Jail-O Dessert, Quacker Oats, Blisterine Mouthwash: Let Us Now Remember Our Inner Crackpot-Child!

The FREEPers Who Haven't Let The Chronically Serious Wreck Their Sense of Fun ^ | 3 September 2002 | Yours Truly

[BluesDuke]

A thread about a cooking oil explosion prompted me, for some unearthly reason, to remember a sticker satirising a household cooking product which I once affixed to my desk lamp, when (approximately) Richard Nixon was still the head of the White Household:



Now, come on. You know you all (most of you all, anyway) had some berserk little collecting things going when you were kids, too...one of mine was the infamous Wacky Packages stickers (they were made by Topps, the baseball card people), when I was in around fifth through seventh grade...here was one of the original Wackies that was a particular favourite...



Now, I wonder. How many of you fellow crackpot childhood collectors were also Wacky Packages fans? Or, what were your particular crackpot collecting cravings in those years? Summer's almost gone, the kids are going back to school, which means (in southern California, anyway) afternoon traffic is going to be a real pain in the arse (since school bus drivers in southern Cal drive as though they learned to drive from New York cab drivers), which means we need all the laughs we can get. So, the usual sourpuss brigade is hereby disinvited to join our fun FREEP contingency in remembering when good clean fun really was clean...(well, if you didn't count...)

[BluesDuke]

One more favourite, then I turn it over to the FUN FREEPs...

[BluesDuke]

*BUMP* to get in touch with our inner crackpot child!

[BluesDuke]

One correction: I got the Wacky Packages (hey, there were funny) in twelfth grade; I got these weirdo monster name stickers in fifth through seventh - a different hideous creature for each boy or girl's name (though I have to admit, mine was actually one of the more benign of the monster name images!) It's Tuesday, and my memory isn't always so sharp on Tuesday (maybe because it's still three days to Friday?)...

[BluesDuke]

Have to admit, the Topps people had their hearts in the right place (and it sure beats the Smith Act to a pulp!)...

[bootless]

Wow! I collected almost all of them! Wish I still had 'em. I was in fifth grade at the time.

[BluesDuke]

Apparently, the Wacky Packages are making a comeback of a sort. It began when a small number of the Wacky images showed up on Pogs during that 1994-95 crase (sheesh, what were Pogs but old-fashined milk bottle cap lids without the milk bottles!), and thanks to the Web people who got a bang out of them (blowing up their dinner with Bam! no doubt) are hunting them down and collecting them again. Turns out I was right the first time, sort of: I did remember having Wacky Packages in fifth through seventh grades - the original Wackies were die-cut card cutouts, not stickers such as began coming forth (beginning with the original Wackies images) in 1973...

And why not!

[Doomonyou]

Man, there's a blast from the past!

[Pat Bateman]

AirRaid ExtraDead! (Arrid Extra Dry) There were also T-shirts with the Wacky Packages on them. Seriously valuable now, with '70s things in a resurgence of popularity.

[uglybiker]

WACKY PACK STICKERS FOR SALE HERE!!

[Cobra Scott]

Wonderful sentimental journey. My favorite was All-Brain (All-Bran) cereal.

The monsters in the hotrods were DonRuss stickers. My teachers confiscated and threw away probably a million bucks worth of these things. One more reason for homeschool, Yeah!

Interesting aside, wacky's came out at about the same time as the WTC was opened.

[boris]

What about Spotted-Owl Helper?

[MozarkDawg]

Ya just cain't beat a good Hostage Cake!!

Wacky Packages -- oh the memories! And I really enjoyed the gum, (although I can't say my orthodontist was all that thrilled with it).

[BluesDuke]

Just for you...

[BluesDuke]

Hostages, anyone?

[BluesDuke]

And I really enjoyed the gum, (although I can't say my orthodontist was all that thrilled with it).

He'd probably rather you had been using this... ;)

[NYCVirago]

You are not going to believe this story, but I swear it's absolutely true. I read your post before heading into Manhattan today, and when I got out of the subway by 34th Street, the first thing I saw was a vendor with huge sheets of the Wacky Package stickers! He was giving one free with each copy of the New York Post. It was the most bizarre thing -- I hadn't thought about those stickers in at least 20 years, and then I see about them twice in one day! It was one of those times where I literally pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming it.

[riley1992]

ROTFL. I used to have everyone of those plastered all over my school binders and inside my bedroom closet door. I had forgotten all about them but now I fully understand why I am as demented as I am.

[BluesDuke]

I used to have everyone of those plastered all over my school binders and inside my bedroom closet door. I had forgotten all about them but now I fully understand why I am as demented as I am.

Come now. We all know dementia is a God-given gift! ;) Now, how about a dementia-appropriate breakfast...?

[BluesDuke]

What about Spotted-Owl Helper?

The thought is tempting, indeed. But the Wacky Packages satirised only known, familiar brand products. Like this fowl brand...