give a short answer to this question..

Great work on your post this week! I think you identifying that the dropper popper's potential energy is contradictory to the conservation principle until it is bent or prepared. This toy actually reminds me of a similar toy that used to come in cereal boxes where you would "turn it inside out" and let it sit on a hard flat surface until it returns to normal forcing it to shoot up in the air. That always entertained me. I even found myself placing this miniature version on a ball or soft surface like a couch or the carpet to see if it still flies as high as it did on the table. Didn't think of myself as an elementary scientist back in the day.

Regarding the woodpecker toy, I have zero feedback other than you outlined the conservation of energy and friction perfectly!