26 replies to this topic

[MantisFang]

I remember buying a bunch of these when they landed in the 99¢ store back in the mid to late 90s.


They came individually wrapped and had a large translucent sphere of candy encasing the head so it could clearly be seen within.


There were a few variations in design and colorways were copper, silver and gold in hard plastic.

I remember my failed attempt to preserve a wrapped specimen of this candy/toy resulted in melted goo after one hot summer.

Despite my best attempts at saving a few wrappers and a set of the various figures, they seem to have come up missing. As well as the name of the product in my brain.


From what I can tell, the markings on the back read: (1996 or 1998) "Ausome Candies inc."

Anyone have any ideas on the name or info on the product line?

Edited by MantisFang, 16 March 2015 - 01:02 PM.

[Jesse]

Dont get me started on that hahahahaaa... looks funky!!

[MantisFang]

It was pretty cool. The heads looked way bigger in the clear candy sphere.

As you ate the candy, the head seemed to shrink due to the refraction of the plastic head seen through the thickness of the candy surrounding it.

[plasticfiend]

Do you have a how they look before eaten?  I'm curious... so the sphere around the head was like a hard candy/ lollipop? 

 

Looks cool and quirky dude - thanks for sharing!

 

 

PF

[TheRiddler]

ummm..are you sure these were from a dollar store? cant help with the id sorry man, but wow!! so you had to suck the dudes head for the candy?

[Jesse]

ummm..are you sure these were from a dollar store? cant help with the id sorry man, but wow!! so you had to suck the dudes head for the candy?

Hahaha haahaha.. the plot thickens...

[bachamn]

Oh man, that thing is horrifying.

 

The look on his face reminds me of that episode of aqua teen where they transplant Carl's head onto a body made of eyeballs.

 

[fkro6784]

Sadly no recollection of the name (possibly something with Mutants), but I have two I got in the late 90s as well. I thought I got them at Walgreens but it could have just as easily been the dollar store.

I think I remember the candy being a clear yellow ball, like a lollipop.

Yours is the only other example I've ever seen!


 image.jpg   507.72K   10 downloads

[MantisFang]

Aha yes! That is it. The candy was hard clear yellow or pink, maybe orange as well. Those were the 2 other designs.

It was definitely mutant something. Black plastic wrapping with a clear front to show the lollipop encased head and freakish body.

I was sure someone here would remember. Nicely done.

Hah, the comments are hilarious. The designs are indeed on the verge of perverse.

I suppose that could be why they turned out to be so obscure and short lived.

Edited by MantisFang, 16 March 2015 - 02:18 PM.

[fkro6784]

Haha yeah, I was like 14 when they came out (almost sure it would have been 1998 rather than 1996), but remember thinking how incredibly bizarre they were when I saw them. Which of course meant I had to buy them.

 

Hopefully we can figure out the exact name. Just did a quick Google search and turned up nothing, though.

[TheRiddler]

These are really cool, though they are the creepiest effing things i have ever seen related to candy

[fkro6784]

These are really cool, though they are the creepiest effing things i have ever seen related to candy

 

Yeah, made even creepier by the fact that you didn't just look at them, you had to suck on them to eat the candy!

[TheRiddler]

lo

 

Yeah, made even creepier by the fact that you didn't just look at them, you had to suck on them to eat the candy!

haha, especially when licking out the little bits of candy in the eye sockets and mouth...kids must of looked nuts eating these!

[steverotters]

Au'some was created in 1998 and they are still around.  I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just write them and ask them about these.

 

http://www.ausome.co...ntact/index.php

 

Since they began in 1998, this has to be one of their first products.  Someone there might remember them quite well.

Edited by steverotters, 16 March 2015 - 08:48 PM.

[steverotters]

Flickr user Kelvin64 has these three, but no additional information.

 

http://www.flickr.co...N04/9071847538/

 

 

Attached Files

•  ausomecandies1998.jpg   34.1K   9 downloads

[MantisFang]

Nicely done there steve, I've never seen that gold monkey foot design. However my memory is full of holes so... (My old stash might prove otherwise if I ever unearth it)

Damn I guess I will have to send an inquiry to Ausome, took a peek at their website but its all Nintendo and goofy neon animals.

I tried calling but the customer service rep had only been there a few years, never heard of them, and had no other info. Shocker.

I've already shot them an email, will post back if I get a response.

Edited by MantisFang, 17 March 2015 - 09:47 AM.

[caseyroberson]

You might try asking Jason over at www.collectingcandy.com .  Wouldn't surprise me at all if he had a few of them himself.

[MantisFang]

OK I got a quick reply from Ausome.

"This was discontinued many years ago.



It is mutant pop."
Mutant Pop it is.
Doing a search for mutant pops I found an old post here that tells us that very same thing..

i always thought these were cool...
they were originally lollipops, cant remember the name, something like shrinking head mutant pops. the head on each model was originally encased in a large clear lollipop so the head appeared to shrink as you licked the lolly down.
they'e pretty freaky! each figure is numbered on the base. the numbers vary from 2 - 11 but i'm almost certain there were only ever 6 released. im sure i remember reading 'collect all 6' somewhere, and i bought a lot of these and these were the only 6 i ever got. perhaps the other designs didn't get released. thought the different colours may be numbered differently but have a silver and a gold version of the 1 with the torso on the bottom and both say 8.
Bizarrely, only 2 of the 6 designs have any markings on besides the number on the base. This reads:

C 1998 AU'SOME CANDIES INC
PATENT PENDING

07112008837.jpg http://www.littlerub..._DIR#/crazy.gif

Edited by MantisFang, 17 March 2015 - 11:47 AM.

[steverotters]

The stylized name was " The Amazing Shrinking Mutant Pop."

 

There is a business-related article (like a press release) from Jan 11, 1999 at this site (but you have to have an account to read the full article):

 

 http://business.high...hrinking-mutant

 

"The Amazing Shrinking Mutant Pop is said to be a lollipop with a 'mutant head' figurine inside that 'shrinks as the candy is eaten'."

[MantisFang]

I saw this on my search and tried to read the full article. It requires membership on their site which is accepting no new members. :{

The stylized name was " The Amazing Shrinking Mutant Pop."

http://business.high...hrinking-mutant

Edited by MantisFang, 17 March 2015 - 01:23 PM.

[fkro6784]

Nice work finding out the name!

That silver one with the fist is rad. Wish I would have bought more back in the day.

[fkro6784]

So, I was going through an old box of toys, school papers, etc the other day that was stored in a crawl space and hadn't been looked at in probably 15 years. As I was digging, what did I find staring back at me? Yep, one of these bizarro suckers, still sealed in its original package!

 

Back when these came out in the late '90s, I must have bought three, opened two and kept one sealed, then stored it away with other random stuff in the box. I totally forgot I had it. Unfortunately, the candy ball around the mutant's head fell victim to the cruel clutches of time and started turning into a sticky, melty mess inside the package.

 

 mutant2.jpg   305.11K   4 downloads

 

Since the candy was a goner, I decided to open the package, free the mutant and try to salvage the empty wrapper. Luckily, running hot water into the bag for a few minutes did the trick, and the candy started melting away (while giving off a major artificial lime smell). At one point I was able to pull the figure from the bag with some of the candy still around its head, and of course took a photo for posterity.

 

 mutant3.jpg   128.47K   9 downloads

 

I was able to get all of the sticky candy washed out of the wrapper. Success! Here's a front and back photo of the end result:

 

 mutant4.jpg   418.55K   9 downloads

 

And now my two other mutant pop figures have a new pal--eyeball mutant!

 

 mutant1.jpg   176.64K   7 downloads

 

I thought you guys would be interested in seeing one of these still in the package. I was so surprised to stumble onto it. And now I kind of want to hunt down the other three mutants...

Edited by fkro6784, 08 October 2015 - 05:58 AM.

[steverotters]

C'mon, surely you had a taste. 

[bachamn]

the candy ball around the mutant's head fell victim to the cruel clutches of time and starting turning into a sticky, melty mess inside the package.

thus is the fate of decades old corn syrup. You should see how the jelly beans in those Jurassic Park eggs looked when I opened them up...

[fkro6784]

C'mon, surely you had a taste. 

 

Not even one. But I do have an old still-sealed Slime Slurp from around the same time that tempts my curiosity...

 

thus is the fate of decades old corn syrup. You should see how the jelly beans in those Jurassic Park eggs looked when I opened them up...

 

There's actually a whole article about this on the Collecting Candy site, complete with gross decomposing candy pics:

 

http://www.collectin...dpress/?p=12154