Cans Without Labels (lost backer rewards from Kickstarter campaign by Ren and Stimpy creator; 2013)
This article has been tagged as NSFW due to its references to sexual abuse and pedophilia.
Cover art from the DVD release of the short.
Status: Lost
Back in 2012, John Kricfalusi would create a kickstarter campaign page for his recent project which is called Cans Without Labels[1]. The campaign promised rewards such as T-Shirts, Pencil Toppers, Digital Desktop Toys, and other things. The campaign lasted until 2013, and the production of the animation began.
However the production troubles resulted in most of the backer rewards to not be delivered, and after 7 years of production Cans Without Labels would finally be released in 2019 however with negative reception, due to John Kricfalusi's sexual abuse allegations being exposed during 2018, and for the animation being low-quality and having multiple issues, ending John Kricfalusi's animation career for good.
The last update by John Kricfalusi about the project is posted on May 27, 2019 and no new updates have been made about the rewards have been made ever since, resulting in many of the rewards being lost media.
The List Of Kickstarter Rewards That Were Promised To Backers
Many of the Kickstarter rewards were promised on the campaign page, which will be listed here along with the descriptions provided on the page. Only a few rewards are digital only, in which will only be listed here.
$1 Backers
$1 Backers would receive a copy of the Cans Without Labels short. It is unknown if it has differences compared to the actual short posted online by John himself.
The DVD release is said to have a Ren and Stimpy short that is supposed to be released as a special feature for the third SpongeBob Squarepants film called Sponge on the Run. Which the DVD release would be given to $50 backers.
However due to John Kricfalusi's sexual abuse allegations, and Nickelodeon blacklisting him from working with them ever again, the short was never produced and only a animatic exists for it that was featured on the Cans Without Labels DVD release which was later released online by a backer named IAmARealHorse.[2]
$10 Backers
"Be the first in your neighborhood to own one of my new digital toys. Tear it out of the virtual package, roll it around, click it in sensitive areas and watch it do something stupid and lovable."
$10 Backers would receive a downloadable link to a desktop toy which could be shared to other people online.
$20 Backers
"You can get a pack of 3 of my fancy-ass new digital toys to collect and trade with friends from many lands through the internets"
$20 Backers would receive a downloadable link to a pack of 3 desktop toys which could be shared to other people online.
$50 Backers
$50 Backers would receive a DVD copy of the short, featuring a Ren And Stimpy short that is included with the DVD.
However on John K's website, you can actually buy it for $25 which is 50% off compared to the Kickstarter promised.[3]
It is unknown if the DVD release from John K's website will be the same one as the Kickstarter release.
Availability
Due to the lack of activity from John Kricfalusi's Kickstarter, it is safe to say that these will forever be lost and will not be released to the public anytime soon. Only animated gifs and images are available for these desktop toys, and the other rewards. It is unknown if John Kricfalusi still has the files for the desktop toys themselves, and if he is willing to give them to his backers. Due to the sexual abuse allegations, it is likely possible that the rewards will not surface or be given out to the backers of the Kickstarter anytime soon.
While some of the rewards could be found on John K's website, it is unknown if they will be the exact ones from the Kickstarter campaign and if they will even be sent.
Gallery
An animated gif of one of the desktop toys that would be rewarded to $10 and $20 backers of the Kickstarter campaign.
Another animated gif of the Dog Desktop Toy in action.
