Well, it's been a pretty quiet day, so here's another tidbit of Funko history - the Vegas Freddy and Funko Fundays 2.
Vegas Freddy made his debut at the 2nd Funko Fundays in 2003. There are 192 Vegas Freddys with eight different colored gems/belt buckles, and depending on who you talk to, there is not an even 24 of each gem color. According to Mike Paquin (aka That Toy Guy), Mike Becker decided to glue on the gems just before the event. They literally pulled random colors from a bag and applied them. Little did they realize at the time that they were creating accidental variants. The colors of the gems are: dark blue, clear, red, green, light blue, pink, purple, and yellow.
Fundays 2 was held on Oct. 4th, 2003 at The Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Vegas Freddy's were randomly inserted into Boxes of Fun. His base reads "2003 FUNKO FUNDAYS," and his cape reads "HAVIN' A CLAMBAKE." The box is the special "FFD2" Las Vegas box which was also used for other special edition Wobblers given away at the event, such as the GITD Yummy Mummy (also LE 192) and the LE 48 GITD Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Everyone in attendance received a Box of Fun, but they weren't allowed to open them until Mike said so (that had to be a bit of a stressor). In each BOF was a Vegas Freddy, a GITD Yummy Mummy, a Vegas pin set, some little toys and candy. Each BOF also had a raffle ticket or a gold coin. If you were lucky enough to get a gold coin, you got to trade it for a GITD Casper. The raffle tickets were for drawings of other prizes.
[NOTE]
When I first wrote this post, I originally stated that Vegas Freddy was "a play on Elvis during the Vegas years." But I forgot that the Vegas Freddy body uses the Evel Knievel Wobbler body mold. There was some discussion back in the day about who Vegas Freddy was modeled after and I never saw anything definitive. Vegas was a big deal in both these guys lives. Elvis played Vegas from 1969-1977. Evel attempted to jump the fountain at Caesar's Place in Las Vegas on his Harley in 1967--he didn't make it and broke almost every bone in his body. The paint job isn't definitive as it doesn't truly resemble either Elvis's or Evel's costume. So who knows? Mike Becker probably does, so if anyone sees him, ask him and tell us what he says.
Of course, I have my opinion. I'm going with Elvis. The gem more resembles Elvis's glittery belt buckles and, don't forget, on the back of the cape it says "Havin' a Clambake." Clambake is the name of a movie and a song Elvis made in 1967.
What do you old timers think?
Freddy has left the building!!
R.I.P. Buddy, my bestest friend
