X-Entertainment.com X-Entertainment.com A Proud UGO Affiliate
My dying wish is for an owl/camel hybrid, which I call camowl.
« [Main Index] »

Freezy Freakies?

I've gotten a bunch of e-mails about this, and while I don't have enough material about the things to work an entire article around, they're certainly worthy of a mention. A lot of you seem to recall owning a pair of really cool gloves that featured words and/or characters that appeared and disappeared as they got colder and warmer. You're not crazy -- they really existed, and they were called "Freezy Freakies."

At the peak of the gloves' popularity, it seemed like every kid had a pair. At that young age, it was really difficult to pick "cool clothes." We usually had our terminally unhip mothers guiding the shopping experience, and that matched with the low-rent stores our outfits were purchased at made for some major fashion faux plural-of-pas. With the advent of Freezy Freakies, at least you had your hands covered. Everybody thought Freezy Freakies were cool.

Shown above is one of the old favorites -- the "Robot" Freezy Freakies. When cold, a robot would appear under the title. Other gloves had schemes to delight both male and female audiences, and eventually, there were a number of knockoff gloves that used the same mechanics for more recognizable cartoon characters. They haven't been made for years, save for the occasional "retro month" at some "boutique" that's brave enough to use the Freezy Freakies copyright without permission. Even at the deepest corners of the collector's market, they're tragically hard to find. If you're lucky enough to find a pair, buy 'em immediately. If you were smart enough to hold on to a pair since childhood, do the right thing and give 'em here.

Even if you couldn't throw a lick, "Freezy Freakies" made snowball fights so much fun.

Posted by Matt on 01/12/2004. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 85 comments

I saw a turducken on Food Network a few weeks ago on Top 5 (top 5 holiday bullshit or something). It was sick looking.
king, my sister and brother in law live in Edmond, OK. I’ve never been out there to visit them…never been invited :( I have been through Oklahoma City before, though. Strange experience, that.

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 01/12/2004 7:13 PM

Okay, sorry, Matt, please forgive me for thinking this, but, for whatever reason, the way the gloves look in that photograph, without the thumbs visible, reminds me exactly of the sort of, ahem, "novelty items" that they sell at Montreal’s world famous La Capoterie store, of the sort made out of Latex and moulded and painted to resemble everything from elephant trunks to Pikachu.

(Well, I’m more familiar with one of La Capoterie’s competitors, which is about a block away from Cordia University, but that picture of those gloves would not look out of place in one of La Capoterie’s ads.)

Chestnuts roasted by Steve Brandon @ 01/12/2004 9:09 PM

"Cordia University"… I meant Concordia University. Damn, I’ve had to correct myself twice in one day.

Chestnuts roasted by Steve Brandon @ 01/12/2004 9:11 PM

I do remember "Freaky Freezies," but I don’t think I ever had a pair – they were expensive and I’ve always hated mittens. It’s too hard to grip handlebars or snowballs with them.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 01/12/2004 9:45 PM

I went to the grocery store a few hours ago. They didn’t have Chocodiles nor was there a shelf tag for them (hey, I can wish, can’t I?). But I did buy a couple of double decker Moonpies. I never knew they sold them there. Ate one and it was friggin good.

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 01/12/2004 10:49 PM

Whoa…an item that everyone’s heard of but me? I must’ve missed out somethin’ awful as a kid.

Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that no self-respecting kid would handicap himself so badly in a snowball fight by wearing mittens…that would’ve been suicide in my little corner of the Boston suburbs…

Chestnuts roasted by Monster Dog @ 01/12/2004 11:52 PM

Don’t feel bad Monster Dog, I am 100% clueless on these items too. They look hella cool though and I would wear them now if I could find them.

Chestnuts roasted by mindsuckr @ 01/13/2004 1:13 AM

Plenty of people from the bay state around here…

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 01/13/2004 1:43 AM

Does anyone remember the silver and blue ones that would turn green with a kind of "fence" like pattern? I lost these and my mother wouldn’t let me have any pie. Not coincidentally, this was the same day my two brothers lost their mittens too. Oh well, we all know fruit is better for you. POMEGRANATE!

Chestnuts roasted by Whiskers the Kitten That Can Name Fruit @ 01/13/2004 2:48 AM

How wuz hot putato played? Did bill kulen toss a hot putato at the contestints that wuld be funi

Chestnuts roasted by Freezy Freakies are NU! NU! NU! @ 01/13/2004 2:50 AM

Despite your mangling of words, I understood it…I don’t know what to think maybe being tired makes my brain function differently. Hot Potato was a game with two teams of contestants, either 3,4 or 5 people on a side (I can’t remember), all who had something in common. You might see doctors against nurses or cops against firefighters or pilots against flight attendants. Anyway, Bill Cullen would read a question that had multiple answers, such as "Name 8 of the 15 most populated cities in the world?" Then one team would have a go. They’d keep guessing until they either guessed wrong or passed the "hot potato" to the other team. This meant that team A one person would pick a person from team B to answer. If the team B person answered right, the person on team A who challenged would have to sit out, if the person answered wrong he would have to sit out. The bonus round was similar except only one team played and no one sat out.

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 01/13/2004 3:00 AM

off topic, but matt, how’s it feel to have New Jersey be the first state to legalize cloning and what will this do for your futures?

Chestnuts roasted by spooky @ 01/13/2004 4:07 AM

off topic, but matt, how’s it feel to have New Jersey be the first state to legalize cloning and what will this do for your futures?

Chestnuts roasted by spooky @ 01/13/2004 4:26 AM

off topic, but matt, how’s it feel to have New Jersey be the first state to legalize cloning and what will this do for your futures?

Chestnuts roasted by spooky @ 01/13/2004 4:27 AM

spooky either has a broken computer or is a comedic genius.

Chestnuts roasted by Chopstick Sensei @ 01/13/2004 5:16 AM

The writing looks really retro-y.

Chestnuts roasted by Rebekah @ 01/13/2004 5:23 AM

I was thinking the same thing. Wasn’t sure whether to delete the extra comments or salute them.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 01/13/2004 5:23 AM

YOu know…I actually still do have a pair of those in the big basket of doom on my front porch. Actually, sayign that I have a pair may be a misnomer…I more than likely have 1…maybe 1.5. It all depends on if my dog got to them.

If I find them/it, I’ll ship it down to NJ. Having meathooks for hands makes it hard to wear kids gloves around campus.

Chestnuts roasted by Toxic Oreo @ 01/13/2004 10:25 AM

Dreaming of TurDucKen Voltron…..eew
I never heard of Freezer Freakies either, but they sound cool. My family unit lived the entire 70′s in the San Francisco Bay Area, so when we came back to southwest OK, I spent most of my winters indoors. But, there is that undefinable joy in a snowball fight. Splak! Hey, that one had a rock in it!

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 01/13/2004 11:53 AM

I don’t know if I had the Freezies or just a cheap knock-off. Knowing my mom, it was whatever was on sale….But I do know I had a stellar pair of Moon Boots. Moon Boots should come back…well, not here in Florida…that would be silly.

Chestnuts roasted by Stilewalker @ 01/13/2004 1:47 PM

Moon Boots in the Sunshine State, sounds fine to me. Dadaism amongst the Deco.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 01/13/2004 2:02 PM

Yep, i had a pair of these. I believe that mine were golves though, not mittens with lightning bolts that appeared on the back of the hand. Bought at Venture, a Chicagoland K’mart type store, but it was better, it was VENTURE.

Chestnuts roasted by Jimcognito @ 01/13/2004 2:04 PM

I kneel before TurDucKen the higher power.
Steve Brandon, one question about mtl..
What’s Foufounes like lately?

Chestnuts roasted by turkeys can't fly? @ 01/13/2004 3:40 PM

I don’t have my Freezy Freakies anymore; I put all of mine on Schotz beer bottles.

Chestnuts roasted by Laverne @ 01/13/2004 4:04 PM

I like ‘em.

Chestnuts roasted by Mookie @ 01/13/2004 6:31 PM

Add A New Comment!


This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2004 at 12:57 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.