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KP Outer Spacers were corn and wheat based puffed snacks, similar in many ways to the more instantly recognisable Monster Munch. As with Monster Munch they came is similarly strange flavours, these being Beefburger, Chutney and Pickled Onion varieties, but unsurprisingly had a more science fictiony theme in their shape.
Each flavour was represented by a different type of spaceship which appeared on the front of the packet but was also the shape of the crisps themselves, so we were treated to strange rings which were meant to be space stations, and triangular things that were meant to be rockets. The shape ultimately didn’t matter of course, because they tasted nice and after all thats the main purpose of any snack, isn’t it?
They are sadly no longer available but over the years there have been similar crisps available under different names. There were Alien Spacers and Space Raiders (both of which I think may still be available today) and I’ve certainly seen something called Transform-A-Snack recently, which appears to be different shaped crisps that you can slot together under the premise of making robot shapes. At least that’s the impression I get, having never actually bought a packet of them.
One of the things I always remember fondly about crisps such as these when I was a kid was just how much better value they were than crisps seem to be today. These days you buy a packet of crisps and they cost around 50 pence a pack (for a single pack that is) but when you open the packet you find a few crisps rattling around the bottom of the packet and a lot of fresh air. Back then packets of crisps were often so jam-packed full it was difficult to open the packet without sending crisps flying left, right and centre. Maybe I’m looking at things with rose tinted glasses, but I’m sure I’m right…
April 24th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
You’re not looking through rose tinted glasses at all mate.
They are not packets full of crisps nowadays, they are packets with some crisps in them.
Part of the fun was trying to open them without losing too many on the floor!
April 24th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I seem to remember them retailing about 5p a pack…I remember there were some at 5p and some at 10p, depending on what they were.
Today’s pack are a waste of money…can’t remember last time I had a packet with crisps in! lol
April 24th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that packets of crisps these days are overpriced and under-crisped. Thanks for backing me up on this one Mark!
I blame Walkers Crisps personally. They’ve bought up all the other crisp companies and even have the audacity to put cheese and onion crisps in blue packs and salt and vinegar in green packs. *EVERYONE* knows it should be the other way round!
April 27th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Back you all the way on this one….confused me for a while about the colour changing as well.
Overpaid celebs advertising them too, need some way to recoup the costs – up the prices, reduce the content!
April 27th, 2009 at 11:27 am
I can remember sending away for little spaceship kits and Brittain’s space figures with outer spacers
April 27th, 2009 at 11:36 am
See http://bearalley.blogspot.com/2007/12/kp-outer-spacers.html and http://bearalley.blogspot.com/2007/12/kp-outer-spacers-part-3.html
Can you find me pics of the other models >
April 27th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Now that’s jogged a memory. I never had any of the Brittain’s space figures but I did have a fair bit of their farmyard toys. I wonder if I’ve still got them up in the attic?
April 27th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
The space stuff is superb.
August 12th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Ah, those were the days, eh? I was actually in the KP Alien Spacers ad and we had pre-production crisps to use in plain foil packets and no flavouring either. We ate quite a few packs and they tasted like polystyrene! Anyway, I’ve posted the video here, enjoy: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1379613
October 13th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Cheese & Ham flavour was my favourite
March 28th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
They had hot fog flavour outer spacers for a very short run they were amazing.
I always thought that they announced that space raiders were the name change of outer spacers and then gradually changed the packaging and flavours over the years.