Ironmouse

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ironmouse
Personal information
Nationality
Occupations
OrganizationVShojo
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2017–present
Genres
Games
Followers1.92 million[1]
Associated acts
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2017–present
Subscribers1.09 million[2]
Total views112 million[2]
100,000 subscribers2020
1,000,000 subscribers2023

Last updated: April 1, 2024

Ironmouse is a Puerto Rican-American VTuber, singer, and Twitch streamer. Active since 2017, she is a founding member of the VTuber group VShojo launched in 2020. With over one million followers on Twitch, she is the most-followed English language VTuber on the platform.[3] She also has the record for most subscribed female streamer on Twitch.[4]

Career

Ironmouse originally planned to pursue a career as a coloratura soprano opera singer, but was diagnosed with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), an immune disorder that has left her largely bedridden and isolated. It has also lead to a lung infection called mycobacterium avium complex as she revealed to Projekt Melody in 2021.[5] This required her to remain isolated from others, a situation which intensified in 2020 amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

In 2017, she began to pursue a career as a streamer instead, as she was "lonely and wanted something to do".[3] Hesitant to use her real face online, she was inspired by the Japanese entertainer Kizuna AI, the first YouTuber to refer to themselves as a "virtual YouTuber"[6]—to stream with a digital avatar to conceal her identity.[3]

After discovering that there were a growing number of users referring to themselves as VTubers like Kizuna, she began to consider herself one. The Ironmouse persona was expanded into a character, which she referred to as a "bigger version of me" and being like a superhero costume;[7][8] her avatar usually takes the form of a horned demon with pink and purple hair,[3] while its backstory—influenced by her having jokingly referred to herself on-stream as such—suggests that the character is a personification of Satan itself.[3] Ironmouse's distinctive, high-pitched speaking voice is the result of lung infection due to CVID complications which also resulted in her being on oxygen support 24/7; she has remarked that some people have refused to take her seriously because of her voice, and that some fellow streamers have been shocked to find out that it was her real voice, and not being manipulated with a voice changer.[3][9]

Amid a growth trend for streamers in general, and especially VTubers,[10][11] Ironmouse's audience on Twitch began to see increases over 2020 and 2021. The increasing revenue from her streams also allowed her to afford higher-quality health care. In turn, improvements to her condition enabled her to perform longer streams on a more regular basis.[3] In November 2020, Ironmouse was announced as one of the charter members of VShojo, a new U.S.-based agency of English-language VTubers, joining other streamers and personalities such as Nyanners and Projekt Melody.[12][13] She has also frequently collaborated with Welsh YouTuber CDawgVA,[14] and has occasionally hosted a talk show—Speak of the Devil—which features various guests.[15]

In February 2022, Ironmouse held a subathon event, a nonstop stream in which a countdown clock was extended whenever viewers purchased paid subscriptions or otherwise made donations to the channel.[3] The stream remained online even when she was asleep, during which other content, such as videos, and appearances by her friends and other guests, were featured.[16] Over the course of the event, which ran for a total of 31 days through March 7, 2022,[3] Ironmouse became the most-subscribed to female streamer on Twitch, and had the largest number of active subscribers of all Twitch channels at the time (although short of an overall record set by Ludwig during a similar event he held in 2021),[17][18] with nearly 172,000 subscribers in total by the end of the event.[3]

According to data from StreamElements and Rainmaker, Ironmouse was the eighth-most watched streamer on Twitch during the month of February 2022—marking the first time that a VTuber had made their monthly top 10.[19] Discussing the event, Ironmouse felt that it was "the only time I didn't feel lonely because I felt like I had somebody there all the time. It was the least lonely I've ever felt in a long time."[3]

In December 2022, she was listed among the "heroes" on the Plasma Hero website for raising awareness about CVID and encouraging viewers to donate plasma. She has also received praise for encouraging donations to The Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF), a charitable organization which helps people suffering from conditions like hers through research and improving the quality of life of people suffering from primary immunodeficiency.[20] According to StreamsCharts, Ironmouse was the second most-watched female Twitch streamer of 2022.[21]

In June 2023, Ironmouse held her second subathon event, which was charity oriented. During the event, 50 percent of all subscriptions and 100 percent of all Bits (Twitch's in-site currency), donations, and merchandise sales went to The Immune Deficiency Foundation. The subathon broke her previous record of 172,000 subscribers and set a new record of 205,461 subscribers.[22]

On December 7, 2023, Ironmouse won Content Creator of the Year at the Game Awards, becoming the first VTuber to win in the category.[23]

Philanthropy and raising awareness

From early in her career Ironmouse has been keen on educating more people on CVID and PI, in an interview with plasma-hero she said "At the time, I think I was so worried I didn't realize how talking about it could raise awareness; I don't make my illness the main focus of my content, but I do speak about it from time to time for education and awareness and to explain why I may not be feeling my best at times".[20] On August 4, 2021, she held a charity event for Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF) and raised over $100k. This caused many creators like CDawgVA to follow in her footsteps and raise more money for the charity. She also did a 30-day subathon in June 2023, where she donated half of all the subscription income to the Immune Deficiency Foundation.[20][24]

Ironmouse also has raised a significant amount of awareness for donations and the importance of plasma, she stated in an interview with plasma-hero "I know so many people encourage blood donation, and I want to make sure I can reach as many people as I can to tell people about living with a PI and donating plasma. I want more people to know that we are here and we need support, but I also want people to know that they are not alone."[20] She used her platform to encourage more people to donate plasma and her efforts were well received as more people started to donate plasma, as she quoted in an interview with Dexerto "It's really nice to be able to see so many people tweet at me every time I donate plasma, which is something I never saw before, It's just really nice to see the reception that everyone has given me, and the fact that people wanna know more about it, and people wanna donate plasma, and people wanna help out because it's a rare disease, and not a lot of people know about it."[24]

Filmography

Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2023 Smite Persephone [25]

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2022 The Streamer Awards Best VTuber Streamer Nominated [26]
12th Streamy Awards Best VTuber Nominated [27]
2023 The Streamer Awards Best Just Chatting Streamer Nominated [28]
Best VTuber Won
13th Streamy Awards Streamer of the Year Nominated [29]
Best VTuber Nominated
The Game Awards Content Creator of the Year Won [30]
The Vtuber Awards Vtuber of the Year Won [31][32][33]
Miss Vtuber Won
Best Streamed Event
(Ironmouse Subathon)
Won
Best Concert Event
(Candy Pop Explosion)
Nominated
2024 The Streamer Awards Streamer of the Year Nominated [34]
Best Vtuber Won

See also

References

  1. ^ "ironmouse - Streamer Overview & Stats". TwitchTracker. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "About ironmouse". YouTube.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Grayson, Nathan (April 20, 2022). "How a pink-haired anime girl became one of Twitch's biggest stars". Launcher (Washington Post). Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  4. ^ Pery, Kurt (June 27, 2023). "Ironmouse Subathon success sees her smash Twitch subscriber record".
  5. ^ Mouse, Iron (4 June 2021). "Ironmouse talks about her Sickness and Condition with Projekt Melody". YouTube. it's called mycobacterium avium complex
  6. ^ Lufkin, Bryan (October 2, 2018). "The virtual vloggers taking over YouTube". BBC. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  7. ^ "Twitch's New Star Is Anime Avatar Ironmouse". Bloomberg. April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  8. ^ Chen, James (November 30, 2020). "The Vtuber takeover of 2020". Polygon. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  9. ^ Israni, Prakash (March 22, 2023). "What Happened To Ironmouse? Virtual YouTuber Illness And Health Update".
  10. ^ Hernandez, Patricia (September 14, 2020). "Why Pokimane's Vtubing Twitch stream has everyone talking". Polygon. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  11. ^ White, DeForest (October 29, 2020). "Column: Bonus Stage: The Sudden Rise of Vtubers". The Eastern Progress. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  12. ^ Beresford, Trilby (November 24, 2020). "Talent Agency Launches With Focus on Vtubing". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  13. ^ Agonoy, Jay (November 28, 2020). "US-based VShojo VTuber Group Debuts". Anime Corner. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  14. ^ Shrivastava, Aarnesh (28 January 2022). ""Thank you for taking me out": VTuber Ironmouse cries joyfully in an IRL stream with CDawgVA". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  15. ^ Amos, Andrew (July 11, 2022). "Ironmouse asks fans to stop dictating VTubers' lives after Mori Calliope collab". Dexerto. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  16. ^ Diaz, Ana (February 9, 2022). "Vtuber Ironmouse hosts a sleep stream during a subathon with avatar". Polygon. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  17. ^ Galloway, Ryan (February 16, 2022). "VTuber Ironmouse is now most subbed female Twitch star ever". Dot Esports. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  18. ^ Lorenz, Taylor (March 18, 2021). "The Endless Stream". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  19. ^ "The VTubers are coming: Ironmouse was one of the 10 most-watched Twitch streams in February". Tubefilter. March 25, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  20. ^ a b c d "Hero stories - ironmouse". Plasma Hero. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  21. ^ Deangelo, Daniel (January 5, 2023). "Here Are the 10 Most-Watched Female Twitch Streamers of 2022". Game Rant. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  22. ^ "Ironmouse subathon reaffirms her status as pre-eminent female VTuber and Twitch star". streamscharts. July 4, 2023.
  23. ^ Bhattacharya, Richik (7 December 2023). "VTuber Ironmouse wins Content Creator of the Year at The Game Awards 2023".
  24. ^ a b Amos, Andrew (September 6, 2023). "How Ironmouse and CDawgVA's special bond came to be". dexerto.com.
  25. ^ MacKenzie, Joe (May 10, 2023). "VShojo's Anime VTubers Fight Gods in Smite's Newest Crossover". Xbox. Microsoft. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  26. ^ Polhamus, Blaine (March 13, 2022). "All 2022 Streamer Award Winners". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  27. ^ Hipes, Patrick (October 27, 2022). "Streamy Awards Nominations: MrBeast Tops List Again". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  28. ^ Snavely, Adam (March 11, 2023). "Streamer Awards 2023: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  29. ^ Hipes, Patrick (July 24, 2023). "Streamy Awards 2023 Nominations Announced, MrBeast Leads With 5 Nods". Variety. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  30. ^ Spangler, Todd (November 13, 2023). "The Game Awards 2023 Nominations: Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3 Lead the Pack With Eight Noms Each (Full List)". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  31. ^ Enriquez, XC (November 29, 2023). "Here are All Nominees for The Vtuber Awards!". ClutchPoints. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  32. ^ MrAJCosplay (December 19, 2023). "VShojo's Ironmouse is Crowned VTuber of the Year". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  33. ^ "The VTuber Awards - Winners". The VTuber Awards. December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  34. ^ Bhattacharya, Richik (January 25, 2024). "The Streamer Awards announces nominees for all categories: Full 2024 nominee list includes Kai Cenat, Iron Mouse, and more". Sportskeeda. Nazara Technologies.

External links