Well, only one day remaining for 2023, so I thought I'd throw in one more Funko History post. Enjoy.
Even if you only drank Kool Aid as a kid in the 60's (like I did), you still knew all about Funny Face drink mix. Since their launch in 1964, these wacky characters went head-to-head against the Kool Aid man in TV commercials. For me, Funny Face commercials were much better than Kool Aid commercials. The Funny Face characters were designed by Pillsbury to clobber General Foods' Kool Aid. Instead of one smiling-face pitcher character, as Kool Aid had, Pillsbury came up with a gaggle of advertising characters--one for each fruit flavor.
Funko's Funny Face Wobblers first started arriving in 2002, with 5 characters, 3 regular Funko releases of 3,000 each: Choo Choo Cherry, Goofy Grape, and Lefty Lemon; and 1 exclusive release from That Toy Guy of 1,000 each: Rootin Tootin Raspberry. The 5th character was the limited edition (LE48) Lefty Lime (more on him below).
Between 2004 and 2011, four more characters arrived on the scene. In 2004, That Toy Guy had 2 more exclusives of 1,000 each: Jolly Ollie Orange and Freckle Face Strawberry. In 2005, Very Blueberry showed up at Funko Fundays 3 with a limited edition of 96. The last character joined the group in 2011: Loud Mouth Lime (more on him later too). In total, there were 9 characters, but only 8 molds.
One mold was used for 2 characters: Lefty Lemon and Lefty Lime.
The original Lefty Lime debuted at the First Annual Freddy Awards on September 21, 2002 in Seattle, Washington (the Freddy Awards only happened the one time--that I know of--it was a way for Mike Becker to show his appreciation to those that helped him build Funko up. This was separate and distinct from Funko Fun Days which started the next month at Sparky's at Universal City Walk). This rarest of Funny Face Wobblers (at that time) was never sold to the public. Only 48 Lefty Limes were produced and were given out to the attendees of the Freddy Awards. Lefty Lime was identical to Lefty Lemon except for his coloring, and his base read, "2002 Freddy's." It even came in a Lefty Lemon box.
Eventually more characters showed up with the same low production run as the Lefty Lime of 48. There were 3 others: a metallic Freckle Face Strawberry from 2010 SDCC; a metallic Rootin Tootin Raspberry also from 2010, but this was an exclusive for Platinum Card holders; and a metallic Loud Mouth Lime from the 2011 SDCC.
[NOTE: The Funko Platinum Card program was sort of a frequent flyer program for Funko collectors who attended Fun Days (and other requirements); a Platinum card gave the bearer the unique privilege to receive one or more ultra Limited Editions of Funko products for free at Comic Con or Funko Fun Days events a well as possible periodic Funko Funatic forum special editions. Here's a thread about the card if you're interested. viewtopic.php?f=107&t=101170&hilit=platinum+card#p2740503]
Another metallic variant was the metallic Lefty Lime. This piece was LE 60 and handed out to attendees of the 2010 Funatic Days Out (FDO). If you've attended an FDO, you know they're a blast. Did you know that you have Cory (mrcory5000) to thank for creating this event. It grew out of Cory's annual Midwest Wobbler Summit. I believe the first FDO was in 2006, held in Hollywood, Minneapolis, and Greenlawn NY.
There were quite a few variants of the Funny Face Wobblers, which made them so much fun to collect. Here are the GITD variants. The GITD Goofy Grape was an LE 96 and came out at 2004 SDCC (that was the year of the classic Funko Supermarket booth). The GITD Freckle Face Strawberry was an LE 96 and came out at the 2005 SDCC. The GITD Lefty Lemon was an LE 240 and came out at the 2006 SDCC. The GITD Loud Mouth Lime was a chase, also an LE 96 and came out in 2011. Loud Mouth Lime (regular and glow chase) was an exclusive made for a Funatic named Randy (GarnerRC). The regular Loud Mouth Lime was an LE 1,000. Interestingly, that same year is when the metallic Loud Mouth Lime came out at SDCC. This was a year before I joined the board, so I don't know if Randy knew the metallic was being made by Funko or not. I also don't know if Randy had a business or was just a collector who contracted with Funko to have the piece made. [Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge could add to this.] Either way, Randy is the one who sold the regular and GITD Loud Mouth Limes.
And last, but not least, was the metallic Goofy Grape which was an LE 240 and came out at the 2010 SDCC. 18 Wobblers in total and a fan-favorite set for many Funatics. And here is a group shot of all the Funny Face Wobblers along with some vintage Funny Face cups from the 60's and 70's.
I hope everyone's year was a happy and healthy one--and if not--well, here's hoping your 2024 is spectacular. Cheers.
I love these, I need to track them all down. I have a few of them. I do have the platinum card as well!
