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Wacky Packages | Wonder Bread | Posters | T-Shirts | Wacky Ads | Lost Wackys | New Series | Original Series | Wacky Magazines | What's New? | Ebay |
The four reissue series of 1979/1980 were the third generation of wacky packages. Topps kept the franchise alive by releasing sets every few years, but the main ones -- 1967, 1973, 1979, 1985, & 1991 -- were all 6 years apart. This allowed each series to meet with a new wave of kids ages 7 to 13.
Being a child of the 1973 wackys, I was 15 when the 1979's came out. I found them in a little store next to my high school, and though shocked at the 20 cent price, I still bought all the remaining packs and took home the box. To say the least, I was a bit disheartened to find that they were reprints of the older wackys. I expect that this feeling may also have hit the early 1967 die cut buyers, when they found the 1st series of 1973 to be reprints. Needless to say, I never finished the set, but I did buy enough of the 2nd reissues to complete the puzzle on the back. I had saved all my wackys from childhood, though many were stuck in notebooks, but I didn't save the original puzzles. So the reissues served that purpose for me.
I never saw the 3rd or 4th reprint series in stores. If I had, I definitely would have been more interested, since they included copies of the elusive 16th Series , which did not sell in my area. For years, 1973 collectors have treated the reissues like the red-headed step-child of wackydom, but for many kids, these were the first wacky packages they ever saw. Now as these "kids" approach the age of 40, the reprint series is gaining more respect.Before releasing these reprints, Topps put out a small Test Set using titles from the old 1st and 2nd series. Apparently it did well, and the go-ahead was given for three reprint series. Planning for the 4th and an unpublished 5th Series began at the end of 1979, after stickers were in stores and sales figures proved interest from consumers.
Finding titles from the Original Series was not as easy as it sounds. Many companies had sent "cease and desist" letters to Topps over the years, ordering them to quit spoofing their products. As you can see on the C&D Sheets, a lot of the most popular wackys were off-limits. Of course, this does not excuse the lame design of the display boxes, where none of the lovable wacky characters are visible. (I also discussed this problem in the UK Series.)Each of the four series contained 66 titles, which were numbered consecutively from #1 to #264 on the front of each sticker (see titles below). The backs were utilized for the first time, donning either a checklist or puzzle piece. The 1979 1st Reissue Series contains wackys from the original 1st through 7th series of 1973. Oddly, they are also numbered in order of original series, except for one. It would seem that a title from the original 4th or 5th was pulled and replaced with #41 Blast Blew Ribbon (from 7th Series) before production began.
The 1979 2nd Reissue Series is the rarest of the four reprint sets, and the order of titles continued in a similar fashion (sort of). The first seventeen wackys were taken from the original 8th Series, then the rest are in order from the 1st to 7th series. Again, there is one exception, #104 Windstun Cigarettes from the old 9th Series seems to have been taken from the next (3rd) reissue series to replace a dropped title from the old 3rd or 4th.
As the earlier reprints were probably made using the original art negatives, the images in the 1980 3rd Reissue Series are a bit fuzzy. I guess one of the Oompa Loompas at Topps had lost the key to the vault, because rather than using old negatives, or re-photographing the art, they photographed old stickers to make this set. Once more, we have the checklist pattern starting at the old 10th through the 16th for the beginning half of the set with only #150 Stingline (15th) out of place between the 11th and 12th series. The rest of the set repeats the order, but the last five titles are out of sync.
The final 1980 4th Reissue Series is listed alphabetically on the checklist and the uncut sheet, making it impossible to decipher its secrets. But they did re-photograph the original art. We can see that #245 Murial Blands Cigars has the text "Now You Can Have A Breath Like A Man". The extra "A" was removed on the negative for the 7th Series Murial Blands Sticker, but not on the art itself. This series has the only new title -- #235 Ice Krunkles, which was dropped from the old 12th Series.The checklists for all four sets have mistakes in them. Hopefully by now, you realize that most modern day wacky collectors know more about wacky packages than any of the laboring Oompa Loompas at Topps ever wanted to know. Here are a few examples of the mistakes --
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should be | Lipoff Cup-A-Slop |
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should be | Moonshine Hyde's Rox |
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should be | Gyppy Pop Popcorn |
Hydrox is probably the biggest goof here, as that is the name of the actual product and not the wacky. But whether or not it was noticed, it was never fixed.
There were also seven repeats of repeats. You can see by the list below, that the worker Loompa used a few different names when he called out the titles for the head Oompa to cross-reference against previous checklists.
Looking at these, I can't really fault the little guy. They look like unintentional mistakes except for Blunder Bread. Was it really a blunder, or done on purpose? The titles below are taken directly from the checklists, mistakes and all, so we can enjoy the reissues in their purest form.
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email Rusty@LostWackys.com
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