''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 TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

star

Rob Dyrdek Robert Stanley Dyrdek (born June 28, 1974) is an American entrepreneur, actor, producer, reality TV personality, and former professional skateboarder. He is best known for his roles in the MTV reality and variety shows ''Rob & Big'', ''Rob Dyrd ...

. It started out as a series of shorts produced by

MoonScoop Group The MoonScoop Group was a French animation and production company that created and published animated television series. Its corporate headquarters were located in Paris, France, along with offices in the United Kingdom and the United States. I ...

in 2009 and aired on

Kabillion Kabillion is a children's video-on-demand service owned by Splash Entertainment. Launched on January 7, 2007, Kabillion is available both as a free VOD channel currently available on Comcast, Spectrum, Charter Communications, Altice USA, Cox Co ...

, which were adapted into a successful toy-line from

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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 the

Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...

channel 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

, a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

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 Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...

to create a two-parter Halloween special, titled "Texas Skateboard Horrorland Zombie Activity 3", which aired on October 24, 2013, on

in Canada.

Synopsis

This

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarde ...

themed series features the crazy hijinks and shenanigans of an energetic and thrill-seeking skateboarding pre-teen Lil' Rob (based on the series creator) and his best friends: Meaty, a bulldog with a hip edge (based on Meaty, a dog that the real Rob Dyrdek owns); 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 (voiced by

) – Lil' Rob is the titular character and the leader of the Wild Grinders. He is an upbeat pre-adolescent with an adventurous personality, and infinitely never surrenders from his rival, Stubford Hucksterball. His aliases include Kid Voltage in "The Amaaazing Adventures of Captain Grindstar" and Agent Supernova in "Substitute Secret Agent." Rob is the lead singer of the Backside Grinders. His Catchphrases Are “ Wild Grinders!, Amazing! and Whaaaaaat! “ *Meaty (voiced by

Sterling "Steelo" Brim Sterling "Steelo" Brim (born June 5, 1988) is an American television personality, comedian, and actor. He is a co-host and producer of MTV's '' Ridiculousness. Biography Brim was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Tracy Brim, is a ...

(season 1), Lee Harrell (season 2)) – Lil' Rob's

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

British bulldog. He favors eating burritos, bacon, and especially the extinct Stinkies products. He's also known for being the Backside Grinders' drummer, Meat-Borg in "The Amaaazing Adventures of Captain Grindstar" and Agent MeatBag in "Substitute Secret Agent." In the pilot online episodes, Meaty Can’t Talk. *Goggles (voiced by

Yuri Lowenthal Yuri Lowenthal (born March 5, 1971)Birthday references: * * * is an American voice actor, producer and screenwriter known chiefly for his work in cartoons, anime and video games. Some of his prominent roles in animations and anime include S ...

, credited as Jimmy Benedict) – Lil' Rob's nerdy and loyal friend. He is the cameraman of both the Wild and Backside Grinders and the major inventor, but he can be forgetful of anything that the Grinders want significant. Known as Goggle Lad in "The Amaaazing Adventures of Captain Grindstar" and Agent Whiz Kid in "Substitute Secret Agent." In the pilots, he rarely spoke but when he did, his voice was deeper. He's also the weakest skater out of the team, confirmed in "Swaggerless" and according to Jack Knife. *Emo Crys (voiced by

Cam Clarke Cam Clarke is an American voice actor, known for his work in animation, video games and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 ...

Charlie Schlatter Charles Thomas "Charlie" Schlatter (born May 1, 1966) is an American actor who has appeared in several films and television series. He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Jesse Travis, the resident student of Dr. Mark Sloan (played by Dick Van ...

in pilot episodes (uncredited)) – The poetic and sensitive of the Wild Grinders. Emo Crys is frequently a skate artist and creates terrible and dark poetry. He sometimes goes "girl-crazy." Known as cowbell player from the Backside Grinders and Emo Scissor Clippers "The Amaaazing Adventures of Captain Grindstar." The pilot episodes showed him that he was Lil' Rob's best friend instead of Goggles. *Jay Jay (voiced by

Kel Mitchell Kel Johari Rice Mitchell (born August 25, 1978) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He was an original cast member of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series ''All That'' for its first five seasons (1994–1999), where he was often paired a ...

) – An intelligent hipster. He was portrayed to have

mysophobia Mysophobia, also known as verminophobia, germophobia, germaphobia, bacillophobia and bacteriophobia, is a pathological fear of contamination and germs. The term was coined by William A. Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive–co ...

. He's the Backside Grinders' keyboard player. In the pilot episodes, Jay Jay in known to be Lil' Rob's friend, instead of Goggles. *Jack Knife (voiced by

) – A dull kid with a big heart. He and his family runs a circus in Sprawl City. He plays electric guitar in the band which he initially used as a saxophone. In the pilots, Jack Knife didn't have his southern accent. *Spitball (voiced by

) – The silent type and dubbed as Street Ninja. He's the Backside bass player. He only spoke Spanish in the pilots. *Stubford Hucksterball (voiced by

Erin Fitzgerald Erin Fitzgerald is a Canadian voice actress who provides voice-overs for a number of cartoons, video games and English language dubs of Japanese anime. In animation, she voices Raven Queen in ''Ever After High'' and C.A. Cupid in both ''Monster ...

) – 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. He frequently aliases Lil' Rob as "Lil' Slob." He made no appearances prior to the show's official debut. *Flipz (voiced by

Chanel West Coast Chelsea Chanel Dudley (born September 1, 1988), better known by her stage name Chanel West Coast, is an American television personality, rapper, and singer. She came to prominence for her roles in MTV's ''Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory'' and '' ...

) – The only female skater in the Wild Grinders. She tends to challenge Lil' Rob to skate in most of her appearances. Although she joins the Grinders, she was not shown at all times.

Recurring

*Denise (voiced by

) – Lil' Rob's older sister who most of the time annoys Lil' Rob and the Grinders. She often calls the Wild Grinders (as well as other skaters) "weenies." She has a crush on a boy named Freddie, although he too is a skater. *Lackey (

) or Officer Lackowski, as he prefers, is Stubford's rent-a-cop sidekick hired by Track to keep Stubford out of his hair. Lackey is very dim-witted. *Gene (voiced by

) – Lil' Rob's father. Lil' Rob always calls Gene by his first name instead of calling him "Dad." *Patty (voiced by

) – Lil' Rob's mother. She does not like the shows she sees (she is repeatedly seen watching a show, then saying "Aww, I hate this show."). She is also secretly a secret agent called Agent Capricorn. *Track Hucksterball (voiced by

) – Stubford's wealthy, money-grubbing and neglectful father who is always trying to exploit or make the Wild Grinders famous. He is also Gene's boss. He is also most of the time never there for his son. *Chip Fligginton (voiced by

) – A famous web personality who's always there when a star is to be born and often helps take of advantage the situation. *Queen of Moronico (voiced by

) – She is the queen of the fictional country of Moronico and is very protective of her son and believes in status quos. *Prince of Moronico (voiced by

) – The prince of Moronico who looks exactly like Jack Knife. The only differences between him and Jack Knife are his accent, he has a gold tooth while Jack Knife has a gap and the fact that he does not know how to skate. *Jankins (voiced by

) – The royal butler to the royal family and follows orders from Queen unquestioned and often does things for people instead of allowing to do it like practice skating in the prince's place. *Freddie (voiced by

) – The desire of Denise's affection and also runs the Taco truck. He is also a skater, like Lil' Rob. *Captain Grindstar (voiced by Tracy Tubera) – 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 (unknown) is Flips' pet wiener dog and Meaty's rival in pawjitsu. He usually causes trouble when the Grinders least expect it. *Squeak (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) is a character who debuted in "Emo's Mystery Girl" where he seems to have met the Grinders prior to that episode. According to Jay Jay, Squeak is a poser and a huge liar.

Episodes

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''.

Reception

''Wild Grinders'' received generally negative reviews from critics. Emily Ashby of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

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.

References

External links

* * {{Nicktoons 2010s American animated television series 2012 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated sports television series American flash animated television series English-language television shows Nicktoons (TV network) original programming Animated television series about children Animation based on real people