Everlasting Gobstopper

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The Everlasting Gobstopper is both a fictional brand of candy and an actual confection named after the fictional product.

According to Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the fictional Everlasting Gobstopper is a candy that not only changes colors and flavors, but can never be finished, and never even gets smaller. It is implied that they may also be indestructible. Factory owner Willy Wonka explained that they were "for children with very little pocket money".

Although only briefly mentioned in the book and its 2005 film adaptation, the 1971 film adaptation Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory used the Everlasting Gobstopper as a plot device in which Wonka's business rival Slugworth attempts to bribe the children visiting the Wonka factory to steal one for him. This is later revealed as a lie; Slugworth is actually Mr. Wilkinson, one of Wonka's workers. The proposal is a test Wonka set up to judge the worthiness of the ticket holders to take over the factory, given to all five children.

The actual Everlasting Gobstopper 'prop' used in the Gene Wilder movie was sold for $100,000 to the owners of TV show Pawn Stars.

Video Everlasting Gobstopper

Nestlé Everlasting Gobstopper

A product called Everlasting Gobstopper was introduced in 1976 by the Chicago candy company Breaker Confections. It had licensed the "Willy Wonka" name in 1971 so that their candy could be used as merchandising tie-ins for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory film, which was released the same year. The Willy Wonka Candy Company brand has since been bought by Nestlé and production has been moved to Itasca, Illinois.

The everlasting gobstopper is similar to a normal gobstopper or jawbreaker and is composed of several discrete layers. The layers allow for the color and flavor changing effects described in the book. They are available in a variety of different flavor combinations and usually have a chalky center with a cherry flavor. A version with a chewy center is also available.

They resemble the gobstopper from the book and its 2005 film adaptation far more than the ones in the 1971 film. The version from the 1971 film is a multi-coloured, bumpy, spiky candy and the ones in the book and the 2005 film are round, single-coloured spheres. Unlike the ones from the book and the films, where Willy Wonka says you would break your teeth if you tried to chew a gobstopper, the Nestlé produced gobstoppers are chewable once sucked long enough and unlike their fictional counterparts they are not "everlasting".

Seasonal variants such as "Gobstopper Snowballs" and "Gobstopper Heart-breakers" are available during winter holidays and around the time of Valentine's Day, respectively.