In Memory of XYTWO

XYTWO was one of the most recognizable SPUF regulars in the TF2 forums. He participated in conversations serious or silly, long or short, and far as I know he got along well with everyone. He had a fondness for Asian cartoons and he mained Pyro. He was among the top posters in all of the various itsurblogs and he even wrote one of our first guest articles. The two of us had a running gag hailing from the 1st Itsurblog’s D&D session where we’d pretend to have UST for each other.

Spycicle has recently informed the forum that XYTWO died on the 13th of January from an aneurysm, at the age of eighteen. Some SPUFers have played a few rounds of 100% Orange Juice (a game XYTWO regularly scheduled SPUF game nights for), others have posted in either the RIP thread or his Steam profile. But I can’t bring myself to play Orange Juice and apparently we weren’t Steam friends so all I can do is write this article and repeat what everyone else is saying; he will be dearly missed on SPUF and my condolences to his family and friends.

John Caveson: “I may not have known XY as much as some of you. To me, he was always that Pyro main that loved Leeroy Jenkinsing it with the Backburner. But he was a pretty cool guy. He was one of the first to add me on Steam after I hosted my first SPUF event on the old SPUFserver. He was also the first (i think) to add me as a friend here on subSPUF.

Earlier last month, he traded me his Collector’s Backburner as collateral for me lending him my Festive Grenade Launcher for the Festive SPUF Event. I was stunned that he would do that. I mean, to trust (what I assumed to be) your most prized possession in the game to a total stranger on the Internet as a sign of trust, was a total leap of faith. And to this day, I wonder, if I met him in real life, if we would be good friends. I think I know my answer now.”

KettleCamper:  “We’ll make diamonds out of his ashes. Take them into battle with us. That way he will always be with us.”

Rampant Tragedy: “Let us not live in fear that any moment our fires might be extinguished, as his was. Instead, let us hold our chins high as the tears fall from our eyes; let us be thankful for the light and the warmth that he brought us; let our spirits blaze on so that we might bring the same to each other.”

That One Spy: This really hits hard. My condolences to XY’s family. Hopefully we can get them to see this. I hope he is in a better place. Thank you SPUF for treating this subject with this much respect, it shows we are all still human, no matter our differences over the internet. Rest in Peace. I hope we can let his family see this.

TheConfusicus: “I don’t know who James was, which was a shame. I’m sure we would have been good friends. But instead I knew XYTWO, and I enjoyed the times we had together. XYTWO might not have been here long, but he sure made an impact while he was here. RIP Lulu.”

hugthebed2: “I may not have been the most frequent poster on SPUF, and it took me while to actually start making friends here. The Hello! thread is where I really got to know XY. Most of my interaction with him was outside of SPUF, but all the interaction I had with him in the 6 months I was with him were just fantastic.

He was an extremely generous person and I have lots of memories from talking and playing various games with him (mostly 100% Orange Juice). He was a great person and I hope one day I can be even half the person he was.”

A 1970 Corvette: “I’m not sure if I would still be on SPUF if it wasn’t for XY. I had seen him on and off all the way back to the golden years of ARGs, but I really got to know him during the explosion of blog threads and the discussion and camaraderie that spawned from them. It was there we got the moon god, the “I never played touhou so I don’t know who x is,” and countless other things. His posts (among other posters) kept me coming back even after others left.

I’m not sure what I can say, other that he was an amazing person and I’ll miss him dearly. We always had such inane discussions that left me (and hopefully him too) smiling at the end without fail. I still remember all the times we discussed Madoka and Yuki Yuna, the times that he joked about maids… I remember (and won’t ever lose) the gifts that he sent me, the countless games and the book he got me for my birthday.

It won’t be the same without you, XY, but in a way that shows that you truly were a shining light in this world. I’m so glad I met you, though I wish I never had to say goodbye.”

Gyokuyoutama: “I only recently got to know XY, and mainly knew him through games of Orange Juice and later Acceleration of Suguri. We never talked that much outside of games, but that interaction was enough to let me know that XY was a really great guy. I usually prefer to communicate online through message boards and like to stay in my own bubble in gaming, but I never minded when I got an invite from XY to play a game. Somehow you could feel his enthusiasm and cheerfulness just from a short message.

XY was also one of the most generous people that I have known online. He frequently gave out free games for birthdays, holidays (like Christmas) or as random prizes during online games. That always amazed me, especially once I found out that he was a teenager and so each purchase had to have been a significant expense for him. But it was always clear whenever you talked with him that he loved to make everyone else’s day a little brighter.

Rest in Peace XY. You made the world a better place.”

Jay Dorris: “It was probably the impromptu roleplaying session, all the way during the first itsurblog. That’s probably the earliest defining moment that I can recall about XY, though there are later moments around that time that are more significant.

For example, there were gems like “In other news, I’ve never played Touhou, so I have no idea who Madoka is.” or XY telling me to read the original itsurblog during urblog 2 because he didn’t recognize me from my new name, only to be informed by Corv a few minutes later. Believe it or not, the moon god joke and establishing a comic trio composed of me, Corv, and himself came later on.

XY was fun to hang around and talk with, and he knew how to handle a joke, demonstrated by the frequent snarky banter and attacks on each other’s tastes that we exchanged. Despite all the insults and jabs we threw at each other, we both laughed afterwards because we knew that the other was just messing around. He was also a generous friend who frequently gave out gifts to his companions, if some of them given out via matches of 100% Orange Juice.

It’s really sad to know that he’s gone. It’s sad that we never got to say goodbye. It’s sad that there are so many things he never got to do. But, I think that as long as we acknowledge his absence, some part of him will live on even after we’ve moved on. I think that’s what he would want instead of having us dwell on this subject forever.

XY was a great friend, and he’ll definitely be missed.”