Madballs is a line of foam or rubber bouncing balls designed with a gross-out factor that made them attractive to kids (while conversely repulsing parents). Created by AmToy, a subsidiary of American Greetings, Madballs debuted in stores in 1986. There were two waves, each of which consisted of eight standard balls, along with a group of Super Madballs.

Each of the Madballs had its own name and character synopsis, many borrowing the look or theme of classic monsters. Aargh is a blue Frankenstein-like monster with stitching and one eye missing, Bash Brain is a zombie with a visible brain, Dust Brain is a teal wrinkly mummy with rotten teeth, and Horn Head is a cyclops with horns and a nose ring. Oculus Orbus is a bloodshot eye, Screamin’ Meenie is a baseball yelling with a large tongue, Skull Face has an exposed brain, tiny red eyes in big sockets, and large teeth, and Slobulus is a green creature with an eye dangling from its socket.

The second wave included another eight main characters. Bruise Brother is a hideous biker with a busted helmet, Fist Face is a hand holding an eyeball, Freaky Fullback is mutated football player, Lock Lips is a monster with its jaw locked shut and one eye covered. Snake Bait is a gorgon with a forked tongue, Splitting Headache is missing the skin on half his face, Swine Sucker is a drooling boar, and Wolf Breath is a werewolf with decaying fangs covered in blood.

The larger size Super Madballs were shaped like sports balls, such as the Touchdown Terror that resembled a football, Foul Shot that looked like a basketball, and Goal Eater that was like a soccer ball. They also made head-popping Madballs that were posable figures with heads that could be swapped.

Similar to other 1980s toy lines, the grotesque toys were adapted into other forms of media. Madballs have appeared in comic books, starting with a ten-issue series published by Star Comics in 1986. Then Lion Forge Comics published a collected edition of the original series in 2017. Dynamite Entertainment published the four-issue crossover, Madballs vs Garbage Pail Kids, in 2022, with a follow-up series a year later.

A pair of 22-minute animated specials saw direct to video release. Madballs: Escape from Orb, in which the characters were a rock band, was released in 1986; then Madballs: Gross Jokes with skits and jokes performed by the characters came out in ’87. A video game that was compatible with Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC.

The toys were later revived by Art Asylum in 2007 to 2008, and then again by Just Play, Inc. in 2017 to 2019.