If you did not know already, this week you are going to find out that I am a big-time Madballs fan, and when it rains it pours because this week I will have multiple offerings focused on this amazing concept.

Madballs have been around since the 1980s, as I am sure you know, and while it is easy to chalk it up to a nostalgia property, having monstrous and gross-out designs for something that is traditionally exclusive to the sporting world and completely utilitarian is a really strong concept in and of itself. That is made very clear with this new Madballs assortment from KidRobot. Now, they have been doing some “reissuing” of the classic Madballs lineup, but this new Horror and Sci-Fi series offers a fresh take for Madballs, while combining classic film properties to create a pretty perfect storm. From a larger perspective, this series shows how great and adaptable the overall concept is, but for the purposes of this feature, it makes for some pretty amazing NEW Madballs.

So, Alien, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Predator, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre all have their fair share of monster designs and stomach-churning gore to marry perfectly with the gross-out tradition of Madballs. I have to say, the designers who handled these have done a tremendous job in not only marrying the concepts, but in pulling out all of the attributes of these properties to exploit with this execution. I never knew I needed these mash-ups, but I am sure as hell glad I have them. Let’s take a look at all six.

ALIEN: ALIEN WARRIOR

The Alien franchise is the only property to get two entrants into this series, but with the Xenomorph and Face Hugger are both so iconic to the series that you can excuse KidRobot from wanting to exploit both. While the designs both lend themselves nicely here, the Xenomorph is definitely the more straightforward of the two. If I had to pick my least favorite out of the six, it would be this one, but that is not because it is weak, it is just that the Xeno design is pretty monochromatic and not as exaggerated as the rest. I like the radioactive green blood added from some color variety, and all of the important Giger cues are there. This is a great piece, but a bit overshadowed by its series-mates.

ALIEN: FACEHUGGER

Okay, now this is what I am talking about. While Alien offers the least interesting Madball here, it also give us the best one, and this Facehugger ball is absolutely pitch-perfect. Okay, so the Facehugger itself is pretty straightforward in design, but the poor Nostromo crew member (I suppose this can/should be Kane) is absolutely amazing. The little winks to the franchise details are there with the awesome Nostromo logo on the cap, as well as the “Game Over” pin, but the victim design is amped up in perfect Madballs fashion. This is mainly done via the hanging eyeball, which I LOVE, but there is also green blood/slime highlights, too. This is a very well thought-out piece, and it is hard to improve upon what KR came up with for this, so kudos to them for not only doing a nice Alien tribute, but also for making a perfect Madball.

FRIDAY THE 13th: JASON VOORHEES

Jason also gets a, ahem, killer, release in this line, and in keeping more in the vein of the Facehugger, all of the property tributes are there, but they’re brought through in true Madballs fashion. It would have been easy for them to just do the standard hockey mask with missing eyes and a nondescript back, but that was absolutely not the approach here. The worm in the eye and broken mask around the teeth help make things a lot more interesting. An important thing about Madballs is that they are, well, balls, so they are really portrayed in “the round” so with Jason here, the back of the ball is just as cool as the front. The leather straps give way to exposed brains, more worms, and green slime. These additions are smart, and, again, very Madball-esque.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: FREDDY KRUGER

The original Nightmare on Elm Street remains one of my favorite 1980s horror flicks, and a lot of that comes from the strength of Freddy himself, both in character and design. Of all of these offerings, Freddy’s design, with his iconic razor glove and burned visage, lends itself the best to this concept, and KR did a great job of highlighting those while adding exaggerated features. Freddy is probably tied with the Facehugger as my favorite of the lot, and I love how his glove crosses his face, and his expression is spot-on. I am glad his iconic sweater gets a nod here, and really, this Freddy ball fits right in with the classic offerings. I love this one, and I can see it being the hard to find from the set.

PREDATOR: PREDATOR

Now, you know they couldn’t give us an Alien Madball and not offer up a Predator. Hollywood has ensured that you cannot think of one of those properties without the other, so I am glad with get the classic Xenomorph and Predator together right out of the gate. Kid Robot made the right call here in giving us an unmasked version. The Predator face is infinitely more interesting than his armor, and it works well with the Madballs heightened design. His more cartoonish eyes and open jaw work well here, and the dreadlocks and skull piece were included as well. Much like the Alien, the non-human design is relied on a bit too much so there are less Madball overtones, so while it is more effective than the Xenomorph, I don’t find him as visually interesting as the likes of Freddy and Jason.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: LEATHERFACE

Old Leatherface is the final entry in this first series, and I find his incorporated design to be on the stronger end of the spectrum, closer to Freddy than to the Xenomorph. The expression takes many of the same qualities that Jason and Freddy have with the open mouth and eye size, and the mask allows for a lot of nice stitching details and color highlights. Again, the back of the head is just as great because the brain is exposed, and the all-important hammer is lodged in there with more neon green blood. It seems funny that I would want to display something backwards, but of all of these, Leatherface would get my pick because a lot of thought was put into something that will likely face the wall for the rest of its life.

Color me really impressed with this series. Yes, I LOVE the classic Madballs characters and designs, but to keep the concept moving, you need to expand it, and these horror and sci-fi characters lend themselves to the execution perfectly. A lot of companies are giving us new Madballs products right now, but KidRobot is my choice for winners because they have kept the qualities of the originals the best (the materials are really important, these are squishy just like before), and they have really taken the concept and run with it. Of this series, the Facehugger, Freddy, and Jason are definitely my favorites, but there is not a weak one in the bunch, so if you are a fan of these properties, or Madballs in general, I highly recommend these.

*Thanks to our friends and NECA for sending these along for a look, we really appreciate it!