The Strange Package is a series of funny trading cards and stickers that show a parody of North American consumer products. Cards produced by Topps Company started in 1967, usually in sticker format. The original series was sold for two years, and this concept proved to be quite popular which has been revived every few years since then. They were then known generally as Wacky Packages , Wacky Packages , Wackies > b> and Wackys . According to trader legend, this product parodies once the Topps baseball card sells.
Video Wacky Packages
Drafts
Relying on the talents of cartoonists and comic artists such as Kim Deitch, George Evans, Drew Friedman, Bill Griffith, Jay Lynch, Norman Saunders, Art Spiegelman, Bhob Stewart and Tom Sutton, the cards faked famous brands and packaging.
Maps Wacky Packages
1967 and 1969
The first Wacky Packages package was produced in 1967 and featured 44 die cards that were almost the same size as baseball cards (2.5 "ÃÆ' â €" Ã, 3,5 "or 64 ÃÆ'â €" 89 mm) and made for release, lapping on back and stuck to anything in a way similar to stamps. This series featured a parody created by Spiegelman and especially painted by Saunders. Two of the cards - "Cracked Animals" and "Ratz Crackers" - were withdrawn from production after initial run and have since become very rare. "Moron Salt" was withdrawn later and replaced by "Jolly Mean Giant" which was also withdrawn soon after, with both almost as rare as Cracked Animals and Ratz Crackers. Overall, 14 cards have been removed from this series (and another one is planned for it but never released until later in the Wacky Old School Series 3 Package). This series was followed by a slightly different series called Wacky Ads in 1969, featuring parody and rudeness by Lynch and Deitch with paintings completed by Sutton. These 30 cards (from 36, see below), about three times five inches (76a, 127 mm in length), are designed to look like miniature billboards with die-cuts around parodied products, so they may be punching out of horizontal billboard scene, then licked in the back and stuck to anything. Card # 25, "Good & Empty", was removed from initial release after Leaf Brands was sued. The replacement card # 25, "Mixwell Hearse Coffee", was made to replace it but was never released (and remains so today). There are two different versions of "Ads": long perforations (believed to mark first prints) and short perforations (believed to indicate second printing), as well as a packing of the first five cents for the first print and then a ten cent wrapper for the second print.
1973 to 1976
Wacky's package came back in 1973 as a peel-and-stick sticker for a very successful run. Sixteen different series were produced from 1973 to 1977 and sold in packs of five cents to ten cents that initially contained three stickers (two stickers starting after the second series, three stickers returned in the sixteenth century), a bubble gum, and a puzzle piece with checklists. The seventh series is available without chewing gum for a short time. There are anywhere between 27-33 cards in each series and nine puzzle cards with a series list on the back of each. Series 1 reused designs issued in 1967 die-cut series (except for 14 of the original 44 cards) and Series 2 reused designs from 1969 Wacky Ads (except for five of 25 out of 30 Ads used; One of 25 has its name changed from the original Ads and the other six cards in the series each had four minor re-releases of some 1967 cards), with eight new additional designs. Overall, there are 488 different cards over 16 series (one card from Series 2 is used again in Series 14). These cards can be distinguished from all subsequent releases by a lack of numbers on the front of the card and have brown and white backs instead of puzzles and checklists (the first three series and 13 and 14 series all have chocolate and white backs, the 15th series and the 16th only has white backs and all other series have only brown backs.In addition to this, the first two series also have black and red Ludlow backs, which are very rare).
1985 and 1991
The newly designed series was produced in 1985 and 1991. The 1991 series was quite successful to start the 1992 series production, but the series was canceled prior to mass production. Many of these unused parodies are finally released, mostly in All New Series 1 and Wacky Pack Flashback 2.
2004 and so on
Wacky's package came back in 2004 with the release of the first Serial All-New Series (ANS) sticker set. The new series has appeared almost every year, on average, since then. The first five series consist of 55 basic cards with two levels of pursuing cards with the sixth series consisting of 80 basic cards and three levels of chase cards. The 7 Series looks at the return of the basic 55-card set, but with more sets of chase cards, as well as border color and sketch color variations. (Note: All-New Series moniker dropped for this series, but returned with series 8). Series 9 was released on July 25, 2012. The ANS set has been very successful with the return of original cartoons of the 1970s Jay Wacky cartoonist Jay Lynch plus newcomers David Gross, Strephon Taylor, Neil Camera, Fred Wheaton, Smokin 'Joe McWilliams, Mark Parisi, Brent Engstrom, Mark Pingitore, Sam Gambino, and Joe Simko. ANS 3 and 4 include the work of underground artist M. Wartella.
Reprints
Many of the 1973-1977 cards have been re-issued for many years in various series.
1979 and 1980 replay series
Four series with 66 cards each produced, for a total of 264 cards. This series consists of images from 1973-76 cards and one previously unused image - 4 Series Card # 235 "Frosted Ice Krunkles" - exclusive to the rerun series (originally intended for the 12th series, but never released in it ). Each card can be distinguished easily, not only from its copyright notice, but the number (for example, "No. 1 of 66") is printed on the front. A fifth series was planned for 1980 but never released.
1982 and 1986 album series
Two series of album stickers produced respectively 120 and 77 stickers. These stickers are smaller than standard cards (2.125 x 3 inches (54.0 mm × 76.2 mm)) and are designed to be embedded on separate display albums. Only the 1982 series and the matching album were actually released to the store; for unknown reasons, the 1986 series was never released (although a large number of stickers were made) and there was no album for it.
2008 Flashback series
In February 2008, Topps released a series of Wacky Packages called Wacky Pack Flashback. This series contains parodies of previously released series and spinoff posters, as well as unreleased parody of the original run to create a series of 72 basic cards. Moving towards trend with other types of trading cards, this set also features a number of rare chase cards. In December 2008, Topps released a second series called Wacky Pack Flashback 2. This set also contains more parodies than previously released series and poster spin-offs, as well as parody based on a test marketed by Wacky Can Labels series (which is a 12 series plastic cans small pieces of fruit-flavored fruit candy with paper labels attached to each, six of the 12 here are released as stickers, while the remaining six remain unpublished) and unreleased parody of the 1992 series were canceled to make the 72-card series base.
2014 Chrome series
In 2014, Topps released a series called Wacky Chrome Package. This series contains a set of foil cards containing 110 base cards consisting of 1967 and 1973 cuts Series 2 and 3, and four sets of pursuit cards containing 36 1969 Wacky Ads, thirty parodies that have never been released either old or new and five parodies of work original done with modern packaged artwork, for a total of 181 cards.
Promotional items
Strange packages have been used in various products since the 1970s as an incentive to buy products or to promote new series releases. The promotional sticker was very successful as an insert in a Wonder Bread bag during 1973-74, running for three sticker series. Promotional stickers also appear on Hostess products, Shedd's Peanut Butter containers, Ralston Purina cereals, and recently at a number of DC Comics (to promote ANS1) and on the Abrams Books product line.
Spinoff
The success of the Wacky Pack concept has caused the Topps to create a range of additional Wacky Package products over the years.
Strange Package Poster
In 1973, a series of large paper posters produced just over two dozen parodies of original work, with two parodies originally made for the series. These posters are made of freshly painted artwork of a size much larger than those made for stickers. In addition to being sold in stores, posters are also advertised on Wacky Packages packs and can be obtained by sending $ 2.00 to Topps. The second poster series was produced in 1974 with different colored wrappers, but was almost identical to the first series except the original three posters replaced with new ones. The fourth replacement poster for the first series was made but never released (eventually released as a sticker on the Wacky Pack Flashback (see above)).
In 2012, the modern series of 24 large paper posters were produced as a new set of Seri One, with the majority describing the re-art extension used from the ANS card set and including three new parodies originally created for the series. Because this series retains the original art ratio aspect, the poster is significantly wider than the 1973-74 poster. This new series is sold exclusively through Topps Online Store. There are no new series released since 2012.
Postcard Strange Package
In November 2007, Topps released the first of the Wacky Packages Postcards series. Originally created by artist Neil Camera, the first three card series was released in two editions: a limited release of 100 signed and numbered sets and unsigned regular editions. Since then, the Postcard series has been expanded to include additional titles and artists. There are currently nine regular series released between 2007 and 2013 and five special Halloween series released in October 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively, as well as some promotional cards released at trade shows. Two three-ring binders are also made for regular series (the first with a red cover and the second with a yellow cover) and a three ring binder made for the Halloween series. One of the biggest series of Postcard series is the inclusion of artist sketch cards, featuring original images by popular Wacky Pack artists such as Neil Camera, Smokin 'Joe McWilliams, Sam Gambino and Brent Engstrom. Strange Packages Postcards are sold exclusively through Topps Online Store, but no new series are released since 2013.
Old School Strange Package
In February 2010, Topps released a series called Wacky Packages Old School. The Old School line series, made by David Gross, is designed to resemble the original box, wrappers, and stickers that run successfully from 1973 to 1977. Each series (except the latest) consists of 33 stickers along with nine sections of the puzzle checklist with a parody based on a product from the 1970s that the Topps did not do in the early 1970s. Also includes various card hunts and sketch cards in each box. Old School Series 1 sketch cards are all done by Jay Lynch. Old School Series 2 began shipping in late March 2011 with a sketch card by Lynch, Bill Griffith, Bhob Stewart, David Gross, Fred Wheaton, Brent Engstrom, Jeff Zapata, Joe Simko, Neil Camera, Sam Gambino, Smokin 'Joe McWilliams and Mark Parisi. Old School Series 3 ships in mid February 2012 and Old School Series 4 at the end of December 2012. Old School Series 5 was released in late 2015. Ten Old School stickers were released in 2017 as part of the Wacky Packages 50th Anniversary series package (this is a one- the only one not sold exclusively through the Topps Online Store, but in the Special Collector Pack that is part of the series). The Old School Series 6 also came out in 2017, but this time with 30 stickers instead of the usual 33 owned by all the other series. It is also the only series so far sold as a complete set of individuals in plastic boxes, not dead cards and do not have cardboard boxes of products with wrappers in them, candle wrappers, checklists with puzzle pieces or pursuit cards (the latter being included only in Series 3, 4 and 5, with Series 4 having two sets of chase cards and Series 3 and 5 each having one). There are 200 Old School stickers total in November 2017. The Wacky Old School package is sold exclusively through Topps Online Store.
Odd Pack Eraser
Topps released two eraser series in 2011, the first in March and the second in October, each with 24 New-Weird Package Design Series. In addition to the eraser, which consists of paper labels attached to the eraser core, each eraser also has an appropriate miniature sticker included in the package. There are no new series released since 2011.
Books Strange Package Packages
Topps has released five comic books in the Wacky Package line. The panel of only two of the first problems consisted of the reproduction of the sketch card art of Wacky Halloween Postcard by Jay Lynch for problem # 1 and by Joe Simko for problem # 2 which are each specially designed to describe a story when defined as a sequential art. Issue # 3 was made by Neil Camera and published # 4 by Brent Engstrom. Edition # 5 was released on April 1, 2013, Wacky's Package Day proclaimed by Topps, and is a double edition drawn by many artists. No new issues were released since 2013.
Children's Waste Pail Connection
One of the unreleased designs, made by John Pound for the 1985 series, spawned a series of trash cards trading cards for children.
Merchandise
Endless tie merchandise has been, and continues to be produced by Topps and by third party companies since the initial success of Wacky Package in 1973. Examples of recent licensed merchandise include a series of T-shirts from 10 More Clothes, two coffee table art books from Abrams Books (the first book containing Series 1-7 and the second book containing Series 8-14 (Series 15 and 16 currently remains unpublished)) and wall charts from LTL Prints. The current item also includes a wall chart of wall360.com and a bundle of three collectors of Topps using artwork featuring parody characters from the original 16 series and imaginary "Series 17". Some of these binders have included unique promotional items such as candle wrap, stamp sheets or chase cards. The artwork of 17 binders has also been released by Topps as a canvas art. Appropriate binders and canvas art are available exclusively at the Topps Online Store. Topps also released two small ANS binders with red and yellow coverings, each (with the second containing a chase card that is part of ANS4), available in stores and two three-ring binders made specifically for ANS7 and ANS8 (with the first contains a chase card that is part of ANS7) which is also available exclusively at the Topps Online Store.
Latest release
The Strange 10 ANS 10 package was released in March 2013 and features the first Collector Edition box. More recent releases include Old School Series 4 on December 28, 2012, Comic Book # 5 on April 1, 2013, the first four binders in the Original Binder Series Collection set in May 2013 and Postcards series 9 on June 25, 2013. Subsequent releases include ANS 11 in September 2013 and additional binder sets in July, September and November 2013. The other two series (both labeled Series 1 and 2015 Series 1) were released in 2014 and 2015. The Weird Series Chrome package was released in 2014, Old School Series 5 was released in 2015, a series of Wacky MLB Packages released in 2016, the 50th Anniversary package of Wacky Series and Old School Series 6 are both released in 2017 and Wacky Go to the Movies is released in 2018.
Note
References
- Fleer Corp v. Topps Gum Rubber, Inc. , 501 F.Supp. 485 (E.D. Pa. 1980).
- "Digging in Vault for Weird Package Secrets: Topps Back to Class in Old School Series 2 Weird Package", Non-Sport Update Magazine , Vol. 21, No. 6, December 2010 - January 2011. (Roxanne Toser Non-Sport Enterprises, Inc.)
External links
- Collector's Puppet Package
- Price Guides, Grading Guide, Large Vintage Images, and more
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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