Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty
Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty, officially shortened to RBUK, is an American animated television series created by Rich Magallanes and Melissa Reale and based on a concept by Reale. It was co-developed by Magallanes and Mark Palmer. The series was produced by the Canadian animation studio Bardel Entertainment.
In the United States, Nickelodeon acquired broadcast rights to the series from Funrise Toys. 26 episodes were produced.
Premise
The series follows Felicity, a spirited magical cat who is part rainbow, part butterfly, part unicorn and 100% kitty, as she goes on adventures with her best friends in the mashup city of Mythlandia.Plot
Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty is about a young magical cat named Felicity, who is part rainbow, part butterfly, part unicorn and 100% kitty. She has transformative powers that allow her to choose between Rainbow Power, Butterfly Power, Unicorn Power, and following the events of Purrfect Party, Kitty Power. Her best friends; Miguel, a down-to-earth Anubis chihuahua, Athena, a book-smart owl, and Yana the ditzy yeti, accompany Felicity on their various mythical adventures in Mythlandia, a city full of fairy tale creatures, wizards, giants, dragons, and much more, while also occasionally hanging out together at Mythic Malts, a restaurant owned by Moona that sells delicious malts, to cool down.Each episode has been stated to "explore female empowerment and non-conformity" as Felicity transforms into different forms using her magical abilities. The series is also a celebration of individuality and self-confidence.
Characters
Main
- Felicity is a sassy, fearless magical cat who is part rainbow, butterfly, and unicorn. She possesses transformative powers that allow her to lasso items in the form of a rainbow, produce thunderous claps from her butterfly wings, fire lasers from her unicorn horn, and her kitten paws can shoot glow sticks and uses her cuteness.
- Miguel is a blue down-to-earth, active and energetic Anubis chihuahua, who is Felicity's best friend. King Nacho is his Anubis dog ancestor.
- Athena is a book-smart owl and one of Felicity's friends. She speaks in a very monotone voice.
- Yana is a ditzy yeti and is also one of Felicity's friends.
Recurring
- The Sun is a sentient sun with a live-action human face. He also has skinny arms and is able to talk. Being the Sun, he oversees the many adventures of the main cast and occasionally commentates, or silently reacts to them. As shown in "The Sand Crab Man", he also turns into the Moon at night.
- Rudy is a snarky rat that pretends to be a rabbit. He often causes trouble for Felicity and friends.
- Timmy is a little Kraken who often causes trouble.
- Mayor Snowball is the mayor of Catlantic City. Her former rival is Mayor Wags.
- The Sand Crab Man helps the other citizens of Mythlandia with falling asleep.
- Moona is a cow and the owner of Mythic Malts. She dates Oscar Go, a slow French snail.
- Chippy is a chipmunk-like creature.
- Andy is a dragon.
- Hank is a hippo that is part Bumblebee, Magnetic and Karaoke.
Production
Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty is produced by Funrise, who took over production of the series for Saban Brands after its closure due to the sale of the majority of its entertainment properties to Hasbro. The series is animated by Bardel Entertainment, and it features photo-real elements. The series is targeted towards kids 6 to 11.The series has a total of 52 11-minute episodes. For broadcast, each episode is paired with another to fill a 22-minute slot, which makes for a total of 26 half-hours. The final episode of the series however, is a two-part holiday special.
Broadcast
Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty was originally planned to be launched in Fall 2018, but was postponed to 2019. In the United States, the series had a sneak peek premiere on the main Nickelodeon network on January 27, 2019, before it had its season premiere on Nicktoons a day after. Alongside the premiere, the same sneak peek episode was made available on the Nick App and Nick On Demand on January 18. The sneak peek was successful enough to warrant the show remaining on Nickelodeon's schedule whilst also airing on Nicktoons. Episode premieres continued on the main network on February 10 with the episodes "The Green-Eyed Monster" and "Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Cupid". During this temporary switch from Nicktoons to Nickelodeon, only the acronym for the show, RBUK, is used which differed from how the show was mentioned and displayed on promos, advertisements, most TV guides, and the theme song which was cut from all broadcasts. However the older Streaming Media will be removed from the platform and it's no longer be access to the show's available. The series returned to Nicktoons on June 21, 2019, starting with the episode "The Trouble with Travis", and premiering all segments on separate days. The series was added to Paramount+ on September 22, 2021.Jetpack Distribution announced that it acquired international distribution rights in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The series premiered on some of Nickelodeon's international channels and branded blocks following the U.S. launch later in 2019. In Canada, the series debuted on Family Channel on September 2, 2019. The series premiered January 1, 2020 on eToonz in South Africa.