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number1yisuchongfan · 2 years ago

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My full version of Cmedic aka Dr Rubén Pacifico Jabir Rodríguez

Some info on Cmedic:

His personality is a mix between Spy from Tf2, Aracade Gannon from FO:NV, and Augustus Sinclair Esquire from Bioshock 2 + that ��smoking army doctor” stereotype. He’s 5’6, second shortest (the shortest is Fred, who’s 5’3) and 3rd youngest (the youngest is Greg aka CScout who was born in 1906 making him 24 by the events of tfc), and is by far the most sane out of them all.

He’s can be very sarcastic and pessimistic at times to the point it pisses people off. Cheavy has been “accidentally” used as his personal ashtray at times as well but Cmedic always makes it up to him. He also tends to stay away from alcohol when the tfc mercs ever went out to bars, mostly just dancing to take his mind of it.

He can be very nice but most of time he’s too tired or just doesn’t care enough to deal with anything more than picking up a few papers and smoking (his clinical depression makes this worse). Cheavy and CSniper or Virgil worry about him constantly, Cheavy as a romantic partner and Virgil as an older brother figure.

He came to New York City from Panama with his parents (His father is Honduran and his mother is Panamanian), who were doctors themselves but found it tough to keep jobs in the US. He ended up being a provider for his family, much like Scout, and is a lil momma’s boy and while he and his dad became strained (they still love each other).

Cheavy actually got to meet them for Christmas once and got so embarrassed around Cmedic’s mother he could barely stay in the same room as her (he is over a foot taller than her). No matter how many Cmedic explained to him that his mother actually thinks he’s quite a nice man; Cheavy worried she hated him. Cmedic gave up after that.

His story after tfc is.. convoluted. He and Cheavy ended up getting married but he had a sense that something was going to happen, so for nearly 8 after their marriage in the summer 1939, they were at peace, started growing old together. Until one day he got a call from the Administrator, who he knew from his work with Mann Co., and she forced his hand into up and leaving his life for her. He had rejected at first, leading to many near death experiences for Cheavy in the weeks after the call. Cmedic realized if he wanted to protect Cheavy; He had to leave him. So he divorced him, the whole thing coming as a blindside to Cheavy, and became the Administrator’s spy. He recruited Engineer to become a part of the group after the teams disbanded.

He’s also very gay, and I mean GAY. He doesn’t let people really know he is (for safety reasons) but the rest of the mercs but Cheavy (he realized two weeks later) clocked him as as gay guy

Now have some art of him + Cheavy:

#tf2 #tfc #team fortress 2 #team fortress classic #tfc medic #cmedic #classic medic #tf2 headcanon #I love this man okay??#he’s my special lil bilingual clinical depressed doctor #he’s just a lil guy with a big heart #tf2 fan art #tf2 Art

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blubushie · 2 years ago

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Monsieur Blu, your blorbo opinions on Sniper are very accurate, and I would like to add on to the discussion of why mischaracterisations are so common.

I do apologize if my wording in this makes me sound like a pretentious cunt, this is simply how my brain uses words when writing something thoughtful.

Preface: your opinions, although very good and accurate, are not canon, for they aren't explicitly depicted or shown or mentioned within canon. So I won't be calling them canon, but rather, canon-compliant. That is, your characterization of Sniper as a bushman, who is a strict proffesional hitman, who lives in a modified Land Rover series 1 with a cabover camper, is not wrong. In fact, all of that is literally canon. But there are few things that are genuinely, no ifs and or buts about it, rigidly canon. And, because of the nature of tf2's story, so much of what we can gather about the characters outside of the rigid canon is simply that- gathered assumptions. Like, we can gather that Sniper has absolutely spent time alone in the bush, and that he prioritizes thinking of things in a logical and practical mannor, rather than prioritizing thinking about what counts as "civilised" and "appropriate", especially in social contexts. He does what he has to, and is comfortable in doing those things basically shamelessly. For example: He abruptly headshot csniper, point blank, completely starkers. And proceeded to walk about, completely starkers. After sitting down next to spy and casually having a smoke with him, completely starkers. But none of what I wrote before the example is explicitly said, it's all gathered info. Sniper isn't shown skinning a rabbit and sorting through its meat and bones and viscera in order to eat and save the extras for later. He isn't shown tracking and hunting game. He isnt shown drinking the bitterest coffee to grace the earth, or smoking pot. And although some things seem obvious and make the most amount of sense, or seem incredibly accurate to his character, to the point where that thing is basically canon, my autism does not allow me to ignore the distinction. And so, I call it canon-compliant. Mostly for my own peace of mind. Yes. Rant over. Onwards.

I think the whole uwu blushes madly gulps loudly and stutters like a broken record thing comes from the Basic Knowledge you gain of Sniper's character. Through either playing the game and interacting and consuming canon content like the comics and whatnot, or through interacting with and consuming fan content through tumblr or twitter or fanfics, etc.

The latter being much more likely to lead to mischaractarisations of characters. In fandom, folks obviously have their own interpretations of literally everything, but there are some common themes that I suppose would be called fanon (an implicit collection of concepts and ideas that are often used in fan depictions of characters, but don't explicitly exist (or often don't exist at all) in the real storys canon.), that have become very common over the around 12 years that tf2 has had a storyline.

Now, there was a poll conducted a bit ago on tumblr that asked about the tf2 fandom's interraction with canon. How many people actually played tf2? How many people read the comics? How many people do both? How many people do neither and only interract with tf2 through fandom and fanfiction?

And that last one got a surprisingly large percentage of votes. So it's safe to say that fanon definitely has quite a bit of significance within the fandom, and it's not just an insulated thing that gets shared around a group of people. I'd say, in fact, that newcomers to tf2 are far more likely to be exposed to fanon than they are to be exposed to canon/canon-compliant ideas.

And oftentimes, the Basic Knowledge one gathers about Sniper upon consuming fan content, is as follows:

- Reclusive and quiet

- Awkward

- Tall and lanky

- Deep voice

- Speaks strine

- Lives in a camper

- Pisses in jars

- Cherishes proffesionalism

- Hates spies

And most of that is not... technically wrong. Although it is a very shallow, uncritical, reductive analysis of Sniper's character, it's not wrong. But because of how much time all of that has spent marinating within fandom, parts become exagerated or ignored. And what was once a very basic understanding of the character, becomes the understanding of the character, alongside a myriad of added tropes and ideas. All of it becomes further and further removed from canon.

It's like trying to draw something from memory 20 times over the course of 2 years. You spend a good hour studying what you're about to draw, but after that, you never see the thing again, you never reference the original source material again. It's completely from memory now. You're going to forget some parts, you're going to add on new parts, you're going to explore new ideas, you're subconsciously going to be influenced by the media and content you consume, which tends to change over the years. Your drawings will likely start to resemble the source material less and less.

And every once in a while, you may catch a glance at the thing you've been drawing from memory, and you get a refresher as to what it actually looks like. And maybe from then on you'll draw it more accurately to the source material. Or maybe you'll ignore it, and continue drawing the thing your way, because you've come to like the changes and additions you've applied to it over the months.

Or, you'll see someone else draw the thing in a different but intriguing way, a stylised way, and you find yourself adopting aspects of how they drew the thing in the intriguing and stylised way. You'll adopt the way they make things more angular and rough. Or the way they crosshatch meticulously to indicate shadow. Although these changes seem minute and insignificant, they add up, and eventually you are left with something entirely unique to what your source material is.

And I think that's what's happened with our beloved bushman. He has undergone so many interpretations simply because of the sheer size and age of tf2. And there are eras to it all, and the most common fanon depictions is often dependent of where you consume your tf2 content from; whether its from tumblr, twitter, deviantart, instagram, reddit, or the game and the steam community itself.

Not all artists use references in the same way as eachother. Some do browse the tf2 wiki and refer to the comics in order to get as accurate of a depiction as possible. But some use other peoples' depictions as references. And maybe there's a popular fic that many people read, or a drawing that many people saw, that influenced other artists to also borrow and use and base their own drawings and writings off of.

Shy reclusive clutz who doesn't know squat about intimacy or how to People is simply a popular trope, and having Sniper be all of that clashes in a funny way with his professionalism in a way that a lot if people enjoy. Like, you're telling me this worldly survivalist assassin, man who has slept in the corpse of water buffalo tougher than all of us, happens to also be a pathetic wet cat of a human being who can't sustain basic conversation without being irked by the Anxieties? This man, who will shag you silly, unflinchingly and confidently, but when you wake up the next morning in his bed he's as red as a robin and stuttering about clean clothes? That's silly. That's amusing. I can see why it's popular to make him like that.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with fanon or ones own interpretation of a character. There's nothing wrong with adhering to canon as closely as possible. If someone claims Sniper as their wife and makes that their own fanon, so be it. We can all coexist. Mmmmyeah.

Ok thank you for reading this thumbsup

Good morning!

(And I don't think you sound like a pretentious cunt. It gives me "theorising over cigars and Scotch with old English bloke in a 1930s smoking room" vibes. I like it!)

I try to keep as canon-compliant as possible. Sniper is confirmed to be a former hunter of dangerous game turned assassin, and he's shown drinking his coffee black, the rest is merely speculation both on his canon characterisation and my own experiences and assumptions on my life. I rarely comment/speculate on the canon incarnation of a character for this reason. On this blog for example Sniper is Sniper and Mundy is Mundy. My characterisation and interpretation of him is Mundy, if I say Sniper I'm referring to him as he's depicted in canon.

Also I don't think he smokes hooch because, again from my own experiences, bushmen develop a very delicate sense of smell and the smell of hooch is overwhelming and disgusting to me. Smell like decomposition in a way.

And I do think a lot of the mischaracterisation issue is because of people not consuming everything they can from the fandom. The comics teach you that Sniper can be cold and bloody calculated, that he always felt like an "other" growing up, that he has no qualms walking about in the nuddy when he's on the hunt, that he treasures his family and seeks his parents' approval over everything, and that his mantra of "be professional" is sometimes taken to the extreme, for example when he's raised from the dead and his first thought of all things is "Being dead's the longest holiday I ever took. Time to get back to work."

Fanon often infects people's interpretation of canon characters. I see it a lot with Pyro, where he's always chipper and upbeat and uwu soft boy and never goes absolutely apeshit like we see in his very own Meet the Pyro video or even the comics (The Bear Scene, cutting off Soldier's hand, burning Ross and Greg alive).

I reckon a part of that is why my characterisation is good? That makes me sound like I have tickets on myself, but I was told once that I have one of the best characterisations of him a reader's ever seen and I will carry that compliment until the day I die, damn it! I was never involved in the fandom until I started writing. And I came here to kind of promote the fic I guess? I never consumed fandom content outside of art, and I don't usually gravitate toward "domestic" art but instead the mercs in action as mercs. My interpretation of him is strictly from what I've seen in canon (be it in-game dialogue and items, the Meet the Team videos, Expiration Date, the comics, the Sniper vs Spy update, etc). I never really consumed "fandom" media and I can't count how often my immediate response to something is "Canon Sniper would not say that."

But I keep my mouth shut about it, and I move on. There's no point in arguing, especially over something so petty.

I think he can still be anxious and professional, especially since I'm anxious and professional. I get nervous when people approach me, but I don't get red in the face or flustered or stutter. I mask and keep it under wraps because I have a certain image I have to uphold in the name of professionalism. No one will hire someone who's a fumbling, stumbling mess. They want someone bold. Sniper wouldn't have gotten any clients if he was actually the way he's often depicted in fandom. He can hold a conversation, but he can also be made more and more uncomfortable the longer it continues on. It's a careful balance and something he'd suffer through for the sake of professionalism until he couldn't take it anymore and politely excused himself.

And he'd never do it with a client.

And yes, he's absolutely the type to be keen on a confident root and then be a mess the next morning because he usually leaves before his partner wakes up and now he has no idea how to handle the Aftermath.

And I reckon a lot of it is also my own experiences? I'm a bushman who lives in the Australian Outback like Sniper, and a hunter of dangerous game, like Sniper. One of the last, really, and I reckon a part of me does feel I have a sort of... authority, I guess, on certain aspects his characterisation? On what this kind of life does to you and makes you feel as a person, of how it changes the way you act and think. Maybe that's why I write him the way I do? I relate to him as a character better than most can, I suppose.

And sometimes I even take offence to certain assumptions about him, especially ones that aren't really thought through in fanon? Like the idea he smells like piss, or he's always dirty. Sure, there's some dirt and dried blood on my clothes, but I wash up every day because hygiene is very important out here. Maybe the reason I'm so stingy about his depiction in fandom is because I'm a lot like him. I don't want people saying I'm a dirty bushman or that I smell like piss because I don't.

I suppose it just hurts sometimes to see people's interpretation of what Sniper must be like and see that reflected onto me because I'm so much like him. I'm not shy, I'm introverted. I don't panic when someone approaches me, but I do get a little nervous until I know what they want. I'm strong and capable and I wouldn't have survived this long out here if I weren't. I'm level-headed. I'm quiet, because that's what the job requires. When you're alone long enough, eventually you just stop talking entirely.

People talk about representation a lot and I've never once felt "represented" until I found out about Sniper. There's I suppose a mild exception for Crocodile Dundee, but he's largely made out to be a buffoon and doesn't really get to show off his actual bushman knowledge until the second movie. Sniper is the first character I've actually felt represented by and "clicked" with who's been treated seriously by his own creator, and I enjoy that. I'm used to being the butt of a joke (bogan, short, etc) but with Sniper? He's respected as a hitman, as an assassin, as a hunter. I envy that respect that other characters in canon show him.

But I don't typically comment on things I think people get intrinsically wrong since I feel like an arsehole doing it. I just judge silently.

#blu whos #tf2 #sniperposting

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