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Madballs
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Madballs were a series of toy rubber balls with strange and disgusting faces created by AmToy, a subsidiary company of American Greetings in the mid-1980s.
The toys incorporated gross-out humor in the vein of Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids. Each ball had a character synopsis and a strange name.
The toyline was later turned into a short-lived animated television series, a series of comics and a video game for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64.
toys were high quality, foam rubber collectible bouncing balls; however, the toy sold well for a passing fad.
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Encyclopedia
Madballs were a series of toy rubber balls with strange and disgusting faces created by AmToy, a subsidiary company of American Greetings in the mid-1980s.
The toys incorporated gross-out humor in the vein of Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids. Each ball had a character synopsis and a strange name.
The toyline was later turned into a short-lived animated television series, a series of comics and a video game for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64.
Toys
The toys were high quality, foam rubber collectible bouncing balls; however, the toy sold well for a passing fad. There were two series of the original round Madballs collectible toys, each series consisting of 8 balls each as well as a collection of Super Madballs, a larger version of the original Madballs, shaped like other sports balls, such as the American-football shaped "Touchdown Terror", and the soccer ball named "Goal Eater", and the basketball named "Foul shot". There were a total of 4 super Madballs in the larger series. There was also a short series of Head-Popping Madballs, where bodies were attached. Each of the heads on the Head-Popping Madballs were interchangeable, creating more possibilities for enjoyment. There was also a vehicle made for the Madballs. It was called the "Madballs Rollercycle". There were countless other licensed Madballs items, such as stickers (non trading), shampoos, Valentine's cards, tableclothes, silly string, party favours, and more along those lines.
Original Madballs
- Screamin Meemie : A baseball with a frightening face and large tongue
- Slobulus : A drooling creature with one eye hanging out
- Aargh : A one-eyed, blue Frankenstein's monster
- Hornhead : A horned cyclops
- Dustbrain : A mummy
- Oculus Orbus : An eyeball
- Skull Face : A skull
- Crack Head : A head with an exposed brain. This Madball was later renamed 'Bash Brain,' due to the unpleasant connotations of 'crack head' as a slang term for a drug user.
Second Series Madballs
- Snake Bait : A gorgon
- Freaky Fullback : A mutant football player
- Splitting Headache : Unmatching left and right head sides stitched together
- Bruise Brother : An ugly biker
- Wolf Breath : A werewolf
- Fist Face : A hand clutching an eyeball
- Swine Sucker : An ugly pig
- Lock Lips : A creature with its jaw locked shut with a padlock and one eye covered by a riveted plate
Super Madballs
- Touchdown Terror : An American football with a manic grin and missile-like fins and tip
- Goal Eater : A soccer ball with very large pointed teeth
- Foul Shot : A basketball bursting open to reveal a face with worms crawling out of one eye socket
Television Show
The toys eventually spun into a Saturday morning cartoon beginning in September 1987 created by Nelvana Limited. The Second Series Madballs were named the Badballs, an evil organization, led by Commander Wolfbreath, who conquered the planet Orb and outlawed music.
In this show, the madballs perform humorous skits that are accompanied by a laugh track. Some of the animation is similar in style to animations created by Terry Gilliam from Monty Python's Flying Circus television series.
They had two direct to home videos. The first one was a 30 minute episode in 1987 called "Escape from Orb", which featured a female Madball named "Freakella". She was featured in the cartoon only and never made into an actual Madball toy.
The second home video was a series of Jokes and skits in Monty Python animation style, called "Madballs-Gross Jokes"
Characters included in the TV Show
- Screaming Meemie : A baseball with an eerie grin, voiced by Geoffrey Bowes
- Hornhead : A cyclops face with a horn, voiced by Keith Hampshire
- Aargh : A blue Frankenstein with one eye totally open & one totally shut, voiced by John Stocker
- Skullface : A skeleton face with a smile, voiced by John Stocker
- Dusty : Voiced by Jeri Craden
- Freakella : Voiced by Cree Summer
- Sandy : Voiced by Alyson Court
- Slobulus : A drooling face with one eye hanging from the socket, voiced by Dan Hennessey
- Bruise Brother : Looks like a biker with a German helmet, eye patch and beard, voiced by Dan Hennessey
- Freaky Fallback : A purple monster wearing an orange football helmet, voiced by Dan Hennessey
- Occulus Orbus : A giant eyeball, voiced by Len Carlson
- Bash Brain : A normal face with its scalp ripped off to expose its brain, voiced by Len Carlson
- Lock Lips: Voiced by John Stocker
- Wolf Breath : The leader of the bad guys. He wears a brown uniform and has light brown skin. Voiced by Don Francks
- Swine Sucker: A fat ugly pig, voiced by Len Carlson
- Skip : Voiced by Christopher Ward
Episodes
1. Escape from Orb!
2. Gross Jokes
These were the only two cartoons ever made
Movie - Madballs: Escape from Orb!
In 1986 the Madballs movie, Madballs: Escape from Orb! was released by Nelvana. The movie was later released in VHS but has not been made available on DVD yet. As Nelvana does not have a mention of Madballs on their website, copies of this movie can only be found by used video resellers and auction sites.
The movie is animated in the same Saturday morning cartoon style as the TV show. Amazon sums up the movie as "The Madballs are a zany animated rock band who rock and roll their way across the galaxy. Music is illegal on their home planet so they make a break for it on Earth."
Comic Books
Marvel Comics, under their subsidiary children's comics division, Star Comics, created a comic book series based on the Madballs property. It began as a 3 issue mini-series in 1986 and continued at issue #4 as a bi-monthly comic book in 1987. The book was canceled at issue #10. A Madballs Annual comic book was also produced in the UK, under Marvel Comics UK.
Modern Revival
In early 2006, toy company Art Asylum announced that it had partnered with original right holders American Greetings to revive the Madballs toys, with both classic characters and new designs. Toy company Basic Fun Inc. has taken up the task of producing/selling the Art Asylum re-designed Madballs since then. As of November 2007, the toys have finally begun appearing in toy stores. Madballs Classics Series 1 consists of five re-designed Madballs characters (Screamin' Meemie, Skull Face, Bash Brain, Slobulus & Horn Head) & also the first new Madballs character since the toyline's demise in the mid/late 1980s, Repvile. Newly designed sculpts for two other Madballs, Dust Brain & Freaky Fullback, as well as Super Madball Touchdown Terror, were also shown at Toy Fair and Comic-Con 2006, but have yet to appear in stores. In addition to six more Madballs for Series 2, American Greetings has also hinted at the creation of a "Goalrilla" Super Madball which would mimic the design of a soccer ball (possibly a redesign of the original "Goal Eater" Madball).
In addition to the standard classics Series 1 Madballs, there is an entirely new series in stores. Madballs SICK Series 1 features three re-designed Madballs characters (Bash Brain, Slobulus & Skull Face) which can be squeezed to reveal their innards. When squeezed, Bash Brain has brains that bubble out, Slobulus has eyeballs that pop out, and Skull Face has spiders that squirm out.
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