Author Topic: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"  (Read 12751 times)

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Offline Adrian

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #35 on: August 17, 2021, 03:45:43 PM »
I don’t want to be that guy, but I will be. I hate the ANS sets, because my OCD hates the fact you can’t complete the sets without remortgaging the house. I also don’t need 20 copies of the same artwork in different parallels. I would rather they offer a regular set with some short printed cards. To me when you buy a full box of cards and you can’t basically have a full set, that’s a fail. These cards should be about fun…

Offline RawGoo

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #36 on: August 17, 2021, 04:24:25 PM »
I don’t want to be that guy, but I will be. I hate the ANS sets, because my OCD hates the fact you can’t complete the sets without remortgaging the house. I also don’t need 20 copies of the same artwork in different parallels. I would rather they offer a regular set with some short printed cards. To me when you buy a full box of cards and you can’t basically have a full set, that’s a fail. These cards should be about fun…

The early ANS sets weren't impossible to complete without a trust fund.  At least through ANS7 as I recall, and maybe 8.

Offline mikecho

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #37 on: August 17, 2021, 04:55:24 PM »
The early ANS sets weren't impossible to complete without a trust fund.  At least through ANS7 as I recall, and maybe 8.
You're right, Pat; that's why I originally stopped at ANS8.

As I stated in my previous post on pg. 1, I would've got ANS9 (and then stopped at the end of the single-digit releases) if the Awful Apps subset would've had all 20 in this series and was not divided between it and the next series (10 in ANS9 and 10 in ANS10). That way, within the nine series, I could've had 55 Wacky Websites and 20 Awful Apps, thus having a sub-series I would've called the Wacky Internet or the Wacky World Wide Web.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2021, 05:05:55 PM by mikecho »

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #38 on: August 17, 2021, 05:51:55 PM »
I don’t want to be that guy, but I will be. I hate the ANS sets, because my OCD hates the fact you can’t complete the sets without remortgaging the house. I also don’t need 20 copies of the same artwork in different parallels. I would rather they offer a regular set with some short printed cards. To me when you buy a full box of cards and you can’t basically have a full set, that’s a fail. These cards should be about fun…
The way I always approached it was to complete the base set (usually would end up being 3-4 sets, and if there were extensive back variations I’d make sure to finish at least one extended set), and what I would call the basic subsets each series had, such as magnets, motion cards, what’s in the box, and so on.  Never extensively pursued colored borders, sketches, or any other “inserts” beyond that.  Of course some would come my way just from buying packs, which was fine.  I’d keep a few things I liked (for instance I liked the flash foil borders from the ANS8-10 timeframe), but generally used most of it for trading, because I was usually looking to round out some extra base sets and/or get some expendable extras for homemade magnets, while most traders were trying to work on the parallels and other chase material.  Just a brutally pragmatic (and fairly frugal) approach.  Always worked well for me, but I seem to be the exception.

And I understand the OCD tendencies for sure, but I think mine have mellowed with time thank goodness.  I seem to have tamed my completist tendencies from earlier life very well, but there is still the problem of having collected too many different categories of stuff over the years.  Will need to start planning some purging.  Pat has stated similar challenges....
« Last Edit: August 17, 2021, 05:55:51 PM by MoldRush »

Offline drono

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #39 on: August 17, 2021, 07:21:32 PM »
I also don’t need 20 copies of the same artwork in different parallels.

The more things change the more they stay the same.  Fortunately we don't have parallel borders anymore, but with the weekly sets, monthly sets, and the new ads, you get a base set with every order.  So now if you buy 10 or more sets to try and get a complete set, you get a lot of exactly the same stickers but without the various borders.  What a waste.

Offline Adrian

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #40 on: August 18, 2021, 04:09:04 PM »
And I understand the OCD tendencies for sure, but I think mine have mellowed with time thank goodness.  I seem to have tamed my completist tendencies from earlier life very well, but there is still the problem of having collected too many different categories of stuff over the years.  Will need to start planning some purging.  Pat has stated similar challenges....

I don’t know what it is. It’s specifically when it comes to card sets like these. I collect stamps, sports cards and other stuff, but there is something about a set of 55 cards or so with parallels which seems obtainable until you realize all the inserts. I am considering ANS 1 now as a logical extension of Wacky collection so far have the “first” relaunch series in 1985 & 1991. So 2004 technically can fall in line with that. I just want to find some boxes and open packs like I did as a kid. Unfortunately these aren’t 25 or 45 cents a pack  ;D

Offline FourRoses

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #41 on: August 18, 2021, 04:37:44 PM »
Many hobbies allow only allow for completion if the wallet is deep enough. Wacky's are not unique in this respect and never will be. The problem comes when a sensible perspective can not be had. Chase cards, to me, are added bonuses that don't impact a base set in the least.

Offline Adrian

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #42 on: August 18, 2021, 05:02:12 PM »
The problem comes when a sensible perspective can not be had.

Very true. Or if you know yourself, you avoid the kinds of things that cause you trouble. Personally the fun for me is opening packs and completing sets. However, after much research it seems 15-16 packs should get you a base set of ANS 1. That’s good enough for me. Doubles to trade if I decide to go for inserts, but to be honest, I don’t care for the tattoo cards  ;D so I think I’m safe.

Online Lavirus

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #43 on: August 18, 2021, 06:42:39 PM »
I felt the baseball and 50th anniversary sets were really bad, but otherwise there's been lots to love across everything new since 2004.

Two things work against appreciating them on the same level as the original series: nostalgia and the volume of cards in each set. With only 30-33, the quality was much higher back in the old days, whereas doubling that number means diluting the best stuff.
 
But there's still plenty of great material! I was thinking of trying to come up with a best-of set covering each 3 year time period since ANS1, since the originals ran for basically 3 years before fading away.

Offline FourRoses

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #44 on: August 19, 2021, 09:48:33 AM »
Out of the past seventeen years or how long it has been since ANS1, the only defugalty or two I have really found were the movie and baseball series. Now that is not a slam at the artists because I dislike both not due to the art/gags but because of my, well, extreme dislike of modern movies and and an even more extreme dislike of professional sports. I'd be inclined as going as far as replacing dislike with hatred.

Offline Alexeirex

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #45 on: August 19, 2021, 10:40:13 AM »
As bad as the premise sounded, I would still liked to have seen the Star Wars - Wacky cross over set - it couldn't have been worse than the Baseball set...???
But, surely, that would have been when Wacky's jumped the shark...
A

Offline JailOJohn

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #46 on: August 19, 2021, 11:47:39 AM »
Do NOT underestimate the Star Wars episode of Family Guy…….

Offline roughwriter

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #47 on: August 19, 2021, 12:02:48 PM »
As bad as the premise sounded, I would still liked to have seen the Star Wars - Wacky cross over set - it couldn't have been worse than the Baseball set...???
But, surely, that would have been when Wacky's jumped the shark...
A

I respectfully disagree with you. Isn't that exactly what Galactic Groceries is? It includes other science fiction topics as well, but Star Wars Wacky-ish paintings are the central components. Although it is coming out at an agonizingly slow snail's pace (and a DEAD snail, at that!), what HAS seen the light of day is of exceptional quality. If we could only chain the artist in place, and make him finish what he started, it would be a fantastic set!

Offline RawGoo

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #48 on: August 19, 2021, 12:34:02 PM »
Do NOT underestimate the Star Wars episode of Family Guy…….

I have a really cool set of trading cards and inserts from The Family Guy's "A New Hope" episode.  Maybe something else I should sell off...........  Too much stuff!!

Offline Alexeirex

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #49 on: August 19, 2021, 01:39:06 PM »
I respectfully disagree with you. Isn't that exactly what Galactic Groceries is? It includes other science fiction topics as well, but Star Wars Wacky-ish paintings are the central components. Although it is coming out at an agonizingly slow snail's pace (and a DEAD snail, at that!), what HAS seen the light of day is of exceptional quality. If we could only chain the artist in place, and make him finish what he started, it would be a fantastic set!

I'm not saying that the Star Wars cross over would be a badly drafted set, in fact I think it would be otherwise, I just think that it stretches what we think are Wacky Packages, which makes it a 'jumping the shark' set - I'm hoping that images exist!!!!

Offline Fanatical_and_Sickly

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #50 on: August 19, 2021, 04:12:16 PM »
I respectfully disagree with you. Isn't that exactly what Galactic Groceries is? It includes other science fiction topics as well, but Star Wars Wacky-ish paintings are the central components. Although it is coming out at an agonizingly slow snail's pace (and a DEAD snail, at that!), what HAS seen the light of day is of exceptional quality. If we could only chain the artist in place, and make him finish what he started, it would be a fantastic set!
What George has done with Galactic Groceries is truly inspired.
What Topps was planning to do with Wacky/Star Wars was truly awful. Just bottom of the barrel garbage. The sample 'gags' were some of the lamest crap I've ever seen. Simplistic fictional items, with a vague SW relationship. Nothing real, or even wacky, about them.

Offline ToadallyDude

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #51 on: September 05, 2021, 09:06:39 PM »
Going way back into the 1-16 sets, a lot of people probably experienced a "jump the shark" moment at the 14th/15th transition too.  11th was weird with the magazines, but I remember that one being out for such a short time, and 12th dropping right away, which looked and felt SO much like series 8 in its gags, and brightly-colored art (even the bright checklists again!) that I remember it pulling me right back in as if the weird magazines never happened.  A complete 11th just sat in my box, not getting much replay, but it was a bump in the road.  Then came 13 and 14, which were reminiscent of much earlier series, too.  Put 7 and 13 together, and they look like one set.  6 and 9.  8 and 12.  10 and 14.  There's something weirdly common about these pairs, the gags, art, colors, style...  and then after a longer delay than usual... BOOM!  Series 15 hits.  Back to the whiteback stickers we hadn't seen since series 2 (for those of us who only saw 3rd, 13th and 14th tans), and the art was somehow different.  Still Wacky.  Still good.  But different.  The cans and packages seemed more airbrushed, and the puzzle was weird.  And it didn't seem to last very long either.  You had to just buy all the packs you could or you didn't finish it.  Then silence... Wackys were dead.  Star Wars came out.  Darth Vader was way cooler than our old stickers now.  Then suddenly, out of nowhere, 2 years later, Harrison Ford reprised his role... I mean Wacky series 16 came out.  And it looked and felt like something not-Wacky.

...and then of course decades later, Harrison Ford AND Wackys reprised many times again...

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #52 on: September 05, 2021, 11:09:46 PM »
So you experienced Series 16 in the wild, circa 1976?  I don’t think most of us ever saw them or even knew of their existence until returning to the hobby a couple decades later.

Offline g.u.e.s.t.

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #53 on: September 06, 2021, 08:12:51 AM »
So you experienced Series 16 in the wild, circa 1976?  I don’t think most of us ever saw them or even knew of their existence until returning to the hobby a couple decades later.

I never saw the 16th series in the wild. And oddly, the same thing happened with the 14th series. I never understood how it went from the 13th series to the 15th series. Then in 2004, I saw a local newspaper article talking about how Wackys were making a comeback. The article referenced Greg Grant and his website, and it was there that I found info about the 'missing' 14th and 16th series.

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #54 on: September 06, 2021, 08:20:27 AM »
I never saw the 16th series in the wild. And oddly, the same thing happened with the 14th series. I never understood how it went from the 13th series to the 15th series. Then in 2004, I saw a local newspaper article talking about how Wackys were making a comeback. The article referenced Greg Grant and his website, and it was there that I found info about the 'missing' 14th and 16th series.
I had the exact same experience - 13th then 15th!  I don’t remember if there was a gap in time between the two and some sort of distribution problem that caused me to miss the 14th, but miss it completely I did.  Can’t imagine that my interest would have just stalled and then jump-started again either.

Offline crackedjerk

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #55 on: September 06, 2021, 12:44:36 PM »
I collected Wackys like a field from the time I found series 1 on a family vacation to Rhode Island in June '73 through about series 8.  For series 9-11 or 12, I started to waver.  I don't think I really ever collected 12/3-16, though I do recall buying some 16th packs in '78 for a friend while on a family vacation in Minnesota.  I suspect the reason I eventually gave up was  not liking the magazines in series 11, but I think it was really more just "growing up" and thinking Wackys were for kids.  Somewhat ironically, I think that as I started to abandon Wackys as being too childish, I switched from buying Archie and Disney comics to Marvels and DCs (which, a couple years later, I also gave up on because of their perceived childishness.  At least until I started collecting them a few years later).  I do recall being totally into series 1 of Topps Star Wars cards, though I don't think I bought any series, other than perhaps a couple series 2 cards, after that.  Funny how quickly my mind could change back in the day.

Offline ToadallyDude

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #56 on: September 08, 2021, 02:16:07 PM »
So you experienced Series 16 in the wild, circa 1976?  I don’t think most of us ever saw them or even knew of their existence until returning to the hobby a couple decades later.

Yep.  If I hadn't been sick, I'd have bought the whole box.  But I was out for the count with a crappy summer flu, and my brother went out to get us some push-ups or orange-50/50 bars from the icecream man, and he brought me 7 packs of Wackys, as that's all he had left after buying the ice-cream (he may have just kept them if I hadn't been really sick... heh.).  Seeing the packs, I knew right away they were a brand new set.  So, my long-dead Wacky-jones returned and I pulled out my shoebox of sets to add the new ones.  And after that, I never saw them again.  Checked Sav-On and Stop-n-Go... nothing.  They came & went.  And I kept waiting for a series-17... to no avail.  It's weird to think that any kid with $100 could have bought up a full case or two of 16ths and sat on them for 30 years, PSA graded them, and probably outperformed the stock-market and Bitcoin.

Offline JailOJohn

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Re: When did Wackys "jump the shark?"
« Reply #57 on: January 20, 2022, 10:09:24 AM »
I owe a big apology to the 11th Series. I just got a full set of 11th series, and some of the magazines are better than I remembered. Saturday Evening Ghost and Sleepy are good stickers. Actually all of the magazines except for Mud and TV Garbage are good stickers, IMHO. As for the non magazines, there are some great stickers like Cult 45, Stinkertoy, King O'Scare, Swiss Fright, Alpain and Gulp. Only a few clunkers like Dizzie and Muler's Dregg Noodles. Maybe my tastes have changed as an adult, but I really didn't love this series as a kid. I might have been comparing them to Fleer's Crazy Covers. Now, they look pretty darned good. Anyway, Wackies definitely did NOT "Jump the Shark" with the 11th Series.