Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty, officially shortened to RBUK, is an American animated children's television series created by Rich Magallanes. The series is produced by toy company Funrise. The series stars Felicity, a spirited magical kitty who is also part rainbow, butterfly, and unicorn, as she goes on adventures with her friends in the mashup city of Mythlandia. In the United States, Nickelodeon acquired broadcast rights to the first season from Funrise Toys. The show was cancelled in 2020 due to no new episodes airing as of 2020, due to fans think the show was a failure.
Plot
Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty follows the mythical adventures of Felicity, a magical cat that is part rainbow, part butterfly, and part unicorn. 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 other friends; best friend Miguel, a down-to-earth Anubis chihuahua, Athena, a book-smart owl, and Yana the ditzy yeti, accompany Felicity on their various adventures in the city of Mythlandia, a place 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 lazers from her unicorn horn, and her kitten paws can shoot glow sticks.
Miguel is a blue down-to-earth, active and energetic Anubis chihuahua. 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 SandCrab Man helps the other citizens of Mythlandia with falling asleep.
Moona is a cow and the owner of Mythic Malts. She is dating Oscar Go, a slow French snail.
Chippy is a chipmunk-like creature
Andy, a dragon
Hank, like Felicity, he's a hippo 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 first season has a total of 26 22-minute episodes. Each episode containing two 11-minute segments, with the exception of the final episode of the season, as that is a half-hour holiday special. After the first season finale aired, there has been no word on the series status.
Episodes
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 sneak peek premiere on the main Nickelodeon network on January 27, 2019, before it had its season premiere on Nicktoonsa 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. The series was returned to Nicktoons on June 21, 2019, starting with the episode "The Trouble with Travis", and premiering all segments on separate days. Jetpack Distribution announced that it acquired international distribution rights in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Australasia, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The series will air on 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.
Reception
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series 2 out of 5 stars; saying that, “Felicity's unique nature makes her a decent example of embracing uniqueness in yourself and in others, but the show's frantic pace and distracting visuals tend to overshadow this positive quality.”
Merchandise
The upcoming toy line for the series by Funrise Toys is planned to cover many categories such as figurines, playsets, bobble heads, plush and dress-up. In February, there was a preview of new toys from Funrise at the New York Toy Fair. The toys were released at Walmart on July 1, 2019.
