The Grumpy Kid (ISBN 9781944709075) is a children's book written by Jack Thompsen (also known as Not So Serious Jack), illustrated by Oliver Kryzz Bundoc and published on August 17th, 2017 for paperback and Kindle, which features the Game Grumps, and is the 5th book in the Not So Serious Jack series by Thompsen.[1] In March 2018, the book was the subject of controversy. Unlike the video games Paradigm and Thaumistry: In Charm's Way which featured references to the Game Grumps, the book was explicitly based on them and unlicensed.

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History

According to Thompsen via a post on the Game Grumps Subreddit and Twitter, he had approached Dan and Brian whilst at E3 in 2015 where he had asked them for permission to produce a children's book about them which he claims they gave permission for.[2][3]

On August 13th, 2017, Thompsen revealed the book via his Twitter account.[4] On August 17th, 2017, the book was published on Amazon for Kindle and paperback.[1]

Game Grumps' reaction

On March 16th, 2018, the book was discovered by Ross who shared it via his Twitter page with the tweet "I'm sorry what??"[5] This was soon followed by a tweet from Suzy who said "Nooooooo"[6]

On March 17th, 2018, in an AMA on the Game Grumps Subreddit by Ross, when asked about whether the group would take action against it, Ross replied,

"Haven't heard anything. But as an individual I'm not okay with it. They stole my likeness and are profiting off it. The 20% charity thing is a bullshit ploy to take emotional high ground to get away with it. That's far too low for identity and property theft. Once again, my personal stance.. Not that of the company."[7]

On April 5th, 2018, Barry was asked in a stream by lovelie Vitas Varnas his thoughts on the book which he replied, "It's mildly amusing. It's very amusing to be without your understanding having your likeness as a cat put in a children's book. [sic] If there's anything going on with that, I'm not a part of it cause yes, while my likeness is a part of that I think the bigger issue is that it's everyone from Game Grumps, not necessarily who is a part of it, so if they decide to take any kind of legal action, then that's up to them, but I'm just going kind of let it be for now because I don't think it's an issue for me [sic]."[8]

Aftermath

After the reactions from the Game Grumps, Thompsen mentioned on his social media accounts that he'd be willing to take the book down from sale and give all profits from sales to them.[9] The book was soon removed from Amazon, but later sold by other sellers at a higher price.[10]

Cover blurb

"He’s called grumpy kid. His nickname suits him well because he’s always very grumpy and not so swell.” Do you ever feel grumpy? Have you ever felt like no one is listening to you? Well, this is exactly how Arin, otherwise known as the grumpy kid, feels. He’s grumpy all the time, and when a group of kids at school ask him why he’s grumpy, Arin can barely get a word out which makes him even grumpier than before. The others speak for him and make assumptions about why Arin is so grumpy. Finally, Arin has enough and runs off into the forbidden woods. Will the others go find him or will they continue to argue with one another about why Arin is grumpy? Fully illustrated for early readers, this is a great teaching tool for children who feel grumpy or children who are learning about letting others speak for themselves."