Want to find out more about those crazy looking vinyl toys that everyone is getting so excited about? Who better to go to than Mike Becker himself, the guy who was behind FunKo, sold it after seven years and like most creative people -- quickly became bored. His solution? Start another toy company -- Flapjack Toys!
Becker's former company FunKo Wacky Wobblers is known world-wide and over the seven years he owned the company, Becker felt they "were able to license and recreate most of his favorite childhood friends into figural vinyl fun". He decided it was time to move on and sold the company, but if you're in the business of fun, it's hard to leave it.
It only took about a year of coffee drinking, dog walking and shopping for curtains until a new company -- Flapjack Toys was born. Becker's passion is "figural plastic weirdness" and I must admit these new toys fit that description to a tee.
Although Michael Becker is a bit too young to really remember Rick Nelson, he won me over immediately when he quoted the lyrics from Nelson's Garden Party "You can't please everyone, so gotta please yourself" when talking about his toys and the fun he hopes they bring to people.
Becker and wife/partner Claudia wanted to create an affordable collectible that reminds people of the stuff they had as kids. He said his monsters and skeletons are "the kind I grew up with as a kid in the 60's and 70's - the kind that were your best friend, not your worst nightmare".
Debut at San Diego Comic Con
Becker said the toys will be debuting at the San Diego Comic Con in July, 2006 and will also be available in cool gift and specialty stores in the United States and Japan, including Uncle Fun in Chicago and
Soap Plant/Wacko in Los Angeles. The toys will also be available in at least four online stores. The suggested
retail price is $12.99.
Although the toys are not limited editions, the initial run is only 1000 of each piece.
Flapjack Toys consists of two lines that are fun, innovative and just plain crazy -- in a good way.
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Spooky Kooky's
Campy looking skeletons from around the world that are cleverly packaged in miniature Halloween costume boxes. I think they're really fun looking, well-made and best described (by me) as a combination of Day of the Dead and Halloween! Currently there are eight figures.
Symptoms
Imagine having a nightmare about your headaches or hot flashes and then picture a creature
that embodies that symptom. That's what Flapjack Toys has captured, a vinyl figure for your Hot Flashes,
Shortness of Breath, Dry Skin, Stiffness of Joints, Itchy Scalp and Headaches.
Although these are not geared to the AARP set -- I think Flapjack Toys could find a whole new market with these Symptom monsters that just might voodoo away those problems.
And that's what collectibles do -- they make you feel something!
