Madballs

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Madballs were a series of toy rubber balls 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 odd name.

The toyline was later turned into a short-lived animated television series, a series of comics and a video game (which contained some elements from the cartoon) for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64.

Toys

The toys were high quality, foam rubber collectible bouncing balls; however, the toys only sold well as 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", 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, tablecloths, 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

Animated series

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 1986 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 released the following year was a series of Jokes and skits in Monty Python animation style, called "Madballs-Gross Jokes"

Characters included in the animated series

• Screaming Meemie : A baseball with an eerie grin. He is apparently the Madballs leader as he often refers to his friends as "gang". He also seems to be a friend of Freakella because they are seen together near the end of the intro and is often seen speaking with her. He was voiced by Geoffrey Bowes
• Hornhead : A cyclops face with a horn. He is the strongest of the group and was voiced by Keith Hampshire
• Aargh : A blue Frankenstein with one eye totally open & one totally shut. He is friends with Slobulus even though he often abuses him and argues with him a lot. He was voiced by John Stocker
• Skullface : A skeleton face with a smile who is best friends with Horn Head and Dusty. He was voiced by John Stocker
• Dusty : A very intelligent mummy, voiced by Jeri Craden
• Freakella : A Bride of Frankenstein-esque Madball who hates being called Mophead, voiced by Cree Summer in the first episode and Taborah Johnson in the second.
• Sandy : Skip's sister, voiced by Alyson Court
• Slobulus : A drooling face with one eye hanging from the socket. He is friends with Aargh even though Aargh often abuses Slobulus and the two often argue, especially about who is the Madballs' biggest fan. He was voiced by Dan Hennessey
• Bruise Brother : Looks like a biker with a German helmet, eye patch and beard, Wolf Breath's right-hand man, 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. He made a cameo in Escape from Orb and his first full appearance was in Gross Jokes.
• Lock Lips: Voiced by John Stocker
• Wolf Breath : The leader of the bad guys. He is a werewolf who has a habit of using breath spray frequently. Voiced by Don Francks
• Swine Sucker: A fat ugly pig, voiced by Len Carlson
• Splitting Headache: A green face with half the skin peeled off, exposing the skull.
• Skip : The Madballs' manager on Earth, voiced by Christopher Ward

Episodes

1. Escape from Orb!
2. Gross Jokes
These were the only two episodes ever made, save for a promo featuring Freakella, Aargh, Horn Head, and Dusty

Episode 1 - Madballs: Escape from Orb!

Madballs: Escape from Orb! VHS Cover

In 1986 the first episode of the Madballs TV show, Madballs: Escape from Orb! was released by Nelvana. The episode 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 episode can only be found by used video resellers and auction sites.

Amazon sums up the episode 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." The episode was directed by Laura Shepherd, and written by Heather MacGillvray and John de Klein.

The special begins with the Madballs being sentenced to hard labour on their home planet, Orb, by its dictator, the evil Commander Wolfbreath. Orb is a planet inhabited entirely by balls, where music and the bouncing & landing of balls are banned. Wolfbreath and his goons, the Badballs, have taken over the planet and sentence the Madballs to make a bust of himself. The Madballs are the only surviving rock and roll band on Orb, as all the other bands have been destroyed by the Badballs. The Badballs seek to destroy the Madballs in the hopes of ridding Orb of all music forever. At the same time, the Madballs have been working on a spaceship in the hopes of leaving from Orb.

On Orb, the Madballs escape to perform a secret rock concert, but Commander Wolfbreath and the Badballs notice the sound of the rock music and place the Madballs under arrest. They manage to defeat Wolfbreath and his goons. A disgraced Commander Wolfbreath orders the other Badballs to go after the Madballs, which have escaped through a sewer. Almost cornered, the Madballs are saved from the sewer by the pair of Aargh and Slobulus. Aargh and Slobulus, despite arguing over who they believe to be the Madballs' biggest fan, offer to help the Madballs escape in their spaceship. Although Freakella is reluctant at first to escape (she says she wants to keep her feet on the ground) with the Madballs, Aargh, and Slobulus, she joins the Madballs anyway. When the escape happens, Wolfbreath vows his revenge on the Madballs "if it's the last thing I do".

The Madballs are on a bumpy ride on their ship through space. On the on-board television, the Madballs are delighted by what they see to be rock and roll music on Earth, with a band called The Cartoons about to perform, being introduced by their manager, Skip. The Madballs then decide to go on to Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, Skip is desperate because the Cartoons have not yet been able to make it to their concert. His sister, Sandy, receives a phone call in which she is informed that the Cartoons are in Alaska and are not returning. Back in space, the Madballs are looking forward to heading to Earth, until they realize that Wolfbreath and the Badballs have left in a spaceship of their own and are going after the Madballs, and he threatens the Madballs with a broadcasted warning. Wolfbreath orders the firing of lasers to go after the Madballs' comparatively rickety spaceship as they go through an asteroid belt. The Madballs survive the belt and eventually land on Earth at the site of the concert. They sing a cover of "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis to an enthusiastic crowd. However, Wolfbreath's spaceship lands on Earth, and after the Madballs give their performance, he and his Badballs order the Madballs to return to Orb. An angry Freakella, offended by being called "Mophead", leads an attack on the Badballs, forcing them back into their spaceship and sending them back to Orb. The crowd cheers yet again. The special ends with Skip agreeing to be the Madballs' manager.

Episode 2 - Madballs: Gross Jokes

Madballs: Gross Jokes was an episode where the Madballs told disgusting jokes and performed sickening skits. Like the first episode, this episode was released on video and has yet to be released on DVD.

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. The main villains of the comic were Dr. Frankenbeans, who was in many ways similar to Victor Frankenstein, and his bumbling assistant Schnivelitch, who was similar to Igor.

Modern Revival

In early 2006, toy company Art Asylum announced that it had partnered with original rights holder 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 in the US. 'Madballs Classic Series 1' consists of five re-designed Madballs characters from the original Series 1 (Screamin' Meemie, Skull Face, Bash Brain, Slobulus and Horn Head) and 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 and Freaky Fullback, as well as Super Madball Touchdown Terror, were also shown at Toy Fair and Comic-Con 2006, but the latter has yet to appear in stores. 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). Aargh from the original Series 1 is the only standard size toy that is not currently mooted for redesign.

Six more Madballs forming Classic Series 2 were released in the US in 2008 (Freaky Fullback, Wolf Breath and Swine Sucker from the original Series 2, plus Dust Brain and Oculus Orbus from original Series 1, and another new Madball named Blech Beard). In addition to the standard Classic Series Madballs there is an entirely new Madballs variation in stores: 'Madballs Sick Series'. Each of the (so far released) two series features three re-designed Madballs characters from the Classic lines (Bash Brain, Slobulus & Skull Face compose Series 1, Freaky Fullback, Dust Brain and Blech Beard Series 2) which can be squeezed to reveal their innards. For example, Bash Brain has brains that bubble, Slobulus contains eyeballs that pop out, and Skull Face conceals spiders that squirm forth.

In Fall 2009 there are plans to release a third series of both Classic and Sick Series Madballs, with a fourth to follow. On December 3, 2008 Madballs Central posted details of Classic Series 3: 'The characters are as follows: SNAKE BAIT (based on a 1990's, series 2 Madball), FIST FACE (based on another 1990's, series 2 Madball), LOCK LIPS(based on yet another 1990's, series 2 Madball), PUCK TEETH (an all-new design!), NAIL BITER (also a new design) and MOSH PITTS (an all new character as well)'.

On website Toyark.com there exist details of which Madballs will comprise Series 4, plus choices for the Series 3 and 4 Sick Series'. Classic Series 4 is rumoured to include the final two original Series 2 toys (Bruise Brother and Splitting Headache) plus four new imaginings (Bottom Feeder, Eye-Sore, Klang Fang and Shrunk Punk). Sick Series variants will be Fist Face, Mosh Pitts and Lock Lips for Series 3, followed by Bottom Feeder, Splitting Headache and Klang Fang for Series 4. As of yet there are no details on a release window for Series 4, nor how creatively the Sick Series variants will distend.

Video game

As part of the E3 videogame show, it was announced on May 31, 2009 that Canadian game developer PlayBrains was releasing a video game sequel to BaboViolent 2, including Madballs characters called Madballs in ... Babo: Invasion. It was released for Xbox Live Arcade on July 15, 2009. The gameplay involves rolling around expansive terrain maps carrying large weaponry (machine guns, etc.) and causing mass destruction. It also includes 4 player co-op, team v. team and free-for-all modes over Xbox Live, in addition to a unique multiplayer mode where two teams of players build their side of the map, then attack a base on the other team's side. There is also a multiplayer mode where people can play as the head of their Xbox Live avatars. Of the characters in the game, only two are Madballs: Oculus Orbus and Horn Head. An iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad game based on the Madballs characters titled Babo Crash HD was also released.

External links

• The Official Website for MADBALLS.
• Madballs Revival Article @ I-Mockery
• Madballs Article @ X-Entertainment
• Madballs Episode @ X-Entertainment
• Madballs @ Big Cartoon Database
• A Listing of Madballs Toys
• Madballs Toy & Toon Archive!
• IMDb listing of Madballs: Escape from Orb!
• Official site for Madballs video game.