Ftrivia

Complete article of SCP-173, as of early February 2022.

SCP-173 is the first piece of containment fiction written in the SCP format, prior to it gaining that nomenclature.^[1]http://scparchives.bluesoul.net/history.html It is one of the embryonic works of containment fiction and arguably the most important and influential work of the entire genre.

SCP-173 was originally posted anonymously on 4chan’s /x/ board by Moto42 (then credited as “S S Walrus”) on June 22, 2007.^[2]http://scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/140042.html 

Izumi Kato is the artist responsible for the sculpture used as the primary photo of SCP-173,^[3]http://izumikato.com/Untitled-2004 and Keisuke Yamamoto is the photographer. Kato has given specific permission and conditions that it is allowed to be used from on SCP. As part of this agreement it is not legal to make commercial derivatives of the SCP-173 image.^[4]https://web.archive.org/web/20211122010852/http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-1016698/response-from-izumi-kato-re:173

SCP-173 has the most derivative works of any piece of containment fiction, being featured in short films, video games, artwork, and other artistic mediums.

History

Posted at 01:40 on June 22, 2007, and with the subject header “From the Files of Site 19”, SCP-173 represents the genesis of the containment fiction genre. Replies on the thread were generally positive:^[1]

Well done. Is there more?

In reference to creepy pictures with interesting text that’s supposed to supplement a backstory of some sorts. I do like the fact that it’s some sort of lab report thing. Makes it even more interesting.

the description is freaky

Now do a daily log written by one of the personnel asigned to Site 19.

Do more. You’ve actually inspired me to make one of my worst dreams into a nice little spooky story like that…

You should do this for other pictures 😀 The story is a tiny bit flawed, but still fantastic. Don’t let people tell you it’s crap; the lab-report format is awesome for this purpose.

I thought it was pretty fucking cool actually. It was just written to casually to be a lab report.

While others were not so keen on the now legendary post:^[1]

Google says nothing, and the “item SCP-173” looks extremely tacky, even for a paper mache, or gypsum figure.

Someone’s been watching Doctor Who…

Bad grammar is bad… Errors like that always take me out of the scary story and put me into Grammar Nazi mode.

… enjoy your fanfic of silly asian scare art

It reads like an official report written by a high-schooler, which, I’d bet you are.

Shame a better image wasnt used for the story.

I fucking hate this boring ass sculpture.

This entire thread is a rip-off of the [Dr. Who] episode ‘Blink’. It was on about two weeks ago. I don’t really care, but that other person obviously did.

It would be a better hoax if you spelt Krylon correctly, its not crylon paint, its Krylon.

S S Walrus is seen participating on the thread and replying to the comments:

Sleep deprived first drafts tend to suck a bit. It’s meant to sound like an official report, and I’ll admit that english grammar isn’t my strongest subject. Thanks for all the positive responses.

Importantly, the original article gave the genre the conventions of format, including the designation (item) number, the “special containment procedures”, description, and the lab-report like perspective.

Image Removal

“Is nothing sacred anymore? What next, 173’s pic?”^[5]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76858/scp-682#post-4752868 — DarthAlex314 on SCP-682’s image change, 2020

SCP-173’s image was removed via unanimous vote^[6]http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-14472723/voting-removing-scp-173-s-image-untitled-2004 from the SCP Foundation Wiki on February 13, 2022.^[7]https://archive.fo/F5v0N^[8]https://archive.fo/AcAgm A discussion on O5 Command began on January 30, 2022, in which there was nearly unanimous assent in favor of the image’s removal.^[9]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14468376/discussion-removing-scp-173-s-image-untitled-2004 SCP-173’s image was not replaced by request of the original author of SCP-173, Moto42, in order “to allow everyone to envision SCP-173 for themselves, instead of there being a singular, definitive, official ‘SCP-173′”.^[10]https://archive.fo/rAnXt#selection-1199.127-1199.250 A community art event was promoted, celebrated, and featured in lieu of Untitled 2004‘s presence on the SCP Wiki.^[11]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/peanut-gallery

From the announcement:^[12]https://archive.fo/rAnXt#selection-1217.0-1217.133

We thank the SCP Community for being as wonderful and creative as it is, and apologize for the necessary removal of the iconic image. As we move forward, we hope that this event will help bring the site closer together, and inspire more art in the future.

The reasons for the image removal are two-fold: legal difficulty and ethical considerations.

Legal Difficulty

This was due to a desire by the SCP Wiki staff to have all content on the site comport to the Creative Commons By-Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0) license, writing that “it is also the only image on the site that is not CC-BY-SA 3.0 compliant.”^[13]https://archive.fo/rAnXt#selection-1169.163-1169.235. The staff wrote that it was becoming increasingly difficult to police merchandise in violation of Izumi Kato’s terms, the legal confusion that SCP-173’s image created for third-party participants in the SCP Wiki, such as producers of merchandise, being an ongoing struggle.^[14]https://archive.fo/rAnXt

Ethical Considerations

In the site forum announcement, a representative of staff cites the ongoing abuse of Izumi Kato’s terms of use for Untitled 2004 as a reason to remove it from the site:^[15]https://archive.fo/rAnXt#selection-1177.0-1185.286

Licensing aside, Untitled 2004’s usage on the Wiki is also an ethical issue. Izumi Kato did not intend nor ask for his art to be used as an SCP, and the meaning and purpose of Untitled 2004 has been, in some ways, permanently tainted by its use in the article. Kato kindly and retroactively allowed its use for SCP-173 in 2014 on condition, but it was clear he was not happy with the situation. Additionally, his art’s been exploited by third parties trying to profit off of SCP, which has likely caused him much distress.

As such, we believe the most correct course of action in this situation is to remove Untitled 2004 from SCP-173. Although this process has been delayed significantly, the longer we wait, the more harm is done to Izumi Kato’s creative vision and the risk of legal issues becomes greater.

Trivia

Common to creepypastas of the time, SCP-173 was questioned as real or a hoax when first released.^[16]https://archive.ph/KmpLl#selection-4465.10-4465.111^[17]https://archive.ph/KmpLl#selection-4949.10-4949.277