@Retro64: I know this is a very late reply, but I think they wanted Diddy's Kremling rival to be a small child Kremling (as Diddy is a small child Kong), and those did not exist prior to this game at all. While Kutlass is small, he doesn't strike me as a child in the slightest (not to mention very pirate-themed), and Krunch seems to be a tad too big to fit the criteria as well (gotta keep in mind that the stats have to match with Diddy, too). Moreover, I think they also want to create a female child Kremling counterpart to match with Dixie Kong, so it'd make more sense to create two matching OCs, rather than just creating one girly child Kremling OC that doesn't match with either Krunch or Kutlass... thus, Kip and Kass were created.

There's no real excuse for Kludge, though. We already have a blue, strong Kremling in Krusha, who also seems way more fitting to be Funky's rival given their similar muscular builds (they're identical to DK's and Kritter's), whereas Kludge is MUCH bulkier than ANY of them. There is in fact concept art of Barrel Blast floating around that depicts Krusha (with a slight but faithful redesign) alongside Kopter (looking the same as in DKC3), an unused smaller Kremling named Karry (maybe usurped by Kip?) and an unused tall female Kremling named Kressa (probably usurped by Tiny's rival, Kalypso, though Kressa fits more as Tiny's rival while Kalypso could've been a rival to Candy). This piece tells me that Krusha WAS considered for the game, but instead we got this new Kludge OC, for some reason.

@DigitalDiamal agreed seeing as Chunky's Pineapple Launcher is in this one game!
Kiddy though yeah but the thing is that idk how the fanbase would feel about his return (if one does not count the cancelled Diddy Kong Racing sequel before the Rare buyout) seeing as there is one side that HATES him and one side that LOVES him despite how useless he is
Krusha I would like to see over Kludge though.... SCREW IT Why couldn't they put Chunky and Krusha in the game they own the characters after the Rare buyout (Except for Rare's other titles like Banjo and Conker)
Also speaking of Kremlings... why did they need the feel to put a BUCKET on Klump was the helmet he wore before in previous DK titles too inappropriate?

@DigitalDiamal True, seeing Chunky and Kiddy again would have been great! If Kiddy was added I think it make the most sense for Kopter to be his rival since they are both from DKC3

@Retro64 They've wasted an opportunity to add Chunky and Kiddy Kong to the roster and also having Krusha and Kutlass as their respective rivals.

The existence of Kip and Kludge confuse me. They are almost exactly the same function wise as existing characters.

Kip kind of makes sense, Diddy's existing kremling rival Krunch is in a legal Grey area that they probably didn't want to deal with. However they could have choose Kutlass instead. Kip even has the same light green color as Krunch and Kutlass!

Kludge is even more confusing. He is literally just Krusha without being called Krusha. He has all the same attributes as Krusha! Even his color is the exact same!

I don't care that these characters are "not made by Rare and so they must be garbage" because that's not true. Paon's Xananab and Dragon Kremling are both cool unique characters. While Kip & Kludge's designs are fine, they feel like a missed opportunity to bring back more fan favorite characters.

Can you rip some of the models?