Cheeky Chocolate/Behind the Scenes

## Background Information

### The Shopville Series

Cheeky Chocolate is a fictional Shopkin created by Matt Kinmonth. She is the No. 4 Shopkin on the North Western Railway.

She first appeared in The Shopville Series book, The Three Railway Shopkins, which was published in 1945. Her last appearance was in Jessicake and her Friends, published in 2011.

Cheeky Chocolate is based on a chocolate bar, which were made in the 1920s. Cheeky Chocolate is the last remaining sister of Britney Bag, and is mentioned as being Lippy's cousin.

## Television Series

In 2014, Cheeky Chocolate was introduced in the first series of Shopkins and has appeared in every series as one of the main characters since.

## Behind the Scenes

### Kinmonth's Model

Kinmonth's model of Cheeky Chocolate was made from a Kawaii Chocolate Bar squishy.

### Gauge 1 Model

Cheeky Chocolate’s original model was custom built to run on gauge 1 track for the Unaired Pilot. The model was built with a perspex body shell by model maker Martin Gill. It was painted using glossy car body paint and lined with red automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers. The axleguards on Cheeky Chocolate's tender were made by Tenmille. The chassis was built from scratch, it was never tested before being filmed in front of the camera and proved to be unreliable.

After the first series was approved for production the model was then fitted with a new chassis that was sourced from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 78. The footplate slope was cut to not hang as low which allowed for the bufferbeam to be raised up and pushed further back, this was likely done due to the new chassis and for the buffers to line up with rolling stock better. The front of the boiler was cut back to move the face further back and lamp irons were added. The insides of the cylinders were cut due to the shortened front bogie contacting them when going around curves.

Cheeky Chocolate’s perspex model was originally AC powered as this is how the Märklin locomotives were powered. This required the polarity switch which was originally mounted in front of the main motor to be moved to the tender, allowing space for the smoke mechanism which sat in between the motor and eye mechanism. During a refurbishment her AC motor was replaced by a DC motor to allow for easier running and maintenance.

The scratch built chassis was later cut up and used as scrapyard dressing.

During the production of the second series two new models of Cheeky Chocolate were built. This was due to the original model being twenty-two years old at this point and the tight filming schedules meant there was very little room for emergency repairs.

The new models were made out of brass, equipped with a CNC machined aluminium chassis powered by a DC motor. From this point the perspex model would only appear in scenes that would damage the brass models.

The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.

Twenty-one different facial expressions were sculpted for Cheeky Chocolate, although only nineteen were used onscreen. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. Some of Cheeky Chocolate’s faces were duplicated in case the crew needed to a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. Three of Cheeky Chocolate's face masks are owned by Twitter user ShopkinsMerch.

The first series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion-capture animation. The physical models' molded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. Cheeky Chocolate's resin faces were only used in background shots.

Cheeky Chocolate’s gauge 1 model has gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series:

* Series 4:
	+ Her brake pipe is facing downward.
	+ She shares the same whistle sound as Dum Mee Mee in nearly all of her roles.
* Series 5:
	+ She regained her old whistle sound, excluding some scenes in Cheeky Chocolate Gets the Giggles.
* Jessicake and the Magic Railroad:
	+ Her paint was given a matte finish.
	+ her brake pipe is facing upward again.
	+ She gained red lining on the cab end of her tender.
	+ Her trailing wheels moved forward, joining to her driving wheel chassis.
* Series 6:
	+ The lining on her pistons was moved slightly inwards.
* Series 8:
	+ Her eyebrows become thinner and arch more.
* Series 10:
	+ The cuts along her cylinders to allow room for the bogey to swivel become much cleaner.
	+ Her eyebrows change shape completely.
	+ Her steam pipes became taller
* Series 1:
	+ The lining on the cab end of her tender was removed.
	+ Her cab has been slightly lowered.

Some of Cheeky Chocolate's faces have been seen mistakenly on Bubbleisha in Shopkins Bring Europe to Jessicake (Part 4), Shopkins World Fair (Part 2) and Shopkins World Fair (Part 5).

One of Cheeky Chocolate's brass models is now on display at Hara Model Railway Museum. It had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios.

### CGI Model

In 2016, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Cheeky Chocolate was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. Her model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Cheeky Chocolate's Gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to Moose Toys for final input and approval.

In 2016, a new render of Cheeky Chocolate was made for the special Shopkins: Chef Club. This render depicted her in streamlined casing, with everything bar the face being completely changed. The "Shooting Star" render only appeared in Shopkins: Chef Club.

Cheeky Chocolate's CGI model was identical to her Gauge 1 model but has had slight modifications, these include:

* Hero of the Rails:
	+ The wheels on her bissel truck and tender got larger.
	+ Her tender's height got thinner.
* Series 2:
	+ The middle sections of her driving wheels are painted black.
* Series 3:
	+ She gained a permanent head lamp and tail lamp.
	+ Her feet are fully brown again.
* Shopkins: World Vacation:
	+ Her side rods become silver.
* Series 5:
	+ She gains another lamp on her left lamp iron, giving her the BR express headcode.
	+ She gains handrails around her cab entrance and on her door.
	+ She gains rivets on her cab, bufferbeams front and sides, the back and sides of her tender, her coupling hook base, around her cab side windows, cylinders, smokebox saddle and around her smokebox.
	+ She gains red lining on the back of her tender.

## Voice Actors

* Kate Murphy (UK/US)
* Abby Trott (Jessicake's Magical Birthday Wishes)
* Silvia Suzy (Brazil; first series onwards, excluding Chuckle Club Shopkins)
* Priscila Ferreira (Brazil; Chuckle Club Shopkins only)
* Wu Xin (China)
* Jitka Moučková (Czech Republic)
* Kristine Yde Eriksen (Denmark)
* Annituuli Kasurinen (Finland)
* Charlaine Mayol (France and French Speaking Canada)
* Angela Quast (Germany)
* Vicky Kaya (Greece)
* Tina Parekh (India)
* Kata Csondor (Hungary)
* Orly Tagar (Israel)
* Laura Amadei (Italy)
* Akari Kikunaga (Japan)
* Jo Hyeon-jeong (South Korea)
* Cynthia Chong (Latin America)
* Tora Wissa (Saudi Arabia)
* Marloes van den Heuvel (The Netherlands)
* Marit Berg (Norway)
* Marta Dylewska (Poland; first series onwards)
* Natalia Jankiewicz (Poland; Shopkins: Chef Club and Shopkins: World Vacation only)
* Monika Pikuła (Poland; Shopkins: Wild and Shopkins: Join the Party only)
* Luciana Abreu (Portugal)
* Ioana Perneș (Romania)
* Liza Arzamasova (Russia)
* Vladislava Đorđević (Serbia)
* Lara Ullod (Spain)
* Carola Häggkvist (Sweden)
* Angkhana Phanprateep (Thailand)
* Rojda Demirer (Turkey)