FPSRussia

"FPS Russia" redirects here. For the former section of the Russian border patrol, see Border Guard Service of Russia § Old FPS Structure.
FPSRussia
Genre Firearms/weapons
Created by Kyle Myers and PaintballKitty
Presented by Kyle Myers
Original language(s) English/Russian/German
Production
Location(s) Georgia, United States
Running time 1-10 minutes
Release
Original network YouTube
Picture format 1080p, 720p
Original release September 1, 2010 (2010-09-01) – present

FPSRussia is a popular YouTube channel consisting of videos involving firearms and explosives. The videos feature Kyle Myers, an American born in Lavonia, Georgia, USA, playing the role of Dmitri Potapoff, a heavily accented Russian from Moscow. Each video on the channel generally has Myers explaining the characteristics of the weapons he will use in that video (occasionally telling the history behind it and sometimes explanations of its purpose), before he demonstrates their abilities on targets such as fruits, drink bottles, zombie targets, and photos of Justin Bieber in his earlier videos.[1][2] The FPSRussia channel reached the 1 million subscriber mark in June 2011, at present, his channel has garnered 6 million+ subscribers.[3] Myers has used largely varying pieces of equipment along with weapons that have been featured in his videos such as a golden AK-47, an armored troop carrier,[4][5] a .50BMG rifle, and a Bofors 40 mm automatic anti-aircraft cannon.

After an announcement video in December 2012 and a successful Kickstarter campaign, FPSRussia released "FPS Russia: The Game" on the App Store for iOS devices in March 2013 with developer Zaah.[6]

History

Kyle
Born Kyle Lamar Myers
(1986-05-09) May 9, 1986
Nationality American
Other names Dimitri Potapoff
Occupation YouTube partner
Known for FPSRussia

Before Myers started FPSRussia, he ran a channel named "klm5986". He also had a YouTube channel called "FPSKyleletsplays" under the name FPSKyle. His YouTube channel often featured videos from other YouTube personalities, such as xSocrates. He later wanted to show how guns worked in real life and to compare them to how they are portrayed in video games, films, and television shows.[7] He got the idea for a Russian accent while working at a car dealership. One of his co-workers was Russian and he took an interest in impersonating his accent. His uncle was also a prankster and used to use the accent while talking to Kyle while he was five years of age. He used the accent to create the character Dimitri and what followed was him filming himself shooting guns on his family farm in Georgia. Myers also runs a third channel known as FPSRussiaTV.[8] After a nine-month hiatus, on January 10, 2014, FPSRussia returned to YouTube.[9]

Appearances in other media

Due to the success of FPSRussia, Myers opened up a second channel, MoreFPSRussia. Myers collaborated with Epic Meal Time in July 2011.[10] The collaboration has earned over 7.5 million video views on YouTube as of April 14, 2014.

Myers' character hosts the live fire section of Machinima.com Prime's web series, The Controller: Medal of Honor Warfighter.[11][12]

On October 29, 2012, Myers had a cameo appearance as his character, Dmitri, in the Call of Duty: Black Ops II live-action trailer directed by Guy Ritchie.[13]

Myers co-founded and currently co-hosts the popular internet podcast Painkiller Already (PKA) alongside fellow YouTube personalities WoodysGamertag (co-founder) and MurkaDurkah (longtime recurring guest, official host as of July 2014). The podcast began its life on Podbean and iTunes but before long, shifted to the YouTube platform because of issues with hosting fees and upload times on the original sites. The show has featured two other YouTube personalities as hosts, co-founder WingsOfRedemption and late addition LeftyOX, who have since left the show in April and July 2014, respectively. Myers, along with WoodysGamertag and WingsOfRedemption, founded the podcast. Since the introduction of an external revenue source from the content crowdfunding website Patreon, the show is once again being offered as an RSS feed on Podbean. Myers and his co-hosts also host a second, hour-long podcast named Painkiller Nearly (PKN), enabled by their funding through Patreon. [14]

In May 2013, Myers launched a gaming channel on YouTube under the username "FPS".

In 2014, FPSRussia was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #78.[15]

Some of Myers' other pseudonyms include FPSKyle, FPSMcDuck, Assassin and Scrooge McDuck.

Death of Keith Ratliff

On January 6, 2013, it was reported that Keith Ratliff, a member of the FPSRussia team, was found shot dead.[16][17] Since the shooting, several conspiracy theories have been stirred.[18] Ratliff was responsible for obtaining the firearms used in the videos.[19] The production of video was on hiatus until February 19, 2013.[20] In March 2013, it was announced by authorities that they are still investigating the death of Ratliff.[21]

ATF Raid

On March 29, 2013, Myers' Georgia residence was searched by upwards of 40 members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives alongside members of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The investigators also searched Myers's father's nearby farm, a frequent filming location for FPSRussia. ATF spokesman Richard Coes stated to the local press that the justification for the search was: "The claim is that [Myers] was using explosives and getting paid for it via YouTube."[22] Contradicting this was Franklin County Sheriff Stevie Thomas who stated that the raids were in connection with the investigation into the suspected murder of Keith Ratliff.[23] The ATF agents left empty handed without finding anything illegal, no arrests were made and no charges were filed.[24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gabriel Beltrone (September 13, 2011). "Marketing With a Fake Accent and Real Guns". Adweek. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  2. ↑ Curtis Cartier (March 30, 2011). "FPS Russia, Crazy Russian Gun Freak, Shoots and Blows Up His Xbox 360 (VIDEO)". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ Joshua Cohen (June 22, 2011). "FPSRussia Breaks 1 Million YouTube Subscribers, Blows Things Up". Tubefilter. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  4. ↑ Jeremy Korzeniewski (August 29, 2011). "FPS Russia takes an armored troop carrier through a drive thru". Autoblog. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  5. ↑ Kevin Fernandez (September 23, 2011). "Viral: THE MINIGUN - FPS Russia Background". The One Nut Review. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  6. ↑ James Plafke (December 12, 2012). "Gun-obsessed YouTube star FPS Russia is making a video game". Geek. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  7. ↑ Justin Massoud (November 8, 2010). "Gamer and Gun Enthusiast Imitates Crazy 'Call of Duty' Stunts". Asylum. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  8. ↑ Robert Snow (October 17, 2011). "EpicMealTime, FPSRussia and the Secret to Mass Appeal on YouTube". Professionally Incoherent. Wordpress. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  9. ↑ Slowik, Max (January 10, 2014). "FPS Russia is back with a Bullpups Unlimited 12-gauge (VIDEO)". Guns. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  10. ↑ Marc Hustvedt (July 19, 2011). "Quick Clicks: Rebecca Black Un-Auto-Tuned, ‘Yam Roll’, YouTube View Counts, ‘Epic Meal Time’ w/ FPSRussia". Tubefilter. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  11. ↑ Sam Gutelle (September 20, 2012). "Machinima Prime’s ‘The Controller’ Is A New Spin On Jock/Nerd Pairing". Tubefilter. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  12. ↑ Matthew Manarino (September 21, 2012). "NMR’S EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT EP. 3 OF MACHINIMA’S ‘THE CONTROLLER: MEDAL OF HONOR WARFIGHTER’". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  13. ↑ Tim Nudd (October 29, 2012). "FPSRussia Leads All-Star Cast in Guy Ritchie's Killer 'Black Ops 2' Spot". Adweek. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  14. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/PKA
  15. ↑ "The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 100-76!". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  16. ↑ Matthew Manarino (January 7, 2013). "Pro-gun blog claims that murdered man is the manager of FPSRussia". New Media Rockstars.
  17. ↑ MJ Kneiser (January 6, 2013). "GBI to help investigate Kentucky man's shooting". Independent Mail. Retrieved January 8, 2013.Dillon, Denise (January 8, 2013). "Man behind popular FPSRussia YouTube channel found dead". Fox 5. My Fox Atlanta. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  18. ↑ Luke Plunkett (January 18, 2013). "Wild Conspiracy Theories Abound In Death Of FPS Russia Producer". Kotaku. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  19. ↑ Robbie Brown (January 11, 2013). "Gun Enthusiast With Popular Online Videos Is Shot to Death in Georgia". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  20. ↑ Chris Callahan (February 20, 2013). "FPSRussia Returns from Hiatus (VIDEO)". Guns.com. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
  21. ↑ MJ Kneiser (March 7, 2013). "Ratliff murder investigation is active, GBI says". Independent Mail. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  22. ↑ Hunter Stuart (March 29, 2013). "FPSRussia Raid: Kyle Myers's Property Searched By Federal Agents". Huffington Post.
  23. ↑ MJ Kneiser (March 29, 2013). "ATF Agents Search Two Properties in Connection with Ratliff Homicide". 92.1 WHLR.
  24. ↑ "FPSRussia compound raid leaves 40-plus ATF, FBI agents empty-handed". Reuters. March 29, 2013.

External links

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