Imperial Toys Spooky Kooky oily jigglers a.k.a. Brabo (1971)

Updated: 02/12/16: New bootleg Spooky Kooky Knockoffs #6!
Updated: 02/18/16: Link to Part 2 of the Imperial Spooky Kooky story

These guys have always been some of my favorite toys. My Dad bought me 4 of these back in 1971. My brother also got 4 of them. I've been compiling information about Spooky Kookys for several years. After debating on whether this should be a Flickr album, standard webpage or blog, I decided to blog this.

SPOOKY KOOKYS- ORIGINAL 1970's RUN:

Spooky Kookys were small (about 4-4.5" tall), very flexible, rubbery oily jiggler monsters marketed by the Imperial Toy Corporation. They are also known as "forgotten prisoners" and "Brabo" jigglers, because of the word "BRABO" stamped into the bodies.

There were a total of six different figures. They were sold in multiple ways: in a countertop cardboard box, mounted on psychedelic-looking cards, or in gumball machines. Their original price was 39 cents, which was the cost of 3 comic books, or 3 candy bars in 1971. By 1975/1976, they went up to 49 cents. They had "HONG KONG" stamped into their feet, along with a circular logo and mold numbers.

Spooky Kooky on a 1975 card

from 1975 Imperial Toys catalog. Photo courtesy of Plaid Stallions

The Rogues Gallery: The Spooky Kooky Six

[Kooky #1] Prisoner, 2 bent legs, barefoot, hands connected with molded chain, tongue sticking out. Pants usually brown. Let's call him "Chains".

Kooky #1 [Chains]

[Kooky #2] Tallest of the bunch, skinny guy, one bent leg, one straight leg, barefoot, tongue sticking out. Pants usually green. Let's call him "Bloody Nose".

Kooky #2 [Bloody Nose]

[Kooky #3] Skeleton, pigeon-toed. Hands chained together with a molded hoop. Pants and vest usually red. Let's call him "Skelly".

Kooky #3 [Skelly] mid 70's partial paint variant

[Kooky #4] Bald guy with goatee beard. Barefoot. 1 leg attached to manacle. Shirt and pants usually brown. Let's call him "Goatee".

Kooky #4 [Goatee] My only surviving Kooky from childhood

[Kooky #5] Long nosed guy with jutting jaw. Wearing molded-on boots. Shirt and shorts usually green. Let's call him "Boots".

Kooky #5 [Boots] mid 70's partial paint variant

[Kooky #6] Small Jolly Green Giant guy with pointed ears and sharp teeth. Barefoot, hairy legs and arms, wearing cap and tunic made of leaves painted green. Let's call him "Leaves".

Kooky #6 [Leaves]

Most of these were molded in a pink/flesh color, with painted details. But, even back at the beginning of the line (1971) some of them were molded in a yellowish-brown color. My brother still has one of his:

genuine 1971 color variant Spooky Kooky

 

Known variant colors or paints:

Kooky #1 [Chains]: yellow/brown body/red pants

Kooky #2 [Bloody Nose]:

Kooky #3 [Skelly]:

Kooky #4 [Goatee]: (1) Green shirt & pants; (2) solid blue pants

Kooky #5 [Boots]: (1) yellow/brown body/red shirt & pants; (2) dark brown body; (3) dark brown shirt & pants

Kooky #6 [Leaves]: (1) red leaf tunic; (2) dark brown body;

MID 1970's VARIANTS

The original run was fully-painted.Within a few years, the factory in Hong Kong started to cut corners and left the shirts or other detailing of some of the figures unpainted. These are the most common vintage versions of the toys still available now. There is a surprising amount of new, bagged or carded stock that comes up on ebay pretty frequently. There must be a warehouse of unsold stock to explain this.

Kooky #1 [Chains]: Chain unpainted

Kooky #2 [Bloody Nose]: Unchanged

Kooky #3 [Skelly]: Vest unpainted

Kooky #4 [Goatee]: Shirt unpainted

Kooky #5 [Boots]: Shirt unpainted

Kooky #6 [Leaves]: Unchanged

Spooky Kookys were sold in stores as late as 1981 (with a different cardback, the "dungeon brick wall" one) and then they disappeared from the market.

1981 Spooky Kooky packaging. (photo from ebay)

Imperial Toys is still in business, although Spooky Kookys and all their other oily jigglers are long gone from their available toy lines.

1990's REISSUES- THE SECOND GOLDEN AGE

In the mid-1990's, Spooky Kookys made a surprise comeback. I found them for sale in a Halloween store, loose, dumped in a plastic cauldron for only 59 cents each (which is pretty good, considering inflation from 1971 to 1996). 

Only 4 of the original 6 were part of the mid-1990's reissues:

Kooky #1 [Chains] Pants usually blue, swirled with white. Hair painted dark brown. Chain painted brown.

Kooky #2 [Bloody Nose] Hair painted dark brown. Pants painted green, swirled with white.

Kooky #3 [Skelly] Pants painted brown, and vest painted red.

Kooky #4 [Goatee] Shirt painted brown, pants painted blue swirled with white. 

mid 1990's reissue Spooky Kooky

The 1990's reissues are slightly different from the 70's originals in these ways:

• BRABO" word removed from the mold, although the original circular logo and mold numbers remained
• "MADE IN CHINA" replaced the original "HONG KONG" stamps
• Rubber goop used in the manufacturing is a little stiffer than the originals. They are paler in skin color than the originals, although they are still a "flesh"-like color.
• Some changes in the painted color schemes. See fuller description above. The purpose of the white swirled paint was to make the clothing look more "worn" and "weathered".

mid 1990's reissue Spooky Kooky

Note: Some sellers will scan the box and sell a Spooky Kooky in a homemade, miniature box. As long as they are advertised as such, that's perfectly fine. In fact, it's rather nice to have because the box graphics are so cool and wonderfully politically incorrect. Word to the wise: do not pay $140.65 for something like this. This is a reissue Spooky Kooky in a miniature repro box.

example of reissue jiggler in repro mini box (photo from ebay)

HOW MUCH ARE THEY WORTH?

I tracked the sales of Spooky Kookys on ebay for one year (2013-2014) on an Excel spreadsheet and, in general, single Kookys still mounted on the card can sell for as much as $50, but if you shop wisely, you can get one for half that, or less. The skeleton appears to be the hardest one to find.

Sets of 5 factory carded/bagged vintage 70's Spooky Kookys, (minus the skeleton), seem to appear reasonably often. $10-$15 for one figure, loose, in excellent condition is a fair price. $20-$25 for a carded one is a decent deal. Figures that are extremely dirty, broken, or missing arms/toes/ fingers should sell for peanuts, like $2, or maybe even $5 at most, if you're really desperate.

Color variants, unusual versions and the original box would go for higher prices. They will sell for whatever the market will bear.

The 1990's reissues should sell for lower prices. $20-$25 for the set of 4 is fair. The problem is that a lot of times, they're sold as "vintage" by sellers who can't tell the difference, or by uninformed buyers who *think* they're getting vintage, but instead, are getting something manufactured 20 years later. Painted dark brown hair, or clothing painted in a blue & white swirly pattern are dead giveaways. If in doubt, ask the seller to verify if the feet (or arm of skeleton) are stamped "HONG KONG" or "MADE IN CHINA".

HOW DO YOU FIX THEM? 

Unfortunately, Spooky Kookys, like all oily jigglers, are fragile. Kids would play rough with them (we did!), throw them against a wall, have them wrestle other figures, pull off fingers, arms, legs, toes. Kooky #1 [Chains] has a tendency of having his lower leg breaking off because of the sharp angle of his knee bend. Back in the day, we tried all kinds of things to repair them: rubber cement, contact cement, Krazy glue, stitching w/ thread and needle.

However, the best, strongest and most permanent way to fix them is with heat. You can use a hot knife, which is like a woodburner with screw-on Xacto knife attachment. Plug it in, heat it up and weld the broken pieces together. The repair sets in seconds, and is as good as the original molding. You can even use a donor jiggler to use for parts repairs.

Hobbico hot knife. Costs about 10 bucks.

Since they're oily jigglers, sometimes you'll get a few that are slightly sticky or tacky. A gentle little bath with Dawn dishwashing liquid, a pat dry and a quick dusting of baby powder will take care of the stickiness.

 

BOOTLEG/COUNTERFEIT/KNOCKOFF VERSIONS

Believe it or not, the popularity of Spooky Kookys attracted bootleg/counterfeit/knockoff versions.

KNOCKOFF #1:

I was able to get two of these. 

They differ from the originals by the rough casting quality, obvious mold separation lines, poor paint jobs, and the removal of the "BRABO" wording, circular logo and mold numbers. They still say "MADE IN HONG KONG".

bootleg Spooky Kooky

KNOCKOFF #2:

A complete set of 6 vintage Spooky Kooky knockoffs had just recently come up for sale on ebay. These appear to have alterations to the actual molds to make them disturbingly different from the original Spooky Kookys. Several of them are distinctive because of the newly-added rubber hanging ring molded on the tops of their heads and the unusual color schemes.

set of 6 Spooky Kooky knockoffs. Photo courtesy of retro.gal

Kooky #1 [Chains]: mouth altered to remove tongue hanging out.

Kooky #2 [Bloody Nose]: mouth altered to remove tongue hanging out, hanging ring added on top of head.

Kooky #3 [Skelly]: mouth altered to be open, no teeth, length of backbone extended.

Kooky #4 [Goatee]: shape of mouth changed, teeth removed, goatee beard removed, hanging ring added on top of head.

Kooky #5 [Boots]: mouth altered to be open, hanging ring added on top of head.

Kooky #6 [Leaves]: ears changed, jaw is now pointed, hanging ring added on top of head. 

close-ups of knockoff Spooky Kookys. Photo courtesy of retro.gal

KNOCKOFF #3:

Every so often, a "mini Spooky Kooky" jiggler pops up on ebay. They're not perfect, scaled-down replicas of the originals. Instead, they seem to be resculpted 3" monsters, clearly reminiscent of Spooky Kookys, but not exact duplicates. Notice how the heads, legs and bodies were hybridized in a bizarre Frankenstein-type experiment.

deformed mini Spooky Kooky. Photo courtesy of John Frick

mini Spooky Kookys. Photo courtesy of John Frick

The sellers usually note that these mini-jigglers have a tendency to harden from flexible rubber to a hard plastic, so they require carefully handling.

KNOCKOFF #4:

Bootleg versions of Spooky Kookys from Italy! Notice the soft-looking detailing and terrible paint jobs. The figures have no markings. These are believed to be resculpts from minor companies doing knockoffs.

Italy Spooky Kookys. Photo courtesy of John Frick

 KNOCKOFF #5

Not sure what to make of this. The molding and casting quality is excellent, but take a look at his legs! The head, arms and torso are Kooky #5 [Boots], but the legs and feet are from Kooky #6 [Leaves] with a lot of help from Nair hair remover. Such very silky smooth legs! Marked "HONG KONG".

odd hybrid Spooky Kooky. Photo courtesy of John Frick

KNOCKOFF #6

Something new has just been posted on ebay- a 70's vintage gumball machine toy backing card with 4 Spooky Kooky knockoffs still attached, along with a plethora of tacky plastic treasures such as toy watches, rings, pendants and bracelets that only a kid with a dime could love. They look similar to Kooky #1 [Chains] and Kooky #5 [Boots], but smaller, about 2-1/2" in height.

The card is dated 1978, Diamond Vending Supply Company, Inc.

Fake Spooky Kookys on a vending machine card.
Photo courtesy of Cees van den Hoek

SPOOKY KOOKY RINGS

I found a few Spooky Kooky rings at a novelty shop in 2013. The store owner told me that they were old stock that was sitting around for a long time. I bought every single Spooky Kooky ring she had in the store, as well as a few heads missing the ring band. I wanted them ALL. One of my duplicates sold for a very handsome price on ebay.

1990's-era Spooky Kooky rings & ring faces (front)

These PVC rings are marked "CHINA" and they are of extremely high quality. I had originally assumed they were of 1970's vintage, but the "CHINA" markings and some information from "Rebecca" on Flickr date these to the Second Golden Age of Spooky Kookys in the 1990's. The detailing and paint job is excellent, and the manufacturer of these rings clearly had access to the original Spooky Kooky patterns. These are not copies or recasts of the original jigglers, as the rings have better definition and crisper details, such as the forehead wrinkles and the noses.

1990's-era Spooky Kooky rings (back)

And, finally, we come to the current day. As late as 2013, the U.S. Toy Company was selling inexpensive sets of "one dozen Monster rings" for Halloween party favors. The set of rings just happened to contain an old friend: Kooky #4 [Goatee]! Or, at least, a modern-day version of him. The size is about right, but an examination of the sculpt shows that it is a very close imitation resculpt, not a cast from the original pattern. The pointed nose and mouth shape in the modern ring do not exactly match original jiggler, nor the 1990's-era rings. The paint job (using a spray mask) is not as good, and the back of the head is more hollow (saving plastic) and the ring band is of lower quality. 

U.S. Toys no longer carries these rings in their catalog, unfortunately.

2010-era Spooky Kooky ring sold by U.S. Toys

So, that's it! 40 years of Spooky Kookys in a nutshell!

The boxes and packaging of Spooky Kookys have a whole fascinating and sordid story to tell, and deserved their own page. Click this link to read it:
Imperial Toys Spooky Kookys Part 2

Special thanks to John Frick for sharing photos of his bootleg figures from his personal collection.

Got additional information, or corrections, or photos to share? Write to me and I will gladly incorporate any new information in this blog!

RELATED PAGES:
Imperial Toys Spooky Kooky jigglers, Part 1 
Imperial Toys Spooky Kooky jigglers, Part 2
Spooky Kooky Dungeon Dioramas
Imperial Toys Loony Kooky jigglers (1974)
A Collection of Toy Skeletons