Vintage 1980s Evileen Gross-Out Monster Pin 📌 Fanged Green Cat Face Pinback Button, Weird Retro Collectible

Size: 1.5 inches

😼 Evileen — a Sweet Little Face With Fangs

Not every gross-out monster is all teeth and slime. Some, like Evileen, are almost cute — right up until you notice the fangs. This vintage 1980s pin-back button stars a wide-eyed, green-marked cat-creature who looks like she could be someone's mischievous pet, if that pet happened to bite. She is a lovely bit of the era's monster art, a little creepy and a little charming at once, and she makes a great addition to any collection of 1980s gross-out oddities.

Everything described here comes straight from the photographs, so what you see is precisely what will arrive. There is no invented backstory, no made-up maker, and no claim this pin cannot back up — just an honest, characterful little collectible.

👀 What You Are Actually Looking At

The art is a close-up of a pale, tan-furred cat-like face, painted in a soft, slightly eerie style. Her two enormous eyes dominate the design — glossy and jet black, almond-shaped, each catching a bright white glint that makes them look wet and alert. Streaks of green run down her furrowed brow and along a long nose, and rows of green freckle-spots dot both cheeks. A small pink nose-tip sits at the centre, and her grin is flanked by two neat little pointed fangs, with a trace of green at the chin for good measure. Printed clearly along the top rim is the character's name: EVILEEN.

She is a wonderful in-between creature — feline and friendly on first glance, quietly sinister on the second. That double-take is exactly what makes her fun to look at.

🎨 A Closer Look at the Art

It is worth slowing down on the artwork, because there is real craft in it. This is painted, not just drawn — soft and a little eerie, with fur worked in fine strokes across a pale tan face. The two enormous black eyes carry the whole design: glossy and almond-shaped, each catching a single bright glint that makes them look wet, alert and slightly too aware. The green markings are the clever touch — they streak down from the brow, run the length of a long nose, and scatter into rows of little freckle-spots across both cheeks, so the whole face reads as a creature that is not quite an ordinary cat. Then, at the corners of that soft grin, the two small fangs appear, with a trace of green at the chin. It is a genuinely accomplished piece of creepy-cute art.

🧷 Made to Be Worn

The pin-back button is one of the great democratic objects of pop culture — cheap to make, endlessly wearable, and for a century the way fans have flown their flags. In the 1980s a button on a denim jacket or a backpack strap was a genuine playground signal, and a creature like Evileen made an unusually good one, because she pulls people in twice: first with the big soft eyes, then with the fangs they did not notice at first. That little hook is exactly what makes a wearable pin work — it invites a second look and starts a conversation. Worn today, on a bag, a lapel or a hat, she does the same charming, unsettling job she always did.

🐾 A Small Survivor

Objects like this were never built to last. They were made cheap, sold for pocket money, and treated as throwaway fun, which is exactly why a bright, unworn Evileen turning up decades later is such a small pleasure. Most were pinned on, worn to pieces and lost; the survivors tend to be the ones that were tucked away and forgotten, like this one — fur still soft, eyes still glinting, fangs still ready, waiting to charm and unsettle someone all over again.

🕰️ The Craze It Came From

For a few glorious years in the mid-1980s, disgusting and creepy were the whole selling point. In 1985 AmToy launched Madballs — squishy foam balls molded into hideous grinning faces — and Topps unleashed Garbage Pail Kids, the sticker cards that turned sweet Cabbage Patch babies into oozing little horrors. Parents were appalled; kids were obsessed; and that tension only fed the fire. Around those licensed hits grew a whole cloud of tributes and unlicensed spin-offs, and cheap pin-back buttons like this were the most affordable way for a kid to wear the craze on a jacket or a bag.

Evileen belongs to that wider gross-out moment. She is an independent tribute pin, made in the spirit of the trend rather than an official Madballs or Garbage Pail Kids product — and that unbranded, outsider-art energy is part of the charm.

🔍 An Honest Look at the Back

Turn the pin over and you get the plain truth of it. It is a classic pin-back button: a metal shell with the printed art sealed under a domed clear film on the front, and on the back a dark gunmetal surface fitted with a working gold-tone steel safety pin. Here is where I stay straight with you — there is no maker's name, no company logo, and no copyright or trademark mark anywhere on this pin. That absence is exactly why I do not, and will not, call it an official Madballs or Garbage Pail Kids button. It carries no such licensing, and I will not pretend otherwise. What it honestly is: an unbranded 1980s gross-out tribute pin, with its own character name printed on the face and nothing on the back but the pin itself.

📏 Size and Scale

This is a compact, wearable button — roughly an inch and a quarter across, comfortably larger than a US quarter. So you never have to take my word for it, several of the photographs include a real quarter set beside the pins for scale; line them up and the true size is obvious at a glance.

✨ Condition

It presents beautifully. The printed colours are bright and unfaded, the domed film over the art is clean and glossy, and the safety pin on the back is intact and works exactly as it should. It reads as unused old store stock — bright, crisp and unworn, with only the light, ordinary handling you would expect from a small object that has spent its life tucked away rather than pinned to a jacket. As with any genuine vintage piece, tiny surface signs of age can be present, and the photographs are the definitive record; what you see is what you will receive. Offered exactly as pictured, nothing altered and nothing hidden.

💡 Ways to Enjoy It

• 🧥 Wear it on a denim jacket, a hoodie, a hat, a tote bag or a backpack strap for a hit of creepy-cute retro character.
• 🖼️ Pin it into a shadow box or a frame alongside other monster and gross-out pins to build a whole wall of oddities.
• 🎁 Give it to the cat lover with a dark streak, the horror fan, or anyone who likes their cute with a set of fangs.
• 📌 Drop it on a corkboard, a lanyard or a battle vest as a weird, wide-eyed conversation starter.
• 😼 Or just keep it as what it is — a small, honest, delightfully creepy piece of 1980s pop culture.

❓ Questions Worth Answering

Is this an official Madballs or Garbage Pail Kids pin?

No. There is no maker, brand or copyright mark anywhere on it, so I describe it honestly as an unlicensed tribute pin made in the spirit of that 1980s gross-out craze — not official AmToy or Topps product.

Does the pin say "Evileen" on it?

Yes. The character name EVILEEN is printed right on the front rim, and it is quoted here because it is genuinely there in the art.

How big is it?

About an inch and a quarter across. A US quarter appears beside the pins in the photos so you can judge the exact size.

What condition is it in?

Bright, glossy and unworn, with a clean working safety pin, presenting as old store stock. Offered exactly as pictured.

🧼 Keeping It Bright

A pin like this asks almost nothing of you. The one firm rule is to leave the printed front alone — never clean it with water, sprays or abrasives, because the thin domed film sealed over the artwork can cloud or lift, and that cannot be undone. A soft, dry dusting is all it will ever need. Keep the metal back dry, since damp is the enemy of any steel pin, and if you are storing rather than wearing it, lay it flat in a sleeve, a button box or a display case so nothing rubs the face. Treated gently, it will look exactly as it does today for many years.

🐾 Why It Is Worth Having

Some collectibles are prized for being rare and expensive. This one is worth having because it is real, characterful and true to its moment — a genuine 1980s gross-out pin with its own creepy-cute cat-creature and its own printed name, preserved in bright, unworn shape. It carries no invented pedigree and needs none. What it offers is the thing itself: a small, honest, wearable piece of the decade when a little fright was the height of cool. Evileen is ready to charm and unsettle someone new.