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Billy Xballfan Ripped off from Starr the Monkey

Marketing execs say they are "completely surprised."



Monster Island, 01.15.01 - Billy Xballfan, a marketing tool created by Nakamaji Corp. to sell X-Ball themed merchandise was revealed earlier on today to not be an original lovable, sassy cartoon character, but in fact ripped off from the persona of lovable, sassy Starr, from Monkeys Who Play Sports..

Timmy, the seven year old boy who had been viciously mauled by rampaging turkeys only weeks before, had been recovering in his hospital bed, reading magazines, when he noticed the similarities between the two.

"See," said Timmy in this exclusive interview. "In X-Teen Magazine, Starr is described as a hip, goateed laid back monkey. In X-Ball Advertising Weekly, Billy Xballfan is described as a hip, goateed, laid back teenager. They both chillin' like villains. They're both hip to the B-Boy style. And if that didn't clinch it, there's a good chance that both would attack, and you wouldn't like that."

Hiro Nakamaji, owner of X-Ball and all it's subsidiaries, said he was, "shocked and appalled. We spent thousands of man-hours coming up with this idea, and now the whole campaign will have to be scrapped, with less than two weeks before the start of the season. I guess we'll just have to concentrate on promoting the sports aspect of X-Ball, or something."

Billy Xballfan, disgraced by the incident, has returned his trademark shades to Nakamaji execs. He was last seen driving off in shame, hs lowered six-foh Chevy with bumpin' bass bouncin' hydraulically into the sunset.



Reaction from the Team Captains:



"I knew it," says Coolboard Luke:

"Yeah, I knew he couldn't be for real. I didn't want to, you know, say anything cause I'm not that kind of guy, I don't rat people out or nuthin'. I mean, I was cool with him-What, so I said some stuff last week. That was last week. What is this, some sort of inquisition? I love the guy, he's my best friend, he's great. These? They're just pictures I drew of me killing Billy Xball-I mean, I don't know. Are we done yet?"

"Pay attention to me," says Vengeance:

"Finally! There's all this press coverage on some stupid marketing ploy, instead of the more important things going on around here. Like the Reptiles fight for freedom. I have this great idea for a feature article you guys can do and-Hey, where are you going? Hello?"

Monkeys Be Doin' It For Themselves:

"This has been a tough preseason for my team. First, Hoops' album bombs, then Puck gets injured working out on the rowing machine, now this. Poor Starr is so upset, he only got in an hour of face time last night. That's a whole six hours less than he usually does. We Monkeys will bounce back, but we just need to be there for each other."

Amanda Doesn't Have Time For This:

"Wes are killing machines. The rest of the silly teams can waste their time worrying about marketing and toys and little boys tastily trapped in a hospital, but we Flowers are busy training. We will crush the competition. And then, we will eat that little boy. Huzzah!"