By Kieron Gillen on July 10th, 2010 at 2:00 pm.
Catching up with the last few day’s Internet and I wonder how on earth I missed the wonderful dancing TF2 characters videos by Professional Animator James Benson which PC Gamer posted on Thursday. Because I’m drunk, 24-7, that’s why. God knows what Walker’s excuse is (Answer: He Is A Bad Healer). Anyway, better late than never, as Delightful Fiancée put it after the last pregnancy scare. I want you to all stand up while watching these, so you’re ready to give a standing ovation. And…
STANDING OVATION GO!
10/07/2010 at 14:06 AndrewC says:
Ooo, press play on all of them with a couple seconds of delay between each. Fun!
10/07/2010 at 14:07 Handsome Dead says:
Sorry, isn’t nearly as good as the troll dance.
Still pretty good though.
10/07/2010 at 14:19 Zogtee says:
Oh please, that was fantastic. Valve should hire this guy right away.
10/07/2010 at 20:53 Wulf says:
@HD
I’m short-sighed and I say you need your eyes checked, or perhaps your brain.
That was brilliant!
10/07/2010 at 22:26 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
C’mon, get the mob out of here and be nice on people with different opinions.
Srsly, majority is not an excuse, period. We, over at the ethics branch of philosophy, laugh at “the truth of majority”, it’s one of the biggest jokes of all*
If you want to be consistent with your other claims, you should aknowledge that how other people get bored shouldn’t be this relevant to anyone either.
——–
*Some of the others are:
Christianity and how Jesus doesn’t quite fit in the picture..
Hegel and his oh my spiral keep cumming… let’s kick in another Triad and stuff
Kant – an empty categoric imperative…man, what he was thinking!
Big binary and absolute dichotomies like Good and Evil, West and East, Us and Them…thank God for postmodernism
10/07/2010 at 23:36 Zogtee says:
@ Frankie The Patrician.
I have no idea what you just said. Something about Jesus and Kant playing TF2. I don’t know.
11/07/2010 at 02:21 Dr. Derek Doctors, DFA says:
@Frankie — Hold on now. When you fuck with Hegel, you fuck with me.
Me and the weltgeist, actually. And if there’s one thing that the Phenomenology teaches us, it’s that you don’t fuck with the world-spirit, the world-spirit fucks with you.
12/07/2010 at 14:24 Berzee says:
Can I say some stuff I know too? I used to watch this T.V. show with these two guys whose last name was Kratt, and they talked about animals. They added a Lemur Puppet to the show, and changed its name, whereupon it jumped the shark. That’s one thing I know.*
—–
* Others are:
– peeling a grapefruit and eating like an orange is pretty challenging, but rewarding
– I’m standing on one foot
– how to make shiny buttons on the internet
– how to be invisible
– some maths
– the Irish word for butterfly
12/07/2010 at 14:27 Berzee says:
Also — “be nice to people with different opinions” doesn’t really belong in the same post as a sort of world-blanketing mockery and pronouncement of various thoughts as “the biggest joke ever”. I like the latter better than the former, because it’s more honest and less froofy of you. But they don’t mix very well.
10/07/2010 at 14:18 DMcCool says:
Ew. Could do with, well, any other soundtrack. Time to experiment…
10/07/2010 at 14:18 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
Brilliant! He has some more nice videos on that account. Like the Rock, Paper, Shotgun animation (That was posted here too, right?)
10/07/2010 at 14:20 Vivian says:
Press play on each one second after the other for MAXIMUM DANCE
10/07/2010 at 14:22 Baka says:
EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!
10/07/2010 at 14:34 Spliter says:
Hah!
I’ve seen this guy quite a few weeks ago, the guy’s an animation genious I hope he gets hired for valve and makes the dance a new end of the round taunt.
10/07/2010 at 14:41 Metalfish says:
Brilliant, of course. But they’re way too fluid and slick to be something that you’d see in game or in the meet the team vids. No slight on Valve’s technique; they just have more deliberateness and heft to them in TF2 than in these fun little vids.
10/07/2010 at 14:49 rebb says:
I’m probably just weird, but the whole TF2 fandom has grown in a way that it now just seems very odd and forced.
A bit like furries with less fur and more wrench.
Oh well, to each his own.
10/07/2010 at 20:06 Spinoza says:
this. its starting to put me off playing. very odd. sadface
10/07/2010 at 20:08 Psychopomp says:
TF2 is far too memetic for it to not grow this way.
10/07/2010 at 20:18 Bloodloss says:
@Rebb You’re right, you’re just weird. People find it amusing watching the characters they play all the time do silly dances, that’s all. You’re looking too deeply into it and shouldn’t let such a harmless thing put you off playing.Comparing it to furries is just insulting.
10/07/2010 at 20:33 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
@Bloodloss:
Guess We Are Not The People, (err…Feeder got under my skin after several years, yes), then.
Insulting? C’mon, get a grip, it’s only a game, not a religion (and even then I’d tell you to get a grip, ahem :))
10/07/2010 at 20:58 Wulf says:
Some people just can’t stand watching others being creative, having fun, and enjoying themselves. To the point, in fact, where they can get neurotic and hateful because they feel they’re incapable of doing the same.
And yes, this applies to both furries, the TF2 scene, and just about anything where people have fun and are more creative than the average person.
TF2 hasn’t built up quite the level of widespread schizophrenia that furry has yet, though. For example: The reaction to a trailer to an upcoming film – Alpha and Omega – in a number of corners of the Internet was rather ridiculous. “The furries are winning, they’re going to rape our children!”
How about… less psychosis, more fun? Stop fretting over people having fun, and have a little fun yourself. You won’t regret it. You’ll probably feel healthier for it.
10/07/2010 at 21:02 Wulf says:
Well, incapable isn’t the best word for it, really. Anyone’s capable of having fun. It’s just that some people get so caught up fretting about the fun of others, and learning new and interesting ways to be angry with and irritated at them for it that they forget how to have fun themselves.
They get caught in this bizarre fun-must-be-destroyed rut. Instead, they should just find out what’s fun and entertaining for them and… well, do it! How other people have fun shouldn’t be this relevant to anyone.
10/07/2010 at 21:52 Spinoza says:
oh do not be so harsh on us misanthropes , Wulf , as, in some twisted way ,we have our fun too
even if that require sniffing a huge amounts of glue
10/07/2010 at 21:59 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
Mmm…glue..
10/07/2010 at 14:52 nk says:
Well I’m standing, and now I’m definitely ovationing. And then some.
10/07/2010 at 14:57 Poltergeist says:
Pyro is the best.
10/07/2010 at 14:59 Fumarole says:
Spy as Michael jack son was fantastic.
11/07/2010 at 03:31 DW40 says:
I believe you mean “Spy as Bob Fosse”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6TKArIoFu8
10/07/2010 at 15:08 Unaco says:
Hmmm… I’m meant to be going out for drinking, debauchery and dancing tonight. I think I’ve found me some new moves. Now I just need to find a club that plays non-stop C&C Music Factory… so that’ll be an early 90′s German gay bar.
10/07/2010 at 15:08 James Tao says:
Only really works if they don’t load *slightly* out of synch, of course, but such is life…
10/07/2010 at 18:18 sasayan says:
Let them play through once and it adjusts itself.
10/07/2010 at 15:30 James Benson says:
Hey everyone, really glad to see people enjoying these, even though they’re work in progress shots!
Few things:
It’s the same song b/c these will all be dancing together in a final video.
Kieron, I saw you at the one life left christmas party, but I was too scared to say hello.
Oh, and I’m the guy who made the 1st peson rock paper shotgun animation that was also posted on here! Potentially, you should make me the official RPS animator.
PEACE
10/07/2010 at 16:52 Web Cole says:
Can’t wait to see the finished product!
10/07/2010 at 17:38 the_fanciest_of_pants says:
Ve-ry nice.
Lots of attention to detail in there, to say nothing of the general awesomeness.
New rigs too I see! Very well done.
10/07/2010 at 18:46 Rosti says:
You’ve made me wish I was half as smooth as
a crazed gunmanan assassin. Bravo.12/07/2010 at 00:55 James T says:
Kudos mate, your work’s the most entertaining bit of TF2 material I’ve seen in ages; good luck finishing it up, and presumably doing other things.
10/07/2010 at 15:30 Heliocentric says:
Ova-tion egg/pregnancy pun opportunity missed. You are slipping KG.
10/07/2010 at 16:22 Andy says:
oh you beat me to it, apparently by an hour. I am dissapoint.
10/07/2010 at 19:45 Pmeie says:
Is that where the phrase “egging them on” comes from?
Also, unrelated to eggs, the ass slapping part at the end was slightly disturbing.
10/07/2010 at 16:16 Andy says:
“so you’re ready to give a standing ovulation”
I am dissapointed it did not say this
10/07/2010 at 19:46 Pmeie says:
But where does the ovulation/egg reference come in?
Are you just saying ovulation because that in itself is supposed to be funny?
10/07/2010 at 20:20 Rinox says:
Re: “pregnancy scare” in KG’s post.
- not KG
10/07/2010 at 16:52 Web Cole says:
Pyro seems the smoothest at this point, but for WIPs these are still freakin’ awesome :D
10/07/2010 at 17:19 bleeters says:
Hah, these are amazing, to the point where I want them as hugely impractical in-game taunts.
(Impractical because taunting leaves you incapable of defending yourself until the animation ends)
10/07/2010 at 20:26 Zogtee says:
You know what would be awesome? If both teams got together in the middle of a game and started dancing as one group, that’s what. :D
13/07/2010 at 22:00 JellyfishGreen says:
that would tie in nicely with the growing dance-fighting craze.
10/07/2010 at 17:19 Steve says:
now since the demoman is drunk most of the time i’m surprised that he can do a backflip
10/07/2010 at 17:27 Llama says:
I wish someone would create a Thriller video with the L4D characters
10/07/2010 at 17:44 N3gentropy says:
THE SPY IS A
MICHAEL JACKSONPEDOPHILE!10/07/2010 at 18:02 Sagan says:
I would like to see the heavy dancing the woman part.
Also: can you freely exchange the animations between the characters? I would like to see everyone do the Beyonce. Or maybe just the soldier, but then he should also be singing Single Ladies.
10/07/2010 at 18:20 Pyrex says:
Who else thinks the Heavy+Medic was the scariest one of those besides the spy?
10/07/2010 at 21:26 Antithesis says:
Are you kidding? That was wonderful!
Easily the best of the videos.
10/07/2010 at 23:08 Chris D says:
Wonderful and scary are not necessarily mutually exclusive in this case.
10/07/2010 at 18:48 DMJ says:
I love the way that the Medic flops a little as he is manhandled by the stronger, heavier Heavy but still bounces back into the dance. Animating one character well is a challenge, plausible interaction is the real fun.
10/07/2010 at 18:57 Lt.Unreal says:
give that man a golden wrench
10/07/2010 at 18:59 Player2 says:
Sheer, and utter brilliance.
10/07/2010 at 19:28 Player8 says:
Sniper = WIN
10/07/2010 at 19:37 Mad Doc MacRae says:
It’s… beautiful.
10/07/2010 at 20:01 Lord Byte says:
The pyro dance was also the most feminin dance of the bunch, I’m guessing this is deliberate :)
Srsly those rumours are gonna end up as : “Lady Gaga is Pyro!”
11/07/2010 at 01:42 Howl says:
It’s the Beyonce ‘single ladies’ dance, to C+C Music Factory… which doesn’t work but I guess he was limited by copyrights. Great animation though.
10/07/2010 at 20:08 Antlerbot says:
end of heavymedic makes eyes burn
10/07/2010 at 20:11 trigger190 says:
Actually, speaking of furries, a whole lot of people from the furry community seems to be active in Team Fortress 2, no idea why though.. :|
10/07/2010 at 20:40 DeepSleeper says:
The overlap of “people who are furries” and “people who enjoy video games” is fairly large.
10/07/2010 at 21:03 Wulf says:
*cheer!*
Can we have more of that, please? The Internet could always use more of this kind of thing.
10/07/2010 at 21:10 DXN says:
S
carexiest, you say?10/07/2010 at 21:27 piphil says:
Loving the heavy/medic animation. The “lift” portion of the sequence could be repeated in a later segment but with the lifter role swapped – followed maybe by crushing/bad back animation for the poor medic. :-P
10/07/2010 at 21:29 GHudston says:
The Heavy/Medic one was slightly disturbing… I LOVE IT!
10/07/2010 at 21:32 WTF says:
Speaking as a career medic I would pay good money for that Heavy/Medic dance as a joint taunt.
Seriously.
10/07/2010 at 22:41 Mad Doc MacRae says:
Speaking as a career heavy, YES.
<3
10/07/2010 at 21:50 Paul B says:
That Sniper dance reminded me.. I really should watch Napoleon Dynamite again (it’s a good movie) :)
10/07/2010 at 21:52 Jacques says:
This made my day, thank you
10/07/2010 at 23:05 Kit says:
Ooh, very nice. Me likes. Can’t wait for the finished scene.
11/07/2010 at 02:53 Rufust Firefly says:
Danceoff could easily replace sudden death mode and would be a lot more entertaining. (Particularly now since a lot of teams are engineer-heavy and it turns into a turtle stalemate.)
There’s that new Misc slot in character setup now– hopefully it’s intended for tap shoes for extra crits while dancing.
11/07/2010 at 03:22 Zane says:
What the &*(& Copy the blood elf / napolean dynamite dance on the sniper! Wow fail valve, another fail.
11/07/2010 at 03:38 DeepSleeper says:
…Valve? This is an independent animator, acting outside Valve. Working on his own.
I believe the “fail” belongs to you, my friend.
11/07/2010 at 04:58 Dr. WellLearned says:
Valve must satisfy our dire need for a “Westside Stories” map with these dance being the only things capable of doing.
11/07/2010 at 05:30 Archiebald says:
Not sure if you’ve seen the elusive spy-der crab :p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFN0YTUMBzU
11/07/2010 at 07:04 Jayt says:
Sniper as Napoleon Dynamite was a nice choice.
11/07/2010 at 07:27 Sugar says:
Very Awesome, and so nicely done! I love em!
Are you planning to do all of the classes?
I’d be looking forward to seeing the scout and engineer ones! :3
11/07/2010 at 08:12 Infinite Fruit says:
WOOT! That is BAD ASS!!! I don’t care if it’s not original; the dancing fits them awesomely. XD I can’t wait to see the finished stuff! :D
11/07/2010 at 08:13 NoobHero says:
these videos are excellent (except the end of the medic heavy pair. that was scary) anyway i think i would love to see scout with vanilla ice dance moves. seems more like him. hope you can make that a reality XD
11/07/2010 at 09:36 steel says:
im not a crazed man dad, im an assasin!
:0
11/07/2010 at 11:26 kutkh says:
In an awesome parallel universe, someone just made a series of shooting animations for a popular online team-based dance game.
11/07/2010 at 13:20 Sexuality Expert says:
that looked gay, especially the medic-heavy couple- UGH, GAY
it’s only appropriate for the pyro character in my opinion. Disturbingly appropriate
Signed, an expert in sexuality, phd
11/07/2010 at 13:24 Sonic Goo says:
If there’s one thing games need it’s better animations. Someone hire this guy before the movie industry swoops in.
11/07/2010 at 18:47 scotty says:
lol at the end of the heavy medic one, spanky spankey ;)
11/07/2010 at 19:00 Kevlar says:
OMG MICHEAL JACKSON IS THE SPY ^^
12/07/2010 at 14:24 jon_hill987 says:
He definitely needs to animate a load of L4D zombies to dance behind the spy to Thriller.
11/07/2010 at 22:02 Embernikov says:
boy would i like to see THIS during humiliation :D
the medic and heavy ARE gay >_> they are a couple, it’s obvious.
12/07/2010 at 06:40 Thomas Faust says:
Wow… This guy obviously has too much time on his hands. Nice job!
12/07/2010 at 11:21 kjr says:
The heavy/medic thing should be a special melee attack the heavy can do on enemy medics.
12/07/2010 at 11:31 FIONCE(fee-ounce-ay) says:
MOAR LIEK STANDING OVULATIONS AMIRITE?
12/07/2010 at 11:48 ANormalUser says:
The end of the Medic and Heavy one was just akward to watch, but the Spy was brilliant.
12/07/2010 at 14:53 Br0THA says:
Dear Animator,
Would you be so kind to use Otto von Schirach’s adaption of this song? (another night another rave)
That would be great.
nice animations animator
12/07/2010 at 15:54 Bob says:
A dance as an ‘end of round taunt’? THIS is the stuff that destroys otherwise exceptional games. The animation in the videos is, of itself, outstanding, an accolade that would strip itself from the very object it pertains to if one where to actually implement a dance routine in TF2. How about we keep those dance routines right where we found them, in the videos, OUT of the game. You want dancing in a shooter, go buy Star Wars Galaxies or the Sims.
12/07/2010 at 16:43 TotalBiscuit says:
You want crafting in a shooter? Go play an MMO. You want hats in a shooter? Go play The Sims. You want humour in a shooter? Pfft, go play a point-and-click. You want incremental content updates? Go play a subscription game.
Do you see where I’m going with this and how absurd it is in the context of TF2?
12/07/2010 at 16:21 Emew says:
I’m glad scout wasn’t the Napoleon dance but i’m also sad sniper got stuck with it =/ Scout better be like..a break dancer.
12/07/2010 at 18:34 Kevlar says:
The Pyro should shoot at 0: 01 flames ^^ THAT IS EPIC :D
13/07/2010 at 05:42 James IV says:
Great work, I wish I knew how to do this. Also can someone tell me where to post GMod photos (I have some great ones)
13/07/2010 at 08:58 The Paralized says:
Actually, if I got it right, he’s already working for Lionhead Studios. But I might have been tricked by someone.
Anyway, he’s an awesome animator and I’m happy he publishes some of his fun animations on youtube :D
14/07/2010 at 01:15 zaraithe says:
I remember there was once an RTD mode called Dance Fever(stopped and taunted nonstop for a few seconds), and it was catching..that could work
14/07/2010 at 08:10 pAceMaker says:
Great work!
Pitty you have ADD though :(
15/07/2010 at 23:15 DrStupid says:
This is wrong on SOOOO many levels. But I love it. Especially the Heavy/Medic buttbuddy duo.
08/08/2010 at 15:28 Agro says:
KritzKast, the TF2 podcast, have just published their interview with James ‘thejazzman’ Benson about his work creating these TF2 Dance Videos and life as an animator in general.
08/09/2010 at 00:42 bob says:
The sniper dance is taken directly from animations of the Bloodelf Male dance in wow, itself originally from Napoleon Dynamite.
Still the rest are damn nicely done and the last is awesomely choreographed!