Mutant Monsters Green Multi

Today’s Mutant Monster knockoff Mad Ball is named Green Multi on the Five Below website, but any Mad Balls fan knows exactly who this is — it’s Slobulus, just reincarnated as one of these glossy bouncy-ball freaks. Slobulus is a classic Mad Ball who shows up all the time in official and unofficial lines.

He’s a booger monster who’s often the butt of a joke, hates being the butt of a joke, and absolutely cannot tell a joke. But don’t mess with him — the dude can snort out snot hands. Fuck around and find out, I guess.

This is classic Slobulus all over: green skin, popped-out eyeball, boogers everywhere. He doesn’t have any hair here, which the real ones usually do… but knockoffs often skip that detail. Honestly, as a Mutant Monster he’s got a bit of a baby face, and it’s kind of cute. And of course he’s sporting the exposed yellow brains that at this point feel like the official hallmark of the Mutant Monsters line. On Green Multi they look infected — which, for a guy like him, totally tracks. You just know if he had legs, he’d be wearing a pair of grubby solid black sneakers. He’s that guy. I can practically smell him coming.

Dammit.

Mutant Monsters Gray Multi

Today’s Mutant Monster knockoff Mad Ball is listed as Gray Multi on Five Below’s website… which is a pretty wild name for a guy who’s mostly blue, but whatever. Gray Multi is a very direct knockoff of Repvile. Repvile is a reptilian monster who, after years of being a boogeyman and scaring kids, learned about Swamp Thing and decided swamp-life was the way to go.

For whatever reason I always wanted to call him Cretin. He just looks like the mascot of an early 90’s punk band in ball form. You can practically see him painted on a drum kit or slapped on stickers the band hands out after shows. I’d have absolutely stuck him on my school notebook and then immediately gotten made fun of by the kids who were “cooler” than me. Man, I do not miss those days of never being able to do anything right according to other kids. Regardless, it would’ve been a cool sticker — and it’s a cool Mad Ball design.

His Mutant Monster incarnation is pretty spot-on. A little more smoothed out than the official one, and of course featuring those exposed yellow brains that might just be the Mutant Monsters’ signature trait. These guys seem to be more in the bouncy-ball lane compared to the foam official Mad Balls, and that thicker coating gives Gray Multi a shinier, wetter finish than Repvile ever had. I don’t mind it, but it’s definitely noticeable. It’s really cool seeing this design again as a Mutant Monster. I genuinely hope this little line keeps going — I dig it

Mutant Monsters Orange

It’s far past time I take a look at Mad Balls here on the site. Like a lot of kids in the 80s, I loved gross things — slime, Garbage Pail Kids, and of course Mad Balls. I’ve picked up various gross-out toys on and off over the years, and Mad Balls have always been a constant because they’re just freaking great.

When I got my most recent batch, it hit me: I’ve never covered them on Zone Base. What the heck? Time to fix that with a look at the new Mutant Monsters balls that have been popping up at Five Below and in Target’s Dollar Spot. The Mrs. grabbed me three of the six currently available… and I’ll absolutely need the other three. These are awesome.

Mutant Monsters are seemingly unlicensed knockoff Mad Balls, basically copying older official designs. And look, I don’t mean to come on too strong here, but… knockoff Mad Balls? Inject that straight into my veins.

They don’t have official names, so I’m going by what Five Below uses — just color descriptions. Weirdly, I kind of love how plain that is. From here on out, I’m just talking about each ball individually. Consider this your required preamble. Moving on.

Orange is one of the more unique Mutant Monsters, leaning closer to an original design. I say closer because it’s clearly playing off Alien with the facehugger-like creature latched onto its head. There was an official Mad Ball with that gag in one of the Horror Series lines, so it’s not totally new… but this version leans more into mutant/alien territory, with a green creature gripping a red head. You might think it has blonde hair in the pictures, but nope — those are exposed yellow brains. Yellow is an odd choice, but honestly? With the rest of the colors going on here, it works.

I’m also not sure why it’s called Orange when it skews more red, but hey, that’s knockoffs for you. The color isn’t even consistent — some spots are lighter, some darker. The monster itself has three angry, bloodshot eyes, and the sculpt reminds me of something you’d fight in classic Doom or Quake. Actually… anybody remember Bio-Freaks?

Orange is a really neat looking Mad Ball — or Sad Ball, as knockoffs are sometimes called. These seem to be more bouncy-ball style rather than the usual foam of the official ones, complete with a glossy finish that makes him look a little moist. Which is perfectly gross.

Bios: Soundwave

"From the sky to the sea, they will fear and respect me."

Function: Warrior

Soundwave is a welcome aly to the forces. Bat mode makes him ideal for stealth aerial recon missions. Ultra-sensitive internal radar can detect even the slightest disturbances. Alligator jaws penetrate every known alloy. Tail sends seismic circuit-disrupting shockwave through terra firma. Like his fellow Mutant warriors, Soundwave is dark and brooding; has a tendency to be overly dramatic.

Strength: 6.8 Intelligence: 6.7 Speed: 8.4 Endurance: 5.3
Rank: 5.0 Courage: 8.9 Firepower: 7.7 Skill: 7.9

Tiger in Mutant Missions

Tigatron has been a white Siberian tiger for so long, it’s easy to forget he was originally planned to be a traditional orange tiger. Thankfully this idea was recently revisited by Hasbro as an Amazon exclusive. The Mrs. saw it and knew it’d be something I’d like… and she was right. I had thought I missed out on him before opening him up Christmas morning. Mutant Tigatron (as this version is referred too) is the Kingdom Tigatron toy with the proper colors and mutant head used as originally planned (and seen on box art). Despite how used to the traditional Tigatron I am… I kinda prefer this having it in hand now.

 

This is a recolor of the toy I’ve already talked about (with a new head), so there’s no reason to really ‘review’ him as a toy (even though I don’t really do reviews). What I’d like to do is look at him from the eyes of a fan who misses the beast era a lot and is more than happy to see a return to it. With the vintage reissue line at Walmart, Generations updates, Rise of the Beasts, and even Authentics… I’ve got plenty Beast Wars to scratch the critter bot itch. Something like this is just icing on the cake.

Now that Hasbro has ventured into concepts area of Beast Wars… what’s next? There’s Optimal Optimus and Transmetal 2 Megatron with new toys… how about those pilot figures? Those cool mythic bots that eventually became Fuzors! Or hey, updates of popular figures. I’d love a leader class Tigerhawk or Core Class Quickstrike. Of course I could sit here all day and day dream new beast warriors for Hasbro to cram into Transformers boxes… and probably will anyway. Is it weird that I’m almost thinking of Rise of the Beasts as this years BotCon? It’s odd to look forward to a movie this much, but thanks to how much I loved Bumblebee and the inclusion of Maximals… guys I’m excited.