A New Wacky Packages Website

[Beastball]

EDIT: Here is the link to the website: http://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm


Hello fellow Wacky Packages enthusiast! My name is David from Rhode Island, a longtime lurker of this forum, and I'd like to tell you about a new website I created. In it I compare every single Original Series 1967-1976 Wacky Packages to the product they parody side by side. I've also included those Wackies that were intended for the Original Series, but for various reasons weren't used.

The inspiration for doing this actually came from right here in this forum ("Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging"). Seeing the actual products that were parodied, especially all those products I was unfamiliar with made me appreciate the Wackies even more because I finally got the gags of those Wackies. I decided I wanted to collect images of all the products the Original Series Wackies parodied, but I took it a step further because not only did the products have to be from the 1973 era, but I wanted the products to be in the same design as the Wackies (same size, same angle, etc.) and they had to be high quality images too. It wasn't easy and I have to admit, a few product images were impossible to find either in good quality or in the correct design, and I had to piece them together from several images, but I think they came out quite good. I really didn't plan on creating a webpage for all this; I just did it for my own amusement, but I think they came out so good that maybe other Wacky Packages lovers would enjoy seeing these too.

So, if anyone in this forum is interested in seeing my website, and if the moderators will permit it, I'd be happy to post the link to the webpage.

Cheers,
Dave

[paulygsparodies]

I'd like to see this webpage

[Swiski]

As a fellow fan of compiling and researching the exact real product images of the parodies, I'd love to see the website as well!

[quas]

I'd like to see this webpage

Same here.

[koduck]

So, if anyone in this forum is interested in seeing my website, and if the moderators will permit it, I'd be happy to post the link to the webpage...

Feel free to post a link here David

[mikecho]

Please do! I'd like to see it as well.

[RawGoo]

Yes, please share the link!!

[freetoes]

It's now been 25 years since I rediscovered Wackys online, with Greg's and Ernie's being about the only old-time webpages still functioning. (I think the first site I found was Larry Slater's, with Gadzooka on the home page.) John Mann, Kevin Porter, Tom Moore, Duane Dimock and others all had their own Wacky sites. Yes, please post the link. I look forward to seeing yours.

[Plastered Peanut]

Did anyone notice that this person's posts is a big number 1?   Why didn't they post the website in the first post?   Why the mystery?   Ugh.   Maybe he's a Nigerian prince who will give you lots of money so that he can recover a ton of money,

[bandaches]

To whet your appetites, I started the concept like 30 years ago with the help of many cited on the page:

https://www.wackypackage.com/Wacky%20Packs/HTML%20Stuff/project.html

Very much looking forward to someone's page who took it all the way hitting them all!

[Beastball]

Hi everyone!
Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm
Hope you all like what you see there. Any questions or comments I'll be happy to answer here.

Did anyone notice that this person's posts is a big number 1?   Why didn't they post the website in the first post?   Why the mystery?   Ugh.   Maybe he's a Nigerian prince who will give you lots of money so that he can recover a ton of money,

Nah, nothing like that. I just wanted permission first before posting the link. It's true that was my first post, but up to now I felt I had nothing of significance to post about Wacky Packages.   

[koduck]

Hi everyone!
Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm
Hope you all like what you see there. Any questions or comments I'll be happy to answer here.

Nah, nothing like that. I just wanted permission first before posting the link. It's true that was my first post, but up to now I felt I had nothing of significance to post about Wacky Packages.

Fantastic reference site! I think it'll be a regular stop for most wacky fans.  One qustion: Is 4th series Bum Chex based on Wheat Chex? I always figured it was based on Bran Chex. I guess we learn something new every day!

[sco(o)t]

Hi everyone!
Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm
Hope you all like what you see there. Any questions or comments I'll be happy to answer here.

Nah, nothing like that. I just wanted permission first before posting the link. It's true that was my first post, but up to now I felt I had nothing of significance to post about Wacky Packages.

Really nice. One thing that occurs to me when looking these over is how many products have not changed their packaging much, or at all, in 50+ years.

[mikecho]

Fantastic reference site! I think it'll be a regular stop for most wacky fans.  One qustion: Is 4th series Bum Chex based on Wheat Chex? I always figured it was based on Bran Chex. I guess we learn something new every day!

Yes, it is. Wheat Chex was in a red box.

[bandaches]

Hi everyone!
Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm
Hope you all like what you see there. Any questions or comments I'll be happy to answer here.

Nah, nothing like that. I just wanted permission first before posting the link. It's true that was my first post, but up to now I felt I had nothing of significance to post about Wacky Packages.

this is friggen awesome dude!  well worth the wait for your first and second posts!

[quas]

Hi everyone!
Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm
Hope you all like what you see there. Any questions or comments I'll be happy to answer here.

Nah, nothing like that. I just wanted permission first before posting the link. It's true that was my first post, but up to now I felt I had nothing of significance to post about Wacky Packages.

Love it!  Fantastic!!

[freetoes]

Hi everyone!
Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm

Great work! You've given these images a fresh look.

[vahsurfer]

F**KING LOVE IT!!!!

I have always said Topps needs to release a version of each series with a Lenticular that switches from the original product and the Wacky


Richard
#StayWacky

[lucidjc]

Good Stuff!!!

[70s_Kid]

Great work! You've given these images a fresh look.

When you click on each link they are NOT secure

[bandaches]

When you click on each link they are NOT secure

This forum is not secure

[Swiski]

Wow....Where did you find some of those real product images?! I've been looking for many years and some I have never found.

Your website not only has the parodies and real products, but nicely clipped out and at scale with each other.

I hope some of the images we provided in the Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging thread helped in assembling your website.

[Swiski]

You did a fantastic job, and nobody can top your hard work!

If you want assistance with improving or updating images, this would be a fun group effort!

I noticed the Spam real product on your website is newer packaging design from the 1980s. I found for you Spam packaging images from the early 1970s.

One is an angled view, but I also found a straight on view, so you can "assemble" a new image in Photoshop, or whatever software you are using.

[Plastered Peanut]

Hi everyone!
Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm
Hope you all like what you see there. Any questions or comments I'll be happy to answer here.

Nah, nothing like that. I just wanted permission first before posting the link. It's true that was my first post, but up to now I felt I had nothing of significance to post about Wacky Packages.

My sincere apologies!   Very well done with the images.   

I'm afraid the spammers have tainted my optimism.   New sites like yours will help restore that optimism!

David

[Beastball]

Wow....Where did you find some of those real product images?! I've been looking for many years and some I have never found.

Your website not only has the parodies and real products, but nicely clipped out and at scale with each other.

I hope some of the images we provided in the Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging thread helped in assembling your website.

I looked anywhere and everywhere you could possibly find product images and that includes videos on Youtube. For example, Gravy Train and 9 Lives Tuna were from commercials posted on Youtube. It took a lot of enhancing to get them to look good. Goodman's Noodles was actually a black and white image from a newspaper!
Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging was an enormous help and the source of my inspiration for doing this.

[Beastball]

You did a fantastic job, and nobody can top your hard work!

If you want assistance with improving or updating images, this would be a fun group effort!

I noticed the Spam real product on your website is newer packaging design from the 1980s. I found for you Spam packaging images from the early 1970s.

One is an angled view, but I also found a straight on view, so you can "assemble" a new image in Photoshop, or whatever software you are using.

Thank you!
I'll see if I can use them.
I use two art software programs. One is from 1999 called Paintshop Pro 6. Yeah, it's ancient, but I've used it for so long and I'm very comfortable with it. The other is CoralDRAW X6. It's much more powerful and I can manipulate images in many ways with it.

[Beastball]

Thank you everyone for the kind and encouraging words about my website!

I am seriously considering continuing beyond the Original 1-16 Series. I guess for me the next Series with unrepeated titles would be the 1981 Irish set?

[Swiski]

Thank you everyone for the kind and encouraging words about my website!

I am seriously considering continuing beyond the Original 1-16 Series. I guess for me the next Series with unrepeated titles would be the 1981 Irish set?

The website you created is absolutely amazing! I can't wait to see how far you get with it. If you expand to the 1980s and 1991 new sets, LMK if you need any images supplied. I've been "curating" real products image galleries on my computer for a long time, and I'm just about caught up. Need to complete the 2024 set just released.

[freetoes]

Thank you everyone for the kind and encouraging words about my website!

I am seriously considering continuing beyond the Original 1-16 Series. I guess for me the next Series with unrepeated titles would be the 1981 Irish set?

The 4th Reprint Series from 1980 had one new title (Ice Krunkles).

[Swiski]

I still pay for Photoshop every month, and I don't really use it as much as I should, so I helped you with a couple of images for your website. I don't mean to nudge my way in your work, but I altered these images for myself anyways, so I might as well share them to see if you approve!

The first one is Spam, which I mentioned earlier. I took your image, and I "masked in" the 1970s real packaging artwork. A little stretching was involved, since the Cram parody can is horizontally stretched.

I also noticed your Sun-Maid Raisins real package image from the 1967 die-cuts has an older design. Luckily, I found an eBay auction with the correct era package design, and masked in the front, top and side panels.

[Beastball]

The 4th Reprint Series from 1980 had one new title (Ice Krunkles).

Yes, but I slid Ice Krunkles into the 12th Series. 

[Beastball]

I still pay for Photoshop every month, and I don't really use it as much as I should, so I helped you with a couple of images for your website. I don't mean to nudge my way in your work, but I altered these images for myself anyways, so I might as well share them to see if you approve!

The first one is Spam, which I mentioned earlier. I took your image, and I "masked in" the 1970s real packaging artwork. A little stretching was involved, since the Cram parody can is horizontally stretched.

I also noticed your Sun-Maid Raisins real package image from the 1967 die-cuts has an older design. Luckily, I found an eBay auction with the correct era package design, and masked in the front, top and side panels.

Any help is welcomed help!
Thanks for the Sun-Maid. I'm going to use that one along with your Spam. I guess good timing is involved when searching for images. When I searched for Sun-Maid, I couldn't find a closer match. It was one of the first ones I did and I got better as I went along. Some products required several search attempts and even then, sometimes nothing better would turn up. Although Laddie Boy is a 1st Series product, it was one of the last ones to be completed. I couldn't find a better image than the one I initially found no matter how many times I did a search spanning a few years. In the end, I had to construct that one myself from the poor image I had. Same thing with Hungry Jack pancake mix. Chung King and Tabby I could not find ANY image that matched what the Wackies looked like, and did my best to approximate what the real product looked like.

[Swiski]

Any help is welcomed help!
Thanks for the Sun-Maid. I'm going to use that one along with your Spam. I guess good timing is involved when searching for images. When I searched for Sun-Maid, I couldn't find a closer match. It was one of the first ones I did and I got better as I went along. Some products required several search attempts and even then, sometimes nothing better would turn up. Although Laddie Boy is a 1st Series product, it was one of the last ones to be completed. I couldn't find a better image than the one I initially found no matter how many times I did a search spanning a few years. In the end, I had to construct that one myself from the poor image I had. Same thing with Hungry Jack pancake mix. Chung King and Tabby I could not find ANY image that matched what the Wackies looked like, and did my best to approximate what the real product looked like.

Awesome....so glad I can help out! I've been searching Google, Flickr, eBay, Pinterest for many years trying to find real product images.

I agree with you that some of those real packaging images are discovered for the first time during the 2nd or 3rd search!

To this day, I don't know if there was a packaging that better matched Armor Hot Dogs...or if there was a package of Hostess Cupcakes that used the unique typeface for "Hostess" or if it was always that sans serif font.

[MoldRush]

I agree with you that some of those real packaging images are discovered for the first time during the 2nd or 3rd search!

To this day, I don't know if there was a packaging that better matched Armor Hot Dogs...or if there was a package of Hostess Cupcakes that used the unique typeface for "Hostess" or if it was always that sans serif font.

I’ve only looked at a couple series so far, but I noticed you found a Goodman’s Noodles box with a mascot-like character, which I don’t think has ever turned up before.  Is that an unaltered photo?  I’m super surprised by that.

[BustedFinger]

Okay, here's the link to my webpage:
https://www.dmondesigns.com/wackyindex.htm
Hope you all like what you see there. Any questions or comments I'll be happy to answer here.

Great Job!  Always wondered about the magazine Wackys and if they were modeled after specific issues of the magazine.  Some of them look like they definitely were: