By Adam Smith on June 25th, 2012 at 4:37 pm.

Edit: Errrrr, also a massive update for TF2. Details below.
So, that Valve/Adult Swim collaboration. As many speculated, it will be the Meet the Pyro video and, yes, ‘will be’. It was foolish of us to think that the video would just appear without any foreplay, so instead there’s the image above, which tells us that something else will happen on June 27th. I’m guessing that actually will be the video, unless they choose to release one frame every couple of days, some hidden at secret locations around the world, the precise position hidden in Morse code messages transmitted on secret websites that can only be found by reading tea leaves through a specific kaleidoscope constructed in 1924.
What will we learn?
Only two things are known for sure about the mysterious Pyro: he sets things on fire and he doesn’t speak. In fact, only the part about setting things on fire is undisputed. Some believe his occasional rasping wheeze may be an attempt to communicate through a mouth obstructed by a filter and attached to lungs ravaged by constant exposure to his asbestos-lined suit. Either way, he’s a fearsome, inscrutable, on-fire Frankenstein of a man – if he even is a man.
On-fire men are among the most worrying kinds of men.
Edit: Of course, when I wrote that, thinking there was just a teaser image, I was sorely mistaken. That’ll teach me to make jokes about being teased by images. Team Fortress 2 has actually been updated, which I failed to notice, kicking off a week of Pyromania.
Day One of Pyromania reveals Doomsday, a new map with a brand new game mode that lets you relive one of the darkest days in TF history. It’s all pretty heartwrenching, until you discover you’ll get achievements, which are also detailed in today’s update.
Keep your eyes open, folks. We’ll be announcing a bunch of new stuff this week, right up until the premiere of Meet the Pyro this Wednesday.
Obviously, my initial post remains, testament to my lack of brilliance.



25/06/2012 at 16:42 Ross Mills says:
You’re worried by flaming men?
Oh dear… :P
25/06/2012 at 16:42 Hilden2000 says:
“He”? What’s this ‘he” business? Everybody knows the Pyro’s female!
25/06/2012 at 16:44 Incredulous Dylan says:
Wrap it up folks – the purse means nothing!
25/06/2012 at 16:48 phuzz says:
I know, lets wait until the end of this week until we’ve seen the Meet The Pyro video, and then argue about it.
25/06/2012 at 17:35 Koozer says:
I hope you don’t believe Meet the Pyro will actually shed any light on the matter!
25/06/2012 at 22:53 Dances to Podcasts says:
You look like you know more about this than you’re letting on.
25/06/2012 at 16:50 Hilden2000 says:
Your mom’s purse means nothing!
Sorry, that was rude of me.
25/06/2012 at 16:56 squiddy3000 says:
Cool it guys, no flaming.
26/06/2012 at 15:02 psaldorn says:
It’s hard to stop heated discussions.
27/06/2012 at 17:29 tormeh says:
But it would be nice if we avoided igniting the wrong sort of emotions.
25/06/2012 at 16:45 Winged Nazgul says:
OMG Spoilers!
25/06/2012 at 18:10 blueagle says:
“if he even is a man”
26/06/2012 at 21:26 BambiBlue says:
That could mean non-human too. Ooooh I’m excited!
26/06/2012 at 04:15 Akatsuki says:
Pyro is female! She wields the homewrecker!
25/06/2012 at 16:42 Etalyx says:
You might consider reading the official TF2 blog, which states plainly that the video will be revealed on Wednesday, among other details… ;)
26/06/2012 at 00:36 egg-zoo-bear-ant will e 91 says:
Hmm maybe I should take my tranquilizers and wake up then
25/06/2012 at 16:42 Luringen says:
http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8260
Yes
Edit: Ninja’d
25/06/2012 at 16:42 Tehninjah says:
Holy shit have I waited for this.
Oh, and monkeynauts!
25/06/2012 at 16:44 CrookedLittleVein says:
Looks like things are heating up.
25/06/2012 at 16:46 Dozer says:
They’ve kept this one on the back burner for ages.
25/06/2012 at 16:47 EPICTHEFAIL says:
Yeah, the community seem to be quite fired up about this one.
25/06/2012 at 17:01 Cooper says:
But the haters will just try to shoot it down in flames.
25/06/2012 at 17:02 Moni says:
It’ll take more than a hundred new hats to rekindle my interest in the game.
25/06/2012 at 17:16 Rusty says:
I’m pretty lukewarm on the idea, myself.
25/06/2012 at 20:05 Toberoth says:
That would be emberassing.
26/06/2012 at 00:52 egg-zoo-bear-ant will e 91 says:
scintillating comments
25/06/2012 at 17:09 Hilden2000 says:
Well this sparked my interest.
25/06/2012 at 17:18 Vinraith says:
I suspect this is just a smoke screen for some other announcement.
25/06/2012 at 17:58 MrTambourineMan says:
Just stop with this flame war!
25/06/2012 at 18:24 Hunchback says:
My HDD went on fire, downloading TF2 again with 5mb/s
25/06/2012 at 18:28 empyrion says:
I might be firing up TF2 again after this.
25/06/2012 at 18:47 pepper says:
I have the burning sensation that this might feul a flamewar.
25/06/2012 at 18:59 CrookedLittleVein says:
MUHAHAHAHA
25/06/2012 at 16:46 Dozer says:
Urist McPyro has picked up a !!xPig Tail Sockx!!
26/06/2012 at 01:39 Dilapinated says:
Urist McPyro cancels Capture Point: Spychecking Team-Mate on the other side of the map.
25/06/2012 at 16:46 Iain_1986 says:
So there was a build up….to the release of an image….announcing the release of a trailer, for the actual product/update.
People give the film industry stick sometimes for having “trailers for trailers”, but man is this not getting a bit OTT?
25/06/2012 at 16:47 Adam Smith says:
There was a build up to me being an idiot and THINKING that it was just the release of an image. My expectations have been lowered. That’s my excuse!
25/06/2012 at 16:50 Iain_1986 says:
Yes, just saw your edit!
25/06/2012 at 20:27 Davie says:
Smacks of Dawnguard, doesn’t it?
25/06/2012 at 16:46 Kaira- says:
So… if we add Valve Time to mix… maybe sometime in January 2013?
25/06/2012 at 16:49 byteCrunch says:
2013? Bit optimistic.
25/06/2012 at 16:47 Unaco says:
So, is this a taster of a teaser for a trailer? Or is this the teaser and the taster was announced previously? Whatever… I’ll still watch it when it comes out, even though I don’t play the game, and am unlikely to.
25/06/2012 at 17:45 ReV_VAdAUL says:
They did the same with Prometheus, teasing a teaser trailer with an image and then later doing a teaser trailer for a full trailer.
And they’re both related to fire, at least tenuously…
26/06/2012 at 06:22 ResonanceCascade says:
I certainly felt burned after paying to see Prometheus.
25/06/2012 at 16:48 Nero says:
This should be very great indeed. In the meantime I’m going to rewatch Ignis Solus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRARcZL-4XM
25/06/2012 at 16:50 fuggles says:
I counter that with eminem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InDffxsA_OE
25/06/2012 at 16:57 zeroskill says:
May I:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xuHumXoeV0
25/06/2012 at 19:01 CrookedLittleVein says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqpq4C-4xWc
25/06/2012 at 16:59 elmo.dudd says:
“Medic!” despite being muffled, isn’t speaking?
25/06/2012 at 17:01 Maxheadroom says:
What was the update they were hinting about ages ago that they promised wouldnt be just a new map or new hats? They were making a lot of noise about it at the time
What did that turn out to be in the end?
25/06/2012 at 18:13 airtekh says:
Probably the new gamemode introduced in this update.
25/06/2012 at 17:08 RaveTurned says:
In *entirely unrelated* news… it’s about the right time for a crazy Steam sale, and Wednesday is exactly a week before a large public holiday in the US.
Watch your wallets, ladies and gents.
25/06/2012 at 17:39 Vandelay says:
So, what is the Adult Swim connection? I don’t see why they would team up for a Meet the… short when they haven’t required anyone else before. There must be more than this.
25/06/2012 at 17:51 Delusibeta says:
I’m still willing to bet that it’ll turn out that Meet The Pyro will debut on Adult Swim, or at the very least be broadcast on it.
25/06/2012 at 17:41 Hunchback says:
“unless they choose to release one frame every couple of days, some hidden at secret locations around the world, the precise position hidden in Morse code messages transmitted on secret websites that can only be found by reading tea leaves through a specific kaleidoscope constructed in 1924.”
Made my day :D
25/06/2012 at 17:48 grizzled young man says:
Is Valve ever going to actually do a new full length video game, like, perhaps, Half Life 2 Episode 3? Cause, I mean, they promised to. And I spent a bunch of money on Ep 1 and Ep 2, expecting there to be an Ep 3. Cause there was a cliffhanger and shit.
Maybe I’m just too dumb to see the value in hiring economists, trying to save American schools and doing late night animation.
I’m rooting for you Valve, but you’re turning into a TED-style fraud.
25/06/2012 at 17:49 Vinraith says:
It’ll actually be interesting to see if Valve ever makes a non-F2P game of any stripe again.
25/06/2012 at 17:52 Delusibeta says:
Counter Strike: Global Offensive says hi. Granted, it’s going to be a $15 digital-download-only affair, but still: not free to play.
26/06/2012 at 12:59 Malibu Stacey says:
Sadly for Vinraith that’s one of those horrid games which forces you to play with other people so he won’t be interested.
25/06/2012 at 17:54 Brun says:
I think they will, for Half Life at least. But they’re likely saving Half Life 3 for when they have something really revolutionary tech-wise to show off – possibly whatever their biometrics research manages to produce.
25/06/2012 at 21:46 grizzled young man says:
Biometrics research? Lolz. Valve is turning into the kind of nebulous research corporation they used to write games about.
25/06/2012 at 17:53 Stochastic says:
What would be really interesting is if they released a 10th class. I would gladly trade in all my hats for one!
What am I saying? I don’t mean to be a spoilsport. Thanks for all the free updates, Valve!
25/06/2012 at 18:11 The Dark One says:
So Doomsday is basically Nuclear from TFC with a little pl_ added in?
25/06/2012 at 20:03 zeroskill says:
We just don’t know!
25/06/2012 at 18:42 Shooop says:
A teaser image for a trailer.
Even Valve has fallen for the film industry’s most annoying habits. What’s next, QTEs in the next Half-Life?
25/06/2012 at 23:26 Dances to Podcasts says:
They’ll skip the game altogether and just make a movie.
25/06/2012 at 18:46 Legionary says:
I would’ve loved this a couple of years ago, but the MannCo Store and a watered down aesthetic and game design have left me rather cold to TF2. No amount of marketting (however expertily done) is going to generate that zealous excitement I once felt.
25/06/2012 at 19:02 DickSocrates says:
1) Spend an obscene amount of time fine tuning a game’s art design and gameplay.
2) Post release, mes up everything you worked on.
3) Profit.
And because it’s Valve, they do get the profit.
25/06/2012 at 20:54 JBantha says:
“…reading tea leaves through a specific kaleidoscope constructed in 1924.”
I have the teas, the kaleidoscope, the time, and a 1924 star map opened in SkyView. And so I have the time.
25/06/2012 at 22:52 ResonanceCascade says:
I’m quite the Valve fan, but even I can’t fathom how they’ve managed to turn the release of a two minute short into such big news. I’m glad to see another short from them, but yeesh.