The original series of Madballs consisted of eight different characters: Screamin Meemie, Slobulus, Aargh, Hornhead, Dustbrain, Oculus Orbus, Skull Face and the perfectly named 'Crack Head' (which still makes me chuckle) and which was later renamed 'Bash Brain' due to Junkie connotations.
Next came the Madballs series two, which introduced another eight equally heinous characters: Snake Bait, Freaky Fullback, Splitting Headache, Bruise Brother, Wolf Breath, Fist Face, Swine Sucker, and Lock Lips.
In addition to these two series's of standard Madball releases there were a variety of additional toys that could be purchased, such as 'Super Madballs' and 'Head-Popping Madballs'.
Super Madballs
The 'Super Madballs' were a range of three full-sized Madball sports balls, and I still remember the day a friend of mine got 'Touchdown Terror' (a toy I desperately wanted) for his birthday as one of my earliest memories of experiencing full blown jealousy (and an almost uncontrollable urge to steal it from him).
The Super Madballs included 'Goal Eater' a full-sized soccer ball with huge gnashing fangs, 'Foul Shot' the freakiest looking basketball ever made, and of course 'Touchdown Terror' the sinister looking rocket shaped American football.
The Super Madballs included 'Goal Eater' a full-sized soccer ball with huge gnashing fangs, 'Foul Shot' the freakiest looking basketball ever made, and of course 'Touchdown Terror' the sinister looking rocket shaped American football.
Who was the best original Madball?
- 15% Screamin Meemie
- 9% Slobulus
- 6% Aargh
- 9% Hornhead
- 3% Dustbrain
- 15% Oculus Orbus
- 3% Skull Face
- 0% Crack Head (AKA Bash Brain)
- 0% Snake Bait
- 0% Freaky Fullback
- 6% Splitting Headache
- 0% Bruise Brother
- 6% Wolf Breath
- 3% Fist Face
- 0% Swine Sucker
- 3% Lock Lips
- 15% Touchdown Terror
- 9% Goal Eater
- 0% Foul Shot
Head-Popping Madballs
Next came the release of eight 'Head-Popping Madballs', these were essentialy hard plastic Madball action figures, with the Madballs having detachable heads which could be fired via a trigger mechanism located at their back. The MadBall Head-Poppers were without doubt my own personal favorite of the Madball toys, because anything that allowed you to fire a relatively hard piece of plastic with relatively decent thrust and speed directly into your brothers face, was OK by me.
The Head-Popping Madballs range included: Screamin Meemie, Oculus Orbus, Slobulus, Skull Face, Bruise Brother, Wolf Breath, Dust Brain, and Lock Lips.
Madball Spin-off's
The original Madballs toys became more popular than their creators could ever have dreamed of, and for a short while Madballs became 'must-have' toys. This led to the release of all manner of Madball spin-off's, including everything from pencil toppers, piggy banks, computer games, and even their own animated Saturday morning children's cartoon.
The Madballs Cartoon
Despite the popularity of the toys themselves the Saturday morning cartoon was unpopular and short-lived, with some going as far as to give it the title of 'worst cartoon ever'. In addition to this animated series two Madball VHS videos were also released, 'Madballs: Escape from Orb' and 'Madballs: Gross Jokes.'
The Madballs Comic Book
The Madballs also featured within a short-lived comic book series distributed by 'Star Comics' (the childrens division of Marvel comics) and also appeared in a collection of Christmas annuals where they battled against the evil 'Doctor Frankenbeans.'
Madballs Game ZX Spectrum Screenshot
Madballs Video Games
To date there have been two official Madballs video games. One released back in 1988 on such platforms as the 'ZX Spectrum' and the 'Commodore 64' which was a multi-directional scrolling platform game simply titled 'Madballs', that involved you playing the character 'Dust Brain' bouncing around looking for his fellow Madballs, whilst attempting to navigate hazards and obstacles such as trampolines and catapults.
And the second brings us to more recent times, with the release of 'Madballs: BABO Invasion', a highly popular multi-player shoot-em-up released on X-Box live in 2009, which some are currently describing as the best X-Box live game they have ever played.
The Original Madballs TV Commercial
The Madballs Revival
In 2006 the toy company 'Art Asylum' partnered with AmToys parent company 'American Greetings' to revive and re-release the Madballs toy range.
In 2007 the new Madballs revival began with the release of six new toys, five redesigned versions of original Madballs, plus the first new character to be released since the mid 80's 'Repvile'. A year later and another six new Madballs were released, again comprising of five redesigned characters from the original series's, plus another brand new character 'Blech Beard'.
In addition another six Madballs were released in the form of a new variation on the classic design 'The Madballs Sick Series', and was comprised of six Madballs that when squeezed, internal organs and other nasties ooze out of hidden cavities.
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