Who Is Gregzilla? Ugandan Knuckles Creator Gregzilla Explained

Ugandan Knuckles is one of those internet characters that became much bigger than its original creator could have expected. The strange red character appeared everywhere during the meme boom of 2017 and 2018

People saw it in YouTube videos, Twitch streams, social media posts and especially in VRChat.

The character became known for phrases such as “Do you know da wae?” and “Spit on the non-believers.”

But who actually created Ugandan Knuckles?

The character first appeared in Gregzilla’s February 2017 review of Sonic Lost World.

A few weeks later the same design became the star of his popular “Knuckles Sings” video.

The character then escaped the original YouTube community and was turned into a 3D avatar. By late 2017 it had become a major VRChat meme.

Years later the character received another wave of attention because of the Great Meme Reset of 2026.

The online movement called for a return to older internet memes and specifically included Ugandan Knuckles among the characters people wanted to bring back.

So while the original meme may feel like ancient internet history to some users, Gregzilla’s creation has once again become part of the online conversation.

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Who is Gregzilla?

Gregzilla is an American animator and YouTube creator best known among internet animation and gaming communities for his humorous videos and parody work.¹

His YouTube description identifies him as an animator from the United States who grew up with cartoons and video games.

He says he primarily worked with Toon Boom Harmony Premium and Clip Studio Paint and also lists Audacity and Adobe Premiere among his tools.

His description also notes work connected with creators and projects including Game Grumps, Ninja Sex Party, The Completionist and Eddsworld.

Gregzilla’s online identity was built around animation, gaming and comedy rather than traditional celebrity.

That is one reason relatively little mainstream biographical information exists about him compared with major actors or musicians.

His work was particularly suited to internet culture. He could take familiar video game characters and exaggerate their appearance or behavior for comedic effect.

That approach eventually produced one of his most recognizable creations: the goofy version of Knuckles that became associated with Ugandan Knuckles.

Importantly, Gregzilla did not name this character “Ugandan Knuckles” when he first created it. That name came later.

The original design was essentially a deliberately silly version of Knuckles made for a Sonic-related video.

The internet then took that design and gave it a completely different identity.

Why is Ugandan Knuckles trending again in 2026?

The renewed interest is connected to the Great Meme Reset of 2026.

The idea began circulating online in 2025 before becoming associated with January 2026. Supporters of the movement wanted internet culture to move away from newer “brainrot” trends and return to older memes from the 2010s.

Ugandan Knuckles became one of the obvious symbols of that proposed return.

Know Your Meme describes the Great Meme Reset as an internet campaign calling for memes to return to older styles and specifically lists Ugandan Knuckles among the memes associated with the movement.

The movement was never a formal organization with a central authority. It was an internet trend. Some users participated seriously. Others treated it as another meme. That distinction matters.

The Great Meme Reset did not officially revive Ugandan Knuckles in the sense of bringing back a television character or launching a new franchise.

Instead, it encouraged internet users to reuse older meme formats.

As a result, characters such as Ugandan Knuckles appeared again in posts and discussions about old internet culture.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD FREAKIN’ DAYYYYYYYYYYYYY, Y’ALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Wednesday!!!!! Which is weirdly pronounced when!!! And when is when? Now, I guess. ….. I don’t know where I was going with that. Go whoop some butt today!

— Lorepocked Gregzilla, Blue Turtle Kaiju Man💎 (@Gregzilla01) August 12, 2026

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How did Gregzilla create the character?

The story begins with Gregzilla’s Sonic Lost World review.²

On February 20, 2017, Gregzilla uploaded “KINDA REVIEWS // Sonic Lost World.” The video was a comedic review of the Sonic game.

During the video, viewers briefly saw a strangely drawn version of Knuckles. The character looked much different from the official Sonic design.

The proportions were exaggerated. The body was unusually small and round. The face was simplified and the overall appearance had the deliberately awkward style that made the character memorable.

According to Know Your Meme, this brief appearance became the starting point for what would later become Ugandan Knuckles.

Gregzilla’s own YouTube description for the review shows that the video was part of his “Kinda Reviews” series and was focused on Sonic Lost World.

At this point there was no Ugandan Knuckles meme. There was simply Gregzilla’s funny interpretation of Knuckles.

That distinction is important because the later meme became a collaborative internet phenomenon rather than a character completely designed by one person.

The “Knuckles Sings” video changed everything

The next major step came on March 6, 2017. Gregzilla uploaded a video titled “knuckles sings.”

The video used the same strange Knuckles design and had the character singing part of “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” by The Ink Spots. The video became extremely popular.

Gregzilla’s YouTube page currently lists millions of views for the upload and identifies the animation as a shot from his Sonic Lost World review.

Know Your Meme similarly records the “Knuckles Sings” video as an important part of the character’s early development.

It notes that Gregzilla’s original Sonic Lost World review introduced the goofy Knuckles and that the later singing video helped create a wider series of Knuckles-related remixes.

The character had therefore already become recognizable before the Ugandan Knuckles name appeared. This is a common pattern in internet culture.

A creator produces something as a joke. Another community notices it. People remix it. Someone creates a new context for it.

Eventually the new version becomes more famous than the original. That is exactly what happened here.

When did the character become Ugandan Knuckles?

The transformation happened later in 2017.

A 3D model based on Gregzilla’s Knuckles design was released by DeviantArt artist tidiestflyer in September 2017, according to Know Your Meme.

This was a crucial step because the flat animated character could now exist as a playable avatar. The character soon entered VRChat.

VRChat allowed users to interact with one another using custom avatars.

A funny character that looked ridiculous in a video could suddenly become a character that hundreds of players could use inside a virtual world. That changed the scale of the joke.

Instead of simply watching Gregzilla’s Knuckles on YouTube, people could become the character themselves.

Where did “Do you know da wae?” come from?

The phrase is one of the most recognizable parts of the Ugandan Knuckles meme.

“Do you know da wae?” became closely associated with the character as VRChat users repeated the phrase while role-playing as groups of Ugandan Knuckles.

However, the phrase did not originate with Gregzilla. The meme drew on earlier Uganda-related internet jokes and references.

Know Your Meme traces part of the phrase’s inspiration to dialogue from the Ugandan film Who Killed Captain Alex?.

The film was made by Ugandan filmmaker Nabwana IGG and became famous online for its unusual action scenes, humor and memorable dialogue. One line about knowing “the way” became connected with the later meme.

The meme therefore had several different ingredients:

• Gregzilla’s strange Knuckles design
• A 3D model based on that design
• VRChat’s custom avatar system
• Earlier Uganda-related internet jokes
• Dialogue associated with Who Killed Captain Alex?
• YouTube and Twitch culture
• The chaotic behavior of groups of VRChat players

The final Ugandan Knuckles character was the result of all these elements coming together.

What made Ugandan Knuckles so popular?

One reason the meme became so successful was its simplicity. The character was visually strange. The phrases were repetitive. The behavior was easy to imitate.

Most importantly, people did not need to understand the original context to participate.

Someone could download the avatar and join a VRChat room. Soon there could be a group of identical red characters running around together. The group behavior became part of the joke.

Ugandan Knuckles users often acted like a tribe. They searched for the “queen,” asked other players whether they knew “the way” and made clicking or spitting sounds.

The meme became less about Gregzilla’s original animation and more about the social experience created by VRChat users.

Know Your Meme describes the VRChat phenomenon as involving groups of players using Ugandan Knuckles avatars while repeating phrases associated with the character.

The role of VRChat in the meme’s rise

VRChat was arguably the place where Ugandan Knuckles reached its full potential.

The game allowed users to communicate through avatars.

This meant memes were no longer limited to pictures and captions. They could become performances.

A group of Ugandan Knuckles avatars could enter a room and interact with strangers. The joke became unpredictable because nobody knew how other players would react. This helped create viral videos.

In December 2017, several YouTubers uploaded VRChat videos featuring Ugandan Knuckles.

Know Your Meme documents videos such as “You Do Not Know the Way” and “Ugandan Knuckles Tribe” as important moments in the meme’s spread.

By January 2018 the character had become a major online phenomenon. The meme had gone from a brief animation in a Sonic review to an internet-wide character.

Ugandan Knuckles was not created by Sega

Another important point is that Ugandan Knuckles is not an official Sonic character.

Knuckles the Echidna is an official Sega character. He was introduced as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

Ugandan Knuckles is a fan-created parody based on Knuckles. Gregzilla created the distinctive parody version. The later Ugandan Knuckles identity was developed by internet users.

This is why it is more accurate to describe Gregzilla as the creator of the visual design that became Ugandan Knuckles rather than saying he single-handedly created every part of the meme.

That distinction also explains why the meme contains references that have nothing to do with Gregzilla’s original video.

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Ugandan Knuckles and controversy

The meme was not universally viewed as harmless.³

As the character spread across VRChat and social media, some users began using exaggerated accents and stereotypes associated with African cultures.

The meme’s use of a fake Ugandan accent became controversial.

Know Your Meme’s 2023 explainer notes that the trend included caricatures and stereotypes that led some people to describe the meme as racist.

It also explains the connection between the phrase and Who Killed Captain Alex?.

This part of the meme’s history is important because the original Gregzilla animation itself was not the complete version that later appeared online. The internet transformed it.

Some people used the character simply because they found its appearance funny. Others used the meme in ways that relied on stereotypes.

As often happens with viral characters, different communities gave the same image different meanings. That makes the history of Ugandan Knuckles more complicated than simply calling it an old gaming meme.

Did Gregzilla create the “Do You Know Da Wae” meme?

No. Gregzilla created the distinctive Knuckles parody design that became the visual foundation of Ugandan Knuckles.

He did not create the entire “Do you know da wae” phenomenon. The phrase and the broader meme developed later through other creators and VRChat users.

Know Your Meme’s documented timeline separates Gregzilla’s February 2017 Knuckles appearance from the later 3D model and VRChat developments. This is one of the most important facts about the meme.

If someone asks, “Who created Ugandan Knuckles?” the simplest answer is Gregzilla.

If they ask, “Who created the entire Ugandan Knuckles meme?” the answer is more complicated.

It was a collective internet creation.

Gregzilla’s connection to the “Knuckles Sings” phenomenon

The “Knuckles Sings” trend deserves attention because it shows how quickly Gregzilla’s character became a reusable meme template.

After Gregzilla’s video became popular, other YouTubers began creating their own versions of Knuckles singing different songs.

Know Your Meme identifies Gregzilla’s March 2017 video as the starting point for the “Knuckles Sings” series and documents the subsequent remixes.

This was an early example of the character being separated from its original context.

The character no longer needed to be part of a Sonic Lost World review. It could sing. It could appear in edits. It could be remixed. It could eventually become a 3D avatar.

That ability to survive outside its original context helped prepare the character for the much bigger Ugandan Knuckles phenomenon.

Why does the meme still have cultural value?

Ugandan Knuckles is interesting because it represents an important stage in the development of internet memes.

Older memes were often static images. Ugandan Knuckles showed how a meme could become a social performance.

The character existed in:

• YouTube videos
• Twitch streams
• VRChat
• Reddit
• Twitter and other social platforms
• Fan-made 3D models
• Image macros
• Remix videos
• Internet discussions about meme culture

The character also shows how a creator can lose control of a creation once it enters internet culture.

Gregzilla made a funny Knuckles parody for a video. The internet turned it into something completely different.

That does not erase his role. Instead, it shows how collaborative meme culture works.

What happened to Gregzilla after Ugandan Knuckles?

Gregzilla’s public identity remains primarily connected to animation and online creative work rather than the Ugandan Knuckles meme itself.

His YouTube description says he has worked with several online entertainment creators and that he has continued working on original-character stories and game reviews.

It is also important not to confuse the popularity of Ugandan Knuckles with Gregzilla personally becoming a mainstream celebrity.

The meme became famous far beyond its creator.

Many people who know the character have never watched Gregzilla’s original Sonic Lost World review.

Others may know “Do you know da wae?” without knowing where the character’s visual design came from. That is why his role is sometimes forgotten.

Is Gregzilla the original creator of Ugandan Knuckles?

Yes, with an important qualification.

Gregzilla created the distinctive parody version of Knuckles that became the basis for Ugandan Knuckles.

The later meme was developed by multiple internet communities. The 3D avatar, the VRChat behavior, the phrase and the Uganda-related references came together after Gregzilla’s original work.

So the most accurate description is: Gregzilla created the original goofy Knuckles design that became Ugandan Knuckles. The wider Ugandan Knuckles meme was developed by the internet.

This distinction is supported by the documented timeline of the meme’s development.

Why does the Great Meme Reset bring people back to Ugandan Knuckles?

The Great Meme Reset is partly about nostalgia.

For users who remember the internet of the late 2010s, Ugandan Knuckles represents a very specific period of online culture.

It was loud, repetitive and chaotic. It spread through gaming communities rather than relying entirely on today’s short-form video algorithms.

The movement’s supporters often contrast those older memes with newer forms of “brainrot” content.

Whether someone thinks the old memes were actually funnier is subjective. But the revival itself shows that internet culture works in cycles.

Memes that seem completely dead can return years later because a new generation discovers them or older users become nostalgic.

Ugandan Knuckles is therefore a perfect fit for a meme-reset movement.

It is recognizable immediately. It has a distinctive visual identity. It has a famous catchphrase. It has a documented history.

Most importantly, it represents an earlier era of gaming and meme culture.

 

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FAQ’s

Who created Ugandan Knuckles?

Gregzilla created the distinctive parody version of Knuckles that became the visual basis for Ugandan Knuckles. The broader meme was later developed by other creators and VRChat users.

Is Gregzilla the creator of Knuckles?

No. Gregzilla did not create Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles is an official character from Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Gregzilla created his own exaggerated parody version of the character.

When did Gregzilla create the Ugandan Knuckles design?

The design first appeared in Gregzilla’s Sonic Lost World review uploaded on February 20, 2017.

Why did Ugandan Knuckles become popular?

The character became popular because it worked extremely well as a VRChat avatar. Groups of players could use identical avatars and repeat the same phrases. Viral videos helped the trend spread beyond VRChat.

When did Ugandan Knuckles become a major meme?

The character became a major internet phenomenon in late 2017 and early 2018. VRChat videos and YouTube content played a major role in its spread.

Conclusion

The answer to the question “Who created Ugandan Knuckles?” begins with Gregzilla.

In February 2017, the animator introduced a goofy version of Knuckles in his Sonic Lost World review.

A few weeks later the character appeared in the popular “Knuckles Sings” video.

That strange design then found a second life when a 3D model was created and VRChat users adopted it as an avatar.

Now the character has entered another chapter.

The Great Meme Reset of 2026 has encouraged people to revisit older internet memes and has repeatedly placed Ugandan Knuckles among the symbols of that revival.

So if the red, strangely shaped Knuckles is suddenly appearing on your feed again, the origin story goes back to a 2017 Sonic review by Gregzilla.

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