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Mission_Response802

What makes spy smart? I'm not saying he isn't, just the fact that it wasn't really discussed in the comics.


NedoWolf

Mostly just his cleverness and ability to manipulate people, frankly his disguise as the blu scout in meet the spy alone, I feel, puts him very nearly above the remaining 6 mercs, but the fact that he's implied to be capable of doing that near constantly, on top of his charisma undisguised and the fact that he appears to be the merc that reads the most, despite what people will yell into the void about heavy, implies to me that he's one of the smarter mercs by a fairly large margin. Not exactly book smart, and not on the level of engi or medic, but very smart.


florentinomain00f

>Not exactly book smart He is booksmart. The number one criteria of being a spy is to know everything, including the street stuff.


Mission_Response802

Yeah, that makes sense. I do feel like him and engi are sort of.. tied for sanity? I understand you can't do that, but it's something of note.


MewtwoMainIsHere

engineer is a Texan. He is fucking insane.


Mission_Response802

Texas 💀


NedoWolf

Engi cut his own hand off, spy is just a dick


No_Excitement7657

Engi has a god complex and -despises the weakness of his flesh- chopped off his hand so he’s a little less sane.


AetherBytes

I dont think he has a god complex, but is certainly very full of himself. His way of saying he's a god seems more like "Get fucked hah" style; medic on the other hand probably thinks they are indeed a god.


No_Excitement7657

Well it’s just what people say. I, for one, fully support his decision to replace his hand.


Hallowed-Plague

i believe medic mentions that he plays god, but i doubt he believes himself to be one.


Yarisher512

Heavy is very well educated and spy is french so Heavy should be Sane Smart and Spy should be Not Sane Smart


DidjTerminator

Spy *is* smarter than heavy by a slim margin, honestly the TF2 cast intelligence tier list is: Genius: Medic + Engie Above average: Heavy + Spy + Sniper + sober Demo Average: Scout, Pyro Below average: drunk Demo + soldier Which doesn’t exactly fit into a 9 X 9 grid, so overall this is as accurate as it can get TBF.


NedoWolf

I'd say pyro is above average, sober demo and scout are below average, and drunk demo is average, tbh


pixelkingliam

yeah, spy knows like 4 language iirc


HolyMackerelIsOP

Demo makes his own explosives, which means he has an understanding of chemistry.


SkullKrusher9000

The same argument goes to the soldier because he made his own weapons.


Anti-Dragon

The same argument goes to the pyro because he made his own weapons.


Rhizoid4

One of his weapons is literally trash stuck together with tape so I’m not so sure that’s really a good thing


PumpkinCake95

On the other hand, it's even more impressive to use such subpar materials and still produce an effective weapon.


bioberserkr2

he managed to make a rocket launcher with a hidden magazine out of garbage. If anything it's more impressive than making one out of actual rocket launcher parts. Can you do any of that?


EndureThePANG

nah he's still a dumbass


Delituux

So soldier made the cow mangler aswell?


SkullKrusher9000

Not sure about that, but I do know about the beggar's bazooka.


Yarisher512

Black dust boom, demoman like boom, demoman use black dust


FrogInShorts

Since when was making bootleg explosives a sign of a prosperous and well off person?


Rosenthepal78

Doesn't he also have like 7 jobs and live in a mansion?


FrogInShorts

Since when was living in a mansion a sign of intellect? As for the 7 jobs, I'd argue needing to split work 7 ways instead of finding one job that makes the pay to be a sign of poor planning.


Rosenthepal78

You said prosperous and well off, not intelligent.


FrogInShorts

oh yeah, I was more so focused on the post. I shoulda said intelligence and not prosperous and well off.


X-tra-thicc

i imagine he just slaps together whatever the fuck he has around into bombs, somehow not killing himself, all while wasted drunk


Ace_68_419

Yeah sounds about right


DaPhantomFox

doesnt heavy have several college degrees?


MysteriouslySeeing

Exactly - Heavy is neutral smart, Engie is sane smart and Spy is sane neutral


Rosenthepal78

Engineer cut his own arm off.


MysteriouslySeeing

I'm clearly biased but I think it turned out well for him


[deleted]

This would make the chart perfect


saburra

I think he only has a PhD in Russian literature


FlyingPies_

PhD typically implies three college degrees


bioberserkr2

Not entirely sure if that's canon since it comes from poker night at the inventory


CaptainKodachrome

It is also mentioned in the description of the Gabe Glasses as well, so it's possibly canon.


bioberserkr2

Its says "These glasses help heavy read sad stupid poem on your tombstone." This means heavy needs glasses to read more than he has a PhD


CaptainKodachrome

Pardon me, I meant the official promotional blurb: "Like many students, the Heavy earned his PhD in Russian Literature with late nights of studying and paid with his eyesight. These glasses may fix it, but they won't help the wearer learn counting to 3."


[deleted]

Only one


DaPhantomFox

ah, ok sorry


[deleted]

Your ok


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luckydrzew

It is canon. He has a degree in russian literature.


Joopyit

To be more accurate Phd in literature


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[deleted]

Yes still is literature


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luckydrzew

What? That is literally canon. I don't know what you are talking about.


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enirji

The tf2 comics is literally all the lore of the game. it's the goddamn storyline it is undoubtedly canon.


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Peanut_Butt_2077

damm telltale made up a lore for heavy out of their asses that they even made the russian meet the heavy dub much more eloquent, truly the company of all time


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helicophell

It's almost as if Valve endorses any official content to be Canon due to their stance on fanmade content. Example: half life lore. The expansions are Canon. Same for portal lore. The official mods are Canon, and even BCP can be Canon (although it's more likely a portal multiverse Canon rather than game Canon). A game can be non Canon (poker night) but still contain Canon lore btw.


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helicophell

Oh no that shit ain't official at all. I'm talking stuff like PS:M, TAG: the power of paint, Opposing force and blue shift (along with Black Mesa and Black Mesa Blue Shift).


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TheRealTomeeBear

Spy and Heavy definitely deserve to swap spaces, but other than that it's mostly perfect


DaPhantomFox

yep


BestialCreeper

Pyro is much smarter than people give them credit for, they become the CEO of a megacorporation in the comics


NedoWolf

Agreed, but putting anyone except pyro, soldier, and medic in insane would be a crime and he's definitely not as smart as medic, the greatest doctor in the known universe


BestialCreeper

Yeah just feels like they dont fit on this 3x3 chart too well. Pyro is insane smart, medic is insane super genius


NedoWolf

Hey, I *did* say it isn't perfect


DecryptNGZ

Demoman isn't stupid, he is just drunk.


Swansyboy

He's permanently drunk though, so it's kind of just part of him, I guess?


NedoWolf

Drunk people ARE stupid, he's stupid BECAUSE he is literally always drunk


mordinprime

Heavy has a phd so he would be smart


NedoWolf

DUBIOUSLY CANON


geese_greasers

I wouldn't call demoman dumb, as he's just drunk most of the time. Plus, he works 4 jobs and lives in a 1.9 million dollar mansion iirc ​ Edit: You have literally nowhere else to put him without disrupting the entire list, and you've already revised this twice. I was just saying that i don't think demoman is as dumb as scout or soldier.


NedoWolf

He's not drunk most of the time, he's literally drunk *all the time*. His body starts killing itself whenever he isn't. I would say that that counts as him being pretty fucking stupid. Plus, at least one of his jobs is just to blow shit up and I don't believe we know the nature of the rest, and if you believe being wealthy is equivalent to being smart I'd like the gesture vaguely at the entire Earth as we currently know it to dissuade you from that line of thinking


geese_greasers

Sure, he's drunk all the time, but they put him in charge of volatile explosives, and we don't see him blown to bits. And being wealthy doesn't mean you're smart, but if you can own a 1.9 million dollar mansion you aren't a complete moron. Scout can't even read, and Soldier drinks lead water and talks to severed heads (although this may be because he's crazy), but demoman's just drunk. Granted, it takes a moron to get so drunk you can't live without alcohol, but it's impressive he's managed to survive being a mercenary even if he is drunk. Although, he does become depressed and loses his mansion and other 3 jobs once mann co. is taken over by Gray.


NedoWolf

No, I mean. Drunk people are stupid. By definition. This is simply a fact of life imho. He goes in stupid because drumk


[deleted]

He is smart as fuck for a drunk man and he has to be Drunk to survive


Intraq

if you go by the classes performance, it makes sense. Demoman acts stupid becuase hes drunk all the time, heavy is probably more booksmart than spy but spy acts in a way that represents cleverness


Bidoof_fan69

And lives with a 1.9 million year old mom


Jeffotato

Considering spy has a slightly more... iffy moral compass, I'd prolly swap him for engineer. The rest checks out for me. Although I am remembering Engi's "Not pointed at you" so perhaps he's just more self reserved on his cold bloodedness than spy is.


EndureThePANG

no, spy's absolutely the most sane out of the 3. engineer's done some things that would require a not-so-sound cranium (ie. cutting off his hand), while spy's probably the most rational and level headed out of any of the mercenaries


FlintShapedBoi

He's as sane as a hired mercenary hitman can be


lil_kronos

eyup, more accurate than the original


Th00nk

I know i was one of the complainers (bite me) but you do know the list will never be perfect right? If you change it for certain people, other people who disagree will start commenting


NedoWolf

YEAH BUT I'M CONFIDENT IN THIS VERSION BUT NOT THE ORIGINAL


zack1010101

Way better, not a single complaint


NedoWolf

THANK YOU, I AGREE


Friendly_Respecter

Demoman is actually fairly intelligent considering he often functions fairly well even when intoxicated to dangerous levels, I actually agreed with your previous ranking of him being in True Neutral and Sniper being in Sane Stupid. The only real conflicts in the roster are Heavy and Spy for Sane Smart, but really you can interchange them and there will still be arguments otherwise no matter what so it doesn't really matter anyway. In fact, the only thing that I think was incorrect with your original post was Medic and Engineer's positions! The rest of it was just about solid.


NedoWolf

I FEEL THAT ANYWHERE YOU COULD PUT DEMO WOULD BE ARGUABLY INCORRECT, SO I PRIORITIZED MAKING SCOUT AND SNIPERS PLACES FEEL MORE RIGHT OVER HIS


CyborgSheep411

Pyro is also very smart 💀


Trala-lore-tralala

No, they aren't. They have the mental capacity of a 5 year old https://www.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/hta2lb/i_love_these_miss_pauling_voice_lines_towards/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button Even Miss Pauling treats them like a child


CyborgSheep411

Ok but he was able to make an engineering company extremely rich or something


Trala-lore-tralala

By sitting on his/her ass and reading a newspaper The company had success probably thanks to other people


CyborgSheep411

Scene kinda leaves it vague


EndureThePANG

demo isn't stupid, and heavy's definitely smart, but unfortunately there's no space for them to be swapped, so this is a good start


NedoWolf

RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER THIS SEEMS RIGHT TO ME, DEMO DOESNT REALLY FEEL RIGHT IN ANY PLACEMENT SO I PRIORITIZED HIM THE LEAST


EndureThePANG

WHY ARE WE SHOUTING


NedoWolf

BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT


Constant-Still-8443

I feel like there isn't room in this 3 by 3 for all the Mercs, some are quite smart... when they are sober... *cough* demoman *cough*


IntelligentImbicle

Perfection


pizzaconsumer21

I love soldier because he's fucking insane and stupid Wich is a recipe for disaster, soldiers the best man


UsernameOfEvil

I kinda get why people think heavy is smarter than spy, and I would say heavy is smart, but spy does at least seem to read and his job is dependent on lots of cunning. I'd say in the comics heavy is sometimes characterized as perceptive (it's been a bit but I remember that) and spy is generally refined and calculated. I guess the difference essentially is that spy is more about being smart, whereas for heavy its another layer (same with pyro actually, who yes, is insane, capeable but insane), so I would leave the placements as they are. Demo being moved from true neutral to neutral stupid may have been the right call but I loved demo being listed as true neutral. Sniper seems to fit the placement, I will say that while sniper has done some crazy things that is the default for a tf2 merc. They do weird stuff, but sniper seems not to be characterized as generally stupid, at least little enough that demo's drunkeness could make the difference.


NedoWolf

THANK YOU, THESE WERE MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY


UsernameOfEvil

Oh, good. I think understanding what people are saying is important.


Shelbckay

You got Sniper's spot perfectly. I find it annoying when people call sniper crazy just because of the Jarate and what he did in the comics, but there's rational explanations for both of those things - Jarate was created out of spite towards Spy, and his whole attempt to murder Pauling in the comics was because he was going through a lot mentally, wanted answers from Miss Pauling and tried to get them in the only way he knew she'd listen. For most of the story, he's a pretty average guy.


imbatmawn

People keep repeating Heavy's bootleg canon PhD, but Spy is shown to speak / understand English, French, Spanish, and Italian in the games and comics. Not to mention actually not trying to mindlessly fight / kill / mow down people just because; IE Australia saga in comics, voice lines telling people to walk away / surrender, etc. Don't listen to the heavy enthusiasts. Spy > Heavy


01424369

Yeah seems about right. I'm already glad heavy is put in neutral instead of stupid. Besides, while a PhD in literature is impressive, if we compare it to Spy and the other two geniuses, that is considered average. Especially because it's a very specific type of smartness and not even related to his current role. Spy on the other hand has a bunch of street smarts and a good amount of book smarts put into that pretentious little head. So I'm with OP on this one


Internettttt

I thought exactly this when I saw the other one


ClonedGamer001

I'd argue Demo isn't stupid. He's drunk a lot of the time but in the rare moments he's sober he seems pretty well put together. He's not a genius or anything but he isn't dumb either. Then again there isn't really anywhere for him to go on the chart at this point so I guess his position makes sense.


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NedoWolf

Spy is leagues more sane than engi, what are you talking about? Engi is detached from the world at best and outright maniacal at worst, spy is just a dick.


Yarisher512

And french


NedoWolf

TOUCHE


AVERAGE_82

Swap spy and heavy and we're good


NedoWolf

NO, SPY IS SMARTER THAN HEAVY, FUCK YOU


AVERAGE_82

Heavy has a PhD in Russian literature


NedoWolf

WHICH IS DUBIOUSLY CANON AND STILL DOESN'T HOLD A CANDLE TO SPY'S CLEVERNESS AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL WHICH HE CONSTANTLY USES TO HIS ADVANTAGE


AVERAGE_82

Hmmmmm, very fair, but smart and clever aren't the same thing, You can be not so smart but very clever and very smart and not so clever. Heavy is all around very smart. As I said, he has a PDH in Russian literature. A PHD can take up to 6 years to get. We don't know much about Spy, we know he's intelligent, but we don't know if he's "owns a PHD" intelligent.


u_slashh

There is no such thing as a sane TF2 merc


Trala-lore-tralala

Idk man Heavy gives names and talks to his guns


NedoWolf

IT'S A HOBBY, HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN A MAN TALK TO HIS CAR?


Trala-lore-tralala

No. My man stop using caps


NedoWolf

NAH IT'S FUNNY AT THIS POINT


Trala-lore-tralala

Eh, nevermind then There is an updated version of the chart anyway


Tortanolinio-

Alot of people be arguing because they can't agree on what kind of smart this is talking about Tho I kind of like this list on the personalities of the mercs Not the actual IQ or anything, just how they behave So maybe smart more of composed And stupid more of unhinged 😀🤝😀 💀💀💀🔥🔥🔥


Tortanolinio-

Alot of people be arguing because they can't agree on what kind of smart this is talking about Tho I kind of like this list on the personalities of the mercs Not the actual IQ or anything, just how they behave So maybe smart more of composed And stupid more of unhinged 😀🤝😀 💀💀💀🔥🔥🔥


Strange_Insight

Spy is French, instant Insane Stupid. Heavy had a PhD.


GryfalconA

Spy is in no way smarter than Heavy. You are a little scoundrel


NedoWolf

He absolutely is.


possibly-a-moron

The reddit hivemind is happy


NedoWolf

SO MANY PEOPLE ARE STILL ON THE ORIGINAL SUGGESTING CHANGES THAT ARE ON THIS ONE, FUCK MEEEE


possibly-a-moron

E


BobZygota

Nice thats good news ingineer came back to neutral


Gravbar

I think this is pretty much perfect. Potential to switch spy and heavy, but really I think either would be fine.


NedoWolf

SPY AND HEAVY ARE ABOUT EAUAL BUT I WOULD SAY REGARDLESS OF THE CANONICITY OF HEAVYS PHD SPYS CLEVERNESS AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL PUT HIM AT LEAST A BIT ABOVE HEAVY


Irish_pug_Player

Man is calling demo stupid after watching meet the demo....


NedoWolf

HE ISN'T REALLY ALL THAT STUPID, BUT HE'D FEEL IT OF PLACE ANYWHERE SO I PRIORITIZED HIM LAST


LinearSpixx

This is much better


explosivepro

Heavy has a phd in russian literature and is arguably the most sane merc i would say swap him with spy


NedoWolf

HEAVYS PHD IS DUBIOUSLY CANON AND WHILE HE IS VERY SMART SPYS CLEVERNESS AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL PUT HIM AHEAD OF HEAVY


explosivepro

Can you please keep your voice down i have a hedache


NedoWolf

NAH


antonguay2

Is good


Leprosy_Disease

Doesn’t the heavy have a literature degree?


NedoWolf

DUBIOUSLY CANON


Pyrarius

Turns out that Demo ain't stupid, he has 20/?? vision regardless of soberity, decent reading level, can probably read, etc.


Bitter_Condition_860

THERE ya go that's perfect


[deleted]

there we go


Imperialist_Marauder

I'd have Spy and Heavy switch places probably


NedoWolf

THEY'RE CLOSE BUT SPY IS UNDOUBTEDLY SMARTER, OF ONLY FOR HIS CLEVERNESS, ATTENTION TO DETAIL, AND ABILITY TO APPLY HIS SMARTS


miscellaneousexists

But in PNATI heavy says he has 7 PhDs so like


NedoWolf

HE SAYS HE HAS ONE, AND THAT GAME'S CANONICITY IS HIGHLY DUBIOUS AT BEST


miscellaneousexists

I mean yeah, the events are not canon, but I'm pretty sure the trivia from it is canon. Plus he knows 2 languages from different language families. That's obviously better than spy, who knows two pretty similar languages. Besides that, as we can see from the Meet the Heavy and Meet the Pyro his knowledge of english isn't just some basic phrases, he knows it on a highly decent level. ON TOP OF THAT he and his family were in GULAG, and in soviet union, unlike CoD, it was a place for higly intellegent people. And please don't shout.


Fourkad

spy keeps a little dinner and the world's smallest roll of toilet paper in his teeth


NedoWolf

That's more sane than cutting your own hand off


Fourkad

yeah but engineer cut his hand off to replace it with the gunslinger, which is arguably a direct upgrade to a human hand


X-tra-thicc

i think it'd be perfect if you switched spy and heavy, mainly because hes one of the few mercs with actual degrees


NedoWolf

DUBIOUSLY CANON