Wacky Packages Websites: Photos, Games and Hotspots for Collectors

CNN blogger Todd Leopold blames Wacky Packages for making him "the man he is today." I blame him for reminding me just how much I miss my first wacky exposure to twisted pop-culture. That and for reminding me to V-8 myself for bypassing Wacky Packages at garage sales -- the resale values are not too shabby.

Wacky Packages trading cards, first produced by Topps in 1967, evoke fond flower-power, gum-popping memories for many not-quite-yet baby boomers. Wacky Packages, cards or stickers, largely lampooned popular commercial products, from Listerine (Blisterine) to cigarettes (Paul Maul), unless or until the company received a Cease and Desist order otherwise.

Wacky Packages also touched on some of society's ills - take "Hostage Cupcakes," for example, and enjoyed Pet Rock-ish fame from 1973 to 1975.

For kids, Wacky Packages were often a guilty pleasure designed simply to produce a guaranteed smirk on your mother's face. My dad, an advertising guru, happened to enjoy the artwork and parody, much more than I did, and helped fund my collection.

Truth be told, as a young girly girl, I thought some of the Wacky Packages were a tad gross, not limited to Band-Ache Strips, "strips off skin" (not pretty) or Minute Lice (self-explanatory).

Trading card references to green slime, worms and buggy-eyed hags were less commonplace in this pre-Nickelodeon, Ren & Stimpy world. Cartoons, at least in my home, were still cute - Walt Disney and all that. Wacky Packages like the aforementioned Hostage Cupcakes, illustrating a gun to someone's head, made little sense --until a few years later when Iran and Jimmy Carter smashed our naivety.

Now I suppose my stomach and sarcasm is a bit stronger and it would be a tad fun to hold some of the authentic mad comics in hand. Meanwhile, these Wacky Packages websites will suffice.

Wacky Packages Photos, Video and Collector Information

WackyPackages.com - Wacky Packages meets technology. Here you can play games (Asturdroids is much like the original Asteroids it mocks), earn points and download Wacky Packages wallpaper, screensavers, AIM buddy icons and more.

WackyPackages.org - The place to go for the Wacky Packages collectors and pop culture fans looking for Wacky Package photos and history. The web page design looks nearly as antiquated as the original Wacky Packages, but its content is king. Check out the story by illustrator Jay Lynch, on "How a Wacky Package Series was put together."

Wacky Packages Video - Glimpse the Wacky Packages revival to include for a collector who owns 15,000 Wacky Packages pieces ranging in value from $.10 to $1000 each. (Produced by the Food Network)

SOURCES:
Todd Lepold, When Wacky Packages ruled, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/08/12/wacky.packages/#cnnSTCText
Wacky Packages Video, Food Network http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A00ATGeL57c
Amazon.com -- Wacky Packages Sticker Book