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MEMORIES:
pardus remembers...A neighbor kid had these when we were about 10 or 11. The first time he let me play with ... More »
Posted on 08/13/08
PHOTOS:
Manufacturer:
"Gross! Ghastly! Freaky Fun For Everyone!"
Why it is that the gross, the disturbing, and the downright unsightly hold such a special place in the hearts of kids – boys, in particular – one cannot say. But one can profit on the knowledge of the fact.
Take AmToy, which unveiled their line of gross-out goobers in 1985. Eight Madballs hit the stores that year, promising the same bouncing, throwing, catching benefits as any other ball but with the added bonus of being disgusting. Each Madball was essentially a floating, dismembered head suffering from any number of hideous ailments. They were also characters. Horn head was a nose ring-toting Cyclops; Dust Brain was a time-ravaged mummy; Skull Face was… a skull; Crack Head had his brains exposed due to a split-open head; Screamin’ Meemie was a rampaging baseball; Slobulus drooled green goo; Oculus Orbus was simply one, large, bloodshot eye; and Aargh-he had blue skin, a stitched head, and one empty eye socket. If there was a way to incorporate pus, blood, or goo of any kind, Madballs did.
Soon, new madballs joined the originals (including a group of "Badballs" like Wolf Breath, Bruise Brother and Lock Lips). Despite lacking legs, Madballs made their way to other media in short order with gross-out joke books and a cartoon special. A comic book series from Marvel Star’s Comics even pitted the hovering nasties against the likes of Doctor Frankenbeans and his minion Snivelitvch. Sports-themed Madballs eventually joined the line: the basketball Foul Shot who suffered from worms in his eye and Touchdown Terror, the furious football. Madballs even inexplicably released the Mad Rollercycle, stirring up debate about how a disembodied head might drive such a thing.
As the decade ended, so did the fascination with Madballs, and children’s appetite for grossness extended to other spheres. Still, like with anything that is truly “gross,” Madballs may now be forsaken, but they’ll never be forgotten.
