I’m a couple years older than most of the editorial staff at Nerdist and so it falls to me to be the Andy Rooney of this whole thing. I remember back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when horror toys, or just slightly scary toys, were perfectly fine to give to children. My Pet Monster was a thing, Creepy Crawlers were a thing, and Madballs were a thing. Madballs were bouncy rubber balls with faces on them, but the faces were super grotesque and colorful. They’d probably give a kid nightmares, but that wasn’t considered a horrible thing back then. (It’s like our parents banked on us being terrified all the time.)

Well, in the spirit of Madballs, Mondo, the company behind some of the finest t-shirts, poster art, vinyl soundtracks, and collectible action figures on the market, has added to their retro nostalgic output by unveiling the wonderfully named MondoBalls. The first three ones to come out will be, as pictured above, Skull Face, Horn Head, and Slobus, which were mainstays of the Madballs brand back in the day. Mondo has also struck a deal with Marvel which will deliver a snarling Venom ball at some point in the future.

Entertainment Weekly has the prototype:

Thrilled to announce our new collectible toy line, MondoBalls! Coming soon… #MondoBalls https://t.co/ERO8Yl7yvb pic.twitter.com/TnyN6mBr4d

— MONDO (@MondoNews) January 25, 2016

Pretty rad, huh? Mondo also has plans to launch MondoBalls from the Gremlins and Friday the 13th franchises, though I wouldn’t bet on the cute Mogwai Gizmo being one of them. Cute isn’t really the game here.

You can pre-order the initial three (above) from Mondo’s website soon with more coming down the pike as time goes on.

Are you stoked for these grotty little creations? Do you remember Madballs? Am I the oldest human being alive? Let me know in the comments below!

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HT: Entertainment Weekly
Images: Mondo

Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. He’s also a billion years old, apparently. Follow him on Twitter!