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Topps Wacky Packages Sticker Facts
 
Here are some stories behind a few titles, and some random trivia about a few others. More will be added over time.
 
Note: In each fact you can click on thumbnails for larger images.
 
Facts 1-10     Facts 11-20     Facts 21-30     Facts 31-34
 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Tuesday 3:27 am, November 23, 2004 message 79

Fact 30: El Polluto Did you ever notice that EL POLLUTO has an extra "T" on the top of the package. "El POLLUTTO".

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Tuesday 3:38 am, November 23, 2004 message 80

You might also notice that on the front it says "5 Smoggy Cigars", while on the left of the package it says "5 Soggy Cigars", something which doesn't make much sense to the joke which is about pollution.  One wonders why they changed it to "Soggy" for the side.

 

From: Crakola_Crayons To: char_boy   Posted: Tuesday 4:48 am, November 23, 2004 message 81

Sounds like someone wasn't proofing these stickers as well as they should have (or they were cranking them out so fast that there was no time to).

 

From: helixbuilder To: char_boy   Posted: Tuesday 8:31 am, November 23, 2004 message 82

>One wonders why they changed it to "Soggy" for the side. My guess would be that's all that would fit!

 

From: char_boy To: Paul_Maul   Posted: Wednesday 11:20 am, November 24, 2004 message 83

Not as far as I know, it's one of the many remaining wacky pack mysteries, like who is Ray Hammond.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Thursday 3:25 am, November 25, 2004 message 84

Fact 31: Jerk in Jail Looking at the faded out black and white xerox of the Jerk in Jail rough on John Mann's page: It is hard to see, but it looks like it originally said "2", and then another number, and then "2" again, and then another number. When I was doing these roughs, I would sneak in secret messages. 1=A 2=B 3=C and so on. So the forbidden word that was codified here was "B_B_". If I could read the numbers on the rough, I could probably fill in the two blanks and decipher it. Likely it was somebody's name. Somebody I thought should be in jail. I told Saunders about the code when he asked me what some of the numbers on the "Umberella" cover meant. I hadn't realized until now that this had been censored. I know there is a similar coded message on the roughs to the Umbirella cover--and probably on a lot of other ones too. Nothing obscene or anything. Mostly just little gags between me and Bhob and Artie. And I guess after a certain point, Saunders was hip to this number/letter code too. I think I mentioned this on the panel at the Wacky reunion. I recall there was some secret message on the Umberella cover...but now 30 years later I forget what it was. -Jay

 

From: dth1971 To: char_boy   Posted: Thursday 11:24 am, November 25, 2004 message 85

Sure never noticed the secret code roughs of Jay Lynch.

 

From: jaylynch To: char_boy   Posted: Thursday 9:46 pm, November 25, 2004 message 86

On the original Jerk in Jail rough...the number on the kid's shirt is 7734.  Get it?

 

From: BustedFinger To: jaylynch   Posted: Friday 8:28 am, November 26, 2004 message 87

7734 upside-down is hELL

 

From: jaylynch To: char_boy   Posted: Friday 2:47 pm, November 26, 2004 message 88

No. "7734 upside down and close the door" was a childhood rhyme. What it meant was that if you write 7734 on a piece of paper , and turn it upside down, It spells "hell"...which in pre-Bart Simpson days was a forbidden word.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Friday 4:51 am, November 26, 2004 message 89

Fact 32: Guerilla Milk "Guerila" in the joke is misspelled: "Stupid Americans! Lost delicious pack of Guerila Milk!"

 

From: Grapehead To: char_boy   Posted: Friday 9:43 pm, November 26, 2004 message 90

I was wondering something reguarding Guerilla Milk: The enemy soldiers look decidedly Asian on the card. Since this series was released in 1969 (during the VietNam war), do you think they are supposed to be VietCong or would have that been a no-no, seeing how unpopular the war was?

 

From: jaylynch To: Grapehead   Posted: Saturday 12:15 am, November 27, 2004 message 91

Originally the Viet Kong were known as the Viet Min . The name wasn't menacing enough...and the State Dept. (or some division of the government...I forget which now) held a contest to rename the Viet Min for profiganda purposes. "Min" didn't sound dangerous enough...It kind of implied "Minnie", as in "Minnie Mouse". Anyway...the winner of the contest was "Viet Kong" (Kong implying King Kong,the menacing gorilla of motion picture fame). So the term "Viet Kong" was relatively new in '67...as the French had been fighting the same forces for years under the name "Viet Min".      It would be similar today...if they changed the name of Alcada to Algodzilla. So I don't know who did the rough to Geurilla Milk...But the absurdity of the name change was probably fresh in their mind at the time. I suspect the gag was devised by either Bhob Stewart or Art Spiegelman...Like me, they too were both amused and shocked by things that the government was doing then...like this insane "re-naming" contest.       So gorillas...guerillas...Viet Kong...King Kong...It was bound to wind up as a gag somewhere at the time. But now it's just history. The enemy was the Viet Kong. It's that simple now.

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Saturday 6:56 am, November 27, 2004 message 92

Fact 33: Scary Jane Scary Jane has a copyright variation, on half of them it is a bit higher with respect to the sticker.  This picture shows the comparision: Thanks to Brian Lambert for pointing this out to me

 

From: fanatical_and_sickly To: char_boy   Posted: Monday 5:48 pm, November 29, 2004 message 93

And the diecut is noticeable very different too. Especially the upper left and lower right corners. Maybe one of these was on the Pupsi sheet and the other was on the Pupsi-less sheet??

 

From: char_boy To: ALL   Posted: Monday 6:05 pm, November 29, 2004 message 94

Fact 34: Lucky Stride Lucky Stride is the only Wacky Package that actually says "Wacky Packages" on it. It is written on the side "WARNING: SMOKING WACKY PACKAGES MAY BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH!"

 

 
Facts 1-10     Facts 11-20     Facts 21-30     Facts 31-34