#They'll ALWAYS be my number one brotp

[i-eat-your-pancakes-art]

Update on Through Thick and Thin + Pointing Out TF2's Separate Continuities

First of all, my fic project is moving along well, about 1/3 of the art is done. Not what I'm here to discuss, though.

So it finally happened...damn, I kinda thought comic issue #7 would be coming out around springtime. Merry Christmas to us. I won't go into my thoughts on the comic here, but its surprise release made me realize I should make sure my audience is aware of some distinctions between the game versus the numbered comics issues.

The numbered comics are actually unrelated to my story, and I'll explain why that is. This post will be long, but I feel compelled to make some things clear to everyone who's been following me before I publish the story. I'm the type of writer who really wants her audience to understand her thought process. I dove WAAAAY deep into official statements and material to make sure this post is all accurate, as well as to give myself the peace of mind that my fic can be canon-compliant to the game itself, which is all I care about. This also means that I won't be stepping on the toes of people who prefer to focus more on the comics. That’s a relief because I’d been a bit nervous about putting this story out there.

I want you to know that this fic was written with the game itself's continuity in mind, not the continuity of the numbered comics. Issue #7's release doesn't even affect my fic in any way. So why am I making this distinction? Well, there's something important that a lot of people either forget or never heard in the first place. I blame Valve for not marketing this fact better, but whatever.

Here's the deal. In the official comics, it's stated that TF2, the game, is a "dramatization" of the war between RED and BLU. It makes sense why Valve said this. It's why so much that happens in the numbered comics is never mentioned in the actual game + SFM videos and vice versa. The game and the numbered comics aren't canon to each other since there are differences that make them incompatible. They're two valid but separate continuities told in different mediums/formats.

You could say that the game + SFM shorts and those silly one-off update comics are continuity A, with the original , much loser style of worldbuilding, in which RED and BLU fight each other for territorial control all over the world. And that's all there is to it. There is no one epic plotline or ending to this version of the world. The later comics feature continuity B, which take the characters introduced in the game and put them in a new format with a single, long-running story that eventually ends. The split more or less occurs when Gray and the robots are introduced to give a story reason for the RED vs BLU war to "end."

So, what's the difference and why'd they choose to make the later comics their own new distinct continuity? Read on, and I'll go over some key differences between these continuities for those of you who weren't aware, and then I'll talk about where writing fanfiction (like mine) stands in all of this. This will be long, about two pages of a word doc, so I'm putting the rest under a cut.

The game is said to be a "dramatization" of the RED and BLU conflict that's similar to the "gravel wars" as they're called in the comic universe, but with all classes present on both teams for a total of 18 mercs. It's never explained why, but everyone rolls with it as "just how it is." There doesn't need to be an explanation because it works so well already. It's honestly really funny to think that RED and BLU just so happened to hire a bunch of guys that look exactly alike and it’s never explained. I've seen a lot of people write game-universe fics that propose one team are original mercs and the other team are their clones, created just to fight them. But I always thought it'd be funniest with no clones or whatever, just a series of wacky coincidences in which RED and BLU happen to hire 9 pairs of extremely similar people. It's so absurd and impossible that it fits the silliness of the game perfectly, don't you think? This way, things are so even that the fights are endless. It works out perfectly, so don't overthink it! Just have fun with it like I am.

Meanwhile, the numbered comic issues only ever show 9 individuals, no doubles. In this comic storyline, some were RED and some were BLU before merging to fight Gray. It looks like there'd been 5 REDs and 4 BLUs. Since there are absolutely no duplicate mercs in the comic, different from what had been established in the original game continuity, this just can't be the same setting. The “rules” are different. And that’s why the game and numbered comics are weren’t intended to be the same continuity. It bugs me that more people don't know this. Again, I blame Valve for not advertising that better.

And of course the older, non-numbered, one-off silly comics that were released to go along with game updates aren't to be lumped in with the numbered issue comics and what builds up to them with Gray and the Robots. Those have featured members of both teams and are tied to the game itself, which they were created to promote. They’re part of continuity A. The same goes for the Meet the Team videos and Expiration Date. Notably, these feature some mercs (like RED Engie or some of the BLUs) that don't even exist in the continuity B of the numbered comics, so that’s why they aren't connected.

It makes sense why the numbered comic issues had to go the route they did with no doubles because it would've been very confusing to have 18 of them running around in the story, especially if they were all look a-likes. The story is kind of a mess already, imagine twice that mess! The plot would've suffered for it. But it's the reason why those comics aren't meant to be the same setting. It’s clear: all 9 of RED team and all 9 of BLU team are real only in the game itself’s universe which has a much looser set of rules.

I won't lie, I’m only interested in writing for what I see in the game’s universe instead of for the numbered comic issues. There's far fewer things to restrict you and more freedom to make the scenario you want because the game continuity has no ending, just a series of shorts that go along with it. There's plenty of fun stuff to work with in this version of the world but no definite end to the game itself. Just countless fights across countless maps. The comic issues never mention the mercs fighting anywhere besides some of the spots in and around Teufort, NM. Meanwhile, the game takes us to other regions, continents, and even outer space! We don't even know what order the teams could've visited all the maps in or who won which fights where. We’re not supposed to know who wins. That's for the outcome of each individual match to decide! The game versions of the setting and mercs leaves much more creative room to work with.

Here's how I look at it: The numbered comic issues tell one long, winding story. Meanwhile, the game's method of storytelling is just like a really violent cartoon with random, unrelated episodes as told by the shorts and matches ingame. If you have an idea for a story but you've hesitated because it'd clash with the numbered comics' storyline, like I once did, I hope this has encouraged you to look at it another way. Word of God says they’re two separate continuities. Just use the game's version as your setting! There's so much potential there!

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Now for why I felt the need to blab about all this...I chose to use the game's setting for my fanfic because the numbered comics' plot is far more defined and doesn't leave room for what I wanted to accomplish. RED Engie and BLU Sniper don't exist in the numbered comics, which sucks because you can't write them always being on the same team in that universe. One could use RED Sniper and BLU Engie for it, in fact I know I've seen people do that. For me personally, so much happens in the numbered comics that it would just complicate things too much to try this route. There's a chance that the comic's version of "Mick" and "Dell" strike up a friendship in the midst of all the chaos of the comic but that's too complicated for me to want to touch. (The ending makes that outcome possible, but I would get a headache trying to shoehorn my own story into all of that. I also don’t wanna put up with all the angst in the comics.) I tip my hat to those of you who write your fics in the comics universe. I'll just stick to the game, which I'm actually very happy with because of the freedom it allows. I like this version of "canon" better anyway, but that's just my preference.

It's still unrelated to my fic, but to end this I'll go ahead and shout out that Valve actually threw me one last bone: Engie and Sniper sitting right next to each other once again at the dinner table in the final comic scene. I'll take it. :) They've been shown next to each other enough times to make me wonder if someone at Valve shares my feelings on these two, as well. That's probably me reading too much into it, but hey, it's fun to speculate.

TL;DR my fic with RED Engie and Sniper is meant for the setting of the main game/SFM shorts universe, not the universe of the numbered comics. Remember, they're canonically two separate canons!

I'll probably be adding a shorter version of what I just wrote to the author's notes of the fic once it's published so that everyone who reads it will be aware. Both canons are fictional to us, so we can all choose whichever version of canon we want to focus on in our fan works and discussion. I'm glad I can say that, because it means my fic will be canon-compliant to what I care about most: the game that's had a hold on my heart for the past 14 years. The comics look fantastic and tell a compelling story many years in the making, but they aren't the canon I prefer to focus on. But that's just me.

If you read this whole thing, thank you for sticking with me. It means a lot to know that people still take interest in my work and read my ramblings!

[trinketstar]

Jyushimatsu for the ask thing !

You know what I'm ALL ABOUT, ANON!! You all knew this was coming :3

favorite thing about them

EVERYTHI- ok for real

He's funny. Most of all he is the FUNNIEST character in that show and has so many of the most memorable moments. He bends reality he's completely off the wall and nobody knows what his deal is. JUST. FUN!!! REALLY FUN! He was my favorite from the beginning but he didn't become a comfort chara until the "Jyushi falls in love" ep. I love that out of everyone, they tackled something so heavy with the silliest character they had. I've written about this a million times so you get the picture! It means a lot to me!

least favorite thing about them

That he's too stupid to remember that he couldve GOT HOMURA'S PHONE NUMBER AND STAYED IN TOUCH - ok it's fine i'm totally over that episode *ahem

I felt kinda eeeehh about how he was written in s3 for the most part.. I DIDNT HATE IT? But he seemed really toned down and acted.. angrier? I think that's the point where I realized the version of him I'd been writing on my ask blog was a completely different character.

(Not that that's a bad thing at all! I mean I'm not a team of comedy writers in japan, I'm one person that just CANNOT HELP HERSELF when faced with the chance to write something dumb n cutesy sappy. I like writing jokes but my stuff always ends up very... soft. I wish I was funnier. But so it goes! )

favorite line

And in the "jyushimatsu and concepts" skit where he talked about being a plus and minus with ichi.

brOTP

WHO ELSE COULD IT BE BUT SUUJI. lol I love any "happy and grumpy" friendship. (everyone who sees my comics is like GEE YOU DON'T SAY) but I don't CARE if it's obvious those kinda friendships make me so happy. I love how perceptive Jyushi is to Ichi's feelings. I love how Ichi is the most likely to see Jyushi as an equal while the others see him as more of a kid. They have this mutual respect for eachother and don't have to pretend about anything cause there's no judgement. It's chill it's very sweet. And also very silly because they'll just enable each other into the weirdest stuff till the others walk in like "what the hell are they doing"

OTP

*Thinks abt Homura and cries

Theyre so goofy silly perfect weirdos together and staff never brought her back because they hate me specifically.

nOTP

I can't think of any besides the obvious. Jyushi doesn't really get any crack ships like the others, not that he needs one.

random headcanon

why am i blanking on this I did rp as this guy for 5 years... maybe it's that I can't choose just one?

um I'll go with this

unpopular opinion

Koby said this already but I must reiterate.

he knows what sex is.

song i associate with them

I MADE A WHOLE PLAYLIST, BUCKO!

But most of all is "Walking the Dog" by fun.

Also "Boys Will Be Bugs" by cavetown may as well be angsty teenage Jyushi's theme song. I'm not even a big fan of cavetown but it's just too fitting.

Also of course that "broken glass" song from victorious because that video is still my pride and joy.

favorite picture of them