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Source Filmmaker short shows there’s no brain surplus in the Team Fortress 2 intelligence community

Team Fortress 2

“As things go wrong and the BLU team’s diabolical plan is revealed, will RED have what it takes to survive?”, asks Source film director The Winglet. And then answers: “Of course they will, BLU sucks.”

Propaganda has entertained since Battleship Potemkin, and Live and Let Spy is no different. It’s a tale of espionage, counter-espionage and classic Splinter Cell moves. 

Like the best Source Filmmaker fare, Live and Let Spy makes economic use of TF2’s existing sounds and animations. Dialogue is assembled through inspired placement of classic Spy and Soldier barks (“Sorry to pop in unannounced!” / “Maggot!”). One suspects there are enough of those to fuel a feature film.

With support from Valve via the Saxxy Awards, it’s been lovely to see Source Filmmaker maturing into a form that can support tonal peaks and troughs beyond extended action scenes.

That said, my favourite moments were the “Let’s do this” facial expressions like the ones Ellie Kemper does in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. How about you?