Spread
Following the viral spread of the initial videos, mentions of Spycrab on gaming forums and players doing the animation on servers, Spycrab achieved significant popularity within Team Fortress 2 community. Spycrab became associated with both griefing and “friendlies,” with some players ignoring and others shooting down the Spycrab players.
On July 8th, 2008, Gamebanana user Wossname uploaded a propaganda poster “Save the Endangered Spy Crab!” The poster was downloaded over 10,400 in 13 years.
On January 14th, 2009, YouTube channel savethespycrab posted a video titled “Save the Spycrab” that advocated against shooting Spycrab players (shown below).
On January 15th, 2009, Steam group “Spycrab Community” was created, posting its motto “save the spycrab.”
Spycrab has also been a joke among Team Fortress 2 cosplayers, with Spy cosplayers imitating the animation.
Valve Recognition
Spycrab has been officially recognized by Team Fortress 2 developer Valve. On May 21st, 2009, an alternative crab taunt for Spy was added. In August 2014, Valve added Spycrab as a cosmetic Spy item and sold Spycrab plush in its online store (shown below, left and right).
