1974 Wacky Packages Sew-on Patches

Topps put out a set of 12 Sew-on Wacky Patches with several variations. The titles were Ajerx, Crust, Fang, Gadzooka, Glutton, Grave Train, Jail-O, Kook-Aid, Neveready, Poopsie, 6-up, & Wormy Packages

There were also at least 2 WACKY PATCHES TEST SETS

These first six titles -- Ajerx, 6-up, Grave Train, Jail-O, Poopsie, and Fang -- seem to have no variations in the regular runs. Often the black thread on Jail-O is very thick and the character is hard to see, but this seems to be a manufacturing issue and not a variation.

However, Ajerx, 6-up, and Grave Train do appear slightly different in the Test Sets.

Gadzooka came in two different styles. One with rounded corners (top picture) and one with square-cut corners (bottom picture).

Neveready changed in mid-production.  The early sets had a gray background (right) and later runs had a baby-blue background (left).  Most Nevereadys pulled from leftover full boxes are the blue version.

Crust came with either a light blue or dark blue border.   Notice also that the blues are reversed in the word CRUST.

Kook-Aid also came with either square-cut corners (left) or rounded corners (right).

Wormy Packages had a rough edge in the early sets with sparse stitching around the outer rim (left).  Later runs were clean cut with sharp edges (right).

I have found four color combinations so far.  The three worms being different colors,  from left to right (first color also being the border color)--

1. purple, red, green
2. red, green, purple
3. green, red, purple
4. green, purple, red

Seems logical that there could also be 2 more combinations -

5. purple, green, red   ???
6. red, purple, green   ???

Anyone seen those?

The Crakola patch has the most variations of any Wacky Pack ever made.  After examining a few dozen, there seems to be only 4 different sewing patterns.  But they are used with so many color combinations in the crayon pieces, that there may be over 800 variations in all.