Somebunny Skateboarding

It started out as a quick and simple operation; Buy a page out of a magazine with a rabbit riding a skateboard, wait for it to arrive in the mail, then scan it and post it. Then, have a discussion with the wife about the basement full of nominally skateboard related materials slowly expanding to fill the available volume. What will become of it after I shuffle off this mortal coil? How will my loved ones know what belongs in landfill as opposed to what might be sold for a modest fee to chip away at a lifetime’s debt? Whatever you do, don’t decide to do any last minute research before you write it up… Nesquik Bunny, or (Quik Bunny, depending on the year) has a character glass, web and video games, print ads and computer themes, but no PVC character. This is most likely, the definitive Nesquik “Quicky” the bunny on a skateboard post. The Nesquik bunny is also an advocate for DIY concrete as well! UPDATE: Found an Italian animated commercial with the Nesquik rabbit riding a skateboard.

This print ad came from the March, 2001 issue of Woman’s Day magazine.

Detail of the bunny.

UK character glass.

Quicky as he currently appears on the Nestle web site. Definitely a new millennium bunny. Looks like he’s ready to hang ten with Poochy or throw up some awesome graffiti art on a sanctioned wall, of course.

Here’s the bunny riding a skateboard on a thermos for a kid’s lunchbox. Notice the “Q” around the neck. in 2001 the bunny switched to an “N” pendant. The thermos in this picture from the Retroist is not dated, but it looks to be 70’s or more likely 80’s. It’s hard to tell. There’s bike on the other side that looks possibly pre-BMX craze, so maybe it’s late 70’s.

This fuzzy enlarged image is a thumbnail for an active rabbit theme. I’m not sure what is, but it apparently comes with cursors and music, and the download is an exe file, so maybe it’s an old Windows modification.

These are stills from a Flash based web game called Nesquik Quest. 7 out of 8 levels feature skateboarding. You’r basically clicking on and sometimes moving items onscreen to prevent Quicky from wiping out. You can play it online at various “free game” sites, but this one has the largest embedded game without a pre-roll ad. I can’t seem to find the original game online. That’s good racket, develop a game with you branding and advertising and let everyone else host it. Surprisingly, there are YouTube videos showing you how to get through all eight levels. I have to admit to using one get through the last level in able to get the screen capture. That’s right, I actually played through the whole game for this. I suffer for you, so you don’t have to. (Note: There’s more than one Quik in the video game world.)

DIY to the rescue! To get to the end of this level you have to drag the concrete mixer over to the sidewalk, which will patch a giant hole and keep the bunny from eating street pizza. Also key to passing this level, you have to make the roller blader wipe out.

DIY concrete video, Nestle style.

At some point, Nestle ventured into building a skatepark inside the popular online world Second Life. I’m not sure when this was because the article on Kzero is not dated. These screen captures are from that post. I may suffer through a hlaf an hour of some crappy Flash game for you, but I’m not going to pay to play and spend Glob knows how much time trying to find 3D advertising.

Here’s a 1994 animated Italian tv commercial for Nesquik that shows a collection of four Quik Bunny toy figures riding skateboards. Looks like there was packaging with skateboard on it as well.

Stills for posterity.