The Home for Odd, Ugly and Neglected Toys

So, I’ve got a little something for you today I’m willing to bet you’ve never seen or heard of (well, that can be said about a lot of my posts, but this is different).

Today, I am proud to introduce you to Creepy Bods!

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Months ago, I was lucky enough to get my hands on all four Creepy Bods figures. What makes Creepy Bods so special, you ask (oh wait, you didn’t ask that)? Well, for one, they’re unbelievably, ridiculously impossible to find and are greatly sought after, but more importantly, they are a refreshing innovation in the world of Madball knockoffs.

You see, back in the 80s when the world was introduced to Madballs, kids went nuts. These gross little balls were charming, unique and just fun to play with. Of course, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry, there were Madball wannabes – folks that tried to cash in on the success of Madballs. The ripoff Madballs (or “Sadballs” as I like to refer to them) were usually uninspired derivatives of existing Madball designs, and they were almost always poorly produced. In an attempt to stand out in the pack in a world of knockoffs, Roundhill Industries came along and created Creepy Bods. They are (to quote the package) “headless bodies to display your Madballs™, Weird Balls™, Foul Balls™ and any other Ball Heads!” (Not only were they appealing to the Madballs market, but they even included shout-outs to the ripoff balls. Nice.) You see, instead of falling in line with all the other copy cats, these guys created something pretty darn neat. Madballs now had gross, little bodies to use as display stands in your collection. You can mix and match the balls in your collection to suit the appropriate body style. Pretty cool idea, huh?

Creepy Bods Packaging
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Other than the concept of bodies for your Madballs, the Creepy Bods were pretty unoriginal. As you can clearly see, the Creepy Bods packaging emulates the Madball package.

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It’s the exact same size and similar color scheme. The over all execution is pretty poor though. They ripped off the logo and the yellow swooshy thing, they included mini drawings of the characters and even put a generic Madball on the package to emulate the hole and the ball’s placement in the Madballs package design.

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I’m sure it was all intentional and probably a necessity. They wanted to have kids immediately make the connection that these bodies are for Madballs, but c’mon! At least make it look good!

I wanted to mention a couple of other things. On the bottom of the package, there’s a statement that reads “Manufactured exclusively for the Bauhinia Ltd. Hong Kong.” What does that mean exactly?

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And, the back of the package is pretty lame. Nothing says “knock-off” like a blank, brown card back (well, if you don’t count the UPC code).

Enough about the packaging. Let’s look at the characters.

Creepy Bods’ Bodies
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First, we have Mr. Mummy.

Mr. Mummy
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He’s a gory, little mummy with a severed foot. Good thing he has a cane. Is anyone else wondering why the hell he has two left feet? As you’d might expect, Dust Brain is a natural choice for this creepy body.

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Next we have Stitch. He seems to be a blue-skinned guy w/ severed body parts all re-stitched together (ya know, like Frankenstein).

Stitch
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It’s a bit hard to figure out what’s going on with his pose, but I’m guessing he’s in the act of sowing himself together. His severed, left pinky-toe kinda freaks me out. The AARGH Madball seemed to be a good choice for this Creepy Bod. He’s blue and covered in stitches just like Stitch.

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Also notice – it looks like a knock-off of AARGH is what was featured on the Creepy Bods packaging.

And here we have Dr. Guts.

Dr. Guts
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If he’s a doctor, it looks like he’s just performed surgery on himself. Either that or he’s been drawn and quartered? And shouldn’t he have used a scalpel for his surgery? Looks like he used a hunting knife. He’s just standing there, tearing open his torso, and all of his guts are pouring out. This is some pretty gory stuff for a kids toy, but I guess the Madballs were too. That’s why I chose Slobulus for the head on this one. Not only is his skin green, but his eyeball’s hanging out and everything.

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I’m intrigued by the inclusion of the wrist watch. Is that supposed to be a clue to his status as a doctor or something? Pretty funny.

Lastly, we have Ooze.

Ooze
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Ooze looks to be a violet, lizard creature covered in slime. Oozing out of the slime are a few eyeballs and random bones. Pretty goofy.

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In the actual toy though, the slime looks more like a green robe or cloak or something. Horn Head seemed to fit this figure nicely, what with the violet color scheme and claws and everything.

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Well, there you have it. Those are the Creepy Bods. They’re not much to look at on their own, but once you’ve topped ’em off with a Madball, they really come to life. They really are a great addition to any Madball collection. I guess I could’ve photographed the bodies with various heads, but you can probably use your imagination. (They look like bobble heads don’t they?)

The only real complaint I have about the Creepy Bods is their sub-par production quality. The sculpting is sloppy and the paint applications leave much to be desired. I know they’re cheap knock-off toys, so it’s expected. But wouldn’t it be great if AmToy took this idea and ran with it? They could release well-made bodies for those Anniversary Madballs they’ve recently released.

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I wonder if Creepy Bods led to AmToy’s idea for Head-Popping Madballs? If so, I’m sure they’d never admit it 😉

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