About

Ugandan Knuckles is the nickname given to a depiction of the character Knuckles from the Sonic franchise created by YouTuber Gregzilla, which is often used as an avatar by players in the multiplayer game VRChat who repeat phrases like „do you know the way” and memes associated with the country Uganda, most notably the film Who Killed Captain Alex? and Zulul. The character is associated with the expression „do you know the way”, which is typically spoken in a mock African accent and phonetically spelled as „do you know de wey.” Along with the question in hand a VR user will start making „spitting” sounds, followed by a „mob like” mentality. Unsuspecting VRchat users fall victim to Ugandan Knuckles „promise” of showing „de wey”. Only followed by a mass trolling.

Origin

On August 7th, 2016, YouTuber VirtuallyVain uploaded footage of himself roleplaying an African drug lord in the game Call of Duty: Black Ops, saying lines like „Follow me, I know the way” (shown below). Within two years, the video accumulated 10.5 million views and 17,900 comments.

On February 20th, 2017, YouTuber Gregzilla uploaded a review of the 2013 platformer game Sonic Lost World, which featured a parody animation of the character Knuckles (shown below, left). The video subsequently gave rise to the Knuckles Sings remix series.

Fans of the Twitch streamer Forsen commonly reference various jokes related to Ugandan warriors while playing the game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Additionally, viewers have been known to stream snipe his channel while yelling various Uganda-related memes. On September 15th, DeviantArtist^[3] tidiestflyer released a 3D model based on Gregzilla’s Knuckles depiction (shown below).

Spread

On December 23rd, 2017, YouTuber SoyerCake published another VRChat video of various players wearing Ugandan Knuckles avatars (shown below, left). On December 28th, 2017, YouTuber TanksBlast uploaded a similar VRChatvideo titled „Ugandan Knuckles Tribe” (shown below, right).

On January 1st, 2018, YouTuber Syrmor uploaded a VRChat video titled „Do You Know the Way” (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained over 199,000 views and 170 comments. On January 3rd, Redditor JebusMcAzn submitted TanksBlast’s „Ugandan Knuckles Tribe” video to /r/youtubehaiku,^[1] where it received more than 400 points (93% upvoted) and 25 comments within 12 hours. On January 5th, Ebaumsworld^[4] published an article about the meme titled „Ugandan Knuckles Is A Hilarious Meme That’s Taken Gaming By Storm.”