What Happened To FPSRussia? The Curious Fate Of An Internet Legend | TRO

hello ladies and gentlemen our welcome to the right opinion the home of a [ __ ] with too much free time and I hope you're enjoying living in the modern era of YouTube there you probably aren't however for today's topic we removed the prim and proper suits of modern YouTube and Don the trackies and overcoats yes we're bringing out the big guns let's hop in the TRO time machine and head back to 2012 the time when a very unique gentleman without the pinnacle of YouTube this is a man known as FPSRussia now he hasn't spoken too much about these days but you know I think you should be it's hard to think of a better example of a creator who could make content cater to popular interest while uploading videos whose style probably wouldn't have worked on any other platform besides YouTube yes I have a hunch of the gent over at Sons of Guns suddenly started putting on slightly subpar Russian accents the producers over at the Discovery Channel would have been rather unimpressed though honestly I think they would have taken that rather than actually what happened to the host of that show however for those who are a bit newer to the platform you may not be completely familiar with the background of today's subject kyle myers or FPSRussia so the next five minutes also will be focused on that like aim large majority of creators FPSRussia had extensive history on the platform starting on the extremely catchy name of KLM 5 9 8 6 he was originally a gaming channel who went by the name FPS kyle i should at some point he came to this idea of well what would happen if I did gaming but with a Russian accent and thus FPSRussia was born because initially FPSRussia was actually also a gaming channel a gaming child that performed really well might you fell in one of the old screenshots I'd found there was even an odd comment saying that he was about to blow up ham boy didn't they're probably not in the way that people predicted playing like this make many people very angry sends me lots of angry messages and sends me mean text message means voicemail and I just laugh and laugh it is it is very very funny to get the hate mail for the beaches apparently finding out that this accent was fake was like finding out Santa wasn't real well kids if you're watching this Santa is as real as this accent do what you want with that statement not too long after his gaming benches car decide to expand his content attempting more creative sketches most of which are long gone although I was moderately taken aback by one named Isle of very young girls alongside some very timely top comments the glory days of YouTube have truly passed us by at some point he must have noticed that certain weapon related content was performing significantly better than the rest of his uploads and he decided to focus on pursuing that as a brand a justified business decision the videos that are currently on his child definitely represent that brand in the most accurate possible way with FPSRussia you would receive a first-class ticket to the gun show his videos typically exhibited a variety of weapons and stunts based around the discharge of such content it was punchy entertaining and strangely satisfying for a multitude of reasons all mixed in with that slightly eccentric persona it was a recipe for success and in the coming years he experienced just that he became one of the most popular youtubers on the platform at one point being the third most subscribed channel on the whole of YouTube he appeared in related media including an ad for call of duty black ops 2 alongside Robert Downey jr. and he even launched his own app FPS rush of the game after a highly successful Kickstarter campaign he was more than just a guy shooting guns he was a real personality and he played into that now the problem is definitely song it was pretty damn genius the persona was a simplistic Russian guy which works incredibly well because of the limited spoken content it would keep it simple shut up and shoot his gun and not bother with too many technicalities that a majority of people probably wouldn't be the most interested in he knew primarily focus on the sensation of shooting guns at the same time is persona complemented well it was a stereotype and in many ways he appealed to stereotypical mannerisms that made the content enjoyable and appeared alongside those who emboldened much I assume most people know what an exploitation film is is something that works to cater to trends in the most obscene way possible FPSRussia took some of those elements and combined it with the realism that people expected of a YouTube video and created something grounded yet impactful oh yeah you in that slow-mo maybe you love das's [Music] at its core fps Russia's videos were the perfect balance of amateur and professional he's a bloke with a bit too much firepower but at the same time he's got a bloody tank pointers he needs some balls and some money to do what he did however to be such a public yet seemingly unprotected bigger participating in hazardous activities on this relatively unknown uncensor platform places you in a position where you may be in the sights of multiple parties all willing to take their own shots and when you're such a large target you're gonna catch a couple bullets and that's what we're going to be discussing today as of November December 2019 I don't know when this video will be out his child sits dormant untouched for over three years and it wasn't because he ran out of money or balls no I don't think that will be a problem for him it's a complicated story that's whatever way you look at it started in 2013 and when you uncover the details you'll find the son demise of a child embodied in drama conspiracy theories deaths prison and actually some interesting socio-political discourse so we're going to do all that today and hopefully more so we can find out about the curious fate of FPSRussia see I said the title you know that makes me clever haha let us embark on this most mysterious journey let's set the ship to full mast for this next part are we putting some I more morbid murder interest to the grindstone with that said this is also a disclaimer because although relevant it also touches on some sensitive topics so without further ado let's dim the lights FPSRussia wasn't a single person project now I'm sure that'll surprise no one here take a lot of time and ability to obtain all his equipment organize film crews edit and so on and the bottom line is that people just want to see the final results this is where we introduce you to someone by the name of Keith Ratliff Keith Richard Ratliff was a gun enthusiast husband and father hailing from Kentucky but also someone fairly involved in the fpsrussia YouTube channel the extent of his involvement seems uncertain some people claiming that he was merely a member of the production team whereas many closer to Ratliff claiming he was one of the cofounders of the channel it's this latter assertion would have surprised me given the nature of the channel when it was originally founded but maybe he became heavily involved not too soon after one detail that was uncontested was the role he played in the channel often obtaining extremely rare and otherwise inaccessible weaponry he previously worked as a marketing manager and had even attempted online ventures before such as his ownership of the website known as so tastic comm a marketing oriented business in over 2011 he co-founded FBS industries LLC which combined Keith's marketing expertise with his love for firearms in February of 2012 he moved from Kentucky to Kahn's Ville Georgia I assumed this was in part because FPS Industries LLC was also a type 10 destructors manufacturer which is a high-level license for those who wish to produce and deal with destructive devices ammunition for those destructive devices armor-piercing ammunition and other various weaponry it costs a major to apply and renew every now and then and as far as it is published on their Facebook page keith was the one with the license there are a load of additional technicalities and licenses that you will likely have to apply for but it's understandable the Ratcliffe wanted to move closer to the source of this income so he left his family in Kentucky to pursue this business venture and the many successes that it could yield Keith also had a youtube channel at one point called guns guns and more guns though its name changed a few times this channel has also since been closed he also ran the FPS industries LLC Facebook page he was just area typical gun lover man he had ambitions dreams and Obama memes everything moved fairly smoothly for just shy of a year the YouTube channels excelled and the business seemed to have decent traffic as well however barely a few days into the new year on the 4th of January 2013 he was discovered deceased with a single gunshot wound to the head there were a lot of guns surrounding him but not the one that was responsible for his death there was no sign of a struggle no sign of a break-in a few guns were missing but nothing that would amount to a theft being the motive the surveillance equipment was missing as well so unfortunately the crime wasn't captured it was a pretty sparse crime scene and although there was a lot of initial attention on the case with the state of Georgia police releasing a statement regarding these circumstances it died down fairly rapidly and left a lot of unanswered questions behind at the time there was a lot of confusion with some people thinking Kyle was actually the one who had been killed which wasn't the case and there was also this claim that Keith had been tied up prior to being shot this was also untrue with all the details considered many people felt like the person who'd murder Keith must have known him especially given the lack of otherwise clear motive it felt like it would have needed to be something more personal or at least premeditated he also hadn't been living in Georgia too long so I had to be someone relatively current in his life there were also some pretty wild conspiracy theories some wondering if he'd been targeted by the government or a gun control group due to his glorification of gun culture and outspoken criticism of gun control however in both these instances you think that the groups would have been more direct and would have made more of an example of him though the government wouldn't but I think the government have other things to deal with another theory with it was floating around was the idea that this was an arms deal gone wrong and although the type 10 lysis did give Ratliff an extensive amount of power to trade within the industry the proof substantiating these theories is weak ultimately the relevancy of this saga is that regardless of who committed the crime the unsolved nature hanging over the head of the community set an uncomfortable spotlight on anyone in the vicinity particularly those with an arsenal of weapons the truth is that many people close to round lifts had one person in mind and that was Kyle stainless made by those from be justice for keith ratliff pressure group and even in their petition clearly alludes to the idea that car was the individual who committed the crime and that the police hadn't acted on it due to the fact that Ratliff wasn't from around those parts and car was as a business partner someone who knew the environment and asan whom keith would have trusted there are certain circumstances that may have made this a more fitting theory but there's also a significant lack of public motive and given Keith's value to the business it would have seemed an exceptionally ittle biased move I don't really want to focus on the theory but it's important to note how this would affect the channel a channel focused primarily on the utility of dangerous weapons keith was important and this incident would have struck fear into a lot of people associated with a channel given the unknown perpetrator and motive uncertainty is a curse what's worse is that given his proximity regardless of the verifiability it was inevitable that Kyle regardless of motive was going to be one of the key suspects and Keith's untimely murder put Carl on the police radar in a way that affected his trade less than two months later federal agents from the ATF alongside the Georgia Bureau of Investigation raided his and his father's place while the ATF claimed it was for unrelated issues regarding explosives the sheriff claimed it was regarding the murder the legal side being as coherent as ever it was never said if anything of value was actually taken although Kyle was reported to have been charged with anything nonetheless the raid was probably quite stressful and it was followed by an extended hiatus until his return in 2014 and it's been a while since I've posted on social media as well and I wanted to first of all explain that I've been through so many times where I've been trying to set up production days working with film crews working with high speed stuff and everything fell through and I kept telling everyone we'll have a video in a week we'll have a video in a month and these were that was based on promises that had been made to me those promises get broken I look like the liar so I wanted to wait until I had everything ready had several videos in the bank and we're there now so first things first we've got a very nice 12-gauge but hey at least he was back right right well unfortunately it's never really over [Music] the whole situation regarding the death of Keith Ratliff was a blight on everyone involved particularly given that it was unresolved the variety of theories couldn't reach Ange the people who were closest to him at the time while the big issues is that our friend Kyle probably anticipated that the police were under some sort of pressure to solve the crime and the given his public YouTube channel he was playing with fire in more ways than one however he couldn't risk compromising his business it was still incredibly successful he still hadn't audience and he still had a demand so as noted in 2014 around nine months after the rate of his house he returned triumphantly and resumed his content now I'd say he's not really afraid of taking risks so I doubt it was the most difficult decision at that point and besides at that point the feds had done a suite there wasn't very much else they could expect to find however many police departments may attempt to find reasons to return to the residence of a suspect later on in Casey subject in question had temporarily moved certain suspicious items and returned them at a later date therefore the police would have no hesitation in returning if granted the opportunity of course they would need suspicious activity to justify a warrant and although one wouldn't describe it yes Russia's activities as particularly regular in the context of what he did with his channel it was hard to frame it as criminally suspicious nonetheless even after his return a lot of the YouTube mystery persisted in the world of FPSRussia a lot of internet detectives didn't let off people trying to work out who had murdered keith ratliff as if they were gonna bust open the case and in spite of understandable irritation from the team at FPS industries they eventually granted one interview with Kyle with conditions prevailing that the questions were sent in bonus as far as why he was killed you know who's to say I loved Keith keith was my buddy Keith had been my friend for a couple of years we traveled the country together so it's hard for me to say oh yeah this person or that person and I would everybody's got enemies I suppose people who don't care for the way they do things you know he had a he had a rocky personal life with women you know I know he'd had some trouble in business in the past but nothing that would bring something like this in at least we wouldn't think so so no idea it's a no idea I don't really have too much to add here what I know about Keith didn't extend to such matters but I can understand why he didn't want to make further comments at the same time it's good to have a statement out there for reference this interview was part of another documentary that framed Carl Fairley negatively and to be asked although he may be sure turned up Asante prior interviews if I was in issues I'd probably be a bit frustrated about the situation persisting in the way it had it's hard to conclude anything the videos called who killed Keith Ratliff and all you conclude is that no one had a bloody clue over the time period the regularity of uploads became more and more sporadic and in April 2016 FPSRussia published his final video one way he tested out some very nice Swain throws these videos seemed fairly routine in nature and nothing was identifiably wrong it's unclear as to why he exactly stopped at that point screenshots in the months prior showed his channel not performing too well but still somewhat decently though obviously such weapons wouldn't have been particularly cheap to own also another really important thing to note was that this was around the time of the apocalypse and honestly it's hard to see how a channel like his would have received many liberties it sucks because on principle he's not a terrorist and what he does isn't particularly exceptional too many shows you see on TV but for creators who deal with any sort of weaponry the mere sight of them in 2016 would have probably given the lads over at Googleplex and aneurysm unfortunately what FPSRussia did was high-risk high-reward and i have a hunch that although he was never really afraid of the risk the reward came with diminishing returns nonetheless his presence from YouTube didn't completely disappear it's likely that he had made a fair amount of money at that time so he could chill and pursue more relaxed personal ventures one of his friends woodysgamertag hosts a podcast called the painkiller podcast on which car was a regular co-host on this side the Internet he was just known as Kyle and the Russian accent was gone yeah of course tonight smart mouth of course making its return as well as lifts zip recruiter and Jack threads and me undies so you can check them out down in the description below I'm gonna talk about each of them more later on but for now let's just start the show it's not to say it was anything particularly exhilarating but I think you entertaining enough and Carl seem to be having fun so that's what matters the podcast itself probably generates a decent amount of income due to the number of sponsors and card to Billy did the readings he still does a fair few episodes there now so if you're wondering where to find him that's where you can go however if it was the end of the story the art would be incomplete because I said since the death of keith ratliff the police have probably been glancing in his direction a bit more than they normally would as mentioned if the opportunity arose to raid his property again they would unfortunately that opportunity dipped and after receiving a tip-off that Carl had imported 25 grams of butane hash oil through the mail which was a pretty bad idea to be honest lore officials moved in on Carl and his residence once more in August of 2017 I have little doubt that this was in part due to the hope that they thought they'd maybe find something they hadn't before and their search of cars residents extended to looking for weapons and explosives as he was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute they removed these weapons due to a statute that prevented illegal drug users from owning them honestly I'm disappointed I can't think of a better combination than guns and weeds haha am i right kids I'm so here I have a hunch the feds in general didn't really approve of Carl's operations and they were aware that having a criminal record would prevent him from owning and thus using firearms again I feel that this and the next part is going to undermine the theory that the police were protecting him in any way because they don't think they liked him and what he subsequently went down for was pretty bizarre so let's talk about it [Music] this state's attorney accumulate see a list of crime they felt our good friend Carl here was culpable for these crimes included possession with intent to distribute marijuana and butane honey oil maintaining a drug premises possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and possession of a firearm by drug user that's a lot to digest now B possession with intent to distribute charge is the main charge that we'll focus on as a felony it incurs up to thirty years in prison which would not have been a good outcome for anyone however the severity of these penalties are known to be highly dependent on the circumstances surrounding you and Carl didn't have a previous criminal record nor was he some drug kingpin in fact according to a later podcast after he was released on bail it seemed to be quite the contrary but we're quite sure that women would come to his house his girlfriend even and smoke a joint with him occasionally and so that was distribution rod and what he says is true here law enforcement reasoning is ridiculous it's a piss-take however as noted this was not the only charge and the others may have carried significant punishment if he was found guilty which seemed like a plausible enough possibility for Carl to vouch what is probably known as a plea deal or plea bargain this plea deal basically meant that the latter three charged that he was facing were completely dropped and he was only sentence on the basis of possession of drugs with the intent to distribute wish to me still seemed kind of dumped Carl was prosecuted at a federal level as according to him he states screwed their case up because they legitimized a warrant on the basis that Kyle was wearing cargo shorts which as a fashion choice implied he's going back to his house with the marijuana let's be clear they wanted to search the house if what he says is true which it may well be given the leniency of the subsequent sentence I think he may have had a chance at fighting the case but on the other hand he knows the environment of Georgia better than me and given some of these charges seem stacked up I understand why he cut a deal there once again it all seems like a bit of a stitcher I get why plea deals exist it just sucks that a possibly innocent party may be coerced into that position due to the incentive of having other cases dropped I hate it I hate that system on the other hand the fact that he did cut a deal makes you wonder if he ever intended to return to FPSRussia if he was prepared to blow up vehicles in his proximity I'm sure he didn't mind a risk or two here and there if it was something worth fighting for although the criminal record sucks and I'm sure legal advice factored into it to a degree in hindsight he seemed fairly unfazed talking about it reflecting on it like an entertaining story scariest thing that happened was about ten days in the black guy comes by myself he comes by and he goes young man I thought I'd let you know hey somebody in here just wanted to get me you someones looking to get with me like yeah they looking to get me I was like well you let them know I'm not looking to get with anybody and I won't go down with a fight I was like that's not happening he's like I'll pass the word on man but you watch your ass and I'm thinking like I what if he's gonna add literally at the end but he's not a smart guy so we just walked and now I'm terrified for the record if you want to hear Karl's prison stories I definitely leave a link in the pinned comment below it's surprisingly entertaining and often endearing ultimately he was sentenced to two months in prison with supervised release and an additional fine of $7,500 because they needed some money from it as well I guess he was charged in 2019 went to jail and around August and got out in October like any other year really so what's he up to now well Carl's just chillin in spite of everything he's taken it quite well it was a weird [ __ ] time they were but those guys thinking that I was a snitch didn't wear off until about six weeks ago like or about two weeks ago it was when I started like making more friends when people started realizing like I guess he he's actually just in here I guess I guess I guess judges really do give people two months they just got ya you over time when you started to fit in with that said a lot of his stories can be quite concerning particularly given how he talks about his involvement with Barris seriously criminal individuals in prison someone like Kyle given his success it's not a huge deal but it does illuminate a lot of issues of what happens when you put someone in jail for a rather minor crime with a set of fairly serious criminals and it does highlight some of the issues with the prison system if you're saying interesting yet somewhat enlightening definitely check those videos out most people know my politics is pretty anti drug criminalization particularly drugs like marijuana which when I study the Netherlands basically surrounded me and I was never really much of a user myself but the environment that i resided in was fairly harmonized and so although it was a lot of THC oil and coughs you're definitely known better given the location he chose to reside in and the culture being incumbent with that it's a real shame that the laws to me seem so harsh on him because of this marijuana he lost the equivalent of four hundred thousand dollars of itinerary I respect him for being honestly as Placid as he is I'm not sure I would be what do they do with the guns probably destroy them oh that's a shame let's conclude them FPSRussia has his success rooted in the origins of that old generation of YouTube where people embrace the chaos and ash our deserve to thrive as a product about but what was entertainment eventually became quite real in a way that few could have anticipated what followed was a butterfly fact that destabilized a channel already somewhat fragile in the evolving environment and the man at the center of it the child's reliance on the character of Dimitri as iconic as he is made the issues he faced concurrent with the ones that the channel faced it cast a shadow that everyone struggled to escape and many refused to forget it led to the eyes of drama detectives and law enforcement who lay in wait for whatever opportunity they were yielded and although you could argue that Karl could have been more conscious of the risks he couldn't live the rest of his life looking over his shoulder and maybe that's why he doesn't appear to care as much maybe a burden of sorts has been lifted hopefully sometime in the future in a different environment he'll have his legal restrictions reevaluated I genuinely hope so in a way I do feel sad that they took so much away from a channel because even if you weren't using it anymore it'd be nice to know it's there you know in case you wanted to do a little special for the fans and of course the value - there must have been some sentimental connection or he probably would have sold it it sucks Innocents prevailing in other situations he deserved better and I hope there is justice in the end for everything and everyone discussed today for the moment I hope he's happier with where he is now and is enshrined as it is FPSRussia was a product of his time and one whose time has probably pumped to those who enjoyed it well don't cry because it's over smile book as it happens you really knew how to shoot this [ __ ] if you guys enjoyed the video and is always a blast there so that was the video I hope you enjoyed it I think I enjoyed it it was a bit shorter than normal but honestly sometimes we have to moderate the time we spend on these things I started another video and basically that one had some new information the right side actually we should leave that a bit more let it brew and we'll act on that later so I thought we'd do a little retrospective on something that I do genuinely find quite interesting and I hope that interest showed I wanted to give a big shout out to my editors once again they have done a fantastic job I can't really thank them enough they use do great work time after time and it's great to know that I can rely on people to make content that's entertaining for so many people I also want to give a big shout out to my patreon current patrons at the time the recording November of course is my $10 patreon up on screen right now $50 patreon some hullabaloo Nikko Deschamps and Caroline and my hundred dollar patreon we have a new patreon who hopefully I'm you know I'm putting my faith into for the pledge to go through at the end of month Stanton thank you very much man it really makes difference I also wanted to give a big thanks to Brandon someone who I still don't know who he is his pledge has now lifetime pledges hit 1000 dollars which honestly is incredible and I you know I can't thank you enough man if you're watching this love you I hope you still take something away from my videos I hope you haven't spontaneously died or something that would be terrible also if you want to hit me up Twitter at the right opinion discord and of course Facebook though I don't use that right now I'm gonna try and get back on it it's all been a bit messy recently I need to be a bit more organized also my Instagram which is basically a bit more personal if you want to know what I'm up to what I'm doing typically writing scripting talking like this editing or playing just dance because you know me great dancer and I'm the right opinion and I'll see you in the next one [Music] you

Channel: The Right Opinion

Views: 2,248,389

Rating: 4.8239713 out of 5

Keywords: fpsrussia, tro, fpsrussia podcast, woodysgamertag, fps russia, fps, what happened to fpsrussia, painkiller podcast

Id: eeUg1rs_GgU

Length: 29min 3sec (1743 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 22 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/IamZakR]

This was a great video but I doubt the boys will acknowledge it because Kyle has never wanted to talk much about the Keith Ratliff situation

[u/[deleted]]

Why does every critiquer or content commentator always have some idealised animated version of themselves?

[u/[deleted]]

Where the hell did he find the interview kyle did about Keith?

[u/spencereff]

that guy makes good videos. can’t wait to check that out!