My most coveted Wacky is…

[JailOJohn]

Not your most rare or expensive, but what was your most difficult or challenging to obtain Wacky….Now that everyone can buy everything on E-bay, things are different, but back when you had to search, scrounge, beg, and trade, which Wacky did you really have to work for???

[jleonard1967]

Mine would be condition rarities.  Alpain Cereal was one of the hardest to obtain in psa 8 or better.  Polarbearoid Film would be another.  These are just the 2 recent finds.  There are still more that are hard to get.  (floral I will find you)

[RawGoo]

Mine would be condition rarities.  Alpain Cereal was one of the hardest to obtain in psa 8 or better.  Polarbearoid Film would be another.  These are just the 2 recent finds.  There are still more that are hard to get.  (floral I will find you)

I think I once had a Floral 8.5 and sold it off because I preferred my 8.

Ratz was the one I had to wait around for the longest.  Then I got two of them in a week 

[bludevilok]

Run Tony Shells from the 2nd Series was my Holy Grail.  The 2nd Series was the first series I ever saw at a convenience store and immediately started collecting them, but never could pull a Run Tony Shells.  None of the other people I knew who collected them had it either, so I couldn't trade for it.  I had pretty much given up on getting a Run Tony Shells.  Then eBay happened.  I kept looking for one, and finally one appeared for bidding.  Back then, there wasn't a mad rush on Wacky Packages on eBay, so I got it fairly cheap.  I was soooo happy to finally own a Run Tony Shells!

Of course, I kept looking and found out that a 16th Series actually did happen; the 16th Series never made it to my neck of the woods in Oklahoma.  After the 15th Series, I kept asking my local drug store, where I usually bought a box of each new series, if the 16th Series had come in yet, and the answer was always "no."  I called around to other convenience stores in Oklahoma City if they had them, but their answer was also "no."  This happened for probably a couple of years.  So, I figured Topps had stopped making them.  I finally found a complete set on eBay, bid on them, and got them pretty cheap still.  I somehow felt vindicated that there was indeed a 16th Series and now I owned a set!  I'm still looking for the 17th Series, though.....

[DrDeal]

I'm still looking for the 17th Series, though.....
[/quote]


There may not be a 17th Series, but there is a 17th Series Collector Binder and 17th Series Sketch Cards.   

[freetoes]

Not your most rare or expensive, but what was your most difficult or challenging to obtain Wacky….Now that everyone can buy everything on E-bay, things are different, but back when you had to search, scrounge, beg, and trade, which Wacky did you really have to work for???

Grass Wax was number one on my want list for 25 years. It was the last sticker I needed to complete Series 4 (excluding the two rare titles, which I didn't even know existed). It was a common card, and there were opportunities, but for various reasons a trade never materialized. I finally got one in June, 1999.

[70s_Kid]

Grass Wax was number one on my want list for 25 years. It was the last sticker I needed to complete Series 4 (excluding the two rare titles, which I didn't even know existed). It was a common card, and there were opportunities, but for various reasons a trade never materialized. I finally got one in June, 1999.

back in circa 1993, I scored a Spit N Spill variation out of "The Wrapper" magazine....  before I used the Internet to find wackys

[MoldRush]

As a kid collector, I longed for certain titles where the name on the checklist was a familiar product and I thought the parody would be funny.  Shot Tissue and Shorts Illustrated were two that come to mind.  Didn’t see either until the 1982 minis.  Shot Tissue lived up to my expectations, whereas Shorts Illustrated was just ok.  Objectively looking at it now i think it’s a decent Wacky, not sure what I was expecting that I felt it was a letdown at the time.

As an adult collector the only one that comes to mind is Bloodweiser, the last title I needed to finish off the 15th.  Built nearly two full sets from packs in the late 90’s but could not pull a single Bloodweiser.

[RawGoo]

As a kid collector, I longed for certain titles where the name on the checklist was a familiar product and I thought the parody would be funny.  Shot Tissue and Shorts Illustrated were two that come to mind.  Didn’t see either until the 1982 minis.  Shot Tissue lived up to my expectations, whereas Shorts Illustrated was just ok.  Objectively looking at it now i think it’s a decent Wacky, not sure what I was expecting that I felt it was a letdown at the time.

As an adult collector the only one that comes to mind is Bloodweiser, the last title I needed to finish off the 15th.  Built nearly two full sets from packs in the late 90’s but could not pull a single Bloodweiser.

The 15th was the only series where I was able to buy a full box, and it didn't yield a Dynamites.  I was thrilled a few years later when I pulled one from a reissue pack, and that filled the empty spot for quite some time.  I eventually bought an actual Series 15 Dynamites sticker from an ad in The Wrapper.

[MoldRush]

Ironically Dynamites was one of the Reissues I couldn’t find.  But truth be told, I had several holes in Reissue Series 4 because I don’t think it was in stores long enough for me to finish it.  Conversely, the first two series were in stores so long that I kept buying packs long after finishing the 66 titles in each.

[drono]

By your criteria, it was probably Windhex from the 4th series.  I think I had completed series 2 and 3 and was working on 4.  All of my checklists were the Windhex/Mess Clairol version, so I didn't even know about Bum Chex or Choke Wagon.  Windhex was the only one I couldn't get, and I finally traded for one that had been stuck on a notebook.  I carefully peeled it off and stuck it on the back of another Wacky to complete my set. Of course, I upgraded it many years later.

[MoldRush]

I also remember wanting Kook-Aid very badly, after seeing one in another kid’s stash.  Total product familiarity, iconic advertising character, sweet sugary drink, great flavor, great TV commercials, basically right in a 6-year-old’s wheelhouse.

[DaffyBP]

Run Tony was also a big one for me. I was collecting these and trading in grade school in the 1970s. I made some trade for a Run Tony that was actually in two pieces, but I didn't care... I carefully stuck it on a binder page (yes, I stuck all my Wackys on pages in a binder....but hey, I still have them to this day). Even though it was damaged, I treasured it very much. It was only as an adult that I began collecting Wackys and putting them in collector pages.

Another one is the First Series Quacker Oats, which despite its simple design, has always been one of my all time favorites.

[Gurgle]

I vividly remember opening a pack and finally seeing Run Tony. I had been chasing that card for so long, I had almost lost hope.

I also had to buy Moobeline from a friend. He extorted me, but I needed that card.

Once I discovered buying Wackys on eBay, getting Choke Wagon and Bum Chex was a huge deal.

Run Tony was also a big one for me. I was collecting these and trading in grade school in the 1970s. I made some trade for a Run Tony that was actually in two pieces, but I didn't care... I carefully stuck it on a binder page (yes, I stuck all my Wackys on pages in a binder....but hey, I still have them to this day). Even though it was damaged, I treasured it very much. It was only as an adult that I began collecting Wackys and putting them in collector pages.

Another one is the First Series Quacker Oats, which despite its simple design, has always been one of my all time favorites.

[JailOJohn]

Nickel cards (packs actually) meant do much more when we were kids. Now, we spend 1,000 times that amount on eBay or at a show for a rare card. I think the memories of childhood associated with wackys mean more to me than the actual card. But some of the actual cards, like Liptorn and Hostile Thinkies, still make me laugh every time i see them….

[Paul_Maul]

Sometimes I wish I had never started collecting as an adult. When I first saw wackys again after 25 years I had a ton of vivid memories of collecting them as a kid, but after seeing and handling them for 20 years as an adult those memories have been pretty much wiped out.

[RawGoo]

Sometimes I wish I had never started collecting as an adult. When I first saw wackys again after 25 years I had a ton of vivid memories of collecting them as a kid, but after seeing and handling them for 20 years as an adult those memories have been pretty much wiped out.

I am fortunate in that I never stopped collecting Wackys; I bought the reissues, the album stickers, 1985, and 1991.  I have memories associated with each series.  In 1991 I was on my second ski trip and my car got snowed in.  We walked down out of the condo complex to the main road to a gas station convenience store for groceries (which amounted to beer and Spaghettios), and they had a box of Wackys on the counter!!  I managed to collect almost the whole set.

I still have this, my original sticker and poster storage "system":

          

           

[JailOJohn]

Nickel cards (packs actually) meant SO much more when we were kids. Now, we spend 1,000 times that amount on eBay or at a show for a rare card. I think the memories of childhood associated with wackys mean more to me than the actual card. But some of the actual cards, like Liptorn and Hostile Thinkies, still make me laugh every time i see them….

[drono]

In 1991 I was on my second ski trip and my car got snowed in.  We walked down out of the condo complex to the main road to a gas station convenience store for groceries (which amounted to beer and Spaghettios), and they had a box of Wackys on the counter!!  I managed to collect almost the whole set.

I have a similar story!  I worked for the government and was on temporary duty in Lynchburg, VA when I went into a convenience store and saw an almost full box on the shelf.  I did something I rarely had enough money to do as a kid; I bought them all.  I can't remember if I got a complete set or not, but I certainly enjoyed them after my not seeing them in stores since ~1975.

[MoldRush]

Sometimes I wish I had never started collecting as an adult. When I first saw wackys again after 25 years I had a ton of vivid memories of collecting them as a kid, but after seeing and handling them for 20 years as an adult those memories have been pretty much wiped out.

You raise an interesting point that I have thought about from time to time.  Does having access to ALL the 1-16 Wackys and all related information as an adult somehow cheapen, whitewash or otherwise overshadow the original childhood experience and memories?  In my case I would say no, I have no regrets, because I was on the younger side (6-8 in ‘73-‘75) and my original recollections were mostly vague and only a fraction of the OS body of work, having missed 5 or 6 different series completely, not to mention all the unchecked boxes in series I did experience.  The benefit of filling in all those voids outweighs the loss of mystique, in a big way.   However, based on your description of numerous vivid memories I can understand you missing that feeling where you didn’t know everything there was to know but still had solid memories of various titles and series.  So I do think it comes down to what the initial experience was like and how old you were.  I can say for sure that I remember a lot more from the ages of 9-12 than from 6-8.

[bludevilok]

I felt the same as Rawgoo and DrOno when I found the 1991 set at a Vintage Stock store.  (Yes, they had those back then, but they weren't everywhere.)  I saw the then-new Wackys in a box sitting on a shelf with the other bubble gum cards.  I asked the clerk if they by chance had a complete box in the back--and they did!  He brought it out for me, and of course, I bought the whole box and got a whole set.  I felt like a kid in the '70s again--finally finding the 17th Series...ha!

[ToadallyDude]

As a twerp kid in the 70s:  HOSTILE THINKIES  (I had to eventually trick the neighborhood bully out of his with a creative trade.)  Go figure... I had Run Tony & Grime Heavy, but couldn't get an easy one in my favorite set.

As a reincarnated adult collector in the late 90s:  Jolly Mean #21.  I was lucky it wasn't known as the rarest die-cut at that time, so I picked it up for not much more than other number variants.  (Never cared about Ratz/Cracked, though.  Too expensive for mass-produced cardboard when the original art was going for 20% of the price of those cards at the time... if I remember right, the actual art to Ratz sold for less than a NM/MT card when it first changed hands.  Silly.)