 Hey everyone, today we're going to be having a review of Femmaro, let's start. Wow, that's actually a really, really good start. Look at the volumptuous... Good evening. Hey, don't look at me like that. You clicked on the video. Today I'm going to talk about a TF2 mod. A very famous TF2 mod. In fact, I'd go as far to say the most famous TF2 mod in the game's history. It's one we all know about and most of us probably installed at one point or another when we were younger. The Female or FemmPyro. If you check Game Banana, which was the most popular website to get custom TF2 content prior to the creation of the Steam Workshop, you'll see that outside of first-person animation overhauls, this particular version of the Female Pyro is the most popular TF2 mod of all time. And falling not far below that are a couple of other variants, including the original. So whether you want to admit it or not, this mod has permanently attached itself to TF2 and its legacy through its popularity in the community. And it's arguably the most recognizable custom character the community has ever come up with. The FemmPyro regularly shows up in fan comics, posters, and source filmmaker films. There's even a fan-made Meet the FemmPyro short that rivals the official Valve-produced Meet the Sandwich video and views. And since no one else is willing to get their hands dirty talking about it, today I'm going to discuss this iconic mod's origins and its legacy. Let's start from the very beginning. Yes, Team Fortress 2's launch. Given the fact that Pyro's voice actor is a man and early concept art shows them as such, it would seem pretty set in stone that the Pyro was meant to be a male just like the rest of the cast. However, it wasn't long after the game's release that people started noticing this pretty pink purse next to Pyro's gas mask. And after that, a fire was lit that would never be put out. The idea that the Pyro might secretly be a woman was very appealing to TF2's player base. You're saying what I'm saying? Holy shit. It was even a popular game theory episode about it. Although they ended up coming to the conclusion that the Pyro is a gay man based on his fingers or something. Eventually, Valve picked up on the hysteria and seized their opportunity to tour with the community. They began using ambiguous and conflicting gender pronouns in official media relating to the Pyro, and gave the Pyro two versions of taunts like the director's cut and the high five, a masculine and a feminine version. They also made Pyro's gender the center of a couple jokes in the official comic series. The soldier briefly accused this Pyro of menstruating after the group is discovered by a group of bears, and the Pyro from Team Fortress Classic has revealed to be an old woman named Beatrice. I'd say it's pretty obvious that the Pyro was designed to be a man given the game's setting, but once Valve seized their opportunity to stir the pot, people were hooked. Mods feminizing the Pyro were not only some of the earliest to hit the scene, they were also some of the fastest to gain popularity. The first example was Harry 64, who released his girlish Pyro mod in September 6, 2008. This was early, not even a year after the game's debut, and was expectedly simple, just a reskin of the Pyro colored to be pink or purple depending on the team. To give you an idea of just how early this mod was, Pyro's only unlockable weapons at its time of release were the back burner, the flare gun, and the extinguisher. And yes, the extinguisher dealt full crits and did not extinguish enemies. However, this color swap mod just wasn't enough to satiate the masses, and has barely managed to break a thousand likes after nearly 15 years. It was only a matter of time before someone with bigger ambition stepped up to the plate. The first real female Pyro mod was Pyrogirl, uploaded by Superaldo on May 12, 2009, and it was very revealing. It was buggy, weird, and nonsensical, but with over 30,000 downloads, it was popular enough to prove there was a market for this type of mod, and it only took one more month for things to start really taking shape, if you know what I mean. On June 20th, 2009, Game Banana user TheFanciestOfPants tossed his hat into the ring and changed the game. If girlish Pyro was too boring and Pyrogirl was too out of place, then this upload was the perfect candidate to strike a balance. In a skin tight suit with jigglebone breasts, this design was provocative, but it clung just tightly enough to the threads of TF2's design principles to not look too outlandish at a first glance. This was the first female Pyro mod I recall seeing regular use, and it broke past Pyrogirl by more than 15,000 downloads. Fun fact, a picture of this model made an appearance as Pyro's girlfriend on Mr. C556's iconic map, Achievement Turbo V13. Yeah, remember that map? But while this model proved to be a success, it didn't quite strike a monopoly. There was still room for experimentation and potentially improvement. On January 20th, 2010, another modder named Snakemark2 created this female Pyro model with a weird astronaut helmet. This design was not very well received, so just two days later they released a second version with a partially exposed face, which was marginally more popular. However, while this mod did achieve a modicum of success, it proved to be a mere sidestep in the journey of the female Pyro. As just one year later, on December 13th, 2011, fanciest of Pants came back with a vengeance. FemPyro Redux was a new and improved version of the original FemPyro design, with a slight focus on improving tactical efficiency. The character's outfit was no longer just a turtleneck, but rather a zip-up turtleneck with all kinds of straps and added details. It even incorporated the Pyro's flares, albeit relegated to her waistband so to not obstruct the view. This version quickly became, and still remains to this day, the most popular design of the FemPyro. It set the mold for almost every variation going forward and racked up 83,000 downloads, double what the creator accomplished with his original version. And I think fanciest of Pants knew he would never top it, as this was his last ever upload to GameBanana. After this design hit the unwashed masses, it became pretty clear that this version of the FemPyro was going to stick. It was around this time you started seeing knock-off mods like the Green FemPyro or the Hive Poly FemPyro pop-up. But eventually, someone had enough and stood up. This design right here, the skin-tight fire retardant jumpsuit, this simply made too much sense. So GameBanana user Kay got to work and, on November 5, 2013, released re-worked FemPyro HD, which included a second version of the model with bare legs. And while this upload may have only broken 60,000 downloads, its cultural impact was immense. This marked the beginning of a new era of FemPyro mods. After this guy worked up the courage to rip the model's pants off, it's like a floodgate opened and people now felt completely free to do whatever the hell they wanted to this model. It got ridiculous fast. Mega Milk Pyro, Bikini swimsuit pyro, completely nude pyro in nothing but a gas mask and gloves. Nothing. And I mean truly nothing was off limits. This was also around the time people started to really get their grubby hands all over the model and Gary's modern-source filmmaker. So there was a large rise in FemPyro, uh, media. From this point on, there's really too much to concisely cover. There were a couple of attempts to make a more modest FemPyro design, one of which ended up as the highest-rated work-in-progress project on TF2's GameBanana. But none of them ever quite caught on, no matter how much effort was sunk into them. I wonder why. Instead, after every major update that added cosmetics, someone would spend months of their lives meticulously remaking every pyro cosmetic to update the FemPyro Redux model. And this is a tradition that lives on to this very day. Of the top eight mods for the class on GameBanana, seven of them are FemPyro. As I mentioned earlier, this particular upload, the FemPyro renovation by Sierra Fox Trot, is the most popular TF2 mod apart from Animation Overhauls, with its whopping 150,000 downloads. And it was posted on August 3rd, 2021, which was not even a full year ago. It's pretty funny, the creator made a variant for the TF2 Classic mod, and it ended up also being the most popular mod ever on TF2 Classic's GameBanana. Anyway, now that we know the detailed history of the FemPyro, it's time to ask a couple of important questions. What does this mod's popularity say about the TF2 community? And just why would someone use it? To provide those answers, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Zesty Jesus. Since the inception of video games, there has been an ever-looming disparity in equitable gender representation. There is a severe lack of underrepresented minorities portrayed as primary video game characters, heroes, or more appropriately termed hair-exes. And as a proponent of equity, I too desire more actions to level the playing field, so underrepresented persons feel more welcome in the gaming community, namely women. That's why I installed the FemPyro mod for TF2, developed by Valve Software. Team Fortress 2's nine playable characters only represent heteronormative cis white men, with the exception of Demoman, but he's from Scotland, a nation comprised of 98% white persons. You can do better people. But through the implementation of progressive mods, like the FemPyro mod, you can change this majority masculine presence into a fair, feminine, representative one. Or even women can shoot other women. With the FemPyro mod's realistic portrayal of effeminate features, you too can bring a more equitable and enjoyable experience for all persons in TF2. There are absolutely zero underlying motivations behind the installation of this mod other than providing a more welcoming environment for all. Back to you, Richter. Thank you, Zesty, my brother in Christ. Indeed, the FemPyro gained popularity because it provided a breath of fresh air and brought inclusivity to a game that was otherwise a smelly sausage fest. And definitely not for any of these reasons. Additionally, this mod became such a staple because of how much history it has and how many spin-off versions there are. It's one of the only character replacement models to be consistently updated and made compatible with all cosmetics throughout TF2's complete history. This is not a small task. Technically unrelated, but did you know that TF2 concept artist Drew Wolfe designed female versions of the mercenaries for a scrapped update that would have allowed the player to switch genders? There's no art for a female pyro. But isn't it weird to think that if things had turned out a little bit different, some kind of version of the FemPyro might have eventually made it into the official game? That's all I've got for now, though. If you're bored, follow me on Twitter and join my Discord, or support me on Patreon if you're really kind. Thanks for watching, have a good day. I hope you enjoyed. Make sure you subscribe, I'm doing more FemPyro reviews coming. Thanks.