Clearing the reputation of a TF2 masterpiece -🔥 Download now: bit.ly/ShorK Don't miss the Watcher of Realms new exclusive Samurai event, hero and a lot of limited-time rewards! Hi everyone! I decided i wanted to try my hand at longer video essays since ive been playing for 11 years and there is so much cool TF2 history to talk about! Hope you enjoyed the video, let me know if you did or let me know if you had any problems with it! And also lmk if there is any TF2 history or niche topic youd like to hear about in the future :)
I feel like if you've been in the TF2 community for any amount of time, you would've known about this series/movement and there was nothing you could do to escape it. You still have people today still speaking about it.
@@amsal12 i can unironically think the scene, just the Blu medic facing the screen just saying "We need to show them that this, is Our World Now" as What I've Done's peak hits
I feel the same. Never in a billion years, would I EVER think that ANYONE would make a video on this very short edgy tf2 sfm series made by a singaporean dude.
I am the original creator of the of the o.W.n Rebirth group concept, their logo and all, (you can identify me by a Pyro that uses a clan pride with a nuclear symbol decal on it in the first episode, as well as my old friends in other classes with the same medal in very old o.W.n artwork scattered in the web). I have a bit of an edgy past ngl, I really liked Cult of Personality and when LoneWolfs group was without much track I started a steam group called “Mercenaries of the old o.W.n” to spark it up again but it went nowhere and I kinda forgot about it. Years later the animator for the new series, who is a steam friend of mine and member of that group, came with the idea to create a new o.W.n group and a new series, I thought it would be fun but wasn’t as much into o.W.n as before so I had the idea of just setting up the group and leaving it after it was in a sustainable state. I started to add a bunch of people from old o.W.n related places I remembered, among them was a Medic main that ordered artwork from the same artist I did. When we settled on starting it The Medic created the Steam group and Discord server (which in hindsight wasn't really a good idea but I was trusting him at the time and wanted less work on my hand) and I edited the new logo. After everything was ready, I started inviting people from every splinter o.W.n group I found (this was before you needed to be friends with someone on steam to invite them for groups) and our group grew to about 2k members including about 100 still on my friends list today, had some cool peeps there too, we had this bit of acting out as a real “army” of sorts engaging against the hater groups (pretty cringe I know but I found it fun). I also had my own bit about acting out as the intelligence officer or spy like Soundwave from Transformers, never appearing or talking much but doing the possible to see what was going on in the hater groups (ik it is incredibly cringy but was fun okay let me have this) while the Medic was the spokesman of all matters like events and server meet ups. We had this ‘council’ (yeah lmao) that decided all the stuff and after one of the moderators got creeped out by my whole ‘spying, stalking’ bit a meeting was called and the Medic framed me of trying to be a puppet master for them leading to me being expelled. I was bummed but at the end I got what I planned for in setting it up and leaving after not to mention I was also being asked to be admin of another larger community and other irl shenanigans I had to deal at the time, but oh man I wish I left it under different management. Over time all people that voted against me (even the guy that got creeped out lol) contacted me back to apologize and say they left the group because the Medic got into weird delusions of power over a silly virtual group, calling himself Emperor and all. I didn’t think much of it until people from the hater groups wanted my help on taking it down and it all escalated into a virtual group war that I wanted to get out asap. I did chat with them a few times but I drew the line when someone from these groups send me unsolicited irl pics of the Medic and his home address, then I cut all ties with all that business. The Medic is a weird guy, from our calls I noticed he is a supporter of fascist ideals when it comes to goverment power (he even did put the logo on the r3ich banner from time to time), looking back I should have not considered bringing him in after seeing the art he commissioned but I needed all help. Sometime after I confronted him about going overboard about a Steam group off all things, he dismissed me saying they are selling merch and stuff and eventually I just told myself to let it be. Although when it comes to UnusualTopHat, the animator, I plead for people to not hate on him, he is the sweetest guy, we are still friends on steam and wish happy holidays for each other from time to time, he is very talented, just wishing to create stuff for the community he loves, he can’t help if his source of inspiration devolved into the mess you all saw. I know this was a yapper slab of text but even then, it’s very summarized version of the events but it covers the main stuff and I felt I should put it out there. Moral of the story is don’t invite n4zis with delusions of virtual power to your groups kids.
it is impossible to overstate just how influential this was in tf2s history, but its almost been completely forgotten by most. I remember there was a time when even the gmod workshop was filled with oWn stuff
Honestly this is my first time actually seeing what "O.W.N." is outside of some random TF2 fanart and the slight (probably unintentional) reference to them in the design of the burnt/respawn defect mercenaries of Emesis Blue so I don't know what to expect.
The Burt characters are renamed from their original name to a codename Jacques - the smoker, RED sniper - the hunter, RED medic - the surgeon, Fritz - the undertaker (mysterious plague doctor)
As an OWN veteran myself, I can’t thank you enough for this video, had no idea on the fate of the series, but you have brought me closure. I’m disappointed in the new people to this series but perhaps they will learn in time. Thank you for clearing its name, and to all the veterans out there from 2013-2014, thank you for keeping the correct OWN alive and well.
Being mentioned in a ShorK video certainly wasn't on my 2024 bingo card... Quite the accurate and entertaining video, and I'm very thankful for the research you've put into the history of our World now and how both me, and the o.W.n Rebirth community tried so hard to clear the toxicity and make it a fun and enjoyable TF2 community for all. 💛 Here's what I can add from my experience and regarding points you found confusing in the video, I'll speak mostly for the series and my channel though: The series have been in production for several years, since 2017 to be precise. I've been animating the series myself, with the help of various other talented artists who provided me with assets such as models, textures, and more, these artists being members in the new o.W.n Rebirth community, none of this would have been possible without them. Being a single animator is a reason on why it takes so long, throughout this period I've also been a high school student, a university student (studying animation), and currently I'm both employed as a game developer/animator, and a university student again (This time, doing a master's degree). The ones in charge of the script and story have in fact changed a few times as you suspected, thus why the story seems so confusing at times. It's something that back then I didn't pay as much attention as I should have, namely because, as an animator, I was mostly having fun exploring my SFM animation skills, trying my best to improve them while making something enjoyable for the TF2 community, and (for the most part... I'll go into detail on this later down in this comment) people seemed to really enjoy what I created. My apologies for the "bad wording"! My English back in 2017 wasn't so sharp lol, and it isn't my main language. What happened was, before beginning the series, I made sure to contact LoneWolfHBS, informing him that, not only were we creating a new o.W.n community but also our plans to make a new series that would use his concepts, maybe his characters, his o.W.n textures, and so on, to which he confirmed that we could make the series and use the assets, however, he wouldn't be supervising them nor want anything to do with them, in other words, everything about it was up to us, he was neutral and didn't really care. (Thus, the usage of the words "doesn't support", in the sense of being neutral to the ordeal.) About the "good version of oWn" and other statements given by me, you are very right that I was feeling "very emotional", I was desperately trying to make a new SFM series that everyone could enjoy, using the great concept of o.W.n by LoneWolfHBS, yet when it all began, the reputation the name had... was still unbelievably bad. Both I and the new o.W.n Rebirth community suffered harassment and hate for years, the same hate LoneWolfHBS had to endure on his channel, my comments were bombarded with constant hate, which forced me to say things that weren't so accurate or great story wise, it was difficult for 16 year old me to defend myself against a mob of mislead haters. I tried extremely hard to separate the "old oWn" into a "new oWn" to make people understand that we weren't toxic, we didn't mean no harm, we just wanted to be a fun community for all, taking in only the good parts of the original o.W.n fan group. This is also one of the reasons why I felt so skeptical about including the original Cult of Personality characters, the music themes, the idea of the "having leaders" and other, more "edgy" concepts, in the hopes that maybe that would ease the hate? A foolish thought really... the hate didn't decrease, and the series came to life in quite the "bland" taste... The usage of AI voices fall on the attempt to increase the seriousness and realism of the series. Lastly, I can say that the story for The Uprising is now under a solid script team, and that the next episodes will be much better, and more in touch with what the original o.W.n was, while keeping our own sense of originality. Our personal "spinoff" if you will. Again, thank you for the video.
I really liked LoneWolf's OWN episodes and i was so sad when he stopped making the other episodes.. i personally consider LoneWolf's OWN to be the true OWN group and its been ruined by other people.. especially the weird group who talk about politics and ban people from discord without a real reason.. they are all fake OWN groups.. i feel bad for LoneWolf for what happened and hope he's living the good life
I got into the fandom right around the start of the Rebirth (32:50) and it was fun for a bit, but yeah it snowballed from there. I don't even play TF2 anymore but I'm still in the group. Didn't know it got that bad tho.
I was actually banned from them after gathering some friends within the same group and forming our own thing. It was, as they put it, “recruiting”… That was back when I was 13 or so years old and I am very glad I was booted before I got worse. I’m 21 now and since then I look back to that as that place being a spot where I just met some old friends. I still keep in touch with some former members
Finally someone covers this series. I really need this because I have heard about this and tried to watch it but I never really understood it. I first heard of this from a steam friend of mine with o.W.n in their username. Now I can enjoy this series by understanding it.
I remember this from early on, when it was new. Eh, it still comes off as very edgy from the outset with the excessive amounts of black clothing and dark hoods and all that. Just because it's not completely shallow or constantly brooding at all times doesn't mean it's not edgy. I'd hardly call it a masterpiece, but the original series also clearly has a lot of passion and dedication to it, so it's not like it's half-assed schlock or anything, and I respect it for that.
I remember watching Cult of Personality back in the day. I never got into the community, just watched the series. I didn't realize there was a decent sized sub-community. It's unfortunate to hear it went downhill, but this is why I've learned to separate the communities from the creations. Glad to hear that LoneWolf is still around and kicking, and that they're pursuing a writing career. I wish him luck on his future endeavors.
I never liked the series that much. But I definitely watched them all still feeling captivated by it. But yeah luckily also never really joined the community either.
oWn was just about a story arch of made characters to show contract to the in game story. While the “Rebirth” are a bunch of egoists that praise themselves for being back something that didn’t need to and believe they’re better than others. Been playing the game for years. If I had to say which was more toxic; it be the rebirth. I also know of horrible secrets from the higher ends of the rebirth group that would make anyone’s eyes role and thinking being typical of the modern day standard of media.
I was a member of oWn Rebirth for a few months between 2021 and 2022. It was a pretty miserable experience. There were some nice people there who I enjoyed interacting with, but there were a few factors that led me to leave. One of those factors was a person known as Empress Hellfire. Hellfire is the "girlfriend" of one of the founders of oWn Rebirth, Emperor Mediziner. I put girlfriend in quotes because they aren't the perfect couple. Their relationship is very dysfunctional. They would get into frequent arguments, with Hellfire being the instigator most of the time. She would bring up his insecurities, such as his hair loss and weight gain, in order to degrade him. Sometimes she would go so far as to say that they would never marry and that she would never conceive a child with him. These arguments would get so bad that one of them (or both) would leave the server for a week or two just to get away from each other before rejoining and pretending nothing had happened. I recall one instance in which I thought Med had broken up with her because he had left both the Discord and Steam group for a period. Hellfire was furious about it over Discord as I recall her saying something along the lines of "I gave that neckbeard all I had". Not long after Med returned, she scrubbed everything negative she had said about him and went on to pretend everything was fine and dandy. Despite being a part of the problem, I feel bad for Med. It's clear to me that he's being taken advantage of by someone who wants complete control over him. It's appalling that, rather than supporting him like a normal human being, she thinks it's acceptable to mock his insecurities, despite being deeply insecure herself. The fact that he simply allows her to do these things to him, combined with his reliance on her, leads me to believe that he is trapped in an abusive relationship. I can only hope he comes to his senses, seeks help, and finds someone who truly loves him. Hellfire is not mentally well. She does not try to hide this fact, as she publicly posts about the abuse she received on her Steam account and frequently trauma dumps in their Discord server's "venting channel". It's understandable that she's suffered in her youth, but taking all of her rage out on people who don't deserve it, including her supposed soulmate, is disgusting. She presents herself as a caring, motherly figure, yet she often looks down on people she believes are beneath her and gossips behind their backs. She even has a personal Discord server, where she openly insults people she dislikes. In reality, she is an extremely narcissistic and condescending individual. She has no regard for the feelings of others and has no desire to make friends. She only wants to control people so she can bend them to her will. Despite this, she continues to preach about how she is this perfect person who serves God and opposes degeneracy (despite having someone commission Giantess/Macrophilia art of her TF2 persona). If you think otherwise, she will put on this obnoxious "you hate me cuz you ain't me" mentality and tell you that you probably have no job and most likely mooch off your parents. I'm not joking about the Giantess stuff, by the way. www.deviantart.com/theimperialcombine/art/GIFT-Big-Friend-Little-Friend-774459980 www.deviantart.com/theimperialcombine/art/Goddess-Fatalia-780043426 www.tumblr.com/therealimperialcombine-blog/176953001452/fatalia-the-fempyro-has-grew-up-to-50-feet-tall www.deviantart.com/fataliatheshadow/art/Untitled-design-21-807914517 She would also use admin commands to shrink players or enlarge herself on Rebirth’s TF2 server, and would begin referring to the players as her "babies". Many people in the Discord were very uncomfortable with this behavior, particularly because it was being carried out by a nearly 30-year-old woman and many of the group's members were minors. I didn't like hanging around Hellfire since she was often very moody. My last interaction with her occurred the same month I left. She joined a voice call I was on with two moderators I knew, and I politely responded with "Hello". Her mood changed upon hearing my voice. She gave an audible grunt before saying something in Spanish. After a while, she instructed one of the moderators to keep an eye on me and to "make sure he doesn't misbehave" before leaving the chat. I sat in silence, wondering, "What the hell did I do?" After that, I decided I'd had enough and left Rebirth. I'm not sure why a simple hello set her off. It was most likely because I was hanging out with people she disliked on Discord. Regardless, if she had a problem with me, she could have simply spoken to me rather than hiding behind her native tongue. Other reasons I left Rebirth include personal matters such as work and school. I wanted to focus more on myself, and Rebirth was getting in the way. My time was often exploited to the point where it became a constant distraction from real life. Hellfire once yelled at me because I replied with "Maybe." when asked if I was going to participate in a military drill event. This is coming from the same person who told everyone that "life comes first". Sure, life comes first... unless you're under our time. I have better things to do with my life than play war games. If you're thinking about joining oWn Rebirth, I recommend going somewhere else if you don't want your time and mental health taken advantage of. The people who run Rebirth are more concerned with imposing their political ideologies and religious beliefs on you rather than actually playing TF2. I think the only times people were playing TF2 were during drill events. Aside from that, many of the people in the group appeared to be losing interest or were completely disinterested in TF2. All Rebirth wants to do is turn themselves into an online authoritarian military to combat the "woke mob". Find a community that's suitable for you, and avoid toxic communities like Rebirth. I hope more people come out to share their experiences. This video only scratched the surface of what they are like.
And I was thinking that their positioning of o.W.n as "Pro-Imperial-German Faction" was cringe enough. It's sad that such miserable people "carry" o.W.n legacy like this [I mean only that "Imperial Couple". I am sure that other members of Rebrith community is fine, I hope]. I wonder what LoneWolf would say about all of that. In the end they thinking that their version of o.W.n and lore is "better". Which is not. And Rebirth SFM Series is perfect example of this. And no, its not about the Animation Itself. UnusualTopHatAnimations did a great job at animating all of this in SFM. The problem - Is Plot in the series. Its inconsistent, wierd and overall confusing. The series tries to be everything at the same time: Reboot, Sequel, Something New? I mean, if they just made story about Alternative o.W.n with THEIRS OC's - I wouldn't have any complaints. But they include Freaks [Just why] and OLD Characters from Cult Of Personality? Why? It was a cameo or they just gonna be extras in the background. And dont get me started with Dark Viper and Jade [Old o.W.n Medic and RedFemScout] death scene. They was killed by "new and cool medinizer" o.W.n leader. Whats for? To show that "LoneWolf Vision of o.W.n" was failure? For a sake of the plot. Just why? Cos this scene reminds me how Han Solo was absolutely merged from Star Wars Episode 7. "The New is good, Old is baaad!" thing happent here. Its just heartbreaking for me. [And yes I know why this happent - The writers of oWn Rebrith series was often changed, according to UnusualTopHatAnimations. But this does not remove my claims.] And yes sure, Cult of Personality series has own disadvantages and shortcomings. But the series looks very good even now. The story and characters are interesting to follow. And even before this series, NO ONE dared to show their version of the TF2 plot at the time. In the end Cult Of Personality is a cast of the author's soul, which merged with the series. A product of his time and teenage rebelliousness. LoneWolf put his soul, passion, love for TF2, WWE and 2000's Edgy Rock into CoP. Which created a Unique and still Great series. It's just sad that the LoneWolf never finished the series cos of the toхic fandom. Unlike Rebrith - Their series are broken mirror of the past.
@@MrGrinn228 They don't just have them exist as cameos, they kill them off so they can prop up Fatalia, who is supposed to be this super cool and ultra-powerful character with the ability to set things on fire via magic or some such nonsense. But in reality, all she really does (in terms of the series) is stand around looking like Wutend's arm-candy and destroy the reputation of the group more and more with each passing day. Also, the writers haven't changed in my honest opinion. It's the same group of schlubs it's always been, with one or two being removed because they got banned from Rebirth. Wutend and Fatalia have always been the ones calling the shots there, and from my own observations into them, I can say with certainty that it's HEAVILY basing itself off of the new Star Wars films. Wutend himself often quotes the new movies in his art and thinks himself Darth Vader or some other dreck.
If I recall, Grey Mann and the o.W.n Medic had actually made a deal long before Episode 10, so I figure the twist was meant to be a little less mysterious.
I saw the title and thought it would be about the current 'Clan' and their strange obsession with war and politics, but as it turns out, it's about the hidden gem of the OLD o.W.n. Very glad it's about about the cinematic universe and not... yeah...
FINALLY for YEARS it felt like i was the only one who knew about this series i started watching while the episodes were still coming out and i can not describe how much i love it
i can tell that you really love this series/universe. this was a really enjoyable watch and i hope you do more long videos. the lil bits of live commentary, the intel skit and your chapter 6-10 recap really made me laugh and my morning. your dedication in this vid is very inspiring certain parts of the story and just overall vibe of the og oWn really shows its mid 2010s age 😭but its honestly incredible how dedicated lonewolf. i only really seen oWn as the clan tag and logo but luckily havent encountered toxic players that had it. i think ive seen the characters in posters but never knew about the series. thank you for bringing awareness to it the part where the story ends in MVM also reminds me of a comic i made around the same time as well. ahhhh the singular brain cell of tf2 fans to include MVM somehow
Bless ShorK, reminding us that there are so many important aspects of the tf2 community that make it up, that you can't help but just sort of forget about some of them. I expect the same video by a different youtuber atleast 5 years from now, lol.
I remember watching the O.W.N series when I was younger, and absolutely loved it and the idea, everytime i'd see the name either in the username or seeing those Iconic black clothing brought me back to the awesome episodic animations that I loved. I never knew people went weird with it. Sad, but there will always be people like that, hopefully there too will be people who actually have common sense and remember O.W.N is not meant to be tarnished like this, only remembered as one of the great OG SFM animation series.
its heartbreaking that such an iconic and interesting piece of tf2 sfm history has been reduced to a disgusting, nazi imagery using steam group that is now only remembered for being toxic
It’s kinda crazy how a fucking niche webseries from a fps became a modern-day dogwhistle for other far-right gamers… that’s weird right? It’s not just me lol
Thank you again for making this video, I can't stress this enough how much I needed something like this to appear. This whole misconception about CoP I think ruined people's idea on what the series really is. Once apart of oWn Rebirth I can tell you, they do not care about the lore, rather they put their own weird little twist about it.
@@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 Thats what I've been saying. Its what made the whole series so interesting which inspired me to make my own characters based on TF2 CoP. I can't really say that its the oWn Rebirth main animator's fault because like Shork said there were probably many writers involved that hasn't done their research or just don't really care.
@@mr.crasher9268 I still think it IS his fault, even if to a minor degree. Bro is ultimately the one animating every part of this. He needs to grow a backbone, say that enough is enough, and do things of his own accord, not at the behest of some jackasses that wouldn't know the first thing about o.W.n if it hit them with a sack of bricks. Honestly, the fact that Diffu isn't even an Admin and seems to get little to no attention from anything other than his Rebirth series shows that, in my mind at least, the people only care about his o.W.n stuff and not what else he could make. It honestly makes me sad to an extent because at the end of the day, this isn't how the original Cult Of Personality was made either. LonewolfHBS was the main guy behind it all, lock-stock-and-barrel. However, his other stuff still got views, regardless of what it was, and he didn't need to chase trends to keep up. Diffu honestly needs to be the one running the show at Rebirth, but Fatalia is too stubborn to "abdicate" and Wutend is too pussy-whipped to scuttle the group, so the entire thing suffers. It needs changes that currently can't be made, due to how things operate over there. The Admin Council are all either scared shitless and just do as they are told or they're outright bootlicks to Wutend and Fatalia.
I was already 22 at that point, the one thing that was pretty clear that the o.W.n players were like 13 year olds at that time so I've never checked this out, and now I see it that it was for a good reason.
This series was major reason how I discovered about TF2 and this game was my first multiplayer experience back in 2014 where I was a kid. Back then, I liked this machinima so much, that I even showed it to my father, he liked it. When series stop coming out, I waited, but eventually forgot about it (I still played tf2 though). I guess thanks to my young age back then, being frivolous. I just didn't knew why it stopped and I just started discovering multiplayer games and internet in general. Also thanks to "Chapter 6-10 recap" brief segment in this video, I'm glad to now know about how it ended(wow, it was a MvM prequel this whole time, le mao).
As a more recent TF2 fan, I love how people like shorK goes back in time and bring us the same joy and entertainment of different eras and fan conntent, as if we were him.
Core memory: Unlocked Holy damn, man. This series was always there in the back of my mind since I first watched it. I never knew what happened with that series, so it's good to get a closure on that.
Making a Steam group piggy backing off of someone else's work that then incorporates a whole bunch of fascist imagery not at all present in the original works without making it clear you're a fan group is just so scummy.
With that said it's really funny to see a TF2 group with some rule sheet drafted up in Google Docs adorned with clearly fascist Germany inspired insignias and a "debate rules" section. There's absolutely no way I could ever take that seriously, just push the Payload cart man.
I really wanted to get invested to o.W.n for the longest time and wasn't able to know where to start.But thanks to you,I get to understand the lore,the story behind it and the author.Once again,appriciated !
48:49 honestly not as weird as you think. people will hyperfixate on the most specific of character sometimes not even out of wanting to. as an artist (at least for me) its actually pretty common for people to request you to do stuff out of the blue. people are just like that sometimes.
This is true. I think that my own hyperfixations are what led me to focus on Rebirth, all things considered. Even though they don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
I appreciate the fact that now I have more of an understanding what o.W.n. is. Thank you. Also, at 17:52.. when Engie went "I build that :D" and got blown away.. i got hit with an ad. Bro go blasted so hard it created an advertisement.
Mann... Now this was a series that I remember watching years before actually downloading TF2 for the first time. This, new ScrewAttack videos, and those early Angry Video Game Nerd and Caddicarus videos (especially Rascal Racers), really kickstarted what I would enjoy years later. I was into that o.w.n./Cult of Personality series for a bit and waited weekly just to see if there was any new uploads. Man, it sure went through some crazy history. I'm just glad to see someone talk about it, because this really rushed in a lot of old memories. TF2, what an awesome game... and weirdly creative open book.
Thank you for the review of oWn video series. Unfortunately the current oWn has militaristic social cast structure, with no transparency of intent or tolerance of members. And selective isolation of vulnerable people. Don't Forget their Public ban list, and general fasci-nation with certain dark historical military figures. Far removed from actual artists, that aren't roped in and vulnerable.
The racket is essentially a farse of appropriating the name oWn, and playing into its associations to drive joins to their discord. After having about a dozen friends do so and myself joining to see what it's like, I realized that art, talking, and making friends over the oWn video series isn't the point of oWn Rebirth at all. They just take in creative, maybe slightly edgy people, give them some SFM artist skills and then use that as a guilt bag, "now you owe it to us to stay". Enjoy walking on Eggshells, and bullying pressure, "watchers" stalking ya via any connected accounts and whatever. Can't ask reasonable questions about history of other members, without your oWn removal, or even slightly associate with them. Isolation mode. Only group compliance. An example of this is must join training sessions, "propaganda" ones sometimes daily. Essentially taking weak people for a domineering social ride. The owners, Mediziner, and Hellfire (dating?) made the group for the control, political bent, finances (via their oWn Rebirth store), and artwork production of the members of oWn Rebirth group. Lots of social guilt and usery. It took a lot to tell the socially vulnerable that this was NOT safe for them to live under this fear/coercion. The worst part is that most friends were 13-16 at their time of joining, and so they didn't know that it was an appropriated name, and not the intent.
The idea of the story and the ending were quite interesting. When I first watched this series, I had a hard time understanding it because yes... the animation scenes were not prepared very well. Thanks for making video about this.
I was a member of o.W.n back at the big heyday of the groups rise in popularity, one of first big group on TF2 that I really dedicated time and effort in to. After the series ending and the dying down of the original group I cut contact with everyone with the old group to my own distain since I still to this day wished I kept in contact some of the folks. I do remember getting added to the o.W.n Rebirth group some time back but I didn't participate in anything since by that time I really stopped playing TF2 in general due to some really bad experiences I had playing the game. Also to make a note I did not know of the groups toxicity and nor did I use the title to spread myself as better than anyone else.
Loved watching every series by LoneWolf. Man carried my pre-teen years and I'm glad I was not aware of the fanmade O.W.N. I am also happy he is pursuing his dream of becoming a writer.
I loved the old OWN and the fan made animation back then, just watched the vids and never experienced anything in tf2 myself tho I do agree that it had changed the tf2 community for my little knowledge for the better. To shork: Keep up the good work my man I (we all) appreciate it very much 😊
I remember in 2023 when I first got tf2 I was obsessed with it like an addiction I have never known. I wanted to consume every piece of media tf2 could offer and while I was watching a winglet vid, I saw this, o.w.n. It seemed so simple but convoluted at the same time. I was amazed someone had created a world and story of this size out of tf2
bro i was a fan of o.w.n back in the day holy the memories i even had mod installed back then where you could play in their team good times wish they made comeback
I was 10 when this series started, I had limited access to the Internet back in the day and only place I could watch TH-cam video is at my local internet cafe, what brings me back is that the entire Internet cafe are playing Tf2, CS source, Dota Half life and as a kid I saved my lunch money and goes straight to the cafe after school, it such good memories
Out of all the tf2 tubers it makes sense that you would cover this series but still doesn't make any more crazy that someone actually is talking about this iconic tf2 series.
48:48 Oh no, not the SAME person who randomly private messaged me to try and get me to animate a short film for him for free! :O It was _so_ out of the blue too, I'd never had an interaction with them before. Saddened to hear your animator friend got zero credit for their work, Shork!
Tbh 2018 memories unlocked again (i was 7 then) i loved the series but the rebirth one ive only watched the first 2 so yeah dont know much but ShorK ur a great youtuber and explain the lore of tf2 things and i appreciate that. Thank u for doing these videos and keep doing them i wish u and others the best and never give up on anything.
I remember that oWn Rebirth group, I tried to join mostly to see what they were all about, it was lead or co-lead by someone with the name “Empress Hellfire”, and I was banned within the same hour I joined cause I was asking questions and because I was in the Pan Militia
If you've got any evidence of this, feel free to share. From what I know, Rebirth itself is paranoid and seems to loathe groups whos leaders declare enemies. They take that shit seriously and will enforce it on everyone, even their members, regardless of if they did anything wrong. Fatalia herself is a fucking lunatic who has no care for others, not even her supposed boyfriend Wutend.
I do remember watching various short films about OWN, and thought it was just a dumb fanfic-y way to get a balenciaga team to make hood snipers even more edgy, and Wehraboo Medics even more Nazi adjacent, so I steered clear and lost interest. Instead I turned to ACTUAL TF2 fanfics, and read Waking Nightmares. (An OLD ass MLP/TF2/Creepypasta crossover fic that went dead.)
I remember seeing this a long time ago but could never truly refind it. I only saw like one episode being the ending and thanks to this I refound it so simply put thank you for this vid…but god it’s such a good feel.
Former member of the rebirth group, I did enjoy the group for a bit, but then the leader had his allegations (I know they were real but I have no proof so imma say allegations) and his partner being a r@c$t aswell. I got banned around 2021, and I haven't heard about o.w.n rebirth since, and seeing the German iron crosses, and german stuff, yeah I'm glad I got banned. Too many allegations and controversy in that group. And I can confirm rebirth was strict, too strict, I couldn't have a friend who was banned from rebirth and that's why I got banned.
I was banned because I formed a friend group between myself and other people in the server called Bison Soldiers National (BSN). My supposed crime was recruiting
@@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 They'll probably change the charges every other week anyway. Either way, they choose to refer to us as Exiles- I choose to wear the name with pride. We're Exiles, and we might as well be proud of the fact. It's proof that we are free of the Empress' iron grip.
I watched the original oWn story LoneWolf made, though he never finished it. He did put up a video explaining what the future episodes are about, but that's pretty much it.
As a former member of the Rebirth, I do thank you for humbling me, I joined in my mid teens, and the friends I made there are still friends to this day over five years later. But like I said, former, maybe it's different now but the leaders got extremely paranoid and banned people off of the smallest things and probably some of the worst memories I had in the tf2 community came from there, but like I said, it might be different now, just looking back brings back bad memories and drama and mistakes typical of my age back then. But I am thankful for this video to humble me and remind me how separate Lonewolfs masterpiece is to the group
@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 No? I wasn't really on any council, or high ranking at all, best I got was being the second medic to win the class duels if that's still going on.
Sad to See that o.W.n is getting represented like this, i have been in the Tf2 Community for a while now and it is great to see how you do a lot for a game that has been out for over a decade! Thank you for keeping a game that has been Part of my Teenagehood alive and healthy.
I'm so glad you brought this topic, i feel like oWn is kinda forgotten and barely being talked nowaday, i used to put oWn tag on my steam username, i'm still knowing oWn as the edgelord of TF2
I was also super into this as a kid playing TF2 I even downloaded the custom mods and everything LoneWolfHBS also has another story series set in the Left 4 Dead universe called White Lie. I recommend watching it as well.
I'm so glad this is being talked about, I started watching it a few months ago and thought that it was interesting but couldnt really find anything much behind it surprisingly on my own
Man I used to love this series! If I boot up my old ps3 and little big planet 2, I still have outfits for the whole red, blu and o.W.n team, good memories XD
YO I'VE BEEN WONDERING WHAT THIS WAS CALLED FOR ABOUT 8 YEARS I loved this when I was younger omg I have been looking for this but I only remembered one scene
CoP was such a interesting series, shame what happened to it and the community around it, would have loved to see the rest of the plot and story animated. Also, I did not know about the character biography stuff, gonna check it out.
It's funny, I actually revisited this series myself very recently out of nostalgia. Seeing you bring it up now's a touch surreal. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Unfortunately in my experience, when I join TF2 to get away from the real world, I get called a myriad of slurs. Which is why I stick to stuff like Uncletopia etc since well, y'know, it shuts that shit down. It's sad to see what happened to Lonewolfs series. But. You can call the people who run group what they really are. Actual N@zis. You don't use that kind of imagery "ironically". Which seems to check out when reading through the comments and looking the guy up.
If you're referring to Lonewolf? As far as I recall, he was never a NAZI, nor did he use NAZI imagery. People like Wutend Mediziner and Fatalia, however, are most certainly NAZIs in all but name.
I never knew that there was a whole animation series behind the [o.W.n] tag, it's kind of sad that it has had a bad reputation for the longest time, this is what happens when a community takes stuff way too far. Hate the community, not the animation I doubt you'll see this, but I laughed while watching this video, great video
I stumbled upon this series by and edit of the Medic, I only watched the first episode though. But it was quite interesting, I'll eventually watch more of the series if I find more episodes.
I was there when oWn was starting to garner attention, I even joined oWn Rebirth and rised through the ranks and became one of their staff. I did stuff like help with the schedule for their daily activities, even attempting to create a sub group to branch off into many other games, everything was just pure fun for the group but it all started going downhill when they took it all serious like invading other tf2 communities and servers with raids to "recruit" more members to the group. They changed so much from the original idea that it became unrecognizable. I did get banned after like nearly 3 years(maybe) of service, all because I was defending my actions. They started showing their true colors once one of my friends showed a message of them slandering me, calling me greedy and trying to use the group as a platform for my commissions (even though I been generous the entire time giving out free stuff every once in a while) that's when I knew the group had a dark side behind it. I apologize for making this very long, but I hope this gives someone out there some understanding on why the fan groups shouldn't be taken seriously.
I remember following this series back in the day. I started playing TF2 in 2013 and quickly hyperfixated on oWn for a short time. I never got so into it that I changed my username and roleplayed it in-game or anything, I was mostly into it for the story and characters. I'm so glad we finally got closure on how the story was supposed to end, though. I distanced myself from oWn when I saw the reputation it was garnering in the community, even resenting other players with oWn in their names who behaved toxically in-game, despite still loving the original series. It's a damn shame, and I suppose thats what you get when you mix edgy themes and story lines, and overtones of revolution, with a free online FPS where literally anyone can just pick it up and play. In theory its all harmless fun, but in practice there will always be some people who take things too far and who legitimately turn it into some sort of actual cult.
Clearing the reputation of a TF2 masterpiece -🔥 Download now: bit.ly/ShorK Don't miss the Watcher of Realms new exclusive Samurai event, hero and a lot of limited-time rewards!
Hi everyone! I decided i wanted to try my hand at longer video essays since ive been playing for 11 years and there is so much cool TF2 history to talk about! Hope you enjoyed the video, let me know if you did or let me know if you had any problems with it! And also lmk if there is any TF2 history or niche topic youd like to hear about in the future :)
i love your videos!
FROM THE SCREEN TO THE RING TO THE PEN TO THE KING!!!
23:50 Medic is a Hamon user confirmed???
For the o.w.n mod, does the version on gamebanana work still, or can you give us a link/intrustructions for the fixed version
@@TF2HolyMackerelthe official mod is on lonewolfs Old mod video and Can still be downloaded, maybe it Can be fixed and republished. Not sure
They were tired of pointles fighting over pointless land, so they created another team, so they can pointlesly fight over the pointless land together.
[Insert Name] Revolution be like
Also red team simping over female scout and got credited, while the original scout doing all works and didn't get credited
@@nightcorebendythedancingde5953 ....EXCUSE MEEEE?
@@nightcorebendythedancingde5953 wait i curious which eps is that 😅?
@@Silvia_Sylveoneevee in the first episode at the end.
I feel like if you've been in the TF2 community for any amount of time, you would've known about this series/movement and there was nothing you could do to escape it. You still have people today still speaking about it.
Remember me?
sorry to burst your bubble but i've been in the tf2 community since jungle inferno and I haven't heard about this until today
Yeah he made a whole video talking about it very hype
I have been in tf2 community for 2 years not knowing this and finnally this video caught me 💀
@@erjhg-w5k same
Own?
(Smokes cigarette)
Haven’t heard that name in so long
Yeah the first time i heard that was when i was still a kid with his mommas phone
2014
i didn't even hear about that lol
00:49 missed chance for saying "Now this, is thier oWn team."
45:32
"We need to show them that this, is Our World Now."
*What I've done by Linkin Park plays*
@@amsal12 i can unironically think the scene, just the Blu medic facing the screen just saying "We need to show them that this, is Our World Now" as What I've Done's peak hits
Alibadibsi
@@jannjohannmarcial6915 Peak imagination
I never expected you would go over this big piece of tf2s history.
minor spelling mistake
I feel the same.
Never in a billion years, would I EVER think that ANYONE would make a video on this very short edgy tf2 sfm series made by a singaporean dude.
Weewoo weewoo, new hyperfixation alert
I am the original creator of the of the o.W.n Rebirth group concept, their logo and all, (you can identify me by a Pyro that uses a clan pride with a nuclear symbol decal on it in the first episode, as well as my old friends in other classes with the same medal in very old o.W.n artwork scattered in the web). I have a bit of an edgy past ngl, I really liked Cult of Personality and when LoneWolfs group was without much track I started a steam group called “Mercenaries of the old o.W.n” to spark it up again but it went nowhere and I kinda forgot about it. Years later the animator for the new series, who is a steam friend of mine and member of that group, came with the idea to create a new o.W.n group and a new series, I thought it would be fun but wasn’t as much into o.W.n as before so I had the idea of just setting up the group and leaving it after it was in a sustainable state. I started to add a bunch of people from old o.W.n related places I remembered, among them was a Medic main that ordered artwork from the same artist I did.
When we settled on starting it The Medic created the Steam group and Discord server (which in hindsight wasn't really a good idea but I was trusting him at the time and wanted less work on my hand) and I edited the new logo. After everything was ready, I started inviting people from every splinter o.W.n group I found (this was before you needed to be friends with someone on steam to invite them for groups) and our group grew to about 2k members including about 100 still on my friends list today, had some cool peeps there too, we had this bit of acting out as a real “army” of sorts engaging against the hater groups (pretty cringe I know but I found it fun). I also had my own bit about acting out as the intelligence officer or spy like Soundwave from Transformers, never appearing or talking much but doing the possible to see what was going on in the hater groups (ik it is incredibly cringy but was fun okay let me have this) while the Medic was the spokesman of all matters like events and server meet ups. We had this ‘council’ (yeah lmao) that decided all the stuff and after one of the moderators got creeped out by my whole ‘spying, stalking’ bit a meeting was called and the Medic framed me of trying to be a puppet master for them leading to me being expelled.
I was bummed but at the end I got what I planned for in setting it up and leaving after not to mention I was also being asked to be admin of another larger community and other irl shenanigans I had to deal at the time, but oh man I wish I left it under different management. Over time all people that voted against me (even the guy that got creeped out lol) contacted me back to apologize and say they left the group because the Medic got into weird delusions of power over a silly virtual group, calling himself Emperor and all. I didn’t think much of it until people from the hater groups wanted my help on taking it down and it all escalated into a virtual group war that I wanted to get out asap. I did chat with them a few times but I drew the line when someone from these groups send me unsolicited irl pics of the Medic and his home address, then I cut all ties with all that business. The Medic is a weird guy, from our calls I noticed he is a supporter of fascist ideals when it comes to goverment power (he even did put the logo on the r3ich banner from time to time), looking back I should have not considered bringing him in after seeing the art he commissioned but I needed all help.
Sometime after I confronted him about going overboard about a Steam group off all things, he dismissed me saying they are selling merch and stuff and eventually I just told myself to let it be. Although when it comes to UnusualTopHat, the animator, I plead for people to not hate on him, he is the sweetest guy, we are still friends on steam and wish happy holidays for each other from time to time, he is very talented, just wishing to create stuff for the community he loves, he can’t help if his source of inspiration devolved into the mess you all saw. I know this was a yapper slab of text but even then, it’s very summarized version of the events but it covers the main stuff and I felt I should put it out there. Moral of the story is don’t invite n4zis with delusions of virtual power to your groups kids.
OH! OH IT'S YOU! THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND, THE PYRO HIMSELF! What's good, brother?
I think I met you at one point when I joined after tophat’s first oWn video came out
Im in the own group and the emperor guy says that he hates all the Nazi stuff own gets related to but I had no idea that he actually did it himself
its always pathetic to see non german nazis
It was tldr i just jumped to the last sentence and boy it got 0 to a 100
it is impossible to overstate just how influential this was in tf2s history, but its almost been completely forgotten by most. I remember there was a time when even the gmod workshop was filled with oWn stuff
I always just saw remnants of it and thought it was just a old clan or something that just made models for the group
It's not a surprise it's been forgotten, it peaked with an audience of edgy kids and those kids grew up.
Honestly this is my first time actually seeing what "O.W.N." is outside of some random TF2 fanart and the slight (probably unintentional) reference to them in the design of the burnt/respawn defect mercenaries of Emesis Blue so I don't know what to expect.
The Burt characters are renamed from their original name to a codename Jacques - the smoker, RED sniper - the hunter, RED medic - the surgeon, Fritz - the undertaker (mysterious plague doctor)
@@funni_moksi69I mean the fact theyre using black/dark colors
God I love old GMod/SFM videos with tons of lore that would make all my loved ones concerned if I talked about it
As an OWN veteran myself, I can’t thank you enough for this video, had no idea on the fate of the series, but you have brought me closure. I’m disappointed in the new people to this series but perhaps they will learn in time. Thank you for clearing its name, and to all the veterans out there from 2013-2014, thank you for keeping the correct OWN alive and well.
The "wrist thing' that medic gets given by that Engi is a Pip-boy from Fallout, more specifically I think it's a model from Fallout New Vegas
Yup. Engie has a misc that is a direct copy of it called... the Pip-Boy.
Being mentioned in a ShorK video certainly wasn't on my 2024 bingo card...
Quite the accurate and entertaining video, and I'm very thankful for the research you've put into the history of our World now and how both me, and the o.W.n Rebirth community tried so hard to clear the toxicity and make it a fun and enjoyable TF2 community for all. 💛
Here's what I can add from my experience and regarding points you found confusing in the video, I'll speak mostly for the series and my channel though:
The series have been in production for several years, since 2017 to be precise. I've been animating the series myself, with the help of various other talented artists who provided me with assets such as models, textures, and more, these artists being members in the new o.W.n Rebirth community, none of this would have been possible without them.
Being a single animator is a reason on why it takes so long, throughout this period I've also been a high school student, a university student (studying animation), and currently I'm both employed as a game developer/animator, and a university student again (This time, doing a master's degree).
The ones in charge of the script and story have in fact changed a few times as you suspected, thus why the story seems so confusing at times. It's something that back then I didn't pay as much attention as I should have, namely because, as an animator, I was mostly having fun exploring my SFM animation skills, trying my best to improve them while making something enjoyable for the TF2 community, and (for the most part... I'll go into detail on this later down in this comment) people seemed to really enjoy what I created.
My apologies for the "bad wording"! My English back in 2017 wasn't so sharp lol, and it isn't my main language.
What happened was, before beginning the series, I made sure to contact LoneWolfHBS, informing him that, not only were we creating a new o.W.n community but also our plans to make a new series that would use his concepts, maybe his characters, his o.W.n textures, and so on, to which he confirmed that we could make the series and use the assets, however, he wouldn't be supervising them nor want anything to do with them, in other words, everything about it was up to us, he was neutral and didn't really care. (Thus, the usage of the words "doesn't support", in the sense of being neutral to the ordeal.)
About the "good version of oWn" and other statements given by me, you are very right that I was feeling "very emotional", I was desperately trying to make a new SFM series that everyone could enjoy, using the great concept of o.W.n by LoneWolfHBS, yet when it all began, the reputation the name had... was still unbelievably bad.
Both I and the new o.W.n Rebirth community suffered harassment and hate for years, the same hate LoneWolfHBS had to endure on his channel, my comments were bombarded with constant hate, which forced me to say things that weren't so accurate or great story wise, it was difficult for 16 year old me to defend myself against a mob of mislead haters.
I tried extremely hard to separate the "old oWn" into a "new oWn" to make people understand that we weren't toxic, we didn't mean no harm, we just wanted to be a fun community for all, taking in only the good parts of the original o.W.n fan group.
This is also one of the reasons why I felt so skeptical about including the original Cult of Personality characters, the music themes, the idea of the "having leaders" and other, more "edgy" concepts, in the hopes that maybe that would ease the hate? A foolish thought really... the hate didn't decrease, and the series came to life in quite the "bland" taste...
The usage of AI voices fall on the attempt to increase the seriousness and realism of the series.
Lastly, I can say that the story for The Uprising is now under a solid script team, and that the next episodes will be much better, and more in touch with what the original o.W.n was, while keeping our own sense of originality. Our personal "spinoff" if you will.
Again, thank you for the video.
Hey bro
Thank you, this should be pinned
*:D*
All props to you man, looking forward to it.
I'mma have to call cap on that, Diffu. I'll explain in greater detail in the morning.
I really liked LoneWolf's OWN episodes and i was so sad when he stopped making the other episodes.. i personally consider LoneWolf's OWN to be the true OWN group and its been ruined by other people.. especially the weird group who talk about politics and ban people from discord without a real reason.. they are all fake OWN groups.. i feel bad for LoneWolf for what happened and hope he's living the good life
Yeah, that happened to me
interresting
I was unfortunately roped into the group at 43:37 for some time and looking back on it im glad i was able to get out of there
I got into the fandom right around the start of the Rebirth (32:50) and it was fun for a bit, but yeah it snowballed from there. I don't even play TF2 anymore but I'm still in the group. Didn't know it got that bad tho.
@@nicolaspaquet-delisle2299 it got pretty bad in the discord, alot of religious and political talk even when they knew children were in server
It's good to know someone like you left on your own accord, wish I was that lucky.
Brother, I spent YEARS "fighting" Rebirth like a stupid child. Hell, part of my time against them literally was as a kid.
I was actually banned from them after gathering some friends within the same group and forming our own thing. It was, as they put it, “recruiting”…
That was back when I was 13 or so years old and I am very glad I was booted before I got worse. I’m 21 now and since then I look back to that as that place being a spot where I just met some old friends. I still keep in touch with some former members
Finally someone covers this series. I really need this because I have heard about this and tried to watch it but I never really understood it. I first heard of this from a steam friend of mine with o.W.n in their username. Now I can enjoy this series by understanding it.
31:08 The Eyelander is actually canonically cursed, or at least possessed
Ye but this is a slightly different Universe which is why i questioned it, i mention more about it later in the vid :)
I remember this from early on, when it was new. Eh, it still comes off as very edgy from the outset with the excessive amounts of black clothing and dark hoods and all that. Just because it's not completely shallow or constantly brooding at all times doesn't mean it's not edgy.
I'd hardly call it a masterpiece, but the original series also clearly has a lot of passion and dedication to it, so it's not like it's half-assed schlock or anything, and I respect it for that.
Exactly, especially when comparing it to the fanservice-infested tripe of the newer stuff.
I remember watching Cult of Personality back in the day. I never got into the community, just watched the series. I didn't realize there was a decent sized sub-community. It's unfortunate to hear it went downhill, but this is why I've learned to separate the communities from the creations.
Glad to hear that LoneWolf is still around and kicking, and that they're pursuing a writing career. I wish him luck on his future endeavors.
I never liked the series that much. But I definitely watched them all still feeling captivated by it. But yeah luckily also never really joined the community either.
this cult sure has some personality to it.
oWn was just about a story arch of made characters to show contract to the in game story. While the “Rebirth” are a bunch of egoists that praise themselves for being back something that didn’t need to and believe they’re better than others. Been playing the game for years. If I had to say which was more toxic; it be the rebirth. I also know of horrible secrets from the higher ends of the rebirth group that would make anyone’s eyes role and thinking being typical of the modern day standard of media.
I'm interested in seeing what you have to offer in regards to Rebirth, if you don't mind sharing what you know.
I was a member of oWn Rebirth for a few months between 2021 and 2022. It was a pretty miserable experience. There were some nice people there who I enjoyed interacting with, but there were a few factors that led me to leave. One of those factors was a person known as Empress Hellfire. Hellfire is the "girlfriend" of one of the founders of oWn Rebirth, Emperor Mediziner. I put girlfriend in quotes because they aren't the perfect couple. Their relationship is very dysfunctional. They would get into frequent arguments, with Hellfire being the instigator most of the time. She would bring up his insecurities, such as his hair loss and weight gain, in order to degrade him. Sometimes she would go so far as to say that they would never marry and that she would never conceive a child with him. These arguments would get so bad that one of them (or both) would leave the server for a week or two just to get away from each other before rejoining and pretending nothing had happened. I recall one instance in which I thought Med had broken up with her because he had left both the Discord and Steam group for a period. Hellfire was furious about it over Discord as I recall her saying something along the lines of "I gave that neckbeard all I had". Not long after Med returned, she scrubbed everything negative she had said about him and went on to pretend everything was fine and dandy.
Despite being a part of the problem, I feel bad for Med. It's clear to me that he's being taken advantage of by someone who wants complete control over him. It's appalling that, rather than supporting him like a normal human being, she thinks it's acceptable to mock his insecurities, despite being deeply insecure herself. The fact that he simply allows her to do these things to him, combined with his reliance on her, leads me to believe that he is trapped in an abusive relationship. I can only hope he comes to his senses, seeks help, and finds someone who truly loves him.
Hellfire is not mentally well. She does not try to hide this fact, as she publicly posts about the abuse she received on her Steam account and frequently trauma dumps in their Discord server's "venting channel". It's understandable that she's suffered in her youth, but taking all of her rage out on people who don't deserve it, including her supposed soulmate, is disgusting. She presents herself as a caring, motherly figure, yet she often looks down on people she believes are beneath her and gossips behind their backs. She even has a personal Discord server, where she openly insults people she dislikes. In reality, she is an extremely narcissistic and condescending individual. She has no regard for the feelings of others and has no desire to make friends. She only wants to control people so she can bend them to her will. Despite this, she continues to preach about how she is this perfect person who serves God and opposes degeneracy (despite having someone commission Giantess/Macrophilia art of her TF2 persona). If you think otherwise, she will put on this obnoxious "you hate me cuz you ain't me" mentality and tell you that you probably have no job and most likely mooch off your parents.
I'm not joking about the Giantess stuff, by the way.
www.deviantart.com/theimperialcombine/art/GIFT-Big-Friend-Little-Friend-774459980
www.deviantart.com/theimperialcombine/art/Goddess-Fatalia-780043426
www.tumblr.com/therealimperialcombine-blog/176953001452/fatalia-the-fempyro-has-grew-up-to-50-feet-tall
www.deviantart.com/fataliatheshadow/art/Untitled-design-21-807914517
She would also use admin commands to shrink players or enlarge herself on Rebirth’s TF2 server, and would begin referring to the players as her "babies". Many people in the Discord were very uncomfortable with this behavior, particularly because it was being carried out by a nearly 30-year-old woman and many of the group's members were minors.
I didn't like hanging around Hellfire since she was often very moody. My last interaction with her occurred the same month I left. She joined a voice call I was on with two moderators I knew, and I politely responded with "Hello". Her mood changed upon hearing my voice. She gave an audible grunt before saying something in Spanish. After a while, she instructed one of the moderators to keep an eye on me and to "make sure he doesn't misbehave" before leaving the chat. I sat in silence, wondering, "What the hell did I do?" After that, I decided I'd had enough and left Rebirth. I'm not sure why a simple hello set her off. It was most likely because I was hanging out with people she disliked on Discord. Regardless, if she had a problem with me, she could have simply spoken to me rather than hiding behind her native tongue.
Other reasons I left Rebirth include personal matters such as work and school. I wanted to focus more on myself, and Rebirth was getting in the way. My time was often exploited to the point where it became a constant distraction from real life. Hellfire once yelled at me because I replied with "Maybe." when asked if I was going to participate in a military drill event. This is coming from the same person who told everyone that "life comes first". Sure, life comes first... unless you're under our time. I have better things to do with my life than play war games.
If you're thinking about joining oWn Rebirth, I recommend going somewhere else if you don't want your time and mental health taken advantage of. The people who run Rebirth are more concerned with imposing their political ideologies and religious beliefs on you rather than actually playing TF2. I think the only times people were playing TF2 were during drill events. Aside from that, many of the people in the group appeared to be losing interest or were completely disinterested in TF2. All Rebirth wants to do is turn themselves into an online authoritarian military to combat the "woke mob". Find a community that's suitable for you, and avoid toxic communities like Rebirth.
I hope more people come out to share their experiences. This video only scratched the surface of what they are like.
I remember once visiting/checking Hellfire's profile like +6 years ago; now I undestand what she meant by being "the mother" of o.W.n members.
I've read stuff regarding Fatalia's abuse to Wutend, which makes sense when you consider how much of a bitch she is to her "people".
And I was thinking that their positioning of o.W.n as "Pro-Imperial-German Faction" was cringe enough. It's sad that such miserable people "carry" o.W.n legacy like this [I mean only that "Imperial Couple". I am sure that other members of Rebrith community is fine, I hope]. I wonder what LoneWolf would say about all of that.
In the end they thinking that their version of o.W.n and lore is "better". Which is not. And Rebirth SFM Series is perfect example of this. And no, its not about the Animation Itself. UnusualTopHatAnimations did a great job at animating all of this in SFM. The problem - Is Plot in the series. Its inconsistent, wierd and overall confusing. The series tries to be everything at the same time: Reboot, Sequel, Something New? I mean, if they just made story about Alternative o.W.n with THEIRS OC's - I wouldn't have any complaints. But they include Freaks [Just why] and OLD Characters from Cult Of Personality? Why? It was a cameo or they just gonna be extras in the background. And dont get me started with Dark Viper and Jade [Old o.W.n Medic and RedFemScout] death scene. They was killed by "new and cool medinizer" o.W.n leader. Whats for? To show that "LoneWolf Vision of o.W.n" was failure? For a sake of the plot. Just why? Cos this scene reminds me how Han Solo was absolutely merged from Star Wars Episode 7. "The New is good, Old is baaad!" thing happent here. Its just heartbreaking for me. [And yes I know why this happent - The writers of oWn Rebrith series was often changed, according to UnusualTopHatAnimations. But this does not remove my claims.]
And yes sure, Cult of Personality series has own disadvantages and shortcomings. But the series looks very good even now. The story and characters are interesting to follow. And even before this series, NO ONE dared to show their version of the TF2 plot at the time. In the end Cult Of Personality is a cast of the author's soul, which merged with the series. A product of his time and teenage rebelliousness. LoneWolf put his soul, passion, love for TF2, WWE and 2000's Edgy Rock into CoP. Which created a Unique and still Great series. It's just sad that the LoneWolf never finished the series cos of the toхic fandom.
Unlike Rebrith - Their series are broken mirror of the past.
@@MrGrinn228 They don't just have them exist as cameos, they kill them off so they can prop up Fatalia, who is supposed to be this super cool and ultra-powerful character with the ability to set things on fire via magic or some such nonsense. But in reality, all she really does (in terms of the series) is stand around looking like Wutend's arm-candy and destroy the reputation of the group more and more with each passing day.
Also, the writers haven't changed in my honest opinion. It's the same group of schlubs it's always been, with one or two being removed because they got banned from Rebirth. Wutend and Fatalia have always been the ones calling the shots there, and from my own observations into them, I can say with certainty that it's HEAVILY basing itself off of the new Star Wars films. Wutend himself often quotes the new movies in his art and thinks himself Darth Vader or some other dreck.
God..
Ah, yes....
The "Edge Phase" of TF2 from way back yonder....
Those were the days 😂😂😂
Ok the plot twist at the end with Grey Mann and Robots is actually hellava good 🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
If I recall, Grey Mann and the o.W.n Medic had actually made a deal long before Episode 10, so I figure the twist was meant to be a little less mysterious.
Its kind of funny the story shows a leader with good intentions going off the rails and losing focus, then it happens in real life
I saw the title and thought it would be about the current 'Clan' and their strange obsession with war and politics, but as it turns out, it's about the hidden gem of the OLD o.W.n.
Very glad it's about about the cinematic universe and not... yeah...
FINALLY
for YEARS it felt like i was the only one who knew about this series
i started watching while the episodes were still coming out and i can not describe how much i love it
i can tell that you really love this series/universe. this was a really enjoyable watch and i hope you do more long videos. the lil bits of live commentary, the intel skit and your chapter 6-10 recap really made me laugh and my morning. your dedication in this vid is very inspiring
certain parts of the story and just overall vibe of the og oWn really shows its mid 2010s age 😭but its honestly incredible how dedicated lonewolf. i only really seen oWn as the clan tag and logo but luckily havent encountered toxic players that had it. i think ive seen the characters in posters but never knew about the series. thank you for bringing awareness to it
the part where the story ends in MVM also reminds me of a comic i made around the same time as well. ahhhh the singular brain cell of tf2 fans to include MVM somehow
Bless ShorK, reminding us that there are so many important aspects of the tf2 community that make it up, that you can't help but just sort of forget about some of them.
I expect the same video by a different youtuber atleast 5 years from now, lol.
I remember watching the O.W.N series when I was younger, and absolutely loved it and the idea, everytime i'd see the name either in the username or seeing those Iconic black clothing brought me back to the awesome episodic animations that I loved. I never knew people went weird with it. Sad, but there will always be people like that, hopefully there too will be people who actually have common sense and remember O.W.N is not meant to be tarnished like this, only remembered as one of the great OG SFM animation series.
Same here
the eye-lander does have a spirit inside of it as apart of tf2 lord. this was my first idea of why it's cursed.
i thought of another abreviation for OWN, here's NOW, No, One, Wins, could be from the perspective or the mercs or Gray Mann
Blue comment on TH-cam??
its heartbreaking that such an iconic and interesting piece of tf2 sfm history has been reduced to a disgusting, nazi imagery using steam group that is now only remembered for being toxic
It’s kinda crazy how a fucking niche webseries from a fps became a modern-day dogwhistle for other far-right gamers… that’s weird right? It’s not just me lol
Thank you again for making this video, I can't stress this enough how much I needed something like this to appear. This whole misconception about CoP I think ruined people's idea on what the series really is. Once apart of oWn Rebirth I can tell you, they do not care about the lore, rather they put their own weird little twist about it.
THANK YOU! I'm glad I'm not the only who's called out how they don't give a singular fuck about the lore!
@@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 Thats what I've been saying. Its what made the whole series so interesting which inspired me to make my own characters based on TF2 CoP. I can't really say that its the oWn Rebirth main animator's fault because like Shork said there were probably many writers involved that hasn't done their research or just don't really care.
@@mr.crasher9268 I still think it IS his fault, even if to a minor degree. Bro is ultimately the one animating every part of this. He needs to grow a backbone, say that enough is enough, and do things of his own accord, not at the behest of some jackasses that wouldn't know the first thing about o.W.n if it hit them with a sack of bricks.
Honestly, the fact that Diffu isn't even an Admin and seems to get little to no attention from anything other than his Rebirth series shows that, in my mind at least, the people only care about his o.W.n stuff and not what else he could make. It honestly makes me sad to an extent because at the end of the day, this isn't how the original Cult Of Personality was made either. LonewolfHBS was the main guy behind it all, lock-stock-and-barrel. However, his other stuff still got views, regardless of what it was, and he didn't need to chase trends to keep up.
Diffu honestly needs to be the one running the show at Rebirth, but Fatalia is too stubborn to "abdicate" and Wutend is too pussy-whipped to scuttle the group, so the entire thing suffers. It needs changes that currently can't be made, due to how things operate over there. The Admin Council are all either scared shitless and just do as they are told or they're outright bootlicks to Wutend and Fatalia.
Man I remember watching this shit when I was kid and now I'm almost 20 so hearing about this after so long really brings back the nostalgia.
How time flies for us am I right
I was already 22 at that point, the one thing that was pretty clear that the o.W.n players were like 13 year olds at that time so I've never checked this out, and now I see it that it was for a good reason.
Yeahhh it makes me wish I was born earlier in time so I could have been more sensible back then.
28:20 Metal Sonic Jumpscare
I love that thumbnail, TwoFace reference right there. Nice job. 🤘😄
S tier villain hell yeah
@@scr_686 Let's go same. 👌
Double life
This series was major reason how I discovered about TF2 and this game was my first multiplayer experience back in 2014 where I was a kid. Back then, I liked this machinima so much, that I even showed it to my father, he liked it.
When series stop coming out, I waited, but eventually forgot about it (I still played tf2 though). I guess thanks to my young age back then, being frivolous. I just didn't knew why it stopped and I just started discovering multiplayer games and internet in general.
Also thanks to "Chapter 6-10 recap" brief segment in this video, I'm glad to now know about how it ended(wow, it was a MvM prequel this whole time, le mao).
As a more recent TF2 fan, I love how people like shorK goes back in time and bring us the same joy and entertainment of different eras and fan conntent, as if we were him.
Core memory: Unlocked
Holy damn, man. This series was always there in the back of my mind since I first watched it. I never knew what happened with that series, so it's good to get a closure on that.
Remember this series, I was 10 years old after I saw episodes. I was confused. I never really understand it.
Making a Steam group piggy backing off of someone else's work that then incorporates a whole bunch of fascist imagery not at all present in the original works without making it clear you're a fan group is just so scummy.
With that said it's really funny to see a TF2 group with some rule sheet drafted up in Google Docs adorned with clearly fascist Germany inspired insignias and a "debate rules" section. There's absolutely no way I could ever take that seriously, just push the Payload cart man.
They use Imperial German imagery, most likely because they would get banned if they used Nazi Germany symbols.
@@reichtangleanschluss509 Even if they weren't, Imperial Germany sucks too.
@@blacklighteve6060 They literally rip CoD WAW's Wehrmacht team logo and plaster their logo over the cross.
I really wanted to get invested to o.W.n for the longest time and wasn't able to know where to start.But thanks to you,I get to understand the lore,the story behind it and the author.Once again,appriciated !
I've only seen O.W.N from a shorts channel thats working on a flim on it I never understood what it is until this dropped. Bro ze real life saver 🎉
48:49 honestly not as weird as you think. people will hyperfixate on the most specific of character sometimes not even out of wanting to.
as an artist (at least for me) its actually pretty common for people to request you to do stuff out of the blue. people are just like that sometimes.
This is true. I think that my own hyperfixations are what led me to focus on Rebirth, all things considered. Even though they don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
I appreciate the fact that now I have more of an understanding what o.W.n. is.
Thank you.
Also, at 17:52.. when Engie went "I build that :D" and got blown away.. i got hit with an ad. Bro go blasted so hard it created an advertisement.
Mann... Now this was a series that I remember watching years before actually downloading TF2 for the first time. This, new ScrewAttack videos, and those early Angry Video Game Nerd and Caddicarus videos (especially Rascal Racers), really kickstarted what I would enjoy years later. I was into that o.w.n./Cult of Personality series for a bit and waited weekly just to see if there was any new uploads. Man, it sure went through some crazy history. I'm just glad to see someone talk about it, because this really rushed in a lot of old memories. TF2, what an awesome game... and weirdly creative open book.
Thank you for the review of oWn video series.
Unfortunately the current oWn has militaristic social cast structure, with no transparency of intent or tolerance of members. And selective isolation of vulnerable people.
Don't Forget their Public ban list, and general fasci-nation with certain dark historical military figures. Far removed from actual artists, that aren't roped in and vulnerable.
TALK! T A L K ! SAY IT WITH YOUR WHOLE CHEST, KING! TELL US MORE!
As a former member of staff and victim of the rebirth, thank you for sharing this
As a re-oWn Exile myself, I am happy to see that I am far from alone
The racket is essentially a farse of appropriating the name oWn, and playing into its associations to drive joins to their discord. After having about a dozen friends do so and myself joining to see what it's like, I realized that art, talking, and making friends over the oWn video series isn't the point of oWn Rebirth at all. They just take in creative, maybe slightly edgy people, give them some SFM artist skills and then use that as a guilt bag, "now you owe it to us to stay". Enjoy walking on Eggshells, and bullying pressure, "watchers" stalking ya via any connected accounts and whatever. Can't ask reasonable questions about history of other members, without your oWn removal, or even slightly associate with them. Isolation mode. Only group compliance. An example of this is must join training sessions, "propaganda" ones sometimes daily. Essentially taking weak people for a domineering social ride. The owners, Mediziner, and Hellfire (dating?) made the group for the control, political bent, finances (via their oWn Rebirth store), and artwork production of the members of oWn Rebirth group. Lots of social guilt and usery. It took a lot to tell the socially vulnerable that this was NOT safe for them to live under this fear/coercion. The worst part is that most friends were 13-16 at their time of joining, and so they didn't know that it was an appropriated name, and not the intent.
@@firefella4458 I actually joined around 13 and then got exiled at 14
The idea of the story and the ending were quite interesting. When I first watched this series, I had a hard time understanding it because yes... the animation scenes were not prepared very well.
Thanks for making video about this.
Now that brings me back to a age long age glad to see someone talking about it
ShorK always brings interesting things to make video about! I love your channel!
I was a member of o.W.n back at the big heyday of the groups rise in popularity, one of first big group on TF2 that I really dedicated time and effort in to. After the series ending and the dying down of the original group I cut contact with everyone with the old group to my own distain since I still to this day wished I kept in contact some of the folks. I do remember getting added to the o.W.n Rebirth group some time back but I didn't participate in anything since by that time I really stopped playing TF2 in general due to some really bad experiences I had playing the game.
Also to make a note I did not know of the groups toxicity and nor did I use the title to spread myself as better than anyone else.
Loved watching every series by LoneWolf. Man carried my pre-teen years and I'm glad I was not aware of the fanmade O.W.N. I am also happy he is pursuing his dream of becoming a writer.
14:37 my boy tweakin
I loved the old OWN and the fan made animation back then, just watched the vids and never experienced anything in tf2 myself tho I do agree that it had changed the tf2 community for my little knowledge for the better.
To shork:
Keep up the good work my man I (we all) appreciate it very much 😊
9:10 thats a pipboy
9:15 OMG, they have the huntsmen glitch recorded in the series, I didn't think something like this would have that recorded and part of it XD
god the sword fighting in the chapter recaps is so funny, i keep coming back to it
I remember in 2023 when I first got tf2 I was obsessed with it like an addiction I have never known. I wanted to consume every piece of media tf2 could offer and while I was watching a winglet vid, I saw this, o.w.n. It seemed so simple but convoluted at the same time. I was amazed someone had created a world and story of this size out of tf2
bro i was a fan of o.w.n back in the day holy the memories i even had mod installed back then where you could play in their team good times wish they made comeback
I was 10 when this series started, I had limited access to the Internet back in the day and only place I could watch TH-cam video is at my local internet cafe, what brings me back is that the entire Internet cafe are playing Tf2, CS source, Dota Half life and as a kid I saved my lunch money and goes straight to the cafe after school, it such good memories
Thank you for talking about the O.W.N series I light it growing up in fact I made my own series about it call The Avengers of spectacular team
The sh*tshow that is the oWn rebirth is what led me to portray oWn as terrorists in the gmod comic series I write with my friends on discord.
Mind sending some parts of the comic over? I could use a good sensible chuckle at Rebirth's expense.
@@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 I'll see what I can do for logistics of that.
Out of all the tf2 tubers it makes sense that you would cover this series but still doesn't make any more crazy that someone actually is talking about this iconic tf2 series.
48:48 Oh no, not the SAME person who randomly private messaged me to try and get me to animate a short film for him for free! :O
It was _so_ out of the blue too, I'd never had an interaction with them before. Saddened to hear your animator friend got zero credit for their work, Shork!
Tbh 2018 memories unlocked again (i was 7 then) i loved the series but the rebirth one ive only watched the first 2 so yeah dont know much but ShorK ur a great youtuber and explain the lore of tf2 things and i appreciate that. Thank u for doing these videos and keep doing them i wish u and others the best and never give up on anything.
I remember that oWn Rebirth group, I tried to join mostly to see what they were all about, it was lead or co-lead by someone with the name “Empress Hellfire”, and I was banned within the same hour I joined cause I was asking questions and because I was in the Pan Militia
If you've got any evidence of this, feel free to share. From what I know, Rebirth itself is paranoid and seems to loathe groups whos leaders declare enemies. They take that shit seriously and will enforce it on everyone, even their members, regardless of if they did anything wrong. Fatalia herself is a fucking lunatic who has no care for others, not even her supposed boyfriend Wutend.
3:53 SPONSORED GARBAGE POLICE
I do remember watching various short films about OWN, and thought it was just a dumb fanfic-y way to get a balenciaga team to make hood snipers even more edgy, and Wehraboo Medics even more Nazi adjacent, so I steered clear and lost interest.
Instead I turned to ACTUAL TF2 fanfics, and read Waking Nightmares. (An OLD ass MLP/TF2/Creepypasta crossover fic that went dead.)
Now that you mention it, I did actually once came across and had read a TF2/The Legends of Zelda, it was way long ago
Oh that takes me back
When you said that CoP is actually a prequel to Mann vs Machine is crazy..I loved that
Honey wake up, new Shork video just dropped
I remember seeing this a long time ago but could never truly refind it. I only saw like one episode being the ending and thanks to this I refound it so simply put thank you for this vid…but god it’s such a good feel.
Former member of the rebirth group, I did enjoy the group for a bit, but then the leader had his allegations (I know they were real but I have no proof so imma say allegations) and his partner being a r@c$t aswell. I got banned around 2021, and I haven't heard about o.w.n rebirth since, and seeing the German iron crosses, and german stuff, yeah I'm glad I got banned. Too many allegations and controversy in that group. And I can confirm rebirth was strict, too strict, I couldn't have a friend who was banned from rebirth and that's why I got banned.
I was banned because I formed a friend group between myself and other people in the server called Bison Soldiers National (BSN). My supposed crime was recruiting
@@tektoastium7241 I was banned for... Shit, I can't even remember half of the things I've been banned for.
@@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 They'll probably change the charges every other week anyway. Either way, they choose to refer to us as Exiles- I choose to wear the name with pride.
We're Exiles, and we might as well be proud of the fact. It's proof that we are free of the Empress' iron grip.
HEY SHORK WAKE UP THE SEVENTY COMIC IS HERE THE LAST NAME OF JEREMY IS LEAKED ON THE COMICS
This shit is harder than the bread at walmart
I watched the original oWn story LoneWolf made, though he never finished it. He did put up a video explaining what the future episodes are about, but that's pretty much it.
As a former member of the Rebirth, I do thank you for humbling me, I joined in my mid teens, and the friends I made there are still friends to this day over five years later. But like I said, former, maybe it's different now but the leaders got extremely paranoid and banned people off of the smallest things and probably some of the worst memories I had in the tf2 community came from there, but like I said, it might be different now, just looking back brings back bad memories and drama and mistakes typical of my age back then. But I am thankful for this video to humble me and remind me how separate Lonewolfs masterpiece is to the group
Hey Battle, it's me, Army.
(Battle and I go way back, both of us are currently Exiles. I myself am proud of the title.)
Another familiar face I see
I remember seeing you. Weren't you also on the Provisional Council?
@@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 No actually, I was a low-ranking member of the oWn Air Force
@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 No? I wasn't really on any council, or high ranking at all, best I got was being the second medic to win the class duels if that's still going on.
Sad to See that o.W.n is getting represented like this, i have been in the Tf2 Community for a while now and it is great to see how you do a lot for a game that has been out for over a decade!
Thank you for keeping a game that has been Part of my Teenagehood alive and healthy.
I'm so glad you brought this topic, i feel like oWn is kinda forgotten and barely being talked nowaday, i used to put oWn tag on my steam username, i'm still knowing oWn as the edgelord of TF2
i found out about o.W.n thru dumb shorts edits, only now im finding out its a whole series? couldn't find it anywhere before this vid
I was also super into this as a kid playing TF2
I even downloaded the custom mods and everything
LoneWolfHBS also has another story series set in the Left 4 Dead universe called White Lie. I recommend watching it as well.
Amazing vid and Merry Christmas shork ✌️🎄🎄🎄
I'm so glad this is being talked about, I started watching it a few months ago and thought that it was interesting but couldnt really find anything much behind it surprisingly on my own
I'm sorry I forgot how the series was called so I always remembered it as "Hitler Medic"
thanks for bringing this masterpiece up
42:34 This is actually author's own voice with AI mask, so this is how you get natural tone shifts and stuff.
Man I used to love this series! If I boot up my old ps3 and little big planet 2, I still have outfits for the whole red, blu and o.W.n team, good memories XD
I am 14 and this is deep
YO I'VE BEEN WONDERING WHAT THIS WAS CALLED FOR ABOUT 8 YEARS I loved this when I was younger omg I have been looking for this but I only remembered one scene
CoP was such a interesting series, shame what happened to it and the community around it, would have loved to see the rest of the plot and story animated.
Also, I did not know about the character biography stuff, gonna check it out.
It's funny, I actually revisited this series myself very recently out of nostalgia. Seeing you bring it up now's a touch surreal. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Unfortunately in my experience, when I join TF2 to get away from the real world, I get called a myriad of slurs. Which is why I stick to stuff like Uncletopia etc since well, y'know, it shuts that shit down.
It's sad to see what happened to Lonewolfs series. But. You can call the people who run group what they really are. Actual N@zis. You don't use that kind of imagery "ironically". Which seems to check out when reading through the comments and looking the guy up.
you will never be a real woman
If you're referring to Lonewolf? As far as I recall, he was never a NAZI, nor did he use NAZI imagery. People like Wutend Mediziner and Fatalia, however, are most certainly NAZIs in all but name.
I never knew that there was a whole animation series behind the [o.W.n] tag, it's kind of sad that it has had a bad reputation for the longest time, this is what happens when a community takes stuff way too far. Hate the community, not the animation
I doubt you'll see this, but I laughed while watching this video, great video
im very glad you enjoyed it, means a lot
I love o.w.n great series, staple in my childhood growing up. Great video!
Okay I did not know anything about O.W.N rebirth stuff whatsoever, and I am someone that can instantly recognize Christian Brutal Sniper at 40:55 .
I stumbled upon this series by and edit of the Medic, I only watched the first episode though. But it was quite interesting, I'll eventually watch more of the series if I find more episodes.
I was there when oWn was starting to garner attention, I even joined oWn Rebirth and rised through the ranks and became one of their staff. I did stuff like help with the schedule for their daily activities, even attempting to create a sub group to branch off into many other games, everything was just pure fun for the group but it all started going downhill when they took it all serious like invading other tf2 communities and servers with raids to "recruit" more members to the group. They changed so much from the original idea that it became unrecognizable. I did get banned after like nearly 3 years(maybe) of service, all because I was defending my actions. They started showing their true colors once one of my friends showed a message of them slandering me, calling me greedy and trying to use the group as a platform for my commissions (even though I been generous the entire time giving out free stuff every once in a while) that's when I knew the group had a dark side behind it. I apologize for making this very long, but I hope this gives someone out there some understanding on why the fan groups shouldn't be taken seriously.
Victor Shirlin, is that you?
Surprised someone recognizes me after all these years
I remember following this series back in the day. I started playing TF2 in 2013 and quickly hyperfixated on oWn for a short time. I never got so into it that I changed my username and roleplayed it in-game or anything, I was mostly into it for the story and characters. I'm so glad we finally got closure on how the story was supposed to end, though. I distanced myself from oWn when I saw the reputation it was garnering in the community, even resenting other players with oWn in their names who behaved toxically in-game, despite still loving the original series. It's a damn shame, and I suppose thats what you get when you mix edgy themes and story lines, and overtones of revolution, with a free online FPS where literally anyone can just pick it up and play. In theory its all harmless fun, but in practice there will always be some people who take things too far and who legitimately turn it into some sort of actual cult.
Going "theyre allowed to have any opinion they want of course" to these dudes turning into actual nazis is a cowardly thing to say.
No one in oWn is a nazi
@@foxnachos_ I mean... Even if they're not, Imperial Germany isn't exactly much better.