IT’S A SMISSMAS MIRACLE! We’ve been waiting for issue 7 of the TF2 comic for 7 damn years. But it’s finally here and you should all go and read it right now. Yeah, seriously, stop reading this article and go and read the comic right now. It’s quite long. Then come back here when you’re done. If you want. No rush. We’ve waited 7 years already for this issue, make the most of it. I’ve already read it like 3 times now.

You back?

Have you read it?

No?

Go read it.

In the mean time, I’m going to tell you that it… it’s good. The front cover though looks like an homage to Bruce Wayne as a child by his dead parents, the moment that ruined his life. The little girl, I assume is the Administrator, but it’s not 100% clear.

Now have you read it? Alright. Spoilers ahead from now on.

SERIOUSLY, READ THE DAMN COMIC BEFORE CONTINUING UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS.

Okay, I can talk now.

That was an ending. It’s not the bestest greatest ending ever, especially after a 7 year wait (then again, TF2 itself was delayed for a fucking long time too…), but it’s definitely a warm ending. It seems quite clear that there was a lot of confusion in the writing room, but everything got cleared up in some way, and everything ended on a high note for, well, most folks.

Most of the story is kinda about the Administrator. It somewhat explains her actions, WHY she has been making the Mann brothers fight each other forever. It was to torture their father, Zephaniah Mann, to stop him from having a successful heir. The australium wasn’t both for keeping her alive, but for bringing Zephaniah back from the dead, so she could torture him by forcing him to watch his idiot sons fight each other. To the point that she doesn’t even remember why she wanted revenge. Gray Mann’s reappearance just spurred the Administrator to find more and more Australium so she could keep both herself and Zephaniah alive for longer, so he could continue watching his sons be morons.

This kinda ends with them both crumbling to dust, as the last of the Australium (which Miss Pauling withholds from her) runs out. But the Administrator seems to think it was worth it in the end. She made her mortal enemy suffer. Even if she doesn’t remember why she started doing this in the first place.

But the mercs all have moved on. It’s unclear whether they are still together in the story, they don’t seem to be. They’ve all got their own lives now. Miss Pauling is free to move on with her life, and Engineer no longer works directly for the Administrator either (Engineer also grew hair). Soldier is married and has two kids, Scout has married several times and has four kids but is the good single parent who loves his children. Heavy and Sniper still seem to be working. Demoman’s mum is still alive and he still has the cursed sword. Heavy’s other sisters and his mum are fine, and I think one of them marred Sniper? We don’t really see much of what happens to Pyro and Medic, but Medic did raise the baboon that gestated inside TFC Heavy to adulthood.

We even get a fucking face reveal for Spy. Holy fuck, mask-less Spy is sexy. I may have said this already.

Alright, Merasmus did kinda… die, but, like, we kill him every Halloween anyway.

But yeah, for the mercs themselves? Everything turned out alright. And I’m glad. They deserved a decent ending, and I’m happy they all came together and remained friends, even if, in the last panel, they all seem to have moved on and started living their own lives. It’s as good an ending as I could have hoped for, and there’s enough wriggle room to have more lore inserted between the end of the comics and the timeline in-game.

Really, this feels like the end of an era. I feel good. But I feel… strange too. Didn’t expect this. I feel warm and fluffy inside.

Guess it’s a Smissmas miracle after all.