Heavy wasn’t always bald. He used to have a short little brown mullet in the concept art, which both made him look younger and completely out of time, like a dad hanging onto the glory days. That doesn’t really mesh with the Heavy we know, so Valve got the scissors out and chopped his locks off. But an early model has surfaced that shows just how close we got to Heavy with a head of hair.“We just got a copy of a PowerPoint presentation shown beforeTF2’srelease and there’s some new concept art and higher quality/res versions of existing concept art in it,” @TF2CutContent tweeted, attaching four photos of early development screenshots.RELATED:Valve’s 61GB Leak Should Worry UsThis was provided by TF2 art director Moby Francke after a fan emailed them, so all the images included in the download are legit. The untextured, colourless models he sent over show us some earlier versions of our favourite characters–for the most part, they look the same. Then there’s Heavy. Like in the concept art, he has a mullet, but after spending so long with him bald, it’s a little weird to see.
The closest we’ve ever gotten to this original concept art and model is the One-Man Army cosmetic. However, this isn’t an official design from Valve, but a community-created hat that gives him a mullet-like hairstyle with a bandana, clearly modelled after Rambo.
Aside from that, modders have tried their hand at giving Heavy a mullet, but none come close to that original, ’80s-like design. The early models did surface in February, but they were not nearly as high-res or crisp, so this is our best look yet.
“We’ve known for a while that Heavy had a mullet at one point,” @TF2CutContent said in a follow-up tweet. “It’s just nice seeing a render of an actual mullet’d model, in high res.”
Maybe these higher res photos combined with the concept art will be enough for modders to finally piece together the original vision. After all, it’s Valve tradition at this point to restore cut content and scrapped ideas. Just look atthe Half-LifeandLeft 4 Dead communities, both working hard to bring the E3 betas to life along with sequel ideas such as Epistle 3. Heavy’s mullet isn’t quite as grandiose, but it’s still a fun little revelation.
