Homies

Many imitation toys have hit the market after the success of Homies. This is celebrated in The Internationale, a famous Socialist song. Homies have become a highly collectible item among fans of the line. In politics, "The International" — such as, the "First International", the "Second International", or the "Socialist International" — may be short for any league of communist, radical, socialist, or union organizations from multiple countries. According to Gonzales, he has received order from countries in Europe, South America and Africa as well to have characters representing people from those continents. In team sports, "International" commonly refers either to a match between two national teams, or to a player capped by his national team. The Puerto Ricans, which total twelve of the Homies, are nicknamed "Los Boricuas". Especially in the United States, "international" is also commonly used to mean "outside of the country." Many non-American English speakers object to this usage in material written for a global audience.

By 2005, the Homies character line had women, as well as Japanese and Puerto Rican characters. International or internationally describes interaction between nations or encompassing several nations. Mainstream stores, such as Walmart, quickly returned the Homies to their stacks, and the toy branched out to include a line of die cast cars, among other things. Some of them became former jailmates who went on to educate children about how to avoid jail, for example. Gonzales then created a story for each of the Homies' characters, each of which had a positive view of the characters.

Many stores stopped selling the toys after the LAPD complained. The figures caused controversy after their initial release, as members of the Los Angeles police department (LAPD), argued that the figures glorified gang life. First created in 1998, these plastic figuerines were initially sold via vending machines typically positioned in supermarkets, but quickly became collectibles among young children through teenagers. Homies are a series of 2-inch figurines loosely based upon Chicano (Mexican American) characters in the life of artist David Gonzales.