Warning: Do not download the 4.5 update twice

That title might not sound right, about the alert to not accept the download again if you already have it. But it did just happen to a Funkey player and his mom. Andrea W. was kind enough to write in so we can alert others so it doesn't happen to you too.

This is what she wrote:
"I just wanted to mention a new issue with the 4.5 update. I was one of the lucky few able to download and install it on December 19. However, when we started the game today, it prompted us to download it again (it said 0 KB and 0 minutes to download). I thought it was something we needed to do in order for the update to be recognized, so I told my son to go ahead. After that, the software would not restart and I started getting error messages all over the place. I had to uninstall UB Funkeys completely. "


Andrea also made a great discovery that others have asked about ~ she found that you can download the UB Funkeys starter software online if you can't find your original installation disk. Here's the link to the Mattel Consumer Relations Answer Center where there is an information sheet and the exe file is within that sheet: http://service.mattel.com

Andrea used it and it worked fine. It installed version 3.2, but then the rest of the updates came through to 4.5 automatically.

And as Jareno wrote in the comment section below, if you use your same Unique Funkey Name, you'll still have your progress (trophies, quests, games, cribs, etc)

Phone number for Consumer Relations at Mattel

There have been many people asking for phone numbers to call about problems with UB Funkeys, so here they are!
Thanks to akaabbey for typing this out on the Funkey Fan Forum.

USA/Canada: 1-800-803-9611

UK: 01628 500303

Australia: 1300 135 312

Diimport & Diedarkan Oleh: 03-78803817

If anyone is in East Asia there is no phone number but an address: Mattel East Asia Ltd., Room 1106, South Tower, World Finance Centre, Harbour City, Tsimshatsui, HK, China

UB Funkey pictures that caught my attention

These first pictures are Funkeys that were painted by Funkey players. The last is a picture of one of the new Hidden Realm Funkeys.

This Dot was painted by Rebsingh and posted on their website (thanks, Rebsingh, for letting me post the pics) ubfunkeys.synthasite.com

This next one was painted by Obsessed Funkey, who many of you may know from the Funkey Fan Forum and The Speakeasy.

About this Funkey:

"His name is SODA. He has a very bubbly personality and likes everyone/everything (except coca-cola). "

Obsessed Funkey said he was going to be "a Christmas present for her sister who is an avid Pepsi collector and soon to be funkey enthusiast."

This last one isn't a painted Funkey, but a real Hidden Realm Funkey. I wanted to post it because I haven't seen any pictures yet of anyone's Hidden Realm Funkey out of the package.
Funkalunk received this Bomble as a Christmas present. Funkalunk also has a Funkey blog & posted the pictures, so if you'd like to check it out, here's the link: theinfunk.blogspot.com

Mattel UB Funkey Server is up & running

We've been able to play multi-player games for 2 days now. It appears the server problem is fixed, or maybe there is less demand for it (I don't know?) It's so nice not see the message about Master Lox infiltrating the network! That was getting old.
Is everyone else back with their Funkey Network connection?

I have also heard of the loot problem where some people had purchased (with real money) loot...or something....but it didn't appear in their accounts. Is anyone still experiencing that problem? {Onewa80 posted a comment that Mattel knows of the problem and has given the estimate of 3 days that it will be fixed}

Of course I would not know anything about that because I STILL DON'T HAVE THE 4.5 FUNKEY TRUNK UPDATE!

It wouldn't bother me if I hadn't seen that Mattel made such a big deal about it with a press release. And now everyone is talking about Angus, loot, familiars and keystones, and I haven't a clue what they are talking about!

There is a case open with Fisher Price/Radica/ Mattel (whatever they call their consumer relations dept), but I have never had follow up on any of the previous 3 I have had with them. I did get one follow up phone call once, but it was weeks later and the problem fixed itself somehow before then. If I do get a follow up call from them on this case & they resolve it, I promise I'll write very, very nice things about them! :)

Am I the only one who still can't get the 4.5 Funkey Trunk update?

The UB Funkey server is working. We have a connection. {Master Lox struck again soon after I wrote this, and we no longer have a connection this entire day} It's the first time in a week that Master Lox hasn't infiltrated the network. That was about the time the latest update (4.5 Funkey Trunk ) became available. We never got the option to download the update.

So, here we are now with a connection to the server, and we should get the message to download the update. It never came.

I have Windows Vista, so I tried to right click on the Funkey icon on my desktop and selected "run as administrator"

Still nothing but the funkey spinning & falling into Funkeystown....."loading Funkeystown"....that's all, no "checking for anything new in Funkeystown"

I changed the date setting on my computer's clock to show tomorrow's date. Sometimes you only get the option to download once a day, maybe was on after midnight last night when I was checking if the server was back up. No luck.

I checked our Radica files for the update.exe file.....No, not there. So it didn't start and not finish. No sign of "Trunk" anywhere. (A previous blog post explains this)

So I called the Radica/Mattel Customer Relations helpline. 2 minute hold. Wow, that's the first time in a year of calling that there has been a wait! Either the game is more popular now, or there are more problems!

The Rep. told me to do everything I already did, but also to temporarily turn off the firewall.
I just received an email from them and a case was opened (I was very impressed that I got an email about it with a case #, that had not happened in the past.) There was one more suggestion in the case description, which was to unplug the hub, & plug it again, while in my crib. I went back to try that, but now Master Lox is striking again.

I was told I was the only one who called about this problem of not getting the update after having an internet connection to the server.
(I'm thinking at this point that they've only been opened an hour & it's the first day of the server being up again. I take that to mean that as long as they don't get more calls about it then they won't try to find a solution and it's tough luck for me!)

So, other than putting a new Funkey into the hub to force the update, there is nothing else to do to get the update. We don't have any new Funkeys, but they also said there are no new ones to force this update.

Okay, now. I ask all of you - Am I really the only one?

UB Funkey update isn't working? "Let's Go" doesn't go?

blog update on Saturday, Dec. 27 around 10 am EST:
***I'm on! For the first time in week, Master Lox is not striking when we sign on to the game. But I didn't get the option to download the new version ***
blog update on Sat. at 1:21pm EST: Master Lox strikes again. What gives?

original post:
Many people are asking these questions recently, so I thought I'd tackle this topic and try to help. The problems you are experiencing aren't all the same, but we believe they are related to the server problems at Mattel currently. They are aware of the problem and are working on it. For most of us, we need to be patient and keep trying later.....they have always come through for us before.

But there is one problem you might fix on your own. If the download for version 4.5 Funkey Trunk update has started for you, but doesn't complete, check out what some Funkey players had to say and perhaps it will help you as well (these are comments left on a previous blog post and are very worthy of highlighting):

Jill wrote:
If you are downloading and getting to the "Lets Go" and then it takes you to the desktop and does nothing try this... Go to the Task Manager and stop the UBFunkeys_update.exe process. Then go into the folder Program Files>U.B.Funkeys>RadicaGame. There should be a program under that folder called UBFunkeys_Update.exe... start it. It takes a few minutes, but if the update is actually working you will see new files appear in that folder like "Trunk" and eventually the update icon will disappear when it has all been successfully installed. Then UB Funkeys will start on its own. It worked for me.


Revvinon wrote:
Many have been having problems with the game not completing the update process - one person on the UBF said they went through the task manager found the UBFunkey Update, right clicked and selected open file location. It pulled up a file menu and on the menu it had a link for the updater. They clicked on the updater link and saw it pop up on the task menu and this time the updater actually looked like it was doing something (instead of showing 00 under the CPU it showed 03-05). So you could try that.


(here's a word of caution to the general public before attempting the following: be sure you know what files you are working with before you replace any. And you might not want to try it if you have made significant progress in the game....but I don't know for sure, but that's something to consider)

HTH wrote:
I was having the same problem as many posted here -- the update completed 100%, clicked 'Let's Go' and nothing happened. The UBFunkey Update process was showing 0% CPU on the task manager so I killed the process. I went into the UB Funkeys program directory (C:\Program Files\U.B. Funkeys\RadicaGame) and found an 'update' subfolder. The contents had a directory structure similar to the application folder and approximate size of the v4.5 update (3xx MB) -- so I copied the contents of update to the application folder, overwriting existing files -- ran UB Funkeys app and everything appears to be working.This was on a new install so I had nothing to lose.

It's a Funkey Christmas!

Here's a new Funkey greeting card to all of you Funkey Fans out there! I added new pictures and it's a different slideshow.......enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Who got UB Funkeys for Christmas? You're welcome to leave a comment.

I got an email from Nick who is from Australia, but he's visiting his grandmother in the US. It's harder to find Funkeys down under, but this morning, he now has many more! He got rare snipe, rare lucky, rare dyer, rare sprocket, rare Berger, and Funkeystown Adventurepack! What a great day for Nick!

Billy4032 left a comment and he sounded very excited that he got a lot of funkeys for Christmas, including ROM. I hope you are having fun with them today, Billy!

Liam now has a few things to add to his collection ~ rare twinx, rare flurry, and 3 plushies (pictures of those are in the slideshow card). I just wish I ordered the Hidden Realm Funkeys sooner, then they might be here now!

Did anyone get any of the new Hidden Realm Funkeys for Christmas?

Master Lox should be done infiltrating the Funkey Network soon!

The latest from the Mattel/Radica helpline is that the server should be fixed and up consistently in the next 24 hours. So just be patient, and we'll hope it's worth the wait. The advice is to try it tomorrow (however, I will add that the Mattel rep. was surprised when I told her I was still getting the message, "Master Lox strikes again", she thought it was fixed now. Then she said it will be fixed in 24 hours, so try again then. But that makes me think it won't hurt to try later today)

Their server has been up intermittantly, that's why some of you were able to get the latest update (version 4.5 Funkey Trunk update). But then when it doesn't work, that is because the server goes down again.

Also something to note ~ if it appears you lost your progress, that shouldn't be the case because it is now saved on-line as long as you have a unique Funkey name. So, when it is all back up & running again, you should see it again.

Another problem we're having is logging on just to play off-line. Sometimes we get the message of "missing or broken file", or "wrong password", but then it lets us in anyway. That appears to be part of the current problem, so we'll wait for tomorrow and that should be fixed as well.


I am copying over a comment left today in one of the posts about this issue. This is what Revvinon wrote this morning, Weds., Dec. 24, and it will answer the question many of you have about the 'web registration' message:

"The thing with the internet connection and the web registration - the web registration is basically having your unique funkey name and the internet connection - well....you know how Master Lox strikes?? That is preventing the game to have its connection to the server.I was able to access the lab 2 times yesterday. When I tried and Master Lox had struck again that is when I received that web registration and internet connection message."



It is a funny coincidence that today Liam received his first Webkinz as a Christmas gift from a friend. So while we're waiting for Mattel to get the Funkeys back on track, we've hopped over to the competition (shhhh, don't tell!). Hmmm, maybe we'll start a Webkinz blog! :)

Press Release about Funkey Trunk Micro Transactions System

Most of us are already familiar with this latest release, but here is an announcement released today that further explains about the new Funkey Trunk micro transactions system:

U.B. FunkeysTM Debuts Funkey Trunk Micro Transactions for Access to Exclusive Game Enhancements

{To read about what other players are saying about the problems they are having with this 4.5 update, please see the comments at this post}

SOURCE: Arkadium
Dec 22, 2008 09:00 ET
U.B. FunkeysTM Debuts Funkey Trunk
Micro Transactions for Access to Exclusive Game Enhancements Developed in Conjunction With Arkadium, Funkey Trunk Gives Players the Power to Purchase New Add-Ons for Their Virtual Experience
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - December 22,
2008) - Radica, a division of Mattel, in conjunction with causal game and software developer Arkadium, today announced the launch of its new Funkey Trunk micro transactions system. As the latest addition to U.B. Funkeys™, a popular interactive game that combines vinyl toy collecting with the world of gaming, Funkey Trunk enhances players' user experience by providing them with the ability to purchase exclusive new add-ons for their virtual world. The new Funkey Trunk is made up of two parts: My Funkey Trunk and Angus' Lab.

In My Funkey Trunk, items called Funkey Familiars and Portal Jammers can be purchased.Funkey Familiars are virtual Funkeys that grant access to the Game Rooms that belong to a specific Funkey, without having to own the physical Funkey first. Players who already own that physical Funkey will receive extra features with a Funkey Familiar. Portal Jammers are items that allow players to pass through any Portal, into any Game Room, or into any game for a one-time preview.

Also introduced in this release is Angus, a new character in the U.B. Funkeys™ world who walks around and can be accessed within every Zone. When clicked on, players are transported to his lab where new items such as mood indicators and animated and interactive items for a player's home base, or Crib, can be found.

"Our teams have created a 'loot' system that allows parents or guardians to securely add funds for their children to spend in the U.B. Funkeys™ virtual world," said Jeff Bruneau, Sr. Marketing Manager for U.B. Funkeys™. "These micro transactions are a fun way to educate children on responsible spending habits, while letting them customize their gaming experience. Because these items are available within the controlled virtual environment, parents can be assured that they will continue to provide fun even past the holiday season and are appropriate for children."

Loot is purchased through a secure online system inside the U.B. Funkeys™ PC game software. Parents can purchase loot easily and the Loot added in the Funkey Trunk does not have an expiration date if not spent. The balance can be tracked by the player though the 'My Loot Balance' area, and a complete list of transactions can be viewed in the 'Transactions' section of all accounts.

Vinyl toy collecting and online virtual gaming are both popular activities among today's young adults and children. This latest enhancement of U.B. Funkeys™ further marries the vinyl figure collecting trend with the world of online casual gaming and delivers an all-new virtual experience filled with fun, exploration and games. The U.B. Funkeys™ Starter Kit, available at major retailers everywhere, includes the U.B. Funkeys™ hub, figure and PC software. Individual Funkeys figures are also available for sale separately.

About Mattel
Mattel, Inc. (NYSE: MAT) (http://www.mattel.com/) is the worldwide leader in the
design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. The Mattel family is comprised of such best-selling brands as Barbie®, the most popular fashion doll ever introduced, Hot Wheels®, Matchbox®, American Girl®, Radica:® and Tyco® R/C, as well as Fisher-Price® brands, including Little People®, Power Wheels® and a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy lines. Mattel is recognized as one of 2008's "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE Magazine. With worldwide headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., Mattel employs more than 30,000 people in 43 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations. Mattel's vision is to be the world's premier toy brands -- today and tomorrow.

About Arkadium
Arkadium is the premier game solutions developer for the advergaming and casual game markets. The company's growing archive of over 200 Flash-based and custom game solutions currently reaches millions of people through some of the most popular online destinations and corporate branded Web sites on the Internet. For more information visit http://www.arkadium.com/.

UBFunkeysarefun.blogspot.com wishes you a Funkey Holiday Season!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Problems with the UB Funkeys 4.5 Trunk Update?

I don't have the latest update yet, version 4.5 Funkey Trunk Update. But there are many people reporting problems after the update.

Whenever we have logged onto UB Funkeys in the past 3 days, the message we get is that Master Lox strikes again.......well, this Master Lox infiltration of the network has been my biggest frustration! *(see nerdy rhyme at the bottom)
Since we're not getting a network connection, we haven't been able to get the update. I'm not sure if that's what is also causing the other problems, or perhaps the network is down because Mattel is working on the problems.



I thought this topic should be a post of its own since it has generated many comments on my last blog post (click this link if you want to read the comments).
Perhaps we can figure this out together.

Someone asked for Mattel's number. Since it's Sunday, they are closed, but here's the number for the US: 1-800-803-9611. They are in NY, so they are on Eastern time and their hours are 9am - 7pm Monday - Thurs., and 11am - 5pm on Saturdays.

Please comment on any problems and solutions and we'll help each other out!

{please see the comments below. Also see this post for more info. plus more user comments: Press Release about Funkey Trunk Micotransactions}

*This is my nerdy comment on my rhyme of "infiltration" and "frustration":

What a time for a rhyme!
(and as one of my friends used to say....)
I was a poet and didn't know it,
but my feet show it
because they are Longfellows!


Yeah, I know that's corny, but it's my blog and I'll rhyme if I want to! hehehe

Hidden Realm Funkeys starting to ship from Amazon.com

According to my Amazon.com affiliate account report, 2 of the Hidden Realm Funkey 4-packs were shipped yesterday. I know many more were ordered through the widget link on this blog, so I'm sure more will be shipped in the upcoming days! {update: 3 more shipped on Friday, another 3 on Sat.}

The report doesn't give me any more information than that, so I don't know whose order is on it's way. If you've ordered one, I believe you'll get an email from Amazon.com letting you know it's been shipped.

FunkeyFever.com will have some available for sale soon, so you can also keep an eye out on their website.

Has anyone seen any in the stores yet, such as Target, Toys R Us, or Walmart? I keep checking, but haven't seen any around here.

UB Funkeys Dream State Very Rare Collector's Pack

Wow! This is news to me! FunkeyFever.com has the UB Funkey Dream State Collector's Pack for sale.

This is what they wrote: "Collectors Pack! 4 Very Rare Dream States in 1 box, Only 12,000 released, each comes with numbered Seal and 1 Special Edition Metallic Print Collector Card. Cards Available are Vlurp, Ptep,Waggs, Drift. (# specific)"

Hidden Realm is the best UB Funkey place yet!

****Warning: Spoiler images below******

Looks like Mattel has topped itself again. I'm writing this just after I had a chance to explore Funkeystown after the 4.0 update to see what's new. It was so much fun just to get to Hidden Realm. I don't want to spoil anything for you, because it was oh-so-cool........so go download the update if you haven't done so already! I even enjoyed listening to the storyline.

If you do want a sneak-peak, here's some more...

The location of the new Hidden Realm portal is just past the Daydream Oasis portal. I've included an image that shows the map in the lower right corner. The large red diamond marks the spot of the portal.




Then you'll board an "airship" that flys and takes you over to the Hidden Realm

Then you're dropped off....

And the surprising news is that YOU CAN PLAY SOME GAMES! That's right, unlike the previous new zones, you don't need the new Funkeys in order to explore the zone and play a few games! We played Plink-Plank-Funk, Jade Jumble, and Sushi Showdown. The only place we couldn't enter was the Oni Dogo, you'll need a Hidden Realm Funkey to enter.

Have you reached enlightenment yet? We have! If you haven't, then explore around Hidden Realm some more.....if you need any hints, I'll post some over on the Funkey Fan Forum under "Spoilers".

Oh, and the best news of all....is that you can now sell back your furniture and stuff for coins!!!!

There's another new thing with the 4.0 update that is worth mentioning. Thanks to Ninjix for the email ~ The 4.0 update added a big sign right in front of the Funkeystown stores and the sign says most played games and most played multi-player games.

Here is my previous post where I posted some game images: UB Funkeys Hidden Realm, It's time!

UB Funkeys Hidden Realm...It's Time!

******Warning! Spoiler Images From the Hidden Realm Update 4.0 (below) **********

It's time....The 4.0 update for Hidden Realm is here! And time for the Hidden Realm Funkey Hunt to begin in the stores.



I've heard hints that the Hidden Realm Funkeys will start showing up in the stores beginning this week and we'd also see the update in the next week or so, but an anonymous reader just posted that they got the update and here's what they wrote, "i had the update for version 4 10 minutes ago hidden realm is so coool and theres this guy his name is kane hes like a super tough warrior"


So I went and got the update too! It took about 6 minutes with high speed internet.





Here comes the spoiler part.....these are the images for the games:

Jade Jumble:

Sushi Showdown (a multiplayer game like Chinese Checkers):

Funkey Fighters:

Plink-Plank-Funk:

Here are a few more images from the game:




If you haven't seen my latest post with images of Hidden Realm (how to get there), click here


For more images of the Hidden Realm Funkeys that were at the SD Comic Conference, please see this post

Our Latest Funkey Family Photo

I finally took the time to line up our little UB Funkey dudes to take the latest photo. It was a challenge to get them to all stand still long enough and look at the camera to get this shot. But they were great and when I said "smile and say, 'Be Funkey'", they all cooperated and I think it turned out quite well!

So there it is, one of each tribe. I left out our duplicates, we only have a few with different rarities in the same tribe.

I've been meaning to get this shot for a while now & thought we'd better do it before the Hidden Realm are released (anytime now! There will be more on that soon) and then our next Funkey hunt begins.

Where to buy U.B. Funkeys

If you're looking for a one-stop place for Funkey shopping, I recommend checking out FunkeyFever.com. And they have recently added the Funkey Plushies to their store!

If you prefer to shop in the brick and mortar stores, you might need to do some driving around to find the particular Funkeys you are looking for (the long-time Funkey players know this ALL too well after much wasted gas driving from store to store on our Funkey hunts!)

For the best prices on UB Funkeys, Walmart and Target are the places to go. Singles sell for $4.94 or so. The double packs of Chat Funkeys or Multiplayer packs are around $10.49. Kmart has a sale this upcoming week with the best prices yet!

I'll do my best to compile a list of which stores carry which series of Funkeys (and, please, everyone who has additional information or corrections, I'd love to hear from you through comments or email! Thanks!)

Dream State singles: Walmart, Toys R Us, KMart, Target, KB Toys, Limited Too

Speed Racer series: Target, Toys R Us

Series 1 & 2 Funkey singles: Everyplace Funkeys are sold including Walgreens

Chat Funkeys: Target, Walmart, Toys R Us

Multiplayer Packs: Walmart, Toys R Us, Limited Too

Funkeystown Adventure Pack (Mayor Sayso, Master Lox, Henchman, and Bones): KMart only!

Funkiki Island Adventure Pack (Pineapple King, Jerry, Native, and Sol): Target only!

But FunkeyFever.com has all of those, and when they get low on their stock, they work very hard to find what you are looking for!!

UB Funkey Singles on sale at KMart!

UB Funkeys will be on sale at Kmart for $3.49 starting tomorrow December 7 through December 13. All other Funkeys are on sale too, so that most likely means the Funkeystown Adventure Pack as well!