Youtooz is a Canadian company specializing in the creation of licensed collectible caricatural figurines made from vinyl. These figurines often feature Internet personalities, public figures, and popular memes, providing fans with unique merchandise and additional revenue streams for the partners.
The company has collaborated with numerous notable figures, including:
- MrBeast
- Markiplier
- Ninja
- Pokimane
- KSI
as well as video game franchises, such as:
- Minecraft
- Fallout
- DOOM
- Elden Ring
- Five Nights at Freddy's
Youtooz was co-founded in 2019 by Austin Litman, Austin Long, and Mark Prokoudine.
But how does this relate to Ugandan Knuckles?
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The Origin of Ugandan Knuckles
In late December 2017, players began to flood the virtual reality video game VRChat with avatars depicting a deformed version of the character called "Ugandan Knuckles". The character stemmed from a 2017 review of Sonic Lost World by YouTube user Gregzilla as well as from fans of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds streamer Forsen who often make references to Uganda in the chat section of his streams.
The character is often associated with quotes such as "Do you know da wae?" and "Save the queen!" among many other quotes, which originate from the 2010 Ugandan action comedy film Who Killed Captain Alex?
To understand the context, let's delve into the original character:
The Complete history Of Ugandan knuckles
Knuckles the Echidna: A Brief Overview
Dave B. Knuckles the Echidna is a character from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a red anthropomorphic short-beaked echidna who is Sonic's secondary best friend and former rival. Determined and serious, but sometimes gullible, he fights his enemies using brute force and strength.
Knuckles debuted as one of the main antagonists in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994); in Sonic & Knuckles, he first became a playable character. In the games' story, Doctor Eggman manipulates him into opposing Sonic and Tails. After antagonizing the duo, he forms a temporary alliance with them after learning of Eggman's trickery.
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One of the series' most popular characters, Knuckles has appeared in most games in the franchise, including those for the main series and spin-offs.
Knuckles in Video Games
Knuckles debuted in the 1994 Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Knuckles joins the series's primary antagonist Dr. Robotnik after being tricked into thinking that Sonic is attempting to steal the Master Emerald; Knuckles fights Sonic at several points throughout the game.
Robotnik's betrayal is revealed late in Sonic & Knuckles when he steals the Master Emerald and attacks Knuckles, Sonic & Knuckles is also the first game where he became a player character, his story takes place after Sonic's Story. A similar plot follows in Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble.
While Knuckles's canonical playable debut comes in Sonic & Knuckles, he is playable in Sonic 2 and 3 via the Genesis' lock-on technology. Knuckles starred in Knuckles' Chaotix for the Sega 32X, in which he serves as the guardian of an island amusement park and rescues his friends-collectively known as the Chaotix-from Robotnik in 1995.
Early in Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles and Rouge argue over the Emerald; she wants the pieces for her personal collection. Eggman tries to steal it, so Knuckles shatters it aboard Eggman's hovercraft, sending the pieces every which way, while also mentioning that if the shards are found they can be made whole.
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Knuckles in Other Media
Knuckles's animation debut came with the 1996 Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog OVA. Sonic and Tails meet him during their trip into the Land of Darkness, and over the course of the film he helps them defeat Black Eggman/Metal Robotnik and Hyper Metal Sonic, two robots created by Eggman/Robotnik. As Metal is about to descend into a lava pit, Sonic attempts to save him after all, but Knuckles holds him back and Sonic is disappointed.
Knuckles appears in all three seasons of Sonic X, where he is depicted as the guardian of the Master Emerald, and is said to have a "chip on his shoulder".
Knuckles appears as a supporting character in Sonic Prime. After Sonic shatters the Paradox Prism, which results in the creation of multiple parallel dimensions at the expense of his own, multiple versions of Knuckles are made as well; such as Renegade Knucks who is a rebel against the Chaos Council of New Yoke City, the feral and paranoid Gnarly, and the pirate captain Knuckles the Dread.
The Legacy of Knuckles
The character has received positive attention. According to official Sonic Team polls, Knuckles is the fourth most popular character in the series, following behind Tails, Shadow, and Sonic.
Another Knuckles-centric meme is derived from the video game Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a game which combined Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, accessed by attaching the cartridge of the former to the latter. The awkward-sounding combination of names resulted in a meme where a fictitious and absurdly long video game name is created (usually one for a long-running franchise) with "& Knuckles" appended to the end of it.
This meme was also used to poke fun at the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS series of systems due to the large number of variants, with & Knuckles often appended to the end of an invented system.
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