U.Z. Inu
From Homestar Runner Wiki
U.Z. Inu is the composer credited for Stinkoman 20X6's tenth level. They contributed three tracks: the level theme (a remix of Stinkoman Level 1), Z Sabre's boss theme (a remix of the standard boss theme), and Mecha-Trogador's boss theme (a remix combining Stinkoman Level 1 and Trogdor). Curiously, while all of the other credited contributors were thanked in a Twitter thread following the level's release, U.Z. Inu has never been acknowledged outside of the game's credits sequence.
Connection to Toby Fox
U.Z. Inu has been speculated to be Toby Fox, video game developer and music composer. Fox is secretive about his personal life and rarely appears in person, does interviews, or provides photos of his face, making the use of such a pseudonym plausible. Several details point to Inu potentially being an alias for Fox:
- Fox often uses the Annoying Dog from his game Undertale as an avatar to represent himself. The name "U.Z. Inu" is likely a play on the Japanese localized name for the character (うざいイヌ, romanized as Uzai Inu).
- U.Z. Inu's music for Stinkoman 20X6 features many of Toby's signature composition habits and instrumentation, as well as sharing the same instrument samples that he uses in music for his games.
- Fox is a fan of Homestar Runner:
- He directly cited it as the inspiration for a scrapped attack in Undertale, in which the player would have to jump over a row of 19 buses.
- His game Deltarune contains a music group known as the "Sweet Cap'n Cakes", a reference to Sweet Cuppin' Cakes. One of its members plays a song titled "When I Get Mad I Dance Like This", very similar to the demo that Casio Head Strong Bad plays when he gets mad.
When level 10 released in 2020, there was no other trace of "U.Z. Inu" online. In 2022, Inu reappeared: credited as composer and lyricist for Japanese VTuber Houshou Marine's "I'm Your Treasure Box", alongside frequent Toby Fox collaborator Camellia. Fox and Camellia would collaborate for another Houshou Marine song in 2024.
The secretive nature of the U.Z. Inu identity has allowed imitators to use the alias, such as a Toby Fox imitator releasing fan-made Deltarune music under the name.
