Author Topic: Never Been Done Before?  (Read 3927 times)

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Offline roughwriter

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Never Been Done Before?
« on: July 08, 2022, 06:57:36 AM »
    If the Original Series of the 70's were the Golden Age of Wackys, and the ANS sets were the Silver Age, then what are we in now? How many cards were in the first 16 series? And how many were in all the ANS sets? And what sort of time frame were those produced in? Now compare those figures to what we've accomplished in this latest burst of Wackys! Have there ever been so many new designs put out over such a short period of time? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think so! Week by week, and then month by month, we've created a collection of new designs that is remarkable! What do you all think?

Offline faustxxx

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2022, 07:48:24 AM »
     Your analogy makes sense to me, where would the re-issues be? The timeline is somewhat to what most people do with comics giving a specific year of the golden age, silver and bronze with what are now modern age comics.

     Matt.

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2022, 07:58:08 AM »
With that analogy, I'm not sure that this wouldn't be considered the continuation of the silver age.  There's not much of a gap between the ANS and weekly/monthly sets, only about 5 years, and there were other Wackys issued during those years.

Offline bigtomi

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2022, 08:00:34 AM »
If the Original Series of the 70's were the Golden Age of Wackys, and the ANS sets were the Silver Age, then what are we in now?
The Fecal Age? Way too much sh-t.

Offline roughwriter

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2022, 08:30:18 AM »
You are wrong! If you look back at older cards, you might find poorly painted examples, or weak designs, but the ANWS/WPM cards have been consistently high quality in design and painting. I take offense at that, even in jest! If it is all "sh*t", as you suggest, why are you still here? Some people!

Offline mikecho

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2022, 11:02:35 AM »
Maybe the Bronze Age, as in comic book history (i.e., Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age and Modern Age of Comics (which is where comic books stand right now))? Only here, it'd be the Golden Age, Silver Age and Bronze Age of Wacky Packages.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2022, 02:15:11 PM by mikecho »

Offline NationalSpittoon

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2022, 02:25:55 PM »
You are wrong! If you look back at older cards, you might find poorly painted examples, or weak designs, but the ANWS/WPM cards have been consistently high quality in design and painting. I take offense at that, even in jest! If it is all "sh*t", as you suggest, why are you still here? Some people!

I can’t speak for Tom, but maybe he means literally too many shit/puke/bodily function jokes? Which in turn almost always equates to shit gag (makes me wanna gag), but thats just my opinion. No OS titles stand out to me as being poorly painted.

And I’m still here because I collect the old stuff. The new stuff just doesn’t jump out at me.

Offline bandaches

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2022, 04:19:37 PM »
You are wrong! If you look back at older cards, you might find poorly painted examples, or weak designs, but the ANWS/WPM cards have been consistently high quality in design and painting. I take offense at that, even in jest! If it is all "sh*t", as you suggest, why are you still here? Some people!
The new material is definitely not shit!  Many of the new releases are terrific and very much mirror original wackys.  the current pace is cranking out much faster than original series but perhaps it is coming out too fast and furious?  I don't know much about the criteria for "ages".  I think in general people are too anxious to put boxes around everything anyway which is why there is so much angst in the world today.
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Offline slamjim

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2022, 06:03:43 PM »
Pretty much just a continuation of the ANS since a lot of the people working on them are the same that did the ANS. If you are calling them anything different I wouldn't say Bronze age I'd say Online Age.

Offline bigtomi

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2022, 08:58:47 AM »
Some people!
Yeah...some people should make sure they understand what someone is saying before going off the deep end on them and jumping to conclusions. And, please don't call my opinion wrong. I don't always agree with things you say here, but you have the right to voice them.

I'm a bit surprised nobody understood what I meant by this. It has nothing to do with the quality of gags or art work nor the type of gags (poop, snot, etc.). It has to do with the VOLUME of material. Read what I wrote: "too much". I don't have any issue if others want to collect the current stuff (I collect a small portion of it), but to me, there's just too much to deal with...and it becomes less special (and less interesting) when there's so much out there. Set aside the cost; that's only part of it.

Offline roughwriter

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2022, 10:56:03 AM »
If that is what you originally meant, then why not "The Speedy Gonzalez Age" or the "Reproducing Like Rabbits Age"? At least then your intention would have been clearer. Using terms like Fecal and sh*t seem directed at quality, not quantity. If we are going to focus on quantity, what is your solution? I'm sure you understand that there are certain minimum levels that cards must be produced at, below which it simply isn't economically feasible to produce them. If we are to keep Wackys alive and not let them become a thing of the past, then we have to keep producing. If you are aware of an alternative solution, I'd be happy to hear it.

Offline drono

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2022, 12:06:10 PM »
If we are going to focus on quantity, what is your solution? If you are aware of an alternative solution, I'd be happy to hear it.

If Topps would just get rid of the back variations - even the puzzle (do we really need a bigger version of a sticker we already have?) and just keep the coupons, that would reduce the number by 3 and make it easier on the pocketbook.  Like bigtomi, I've resolved myself to only buying the base sets, from another forum member, because I would rather spend the money elsewhere.  I love the coupons, but you can't get them all by buying just one set; you have to buy multiple$$$$$ and pray that collation is good. 

Offline mikecho

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2022, 02:17:37 PM »
Pretty much just a continuation of the ANS since a lot of the people working on them are the same that did the ANS. If you are calling them anything different I wouldn't say Bronze age I'd say Online Age.
You do have a point; perhaps that would be better.

Offline bigtomi

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2022, 02:25:18 PM »
If that is what you originally meant, then why not "The Speedy Gonzalez Age" or the "Reproducing Like Rabbits Age"? At least then your intention would have been clearer. Using terms like Fecal and sh*t seem directed at quality, not quantity.
I suppose my choice of nouns was not the best. Again I say, if you weren't sure of my intent (though you certainly seemed to be, albeit incorrectly so), you could have asked versus attacking me. In my own defense, I live in the New York Metropolitan area, and this is how we speak 'round here. We call "stuff" sh-t a lot.  :-[

And on a slightly different note, not to call out drono, but I don't even collect the weekly/monthly base sets. In fact, none of that anymore. Stopped sometime in 2020. Been doing just OLDS, the Wonky Ads and Attackys, maybe one or two others. It just got too ridiculous for me...and I have a decent disposable income. Like I mentioned above, set aside the cost of it all. It's not just having room to store it, it's also about why have it if I will likely never look at it again?

Offline NationalSpittoon

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2022, 05:37:44 PM »
Call me insane, but I hope Topps’s shotty production returns. I have no interest in the new sets for a multitude of reasons. But, if I could open a myriad of packs to find the perfectly centered G.I. Toad - I’d keep coming back.

I think this post comes off as sarcastic, but that isn’t intentional.

Offline bandaches

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #15 on: July 12, 2022, 05:42:31 AM »
I suppose my choice of nouns was not the best. Again I say, if you weren't sure of my intent (though you certainly seemed to be, albeit incorrectly so), you could have asked versus attacking me. In my own defense, I live in the New York Metropolitan area, and this is how we speak 'round here. We call "stuff" sh-t a lot.  :-[

And on a slightly different note, not to call out drono, but I don't even collect the weekly/monthly base sets. In fact, none of that anymore. Stopped sometime in 2020. Been doing just OLDS, the Wonky Ads and Attackys, maybe one or two others. It just got too ridiculous for me...and I have a decent disposable income. Like I mentioned above, set aside the cost of it all. It's not just having room to store it, it's also about why have it if I will likely never look at it again?
I am surprised by your defensiveness here, your post was crystal clear, "fecal age" doesn't in any way shape or form speak to volume.  "too much" spoke to the % of stuff produced as being low quality since if FOLLOWED the comment on fecal age.  Now you only "suppose" you could have been clearer yet still put the onus on your readers to ask for clarification on something that needed no clarification.  I did suggest that there this age had too many wackys too fast in response to your post which does seem to be the intent of your post yet "nobody" understood your intent.  So in the grand scheme of things, this is all quite wacky after all!  >:D
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Offline bandaches

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #16 on: July 12, 2022, 05:46:11 AM »
I suppose my choice of nouns was not the best. Again I say, if you weren't sure of my intent (though you certainly seemed to be, albeit incorrectly so), you could have asked versus attacking me. In my own defense, I live in the New York Metropolitan area, and this is how we speak 'round here. We call "stuff" sh-t a lot.  :-[

And on a slightly different note, not to call out drono, but I don't even collect the weekly/monthly base sets. In fact, none of that anymore. Stopped sometime in 2020. Been doing just OLDS, the Wonky Ads and Attackys, maybe one or two others. It just got too ridiculous for me...and I have a decent disposable income. Like I mentioned above, set aside the cost of it all. It's not just having room to store it, it's also about why have it if I will likely never look at it again?
I am with you here, the sheer volume and lack of ability to really "complete" anything in a collecting manner has turned me off to collecting the new stuff.  If I want to see the cool new work, I can see it online ie would I ever need to dig out the dozens of binders to store all this stuff.
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Offline ToadallyDude

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #17 on: July 12, 2022, 11:05:49 AM »
I have a slightly different perspective on the Wacky lineage.  I would classify the Die-cuts and Wacky-Ads as "Golden Age", as those came on the tail end of a style that encompassed "Mr. Foney's Funnies" and "MY Valentines" (I think that was what they were called), and that 1950s/1960s style of design and comedy that initially launched Wacky Packages, but that Wacky Packages and Mad Magazine and the 1970's more direct irreverence style of comedy and design would squelch.  A show like "Laugh-in" started out with that psychedelic mid-60s art design, and an almost 'vaudeville' style of sketch comedy.  But eventually it grew into politically-charged, more debauchery-friendly, slapstick-less satire.  So, I'd call the 1973-1977, (including the 79 reprints, and 1982, 85, UK, Irish, etc.) sticker series the "Silver Age", as that age really resonated with kids and ballooned in popularity, like the superhero comic books of the 1960s (silver age).  Then, when ANS came around to revamp a beloved collectible from the past, the style was different.  Good or bad doesn't matter as much as different.  It appealed more to the Garbage Pail Kids generation that followed ours, and was trying to lure a brand new generation of kid, which expected shiny cards, with art on both sides, and a much larger color-pallet than we grew up with in both Wackys and Comic Books.  When I look at a comic book from the 70s or 80s, I have a similar visual reaction to when I look at ANS.  Not negative or positive.  The gags are still gags, and the content speaks for itself.  But they just look and feel different.  So, to me, ANS is clearly "Bronze".  A very long long Bronze, too.  It's definitely beat the earlier series' runs.  Sandwiched in the middle was the odd 1991/92 stuff.  Not sure really where that fits, but it was definitely a transitional set that looks more like ANS than its predecessors.  And whatever comes next after ANS, if anything does, will probably be either totally retro or totally different, I would think. 

I mean, a lot of INDIVIDUAL titles in ANS actually FIT with the original 1-16 titles even more than some of the 1-16's do.  When the painting style and gag style match up, it's visceral.  It would be interesting to find someone who collected in the 1970s, but never saw any of the ANS titles... and feed them a few ANS titles printed on tan-back stock, telling him they were from a lost 17th series or were rare variations or something.  I think there are definitely a lot of ANS titles that would fool an original collector.  And if you found someone who only ever had 100 Wackys total, and gave them Cricket Lighter, or 6Urp, or Sugarmess... they'd probably think they were knockoffs.  So, it's all relative, really.  We should all create our own "Fantasy Football Wacky Series" one of these days... The best set of 30 Wackys (or 33), from ANY set, ANY era. 

Anyway, that's my 2˘ (well, more like 24,000˘ with my word-count, sorry). 

Offline lucidjc

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #18 on: July 12, 2022, 11:33:34 AM »
WANT SOMETHING NEVER DONE BEFORE???


Lets start with the things that CAN be fixed before we go any further.

QUAS makes a fantastic point, one we all think.

1. Getting the holiday month sets in the right month, REALLY!, how frigging hard is this???

2. Coalition, we all know they can do it right sometimes. This would be a really big help to multiple set buyers building sets.

3. Delivery/Charging While not huge, people have peeved on this.

4. Deadlines!!! At my, and most jobs if these are not met...that's right, someone else has my job.

5. ENOUGH WITH THE BACK VARIATIONS!!!


Jim

Offline lucidjc

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #19 on: July 12, 2022, 12:37:50 PM »
2. Coalition, we all know they can do it right sometimes. This would be a really big help to multiple set buyers building sets.

As soon as I get done ranting, I get my 3 June sets from FedEch  2 Vlad wonkys and 1 Raw gloo

At these prices this shit has got to stop!

Jim

Offline ToadallyDude

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #20 on: July 13, 2022, 01:46:16 PM »
Quote
I am with you here, the sheer volume and lack of ability to really "complete" anything in a collecting manner has turned me off to collecting the new stuff.  If I want to see the cool new work, I can see it online ie would I ever need to dig out the dozens of binders to store all this stuff.

I think Ernie says it well here.  I used to complain about ANS stuff years ago and stopped, realizing that a lot of the art & gags are really cool and nostalgic-looking, once I took the time to check them out in more detail.  But it's the WAY that the newer cards are bought and collected that actually creates the atmosphere of NOT taking time to check them out in detail.  The same thing about vintage Wackys that made dealers frustrated is exactly what made them way more fun to collect... NO NUMBERS, PLAIN BACKS, SMALL SETS with CHECKLISTS, and RARE TITLES (vs. rare variations). 

The old sets were POSSIBLE for kids and collector to COMPLETE without breaking the bank.  And once you were done with a set and had all the titles... you were DONE (except for maybe condition upgrades or obtaining new titles when titles were pulled and replaced... but the mystery of all that was fun because it was unplanned rather than baked-in).

When the cards are all equally-printed, and numbered... putting together a set is boring because all you have to do is look at the NUMBERS to see if you have a set completed.  And for the vintage collectors, a lot of the artwork on the backs, and multitude of variations is WASTED on us, because we don't look at the backs, and don't care about the pink borders or shiny chase cards, etc.  The sketch-cards are cool, because they're different.  But personally, I don't want 10 copies of the same Wacky with all different colored borders and would NEVER pay any extra $ to complete a variation set like that.  1977 Shedds Wackys?... yah, because there's a different date and unintentional rarity, and an interesting STORY behind them.  But you could unload a dumptruck of gold foil pink border lenticular magnet versions of the same base-set of ANS that I already have... and I'd rather have the Shedds sticker... or a Bum Chex... or a Toadal poster or something.  WAY more interesting when it's not manufactured to be rare.

So, for me... THAT'S what has always turned me off the ANS stuff.  It's impossible for anyone who's not mega-wealthy to have a complete collection of it all.  And once you DO have it all... it's not interesting to look at because it's all the same stuff with different tweaks.  But that's TOPPS.  Not the artists.  I think it's freaking awesome that Dave & Neil & George and all these collectors we all got to know in the late 90s have gotten to work for Topps creating the very thing we all nerded out on for decades... and they consistently knock it out of the park on the art & gags.  It's just sad that so much attention gets put on the extra bells-and-whistles by the company.  Maybe it's profitable... I don't know.  But from people like me because we tuned out.  My ANS collection is a bunch of random partial sets from whenever I said WTF and threw some packs in my cart at Target.  Whereas, if they'd stuck to smaller, completeable, simpler-looking sets, I'd have bought them all and been excited about them all.  But maybe I'm not the demographic anymore.

Artists on here... you guys rock!  Hope you don't mind my take on the frills, though.  I know it's more of a system thing that all cards do, and probably unavoidable.  But the OS sets were an awesome journey back.

Offline JailOJohn

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #21 on: July 13, 2022, 04:41:11 PM »
I agree with 90 percent of what the Dude says about what made OS great. It is also the nostalgia today to collect titles you had or saw your friends have, or daw in a checklist but never owned. Although i now understand Topps’ business model was to crank out a new series before they could be sued on the  last series, i loved having a new series a couple if times per year. When you bought a couple of packs, you savored the opening of them, maybe with a pop. I dont mind a pack costing a couple of bucks, but too many chaser card stand especially variations turn off younger and older buyers….

Offline drono

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #22 on: July 13, 2022, 05:27:12 PM »
I see on Facebook too often where someone buys an unopened box, rips the packs, and then shows off the one or two really rare cards that they're going to get slabbed, make a ton of money when they get that gem mint 10, and just toss the rest.

Collecting was never like that when we were kids. We saved our allowance, mowed lawns or did other chores to earn a few bucks then begged our parents to take us to buy a few packs. When we opened them, we savored every one, and got excited to get one we didn't have.

Unfortunately those days are gone. What was a fun hobby to us has become too much about grading, reselling and profits to be made. For me it's just not fun anymore. I buy the minimum to get the variety, throw them in an album, file it away and rarely look at it again. In many ways I miss the old days.

Offline mikecho

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #23 on: July 13, 2022, 05:43:27 PM »
The reason I stopped after ANS8 was because the later series from ANS10 onward became too expansive and too expensive, and I could never find anything even resembling the Collector's Packs and/or Collector's Boxes in either my local Walmart or my local Target (I didn't even find out about Toys-R-Us having Wackys until after they stopped selling them entirely).

I would've gotten ANS9 (and finished the single-digit ANS) if all 20 Awful Apps (10 from ANS9 and 10 from ANS10, as it eventually turned out) had been included in said ANS so that I could've had what I've called the Wacky World Wide Web (55 Wacky Websites and 20 Awful Apps). But Topps didn't do it, so I didn't get it.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2022, 05:57:06 PM by mikecho »

Offline ToadallyDude

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #24 on: July 18, 2022, 12:36:14 PM »
Unfortunately, though, I think the problem isn't with Topps being too commercial or with us being too nostalgic... it's with the average citizen's brain being half as awake as in the 70s/80s, half as patient, 10x more hopped up on sugar and caffeine and whatever else, and social media creating in populus the attention span of a gnat.  So, both vintage Wackys and dudes like us have become relics 10x faster than most generations do.  I'll take the 80s and 90s anyday over the last few years, though.  So instead of collecting Wackys anymore, I just watch "Stranger Things", read "Ready Player One", and sit outside waiting for the icecream man.  OK... I don't actually do that last one, but the pathetic nature of it sounded funny to me.  In reality, I'm actually not a Luddite.  Just sound like one when it comes to Wackys.

Offline JailOJohn

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #25 on: July 18, 2022, 01:53:59 PM »
The last time i accused someone at work of being a Luddite, no one knew what that means…

Offline bandaches

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #26 on: July 18, 2022, 03:55:04 PM »
Unfortunately, though, I think the problem isn't with Topps being too commercial or with us being too nostalgic... it's with the average citizen's brain being half as awake as in the 70s/80s, half as patient, 10x more hopped up on sugar and caffeine and whatever else, and social media creating in populus the attention span of a gnat.  So, both vintage Wackys and dudes like us have become relics 10x faster than most generations do.  I'll take the 80s and 90s anyday over the last few years, though.  So instead of collecting Wackys anymore, I just watch "Stranger Things", read "Ready Player One", and sit outside waiting for the icecream man.  OK... I don't actually do that last one, but the pathetic nature of it sounded funny to me.  In reality, I'm actually not a Luddite.  Just sound like one when it comes to Wackys.
When the ice cream man comes to a park or lake that we are visiting, I make it a point to get ice cream just for the nostalgia of it.  My daughers are amazed how easily I succumb to the request for ice cream from the ice cream truck.
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Offline drono

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #27 on: July 19, 2022, 03:58:55 AM »
When the ice cream man comes to a park or lake that we are visiting, I make it a point to get ice cream just for the nostalgia of it.  My daughers are amazed how easily I succumb to the request for ice cream from the ice cream truck.

One of my friends from elementary school owns an ice cream truck, so I make it a point to buy one whenever he visits my neighborhood.  The grand kids love it too.

Offline DrSushi

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #28 on: July 19, 2022, 12:31:24 PM »
When the ice cream man comes to a park or lake that we are visiting, I make it a point to get ice cream just for the nostalgia of it.  My daughers are amazed how easily I succumb to the request for ice cream from the ice cream truck.
Same here - I've gone out of my way driving home from work to run down an ice cream truck and bring home my daughter's favorite.

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #29 on: July 20, 2022, 02:08:58 AM »
Same here - I've gone out of my way driving home from work to run down an ice cream truck and bring home my daughter's favorite.

There's nothing like chasing down an ice cream truck!

Offline JailOJohn

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #30 on: July 20, 2022, 07:51:11 AM »
My kid chased down an ice cream truck in the neighborhood, only to watch it drive off without ever having stopped in our neighborhood…which is full of kids…

Offline FourRoses

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #31 on: July 20, 2022, 07:54:47 AM »
The Fecal Age? Way too much sh-t.

Is that meant in terms of quality or quantity?

IMO, where we once were in the past 20 years in terms of availability and sheer amount, right now is substantially different. Quality though? I can name two sets that were junk but that has been a while.

Offline JailOJohn

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #32 on: July 20, 2022, 10:44:12 AM »
I thought the Old School sets were great. Liked the series better where you could open packs or boxes. Topps seems to have abandoned the retail store sales model. Its also not as much fun to buy a complete set as to buy and open a bunch of packs…

Offline ToadallyDude

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #33 on: July 26, 2022, 01:56:36 PM »
Y'know... now that I think about it, after writing all of my overly-long nostalgic messages about Wackys, I'm realizing that I missed probably the MOST important point of why the 70s Wacky experience was so much cooler, notwithstanding the fact that we were all kids, of course... but it was the NOVELTY of the actual IRREVERENCE of them.  A kid opening up a pack of stickers making fun of American products their parents stock in their cupboards is borderline boring in current times.  Irreverence and satire is everywhere now!  It's not a novelty.  It's not taboo. 

But back then, stuff like Wackys and Ugly Stickers, Mad Magazine and Cracked, Dr. Demento and George Carlin, Match Game and Laugh-In, Monty Python and Benny Hill... it all pushed the envalope and pissed off the establishment.  Some kids probably had to hide their Wackys & GPKs from their unapproving parent.  We stuck them on our lockers only to have them scraped off by unapproving principals (heh... double meaning there).  For some kids, a stack of Mad Magazines might have well been a stack of Playboys or something.  Kids opening up packs of Wackys and trading them around were always huddled in a circle.  They didn't want their parents to see what they'd spent their hard-earned 25-cent allowances on.  A stick of frozen sugar with candy necklace chaser... sure.  Worth every penny to your future f'ed up metabolism.  But not those dirty cards!  They say "Poopsie" and make fun of babies smoking!  Oh, the horrors!  Junior might start swapping out the binky for a Tipparillo!

So... maybe it's just all about the novelty of it.

Offline All-Brain

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Re: Never Been Done Before?
« Reply #34 on: July 26, 2022, 05:50:12 PM »
Yes, this is very true for me. Wackys were on the border line of what my parents would allow and I made sure to only let them see the more tame titles lol.
You post is very well composed and was a pleasure to read!

 

anything