Shiba Squad
| The Shiba Squad — Community Record | |
|---|---|
| Classification | VRChat Community · Creative Collective |
| Founded | October 29, 2018 |
| Founders | Pikapetey · EvanTheFloydian · Synari |
| Name Coined By | EvanTheFloydian |
| Core Creator | Pikapetey (Shiba Inu avatar · Shiba Paradise world) |
| Avatar | Shiba Inu (see dedicated section) |
| Avatar Made Public | June 21, 2019 |
| Primary World | Shiba Paradise (August 23, 2019) |
| World Visits | 670,000+ (as of late 2025) |
| World Favorites | ~5,000 (as of late 2025) |
| VRChat Group Members | ~600 |
| Discord Members | ~1,250 (Pikapetey's Discord) |
| Est. Active Members | 250–300 (as of 2025) |
| Primary Content | The Shiba King series · Shiba King: Assassination · Shiba Squad Survivor |
| Real-World Meetups | Shiba Con 2019 (Houston, TX) · Midwest Furfest 2021 (Rosemont, IL) |
| Film IMDb | tt18362762 (Shiba King: Assassination) |
| Series IMDb | tt25232968 (Shiba Squad Survivor) |
| Series TheTVDB | 440946 |
| Film Festival | Raindance Immersive 2023 (Shiba Squad Survivor Ep. 5 nominated) |
| Status | Active — ongoing content production (as of May 2026) |
The Shiba Squad is a VRChat-based creative community founded on October 29, 2018 around the Shiba Inu avatar created by animator and YouTuber Pikapetey. What began as three custom avatars made for three friends evolved over seven years into one of VRChat's most documented creative communities — producing a multi-year documentary-style YouTube series (*The Shiba King*), the first feature film widely recognized as having been made inside VRChat (*Shiba King: Assassination*, 2022), a scripted game show series that received a nomination at the 2023 Raindance Immersive Film Festival (*Shiba Squad Survivor*), and a 2025 feature documentary about virtual reality itself (*VR: A Digital Frontier*).
The Shiba Squad's significance to VRCHistory rests on several distinct grounds: it is one of the most thoroughly documented long-term communities in VRChat's history; it represents the platform's capacity for serious creative production within its own virtual environment; and the Shiba Inu avatar it is built around remains widely cited as the most expressive avatar ever created inside VRChat.
📼 Archive Context: The Shiba Squad enters VRCHistory's scope at the intersection of three major themes: the creative possibilities of VRChat as a filmmaking medium, the organic formation of tight-knit communities within the platform, and the post-January 2018 surge era of community consolidation. EvanTheFloydian joined VRChat specifically after watching Jameskii's "VRChat in a nutshell" videos during the surge; Rectal Bisque joined "months after the initial boom from the Ugandan Knuckles craze." The Shiba Squad is, in part, a community that the surge produced. Pikapetey additionally collaborated with VRChat Inc. directly on the VRRat April Fools takeover in mid-2025, embedding the Shiba Squad into the platform's official cultural output. Superb_Pedro — a documented member with Veteran trust rank and 10,000+ Steam hours — appeared in *Shiba Squad Survivor* as a named community figure.
Origin & Founding[edit]
Pikapetey Joins VRChat (Mid-2017)[edit]
Pikapetey — known on YouTube as "Pikapetey Animations," active as an animator since 2012 — joined VRChat in mid-2017, shortly after its Steam Early Access launch on February 1, 2017. His initial engagement with the platform was experimental and comedic: he used VRChat's open avatar upload system to create joke avatars, including a hyena model holding a ragdolled version of Simba from *The Lion King*, a Mickey Mouse avatar that shot money from its hands, and an Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi avatar with oversized cute eyes.
At this stage, VRChat's open avatar policy — the decision made by co-founder Jesse Joudrey in version 0.3.5 on March 16, 2014 — enabled Pikapetey's experimentation with no friction. The same system that would later generate the Ugandan Knuckles swarm in January 2018 allowed Petey to workshop ideas that would eventually produce the Shiba Inu avatar.
The First Three Shibas (October 29, 2018)[edit]
On October 29, 2018 — nearly a year after the viral surge of early 2018 had subsided — Pikapetey created the first three Shiba Inu avatars: one for himself, one for Synari (his boyfriend at the time), and one for EvanTheFloydian, who had joined VRChat in early February 2018 after discovering the platform through Jameskii's *"VRChat in a Nutshell"* series during the surge.
EvanTheFloydian coined the name The Shiba Squad to describe the small group. This date — October 29, 2018 — is recognized as the community's official founding date and is celebrated annually.
"Not only the best purchase I ever made, but the best decision I made in my entire life."
— EvanTheFloydian, on buying a PC and VR headset to join VRChat — VRChat Legends Wiki
The avatar's immediate appeal was apparent. Friends of Petey began lining up to receive their own Shiba avatars, which Petey made by hand, one at a time, for individuals.
The Shiba Inu Avatar[edit]
Design & Creation[edit]
The Shiba Inu avatar is the physical and cultural nucleus of the Shiba Squad. Created by Pikapetey, it is a stylized, expressive anthropomorphic Shiba Inu character with a distinct visual identity: bright, warm coloring, a compact design, and — critically — a facial rig of exceptional expressiveness by VRChat's standards. The avatar has been described as "the most expressive avatar created inside VRChat" in community documentation, with an expressiveness that enabled both the comedic antics of the Shiba King series and the dramatic storytelling of *Shiba Squad Survivor*.
Distribution History[edit]
| Phase | Period | Distribution Model | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private hand-crafted | October 29, 2018 – June 21, 2019 | Made individually by Pikapetey; Patreon-supported | Queue reached 50+ by mid-2019; ~15-25 avatars existed when Shiba King first posted |
| Health crisis decision | June 21, 2019 | Assets released publicly; payment queue refunded | Pikapetey had a cardiac incident; decided to release the assets rather than risk the work being lost |
| Public community asset | June 21, 2019 – present | Open to download, edit, and customise | Fan edits by Tito, Tosca, Alucard and others; "Ugandan Shiba" and default public versions created for non-members |
| Community edits era | 2019 – present | Third-party improvements circulate freely | Considered by many the most expressive base avatar in VRChat history despite its informal distribution |
Pikapetey's reason for keeping the avatar private initially:
"He didn't want his avatar to be corrupted by individuals who would add 'boobs and diapers and giant d*cks hanging out.'"
— Pikapetey — quoted in The Shiba Squad: A VRChat Documentary (EvanTheFloydian, 2019)
Despite the controlled distribution, crasher versions and rips appeared early. This was, as the community acknowledged, beyond Petey's control — a consequence of VRChat's open architecture. See VRChat Inc. for the platform-level context of avatar control and the VRChat Creator Economy for the system that eventually gave creators more distribution control.
Key Members & Founders[edit]
| Member | Role | Notable Contribution | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pikapetey | Founder · Avatar Creator · World Creator | Shiba Inu avatar; Shiba Paradise world; central figure of The Shiba King; collaborated with VRChat Inc. on VRRat April Fools 2025 | Health incident June 2019 prompted open release of assets; YouTube animator since 2012; Discord: ~1,250 members |
| EvanTheFloydian | Co-Founder · Filmmaker | Coined "The Shiba Squad"; *The Shiba Squad: A VRChat Documentary* (2019); co-directed *Shiba King: Assassination* (2022); directed *VR: A Digital Frontier* (2025) | Joined VRChat Feb 2018 after watching Jameskii's surge-era videos; co-founder of Shiba Squad at 16 years old; met virtual friends in person at Midwest Furfest 2021 |
| Rectal Bisque | Filmmaker · Series Creator | *The Shiba King* series (2018–2026); *Shiba King: Assassination* (2022) | 20+ years professional Hollywood animator: Family Guy, Rick and Morty, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Joseph: King of Dreams; formerly "MysteriousAnimatorX" on YouTube |
| Synari | Founding Member | One of the first three Shiba avatars; Petey's partner at founding | Among the community's three original members |
| Drowns | Creator · Director | *Shiba Squad Survivor* series (2022–present) | Series nominated at Raindance Immersive 2023; co-produced with Pshelly; met virtual friends at Midwest Furfest 2021 |
| Glaide (Ryan Chisholm) | Notable Member | Featured in Shiba King series; community figure | Passed away October 24, 2020 (heart attack); age 37; memorialized in credits of *Virtual Game Grumps – Shiba Grumps*; died five days before the Squad's 2nd anniversary |
| BiscuitFister | Member | Featured in Shiba King series; Shiba Con 2019 organizer | Among the Shiba King series' most recognizable recurring figures |
| Superb_Pedro | Community Member · Media Contributor | Appeared in *Shiba Squad Survivor* as "Pedro" (The Barkland Twenty Pt. 2) | Veteran Trusted User; ~10,026 Steam hours in VRChat; joined May 1, 2020; Early Adopter badge |
| EvanTheFloydian's grandfather | Guest Appearance | Featured in Shiba King Part 5 — *The Rise of BiscuitFister* | Real-world family crossover into VRChat content |
The Shiba King Series[edit]
Overview[edit]
- The Shiba King* is a YouTube series created by Rectal Bisque documenting the drunken, improvisational, and comedic antics of The Shiba Squad within VRChat. The series began on December 3, 2018 — five weeks after the Squad's founding — when Bisque filmed Pikapetey showing him VRChat, full body tracking, and the Shiba avatar while intoxicated.
"Virtual Reality plus booze equals fun! Also doggo. Add Pikapetey and stir."
— Rectal Bisque — The Shiba King (original video description), YouTube, December 3, 2018
The first video's immediate traction — gaining thousands of views within a week and prompting a wave of users to enter VRChat specifically to request a Shiba avatar — made it one of the post-surge era's most impactful pieces of VRChat content.
Series Record[edit]
| Phase | Period | Format | Notable Entries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early episodes | Dec 2018 – mid-2019 | Short unscripted documentary | Shiba King 1–4; first 3 episodes combined for 2 million views; introduced BiscuitFister, Glaide, ILikeBurgers as recurring figures |
| Peak era | Mid-2019 | Short unscripted + Shiba Shorts | 7 episodes released in 2019; queue for avatar at 50+; ~1,000 community members by year-end |
| Pandemic era | 2020 | Compilation + *Plague Dogs* shorts | Glaide's death (Oct 24, 2020); *Shiba Grumps* (Nov 2020; ~120K views; age-restricted) |
| Feature film era | 2021–2022 | Feature film production | *Shiba King: Assassination* (Feb 28, 2022; 1hr 36min); "first true feature film made inside VRChat"; ~20K views |
| Post-Assassination | 2022–2025 | Short-form; compilations | *VRTrash* series (Rectal Bisque); Shiba Grumps short; PUBG content |
| Finale | 2026 (planned) | Final episode | *Shiba King: Fear and Loathing* (announced late 2025); official Blu-ray release of full series planned |
Total series scope (at announcement of finale): 16 episodes · 18 shorts · 1 feature film
Shiba King: Assassination (2022)[edit]
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Shiba King: Assassination |
| Directors | Rectal Bisque · EvanTheFloydian |
| Released | February 28, 2022 (full version; originally released in two parts) |
| Runtime | 1 hour 36 minutes |
| Genre | Dark comedy · Murder mystery · Virtual film |
| Plot | Detective Burgers and assistant MonsterMutt investigate the assassination of Pikapetey, "The Shiba King" |
| IMDb ID | tt18362762 |
| IMDb Rating | 8.9/10 |
| Views | ~20,000 (as of 2025) |
| Production Time | ~2 years (EvanTheFloydian and Rectal Bisque; collective Shiba Squad involvement) |
| Historical Status | Widely regarded as the first true feature film created inside VRChat |
| Data Loss | Rectal Bisque's hard drive containing raw Shiba King footage from 2019 was destroyed during production; data unrecoverable |
Shiba Paradise: The World[edit]
Pikapetey released Shiba Paradise on August 23, 2019 as the official gathering world for the Shiba Squad. The world featured a colorful, cartoon aesthetic built around dog imagery: dog toys, a doghouse, giant bones, and a palette designed to feel warmly inviting.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Creator | Pikapetey |
| Released | August 23, 2019 |
| Theme | Colorful dog-themed world; cartoon aesthetic |
| Visits | 100,000+ in first few months; 670,000+ as of late 2025 |
| Favorites | ~5,000 (as of late 2025) |
| Spooky-Ville Extension | November 2019; Halloween-themed version with puzzle, boss battle (The Dog Catcher, voiced by Pikapetey); scrolling credits of all Shiba Squad members; Winner of Spookality 2019 |
The Spooky-Ville Halloween extension's victory at VRChat Inc.'s Spookality 2019 event represents one of the few moments the Shiba Squad received formal VRChat Inc. platform recognition. The period of late 2019 — Shiba Paradise release, Spooky-Ville, Shiba Con, and the community documentary — is described as the peak era of The Shiba Squad.
Shiba Squad Survivor[edit]
Overview[edit]
- Shiba Squad Survivor* is a scripted satirical game show series created by community member Drowns (with producer Pshelly), first aired February 25, 2022. Structured as a parody of *Survivor* and *Total Drama Island*, the series follows twenty Shiba-avatar-wearing contestants competing in challenges at "Camp Barkland" for a million dollars. Each contestant plays an exaggerated version of themselves.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Creator | Drowns (with producer Pshelly) |
| Head Writer (Ep. 4+) | EvanTheFloydian (Aaron Sorkin and *The Sopranos* cited as stylistic influences) |
| First Episode | "The Barkland Twenty Pt. 1" — February 25, 2022 |
| Series IMDb | tt25232968 |
| TheTVDB ID | 440946 |
| Average Runtime | 37 minutes per episode |
| Episodes (as of May 2025) | 10 (Season 1; last episode May 18, 2025) |
| Target Episodes | 18 total; completion projected 2027–2028 |
| Festival | Raindance Immersive 2023 — Episode 5 "Finders Keepers" nominated for Best Short Film (lost to *Emergence* by Studio Penrose) |
| VFI Status | First 5 episodes added to Virtual Film Institute database; subsequent episodes added at release |
| Raindance Attendance | Drowns, EvanTheFloydian, and Excelon attended; interviewed by Joe Hunting |
Production Technique[edit]
A key archival detail: because cast members frequently could not attend filming sessions, Drowns implemented a system where:
1. Other actors would perform the characters' physical movements in-world (motion capture style) 2. The voice actors would dub their dialogue over the recorded footage in post-production
This decoupled voice and physical performance, enabling the series to continue production without full cast attendance — a workflow adaptation unique to virtual filmmaking that became integral to the show's survival.
Cast Excerpt[edit]
- Shiba Squad Survivor* features 20 core contestants. Documented cast members include:
| Cast Member | Character | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EvanTheFloydian | EvanTheFloydian (exaggerated) | Co-writer; co-director of Assassination; Shiba Squad co-founder |
| Excelon | Excelon (exaggerated) | Most on-set cast member besides Drowns |
| Donut_Holes | Donut (kindness as defining trait) | Occasional on-set attendance |
| Galaxy mc² | Galaxy (flamboyant persona) | Exaggerated self |
| Deusexmachina (Jackson) | Jackson (loud, aggressive) | Exaggerated self |
| Burnaking | Burnaking (athletic) | Exaggerated self |
| Utzel | Utzel (anxious) | Exaggerated self |
| Superb_Pedro | Pedro | Appeared in "The Barkland Twenty Pt. 2"; Veteran Trusted User; 10,000+ VRChat hours; joined May 1, 2020 |
| Pandamatsu, FrankieBoi, ItsMolded, Jake Mallard, Trixie, Orze, Saturn Storm, Cito, Lindoss, Basil, ItsBegger, Lakedude, PShelly | Various | Full cast of 20; see Shiba Squad Survivor for full documentation |
Real-World Crossovers[edit]
The Shiba Squad is notable for crossing over between virtual and physical space more thoroughly than most VRChat communities:
| Event | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shiba Con 2019 | September 2019 | Houston, Texas, USA | First in-person gathering; attendees included Pikapetey, BitterBitties, DerKilt, BiscuitFister; "Shiba King LIVE" videos uploaded |
| Midwest Furfest 2021 | November 2021 | Rosemont, Illinois, USA | EvanTheFloydian met Pikapetey, Drowns, and other virtual friends in person; documented on VHS camera by EvanTheFloydian |
| Midwest Furfest 2025 | November 2025 | Rosemont, Illinois, USA | Screening of *VR: A Digital Frontier*; EvanTheFloydian, Drowns, and Milo (Little Alpha Pup) held panel; Blu-ray, VHS, stickers and posters sold; ~20 of 200 registered attendees attended Sunday-morning screening |
| Raindance Immersive 2023 | 2023 | London, UK (virtual/in-person) | Drowns, EvanTheFloydian, Excelon attended; *Shiba Squad Survivor* Ep. 5 nominated for Best Short Film; interview with Joe Hunting |
Documented Loss: Glaide =[edit]
On October 24, 2020 — five days before The Shiba Squad's second anniversary — community member Glaide (real name: Ryan Chisholm) died from a heart attack at the age of 37 while shoveling snow in a neighbor's yard. He had been a recurring and beloved figure in The Shiba King series.
Glaide was memorialized in the end credits of *Virtual Game Grumps – Shiba Grumps* (released November 2020). His death is documented in VRCHistory as one of the platform's documented in-community losses — a reminder that the people behind VRChat's avatars are real, and that the platform's communities carry real grief alongside their humor.
VRChat Inc. Connection[edit]
Pikapetey's relationship with VRChat Inc. became formally collaborative in 2025. He contributed to VRChat's April Fools' VRRat infestation — the community takeover event in mid-2025 in which VRRat appeared in 60 major VRChat worlds including The Great Pug. This makes Pikapetey one of the few independent community creators to have directly contributed to VRChat Inc.'s official platform event content.
Additionally, EvanTheFloydian joined VRChat specifically because of the January 2018 viral surge and Jameskii's surge-era content — making the Shiba Squad a documented downstream community produced by that event.
VR: A Digital Frontier (2025)[edit]
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | VR: A Digital Frontier |
| Director | EvanTheFloydian |
| Released | October 25, 2025 (YouTube and Vimeo) |
| IMDb ID | tt20899838 |
| Genre | Feature documentary |
| Subject | History, social usage, and possible futures of VR; primarily VRChat |
| Status | Award-winning; added to VFI December 19, 2025 |
| Midwest Furfest Screening | November 2025; ~20 of 200 registrants attended; near-total merchandise sellout |
| Context | EvanTheFloydian promised at the 2019 documentary premiere to create a better documentary five years later; *VR: A Digital Frontier* fulfills that promise |
| Director's Assessment | Called the first 6 months "disappointing" at a 2026 VR filmmaker gathering |
Cultural Significance[edit]
The Shiba Squad's place in VRCHistory is earned on multiple distinct grounds:
| Achievement | Documentation |
|---|---|
| First true feature film created inside VRChat | *Shiba King: Assassination* (2022; 1hr 36min; IMDb tt18362762) |
| International film festival recognition | *Shiba Squad Survivor* Ep. 5 nominated at Raindance Immersive 2023 |
| Most expressive avatar in VRChat | Shiba Inu avatar; community consensus; enables dramatic and comedic performance |
| VRChat × creator collaboration | Pikapetey contributed to official VRChat April Fools VRRat event (2025) |
| Cross-platform community documentation | *The Shiba Squad: A VRChat Documentary* (2019); *VR: A Digital Frontier* (2025) |
| Real-world community formation | Shiba Con 2019; Midwest Furfest 2021 and 2025; physical merchandise |
| Community mortality documentation | Glaide (Ryan Chisholm) — first documented Shiba Squad member death (October 24, 2020) |
| Longest-running VRChat content series | The Shiba King (December 2018 → 2026; 16 episodes, 18 shorts, 1 feature film) |
See Also[edit]
- Shiba Inu Avatar (Pikapetey) — The avatar at the community's center; dedicated article *(to be created)*
- Superb_Pedro — Veteran community member; appeared in *Shiba Squad Survivor* as "Pedro"; 10,000+ VRChat hours; Veteran Trusted User *(article planned)*
- The January 2018 Viral Surge — The event that brought EvanTheFloydian to VRChat; downstream cause of the Shiba Squad's formation
- Ugandan Knuckles — The meme that drove the surge; Rectal Bisque joined VRChat in its aftermath
- VRChat Inc. — The platform; open avatar upload system enabled the Shiba Inu avatar's creation and distribution
- Graham Gaylor — Co-founder of VRChat Inc.; the open avatar decision his platform embodied made the Shiba Squad's creative model possible
- VRCat — Official VRChat mascot; Pikapetey collaborated with VRChat Inc. on the VRRat April Fools event (2025) that VRCat is connected to
- The Great Pug — One of the 60 worlds taken over by VRRat during April Fools 2025, in which Pikapetey participated
- Furry Community in VRChat — The broader community ecosystem; the Shiba Squad operates adjacent to it
- Furality Online Xperience (F.O.X.) — EvanTheFloydian and Drowns attended Midwest Furfest 2021, a crossover event space
External Links[edit]
- The Shiba King (Original Video) — YouTube, December 3, 2018
- The Shiba Squad: A VRChat Documentary — YouTube, October 29, 2019
- Shiba King: Assassination — IMDb (tt18362762)
- Shiba Squad Survivor — IMDb (tt25232968)
- Shiba Squad Survivor — TheTVDB (ID: 440946)
- VR: A Digital Frontier — IMDb (tt20899838)
- VRChat Legends Wiki — The Shiba Squad
- VRChat Legends Wiki — Pikapetey
- VRChat Legends Wiki — Rectal Bisque
- VRChat Legends Wiki — EvanTheFloydian
- VRChat Legends Wiki — The Shiba King series
- VRChat Legends Wiki — Shiba Squad Survivor
References[edit]
- VRChat Legends Wiki — The Shiba Squad (primary narrative source; founding date; member list; community stats; Glaide death details; Shiba Paradise visit count)
- VRChat Legends Wiki — Pikapetey (avatar creation history; health incident June 21, 2019; Spookality 2019 win; VRRat collaboration)
- VRChat Legends Wiki — Rectal Bisque (professional career; Shiba King creation history; hard drive loss; Shiba Grumps)
- VRChat Legends Wiki — EvanTheFloydian (founding; documentary career; Midwest Furfest; writing credits)
- VRChat Legends Wiki — The Shiba King series (episode count; total views; Fear and Loathing announcement)
- VRChat Legends Wiki — Shiba Squad Survivor (cast list; Raindance nomination; VFI database; production technique)
- VRChat Legends Wiki — VR: A Digital Frontier (release date; festival screenings; VFI addition December 19, 2025)
- IMDb — tt18362762 (Shiba King: Assassination; runtime; directors; rating 8.9; release date February 28, 2022)
- IMDb — tt25232968 (Shiba Squad Survivor; first aired February 25, 2022)
- IMDb — tt20899838 (VR: A Digital Frontier; October 25, 2025)
- TheTVDB — Series 440946 (Shiba Squad Survivor; 10 episodes Season 1; average runtime 37 minutes; last episode May 18, 2025)
- YouTube — The Shiba King original video (December 3, 2018; URL youtube.com/watch?v=Yw6oUHAuTmU; description "Virtual Reality plus booze equals fun!")
- YouTube — The Shiba Squad: A VRChat Documentary (October 30, 2019; URL youtube.com/watch?v=DXS8pF3x-C0)
- SuperbPedro VRChat API JSON — User ID usr_5a07a7e1-e6c3-4c37-83bc-72d0787409df; joined May 1, 2020; Veteran Trusted User; Early Adopter; 10,026 Steam hours; confirmed active May 19, 2026
- Shiba Squad Survivor — Shiba Squad Survivor Fandom Wiki; cast list confirms SuperbPedro as "Pedro" in The Barkland Twenty Pt. 2
- Last documented: May 19, 2026