Lucas the Spider

2017animated video seriesclassic

Published September 5, 2026

Lucas the Spider is a CGI animated short film series created by animator Joshua Slice, starring a fuzzy jumping spider voiced by Slice's young nephew Lucas. The first 20-second test went online in November 2017 and pulled in tens of millions of YouTube views within months, turning an arachnid into one of the standout cute-character viral hits of the late 2010s.

cute character memescgi animation memesanimation memesyoutube viral2017 memes

Overview

The shorts typically run about a minute and follow a fuzzy blue-and-orange jumping spider around a house as he tries to make friends, hides from household objects, and plays with things like cotton balls1. What sold the character was the mismatch between a hairy, eight-legged body and a small child's voice, which flipped the usual arachnophobia reaction for a lot of viewers2.

Slice handled every technical role himself, from modeling and rigging through lighting and rendering, while the voice work came from his young nephew Lucas4. Comment threads filled up with viewers half-joking that the character was curing their fear of spiders, and the design leaned into real jumping-spider features like the oversized front eyes rather than softening the eight legs and fuzz2.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube
Creator
Joshua Slice
Date
2017

Joshua Slice uploaded the first Lucas the Spider video to YouTube on November 5, 2017 under the title 'Lucas the Spider'3. He described the clip as an animation test of a character he had been developing, and credited his nephew Lucas with the voice acting2. By February 14, 2018, that debut short had passed 14.8 million views and around 348,000 likes4.

How It Spread

Coverage arrived fast. Mashable ran a piece on November 9, 2017, four days after the upload, describing Slice as an animator who had 'cured' arachnophobia with a 20-second short1. Bored Panda published its own writeup soon after, with a comment thread full of 'Pixar should hire this guy' reactions2. Nerdist and Laughing Squid picked the character up with additional coverage4.

By mid-February 2018 the Lucas the Spider YouTube channel had cleared 881,000 subscribers, with follow-up shorts 'Capture' and 'Playtime' hitting 9.2 million and 6.9 million views respectively. The Dodo posted a February 12 interview with Slice that pulled over 833,000 views, and MsMojo's 'Top 3 Facts' explainer went up on February 9 and drew over 192,000 views.

The first video also landed on Reddit's /r/videos, where it collected over 5,600 upvotes, and Tumblr picked up as a steady home for reposts and dedicated Lucas the Spider fan blogs4.

How to Use This Meme

Lucas the Spider is not a remix template, it is a watch-and-share character. Fans typically drop new episodes into subreddits like /r/videos, embed them on Tumblr with tags like 'lucas the spider', or send links in group chats when a friend mentions being scared of spiders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Lucas the Spider

2017animated video seriesclassic

Published September 5, 2026

Lucas the Spider is a CGI animated short film series created by animator Joshua Slice, starring a fuzzy jumping spider voiced by Slice's young nephew Lucas. The first 20-second test went online in November 2017 and pulled in tens of millions of YouTube views within months, turning an arachnid into one of the standout cute-character viral hits of the late 2010s.

cute character memes cgi animation memes animation memes youtube viral 2017 memes

Overview

The shorts typically run about a minute and follow a fuzzy blue-and-orange jumping spider around a house as he tries to make friends, hides from household objects, and plays with things like cotton balls1. What sold the character was the mismatch between a hairy, eight-legged body and a small child's voice, which flipped the usual arachnophobia reaction for a lot of viewers2.

Slice handled every technical role himself, from modeling and rigging through lighting and rendering, while the voice work came from his young nephew Lucas4. Comment threads filled up with viewers half-joking that the character was curing their fear of spiders, and the design leaned into real jumping-spider features like the oversized front eyes rather than softening the eight legs and fuzz2.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube
Creator
Joshua Slice
Date
2017

Joshua Slice uploaded the first Lucas the Spider video to YouTube on November 5, 2017 under the title 'Lucas the Spider'3. He described the clip as an animation test of a character he had been developing, and credited his nephew Lucas with the voice acting2. By February 14, 2018, that debut short had passed 14.8 million views and around 348,000 likes4.

How It Spread

Coverage arrived fast. Mashable ran a piece on November 9, 2017, four days after the upload, describing Slice as an animator who had 'cured' arachnophobia with a 20-second short1. Bored Panda published its own writeup soon after, with a comment thread full of 'Pixar should hire this guy' reactions2. Nerdist and Laughing Squid picked the character up with additional coverage4.

By mid-February 2018 the Lucas the Spider YouTube channel had cleared 881,000 subscribers, with follow-up shorts 'Capture' and 'Playtime' hitting 9.2 million and 6.9 million views respectively. The Dodo posted a February 12 interview with Slice that pulled over 833,000 views, and MsMojo's 'Top 3 Facts' explainer went up on February 9 and drew over 192,000 views.

The first video also landed on Reddit's /r/videos, where it collected over 5,600 upvotes, and Tumblr picked up as a steady home for reposts and dedicated Lucas the Spider fan blogs4.

How to Use This Meme

Lucas the Spider is not a remix template, it is a watch-and-share character. Fans typically drop new episodes into subreddits like /r/videos, embed them on Tumblr with tags like 'lucas the spider', or send links in group chats when a friend mentions being scared of spiders.

Frequently Asked Questions