Thursday, January 29, 2015

Freaky Attraction

The annals of breakfast history are littered with the boxes and ghosts of cereals past and their sweet memories. Some, like Urkel-O's are perhaps best forgotten, but others are fondly remembered by those who grew up in front of Saturday morning television and their favorite bowlful of sugary joy. Many, of course, like "Froot Loops", "Cap'n Crunch", and "Frosted Flakes" are still around .  Others, such as "Super Sugar Crisp", have been camouflaged of their true nature, with "Sugar" becoming "Golden". But of all the lost cereals, there may be none so freaky as, well, "Freakies".


"Freakies" was a Ralston product released in 1973 and pulled from market shelves in 1976.  Despite it's only 4-year run, it is remembered today by legions of fans, many who can't even seem to recall what they tasted like.

I found these magnets at a sale last fall and they've been living on my refrigerator in obscurity since. Only recently did I learn they were from "Freakies" cereal.

BossMoss

Cowmumble

Snorkeldorf

I don't remember "Freakies" at all, but there are a number of  sites and blogs devoted to them.  Here's a complete set of "Freakies" magnets I found on the internet:


You can watch a full 7 minutes of Freakies commercials on Youtube.  Burgess Meredith narrates the legend of The Freakies in the first commercial.


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8 comments:

  1. Lady MJanuary 29, 2015 at 8:48 PM

    I have one of these little freakies in plastic. Some day I will pull him out of storage and photograph him for you.

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    1. TomJanuary 30, 2015 at 10:09 AM

      Wow! Mint in package! They sell for quite a bit on eBay, you might want to look into that if you're not too attached to it.

      Delete
  2. Lady MJanuary 29, 2015 at 8:48 PM

    it's that one with his index finger in the air

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  3. Lady MJanuary 29, 2015 at 8:49 PM

    yes boss moss

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  4. FrankOJanuary 29, 2015 at 10:12 PM

    DUDE. have we never discussed this?? apparently not. freakies was, hands-down, my FAVORITE cereal. i was devastated when it went away. i have a file stashed somewhere, i believe, of a recreation of the box that i found on some site years ago. like i'm sure you've seen similar things on the fan sites, but i can't describe just what it was about that cereal that i loved, but i did. it may have been the toy tie-ins, but i loved that cereal. for the record, i believe they tasted like cap'n crunch, which is what i attribute my love of that cereal to. i used to have the magnets, and they once made little cars for each one of them, powered by a balloon. i had snorkledorf. he (she?) was my favorite. anyway -- LONG LIVE FREAKIES!

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    1. TomJanuary 30, 2015 at 10:12 AM

      Apparently, we have never discussed this. I completely missed out on them. And you are a bonifide Freakies Fanatic. I was always a fan of Cap'n Crunch as well (although, they do tear your mouth up) so I probably would have liked them.

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    2. FrankOJanuary 30, 2015 at 10:25 AM

      in watching those commercials (which are really terrible by today's standards, btw), i realized that the little car i had was NOT powered by a balloon, it was one of those air bulbs you punch your fist down on. anyway, i had the Snorkledorf one. the other funny thing i realized from those commercial was that there were other flavors. i VAGUELY remember the fruit flavored one because of the Carmen Miranda reference in the commercial (not that i knew who she was at the time), but i had no clue they made a chocolate version, too. weird.

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  5. Bob JohnsJanuary 31, 2015 at 10:50 AM

    I remember the magnets but had no clue about the cereal

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