The lack of releases or news of any sort from Mattel on our beloved Funkeys has made it tough to motivate myself to work on updating the site for a while now. I applaud all of you who have stayed with it and continue to frequent the forum. Hopefully, we'll be getting some sort of news soon so we can either rejoice or mourn properly... :)

I did give the Mattel service number a call yesterday and talked to nice woman who assured me that the U.B.Funkeys toy line was still a strong seller for Mattel and their "system" did not have them marked as "discontinued".

My take is that they've all but canceled the line but just haven't taken the steps to properly do so, OR with all that happened with the Paradox Green mix-up and knowing that they couldn't get anything *new* released before the holiday shopping season, they've just placed the line in suspension to re-evaluate next year.

Of course I'm hoping for the latter... :)

With many having vacation time coming up, I hope you all have fun and enjoy spending time with your families!

Labels: Funkeys News, Future Release

There's very little evidence to point to a future for U.B.Funkeys right now, but I still hold a cautiously optimistic view that it will survive.

The official website hasn't been updated in quite a while and neither has the game itself. Pretty much every Walmart I've been to recently has stopped carrying them, and that's a blow for any toy line. The momentum of continued releases and updates is what spurs interest in a product/game/collectible like Funkeys and that has really dried up lately.

I also have not been able to get any news from Mattel. Trust me, I don't know anything more than the rest of you.

What we do know is that Mattel has in the past 6 months closed a large location in Texas and relocated some of those employees to California. At that point the news was that Funkeys *would* survive. But then there was the awful mix-up in the release of Paradox Green (which had looked to be a savior for the toy line) when ALL of the singles release were of the VR assortment. This obviously led to the decision not to release the other variations. I doubt they were ever manufactured in the mix-up or they would have been released by now.

It would be a huge blow for Funkeys to end this way. The response to the Wendy's kid's meal toys was great. People have been waiting anxiously for the Common and Rare versions of the Paradox Green figures. There have been some mis-steps in the marketing (can you say Dream State VR box sets?) but I do believe that the toy line could survive all of this if Mattel gave it another chance.

The DC series could be that savior. We all know that Entertainment Earth has been doing pre-sales for the DC series recently. I asked them about it and all they could say is that they still have pre-order release info from Mattel on the series and that they haven't seen anything to make them believe they won't be released. If they were far enough in production, I could see Mattel giving it "one last chance". While I wish it was a non-licensed series to turn things around, I'd be happy if it worked.

Labels: Funkeys News, Future Release, Paradox Green

The same seller that sold the Rastro and Tadd now has Nectar and Maul up, again both the VERY RARE versions! They are "Buy It Now" auctions for $24.99 so you better hurry if you want them! :)

Maul is here... -- Nectar is here...

Labels: Funkeys News, Hidden Realm, Maul, Nectar, Paradox Green, Purchasing Funkeys

Checked eBay earlier and "Bam!", there they were. Then they were gone! :( Yeah, Paradox Green Funkeys were on eBay, the VERY RARE versions of both Tadd and Rastro and they sold via "Buy It Now" for $24.99 each. The seller was either in a hurry to make some money or didn't realize how much more they would have likely gotten if they had left them up for bidding. They always go crazy high at first...

Anyway, this is what many of us have been waiting for! The floodgates will likely open soon on eBay for those who don't have good distribution nearby. I seriously still haven't found any multiplayer Dream State figures in the store but one time. Of course the TWO they had were both ones I had already broken down and purchased on eBay months after being released. But enough about me!

Check to see if there are Paradox Funkeys on eBay now!

Interestingly, the seller was out of Chicago this time. Might be a good idea to keep an eye open in that area. :) These are the ones that sold already...

Labels: ebay, Funkeys News, Paradox Green, Purchasing Funkeys, Rastro, Tadd

Just found out that one of the next rounds of Kid's Meal toys at the Wendy's fast food restaurant will be based out beloved Funkeys! The picture below shows what will be included in the selection. It includes 2 different CD's with games of some sort, a pink Funkeys bobble-head based on Wendy (sort of), a fold out Funkeys 3D board game, and a yellow and red Funkeys backpack clip. The kids don't get Wendy's very often, but something tells me they're going to be getting a few Kid's Meals soon... :)



You can see it for yourself over on the Wendy's site if you'd like. Click here and then click on "Coming Soon" when you get there...

If you see them show up at Wendy's post here!!!

Labels: Exclusive Funkeys, Funkeys News, Wendy's Kid's Meals

There has been a growing amount of chatter on the Funkeys blogs and discussion boards regarding the future of our favorite little guys (and gals). Many have taken the lack of updates in the game, the long span from the release of Hidden Realm, the dwindling of store stock (and even clearancing of some series) as tell-tale signs that the toy line and game are in trouble. I haven't been helping matters by being so quiet recently either, but let me assure you that my lack of posts has been strictly personal issues keeping me from getting to it. I still have plenty to post about!

But let me address the worries. I feel I need to now because there have been some recent changes at Mattel that once made more public will add fuel to the fire. The branch in Texas, where the Radica team currently resides is being shut down in the near future.

The following is not "official" from the company, but I have multiple sources within and outside Mattel and feel comfortable making the following claims...

1) Radica will continue as a subsidiary name under the Mattel umbrella.

2) The lines that were managed from the Texas facility that are still going to be produced will be moved to the California facility.

3) U.B.Funkeys is a growing, thriving line and WILL continue to be produced.

Beyond that, there has been a scheduling change that was actually made a while back but I never got around to posting about it here. The Series 5 - Paradox Green will be the next series to be released, NOT the DC line as originally planned last year. I know this will not come as a surprise to some who have been paying attention to what's being displayed at the shows and pre-selling to retailers now, but since it wasn't officially announced I thought it should be.

Hopefully as the dust settles on these changes at Mattel, Funk-E will have a chance to send some official updates on all things Funkey, but for now that's all the specific news I have to share on the future of the Funkeys line.

Hopefully one of the mods on the forum will start an official thread to discuss this post soon. For now I have to run. To all... Stay Funkey!

Labels: Funkeys News, Mattel, Radica

There has been some grumbling and a level of discontent revolving around Funkeys 4.5 Funkey Trunk, the latest update to the U.B.Funkeys game, and I’d like to try and clear up a few misconceptions that are causing most of it.

To help out, we sent some questions along to our contacts close to the development team. Here are the responses. Keep in mind that these answers, while informative, cannot be taken as official responses like in the "Ask Funk-E" section since they did not go through all the normal channels.

Q: Is the purchased loot applied to only the account logged in or to all accounts on the computer similar to a bonus code? (This was sent before this was confirmed by some of the forum members)

A: Currently it’s a per account basis. The problem is that we cannot detect that 2 different accounts come from the same computer.

Note: This is followed up on and commented on more below…

Q: When will additional Familiars be available?

A: They will be rolling out in the next few weeks...the Familiars will never catch up to the physical Funkeys in regards to series. This is done so that they don’t compete directly with the figures. The series 1 figures are getting harder to find, so the Familiars for series 1 will be available....as we progress, Familiars will be added in a 1 to 2 series behind roll-out. Again, this reinforces the idea that in order to get the new content, you need the figures, but new users just coming in can catch up on older content if they can’t find the figures

Q: Will there be other ways to purchase loot, like through the website using unique Funkey name, or in stores like through a card purchase (like with Neopets).

A: The plan is to roll out gift-cards next year, and provide for other purchasing options...we are learning as we go, so bear with us....

Q: Will there eventually be ways to earn loot within the game as well?

A: I imagine that we will be implementing ways to earn loot; we have to gauge the overall response first.

Q: Why has Master Lox been so busy since the 4.5 update? Many are having issues trying to purchase loot and those who have loot are at time not able to spend it.

It was communicated that they are well aware of these outages and will get things fixed as soon as possible.

Also, while I can’t share the communications in their entirety, I wanted everyone to see a few snippets to help reinforce the fact that the folks working on the game are trying to make a better game in response to past feedback and not deliberately trying to just make more money off the fans.

"...I think its being a bit misunderstood. It is never the intention to make player's buy digital stuff in order to progress the game....all the Funkey trunk stuff is there if you want it, but won’t hurt if you don’t want it...like I said, the intention is to give the users who can’t find Funkeys the ability to get familiars....in addition, the games in Angus's lab are to reward those people who decide to get both a Funkey and a Familiar..."

"...the system is still being tweaked, and we’re eager to get feedback from the community. I just want to make sure that everyone knows the intention is not to squeeze extra cash out of the users..."

We had some discussion about the Familiars not having the same functionality as the real Funkeys (such as coins and trophies and such) and while the current functionality IS what was planned, the team is listening to the conversations going on in the forums and are considering what (if any) changes should be made to that.

And finally (for now) there’s the “per account” problem that many have raised regarding this update being a very expensive proposition for those with multiple users in the same house. (There are six in mine!) The answer above was that they couldn’t determine what accounts were on the same computer. They are working on ideas now. I had further communication with them about this and here are a few snippets from that...

...I agree that this is an issue, and one that we didn't anticipate...

...It is our #1 thing to discuss with the developers...

...due to timing, if we can find a fix, then it probably can’t be instituted until the beginning of next year due to end of year vacations...

...I 100% agree with the users on this issue, and will work to find a solution...

So what does all this mean? Well primarily, that the folks working on the game are working hard to make a great game for all of us to enjoy and the motives are where they should be. There ARE problems right now both technical and with some of the design, but they have acknowledged that fact and will work on fixing things. There will likely never be perfect agreement between them and the players of the game on everything, but I have faith that they are trying hard to make it a great experience for all. Give them some time to work all of this out.

Have a great time!

Labels: Funkeys News, Game Updates, Mattel

The site VirtualGoodNews.com has posted a small article regarding the recent press release from Mattel/Arkadium.

You can read it here...

Labels: Funkeys News, Game Updates, Press Realeases

There's a new press release about the Funkey Trunk Update from the Funkeys game. I've noticed it start popping up today here, here, and here so far.

I also have some additional information and opinions to post about this update. I hope to get that up later today...

U.B. Funkeys™ Debuts Funkey Trunk Micro Transactions for Access to Exclusive Game Enhancements

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - December 22, 2008) - Radica, a division of Mattel, in conjunction with causal game and software developer Arkadium, today announced the launch of its new Funkey Trunk micro transactions system. As the latest addition to U.B. Funkeys™, a popular interactive game that combines vinyl toy collecting with the world of gaming, Funkey Trunk enhances players' user experience by providing them with the ability to purchase exclusive new add-ons for their virtual world. The new Funkey Trunk is made up of two parts: My Funkey Trunk and Angus' Lab.

In My Funkey Trunk, items called Funkey Familiars and Portal Jammers can be purchased. Funkey Familiars are virtual Funkeys that grant access to the Game Rooms that belong to a specific Funkey, without having to own the physical Funkey first. Players who already own that physical Funkey will receive extra features with a Funkey Familiar. Portal Jammers are items that allow players to pass through any Portal, into any Game Room, or into any game for a one-time preview.

Also introduced in this release is Angus, a new character in the U.B. Funkeys™ world who walks around and can be accessed within every Zone. When clicked on, players are transported to his lab where new items such as mood indicators and animated and interactive items for a player's home base, or Crib, can be found.

"Our teams have created a 'loot' system that allows parents or guardians to securely add funds for their children to spend in the U.B. Funkeys™ virtual world," said Jeff Bruneau, Sr. Marketing Manager for U.B. Funkeys™. "These micro transactions are a fun way to educate children on responsible spending habits, while letting them customize their gaming experience. Because these items are available within the controlled virtual environment, parents can be assured that they will continue to provide fun even past the holiday season and are appropriate for children."

Loot is purchased through a secure online system inside the U.B. Funkeys™ PC game software. Parents can purchase loot easily and the Loot added in the Funkey Trunk does not have an expiration date if not spent. The balance can be tracked by the player though the 'My Loot Balance' area, and a complete list of transactions can be viewed in the 'Transactions' section of all accounts.

Vinyl toy collecting and online virtual gaming are both popular activities among today's young adults and children. This latest enhancement of U.B. Funkeys™ further marries the vinyl figure collecting trend with the world of online casual gaming and delivers an all-new virtual experience filled with fun, exploration and games. The U.B. Funkeys™ Starter Kit, available at major retailers everywhere, includes the U.B. Funkeys™ hub, figure and PC software. Individual Funkeys figures are also available for sale separately.

About Mattel

Mattel, Inc. (NYSE: MAT) (www.mattel.com) is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. The Mattel family is comprised of such best-selling brands as Barbie®, the most popular fashion doll ever introduced, Hot Wheels®, Matchbox®, American Girl®, Radica:® and Tyco® R/C, as well as Fisher-Price® brands, including Little People®, Power Wheels® and a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy lines. Mattel is recognized as one of 2008's "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE Magazine. With worldwide headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., Mattel employs more than 30,000 people in 43 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations. Mattel's vision is to be the world's premier toy brands -- today and tomorrow.

About Arkadium

Arkadium is the premier game solutions developer for the advergaming and casual game markets. The company's growing archive of over 200 Flash-based and custom game solutions currently reaches millions of people through some of the most popular online destinations and corporate branded Web sites on the Internet. For more information visit http://www.arkadium.com.

Labels: Arkadium, Funkeys News, Game Updates, Mattel, Press Realeases, Radica

As many have already found out since yesterday evening, the Hidden Realm update is now available for download. Be prepared! It's a hefty 151 MB in size, so if you are on an old dial-up connection, it's gonna take a while...


I have not personally had time to poke around yet, but I'll be sure to do that soon and post some more...

Have fun, and post back here about what you find! :)

Labels: Funkeys News, Game Updates, Hidden Realm

As first announce by our forum member JustinSprocket, the 3.2 update, called the Exclusive Characters Update, started to hit last night. My computer did not find the update yesterday or today even though it looked for one, but I was just updated by Funk-E that there was a glitch last night and they had to temporarily reverse the update. Mattel hopes to have it ready again either today or Monday. From the discussion in the forum, there is a new update to the Funkiki Island zone which is assumed to be for the Target exclusive Funkiki Island Adventure Packs that are supposed to be hitting the shelves soon. There's more details on that exclusive (with Jerry Pearl, a Funkiki Native, and the Pineapple King) here and more here if you missed that announcement.

Further info from Funk-E: I was also informed about a couple VERY exciting new features in this update. Players with unique Funkeys names will now be able to save their progress to the servers. This means two things:

1) We'll be able to recover all player data if anything happens (computer crash?) and we need to re-install everything!
2) We'll be able to play our accounts from different computers!

There's more, but Funk-E wanted me to hold off and let everyone discover some on their own as well...

Discuss this here!

Labels: Adventure Pack, Ask Funk-E, Exclusive Funkeys, Funkeys News, Funkiki Island, Game Updates, Jerry Pearl, Natives, Pineapple King

For those who may not have noticed yet, Mayor Sayso has joined Facebook. If you have an account there, look him up! He has shared some great new images of the upcoming Hidden Realm series...

Labels: Facebook, Funkeys News, Hidden Realm, Mayor Sayso, Yang

Game Update:
As most of you know by now there was a version 3.15 update released recently called "Promo". I didn't post about it right away because there weren't any obvious changes to the game. I confirmed over the weekend that the update was strictly back-end updates. On the plus side, some in the forum have reported that it seems to have fixed some glitches in their games for them.


Pink Exclusive Dream State Starter:
Over the weekend, Bryan1-2 from the forum reported a new color variation of the Dream State Starter. It has a pink version of the UB hub (not just plain pink like the Limited Too exclusive) and comes with Twinx and Waggs. Funk-E confirmed to me that it is a Toys R Us exclusive. On a side note, Funk-E also confirmed that the black hub version of the Dream State Starter is an exclusive for a UK based retailer called Argos. I've done some digging and they will not ship outside of the UK, so US collectors are going to have to resort to places like eBay as they start becoming more widely released.


Other Images:
First one up is this image of some early prototypes from Hidden Realm. We originally talked about it here but didn't post the image at the time...


Second is an image that was pointed out by someone on the forum. It's the Speed Racer image from Target.com. I hadn't noticed, but the Racer X in the image looks completely different as if it was an early design...


Last image for this post is a Funkiki Island image I had not seen before. Looking around last night, I found this on the UK version of the Radica website...

Labels: Argos, Black Hub, Dream State, Exclusive Funkeys, Funkeys News, Funkiki Island, Game Updates, Pink Hub, Preview, Racer X, Speed Racer, Toys R Us, Twinx, Waggs

With the whispers of TFAW.com having the Hidden Realm U.B.Funkeys up for pre-order, you may be thinking that you already knew the names since they list them as Raj, Yang, Yeti, and Kali. But you'd be wrong! :)

In talking to Funk-E over the matter, I was informed today that though some were correct on that site, the actual names are as follows: Raj, Yang, Bomble and Singe...

Labels: Bomble, Funkeys News, Hidden Realm, Raj, Singe, Yang

The updates to the official site added the above two teaser images for Hidden Realm, including two rarity colors for the Yeti (Light Blue and Pink)and the YinYang (Green and Red) Funkeys. Adding the images we've already seen of the prototypes at SDCC 2008 and the side image from the Dream State starter, we see the following possible variants...

(Yin-Yang)
Green/Black - official site
Red/Black - official site
Green/Dark Blue - SDCC
White/Green w/very different look - DS package

(Yeti)
White/Blue - official site
White/Pink - official site
Green/Tan - SDCC
White/Blue w/different expression - DS package

(Tiger)
Orange/White - official site
Green/White - SDCC
White/Red - w/very different look* - DS package

* I feel that this was likely an early design for what turned out to be the tiger design based on it's similar "tiger/sabertooth" family feel. I could be wrong.

(Dragon)
Blue/Orange - official site
Red/Orange - SDCC
White/Red - w/very different look# - DS package

# I feel that this was likely an early design for what turned out to be the dragon design based on the flower design that was once on the face and now on the dragon's belly. I could be wrong.



Discuss it here in the forum!

Labels: Funkeys News, Hidden Realm, Images

The official site has been updated with Dream State content. There are also some Dream State images on the home page as well as a Hidden Realm teaser where the Dream State teaser use to be. Some image below highlight the new home page content...

Labels: Dream State, Funkeys News, Hidden Realm, Images, Official UBFunkeys Site Update

Signed on just a bit ago and downloaded the 3.1 update for Daydream Oasis. It was another big update, so if you don't have a good connection be prepared to wait a while. I'll look around and post more about it later...

Labels: Daydream Oasis, Dream State, Funkeys News, Game Updates

For those who haven't noticed yet, there are exclusive Dot figures from the San Diego Comic-Con showing up on eBay now. From the look of it, they must have been limited to 2 per person because I haven't seen the same seller list more two of them. With only 2000 out there in total, these might become pretty tough to find soon...

Labels: Dot, ebay, Exclusive Funkeys, Funkeys News

Yes it looks as though the next licensed series for the U.B.Funkeys line will be based on DC super heroes! These prototypes from the San Diego Comic-Con look really cool. I'm personally looking forward to these MUCH more than I was to the Speed Racer series. Below we see a Superman Funkey, a Wonder Woman Funkey, a Green Lantern Funkey, a Batman Funkey, a Flash Funkey, and an Aquaman Funkey.

Click on an image for a larger view...





Discuss! :)

Labels: Aquaman, Batman, DC Comics, Funkeys News, Green Lantern, Preview, SDCC, Super Heroes, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman

Images are showing up around the Internet of the new Funkeys Series: Hidden Realm, scheduled for 2009. As you can see in the image they are still awaiting licensing approval, so there's no guarantee we'll ever see them, at least not necessarily in the forms they're in right now. Some on the forum have already pointed out that the two of them that are on the side of the Dream State starter packaging look slightly different than the prototypes in these images below from the San Diego Comic-Con.

After the three images of the Hidden Realm figures, there's a fun image of a henchman propaganda poster with some huge funkeys statues from Dream State in front of it...

Labels: Dream State, Dyer, Funkeys News, Hidden Realm, Preview, SDCC, Vlurp

We've just posted the much-overdue second installment of Ask Funk-E! In this edition, you'll get to read Funk-E's responses to questions regarding Unique Account Names, Chat Funkeys, possible Mail-In Offers, Tribal Genders (aka: is Berger a male?), the Invisible Funkey, the Big Red Button, Dream State Starter Packs, a possible Tach Funkey, the Fate of the Speed Racer Series, possible Tamagotchies-style Funkey Giga Pets, Ask Funk-E Installment #3 from San Diego, and Fan Suggestions.

There are some great tid-bits and a bit of sad news as well regarding the Speed Racer Series. Read up and then jump over to the forum to chat about it...

Labels: Ask Funk-E, Funkeys News, Site Updates, Speed Racer

The download for version 3.05 hit on Friday and Dot's place is added the the Funkeystown map, all but assuring us that the talked about "ladybug" exclusive Funkey to be sold at the San Diego Comic-Con will indeed be Dot. Questions still swirl regarding which version of Dot will be release. Or will all three?

Below you can see some screen-shots of what's to come...

Labels: Dot, Exclusive Funkeys, Funkeys News, Game Updates

One of the members over on the official site's forum posted some images of Nightmare Rift after they scored a Ptep figure. Now that the singles are also showing up on eBay, I'm sure this will be old news pretty quickly, but for those who are going to be waiting for their local Targets and Walmarts to get stock, here are some sneak peaks!

Labels: Dream State, Funkeys News, Images, Nightmare Rift, Ptep

We just got some concrete info regarding the Funkeys speakers that have been talked about on the forum. How fitting that they would be produced to look like Scratch! :)


Click for a larger view...

In other news, the first release of flash drives will be available as four different Funkeys. Deuce and Lotus are confirmed, and the other two are up for speculation at this point. Our assumption is that additional waves will be produced based on how well sales do with the first four.

Labels: Funkeys Flash Drives, Funkeys News, Funkeys Speakers, Purchasing Funkeys, Scratch