A Tiktok video from @scpwikiofficial.

Audio transcript:

SCP community, it's time to say a fond farewell to Peanut.

The current news is SCP Wiki staff have started discussions and voting likely to end in the removal of SCP-173's image, the last in a long journey of making the SCP Wiki completely Creative Commons-compliant.

As a reminder, SCP-173 was the very first SCP. Originally posted on 4chan in 2007, that text-and-image combination inspired everything SCP has come to be in the last 15 years.

Unfortunately, that image, known as "Untitled 2004", a copyrighted art piece by artist Izami Kato, was used without permission and therefore is stolen art. When this was just a couple people messing around in a forum, this wasn't a big deal. But, as the community blew up, this became a massive legal issue.

It's here that I as well as Wiki staff point out that Izami Kato has been a saint through this, and we very much appreciate that.

Art theft at any level is frustrating, but when something you put your heart into is now seen by millions of people as a poopy statue that kills people, yeah I wouldn't be too happy about it either.

But after talking with then-Wiki staff and seeing what the community had built around it, they begrudgingly said "okay, I don't really like it, but I'll let you use the image with limitations," and the big limitation is we can't monetize Untitled 2004. So the SCP-173 story can be monetized, but that picture and the statue cannot.

Since then, SCP Wiki licensing staff have been A. going through the wiki and getting rid of or replacing all of the non-Creative Commons-compliant images, and B. cease-and-desisting everybody in games and videos and merch who are monetizing Untitled 2004 when they're not supposed to be. And the bigger the community gets, the more this becomes a problem, so honestly the photo should've come down a long time ago, but it's finally getting done.

The original creator of SCP-173, Moto42, has given their blessing to taking down the photo and, also requested that we don't put a new one up there. Instead, like 999, 096, and many others, people will be able to imagine their own SCP-173 in the future.

There are also talks on the Wiki about having a community art gallery full of artists' reimaginings of SCP-173, even if there won't be a true canon one. More on that as it develops.

To end on a bit of editorializing, I understand there's a feeling of loss that comes with the passing of a cultural touchstone like this. There's gonna be a lot of feelings and opinions swirling around out there. But, legally and morally, it is way past time for us to do the right thing and fully give Izami Kato their work back, and finish moving over to full Creative Commons compliance so we can continue to make our own original works as well.

The link in the official SCP Wiki Tiktok's bio will lead you to the page where the public discussion is still ongoing.

Farewell, you old Peanut. Secure. Contain. Protect.