Ironmouse: Twitch's top streamer battles disease and breaks records

Viewers have never seen the face of streamer Ironmouse, who battles a serious immunological disease. Despite this, her channel is the most subscribed on Twitch.

For most streamers, promoting their image is crucial. After all, their face, voice, and on-screen behaviour are what they sell to their audience. However, some creators never appear on camera. Instead, they conceal their identity behind digital avatars. This is the essence of VTubing, which originated in Japan.

One of the most popular VTubers is Ironmouse, a Puerto Rican-American streamer with over 2.1 million followers on Twitch and 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube. Fans were shocked when, on 20 September, Ironmouse's channel suddenly disappeared from YouTube without any explanation. The streamer primarily performs live on Twitch and uploads recordings of her streams to YouTube.

It transpired that YouTube removed Ironmouse's channel due to copyright infringement reports. After a few days, both of her accounts were restored. In the interim, her Twitch channel became the most subscribed to, with 225,000 people paying to participate in her streams. According to twitchtracker.com, the next on the list, Jynxzi and Kai Cenat, have fewer than 100,000 subscribers.

The enigmatic streamer originally planned a career as an opera soprano, but these dreams were dashed by a diagnosis of common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). This immunological disorder left her largely bedridden and isolated from others. She started streaming in 2017 because she felt "lonely and wanted something to do." Reluctant to show her real face online, she hid behind an avatar. She was inspired by the Japanese artist Kizuna AI, the first YouTuber to refer to herself as a "Virtual YouTuber" (VTuber). That’s how Ironmouse was born.

Ironmouse was developed into a character the streamer described as a "stronger version of me." Her avatar is usually a horned anime demon with pink and purple hair. Ironmouse's distinctive, high-pitched voice is the result of a lung infection caused by CVID complications. Many people are shocked when they learn this is her real voice, not a digitally modified sound.

Ironmouse strives to turn her immense success into something valuable not only for herself. She donates half of her streaming earnings to the Immune Deficiency Foundation, an organisation committed to improving the diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life for people affected by primary immunodeficiencies.