To get with the Halloween spirit of things, we decided to post an article on one of our favorite (somewhat) new toy companies out there, FlapJack Toys! “Who?” you may be asking yourself. Flapjack Toys is a company owned by Mike Becker, the same Mike Becker who used to own FunKo Wacky Wobblers (known for making wobblers of your favorite childhood buddies, like Hong Kong Phooey, or Count Chocula etc.).
After running FunKo for 7 years, he decided to step down and leave the wacky wobbler business (mabye he just got tired of those damn wobbler heads always nodding!). Soon after he left Funko, he started Flapjack Toys, which features two lines of spooky, and crazy vinyl figures.
(Symptoms line “Dry Skin”)
The Symptoms line features 6 1/2″ figures that represent actual ”symptoms”. For instance, you can get anything from Itchy Scalp, to Shortness of Breath, to Depression. They all come in a prescription pill bottle that looks like it came from your local drug store complete with directions and warnings on the label.
(Spooky Kooky line ”Von Becker”)
The Spooky Kookys line consists of 7″ figures that are more Halloween, or monster orientated. Figures like “Von Becker”, a German dressed skeleton with a mug of beer, or “Roco”, a skeleton gangster who look like he just robbed a safe holding a bag of money, make this line our favorite here at The Fresh Element. By all means check out the offical website here and you can see exactly what we are talking about.
Now that we have the background to this company covered, lets get on to what this article is all about…. the “Freaky Fright Club!”
What impresses us so much about Flapjack Toys, is it’s “retro” (for lack of a better word) approach to its fan club! Thats right this toy line actually has a fan club! Now this is no ordinary “Email us, and you’ll be entered into our system for updates on our products” bullshit. This bad mutha fucka is straight old school in every sense of the word! To join, the first thing we had to do was print out the membership order form, fill it out and than find an envelope. Thats right, you mail this bitch in, no email or all that fancy schmancy crap. Slap the stamp on, include $15.00 (well get to why you include the money) and mail it. This sort of reminds me of when I would mail in $2.00 for a whoope coushin, or fake thumb, from old magazines like “Johnson smith” and shit. Then we waited. Thats always the fun part, and Mike Becker must know this to have a fanclub of this caliber.
Now when we finally got our package in the mail a few weeks later, we were exicted, and ripped the thing open like a spoiled kid on Christmas. Heres what we found:
(Ivan)
It’s Ivan, the Spooky kooky’s mascot in all his glory! Check out the cool box art and packaging!
The side of the box goes into detail about the history of the “Spooky Kooky’s”. Aparently the Spooky Kooky’s was going to be a cartoon show in the 70’s but it had some raunchy humor, and was recast as a watered down version renamed the “Groovy Goolies”.
Upon removing Ivan from his package he just sort of stared at me like “The fuck you lookin at?”.
This guy is pretty funny looking, but in a cool sort of way. Just don’t expect to have this dude sitting on your computer desk when your girl comes over and think you’ll get laid over it. But I could be wrong, you never know.
Now thats not all you get in this membership kids, thats right, you get more. You also get the offical “Freaky Fright Club” membership card!
(membership card and sticker)
Thats right your very own membership card! Not one of those cheezy thin paper kind either, this bitch is thick like cardboard! It will state your name, date it was issued, your member number (we’re number 76) and is signed by Mike Becker himself. God Damn I say, what a deal! Not only that, but you’ll also recieve a free Ivan sticker (look in image above)! Now I know what you’re thinking. “Guys, there can’t possibly be anything else?” But there is! You also get a Flapjack Toys pin to wear on your shirt out at the bars, or on the street, or just lounge around your house in. My apologies I have no picture of this, it fell off somewhere, and I was never able to find it again. Mike Becker really knows how to do this right, as we were impressed, and it brought back memories of waiting for that one awesome thing you ordered as a kid, waiting for weeks checking the mail everyday to see if it was there until it finally came.
But anyway, you can see how much is included in this fan club, and just how cool it is. So there you have it, The “Freaky Fright Club” joined, reviewed, and posted for your viewing pleasure.
