets a child.

The character's story is full of tragedy. His father was executed as a counter-revolutionary, after which in 1941 Mischa, his mother and three sisters (Zhanna, Yana and Bronislava) were exiled to a gulag in Northern Siberia. Three months later, the camp was burned down, and all the prisoners escaped. This experience has tempered Heavy and, perhaps, explains his strength and endurance. Later, he became a test subject for the original ÜberCharge system, as a result of which his heart was replaced with a "Mega Baboon" heart, since his own heart was the strongest and could withstand overloads. Despite his difficult past, Heavy remains a patriot at heart, decorating his "Iron Curtain" with a hammer and sickle.

The medic from Team Fortress 2, whose full name is Herbert Ludwig Humboldt, is a classic mad scientist. His appearance is memorable at first glance: pale skin, short dark hair with a distinctive lock falling over his forehead, and round wire-rimmed glasses, which he wears for medical reasons. He is dressed in a long white coat, dark trousers and rubber gloves, which he almost never takes off. His face is often illuminated by a wide, almost frightening smile, and his sharp, hooked nose gives him a predatory expression. He speaks with a strong German accent, which emphasizes his origin from Stuttgart.

The character of a Medical man is a mixture of pathological sadism and genuine scientific enthusiasm. He lacks any compassion for patients and respect for human dignity, and perceives the treatment process only as an annoying side effect of his perverted experiments. His true passion is autopsy, vivisection, and the creation of monstrous hybrids, so he thrills huge needles into flesh and loves to perform risky unethical procedures on teammates. At the same time, he is not devoid of a peculiar affection: his only real friends are carrier pigeons, especially Archimedes, whom he got by stealing a catering van at the Prime minister's wedding. The comics also reveal his penchant for adventure: he made a deal with Lucifer, giving one of his souls in exchange for fifty years of life, but outsmarted the devil by implanting additional souls.

The character's story is shrouded in darkness. He grew up in Stuttgart in an era when the Hippocratic oath was just an empty formality, and, by his own admission, has no formal medical education. The medic lost his surgeon's license after stealing the skeleton of one of the patients, and also, according to the comics, he is able to resurrect the dead, which he proved on a Sniper.