Unusuals – A Thought

A while ago, when the Robocrates first came out, I was playing Team Fortress with my sibling, and he unboxed an unusual. A Disco Beat Down Whoopee Cap. A pretty effect on an average Scout hat. I’d seen quite a few people unboxing unusuals that day, and a lot more people trying their luck, unboxing a million Strange Bottles and Fireaxes.  I was among the people who didn’t unbox an unusual, although I managed to get a white paint from a #4 crate.

Now, me and my siblings had been racing for years as to who would get an unusual first. I won the Trading Race, having bought a Steaming Otolaryngologist’s Mirror for a Bill’s Hat, a Strange Festive Flamethrower and a Vintage Sharpened Volcano Fragment. In hindsight, I miss my cool Pyro set, but oh well. Sibling No.1 decided to one-up me by buying a bubbling Dragonborn Helmet.  Sibling No.2 didn’t really care.

So when Sibling No.1 unboxed an unusual, I was kinda miffed. We’d both spent the same on keys and stuff. Sibling No.1 always accused me of being ‘lucky’ because I had both a Strange Festive Medi Gun AND a Strange Kritzkrieg (which really should be re-released!) but he forgets that I sold my ENTIRE BACKPACK to buy that Kritzkrieg. Sibling No.2 was also annoyed with me because I had lots of weapons. What she didn’t realise was, at the time, she has more hats than she had weapons.

Later on, I got sick of my unusual and sold a Bubbling Otolaryngologist’s Mirror for Earbuds. I only actually wear those Earbuds on Demoman, while at the same time equipping everyone’s favourite butt-penguin. I didn’t really mind. I said I’d slowly save up for another unusual hat. That was, until I learned several shocking discoveries.

Firstly, Sibling No.1 had managed to trade up to an Orbiting Fire Gatsby. The Flaming Liver as I like to call it. That was fine. Sibling No.1 probably spends too much money on keys, but he has an income.

Secondly, Sibling No.2 had a huge amount of luck. Firstly, she’d found a Salved Crate #40. Best thing I ever found was a Pyromancer’s Mask. The second thing was that she’d been given two unusuals. And not just ‘low hat, low tier’ hats. Fairly good ones.

Of course, I’m not really jealous of all this, but it’s just odd how people can just throw unusuals around like confetti, while most players never even touch one. It’s also odd how the story of the awesome unusual always happens to a friend, not you. That’s not the thought though. My thought is that these days, it is much harder to trade up to an unusual than it was a few years back. And my other thought is “how comes unusual hats really took off so well?”

I guess I ought to be honest at this point. Last night, Sibling No.1 unboxed a second unusual. And it turned out to have a really good hat. Green-Black Hole. So yeah, I am a tad jealous. What does that have to do with this article? Everything. And it’s turned into a dumb rant. Oh well. In the end, it’s probably my fault for not spending loads on keys or having a TF2-Rich buddy. Oh, and having some sort of decency. Here’s the big one. Out of all the unusuals out there, just how many were stolen, duplicated, scammed or sharked off some poor, unlucky guy whose luck just turned around? Goodness knows how many.

Let’s finish off with a question. What’s your favourite unusual effect and what’s your dream unusual hat?