This article is about a television series produced for Funrise Toys. Not to be confused with Princess Unikitty, a fictional character that appears in The Lego Movie, nor Unikitty!, a television series produced for The Lego Group.
January 28 (2019-01-28) – December 1, 2019 (2019-12-01)
Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty, officially shortened to RBUK (/ɑːrbʌk/), is an American animated television series created by Rich Magallanes[2] and based on a concept by Melissa Reale.[5] It was co-developed by Magallanes and Mark Palmer. The series was produced by American toy company Funrise and animated by Canadian studio Bardel Entertainment.
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.[6]
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,[1][7] 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.[1] The series is also a celebration of individuality and self-confidence.[6]
Characters
Main
Felicity (voiced by Allegra Clark[8]) 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.[1][7]
Miguel (voiced by Arturo Sandoval) is a blue down-to-earth, active and energetic Anubis chihuahua, who is Felicity's best friend.[1][7] King Nacho (Billy Bongo) is his Anubis dog ancestor.
Athena (voiced by Katie Leigh[9]) is a book-smart owl[1] and one of Felicity's friends. She speaks in a very monotone voice.
Yana (voiced by Laila Berzins[10]) is a ditzy Yeti[1] and is also one of Felicity's friends.
Recurring
The Sun (played by Michael Sorich) 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 (voiced by Chase Mitchell) is a snarky rat that pretends to be a rabbit. He often causes trouble for Felicity and friends.
Timmy (voiced by Rich Magallanes) is a little Kraken who often causes trouble.
Mayor Snowball (voiced by Dorothy Elias-Fahn) is the mayor of Catlantic City. Her former rival is Mayor Wags (Kyle Hebert).
The Sand Crab Man (voiced by Doug Stone) helps the other citizens of Mythlandia with falling asleep.
Moona (voiced by Sara Cravens) is a cow and the owner of Mythic Malts. She dates Oscar Go, a slow French snail.
Chippy (voiced by Cristina Vee) is a chipmunk-like creature.
When Felicity and Miguel are invited to the annual party at the Palace of the Perfect, Felicity worries that her powers won't measure up for it as the most powerful citizens in Mythlandia will be there.Miguel gets tested by an ancient Anubis king to see if he's ready to leave Mythlandia and become the next ruler of the underworld.
Miguel gets locked up in the pound for being a dog after he's bought to Catlantic City by Felicity.Felicity, Miguel, Yana, and Athena have to cross the Phobia Forest so they can cash in their coupons for free cupcakes.
Felicity and Miguel take part in a talent show in order to get malts named after them, but they have trouble coming up with their act.Felicity and Miguel help a worried leprechaun find his purpose.
Yana eats a witch's apple and falls asleep, so Felicity and Miguel try to find a way to break the spell.Felicity has so much fun at her party that she convinces the SandCrab Man to take the night off, causing chaos in Mythlandia.
5
"The Loch Mess Monster"
Greg Grabianski
Garrett O' Donoghue & Kat Dela Cruz
February 1, 2019 (2019-02-01)
105
N/A
"Mighty Meow and Super Lucha"
Ray DeLaurentis & Will Schifrin
The Loch Mess Monster moves in with Miguel as his house is messy.
Note: A pun on The Loch Ness Monster.Felicity and Miguel pretend to be real superheroes and draw the wrath of a supervillain called The Couch Potato.
Felicity and her friends find a magic wand that they use to make crazy wishes with until they locate the wand's rightful owner.Miguel's favorite malt is now on the kids menu.
Felicity's favorite snack has been sabotaged, so she visits the Snacktory.The Backwards Bug bites Miguel and Athena, which causes them to speak backwards.
Felicity and Miguel rescue Prince Denzel, who was imprisoned by his evil brother, Prince Larry.When Felicity loses her favorite toy, she and her friends try to retrieve it from the yard of her dreaded neighbor, the Meanotaur.
Felicity and Miguel attend a costume party at the Palace of the Perfect, where they end up in a fight to take back some stolen powers.When Yana is invited to a fancy society event, she is afraid that she'll make a fool of herself.
The Boaracle, a boar who claims to predict the future, makes a series of predictions about Miguel that all come true.When Felicity's fun unboxing videos go viral, a jealous Rudy slips Pandora's box into her scratching post house.
Felicity and Miguel babysit a baby giant, but things quickly escalate out of control.Felicity's Mythic Mounties troop sells cookies to raise money so they can save their favorite park.
It's Eggtober, and Rudy is scared everyone will discover he's lying about being related to the Easter Bunny.Felicity and Miguel become stuck together by magical friendship bracelets that will only unlock if they prove they're really best friends.
When Felicity visits Mirror Rock with Miguel, she accidentally releases the evil mirror image of herself, Evil Felicity.Felicity has a big party to celebrate her Cat-ceanara, in which she'll officially go from kittenhood to cathood.
Ray DeLaurentis, Lissa Kapstrom, and Will Schifrin
TBA
December 1, 2019 (2019-12-01)
108
N/A
When Santa Paws takes the year off, Felicity is chosen to replace him and deliver the Mythmas presents to all of Mythlandia. Rudy teams up with Timmy the Kraken to try and ruin Mythmas.
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.[1]
The first season has a total of 52 11-minute episodes.[32] For broadcast, each episode is paired with another to fill a 22-minute slot, which makes for a total of 26 half-hours.[11] The final episode of the series however, is a two-part holiday special.[33]
Broadcast
Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty was originally planned to be launched in Fall 2018,[1] 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.[7] 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 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.[34]
Jetpack Distribution announced that it acquired international distribution rights in Canada, Latin America, Europe (excluding Italy and Russia), Australia, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.[33][35] The series premiered on some of Nickelodeon's international channels and branded blocks following the U.S. launch later in 2019.[36] In Canada, the series debuted on Family Channel on September 2, 2019.[37] The series premiered January 1, 2020 on eToonz in South Africa.
In the United States, Nickelodeon acquired broadcast rights to the first season from Funrise Toys.[7] 26 episodes were produced.
Reception
Critical 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.”[38]
Merchandise
The associated toy line for the series by Funrise Toys is planned to cover many categories such as figurines, playsets, bobble heads, plush and dress-up.[1] In February 2019, there was a preview of new toys from Funrise at the New York Toy Fair.[36] The toys were released at Walmart on July 1, 2019.
Notes
^Rich Magallanes receives a "series created by" credit, while Reale receives no credit.
^This episode was released early on the Nick app and VOD on January 18, 2019.
^ abThese episodes were released early on the Nick app and VOD sometime in early June.[specify]
