Based.

To anyone "concerned" about this taunt, you left your ethics at the door when you decided to play a Mature rated game. If you don't want to deal with it, go back to playing E for Everyone.

Dude,this taunt is even better than schadenfreude

valve missed out on this taunt its so funny

I've been checking on this taunt a few times recently, and I'd just like to say I prefer the censor. I see the humour init. Hope it gets added in.

epic sauce

it's like you guys forgot this is a m-rated game

This Taunt is all I have to say to all Toxic TF players

I'd say fingers crossed this gets added but you clearly want em' out

@Sneaky it will still work since those items just follow the animation of his hands

I have a question about Engineer's finger taunt: How would it look with the gunslinger and cosmetics replacing his right hand?

something FCC would approve

people should stop beating the creators for "not removing" censorship effect and pay more attention to the other flaws of this taunt

@Diva Dan Im sure the desk plant will make an exception for your taunt :)

Who thinks this Taunt will be added in the Halloween update

I usually leave non-hateful comments and I do not support censorship, but you're not listening to my request to just leave your downvote and move on. All your energy and effort could be pointed in a more useful direction such as how the UK just banned Imgur embeds on Steam submissions today, the kind of stuff which has an actual negative effect on the workshop. Not the creators who actually make items for the game.
Any further trolling will result in a block.

@Unseen Unit I deleted your "constructive feedback" personally because I warned you not to continue spamming. As much as I want to rebuttal each of your points, it'd result in me saying the same things until we're blue in the face. I can't see it as anything but trolling at this point since you continue moving goalposts, your "feedback" is getting more nonsensical, and you're using anything we say in response as fuel for your anti-Emp ragebait. Including deleting comments, of which I can do since I am the author. There is no mass-reporting, there is no speculation on "who", it was me. I'm tired of you blowing up the comments to my workshop item, and I gave you a warning you did not heed.

I didn’t delete my constructive feedback, so I assume it was mass-reported and I have a pretty good idea by who.

So that’s how feedback gets handled and silenced, then. Noted.

If Valve invented styles for taunts we would have world peace

Wow 262 comments an I don't have to look to know they're probably are about what I was thinking. Although I admit I completely disagree with the redundant censoring. I'm not gonna argue with the minutia of whether or not this is a true to the game or whatever. It just ruins it tbh but I wager this is purely strategic and that you left it as an option incase Valve is very cold feet about adding the gesture.

Yes, I commented because my friends said "wow this guy is not letting up about this" and I looked and commented. Super coordinated cabal at work! Save yourselves!

That is not at all comparable lol
No one expects BF to censor swears
TF2 censors hard swears and has since the beginning (""back to the game roots""). I don't know why you're still trying to argue against it, you're just disregarding everything said

- Censorship for comedic effect is a consistent running gag, never has the word "fuck" been said uncensored in any official TF2 media
- Censor particle helps visibility of the taunt at a long range and to players on low graphics settings because fingers don't animate at low LODs
- It's not self-censorship, it's uncensored by default. The idea that this is self-censorship is ridiculous and simply reactionary. I do not care
- It could be included censored or not, it's literally in Valve's court. The argument that "they'll just include it even if it's a bad idea because they don't do the work" is null, since they would have to do more work to include it

Please stop flooding the comments, any further spam will start getting deleted

Yesterday, we got the latest Battlefield trailer on YouTube.
(Battlefield 6: Official Launch Live Action Trailer).

Here, a very good example on how you handle a middle finger the right way: (literally just in time to back up my points):

/watch?v=EunkRPRzECg

-Back to the game roots
-No censor
-Straight to the point
-The comment section approves

none of us would mind that at all, like all of us have said many times before, valve can implement it however they see fit, by default it doesn't even come with the particle

besides why not the censor as an alt style (something Valve could easily do), if we are being so sensitive over a finger

"it doesn't kill the taunt for 88% of voters" most of the votes come from people who don't engage with the game, just the media

Thank u for the kind wishes!

got his thoughts laid out pretty good.

mine shifted a bit; the censor doesn't really hide the gesture so it is definitely just for fun. particles don't even show up in the shop previews.

if we're thinking stylistically, maybe the comic book appeal gameplay effects have would have fared better than the TV broadcast pixels. check out the image for Grawlix on Wikipedia. Maybe too gaudy for the length, though.

crazy convo in here, but good read. I don't want to make further discussion. Good luck y'all.

@Hypo, @rabscootle, @Diva Dan:
And remember:
You’ve already proven in the past that you’re capable of delivering quality content.
All of you clearly have strong 2D and 3D skills. That’s not in question.

So please, don’t waste that talent chasing questionable trends or playing it safe.
TF2 deserves better.

Valve is ultimately responsible for what gets added to the game, but you play a key role by submitting content. So, critical feedback and less positive comments are only meant to help you improve.

@Hypo, @rabscootle, @Diva Dan:
Many of us want TF2 to thrive, but not at the cost of its identity.

If a taunt needs a pixel blur or a fallback "safe" version to get approved, maybe it was never a strong idea to begin with.

The taunt works perfectly without the blur. It doesn’t need visual censorship to be funny, or to “fit in. Let it stand on its own, uncensored.

Valve tends to prioritize raw Workshop metrics like upvotes and favorites, not the actual substance of the item or the depth of community feedback.

If an item gains traction quickly -even if it’s divisive- it gets on their radar. They don’t take the time to sort thoughtful critique from surface-level hype, which leads to rushed, mismatched additions that slowly erode the identity of TF2.

@Hypo, @rabscootle, @Diva Dan and @UEAKCrash:
People who criticize this kind of safe/watered-down content are not the problem.

We're trying to raise the bar and bring back meaningful scrutiny to a game flooded with mediocre or outright bad content. Some of your items and from the Emporium group have pushed through have contributed to this decline.

--------> Don't get me wrong, some of your content were good and appropriate for the game, and have been praised by many, including Zesty Jesus during his live stream reviews <--------

You're free to defend your work. But if you're going to push it into the public sphere, be prepared to engage with real, good-faith criticism from people who care about the game.

But if you create or defend questionable content, dismiss valid criticism, and then lean on your group’s influence to get your way.

@Hypo
You brush off criticism as “a vocal minority” or say “Workshop comments aren’t representative.” That’s convenient.

But the people raising these concerns aren't outsiders. We play TF2. We know its voice, its tone, and its legacy. We’re not gatekeeping, we’re trying to restore quality control in a game that's been flooded with lazy, mismatched, or exploitative content, some of which your group has benefited from.

@Diva Dan
Claiming the community votes are genuine and thoughtful is naive at best.

Most people either vote "Yes" instinctively, don’t vote at all, or follow social media hype. You're proud of attention from platforms outside of Steam, but how many of those people actively play TF2, let alone understand its tone and legacy?

This taunt is getting boosted by surface-level appeal, not critical engagement.

And let’s be honest, much of the current awareness around TF2 item quality comes from people like Zesty Jesus, who actually critiques things in context and raises public standards. You mock that, but he’s doing what you refuse to: Educate.

@UEAKCrash
You're publicly friends with all 3 creators of this taunt, and conveniently, you all commented within the same time window. That’s not a coincidence, it's coordinated defense.

The only censored moments in Meet The Team are audio "bleeps".
Already posted that fact earlier, so again this argument does't hold any weight.
There is no actual visual censoring taunts in-game.

@Hypo, @rabscootle, @Diva Dan and @UEAKCrash:
You're all part of the TF2 Emporium, a tight-knit group of content creators who have had a consistent presence in official updates. Let's not pretend this group doesn’t wield serious influence over what gets added to the game. This means you hold the keys to the kingdom, and your opinions are hardly impartial. It’s a closed circle that controls what content reaches the players.

would be better without the censors tbh

Yeah plenty of people outside of workshop comments immediately understand the censor and get it from a comedic standpoint, and can see that it fits in with TF2's sense of humor, and they appreciate that. It's primarily the people coming from this zesty person's group that seem to not get it and generally nitpick/downvote every item anyway, so I don't think contributors or valve take them too seriously.
Like I said, it's a vocal minority.

Like I seriously do not understand the point of making claims about it being controversial, or how removing it would be only upsides, or that somehow it “ruins it for everyone”, it is evidently not the case, that is why I brought the ratings up in the first place, it’s straight up just wrong to claim?

- It is already one of the most popular stunts recently uploaded
- no, people do not blindly upvote submissions, it’s quite the opposite in recent years, very often you will see missions around the 50% to 60% ratings mark, barely meeking out a majority. You do not know this because you are not a contributor. Most comments on social medias outside of steam enjoy the censor as well, this isn’t some specific thing. This place is the most critical by far. The reception is not even slightly as divided as you think it is, which is pure speculation on your part

It's funnier censored, just like the demoman's rant in his Meet The video is funnier bleeped out, or Spy saying "and now he's here to BLEEP us"

It’s far from divided. You’ve filled two pages of comments at this point to argue about something we are not changing.

@Diva Dan
What we're saying here is: if you remove the censor, the approval percentage could only go up because everything else about the taunt is well made.

As Hypo said down below:
"Valve looks for the most popular items."
So why not put all the chances on your side and remove the censor?

-------------

Remove the censor = Stronger community support and your taunt gets appreciated for what it really is.

Keep the censor = Divided reception, risk of backlash if Valve adds it as-is, and a taunt that never reaches its full potential.

@Diva Dan
You're basing your defense entirely on Workshop votes now? But that’s a small and biased sample of the TF2 playerbase.

Most people don’t even bother voting on Workshop items, and those who do often hit "YES" without thinking, are probably the same people who mindlessly press F1 to skip the map vote or vote kick a legit player instead of the cheater.

And let’s be honest: out of the 3 people who worked on this taunt, you're the one credited for the blur, so you’re the least objective when it comes to judging whether it hurts the taunt or not.

it doesn't kill the taunt for 88% of voters

in this case, No thanks / Not interested; the censor kills the taunt for everyone, we cant rely on Valve either making a good choice (since they wont unless under pressure or risk of losing money)

M rated game btw

We are not changing the censor. Valve can decide on it if they add the taunt. We’ve provided assets to cover both cases (Censored/Uncensored).

You can stop commenting about it now.

I think Demo's is a bit overly animated. Otherwise love it!!! would love this in the game

@Hypo
Have you seen Zesty Jesus’s stream? Your taunt was recently reviewed by him. His streams often get around 1,000 live viewers, and the VOD currently has over 13,000 views. That's a lot of people for TF2.

And people who watch streams like that tend to care a lot more about what gets added to the game than the random ones who just spam “Valve add this” without any real thought.

So I don’t think we’re the “vocal minority” when you look at the bigger picture and honestly, this comment section alone proves that you’re already getting backlash specifically because of the censor, instead of gaining more supporters.

Here’s the review:
Just go on YouTube and add this to the URL:
/watch?v=0O10CamoXQI&t=295s