Tentaspy

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Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)Octospy
Related tropes/genresSpy (Team Fortress 2)
See alsoTentacles, Hentai
Tentaspy by epaqjrja.
Related articles on Fanlore.

Tentaspy is an AU for Team Fortress 2's Spy where he is half human, half tentacle monster. It originated from the formerly popular anonymous messageboard TF2chan in 2008. TF2chan was the hub for all of Team Fortress 2's slash fanac until around 2014. Tentaspy inspired many recursive fanworks and spread far beyond TF2chan, reaching most communities where TF2 slash lives. Fannish drift means many in the TF2 fandom who have heard of Tentaspy do not know where it originated from. As of 2024, Tentaspy is still referenced and worked into plenty of fanworks. Tentaspy (Team Fortress 2) is a wrangled tag on Archive of Our Own.

The idea for Tentaspy came from a Steam Group discussion full of TF2chan regulars who were discussing watching Disney movies in their native languages. When discussing the French Beauty and the Beast, an idea arose to fuse Spy with Ursula and Scout with Ariel. The idea soon shifted to a Spy/Scout AU. Spy/Scout was popular in 2008 before 2014 implied Spy was Scout's father. It soon morphed into Spy being a tentacle monster. While art of Merscout exists, it never got as big. Tentaspy work is rarely also Spy/Scout.

scumsuck: Did Tentaspy originate as a NSFW concept from the getgo?

Lakidaa: For about 10 minutes it wasn't NSFW and was just us ragging about.[1]

Common Tropes

Tentaspy is often worked into original characters. Most fanworks for the character evoke Cthulhu-like horror. Tentaspy may be shipped with other mercenaries, such as Engineer, Sniper and Spy himself. The unrelated Freak Fortress character Christian Pure Spy may be fused with some aspects of Tentaspy. The character may be drawn with Spycrab.

Between both RED and BLU Tentaspy, BLU is far more common. Tentaspy may be far larger than the mercenaries or small enough to fit it a fish bowl.

Example/Notable Fanac

Tentaspy cosplay by Lithe-Fider. Lithe-Fider is a long time fan of tentaspy. She has done several professional photoshoots/con appearances with her cosplay.
NSFW Sniper/Spy fanart with Tentaspy by sinuswave. Note: Marked as sexually explicit; minimized.
Kate Beaton parody comic by Drexa which features Tentaspy and Sniper.

Fan Art

Collections

Cosplay

Blogs

Fan Fic

References/Further Reading