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Madballs were a toy series of rubber balls with strange and disgusting faces created by AmToy, a subsidiary company of American Greetings in the mid-1980s. The toys had an appeal to young boys created 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 and a series of comics.
Toys
The toys were just collectible bouncing balls, however, the toy sold very well for a passing fad. There were two series of the original round Madballs collectible toys, 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." 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. Madballs were made popular by a successful advertising campaign depicting young children exclaiming to each other "oh boy, my balls have gone mad"
Original Madballs
- Screamin Meemie : A baseball with a frightening face
- Slobulus : A drooling creature with one eye hanging out
- Aargh : A one-eyed, blue Frankenstein's monster
- Hornhead : A swine-like, one-eyed monster
- 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.'
Second Series Madballs
- Snake Bait : A medusa
- Freaky Fullback : A mutant football player
- Splitting Headache : A head with the skin peeling off
- Bruise Brother : An ugly biker
- Wolf Breath : A werewolf
- Fist Face : A hand with an eyeball
- Swine Sucker : An ugly pig
- Lock Lips : A creature with its mouth locked shut
Super Madballs
- Touchdown Terror : A football
- Goal Eater : A soccer ball
- Foul Shot : A basketball
Television Show
The toys eventually spun into a Saturday morning cartoon beginning in September of 1987 created by Nelvana Limited.
In this show, the madballs do all sorts of silly skits that are accompanied by a laugh track. Sometimes the animation looks like something done by Monty Python, having big feet squish someone or a song and dance routine.
The plot of this show concerned an eponymous rock band, composed of Screaming Meeme on drums, Hornhead and Dusty on guitars, Skullface on keyboards, and Freakella on vocals. The Madballs are the last surviving rock band on planet Orb, where rock music, fun, and other such activities are forbidden by a heinous dictator named Wolf Breath. When The Madballs' rock show gets swarmed by Wolf Breath's stormtrooper-like law enforcement, the band, takes off on a spaceship built by their two biggest fans, Slobulous and Aargh. The spaceship finds its way to Earth, where The Madballs find and befriend Skip, who agrees to manage the band.
Characters included in the TV Show
- Screaming Meeme : 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
This is only a listing of the first 2 episodes. It is said that there are up to 6 episodes existing, but their episode titles are elusive.
Marvel Comic Book
Marvel Comics created a comic book based on the Madballs property. It began as a 3 issue mini-series in 1986 and continued at issue #4 as a regular monthly comic book in 1987. The book was cancelled at issue #10. A Madballs Annual comicbook was also produced.
This comic book was printed under Marvel's Star Comics imprint, a name they used to print all their children's comics at the time.
External links
"Madballs"