Saturday, July 5, 2008

Is Mattel throwing us a "Bones"?

Many of us are wondering why the new Dream State starter kit contains a Series One character, Bones. There are many of us who are buying the new hub just so that we can get Drift, the first character we've seen on the market from the new Dream State 3.0 series.





It has felt like a long wait since the Speed Racer series was released and all the die-hard Funkey fans have been waiting eagerly for the first signs of the Dream State series. Most of us were in a lull, starting to loose interest in playing the game after our hunt for SR Funkeys was over & we played all the games. Then finally on June 10, the updates came through. It was a teaser. The excitement started again. We knew we'd see the new Funkeys soon. Then, there it was! On June 13th I found the new Dream State hub at the Toys R Us. But it was a bit disappointing because, like most funkey fans, we already have Bones. We can see from the new updates that Drift's game is in Funkeystown, therefore we would still not have access to the new zones yet.



So the wait continues. What is going on? Is Mattel just throwing us a bone? Something to hold our interest while we wait for the rest? My bad pun is that they are throwing us a "Bones".

Granted, it is a "starter kit", intended for those just starting out on the game. In that case, Bones might be a good character for them because they don't have it yet, and they will have access to Magma Gorge.

Thanks to "mellafunk" and "prolo245" and "wisteriatayu" (and thanks to Luli for her contributions as always) on the Funkey Fan Forum who got me thinking more about this. If you have an opinion on it, please join in on the conversation over on our forum, or leave a comment. Mellafunk has started a poll on our forum, take a minute to weigh in on your opinion.

Here are possible theories for the inclusion of Bones in the Dream State starter kit:

~ The new zones aren't ready yet, so Drift was released since his home (game & mart) are located in Funkeystown. That would also be a reason for including a series one Funkey.

~ Did Toy R Us release this Starter kit too early? So far it's the only store we've found it and there are no other choices of the other 9 Dream State funkeys to purchase yet. And now there's a long lag before we've seen anything else.

~Could this be just another marketing ploy to get us to buy more?

~ Is the Bones in this starter kit special, and different than the original Bones in series one? I tend to think it's not different because a new one isn't listed on the updated checklist by Mattel.


My biggest problem with the release of only this hub with only Drift from Dream State is that the packaging advertises "Unlock Daydream and Nightmare Zones". As this product is currently packaged, as it stands alone, that statement is not true. Part of it might be true, as the Nightmare Zone (called "Nightmare Rift") is unlocked in the sense that the portal is in place. If you were already playing the game, you would have received this 3.0 update through an automatic download (new hub not required if you already have one). However, we still do not have access to it until we can buy a Vlurp, Ptep, Sprocket, or Snipe. And we have yet to see the Daydream portal unlocked at all.



My question to anyone who has installed the disk from this Daydream hub for the first time ~ Did the Daydream portal unlock for you?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is very annoying because the daydream valley/oasis portal still isn't here!

Anonymous said...

I dont think it is that much of a bad idea to put bones in with the starter kit as here in England it is a very rare coincidence to find bones and also the speed racer funkeys havent even been brought over yet!!!!! Also there is not much hope in getting tjis starter kit anyway :( I think its unfair that Matel dont given England as much funkeys as America

Anonymous said...

I bought this thing and no portals!!!!!AND ALSO MY NEW DRIFT WONT WORK!!!someone tell them to update him!!!!