WELP

HBO Max took KND off their platform :(

So, while I would want to encourage people to watch the show legally, there's now no way to do that. However, there are other ways to access episodes! A wonderful operative has uploaded them all to the Internet Archive! You can download the episodes from here as well. They're in the highest quality I've ever seen for rips of episodes. The only caveat is that op ZERO and op INTERVIEWS are missing.

If necessary, you can also email me at frankenbug@proton.me with the subject line "KND episodes", and I'll send you a zip file.

Bootlegs and Knock-offs

As a collector, I've come across some strange items being sold as "KND merch". Because of the dubious quality of some official merch, it can be hard to tell whats legit and what isn't sometimes, but other times.... it's quite obvious.

From years of checking Ebay for KND loot, this weird looking guy has become a familiar face- But I still have no idea what his origin is, or why there are so many of him.

The description of this particular listing is "Codename Kids Next Door Skateboarder Red Hair Mini Figure PVC 2011 by Kid Stuff". Put a pin in that.

This figurine is not a character from KND, and the design isn't even similar to anything that ever appeared in the show. More recently, I've started seeing another figure that has similar design elements, but is a slightly better quality, and loses the glasses.

This one is described as "Codename Kids Next Door Toys Action Figures Micros Figurine Cartoon Network 2" and is currently selling for $15.83 (for a single bootleg figurine????). This one also appears to be made by "Kid Stuff", indicated by the markings on the bottom of his shoe.

An even MORE recent development has been the addition of a girl skateboarder, which I've only seen about twice now. Like her comrade, she isn't a KND character, and doesn't resemble one. I like her design a lot, though, if I'm being honest.

So...what the heck is "Kid Stuff", and why are their generic figurines being sold as "KND"?

I popped over to www.kidstuff.com, which appears to be a generic toy company, and found a link that looked promising.

I won't post pictures from the site, because right clicking on images activates a pop-up telling me that their images are copyrighted, and I don't want to take any chances. You can have a look for yourself, though. The site is definitely fine.

This company makes a series of toys called "Roller Riders Boarder Buds", which includes various characters that come with little skateboards. The designs and packaging artwork do look similar to the KND style, but actually, not that much. This appears to be a case of people not recognizing where their old toys are from and assuming they must be KND characters when listing them on Ebay.

I even found a Youtube video showcasing this cast of characters.

Personally, I'm happy with this outcome. These aren't bootlegs at all- And the designs are kind of fun! The company claims to have been started in the 1980s, but I dunno, it still feels kind of sketchy to me.

However, there's one more thing I want to talk about today, and that's....this:

I suddenly started seeing listings for what look like...commercially produced Rainbow Monkey toys?? Famously, Mr W. was given the choice between making plush toys of Sector V OR making Rainbow Monkey dolls, and he chose the former. So, we know that there are no official RMs out there. My bootleg sirens are going off! But they look so legit...what's going on?

A reverse image search indicates that these toys are being sold on Aliexpress, Amazon, and even Walmart. Though, at the time of making this post, many of them appear to be "no longer available".

In the past couple of years, stolen designs manufactured using cheap labor have been taking over the toy market. A great example of this is Among Us- A very small team of game devs created a breakout hit, and suddenly anyone could buy a cheap Among Us plush on Amazon or even at Walmart. These toys were obviously not licensed, and the actual creators of the game saw no profits from any of the fake merch. Storefronts like Aliexpress and even Hot Topic have been stealing artwork and designs at incredible rates, at the expense of both the real artists and also the cheap, hyper-exploited labor of workers.

But KND is an older IP owned by a big company, so surely there's no harm in buying a cute, cheap RM, right? Honestly, usually, I'd agree (other than the exploited labor I mentioned), but in this case...there's another factor.

Yeah, KND is an older IP, so why are there suddenly Rainbow Monkey knock-offs being sold? I have a theory about this.

Michael Karydas is a custom plush maker who makes everything by himself, from scratch. A few years ago, he was commissioned to make a Rainbow Monkey toy, and he knocked it out of the park. His RM toys exploded in popularity, going low-level viral. He's made a ton of RMs since then, and they're all excellent.

Yes, I think companies that manufacture cheap knock-offs are profiting off of the work and ideas of a small creator. In fact, while both plush designs do look pretty close to actual, in-show RMs...They take some structural liberties...and they just so happen to be the SAME structural liberties. I genuinely think the bootlegs are ripping off Michael's design, specifically.

In-show RMs, for comparison:

The knock-offs have a larger reach since they're sold via Amazon and Walmart, and they're also much, much cheaper, because they're mass-produced by people being paid garbage wages instead of hand-crafted by a single artisan.

I cannot stress enough that you should not buy the cheap knock-offs, and instead buy a commission from Michael K. Alternatively, you can wait eleventy billion years for me to finally make a Rainbow Monkey knitting pattern.

Lastly..........I still have no idea what's up with this guy:

-Numbuh 312