Healthy Food Brands, or The HFB Candy Company as they’re now called, are the folks who have been behind the Angry Birds gummies line since its introduction in 2012. Earlier this year, HFB followed up their success with the Angry Birds license by releasing the first confectionery products based on the hit mobile game Candy Crush. And for Halloween 2014, the Candy Crush candy line gets its first seasonal special release with Candy Crush Halloween Color Bombs!
Since I have yet to cover the all-year-round Candy Crush line from HFB, I’ll be taking a look at that today in addition to the special Halloween release box.
As most of you will undoubtedly already know, Candy Crush is a hugely successful smartphone game. I was able to meet the folks developing the Candy Crush candy license last year and after that meeting I decided to play the game for a time. Though I only spent a few months with it, I came away understanding why it’s so successful – it’s quite a fun, well-designed and ridiculously-addictive game.
So Candy Crush would seem to be the most obvious thing to license for actual confectionery products, as it’s now candy-imitating-a-game-imitating-candy, and I think that it is. But it might also be the most “meta” candy line that has ever been put on a shelf.
Let’s start by taking a look at the special Halloween release version of Candy Crush Color Bombs:
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Halloween Color Bombs – 3 oz candy box – October 2014
Color Bombs are essentially nonpareils, the most common version of them being Sno-Caps, and covered with colorful sprinkles. In the case of the Halloween version, the sprinkles are holiday appropriate colors. The packaging sports the same style artwork and appealing design as the all-year round version. The look is right out of the game and the colors and printing on the box are bright and vibrant. It’s well-done and I really dig what they’re doing here.
As a fan of HFB’s Angry Birds line, and how they created special seasonal releases for that, it’s great to see them doing the same with their fledgling Candy Crush licensed line.
Here’s a look at the standard version Color Bombs box next to the seasonal release:
Candy Crush Color Bombs comparison – Halloween and regular – 2014
So, now that I’ve teased a bit of the all-year-round Candy Crush line, let’s take a look at it.
I was able to pick up most of the boxed assortment of Candy Crush offerings fairly easily, though the Sugar Crush Pop Rocks-style box took a bit of hunting. Here they are:
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Color Bombs – 3 oz candy box – 2014
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Sour Fruit Gummies – 3.5 oz candy box – 2014
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Mixed Fruit Gummies – 3.5 oz candy box – 2014
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Jelly Fish – 3 oz candy box – 2014
The candies themselves take direct inspiration from the candy found in the Candy Crush game. It’s on-the-nose and in a way that makes good sense.
Though I spotted the standard Candy Crush boxed releases at a few different venues, I was only ever to find these Sugar Crush items at a local Toys R Us store:
HFB Candy Company – Candy Crush – Sugar Crush – 2-pack strawberry & watermelon candy box – 2014
I quite like the artwork on the Sugar Crush box and packets, and I think it’s my favorite of the bunch. Either that or I just like it more because it took more work to track down.
Each Sugar Crush box contained two packets of carbonated popping candy ala Pop Rocks, in either strawberry or watermelon flavor. Here’s a look at the individual packets:
HFB Candy Company – Candy Crush – Sugar Crush – .35oz strawberry popping candy package – 2014
HFB Candy Company – Sugar Crush – .35oz watermelon popping candy package – 2014
Beyond the boxed versions, the four main offerings also got peg bag releases, which I picked up and will share here. These feature the same colorful Candy Crush artwork and characters found on the box versions:
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Color Bombs – 4 oz candy package – 2014
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Jelly Fish – 4 oz candy package – 2014
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Mixed Fruit Gummies – 5 oz candy package – 2014
Healthy Food Brands – Candy Crush – Sour Fruit Gummies – 5 oz candy package – 2014
That’s all of them and everything I’ve got to share on the Candy Crush candy lineup and its special Halloween Color Bombs box release. I’ll likely be back to cover this brand in December as I hear they’re going to feature a Candy Crush abominable snowman on the Christmas seasonal box!
And that’s it for today. See you next time!
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Today’s post has been part of CollectingCandy.com’s 2014 Countdown to Halloween. To check out other sites celebrating Halloween all month long, visit the official CountdownToHalloween site. For more of CollectingCandy.com’s CountdownToHalloween posts, just click here.
