Funkey

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Funkeys are the titular race in U.B. Funkeys, which almost every character and tribe belongs to. It is a race that encompasses tribes of every kind of creature, from mammals to monsters, fish to frogs, and plants to robots. They are one of only two sapient races in Terrapinia.

Biology

Funkeys have humanoid, bipedal builds. They have slouched backs and portly bellies, stubby arms with the same joint structure as a human's- though lacking defined hands and fingers- and rounded, legless feet that can move and twist in a number of directions along their flattened lower body. Funkeys tend to have orb-shaped heads with two small bumps that take on the properties of ears, or sometimes eyes. Other Funkeys have different styles of "ear," which distinguishes certain subsets of Funkeys. Funkey tribes tend to be distinguished by the appearance of their skin, face, and outfit. Funkeys do not necessarily always bear a set of full facial details; many Funkeys lack noses, defined ears, mouths, eyes, or even any facial details at all.

The inside of any given Funkey likely looks vastly different from one another, as any given Funkey may embody any number of animals, objects, or fantasy creatures. Funkeys who have eyes are said to have a lens called a "wonder wall" that maintains eye moisturization, determines eyesight based on smoothness, and reacts distinctly to loud, direct exposure to popular music. The Tank are notable in that Dr. Tinker's experiments permanently prevented their tribe's wonder walls from producing tears, forcing all Tank to wear water-filled scuba masks to stop their eyes from drying out.

All Funkeys, or at least all organic ones, have the capability to eat, even ones that lack visible mouths. The same goes for Funkeys who lack visible noses, but can at least smell the repugnant odor of a filthy Funkey, or Funkeys like Dyer with no visible eyes, who can still see in front of them. As such, it is likely possible for every single Funkey to, by some means, access all of the same senses a human has. Funkeys are also mostly innately mammalian in nature, as a majority of them have bones, four limbs, two eyes, the ability to produce hair, and are assumed to reproduce sexually (as many instances of in-game text attributes certain Funkeys as birth siblings). There are, of course, numerous counterexamples to each traditionally mammalian trait, namely in mechanical Funkeys like the Sprocket and Rom. Robotic Funkeys are still considered Funkey tribes, even though they are not naturally-occurring species, nor do they share direct biological relations to other tribes. They are likely considered part of the Funkey species in part because they were physically created by Funkeys themselves, almost always by the renowned Funkey technician Dr. Tinker, and share equivalent sapience and cultural significance.

Dialogue from some Funkeys, like Tiki and Ptep, as well as the storyline of the Oni, imply that Funkeys- or at least some tribes of Funkeys- are capable of living for a very long time without dying of old age. As seen with Funkeys like Mayor Sayso, however, all Funkeys do eventually grow to an old age, and Funkeys spoken of as historical figures are presumed to no longer be alive. As such, it is very unclear how long any individual tribe of Funkey actually lives for.

One trademark quirk of Funkey biology that persists across nearly every species is their ability to be born as a Rare or Very Rare Funkey. During special celebrations that happen multiple times a year, the energy generated from the cheering masses cause any Funkey born on that day to become a new color. Very Rare Funkeys are a different color than the Rare or Common Funkeys, and are born when a festival's cheering energy blends with the magic of a blue moon. Bizarrely, some Rare and Very Rare Funkeys, like Wasabi and Tank, visually only differ based on the outfits they wear.

Origin

It is said that all Funkey tribes evolved from the Tiki, the first tribe to emerge from the "Primordial Soup" (a term often used to simplify the ancient, chemical-rich oceans from which the first micro-organisms emerged in real life). Humorously, the Tiki's dialogue implies that this may have been a physically soup-like location, as some Tiki claim to have noodles in their ears from the event. The Tiki continue to exist in the modern day, defying evolutionary change. Over the course of an untold number of eras, further Funkey tribes came into existence from this original organism, splitting off and convergently rising to full sapience. Over 40 Funkeys tribes appear in-game, each one having the ability to speak to one another, implying that at some point, a worldwide language was mutually established. Despite this, some Funkeys, like Drift and Rom, speak in particular accented speech patterns that other Funkeys find difficult to interpret.

It is worth noting that Funkeys are only the second intelligent race to evolve and populate Terrapinia; their entire origin, starting with the Tiki, is chronologically predated by the birth and erasure of the culture that would immortalize itself in contemporary times as the Funkiki Island Natives.

History

While it is unknown at what stage the Funkeys species fully set foot across Terrapinia and developed into a sapient culture, it is known that during the beginning, Funkeys society was largely segregated into individual tribes. Each Funkey species remained a separate culture, not yet united. It is implied that some Funkeys tribes discovered how to utilize magic during this time, as some Funkeys like Dot mastered the ability to hover, while others like Lucky and Twinx became capable of shooting magical light.

During the 3rd Funkazoic Era, a terrible conflict known as the Great Funkey Wars rocked Terrapinia and pitted Funkeys against one another in brutal combat. The forces of King Kahn, who likely instigated the war, drove the Oni of the Perilous Verge to hide themselves, while other Funkey tribes were made to untie under the banner of King Funkankhamun, who ended the war and instated the Golden Age of Funkeys. Remnants of old Funkey society and the war itself remained in Mesofunkey Plains, while the collective Funkey culture moved on to bigger and better things.

The Golden Age of Funkeys, for what little is said of it, is implied to be the period in which the newly-united Funkeys tribes came together to create impressive architectural feats. Working together to found entire cities, launch rockets into deep space, and transform whole islands into premier beach resorts, the Funkeys had firmly established their new age of unity and prosperity. Funkeys came to be known as fun-loving creatures who trade with each other and invent new games to pass time.

Dr. Tinker, a renowned Funkey technician, led a project to create Portals which tap into the mystical, space-time defying In-Between so that Funkeys could teleport from one end of Terrapinia to the other in the blink of an eye, thus allowing the united cultures to more easily interact with one another. The Portals were a successful venture; so successful, in fact, that Dr. Tinker was able to use the Dream Machine he invented to create Portals to all-new, previously nonexistent realms born of dreams and nightmares. Dr. Tinker's scientific contributions- and his very life- came to a screeching halt after an event known as the Great Disaster rocked the Portal grid, exploding all Portals and the Gems powering them. This event birthed a new tyrannical figure, Master Lox, a Funkey determined to control Terrapinia, pilfer its wealth, and lock each tribe into the realm it naturally inhabits forever.

The events of the game take place an unknown amount of time after the Great Disaster rocked the Portal system, and Master Lox rose to power with his army of Henchmen.

Culture

Funkeys are widely considered to be environmentally-friendly, fun-loving people. They take extensive measures to balance their high-tech industry and progress with their tender care for nature, and value imagination, expression, and peace above all else. Funkey tribes tend to house themselves in small settlements where they host the house decorations they came up with, as well as their culture's trademark game, which a tribe of Funkeys rewards its players for based on their performance. Funkey tribes naturally exist worldwide, as their curious, explorative nature leaves them always craving new sights and games. Some Funkeys value other types of leisure and entertainment; for instance, Chat Funkeys are all about finding new ways to communicate.

Funkeys tend to house themselves in "Cribs," which they decorate with items purchased in the various stores around Terrapinia. Goods are dealt with Coins, a golden currency that Funkeys earn by working and playing. Accruing wealth is such an important part of this traditionally capitalist culture that some Funkeys are keen to steal and hoard it, con it from unsuspecting consumers, or are motivated to create elaborate schemes and spectacles to gain it. E.P. Royalton is credited as Terrapinia's biggest tycoon. Angus Funkwell exclusively deals in Loot, and it is unknown if this is a currency used elsewhere in Terrapinia, or if it is simply Angus' own personal method of business.

Many aspects of Funkeys culture directly mirror the real world. Funkeys use the news and the World Wide Web, gossip to one another, make music and art, drive cars, and so on. Some of the only major differences are related to their language and the presence of tribes and rarities; Funkeys do not canonically speak English (or whatever language the game is being played in), as proven when the player attempts to use inappropriate words that are "not known in Terrapinia," implying that most vulgarities simply do not exist in any form in the Funkey language (which is usually referred to as being called "Funkey" itself, confusingly). The only word that has ever been translated from Funkey to English is that "Xener" means "traveler."

Funkey rarities have special social benefits merely on account of their rare circumstantial birth. The rarer a Funkey is, the better it is compensated when playing its tribe's game, and rarer Funkeys also access unique items in their shops.

Funkey tribes tend to get along as best they can. While some are ideologically opposed- such as the Sprout disliking the smells and diets of Boggle- many do their best to mutually understand each other and learn from their ideas, as is a core piece of the culture in Paradox Green. Master Lox attempts to quell the uniqueness of the Funkeys and end their explorative tribal relations by sanctioning them into their home zones and locking off their game room's security systems to prevent other Funkeys from getting in. However, some conflicting details muddy the idea that Funkeys otherwise allow anyone to play in their game rooms; both Mayor Sayso and Jerry Pearl are insinuated to be "allowed" into the tribe houses by the Funkeys themselves, on account of the former's status as mayor and the latter's status as the well-known number one beach bum and tour guide.

Funkeys are not known to follow much of a religion or spiritual ideology aside from respecting the environment. Like real life, the planet is often personified as a "Mother Nature" or "Great Mother Terrapin" figure, mainly by the Lotus tribe. Every Funkey tribe follows its own code, such as the Ace's unstoppable march towards industrial progress or the Xener's insurmountable desire for space exploration. Generally, Funkeys follow a moral code that mirrors traditional human values, and many Funkeys are vegetarian or even vegan. There are, of course, multiple tribes that are exceptions to this, and some tribes and special Funkeys who disregard some social norms outright.

Funkeys historically followed dynasties, employing kings as their rulers, and while that tradition carries on in the Hidden Realm (on account of its people having lived through from that age of history, and cutting off contact with the outside world), no other Funkey society seems to employ a genuine leader beyond respected authoritative roles like the position of Mayor of Funkeystown. Funkey governments are hardly ever brought up at all, leaving many aspects of their workings, such as the distribution and management of currency or the enforcement of laws, a mystery. The dictatorship Master Lox aims to create involves him holding sovereign control over isolationist police states entirely managed by his "tax collecting" money-stealing robots; it is unknown how much genuine control Master Lox has over Terrapinia at large, though he has yet to influence faraway lands like Funkiki Island at all.

Types of Funkeys

Standard Funkeys have rounded heads and twin head-bumps that take the place of ears or eyes. Almost every Funkey belongs to this variety, and each one has a special game and a realm it is native to. Each one has a Rare and Very Rare version.

In addition to the tribes playable in-game, two unreleased normal Tribes are featured as NPCs in the Royalton Racing Complex. The Tach work as bouncers and pit crew men in the complex, while the Bandit feature as part of the spectating crowd. Other unreleased normal Funkeys not featured in-game include Sarge and the Subject.

Chat Funkeys value communication above gaming. They each run a Chat House, where other members of their tribe communicate with each other. Their heads have large, flatter "ears" on the sides of their heads, resembling headphones, with antennas poking out of the top. Chat Funkeys have no rarities.

  • The Holler and Gabby tribes are native to Funkeystown.
  • The Rom tribe is native to Laputta Station.
  • The Rewind tribe is native to Funkiki Island.

Game Maker Funkeys are Funkeys with vast imaginations and game rooms dedicated to creating unique levels and experiences. They feature two to three capsule-shaped "horns" instead of ear bumps. The two Game Makers that released came with special accessories. Game Maker Funkeys were planned to have rarities, but the concept was cut, although a Rare Ace can be seen in the Ace's game, Operation: Fightplan!

The Ace and Mulch tribes are native to Paradox Green.

Unreleased Game Maker Funkeys include Knight and Voodoo. iFunk, which has a unique head shape featuring speakers, was also unreleased, and was meant to add licensed music to the game; considering that it was conceptualized alongside the Game Maker Funkeys and was likely going to be featured in Paradox Green, iFunk may have been considered a type of Game Maker Funkey.

Some Funkeys are based on licensed characters. They are considerably more directly humanoid than other Funkeys on account of being based on preexisting properties, and each one has rarities that only changes minor aspects of the design, as each one is still considered a character unique to itself.

The Speed Racer collaboration featured the following characters:

A canceled collaboration with the comic characters from Warner Bros' DC universe would have features the following 8 unreleased characters:

Special Funkeys are characters who serve the role of important NPCs in the game, some of which having been released as physical figures inside Adventure Packs. Some NPCs, like Mayor Sayso and Marshall, serve as "guides" who introduce U.B. to the realms of Terrapinia. Others are enemies who roam the area and attack the player to steal coins, like Henchmen and Natives. Special Funkeys regularly deviate from the base Funkey designs with special outfits, hairstyles, and accessories. Special Funkeys have no rarities, but a couple were planned to release in different colors.

The characters released as part of the Funkeystown adventure pack include:

The other colors of Henchman were planned to be released, but were never put into mass production.

The characters included in the Funkiki Island adventure pack include:

There are many NPC Funkeys who help or harm U.B., who either had canceled figures planned, or were never made to be playable at all. These non-playable characters include:

Lastly, while not canon or playable, the Wendy's promotion featured a keychain and bobblehead depicting brand-themed Funkeys; one was a yellow Funkey with a red face and a burger icon on its chest, while the other was a red, feminine Funkey with white skin and freckles, made to resemble the company's mascot. The unreleased Target Game Forge set also featured a branded Funkey resembling the Target logo. An official piece of promotional art also shows off a massive wall of Funkey designs, some of which would later become playable or redesigned into future playable tribes; however, more than 10 Funkeys on the poster were never even made into officially rendered concept art. Some Funkeys shown include a butterfly-faced Funkey, a Funkey marked with lightning bolts, and a Funkey resembling Frankenstein's monster.

The player character is an extremely special Funkey named U.B. This unique Funkey has the ability to become any tribe in the game, based on what figure is placed on the Hub. The only physical figures of U.B. exist in the form of the Hub itself, which depict U.B.'s supersized figure with a chunk of the head opened to allow for the magnet stand that a Funkey is placed in. Each Hub has a unique design that was planned to influence U.B.'s appearance in-game, though the feature was never implemented. Hub styles include:

  • The generic Hub, depicting U.B.'s unedited appearance
  • The Dream States Hub, featuring twirled purple outlines around U.B.'s face
  • A second Dream States Hub, with the purple details recolored to pink
  • The Speed Racer Hub, dressing U.B. in a blue visor to resemble the unreleased normal Speed Racer figure
  • The Hidden Realm Hub, featuring a black outline and Chinese dragon imagery around U.B.'s face
  • The black Argo's Hub
  • A reddish-pink Hub

Design History

Funkeys were initially pitched as simple USB sticks with minigames on them, marked with only minor details to give each stick some light personality. Test audiences responded with more interest to the characters on-screen, and the potential stories and context to the games they played, instead of the substance of the game itself. Thus, Radica conceptualized the idea to build a world around these characters, with games connected to physical figures depicting their likeness.

The earliest Funkeys base model was a humanoid cylindrical figure with stubby feet and a rounded head, and no arms to speak of. The art-style and character design resembles that of the characters in Madness Combat, a popular independent web cartoon at the time. The next concept was drastically different, featuring the recognizable arched back and larger feet of the final design, but with cubed heads. The next design rounded out the features, and the final design added the stubby arms, making the Funkey base that would be used in the final product.

Prototype models would consistently be made during the game's production, testing character designs, showing off future content at toy fairs and conventions, and making references for future figure productions. These models often lack serial numbers, which extends to Dot, a figure that, while compatible with the official game, only released in a set of 2,000 as a convention-exclusive figure.

Trivia

  • The Natives and their Pineapple King, whose species predates the existence of Funkeys, as well as the Gem-born illusions Dali and Goya, are considered in gameplay terms to be Funkeys on account of the former two's playable status and the latter two's planned playable state. However, they are all not actually Funkeys in shape or in canon, thus making them the only characters in the game- not counting animals like Kooties and crib pets- who are not Funkeys at all.
  • Just as U.B. is named after the USB drives that Funkeys were originally designed as, the name "Funkeys" is meant to evoke the idea of each figure being a "key" to unlock a fun game. This is why the name and mask design of the game's main villain evokes locks and keyholes.
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