Wild Grinders: The Fan Analysis (Pt.1)
Okay. This entire analysis of Wild Grinders will end up being a trilogy because IT. WILL. BE. LONG. (for Tumblr) This one is the defense of Wild Grinders. It will focus on what the series âisâ and âisnât.â Basically, the main idea is to look at it directly and avoiding opinions.
The next mini-essay will be a criticism, and the final will focus on the improvements of the series. But here, we need to lay out some rules/disclaimers:
the person writing this is already consider deranged for liking wild grinders. if youâre here to be a hater, then youre the one whos losing the sanity game
the person writing this is not affiliated to Wild Grinders in any form, tried tagging Dyrdek and Tracy my fanart and they did not look at it
there will be no academic sources for this because there arenât any peer-reviewed articles of wild grinders that exist
 itâs 2023, everythingâs a fever dream in our timeline
Letâs begin by addressing some statements that the internet loves to share. (Itâs misinformation actually).
Wild Grinders is a rip-off of Rocket Power! >:(
Letâs address that this statement is half-assed. Yes, both TV series are about skateboarding. Yes theyâre aimed at preteens. And yes they aired on Nickelodeon. However, they are actually not the same.
Rocket Powerâs main focus was on extreme sports and accuracy. The cast was accurate from the way they behaved to even their ethnic voice actors. The settings are based off the real locations of Southern California and Hawaiâi. And the sports were highly accurate in terms of safety and the way they are practiced. They donât focus on skateboards only; they include surfboarding, roller blades, and hockey. But they also include the injuries that can happen in these sports.
Wild Grinders takes on âartistic liberties.â The show is inaccurate when it comes to actual extreme sports, but everything is given an imaginative twist. None of the characters are fatally harmed from getting shocked or eating concrete. Thereâs shrink rays, fairy tales, and pop culture references everywhere. Even the setting is a âwe can do whatever we want because everything is not realâ situation. Earlier projects (the toy line) takes place in âKettervilleâ, inspired by Rod Dyrdekâs hometown in Ohio. However, the most of the show takes place in the fictional âSprawl Cityâ, a setting influenced by the west coast of California because thatâs where Dyrdek lives (present). Most likely because it is where skateboarding originated. This is the reason why Wild Grinders is very skateboard-centric (surfboards/snowboards are an exception). Rather than looking at multiple extreme sports, Rod Dyrdek wanted to focus on the idea that skateboarding can build a community and bring people from different backgrounds together.
While Rocket Power has a narrative thatâs written accurately, but Wild Grinders is more focused on creating a quirky kidsâ cartoon. Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo have lifestyles that cannot compare to Rob Dyrdek and Tracy Tuberaâs. Dyrdek hosts the show Ridiculousness, and itâs literally what the title implies; everything is ridiculous and over-the-top. Not only that, but Rob Dyrdek owns the Fantasy Factory; literally an extreme playground of an office! You can skate in there or drown in a ballpit full of foam cubes! Wild Grinders is an embodiment of what Rob Dyrdek loves; fun.
Another thing to add on: Rocket Power is for a different generation compared to Wild Grinders. The pop culture of 1999-2004 is different from Wild Grinders being aired in 2012-2014. In 1999, most kids never owned a phone. In 2012, there was new generation of children who grew up with smartphones and Instagram and my entire middle school (in that year) all had an iPhone. Wild Grinders was made a for a different generation where everyone knew about Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga. Rocket Power aired during a time where everyone knew Backstreet Boys, Blink-182, Hilary Duff, and Mariah Carey. Two completely different generations.
Isnât Wild Grinders the kid version of The Nutshack?
Listen. It aired a bit before Wild Grinders and ended before the TV series aired. It seems uncanny. But you need to stop comparing both of these shows just because it has a similar art style. Tracy was never involved in making The Nutshack. Tracyâs style is a lot more simplified and cuter than the animation.
However, it wouldnât be a stretch if there was someone in the animation studio who ended up working on Wild Grinders and disrespecting Tuberaâs original style. There are more post on this blog discussing the difference in quality of the animation and Tracy Tuberaâs earlier works.
What is Wild Grinders then?
[From an Artprojekt Interview]: The original idea was a toy line that Rob Dyrdek wanted to create for Walmart. He had the idea of different types of skateboarders on different styles (and backgrounds). Since Dyrdek wasnât an artist, he hired different artists to create his character designs, most of them didnât live up to his vision. Chub City was the art style he was aiming for. He went to find out the artist who created the characters of Chub City and immediately hired Tracy Tubera on spot, saying that Tubera nailed the characters âfirst try.â They launched the Wild Grinders toy line from there. And it was successful from what everyone says. Thereâs no complaints about the toys (Just gonna insert that the Wild Grinders panel was around the same time as Monster High. To the Mattel employee reading this: you knew that Draculaura and Emo Crys were gonna be the best sellers).
On Rob Dyrdekâs first season of Fantasy Factory (01x07), he was always in the works about Wild Grinders. He made an episode where he made mascot costumes of the characters for everyone to wear and promote the toys. He even attempted to make everyone skate around the Fantasy Factory while in costume (it didnât go well). But they all drove to Walmart to promote Wild Grinders and sign for fans. Later, Dyrdek was told to make another character for the toy line; Shark Attack. Rob Dyrdek had the abstract idea of this new character, also took it a step further. He went out to Florida to get âattackedâ by sharks. Specifically, he was there to experience a shark feeding frenzy (A/N: Respect sharks please). Anyways, the character Shark Attack never got bitten by sharks, Rob Dyrdek said that his character got the âshark biteâ from a chain link fence. But Dyrdek had fun feeding the sharks underwater anyways. The things he does for his OCs.
Based on many interviews, he constantly refers to many of his characters as âcute.â Rob Dyrdek is a grown man and yet heâs able to say when something is cute. But that also leads to his intention when making Wild Grinders, he wanted the series to has a âcuteness factor.â Not like the sense of Hello Kitty or Littlest Pet Shop, but this he has his own definition of what it means. The best examples are Meaty and Emo Crys. Meaty is a dog, itâs easy to make dogs cute in media. But Emo Crys? A human character? Yes. Rob Dyrdek has said that Emo Crys was one of his most favorite designs if he couldnât say Meaty as an answer. When he worked on Emo Crysâs character, he seemed to have put the most thought into it and fans also adored him. He only states that Emo Crys is a crybaby and wears a cute little scarf, but that was just enough for him to be lovable. But it wasnât just that one character, he also thought most of the characters were cute in their own ways.
Then there came the animated shorts and movies. âGolden Grindersâ and âThe Lost Skate Spotâ were short movies that actually focused on making an actual narrative, but still keeping the imaginative tone that Rob Dyrdek wanted. These shorts were focused on promoting the toys; by giving the characters personalities and voices that can be seen. Some of the animation would soon become the 2012 show, but adjustments would be made that many people didnât notice right away. One of them was the change in tone for Emo Crys and Jack Knife. Where they had different tones in the pilot animations, but drastically became different in the 2012 animation.
Out of all the early animations, this has to be the best one. It really captured Tracy Tuberaâs art style and compliments the characters and setting and just the overall tone of Wild Grinders.
After the animated shorts and pilots, Nickelodeon greenlit the series. No one understood why, but the answer was simple: Nickelodeon was focusing on NickSports at the time and promoted things like football and endorsed famous sports celebrities. Rob Dyrdek was famous and popular at the time (my friend from Europe recognized him as the guy who built a giant skateboard). You get the idea by now.
Lo and behold, the Wild Grinders TV series was born.
In conclusion, Wild Grinders is a project made out of love and more of a personal work. Unfortunately, the craftsmanship doesnât reflect the process of it. It was created from the idea of Rob Dyrdekâs original pack of skaters from his childhood. He rejected 5 artists on a deadline because they couldnât capture what he envisioned. He and Tracy Tubera were fond of these characters throughout the toy line era. Then Dyrdek decided to feed sharks in Florida to gain inspiration for another character. Clearly, Rob Dyrdek was having fun and putting effort in the creative process. Itâs just that people were more focused on the final product of Wild Grinders and that lead to hate and criticism of the series.
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