SCP-173

Biodata

Appearance

SCP-173 is a small, large-headed humanoid sculpture whose shape resembles a peanut 2.

• Its body is made of concrete and reinforcing steel and bears traces of black Krylon spray paint 2.
• The Foundation notes that Krylon paint had not been invented when SCP-173 first appeared 2.

Abilities & Skills

Observation-dependent movement

• SCP-173 cannot move while it remains in someone’s direct line of sight. Maintaining uninterrupted visual contact immobilized it during both a Gluttonous containment attempt and the Foundation’s recovery operation 2 8 10.
• When observation breaks, it can move too quickly for viewers to follow. A flash that forced its watchers to close their eyes allowed it to kill more than a thousand Gluttonous soldiers in five or six seconds 3 9.
• It can move through open space without a foothold, pass through a battleship’s energy shield, and dent alloy armor by ramming it 7 8.

Neck-snapping attack

• SCP-173 breaks victims’ necks with its hands. Gluttonous armor offered no protection, and it killed Angel Yan despite her third-generation divine body 2 3 5.
• Its attack also damaged the data needed to repair Yan’s body, including Dark Universe backups. Neither her Void Engine nor Kesha’s attempts could restore her 6 8.
• In a Foundation experiment, it repeatedly snapped SCP-682’s neck whenever the reptile lost sight of it. After more than a thousand repetitions, SCP-682 adapted: SCP-173 could no longer break its neck 48 49 50.

Perceptual and communications interference

• Angel Yan instinctively overlooked SCP-173 even as it approached her. She had to concentrate fully and use her third-generation divine body’s computing power at its limit to remain aware of it 3 4.
• Near SCP-173, Yan could not establish dark-energy communication or upload her final report to the Holy Knowledge Treasury. Kesha’s attempts to restore contact also failed 4 6.
• Kesha could not read SCP-173’s data even after allocating Meleon Celestial City’s and the Divine Armory’s computing power 3.

Resistance to destruction

• Yan’s Flame Blade heat did not visibly affect SCP-173 or its paint. Her god-slaying Flame Judgment destroyed the surrounding flagship and made the statue appear to vanish, but it reappeared unharmed behind her 4 5.

History

SCP-173 escaped containment after the Gluttonous Legion entered the Red Crow Star System. The Foundation announced the breach and published its observation rule to prevent casualties. SCP-173 appeared aboard a Gluttonous battleship, where it killed a squad and then many more soldiers throughout the ship 2 3.

Kesha sent Angel Yan to investigate and, if possible, retrieve the statue before Morgana could acquire it. Yan’s attempt to destroy SCP-173 with Flame Judgment failed; it appeared behind her and snapped her neck. Kesha arrived with angel warriors but withdrew rather than continue the attack, leaving the Foundation to handle containment 3 4 5 7 9.

A Gluttonous force later held SCP-173 motionless by watching it from every angle. When the Foundation’s countdown ended, a grenade emerged from a spatial rift and flashed brightly enough to make the soldiers close their eyes. SCP-173 killed the surrounding force, after which a task-force squad kept three members watching it and carried it through the rift in less than a minute 8 9 10.

The Foundation subsequently isolated its neck-snapping property conceptually and placed it under surveillance. Dr. Kuroto warned that SCP-173’s appearance disrupts universal laws for five to ten years, during which duplicates can manifest at random. Their other rules may differ, but all stop moving under direct observation. He also stated that duplicates may vanish after an unpredictable period of observation and that the contained SCP-173 might itself be one 10 11.

Relationships

• SCP Foundation — contains, monitors, and researches SCP-173; its task force recovered the statue after the breach 10 11.
• Angel Yan — sent to investigate SCP-173; killed when it snapped her neck, with the resulting damage preventing her revival 3 5 6.
• Holy Kesha — sought to secure or destroy SCP-173, then deferred to the Foundation after Yan’s death and the disruption of angel communications 3 7 9.
• SCP-682 — initially kept SCP-173 immobilized by staring at it; later survived repeated neck snaps and developed protected eyes that held it under observation 48 49.