Cloudco, Hunter Products Mark Madballs 40th Anniversary with Toy Relaunch

Cloudco Entertainment, owner of the Madballs property, has a strategic partnership with Hunter Products for a global relaunch of core toys, with a line that includes both classic and brand-new characters and innovative items that will launch via an exclusive, first-to-floor arrangement at 2,800 Walmart doors in the U.S. in early 2025. International accounts for Hunter Products’ new toys will start to roll out in spring 2025, with the balance of other key U.S. accounts picking up the line beginning in fall 2025. Madballs is most recently coming off a successful multi-year co-branding program with fellow 1980s brand Garbage Pail Kids that featured more than a dozen licensing partnerships.  

Initially launched in 1985, Madballs were freaky-looking rubber balls boasting grossly sculpted faces and vividly colorful names like Skull Face, Horn Head and Slobulus. The launch also inspired a licensed consumer products program with hundreds of partners including comic books, animated specials, apparel, skateboards, lunch boxes, back-to-school, novelties, stationary, stickers and more. 

This current Madballs revival aims to retain all the brand’s original fun and “gross-out” DNA while simultaneously delivering on innovation, introducing new characters and even evolution, as core Madballs characters will now feature “real” synthetic hair.   

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In addition to the early 2025 U.S. launch date, other confirmed territories set to launch the line include the UK, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal and the Nordics, with actual launch dates and other international placement to be provided soon. 

“Hunter Products is beyond excited to bring one of our favorite toys back to life,” says Luke Hunger, chief executive officer, Hunter Products. “We see a big gap in the boys toy market that Madballs fills and can’t wait to reintroduce the brand via both its iconic as well as new characters as well as true innovation across the entire product line.” 

 “As the passionate custodians of the Madballs and their legacy, we’re beyond excited to bring back these 1980’s icons in a fun and ‘relevant to today’ way,” says Sean Gorman, president, Cloudco Entertainment. “We look forward to sharing all of the great toy line from Hunter with our fans and know that this launch is just the beginning of a whole lot of exciting news that we will soon be sharing on this brand.”