Skibidi Toilet is a machinima web series of YouTube videos and shorts created by Alexey Gerasimov and uploaded on his YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom!. Produced using Source Filmmaker, the series follows a fictional war between human-headed toilets and humanoid characters with electronic devices for heads.
| Skibidi Toilet | |
|---|---|
 Thumbnail of the first short in the series depicting one of the titular Skibidi Toilets | |
| Genre | Machinima |
| Created by | Alexey Gerasimov (DaFuq!?Boom!) |
| Country of origin | Georgia |
| No. of seasons | 24 |
| No. of episodes | 74 |
| Original release | |
| Network | YouTube |
| Release | February 7, 2023 (UTC) – present |
Since the first short was posted in February 2023, Skibidi Toilet has become viral as an internet meme across various social media platforms, particularly popularized by Generation Alpha. Many commentators saw the series as Generation Alpha's first foray into internet culture.
Plot and characteristics
The series depicts a conflict between singing human-headed toilets—the titular "Skibidi Toilets"—and humanoids with CCTV cameras, speakers, and televisions in place of their heads. In a New York City-esque setting, the Skibidi Toilets, and their leader "G-Man" (canonically "G-Toilet"[1]), threaten humanity. Two types of humanoids, Cameramen and Speakermen, form an alliance against the Toilets. Each has one of their kind that is much larger than the rest, termed "Titans". A Toilet parasite infects the Speaker Titan, leading it to turn to the Toilets' side. Later in the series, TV-headed humanoids and their titan are introduced, and with their help, the speaker titan is broken free from mind control. The Titans convene to defeat the leader G-Toilet, then the mastermind behind it all, Scientist Toilet, but are fooled by a decoy in both of the attempts. After a strike mission, the Scientist Toilet is finally defeated, but all but one member of the crew are killed. The one remaining member meets a mysterious human seemingly involved in the creation of the toilets. After the events of the strike mission, the aforementioned titans clash with the G-Toilet in attempts to destroy him. G-Toilet escapes, leaving the Camera and Speaker Titan severely damaged. Human survivors are discovered in the hideout. The "Astro Toilets"—a rogue splinter group arrive onto Earth, planning to destroy both the Skibidi Toilets and the alliance.
An unlicensed[2] mashup of the songs "Give It to Me" by Timbaland[3] and "Dom Dom Yes Yes" by Bulgarian artist Biser King,[4] created by TikTok user @doombreaker03,[5] appears in each episode as the theme of the Skibidi Toilets.[3] The two songs' label Universal Music Group has issued copyright takedowns on the full version of the mashup, resulting in some videos featuring the mashup to be taken down.[2] "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears is featured in some videos as the theme of the resistance forces.[6]
The show contains references to video games, such as the character G-Man, whose name and likeness come from the Half-Life video game series. The Cameramen's oft-performed dances are from the battle royale game Fortnite.[3] Business Insider described the series as "an endless arms race as both the toilets and their foes [produce] stronger fighters".[6] The series largely do not have dialogue. According to Wired, this removed language barriers and aided in the show's global popularity.[7]
Background and production
Skibidi Toilet is produced by Alexey Gerasimov (Russian: Алексей Герасимов, born 1997 or 1998),[3] known online as "DaFuq!?Boom!" or "Blugray".[8] Since 2014, he has been learning animation on his own. He lives in the country of Georgia.[8] His channel has seen prior hits; his video I'M AT DIP accumulated over 45 million views by July 2023.[8]
First released in February 2023,[9] every episode is produced using Source Filmmaker, a free Valve-published 3D computer graphics software, often used to create and edit clips and movies online.[10] Some assets used in the series are taken from video games such as Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source.[11] In 2022, the song "Dom Dom Yes Yes" by Biser King became a TikTok meme.[10][11] Another TikTok user, Paryss Bryanne, in turn, parodied this meme, complementing it with her style of jerky acting with rapid cuts. Gerasimov cites her adaptation as one of the inspirations for Skibidi Toilet.[11] Gerasimov also shared in a Forbes interview that another inspiration comes from his repeated nightmares.[7][12] Ultimately, Gerasimov said that Skibidi Toilet's backbone is the other machinima videos created using sandbox game Garry's mod, which were popular in the late 2000s and number in thousands.[7]
During the beginning of the show's success, Gerasimov uploaded at least two videos weekly, and sometimes daily.[7] However, the spacing between episodes having been extended to improve quality.[13] As of January 2024, the series is reportedly being investigated by the Russian police for its alleged harm to children, following a report made by a Moscow resident.[13][14] In April 2024, the videos were presented to the legislative assembly of Saint Petersburg, Russia as demonstration in an annual children's safety report.[7]
Reception and influence
Popularity
Skibidi Toilet's audience is predominantly among Generation Alpha, born after the early 2010s. While the series does not appear on YouTube Kids, an app designed for children under the age of 13, it still enjoys popularity among elementary school students.[3] Skibidi Toilet has sparked its audience to create and post fanworks, such as games, fan fiction, and art,[3] as well as the Generation Alpha slang "skibidi", which has no established meaning.[15] The slang was integrated into a TikTok meme where words in song lyrics are swapped with various Gen Alpha slang to create a nonsensical result.[16] Fans has made analysis videos and comment their theories in the YouTube's comment section, expanding on the lore.[7]
By November 2023, YouTube videos associated with Skibidi Toilet had accumulated over 65 billion views, while on the social media platform TikTok, the "Skibidi Toilet" hashtag went trending and garnered over 15.3 billion views. By December 2023, the channel DaFuq!?Boom! had amassed 37 million subscribers, experiencing rapid growth that, on occasion, had surpassed growth of MrBeast, the most subscribed channel on YouTube. The series has found its way into internet memes and Instagram videos. The Washington Post went as far as to call it "the biggest online phenomenon of the year."[3]
According to Tubefilter rankings, by the end of April 2023, DaFuq!?Boom! entered the fifty most viewed YouTube channels in the United States, at 33rd place. By June, the channel had achieved a milestone of five billion views, making it the most viewed YouTube channel in the US during that month. The editor, Sam Gutelle, noted that previously, the channel existed largely under the radar, except for a few "animation diehards in the meme community".[17] The Daily Dot's offshoot publication Passionfruit suspected the popularity of the series was due to how the "designs combined a simple, cute style with more uncanny elements", citing other popular characters like Sans and Siren Head.[5]
Skibidi Toilet has been referenced on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, with a short parody animation depicting US President Joe Biden as a Skibidi Toilet, dubbed "Skibidi Biden".[18]
Critical reception
The lifestyle magazine Dazed characterized Skibidi Toilet as "frenetic, unpredictable, funny and at times genuinely unsettling."[10] Yahoo!'s In The Know compared the animation style to that of a mobile game, describing it as having "choppy movements and exaggerated facial expressions".[9] Cartoon Brew, an animation-focused website, stated that while Skibidi Toilet "may look rough around the edges compared to major studio fare [...] there is no question that Gerasimov is a filmmaker who understands pacing, camerawork, sound design, and how to tell a story."[8]
Many publications highlighted a viral tweet in which user @AnimeSerbia called the series Generation Alpha's Slender Man.[10][11] Insider claimed the series exemplified the start of a new generation gaining prominence, using the relationship between millennials and Gen Z as an example,[19] a stance that Indy100 repeated, who commented that "[Gen Z] will be facing the same mocking and ridicule they dished out to Millennials".[20] News.com.au opined, "[the series] is a timely reminder that Gen Alpha are on the horizon".[21]
The Washington Post noted the series' uniqueness in creating a narrative entirely out of short-form videos, and remarked on YouTube's ability to stay relevant while competing with TikTok.[3] Adam Bumas, in a guest piece for Ryan Broderick's newsletter, Garbage Day, remarked the series leans into "weird internet aesthetics", creating a nostalgic element.[22] Business Insider echoed this stance, remarking on the series' use of old video game assets.[6]
Several parental websites[3] and Indonesian newspapers[23][24][25] claimed that Skibidi Toilet's violence and bizarre visuals may have a harmful effect for young children, dubbing it "Skibidi toilet syndrome" (Indonesian: sindrom Skibidi toilet). The Guardian dismissed such claims, labeling it a "moral panic".[13] British newspaper The Daily Telegraph called on regulators to mandate age restrictions on online videos similar to the film industry, citing Skibidi Toilet's perceived violence.[26] Wired however, said while violence is constant, it is limited to "cartoonish explosions and punches".[7] Viral videos have surfaced where children sit inside containers and mimic the toilets.[3]
See also
- YouTube poop, a genre of humorous mashups
- Brainrot
- Surreal humor
- Toilet humor
- List of internet phenomena
- Generation gap
References
External links
- Playlist of Skibidi Toilet on YouTube
- DaFuq!?Boom! – Alexey Gerasimov's YouTube channel
- DaFuq!?Boom!'s YouTube stats – by Social Blade
- Skibidi Toilet at IMDb
- Dexerto interview with Alexey Gerasimov
- "Attack of the Skibidi Toilets" – editorial cartoon by Sage Stossel for the Boston Globe
