Madballs

Madballs is a series of toy foam balls originally created by AmToy, a subsidiary company of American Greetings (now Cloudco Entertainment) in the mid-1980s, later being revived by Art Asylum (2007–2008) and Just Play, Inc. (2017–2019). The balls incorporated gross-out humor and each was given a character synopsis and an odd name. The toyline expanded into a franchise with a comic book series, two direct-to-video animated cartoons, and a video game for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64.

Overview

The toys were rubber or foam collectible bouncing balls with grotesque faces and designs. The toys sold well as a passing fad. There were two series of the original Madballs collectible toys. Each series consisted of eight balls, 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-shaped "Goal Eater," and the basketball-shaped "Foul Shot."

Original series Madballs

Screamin' Meemie: A screaming baseball with a large tongue

Slobulus: A drooling green creature with one eye hanging out of its socket

Aargh: A one-eyed, blue-skinned, Frankenstein monster-esque creature with stitching all over its face

Horn Head: A horned cyclops with a nose ring (which is chained to its ear in the Art Asylum era)

Dust Brain: A mummy with rotting teeth and wrinkly teal skin

Oculus Orbus: A bloodshot eyeball (later sporting a mouth in the Just Play era)

Skull Face: A skull with large eye sockets sporting tiny red eyes, a big set of teeth, and a partially exposed brain (which is depicted as a sentient being named Lobe in the Just Play era)

Bash Brain: A gory zombie head with a partially exposed brain.

Second series Madballs

Snake Bait: A forked tongue-sporting gorgon (later depicted in the Just Play era as a monster being devoured by a snake)

Freaky Fullback: A mutant football player

Splitting Headache: A monster with the skin on half of its face peeled off

Bruise Brother: An ugly biker with a battered blue helmet

Wolf Breath: A werewolf with large, rotten fangs dripping with blood (drool in the Art Asylum era)

Fist Face: A severed hand clutching an eyeball (later depicted as a severed hand with an eyeball emerging from the wrist in the Just Play era)

Swine Sucker: An ugly, drooling wild boar

Lock Lips: A creature with its jaw locked shut and one eye covered by a riveted plate

All Madballs toys were conceived in the early 1980s by the creative team at American Greetings Properties, which was formally named Those Characters From Cleveland, or TCFC for short: Ralph Shafer, George Chanter, Mark Spangler, Jim Elliott, Kim Hammeren, and Vint Gonser. Editorial by Clark Wiley and Tom Jacobs