Team Fortress 2 is Valve's class-based multiplayer shooter, first released in 2007, where the frying pan serves as a light-hearted melee weapon usable by every class. Its loud, hollow clang stands out against the game's gunfire and explosions, making pan kills especially memorable in gameplay footage. Clips of pan hits circulated widely on video platforms and in community montages, where the sound became shorthand for a silly, unexpected takedown. That recognizability has kept it popular with editors long after the weapon itself became a familiar in-joke among players.