What on earth is Skibidi Toilet?

For those of you who have Generation Alpha members in the family, you might have noticed one of their latest fixations involves heads popping out of toilets. As absurd as it sounds, the trend has done massive numbers online. Its first video has as of writing amassed a total of 134 million views. To date, there are a total of 70 videos in the Skibidi Toilet playlist uploaded on YouTube, each having similar view counts. It leads many to wonder, what on earth is Skibidi Toilet and why is it so popular among the youth?

Skibidi Toilet is the brainchild of animator Alexey Gerasimov. He uploads each one on his YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom! and currently sits with a strong following of over 39.2 million subscribers. It follows the story of heads popping out of toilets and going on an all-out war against humans with TVs and cameras for heads. It’s as absurd as it sounds.

In its first episode, a short that lasts only 12 seconds long, it features a head popping out of a toilet and singing along to a remixed version of “Dom Dom Yes Yes” by Turkish singer Biser King. Each episode is animated using Steam’s animation software Source Film Maker and makes use of assets from the Garry’s Mod video game. The style is not inherently new, as many other animated YouTube shorts using the same tools have gone viral before. As viewers start to follow the shorts, they’ll slowly notice there’s more to it than just a bunch of silly toilets singing. The toilets are led by the GMan Skibidi Toilet, the largest of the toilets. Under his leadership, they move to conquer the city where the series is set.

Delving further into the series, we learn about a resistance force tasked with stopping the toilets, the Cameramen. The Cameramen are joined by their allies, the Speakermen and TV Men. As the toilets continue their rampage through the city, the resistance forces strategically plan their attacks and learn more about their enemies’ weaknesses. Eventually, they learn that the best way to destroy the toilets is to flush them. It leads to an epic battle as the resistance forces vie to get the upper hand. Unfortunately, they find out that the G-Man cannot be flushed. G-Man retaliates by destroying much of the resistance’s forces. They are forced to retreat and replan their approach, biding their time once more as they continue their fight for freedom. Some have pointed out there might be a deeper meaning to the animations, mentioning how the battle between the toilets and resistance forces could allude to political themes. For others, it’s just another set of silly videos on the Internet.

To older readers, the concept of it all might seem baffling. But for those who grew up with the Internet, it’s just an average day. Internet meme culture and humor have evolved to such a point that most jokes seem nonsensical and downright alien to the uninitiated. At times, even something as simple as a letter from the alphabet is enough to elicit laughter from those who are in on the joke. As confusing or concerning these new trends might be, it’s certainly interesting to see where the younger generations are headed through these new-age memes. — Poch Eulalia