Skibidi 6

[Nadal Braymiller]

SkibidiToilet 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.

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.

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.[2] Business Insider described the series as "an endless arms race as both the toilets and their foes [produce] stronger fighters".[3] Technology website Wired credited the largely dialogue-free nature of the show for removing language barriers and aiding in the show's global popularity.[4]

The first episode was released in 7 February 2023 (UTC), with a 11 second runtime.[7] 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.[8] Some assets used in the series are taken from video games such as Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source.[9]

An unlicensed[10] mashup of the songs "Give It to Me" by Timbaland[2] and "Dom Dom Yes Yes" by Bulgarian artist Biser King,[11] created by TikTok user @doombreaker03,[12] appears in each episode as the theme of the Skibidi Toilets.[2] In 2024, 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.[10] "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears is featured in some videos as the theme of the resistance forces.[3]

The aforementioned mashup is not original; in 2022, Turkish @yasincengiz38 popularized the mashup with his videos of him dancing to the song.[13][8] A TikTok user, Paryss Bryanne 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.[9] Gerasimov shared in a Forbes interview that another inspiration comes from his recurring nightmares of toilets.[4][14] 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.[4]

In the show's beginning, Gerasimov uploaded at least two videos weekly, and at times, even daily,[4] though the spacing between episodes has since been extended to improve quality.[15] Since YouTube's recommendation algorithm tend to prefer frequent uploaders, the initial upload schedule may have helped the show go viral.[7] 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.[15][16] In April 2024, the videos were presented to the legislative assembly of Saint Petersburg, Russia as demonstration in an annual children's safety report.[4]

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.[2] Some members of older generations have called the show "brainrot",[17] while other internet users argued Generation Z had their share of "ridiculous" memes.[18]

Skibidi Toilet has sparked its audience to create and post fanworks, such as games, fan fiction, and art,[2] as well as the Generation Alpha slang "skibidi", which has no established meaning.[19] 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.[20] Fans have made analysis videos and comment their theories in the YouTube's comment section, expanding on the lore.[4] Skibidi Toilet games have been created in game platform Roblox, with largest two games reaching millions monthly.[6]

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".[2]

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".[21] 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.[12]

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". Kotaku called the joke "the worst thing Stephen Colbert's ever done".[22]

The lifestyle magazine Dazed characterized Skibidi Toilet as "frenetic, unpredictable, funny and at times genuinely unsettling."[8] 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".[23] 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."[5]

Many publications highlighted a viral tweet in which user @AnimeSerbia called the series Generation Alpha's Slender Man.[8][9] Insider claimed the series exemplified the start of a new generation gaining prominence, using the relationship between millennials and Gen Z as an example,[24] a stance that Indy100 repeated, who commented that "[Gen Z] will be facing the same mocking and ridicule they dished out to Millennials".[25] News.com.au opined "[the series] is a timely reminder that Gen Alpha are on the horizon".[26]

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.[2] 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.[27] Business Insider echoed this stance, remarking on the series' use of old video game assets.[3]

Several parental websites[2] and Indonesian newspapers[28][29][30] 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".[15] 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.[31] Wired however, said while violence is constant, it is limited to "cartoonish explosions and punches".[4] Viral videos have surfaced where children sit inside containers and mimic the toilets.[2]

On 24 July 2024, it was announced that media company Invisible Narratives is discussing a movie and television series adaptation of Skibidi Toilet with Gerasimov.[32] The A. V. Club was skeptical of the announcement, saying it would be difficult to "translate [...] Internet subculture into traditional formats".[33] The magazine Complex has commented that Michael Bay would be a perfect filmmaker for the adaptation, citing his work in the Transformers film series.[34]

Invisible Narratives is run by filmmakers Michael Bay (chief creative advisor) and Adam Goodman (CEO and founder) and has licensed a line of Skibidi Toilet merchandise. The company has said it would allow fan-run YouTube channels to create Skibidi Toilet content,[clarification needed] as long as attribution is present.[7][6] Bonkers Toys has secured a license to produce Skibidi Toilet toys, while the National Electrical Contractors Association has been contracted to manufacture remote-controlled devices, such as drones.[6]

If you have a child under the age of 14, you may have heard the word "Skibidi" pop up in conversations around the house. For many parents, the word and the YouTube series it comes from can be perplexing or concerning.

Skibidi Toilet is an animated video series created by Georgian animator Alexey Gerasimov. Installments are posted as YouTube Shorts (short, vertical YouTube videos) and later compiled into longer YouTube videos on Gerasimov's channel "DaFuq!?Boom!" The series is animated using computer graphics and falls into a film subgenre called Machinima, a portmanteau of "machine" and "cinema."

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