Wild Grinders


Rob Dyrdek's Wild Grinders, also known simply as Wild Grinders, is an animated television series created by, produced by and loosely based on the life of professional skateboarder and reality television star Rob Dyrdek. It started out as a series of shorts produced by MoonScoop Entertainment in 2009 and aired on Kabillion and Nicktoons which were adapted into a toy-line from Mattel that released in 2010.
Following the shorts and merchandise line, a full series of 22-minute episodes was distributed by MoonScoop Entertainment and aired on Nicktoons in 2012. The show made its second broadcast on U.S. television on April 27, 2012. During this time, content featuring the Wild Grinders characters continued to be seen on Kabillion, a video on demand channel and streaming video website partially owned by MoonScoop.
On August 1, 2013, Rob Dyrdek confirmed a second season with 26 episodes which premiered on Nicktoons on December 23, 2013.
Rob Dyrdek partnered with Teletoon to create a two-parter Halloween special, titled "Texas Skateboard Horrorland Zombie Activity 3", which aired on October 24, 2013 on Teletoon in Canada.

Synopsis

This skateboard themed series features the crazy hijinks and shenanigans of an energetic and thrill-seeking skateboarding pre-teen Lil' Rob and his best friends: Meaty, a bulldog with a hip edge ; Goggles, Rob's nerdy but loyal and kind-hearted best friend; and a host of other zany kids from the neighborhood, as well as Lil' Rob's majestic parents and older teenage sister.

Characters

Main

  • Lil' Rob – Lil' Rob is the titular character and the leader of the Wild Grinders. He is an upbeat pre-adolescent with an adventurous personality.
  • Meaty, Lee Harrell – Lil' Rob's anthropomorphic British bulldog.
  • Goggles – Lil' Rob's nerdy and loyal friend.
  • Emo Crys – The poetic and sensitive of the Wild Grinders.
  • Jay Jay – An intelligent hipster. He was portrayed to have mysophobia. He's the Backside Grinders' keyboard player.
  • Jack Knife – A dull kid with a big heart. He plays electric guitar in the band which he initially used as a saxophone.
  • Spitball – The silent type and dubbed as Street Ninja. He's the Backside bass player.
  • Stubford Hucksterball – The main antagonist of the entire series. He is a child with a short height, but summons his mechanical stalls to make him taller than the Grinders.
  • Flipz – The only female skater in the Wild Grinders.

Recurring

  • Denise – Lil' Rob's older sister.
  • Lackey or Officer Lackowski, as he prefers, is Stubford's rent-a-cop sidekick hired by Track to keep Stubford out of his hair.
  • Gene – Lil' Rob's father.
  • Patty – Lil' Rob's mother. She is also secretly a secret agent called Agent Capricorn.
  • Track Hucksterball – Stubford's wealthy, money-grubbing and neglectful father and also Gene's boss.
  • Chip Fligginton – A famous web personality.
  • Queen of Moronico – She is the queen of the fictional country of Moronico.
  • Prince of Moronico – The prince of Moronico.
  • Jankins – The royal butler to the royal family.
  • Freddie – The desire of Denise's affection and also runs the Taco truck.
  • Captain Grindstar – Goggles' superhero idol.
  • Agents 1 and Agent 2 - Two black ops agents who work for Area 52. They often conspire take over or destroy the world.
  • Mr. Sprinkles is Flips' pet wiener dog and Meaty's rival in pawjitsu.
  • Squeak is a character who debuted in "Emo's Mystery Girl".

Production

Wild Grinders is produced by Home Plate Entertainment and Telegael Teoranta, who co-own copyright to the series. MoonScoop Entertainment, Four Down Productions, Agogo Media and Copernicus Studios co-produced the first season, while Superjacket Productions, Top Draw Animation and Big Jump Entertainment co-produced the second season.

Mobile game

In June 2014, it was announced that a Wild Grinders mobile game was being developed for iPhone, iPad and Android by Bubble Gum Interactive. The game was slated to launch in September 2014, but instead was launched on February 11, 2015. The mobile game was titled Wild Grinders Downhill Grind.

7-Eleven location

In 2011, a 7-Eleven location was customized to promote Wild Grinders. The cost for the customization was $250,000. The outside walls were customized in a graffiti mural by several local artists, including Maxx242 to promote Wild Grinders. The location stayed customized temporarily before being remodeled to normal with 7-Eleven speaking "As well as we had made a donation to the skate park, which was right by one of our stores, so for several months it had several cool graphics on the inside and on the outside but we always intended to go back to a normal looking 7-11."

Reception

Wild Grinders received generally negative reviews from critics. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series 2 out of 5 stars. In her review, Ashby praised the racial divides and the good messages about friendship, but criticized the stereotypes surrounding skateboarding culture, the name calling and the main character's disrespect towards adults using slang terms.