Valve gives, and Valve takes: Team Fortress 2 BLU Scout's pants are once again the 'wrong ones' after a 17-year-old fix was reversed a few days later

Team Fortress 2 is a rare game these days. So when Valve updated its in-game Scout model to fix a visual bug present since TF2 was released in 2007, we paid attention. As reported by YouTuber, shounic the visual tweak wasn't to last. A follow-up update has reverted BLU Scout pants to their incorrect, original khaki, from a smart and team-appropriate Navy.

The patch note reads: "Reverted BLU Scout pant fix because it conflicted with too many cosmetics." Shounic points this out in another video, saying that cosmetics that change Scout's shoes or pants remain brown. Those that only change part of the model, like the Crazy Legs, result in a tacky half-navy/half-khaki ensemble when the BLU Scout is wearing its short-lived new threads.

Valve would have to modify the textures of all BLU Scout cosmetics that are based on trousers. The infinitely wealthy studio can do it, but it's a difficult task. Many of the official cosmetics have been created by modders in the Steam Workshop. This is a headache the TF2 skeleton team may not want.

Shounic uploaded a video explaining the topic last year: All classes in TF2 wear brown pants on RED teams, and navy pants for BLU teams--except the scout who wears the same color sporty capris either side. In the Photoshop files of the BLU Scout textures, the correct pants are on their own separate layer. Valve's artists probably forgot to enable the visibility of the pants when exporting textures into the game.

The reaction of TF2 players to Valve's snide remarks is hyperbolic and mostly playful. SuperfeliGT declared on the TF2 Subreddit that "It's over", while Pyropian08 suggested a "public execution". Pyropian08 and others seem to be expressing some sincerely felt grievances about TF2's Cosmetic Environment. I hope to god that DaMikel’s proposed "SaveTFBLU” movement is only a bit. This game already has a lot of grassroots movements.

I wonder if we'll ever hear another word about the BLU Scout blue pants. It's possible that Valve will return at a later time with retextured cosmetics for the pants. It's not uncommon for players to overlook or ignore glitches in games. I'm reminded about the quests that were broken at Elden Ring’s launch, which we all assumed worked as intended. Or the way Conrad Verner assumed you had a gun when you found him in Mass Effect 2.