Archive for the ‘Used & Abused’ Category

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Madballs: Head-Popping Action Figures

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

So, it all started around November of last year when I was writing my Anniversary Madballs post. While searching online for various tidbits about the origins of Madballs, I came across a bunch of Madballs paraphernalia and other toy images, but I was quickly overcome with excitement when I discovered these guys.

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Madballs Head-Popping Figures by AmToy

They look like awesome little Madballs action figures… and upon further reading, I soon confirmed that they are Madballs Head-Popping Action Figures released in 1986 by AmToy. These 4 inch figures have spring-loaded heads/necks. With the flick of a trigger on their backs, their heads go flying.

They look this cool AND their heads pop off? Wow!!

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Screamin' Meemie toy package - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Screamin' Meemie toy package - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Ya know, these may be the only worthwhile spin-offs of the Madballs brand. I don’t really remember seeing these things as a kid. I just had a couple of the original Madballs. I never took it to the extreme of wanting any of the spinoff toys and other random Madballs products (luckily for my parents).

It only took one look at them, and now that I had discovered these things, my obsession began. Not only do they encompass the great “grossness” of the original Madballs, but they’ve been taken a conceptual step further – these heads now have bodies which further illustrate their unique personalities (and maybe a hint at their origins).

As I searched online and at various toy shows, I soon discovered that these things are fairly hard to come by… especially if you want any of the Madballs figures with its corresponding head. And not only that, but most of the old ones I found have major paint flaking, damaged necks and broken triggers, so the heads wouldn’t stay attached or even launch anymore.

Freaky Fun for Everyone!
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Madballs Head-Popping Figures by AmToy

Well, as you can see, my patience and persistence (with the help of eBay) have prevailed. I am now the proud owner of a complete set of the ever-elusive Madballs Head-Poppers. They’re not all in perfect shape, but I still love ‘em all the same.

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Madballs Head-Popping Figures by AmToy

Let’s meet the gang, shall we?

Wolf Breath – The original dog face, this guy’s breath could stop a clock!
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Wolf Breath - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Wolf Breath - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Wolf Breath - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Slobulus – A gruesome drooler with one eye dangling for gross fun!
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Slobulus - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Slobulus - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Slobulus - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Screamin’ Meemie – A crazy baseball with a ghastly grin!
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Screamin' Meemie - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Screamin' Meemie - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Screamin' Meemie - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Dust Brain – A dried up mummy head who’s not too tightly wrapped!
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Dust Brain - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Dust Brain - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Dust Brain - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Lock Lips – A creepy creature with locked-lipped feature!
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Lock Lips - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Lock Lips - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Lock Lips - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Bruise Brother – A real tough cookie who’s a regular crumb!
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Bruise Brother - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Bruise Brother - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Bruise Brother - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Horn Head – A one-horned cyclops with a ring through his nose!
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Horn Head - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Horn Head - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Horn Head - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Skull Face – A mask of bone, teeth and frightening delight!
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Skull Face - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Skull Face - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Skull Face - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

Oculus Orbus – A big, bloodshot eyeball to freak out your friends!
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Oculus Orbus - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Oculus Orbus - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy Oculus Orbus - Head Popping Madballs figure by AmToy

It’s great seeing the cartoony grossness of this set. I think the modern politically-correct children’s toys makers would never have allowed these “cute” kids toys to have open, bloody wounds or torn flesh with exposed rib cages and spines. That’s just genuine, vintage 8os grossness. MMM-mm.

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Madballs Head-Popping Figures by AmToy

So, I have a goofy story to share. As as I searched and slowly gathered the Mini Madballs figures, I soon discovered the “holy grail” of the set – Horn Head. Apparently he was an exclusive figure that was included with the Mad Rollercycle. You thought finding good Madballs figures was a challenge? Try finding a Mad Rollercycle complete with a Horn Head figure. The Rollercycle is usually by itself or comes along with a headless or “wrong-headed” Horn Head.

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Mad Rollercycle Box

Well, just a few weeks ago after some super-laborious web-searching, I came across a Dutch website where a seller was actually offering a Rollercycle with Horn Head. What luck! But wait. There was only one problem. I couldn’t understand a single word on the website. Luckily, with the help of Babelfish Translator, I quickly had the site translated. It was broken English for sure, but it did allow me to at least locate the appropriate links to contact the seller.

So, being the desperate man that I am, I composed a message to the seller, asking how much the toy is and all that jazz. Now remember, the site was Dutch, so chances are I’ll have to make contact writing in Dutch… and that’s exactly what I did. I translated my message hoping whoever read it could make enough sense of what I’m sure was a horrible translation. I also made sure I attached my original English message (you know. .. just in case). With luck on my side, the seller wrote back. He was in Belgium and could understand English (YAY!), and he still had the toy available for me to order (YAY!x2).

So, here it is in all of it’s ugly-clunky glory.

Mad Rollercycle
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Madballs Rolelrcycle by AmToy

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Madballs Rolelrcycle by AmToy

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Madballs Rolelrcycle by AmToy

The Mad Rollercycle is basically a motorcycle-steamroller combo. It comes equipped with a catapult to launch the various Madballs mini-figures’ heads. There’s also a basketball goal if you feel like shooting a few Madhoops. Last but not least, there’s the little skull-topped gear shifter. Pushing it forward or backward activates a small mechanism in the backs of both seats which presses the triggers on the backs of the Madball figures – sending their heads flying.

Honestly, the whole thing seems like a half-hearted attempt ot just make more money on a crappy, arbitrary Madballs vehicle. Even on the packaging, you can see they slightly attempted to create a story for these guys. They’ve even been specified as GOODBALLS and BADBALLS (I’m telling you, it feels good to know a skeleton and a mutilated, rotting-flesh zombie are a couple of good guys).

Just a side note: Doesn’t the figure on the Mad Rollercycle box look a lot different than the actual Horn Head toy? I’m glad the toy didn’t turn out to look like the prototype.

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Horn Head Madballs - box detail

Wait!

It’s not over yet.

You think everything you just saw was cool?

You aint seen nothin’ yet.

Imagine the coolness of these figures….

Now imagine the coolness of these figures packaged in Japanese, super-unbelievably-awesome, super-well-illustrated-and-designed re-closeable boxes.

Did they look something like this??

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Japanese Madballs Head-Popping Figures toy packaging

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Japanese Madballs Head-Popping Figures toy packaging

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Japanese Madballs Head-Popping Figures toy packaging

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Japanese Madballs Head-Popping Figures toy packaging

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Japanese Madballs Head-Popping Figures toy packaging

That ultra web-scouring I mentioned earlier brought me to a nice fellow toy-lover who somehow got a hold of these beautiful things (thanks for the photos Kelly. You’re the best).

If anyone has any of these Japanese Madballs Head-Popping figures he’d like to get rid of (or any other photos to share), you better email me right now!

Madball Hooded Sweatshirt XXL
US $15.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Saturday Feb-04-2012 15:20:30 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list

Murphy's Law/ Droop - split 7inch, sick of it all , madball
US $15.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 13:32:40 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list

Outbreak L Slayer RIP BackTrack Trapped Under Ice Trash Talk Madball Cruel Hand
US $4.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 12:05:51 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list

Posted in Gross, Monsters, Ugly, Used & Abused | 25 Comments »

Sadballs

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Here we go again! Another series of Madballs to follow up the rebirth from last year!

Basic Fun has really dropped the ball (no pun intended… seriously) on the latest series of Madballs. The first series really looked great, but it looks like they intentionally sucked the life out of these classic characters. They’re not nearly as cool as I remembered. Look at this crap.

Dirty Devil – Not as much dirty as he is a devil.
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Generic Bootleg Devil Madball

Blood Bulge – He has a huge blood blister bulging from his eye socket. What else can ya say?
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Generic Bootleg Skull Madball

Lace Face – A sewn-on kisser only a stepmother could love.
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Generic Bootleg Scarred Face Madball

Evil Knievel – Bruised, beaten, and by the looks of it – undead.
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Generic Bootleg Mummy Madball

Ugly Ball - His laugh will drive you Bonkers!
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Ugly Ball - Skull Faced Generic Madball Bootleg

Alright. Ya got me. I’m just kiddin’. These aren’t Madballs at all. They’re some scraggly-ass 80s Madballs bootlegs… and they’re great ;)

Madballs Comic and Sticker Sheet

As most of you know, in the mid-80s, the Madballs were hugely popular. It all started simply enough with the foam rubber balls, but Madballs didn’t stop there. They pushed the Madballs brand into even more categories: mini-action figures (which will actually find their way to this blog eventually), wind-ups toys, stickers, coloring books, etc. You name it, it probably had a Madballs logo on it. They even made a cartoon! (Luckily, I never saw it, but that won’t stop me from showing it to you :D )

Of course the success (and overkill) of Madballs merchandising wasn’t overlooked by no-name toy manufacturers. You know the routine. You see something is a success, so you do your best to ride its coattails. That’s where these hideous things come into play.

In general, all of these bootleg balls are pretty bad, but they do have some distinguishable differences that helps them stand-out from your typical Madball. Firstly, they’re plastic instead of foam rubber. Secondly, as far as visual style goes, the details aren’t there. Compared to the real thing, the actually designs of the toy sculpts are less developed, and the paint applications are a lot more minimal and sloppy. But, it is their bad production value that lead them hear in the first place, so I guess I should stop trash-talkin’ ‘em. I have no clue to who made them. All I have are markings marking that read “Made in Taiwan.”

Of the handful of bootlegs balls I have, I really like the goofy devil guy the most. He just seems jovial or jolly or something. It looks like he’s an early 1900s circus announcer. Ya know, something like the Ringling Brothers.

Ringling Brothers with Generic Madball Devil Heads

Also, the ball I’ve referred to as “Blood Bulge” is actually kind of gross. He has a huge blood blister bulging out of one eye socket and has blood-coated teeth. At a primal level, he’s actually much grosser then the latest Madballs (mostly because the modern Madballs toys use slime instead of blood. Buncha wusses).

Madballs' Slobulus - Slimy and Bloody Heads

During my search for generic bootleg Madballs, I came across a bit of info of one of our ugly friends. It appears that last ball listed is actually a bootleg of a ripoff. It looks a lot like a toy called Ugly Ball which was created by Bonkers! candy in the 80s to cash in on the craze without really getting AmToy involved. Instead, they made their own horrible, horrible ball toy. Here’s a look at the old Bonker’s Ugly Ball commercial.

As a side note, how I obtained these bootleg Madballs is kind of a goofy story. Over the past several years, I’ve been designing a bunch of CDs and stuff for German industrial-rock band, KMFDM. Well, during that time, I’ve befriended their Production and Marketing Manager (I’m just guessing at his title), Brent. Brent knew about my site and my dorky interest in weird toys, and at some point, he stumbled upon his entire twenty-year-old Madballs collection. Luckily for me, he decided to generously send it to me… including the goofy bootlegs. Thanks Brent!

So, anyone else have any goofy Madballs bootlegs? I know darn well I saw more of them as a child. Share ‘em if you got ‘em.

Posted in Bootleg, Cartoons, Comics, Goofy, Monsters, Used & Abused, Weird | 12 Comments »

Masters of the Uni-worse

Monday, July 7th, 2008

So here we have some Masters of the Universe (MOTU) figures. It’s He-Man (The Most Powerful Man in the Universe) and Skeletor (The Evil Lord of Destruction).

Don’t they look awesome? Just like I remembered them….

He-Man

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He-Man - Generic Mexican Action Figure

Skeletor

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Skeletor - Generic Mexican Action Figure

Masters of the Universe my ass! These guys are masters of nothing (well, maybe the Masters of Shittily Made Toys).

All I can say is these things are god-awful. Again, what we have here are some generic, ugly-ass Mexican bootleg figures of popular American toylines.

These MOTU figures are horrible, but I love ‘em. They look like homemade elementary school sculpture projects. You can’t pose them. They can’t hold any weapons (although there’s a hole in Skeletor’s hand, so maybe it had a purpose at some point). Do-it-yourself action figures (Well, not action figures, cuz they can’t really move. They’re just statues i guess).

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He-Man - Generic Mexican Action Figure He-Man - Generic Mexican Action Figure

They’re the rejects of the MOTU toyline. Maybe that’s why I took them in. I feel sorry for them with their horrible molds, non-existent quality control and bad production value. These guys look like they’ve melted a bit. There’s tons of flack all over ‘em, their paint’s rubbed off, and they’re just plain gross.

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Skeletor - Generic Mexican Action Figure Skeletor - Generic Mexican Action Figure

Skeletor actually has a separate piece of armor (which is held on by a peg protruding from his chest) and some freaky muscle structure on his back (not that the rest of him isn’t freaky). Oh, and as it turns out, he does swivel at the waist.

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He-Man & Skeletor - Generic Mexican Action Figures

He-Man’s a bit smaller than Skeletor, but does size really matter?

So, what are the odds that these are actually rare prototypes? They’re early concept figures of the legendary toyline. Hmmmm….

Posted in Cartoons, Human?, Monsters, Superhero, Ugly, Used & Abused | 10 Comments »

He sells sea shells by the sea shore.

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Here’s one of those random flea market toys I found weeks ago. Another lone, quirky action figure.

I wasn’t quite sure what this guy was, but I knew I liked his style. Looks like he should be an evil, menacing villain, but c’mon! He has an arm-swinging action feature (which is broken), a whale on his head, bling around his neck, barnacles and sea shells all over his body…

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

…and he even has a crab for a hand (a truly awesome and hilarious design decision by the way). How menacing could he be?

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

I figured he was a Power Rangers character, but I wanna come up with some better (worse) sea-related jokes to introduce this guy.

- He sells sea shells by the sea shore.
- The REAL Aquaman
- He’s sleeping with the fishes.
- He has a bad case of crabs.
- Mascot for Sea World

Yeah, that’s it. He can be the original, retired mascot for Sea World. Since he was fired by Sea World, he’s become old and bitter. That’s actually not an angry, “evil” look on his face, it’s just frustration due to his lack of any other relevant job skills.

Seriously though, this toy looks to be another quirky Power Rangers bad guy, but as always, ya gotta check the toy’s markings – “© 96 Bandai” on one foot and “Made in China” on the other.

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

Ya know, I actually had no luck figuring out what this toy was. Seriously, I scoured the web for Power Rangers and BeetleBorgs characters for a pretty good while. Nothing.

But thanks to JohnH at the ToyTraderz.com forums, I was able to get some help identifying this guy. Turns out it’s a Saber-Swiping Typhus figure from the BeetleBorgs toy line, and according to Wikipedia, Typhus is a Chimera, humanoid monster who likes to fight. His whale flattop is actually an extra mouth used to eat food and other junk, and he uses a sword (which blasts lasers when held in his extra mouth) that latches to his arm or his mouth. Weird.

I’m not too familiar with the BeetleBorgs. They just look like another set of brightly-colored, acrobatic kids that fight monsters.

I sure as hell hope, the show wasn’t as bad as this music video I found.

Posted in Monsters, TV and Movies, Used & Abused, Weird | 7 Comments »

Dodo Bird Discovered

Sunday, May 4th, 2008

So, over the past several months, I’ve been posting random toys hoping to gather insight on what they are and where they come from. I’ve been successful in a lot of cases, but other times I ask the readers to speak up and help me out. While doing this, I’ve accidentally become the weirdo toy “expert.” I now have people coming to me asking about the origin of random toys they’ve found.

Well, one such toy is the topic of my entry today. This toy was actually provided to me by my buddy, John (who has had this thing for a while now), and he was really hoping to find out what it is.

I was a bit hesitant to feature it at first, but luckily, upon seeing the toy, I thought it was pretty freaky too (and now it’s all mine John! Sucker!! ;) ).

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Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece

At first glance I thought, “What the hell is this thing?”

An ostrich?

A giraffe?

The bastard offspring of an interspecies love affair?

Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece

So what do we have? At first, it looks like a simple bobbing bird toy – Yellow body, green tail and… red eyes and neck? Uh-oh. Could be something freaky.

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Silly Safari - Jungle Game bird piece

A dangly tongue? Um, yeah. Kinda weird.

Ears? On a bird? Definitely weird.

An Adam’s Apple? What the hell.

All that accompanied with the freaky looking, rubbed-off paint job definitely makes this thing qualified to be here.

There is a clue on its tail feathers luckily: “1966 Deluxe Reading Corp. 7003-0415 1B1″. Apparently Deluxe Reading Corporation has gone through some name changes over the years, and they’re best known for making dolls and stuff… and even Johnny Lightning cars.

After some annoying research and matching the toy’s serial number to a Deluxe Reading Corp. catalog i found online, I discovered this guy is actually a game piece of some old board game called Silly Safari.

Silly Safari Jungle Game
Silly Safari game box photo courtesy of BoardGameGeek.com.

Silly Safari Jungle Game
Silly Safari game pieces photo courtesy of BoardGameGeek.com.

It looks like the paint on the bird piece might’ve been a custom job.

Man, I’d love to get my hands on that alligator. Anybody wanna give him up?

Posted in Animals, Bizarre, Used & Abused | 5 Comments »

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