As a kid, I lived in Germany from 1986 through 1988 -- basically the years that Madballs were all the rage. However, import Madballs were pretty expensive: their cost in marks was equivalent to $8 US. Considering how relatively inexpensive toys were back then -- and that even the new Madballs didn't cost that much two decades later -- you can imagine how my parents felt about that price! Until I came back to the states to find dollar stores overflowing with Madballs, Oculus Orbus was the only legitimate Madballs toy I had.

Most of my Madballs were actually low-rent customs (we'd crumple balls of newspaper, wrap them in masking tape, and then draw faces on them), but occasionally I was treated to one of the knockoffs situated by the candy near convenience store counters. While I didn't exactly care as a kid, what most intrigues me now is that these aren't bootlegs in the sense that I tend to use the word. Similarities notwithstanding, the knockoff Madballs we got in Germany weren't made using molds created from the legitimate Madballs themselves: they were actually unique sculpts. Moreover, instead of trying to faithfully represent every detail of the original character, the creators of these knockoffs often changed the characters in subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle ways. For instance, whereas the official Screamin' Meemie is the ghastly white of an actual baseball, the knockoff sported a healthier flesh color. The true S'Meemie also has all of his teeth, but the knockoff version was missing one.

The knockoff makers got even more creative with Slobulus. In addition to modifying his mouth and doing away with the slime and snot oozing from his orifices, they also rendered him with his right eyeball hanging from its socket rather than the legitimate version's protruding left eyeball. (Incidentally, this change has a precedent in the cartoon series: before starting the Slobulus Aurelius Beauty Make-over School -- a "beauty" school that mutilates students so that they look like Slobulus -- the condition of Slobulus's eyes was reversed in the manner of the bootleg. As such, he's not only the president... he's also a member.) And then, where the original Slobulus had a head full of stringy purple hair, the knockoff is bald... and has a crack in his head that exposes his brains. At least I think those are supposed to be his brains. When I was a kid, I thought they were a mass of worms... which made me think of ringworm, which is freaking nasty. Accordingly, whereas I used to sleep with knockoff Screamin' Meemie in my bed, I often didn't even want to touch knockoff Slobulus.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about these Madballs knockoffs is that they were much more durable than the original toys themselves. Being made of foam, the larger official Madballs I had as a kid are cracked and flaking and missing chunks, but these rubber, air-filled knockoffs are in tip-top shape aside from the worn paint. And while I have no idea how that 1986 Slobulus I bought on eBay or the 2007-2009 Madballs I've gotten will look in 20 years, I imagine those knockoffs will look almost exactly the same as they do today.

Want to see even more bootleg toys? Find past and future editions of Bootleg Tuesday right here!