Briefly Noted Books, Video Games, and More

The dystopian politics of Fallout 3, The Official High Times Pot Smokers Handbook, Standpoint magazine, conspiracy theories, and Wacky Packages

February 24, 2009

(Page 2 of 2)

One essay, which reveals that its insights derive from someone stalking ’80s pop start Tiffany, might be earnest—or might be pranksterishly kicking the props out from under our gullibility. The book as a whole, whether you find it believable or not, makes you wonder how such gullibility shapes our understanding of the world.—Brian Doherty

Bubblegum Subversion

Topps, the candy and card company, brightened the dark years of 1973 and 1974 with Wacky Packages, a series of stickers parodying popular household products. Argo cornstarch became “Argh: Coarse Stench.” Comet cleanser became “Commie: Gets Rid of Reds, Pinkos, Hippies, Yippies, & Flippies.”

The jokes were juvenile—so of course Wacky Packages struck a chord with kids in an America where consumer products and cynicism were equally ubiquitous. For those two glorious years, Wacky Packages were Topps’ top-selling product, outpacing the company’s famous baseball cards.

Wacky Packages, a new collection from Abrams, reproduces images from the series’ glory days. “Wackies,” the Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist and former Topps employee Art Spiegelman writes in the book, “were a young child’s first exposure to subverting adult consumer culture.” Thus they may have helped us all become smarter shoppers, whether for ideas or for Blisterine mouthwash.—Nick Gillespie

Comments

|2.24.09 @ 12:15PM|#

I was a big Wacky Packy fan when I was a kid.

|2.24.09 @ 12:23PM|#

Fallout 3: Behemoth + 175 Bottlecap Mines

|2.24.09 @ 12:29PM|#

Whacky Packys were totally the market! I was eight years old when they came out! I collected the entire first two series. Don't know if there even was a third series, Watergate distracted me.

|2.24.09 @ 12:31PM|#

Watergate did not bother me, Warren. I collected and collected some more.

|2.24.09 @ 12:45PM|#

That picture is racist.

|2.24.09 @ 12:52PM|#

Racist? Offensive to avian-americans, perhaps?

|2.24.09 @ 12:57PM|#

Umbriel,

Don't even try and play dumb about the centuries long custom of negatively depicting white people as glasses-wearing chickens.

Ref.

|2.24.09 @ 1:31PM|#

I especially loved how my mother thought Wacky Packs were "vulgar" and "tasteless", the two key words that meant something must be cool when I was 10.

Ska|2.24.09 @ 1:34PM|#

Damn work siteblocker depriving me of a Behemoth getting blown the hell up.

|2.24.09 @ 1:39PM|#

Damn work siteblocker depriving me of a Behemoth getting blown the hell up.

Me, too. I had to mini-nuke the bastards (mad props to the mini-nuke animation, BTW). Plus, I had neither the time nor the energy to scavenge enough junk to make 175 bottle-cap mines.

|2.24.09 @ 2:00PM|#

Fallout 3 is awesome.

Ska|2.24.09 @ 2:06PM|#

I have about 80 bottlecap mines saved up.......and at least 20 mini-nukes. Haven't killed any of the behemoths yet (other than the one by the radio station), have been saving it for a rainy day, I just can't stop playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Nothing like racking up headshots with a G36C while remotely setting off C-4 charges on domination. Damn, what a great multi-player game. Can't wait for the sequel this year (modern warfare not the WWII one that's out already).

|2.24.09 @ 2:11PM|#

Crap, now I'm going to have to acquire the game.

|2.24.09 @ 2:23PM|#

Haven't killed any of the behemoths yet (other than the one by the radio station),

Take your Fat Man to the US Capitol, Ska.

The pure pleasure of setting off nukes under the dome . . .

Waquoit|2.24.09 @ 7:10PM|#

I sill remember "Chock Full O Nuts and Bolts" with the picture of a guy who looked like he just broke his jaw.

Justen|2.24.09 @ 9:03PM|#

Fallout 3 provides an engrossing and immersive, if not always plausible, look into how an anarchist society might arise from the ashes of lost civilization. Some of the subtleties of the game world are not apparent to the average player - you're not likely to notice or care about the differences in the barter system from town to town, and you'll probably overlook entirely some of the more interesting micro-societies.

The central struggle in the game revolves around a remnant government faction trying to unify and subjugate these disparate societies under a single flag, and the psychotic lengths to which they're willing to go to achieve that goal. Interesting stuff, even if in the end it still breaks down to video-gamieness.