However, what set it apart from the rest of those toylines was how it made the assumption that it was more popular than it actually was, a conclusion reached based entirely on test markets. The creators of the toyline thought it was so well-regarded that they even attempted to create a feature-length animated film
(whist bragging that it was animated entirely by one person), only for said film to get stolen before it could be released. A scene from the film still appeared on the line's Flickr page, and can be seen here, as well as a short environmental PSA.
The line was very similar to Gogo's Crazy Bones in both gimmick and inspiration, the sole difference being the inclusion of rubber parts to increase play value. It also encouraged children to invent creative ways of playing with the toys, although that didn't stop a few official ones from popping up. Ultimately, despite all attempts, it did not survive, disappearing just like the rest of those toylines.
Compare to Foodfight!, another animated film that was also intended to spawn a franchise before the hard drives containing its assets were stolen (although unlike this film, was eventually actually released).
Provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: As far as we know, the unreleased film didn't include the Crew, who were featured prominently in the official handbook.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Robot the robot.
- All There in the Manual: Some information about the characters can be found in the official bios.
- Ambiguous Gender: Subverted. A few characters are referred to by specific gender pronouns in official material, but their voices in the trailer sound like the opposite gender.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Most of the Flickers on "Team Wrappers" are living household appliances— Bot 3000 is a copy machine, Canned Heat is a toaster oven, and Robo is a vacuum cleaner.
- Captain Ersatz: Dark Force somewhat resembles Boba Fett. It's even blatantly stated in his official bio that he "played a bounty hunter in Star Wars.
- Calvinball: Children are actively encouraged to invent their own ways to play with the toys.
- Cargo Ship: According to his bio, Robo is in love with a microwave oven.
- Catchphrase: Kung Poo has "Bakarayo!" (at least, that's what he kept saying in the trailer)
- Cloudcuckoolander: Porker displays traits of this in the "Where's my whistle?" clip.
- Distressed Dude: Cheeky seemingly plays this role.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Movie is titled Quest for the Golden Flicker. Guess what it's about?
- Excuse Plot: The film apparently had a group of Flickers go on an adventure to find the fabled Golden Flicker. The reason? Doc Flick has fallen behind on the mortgage.
- The Faceless: Hai Ya never shows his face.
- Floating Limbs: Aargh, Dark Force, and Kung Poo, among others, have these.
- Freak Lab Accident: How the Flickers were created.
- Gross-Out Show: Between the grotesque designs and the existence of Booga, the toyline seems to have been aiming for this.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: In some of the official bios.
- Irony: Just the fact that most of the toyline's surviving media assets were recovered from its official Flickr page.
- Mad Scientist: Doc Flick seems to be this.
- MacGuffin: The Golden Flicker.
- Obsessed with Food: Grizzler would play any game for food, according to his bio.
- Pirate: Aargh is one, and the unreleased film introduced four more.
- Series Mascot: Three possibilities. Aargh is the main character of the unreleased film, the toyline's logo seems to be modeled after X-1000, and most supplemental materials focus on Freaky Fred.
- Shout-Out: A few are found in the official bios.
- As stated above, Dark Force played a bounty hunter in Star Wars.
- Z-7 once dated R2-D2.
- Howler's favorite story is Little Red Riding Hood.
- Zook's favorite cartoon character is Marvin the Martian.
- Glub Glub has a famous cousin named Nemo.
- Robotica dreams of playing a robot on Star Trek.
- The trailer features a scene that's an homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark, with Aargh being shown exploring an ancient ruin, doing the same "bag of sand" swap-out for an idol as Indy, and even being chased by a giant boulder.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Although the plot for the film was said to have involved finding the Golden Flicker because Doc Flick is behind on his mortgage, he doesn't appear anywhere in the trailer. (Curiously, it's instead Aargh who exclaims that he's behind on his mortgage.)
- Small Reference Pools: Apparently, the line was "all the rage with children in test markets". However, like most toylines of its kind, it remained mostly under the radar before it expired.
- The Smart Guy: Most of the robot flickers qualify, most notably RU Smart and Robot.
- Spanner in the Works: X-1000 apparently does this.
- Toyless Toyline Character: Some of the characters that were to appear in the unreleased film, such as Long John or Hooks, were not available in the toyline.
- The same goes for every single human character.
- The Unintelligible: Kung Poo subverts this, as he is actually speaking very crude Japanese.
- We Are as Mayflies: Ivan is 1000 years young.
