BLU Mercenaries

Lore & Background

The film establishes a specific timeline for the BLU faction during Halloween of 1968, placing them in the midst of the Gravel Wars against the Reliable Excavation Demolition (RED) company. Key figures include Jules Archibald, the BLU chairman and Governor of New Mexico, whose disappearance triggers a police investigation led by Detective Jacques Murneau, a former BLU Spy. The narrative reveals that the BLU organization is deeply entangled with war profiteering through the use of a mysterious Respawn Machine, a device capable of resurrecting users but causing severe psychological side effects like paranoia and nightmares. This machine becomes the focal point of the conflict, as the film explores the consequences of reviving mercenaries who have suffered trauma, blurring the lines between life, death, and the purgatorial state known as Limbo experienced between respawns.

In Their Own Story

The plot follows Jeremy, a former BLU Scout suffering from the side effects of the Respawn Machine accident. He seeks help from his colleague Dr. Fritz Ludwig but returns home to find his mother decapitated by a masked figure. Simultaneously, Detective Murneau and his Soldier assistant investigate Archibald's disappearance, leading them to a confrontation with a former BLU Heavy who is killed before a plague doctor-like figure escapes with a briefcase. The story shifts to the Conagher Slaughterhouse, a RED base where Ludwig rescues Jeremy only for both to be captured by brothers Zed and Maynard Conagher. After Ludwig mysteriously resurrects following his death at Maynard's hands, he kills the brothers and retrieves the stolen briefcase. Murneau eventually confronts Archibald, who confesses to war profiteering, leading to a fatal confrontation where Murneau forces Ludwig and Soldier into Russian roulette before the slaughterhouse burns down, crushing the pursuing Heavy.

Reader's Guide

The film's narrative is driven by diegetic references to Team Fortress 2 mechanics, specifically the capture the flag mode and the concept of respawning. Characters navigate a world where death is temporary but psychologically damaging, exemplified by Jeremy's hallucinations and Ludwig's resurrection. The story utilizes nonlinear storytelling, featuring temporal anomalies such as Soldier finding Cyclops frozen in a cryogenics lab housing clones of himself. The resolution involves a chaotic battle at Archibald's funeral, where a resurrected Ludwig shoots Murneau, and Soldier defects to help him escape police while killing a wounded Blutarch Mann. The film concludes with Soldier emerging from the flaming Respawn Machine after running over Redmond Mann in an ambulance crash, meeting deceased allies in purgatory before the machine's destruction.

Did You Know?

• The film was released for free on YouTube on February 20, 2023, running for a total of one hour and 48 minutes.
• Voice actor Rick May's legacy recordings from the original game were occasionally used for the Soldier's screams and laughs as an honorable thanks.
• Detective Jacques Murneau is portrayed as a former BLU Spy who investigates the disappearance of BLU chairman Jules Archibald.
• The story features a non-canonical 'Respawn Machine' that causes users to experience paranoia, nightmares, and injuries from previous deaths.
• A second Team Fortress film titled 'Murder Inc.' is all but confirmed under development by the creators as of 2024.