SONIC drink buddies explained

there's an ad at edgewater SONIC for drink buddies -- the first time
i've seen one.

the implication is there are five different critters: a monkey, a cat, a
dog, a prehensile-tailed lizard and something that i don't know what the
hell it is (it's the purple critter in the poster -- i'll call it "WTF" for short).  in addition to these there is the righteous standing-on-the-cup tot.

according to wacky pack packaging, all of those critters can be in
different states including transparent, "glitter" (which really seems
more pearlescent to me) and boring mom-i-need-another-wacky-pack
normal.

i've read in different places on the 'net that the tot is available in different colors as well, but the one that everyone wants is the legendary limited edition "golden tot."

i know i've seen two different WTFs, which are almost exactly the same
color of orange, but one is glittery. i've also seen two different color monkeys.

i'm guessing, and this is a pure guess, there's *at least* two colors of every critter and probably 3 states for each color. which means at the dead minimum there'd be (7*6) = 42 (the answer to the universe and everything, of course) different drink buddies. but this is chinese plastic mass manufacture -- it wouldn't surprise me if there are several hundred different variations.

(side trivium: you can ask for the book "tour the alphabet with tot" instead of getting drink buddies if that whole experience seems too intense for you.}

drink buddies are getting big search hits on this 'blog ... a
wondering/questioning public is dying to know ... and now you do.

{6/24 addendum: i now have a golden tot and have posted some updated information about all the drink buddies in a newer posting.}