Does a photo of the old secondary Monster Munch shape exist on the internet?

[QDRPHNC]

woah woah woah. What's the "secondary" shape? I've got to hear this.

[The Mollusk]

my ex-girlfriend/flatmate/current friend

Sorry but this combination of things all being the same person was so tantalisingly wrong and sexy and filthy and alluring and awful that I am fixated on it and can't move past it. Fuck knows what you're all on about in this thread and I don't care. What the fuck man

[touchingcloth]

woah woah woah. What's the "secondary" shape? I've got to hear this.

Vanilla.

[Glebe]

It really kind of disgusts me, this interest in rare-shaped Monster Munch. This is how it goes... you hear about a different crisp shape then you go down a rabbit hole of degradation and sordidness.

[touchingcloth]

It really kind of disgusts me, this interest in rare-shaped Monster Munch. This is how it goes... you hear about a different crisp shape then you go down a rabbit hole of degradation and sordidness.

I feel the same. It starts with just a regular pack of Monster Munch, then you start eating them in public for the thrill of getting caught, and before you know it you're being choked by a pack of Flamin' Hot or shitting on a Pickled Onion.

[Glebe]

You start off with the likes of a packet of Rancheros, you end up being read your rights on the high street with a family bag of Hula Hoops up your anus.

[the]

Just leaving this here:

     

Monster Munch drink. Unsuccessful for some reason.

[Inspector Norse]

Sorry but this combination of things all being the same person was so tantalisingly wrong and sexy and filthy and alluring and awful that I am fixated on it and can't move past it. Fuck knows what you're all on about in this thread and I don't care. What the fuck man

Probably says a lot about me that the part of the OP that I got hung up on was the Monster Munch hat

[notjosh]

     

Monster Munch drink. Unsuccessful for some reason.

Surely it should be Monster Gulp?

[ElTwopo]

Surely it should be Monster Gulp?

Nah Monster Punch mate Monster Punch

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Just leaving this here:

     

Monster Munch drink. Unsuccessful for some reason.

Because it didn't taste like pickled onion.

Pretty simple one to answer that time.

[beanheadmcginty]

I hope buzby is okay cos we're nearly onto page 2 with this and he's not appeared...

For all of our sakes I hope I haven't broken Buzby. But I have to admit that I'd take some satisfaction if it turned out that he's been investigating this topic solidly for the past 24 hours, having to resort to calling in favours from long-dormant crisp industry contacts.

[touchingcloth]

Just shoved a pickled onion one up my arse for old time's sake.

[BlodwynPig]

What year was all this?

[touchingcloth]

1.

[buzby]

I hope buzby is okay cos we're nearly onto page 2 with this and he's not appeared...

Busy day.

Launched by Smiths in 1977 originally in Roast Beef flavour with the pink, lolling tongued monster on the pack, priced at 7p:

Pickled Onion was added in 1980 with the yellow one-eyed monster on the pack. In 1981 Saucy was added to the range with the blue, four-armed top-hatted monster on the pack.

The three flavours each used their own extrusion, loosely based on the monster for each flavour

The short orange one with the red hair started appearing in the ads (which also show the shape of the extrusions for each flavour) but there were still only 3 flavours. The same year also saw the launch of the short-lived Monster Fizz bottled soft drink spinoff in Cola, Orangeade and Shandy flavours (posted previously in the thread). It was trialled in the Southern TV region but was not a success so the nationwide launch was abandoned.

Throughout the rest of the 1980s more flavours came and went.
Blue top-hat went from Saucy to Salt & Vinegar:

(This back has a BBE date of December 1987)
Yellow one eye briefly lost his post on the Pickled Onion pack to the short orange monster, and was moved to Cheese & Onion flavour instead:

(these packs had BBE dates of early 1989)
Blue top-hat also changed to Sizzling Bacon:

(this back has a 1991 BBE date)
Later on, short orange was moved to Prawn Cocktail and yellow one eye went back to Pickled Onion:

Blue top-hat changed from Sizzling Bacon to Smoky Spiders in the early 90s:


Walkers then took over Smiths in 1995 and everything went to pot. The monsters got redesigned and the flavours changed - for instance, Pink lolling tongue changed to Beef burger flavour:

There were also the usual PepsiCo tie-in promotions like for the bloody Phantom Menace.
In 2008 to cash in on the 'retro' fad, they relaunched them using the original 3 monsters but all using the claw-shaped extrusion and strangely not the original flavours - Roast Beef and Pickled Onion were there, but instead of Saucy, Blue top-hat was on Flaming Hot:

[bgmnts]

I think 7p in '77 is like 40p now. Pretty sure crisps are like almost £1 nowadays.

[touchingcloth]

God, I had forgotten Tazos. Desos, more like.

[Captain Z]

It's no good, we're going to have to track down the original 1980 extrusion dies.

[Menu]

The three flavours each used their own extrusion

I bet they did the dirty old bollocks.

[buzby]

It's no good, we're going to have to track down the original 1980 extrusion dies.

They are made in the ex-Quintins/Densons/Snack Factory plant in Skelmersdale now, after Walkers/PepsiCo closed down the original Smiths extruded maize plant in Swansea in 2006.

[Brian Freeze]

Are these packets from your own collection Buzby?

[touchingcloth]

I thought old TV ads might be a place to find images of the actual differently-shaped hunks, but unfortunately YouTube user Lukeydrop seems to have posted a ton of edits of old Monster Munch ads that they've applied different effects to for god knows what reason, so it's hard to find genuinely different ads amongst of of their guff.





Definite spree killer in the making.

[Cold Meat Platter]

Before Space Raiders we had Outer Spacers, for those interested in maize snack history.





Very much in the Monster Munch style but science fience, with a clear 2000AD influence in later years.

[idunnosomename]

i remember you could only get Taz Tazos in Doritos. what an odd thing to remember.

[Hand Solo]

I thought old TV ads might be a place to find images of the actual differently-shaped hunks, but unfortunately YouTube user Lukeydrop seems to have posted a ton of edits of old Monster Munch ads that they've applied different effects to for god knows what reason, so it's hard to find genuinely different ads amongst of of their guff.

The eponymous second shape mentioned in the thread title is briefly in the very first advert of the compilation:

[buzby]

I thought old TV ads might be a place to find images of the actual differently-shaped hunks, but unfortunately YouTube user Lukeydrop seems to have posted a ton of edits of old Monster Munch ads that they've applied different effects to for god knows what reason, so it's hard to find genuinely different ads amongst of of their guff.

I posted a link to a reel of the original ads where you can see the different shapes:

The short orange one with the red hair started appearing in the ads (which also show the shape of the extrusions for each flavour)

The eponymous second shape mentioned in the thread title is briefly in the very first advert of the compilation:

See?

[buzby]

Before Space Raiders we had Outer Spacers, for those interested in maize snack history.

Outer Spacers beat Monster Munch to the market by a year, being launched in 1976 as competitors to Smiths Horror Bags. Initially in three flavours and shapes - Beefburger rockets, Pickled Onion space stations and Chutney starships (oo-er). Sales started to fall by the turn of the 80s, and they were repackaged in mylar foil bags in 1981. In 1982 the chutney starships were replaced by Cheese & Ham aliens.

In 1983 the whole line was reworked - they were renamed Alien Spacers with new shapes and came in Salt & Vinegar, Cheese & Onion and Prawn Cocktail flavours. In 1985 they started printing comic strips on the packs, and in 1986 they were reworked again as Space Raiders, a band of intergalactic pirates led by 'ruthless female outlaw' Astra that KP's art department had loosely based on Sigue Sigue Sputnik. The snacks were also now coloured in green and red (by adding food colouring to the maize slurry prior to extrusion).

Late 90s/early Noughties Teeside Big Beat/Glam pranksters Space Raiders took their name from the KP corn snacks, and their second single was called Monster Munch.

[idunnosomename]

eee who remembers Transform-a-Snack? where you could stick maize-based rings onto maize-based chassis? also Mr Freeze! kids used to stick the wrappers in our front hedge! no respect! vote!

[buzby]

Before Space Raiders we had Outer Spacers, for those interested in maize snack history.

Very much in the Monster Munch style but science fience, with a clear 2000AD influence in later years.

On the Space Raiders/2000AD link - when they were rebranded as Alien Spacers in 1981, the 2000AD art editor and occasional strip artist Robin Smith drew the promotional comic strip ads that appeared the Eagle:


When Outer Spacers were relaunched in 1981, they were promoted with comic ads drawn by Frank Langford (who drew the Doctor Who strip prior to it getting it's own comic in 1979):