Soldier (Team Fortress 2)

The Soldier is a crazed patriot from America's heartland in Team Fortress 2. Tough, durable and well-armed, he's versatile, capable on both offense and defense, and a great starter class to get familiar with the game. Being xenophobic and jingoistic, he carries an extreme hatred of foreigners (especially French and Scottish people) and hippies.
He was voiced by the late Rick May, with Nolan North giving one brief line in "Expiration Date".
==Biography==
Not much is known about the Soldier during his early life, but according to his official biography on the Team Fortress website, the Soldier was desperate to join in on the action during World War 2. However due to unknown circumstances, he was rejected from every branch of the U.S. military. Not willing to give up, he eventually bought himself a ticket to Europe, and traveled to Poland. There, the Soldier taught himself how to use various weapons before beginning a "Nazi killing spree". During this event, the Soldier was awarded several detinguished medals, all of which he had designed himself. His "campaign" ended in 1949 when word got out that the war had ended four years earlier.
Later in 1968, the Soldier was hired into TF Industries., where he was assigned to one of two subsidiaries (RED or BLU respectively) as part of a longtime armed conflict between the two adversaries in what would become known as the "Gravel War"; this event is where much of Team Fortress 2 takes place. The Soldier participated in the event until 1971 when Gray Mann assassinated Redmond and Blutrach to gain control of RED and BLU.
As Gray Mann became hell-bent with retaking control of Mann Co., Saxton Hale hired the Soldier, alongside the rest of the mercenaries to fight off Gray Mann's army of robots. The mercenaries initially had a disadvantage against the robots, the Soldier devises a simple, yet cunning plan to infiltrate Gray Gravel Co. (Gray Mann's corporation) by disguising himself as a Robot using a costume made of cardboard. Together with the Heavy and Miss Pauling, they infiltrate the base, where they witness the unveiling of Gray Mann's newest weapon to takeover Mann Co.: the Mecha Engineer.
Not wanting Mann Co. to fall into the hands of the former dictatorial CEO, the Soldier alongside the other mercenaries dealt with the new mecha engineers in combat, ultimately gaining the upper hand and forcing Gray Mann to surrender to Saxton Hale, thus ending the Robot War (though Hale was forced to hand ownership to Gray's daughter Olivia soon afterwards).
At some point in time, the Soldier "befriended" the wizard Merasmus, however this relationship went downhill very quickly, as Merasmus was often times the scapegoat to the Soldier's antics. By Soldier needs a Home, Merasmus had enough, and kicked him out of his castle. Soldier later devised a plan of revenge in Doom-Mates by trashing Merasmus' home and evicting him. Since then, the two have declared themselves enemies, with Merasmus trying to get his revenge on the Soldier by any means necessary.
==Personality==
The Soldier is a patriotic mercenary who strives to fight for his own country and is known to take great pride in his status as an American, even looking down on people from every country that isn’t America, openly insulting the nationality of non-American classes (as his domination quotes contain a number of offensive slurs against the Scottish, the French, the Germans, the Russians, the Australians, and even the Canadians, as he calls the Engineer a "cow-herdin' Canadian" in one such response). In battle, he is known to yell out insults/threats in a nonsensical way in which the words he speaks are mostly or in complete nonsense. He is strongly in denial as he proclaims himself as a military man, even though he didn't serve in the army, and refused to accept the fact that he is just a normal civilian. Because of this, he becomes really secretive and kept his true status from anyone, even his own team and enemies. If he is called a civilian, which would thus expose his secret, the Soldier becomes furious and vengeful.
Aside from being a patriot, The Soldier is also a crazed madman in which he acts or does various actions that are usually seen by others as crazy; he trashed the castle of Merasmus as a way of welcoming him home, he shaved off the hair of a boy named Jack while dressed as Santa Claus, and murdering Tom Jones, which the Soldier is proud of since the singer became Merasmus new roommate, since the wizard had moved and had gained a better life, while the Soldier lived miserably since he lives in a box and was fired from his job by Gray Mann. Despite his instability, the Soldier is strongly supportive of his team and greatly cares for his teammates in which he will help them in dire situations.
The Soldier is well known for his spectacular rocket jump. In defiance of all good sense and judgment, the Soldier can detonate a rocket at his feet and launch himself skyward at the cost of some health. This ability allows the Soldier to pop up in unexpected places and reach areas off-limits even to the Scout's double jump. The Soldier is slower than most classes, but in turn is more durable, having the second highest amount of health by default (after the Heavy).
The Soldier's Rocket Launcher is underpowered compared to most games in terms of damage, with even a direct hit by a rocket generally not being able to kill the stronger classes (in most games, a direct hit or even splash damage from a rocket is generally a one-hit kill). However, in the right hands, it is still very powerful. The Rocket Launcher however keeps its notable trait of dealing splash damage, although the damage is generally less than that of a direct hit. A variation of the rocket, known as the Direst Hit, is able to deal more damage than the default Rocket Launcher as well as mini-crits airborne enemies, but has a much smaller blast radius, encouraging him to concentrate on direct hits rather than indirect ones. All rocket launchers will gib enemies if they are killed by a direct rocket, often accompanied by the Soldier shouting his catchphrase "MAGGOTS".
Like most of the mercenaries, the Soldier carries a shotgun for his secondary weapon, which is great for close combat when the rocket launcher is too risky to use. He can also substitute it for a backpack called the Buff Banner, which will build rage as the Soldier deals damage to enemy mercenaries, and when fully charged, will allow the Soldier to literally blow his own horn and buff himself and nearby teammates with temporary guaranteed mini-crits.
The Soldier uses a shovel for his melee weapon of choice, which deals average damage, but he can also use a variation known as the Market Gardener which allows him to deal guaranteed crits while airborne, but at the cost of swinging slower than the default shovel. The Soldier can also use one of two pickaxes as a substitute for his shovels. The first pickaxe is called the Equalizer which deals below average damage at full health, but deals more damage as the Soldier gradually take damage, and when at death's door, deals extraordinary damage. The second pickaxe is called the Escape Plan, and allows the Soldier to run faster as he takes more damage, allowing him to run faster than even the Scout when he is nearly dead; on the downside however, it marks him for death (instant mini-crits) while wielding it. In addition to their health-related effects, both pickaxes also enable the Soldier to preform his signature taunt kill called the "Kamikaze", where the Soldier can destroy all enemies and Engineer buildings within a 6-foot radius with one of his own grenades, but at the ultimate cost of sacrificing his own life, as the name of the taunt suggests.
== Role ==
Like the other characters, the Soldier is an anti-hero/anti-villain depending on whose side you're playing for.
== Gallery ==
===Images===
Red_Soldier_Fullbody.png
Soldier pose.png
TF2 red soldier render.png
11298-tf2 soldier.jpg|"Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he herded them onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one!"
TF2_Mercenaries.jpeg|The Soldier with the other mercenaries.
Soldiergrenadetauntkill.png|"C'mere, cupcake!"
CA90F7CC-617D-4F8F-A972-7EAFA20D8DA1.jpeg|The BLU Soldier and RED Demoman’s time as friends during the WAR comics.
Painis Cupcake.png|Soldier as Painis Cupcake in Freak Fortress
===Videos===
Meet the Soldier
==Trivia==
* Despite being xenophobic, the BLU Soldier used to be good friends with RED Demoman.
*During Expiration day, When Soldier yelled "I teleported bread!" that line was provided by Nolan North as Rick May at the time had throat cancer.
*Soldier has become infamous as several memes, including as TF2 freak Painis Cupcake.
==External Links==
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