Deep down, we all knew that Sketchek wasn't really dead because Jaystation would've summoned him.

"Cloak Type: Feign Death" "Leave a fake corpse upon taking damage and temporarily gain invisibility, speed and damage resistance" yeah, sounds about right

The fact that the weapon says "leave a fake corpse" is absolutely perfect

If he fakes his death again to escape Niji, I wouldn't hold it against him

Quite unbelievable how his return was welcomed after faking a terminal illness, if he did this in 2022, he surely wouldn’t have been as successful with it.

This is taking the phrase “I’m gonna do what’s called a pro gamer move” to a whole new level

And then he turned into a yellow highlighter

I got to hand it to him. He managed to map out a storyline for his departure. Lol

the best thing about this is that the item shown with "Sketchek's bequest" as it's name is a dead ringer, an invisibility watch for the spy that allows you to.. you guessed it, fake your death.

The fact that someone said "Absolute speechless, His legend would live on forever" Did really come true... (im not that person.)

Just wanting to "go out with a bang" and faking a terminal illness like that is not cool, but at the time he thought that gaming was ruining his life. You can't argue with that part.

With everything going on in Nijisanji, dude has a once in a lifetime chance to do the most hilarious thing ever.

The only credit I give him is that he could've continued the lie and explained his return by saying he miraculously recovered. It doesn't forgive the situation in its entirety but coming clean helps people forgive mistakes.

i dont even be knowing half the people this dude talk about. but the detail and info V2 has on these videos is like a netflix documentary

Cant believe how smart he felt about it, just a kick to the face of each and anyone who felt bad about him passing.

He really does sound like Sonny Brisko. That’s crazy

If this was a hated channel who faked their death and came back like that, there would be outrage. I can't believe this guy got away with pretending to be terminally ill, worrying his fans. He should've just been honest at the start, it's really not that hard.

This actually drives home a point. Internet relationships (whether they be one sided hypothetical relationships with a content creator, online friends on discord, or just people you know on the internet) are very fragile. In the sense that, if someone suddenly stops all online activity, you have no way of knowing what actually happened to them. It's kind of sad to think that something like this might happen to some of us in the days to come, and none of us would be any the wiser about what happened to them. It's kind of sad.

For someone in their last six months of life, Sketchek sounded amazing! Terminal illnesses make you feel like crap, then you sound like crap

Watching all tributes people make.. Wouldn't that make someone feel guilty? Seeing how devestated people are? And he's like "jk lol, I'm alive" Gosh it's frustrating

Pretty sure him coming back and owning up to lying before anyone called him out is why his channel didn't die like other scammers. Telling the truth versus trying to lie your way out of something goes a long way. But that's just my guess.

He probably felt guilty over the years faking his illness. Then the "Sketchek's Bequest" part on one of the items in-game (Axtinguisher/Postal Pummeler weapon) probably solidified his decision to just tell the truth.

bro got the double life 😭😭

learning all this and knowing what he’s doing now feels absolutely insane

Honestly, if sketchek had been honest from the start, he would have still been considered a legend in the TF2 community.

Stuff like this is why being skeptical is a good thing... Id rather not believe some information on the internet unless it provides absolute proof. Edit : Oh god why does every single one of my comments start a flame war...

The lore is WILD

WOAH this guy faked his own death, then Shows up as a vtuber.

The opposite happened to me, kinda. After my best friend died, I was in a dark place. I made a video for the channel just in case that I'd ever die unexpectedly. I scheduled it to one year in advance, planning to renew it by another year every time. But I forgot about it. So...for a short moment almost 200 viewers of that video thought I had died - while I was sleeping at home. God, that was embarassing.

Gonna be real, faking a terminal illness is a shitty thing to do but god I have thought about faking my death so often and this guy actually did it, lol

i mean he could’ve came back saying that he survived and was back to making videos but anyways☠️

Fans: “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD.” sketchek: “ *_I got better?_* “

I remember watching his videos when i was a child, trying to be like him, a professional. I remember his "Fake Death" Nerfs of weapons that he was using and etc

as someone who knew nothing of this, the way he returned with the like clues and stuff is pretty cool, but faking to be dead isn't at all

And somehow, one of the biggest Vtuber agencies in the world saw all this and said "yeah he's a good fit"

I still remember to this day the day he "died", it was a great grief amongst all the servers. in tribute most stood as pyro doing the guitar taunt, "saluting" to the legend's passing. I myself could not believe it, he always was my idol. I even today do his epic combo shit, but he will never be the same legend in my eyes.

What people don’t realize is the tf2 community had bad abandonment issues. Had sketcheck been honest, he would have gotten a ton of hate and harassment. Ironically the only way for the community to remember him as positively as they did was for him to die. And I think understanding that makes his decision a lot more understandable.

Despite faking his death, the way he revealed his return was considerably cool.

I like the thumbnail because it's just a typical otaku gamer guy, even though we've literally never seen Sketchek's face.

I've never heard of this man in my life, but this story is insane. I'm somewhere between extremely entertained, baffled, and grossed out. Holy

this is definitely one of those "i wish i hadnt done that one thing i thought was a good idea but now realize i was a dumbass and this will probably haunt me forever" moments

Dude faked his death then made some analog horror cipher hunt style stuff just to come back and actually feel sorry. And now nobody really is bothered by it.

It's actually cool. Fooled everyone and then made a creepy horror movie like reveal. If I cared about TF2 I'd definitely follow him out of sheer awe for such a well executed masterful deception.

Small note: Sketchek's Bequest isn't the name of an item, it's the name of a stat that was added to his signature weapon. There is, however, an item in the game that lets you feign your death, and some players titled that item after Sketchek as a joke after he came back

As someone who has been in the TF2 community for a long time I can confidently say a large majority of people watching TF2 youtubers are beyond unhinged and have no sense of boundaries. Had he just quit his audience would have thrown a fit, I don't agree with him faking his death, but having seen other TF2 youtuber's audiences do a total 180 on them and become almost hostile because they either want to branch out, or got bored with TF2. If it's to be believed that he felt videogames were ruining his life, it's probably true he was suffering from some degree of mental illness, and I can sort of understand why he would lie about his leaving, especially if he's seen other people in the community face backlash for not wanting to play the game anymore. I think the the terms of morality on youtube, stating you have a terminal illness of some sort isn't the worst thing anyone could do. I don't like the fact that he had donations on his channel, that's really scummy in my opinion. However this doesn't really hurt as many people as some of the awful stuff other youtubers have done (scams, false flags, child exploitation etc)

I honestly think he was just paranoid that his fans would hate him for quitting, and he tried to get away from the channel in a way where he wouldn’t receive hate. Turns out he got more hate than what he would’ve if he just said he’s quitting.

kind of funny how you decided to use the Dead Ringer when showcasing Sketchek's Bequest. You know, since the watch allows you to feign your own death

This is sickening. After seeing that Technoblade has died, this is truly disgusting. People claiming to have terminal illnesses for clout is absolutely terrible, diseases are not something to play with. Edit: MOM IM FAMOUS Edit 2: I didn’t make this comment because I’ve seen Techno’s death before this, I saw this video way before he died. I wrote it because seeing someone die was the last straw when it came to making a light matter of such things. It was never moral of Sketchek to do such crazy bullshit, or of anyone to ever do this kind of crazy shit. You can’t cover his shit up with “It was a prank” or any bullshit excuse, what Sketchek did is down to fucking horrible. And to the people who said he didn’t do it for clout, you must’ve not watched the video fully or didn’t pay attention. Why go out with a bang? He EXPLICITLY SAID THAT HE WANTED TO GO WITH A BANG! FOR WHAT?! Well, obviously, if you could listen, you could’ve picked up it was for FUCKING ATTENTION. Guess you ain’t got no one to be on the same page nowadays, huh?

He could have kept the lie up, but apologized and moved on, respect

you either die a hero or live enough to see yourself become the villain

Definitely messed up of him to fake a terminal illness and death especially considering how dedicated his fans were but I also feel bad because once you do something like that its really difficult to prove that you’ve changed even if you have. And nobody owes you forgiveness.

Whoever wrote Sketchkek's Bequest on the dead ringer is a comedic genius.

They sure know how to pick 'em...

I did this when I was 11 like 14 years ago to leave a clan in a 2D space game "dark orbit" because I didn't have the heart to tell the clan leader (a 30+ year old) that I wanted to leave, then they had a whole memorial for me etc. But after a couple of weeks of people writing to my irl friends I had to come out as a living creature again

I would like to point out as someone who drenched themselves in the tf2 community for years, that tf2 fans have a bad habit of turning on creators who leave the community to do other things and other games. A lot of tf2 fans seem to think if a creator got their start through tf2, they now belong to tf2 forever and can't do anything else or they are abandoning and failing the community that made them popular in the first place. Since there's a lot of toxic fans like that there would be a pressure to not be honest. The community might turn on him as quickly as they did to people like STAR_. Dying seems like he would go through a lot less drama in the short term since no one could really get mad at someone leaving tf2 for that reason.

It's kind of baffling that this is was even debated at all among the community. Beloved or not, this dude casually faked having a terminal illness just because he "wanted to go out with a bang", something that's incredibly disingenuous and extremely gross to be regarding so flagrantly. I know that people can change and it could have been a matter of him regretting his action years later, a lot can change even in 3 years, but from the video played it doesn't seem like that, it just seems like a casual shrug like "oh btw i faked my illness but i wanna make videos again haha". It tells me that he didn't really understand the gravity of what he had done at the time, even after three years of letting it settle in. Although I think the thing that really cements how this wasn't him realizing he'd fucked up was him making some spooky ARG out of his return like he was being fun and cheeky.

Omg, never realised this, but he that vtuber, like wow, he basically walked away with this unharmed and a new career and a new fan base lmao

One thing I love about these videos is that they serve as cautionary tales to aspiring online personalities.

For those of you who don't play TF2, there was never an item memorializing Sketchek, there was a line with an effect added to his favorite melee weapon. The item stats that SunnyV2 used were for a spy weapon called the dead ringer which is used to fake your own death.

I think he didn't completely ruin his career because it wasn't that big to begin with. If he had been a bigger KZfaqr with a wider audience, he would've been canceled immediately and his career would've taken a huge hit. However since he had a very specific niche and his face wasn't attached to his content at all but rather the game and his skills, it makes sense that the community would just keep watching him.

Sonny Brisko from NijiEn.

you knows it’s a good video when 45 seconds in, you already start to understand how bad the situation was.

to be fair, if he was play enough video games to ruin his life he might have actually been suffering from addiction. addicts lie all the time, it's a symptom and lying to put yourself in a position to get away from whatever is hurting you is ultimately healthy. If faking his death actually saved him I wouldn't hold it against him.

He straight up couldve vanished without a word for years and THEN start the hunt with secret codes. THAT would have been infinitely better than the shit he pulled. I still can't believe he got away with it. People are so weirdly ready to forgive anything a person does if "They are the best at the game" but I say fuck that. Being a god at a game does not excuse genuinely shitty behaviour. Edit: I didn't think my comment would get this much attention, this is fun to read. That is all.

I die like 10 times every game why was everyone so upset that the best player died once?

I love the way he makes these videos. Like a forensic files episode

I feel conflicted on the effort he put into coming back, the whole mystery he created and hunt he sent people on is honestly cool, but I can’t tell if it comes off as giving the people who really cared something as an apology, or still seeing the whole thing as a game. I can’t get a read on this guys current empathy level, but obviously in the past it was pretty low.

Wild theory: His terminal illness was depression, which led him thinking about taking is own life. Eventually got away from video games had a good experience in Japan, decided not to kill self and was left with telling people about his struggles or just be like “yeah it was just a joke”

I’ve been very ill and it comes out in your voice…..he sounds healthy as hell in that “this is it” video

Loved that the whole time you showed his custom weapon, it was the fanmade one on the dead ringer lmao

9:17 it really was a "sick" joke. Get it? Cuz... He said he was sick... Bad time? Ok

I’m honestly in awe somebody got away w/ that. “He seems genuinely sorry” not to me, his only reason for coming clean was “I want to make more videos” not an actual apology to me in the slightest. Who fakes their death for attention? That’s just sad.

Found this video from someone on Twitter who cryptically labeled Sonny as "the yellow man." If all of this is true, then I will unsubscribe from Sonny Brisko immediately. Never watched him much in the first place, but faking your death just for clout is beyond fucked up. Absolutely disgusting.

sketchek wasn't even trying to make it sound real 💀

This guy is the definition of the meme template: “Didint you die?” “Yes, but I lived!”

I love these random/ unknown internet mysteries Sunny introduces us to. Keep it up!

when you have friends with an illness that stops them from playing with you, you start to have a deep understanding why these kind of manipulations really suck

It's not just the fact he faked his death, it's the fact he played and toyed with the emotions of his community, which to me is unforgivable.

Sadly this didn't talk about the other side of the coin as for the reason why this happened, where he was kicked out of his house for being a video game NEET and thought video games were ruining his life. Then had to spend a year or 2 wandering Japan as a hikki until he was basically saved by a friend. There are reasons why some people go off the deep end at times and I am just happy he is doing well mentally these days. I do agree he should have been just straightforward and admitted to the reason why he had to leave, I think people would have been quite understanding and empathetic. But young edgy teens on the internet thought "going out with a bang" like that was the thing to do. Internet culture can be quite the drug.

10:57 dam that descript really fits the weapon, "leaves a fake corpse on the ground".

9:30 The way he revealed his inspiration of faking his own death sounds like Metroman from Megamind.

0:36 "leaving a fake corpse" ooh,accidental foreshadowing,i love that.

The one thing that threw me off was the fact that he was so calm recording those videos. I know I'd be bawling my eyes out talking about something like this but that could just be me.

we aint gonna talk about how this dude with "illness" created a mini arg to make his viewers understand his "story" and try to justify his death

I like that he said that it was a sick joke. he knew it was bad

I don't know why, but knowing this guy is a Nijisanji VTuber now makes this video even more surreal.

I never really knew Sketchek back in those days, but my fucking heart sank when Kitty was mentioned :( Elliot goes to school and the other projects kitty worked on were amazing to me! Even to this day i find myself sometimes thinking of clips from the old uploads and referencing them. It delights me to see after all these years, Kitty is still remembered!

I think he was mainly accepted back because he came clean about everything. He literally could've just popped back on KZfaq and been like "hey I beat my illness" and maybe even gone a step further and explain what the "illness" was in order to make his story more believable. But he didn't, and instead explained what he did. I'm not excusing his actions, and coming clean about something isn't enough in any way shape or form, but it is more than a lot of other content creators can say after they do something along the lines of this, or elaborate lies and stuff like that. He wasn't even pressured into coming clean either and did it fully out of his own free will, which I think earned him some bonus points in the community. Once again tho, doesn't excuse what he did.

Bro coulda just said that he didnt die and he started feeling better since he already stated that he wont go back even if he survived. Mf still had a chance and he decided to go clean, he has my respect on that part.

"he seems genuinely sorry" was an interesting take.

I'm pissed because I do understand what he meant by the whole "video games ruined my life" and how awful something like that might feel, but he should have just come and said that outright. He lied about having a terminal illness and that's just wrong. Even if he hadn't opened his channel for support and thus not made any money off of it, he still lied about it, and I don't think he should just be welcomed back with open arms because of it..

This content is always so fucking good. Literally like taking a hit every time I click.

He thought gaming was ruining his life, so if he wanted to quit properly faking your death makes it harder to comeback rather than just stopping

kind of iconic tbh, had no shame

Bruh I would never joke about that stuff just because I’m scared if I do I’ll make it a reality and if it does become reality it’s probably well deserved

I couldn't believe how many people treated this like the second coming of Christ. What made me scratch my head the most were the morons giving him support as if the offended people were being unreasonable. Of course, these comments were always paired with requests for more videos. A couple minutes of entertainment every few weeks is all they truly cared about. If Sketchek said he was dying and then quit immediately, I'd understand the stupid mistake behind it. This was much more drawn out. Calculated. His apology sounded so sincere because he wanted an audience again. People forgave him not because it was the right thing to do, but because of what they would get in return: content.

0:52 well he doesn't lie very good

The whole cryptic hunt for the proof is pretty legendary tbh.

Well. This was... unexpected. I mean I knew but I didn't expect Sunny to cover this lmao

He could've left the KZfaq community by just being honest about how he actually felt, not faking some terminal illness. Seriously, it's one of the dumbest reasons to fake a terminal illness.