Garbage Pail Kids keep the hits coming in 2022. To celebrate the first two releases, we give you the GPK Goes On Vacation/Chrome Series 4 review.
Several trends from the 80s continued their comeback in 2021. Amongst them was the popular Garbage Pail Kids series. As the hobby veterans amongst us remember, these were some of the coolest and most popular card sets of the 80s and the source of several parental complaints. Uproar concerning Garbage Pail Kids cards even made it to the Canadian Parliament!
Today, many collectors are buying up new GBK releases as soon as they are released. While the recent popularity of Garbage Pail Kids can be chalked off to nostalgia, that’s not the only thing driving it. The cards are impressively designed and showcase witty characters using impressive art styles.
This article shall discuss how GBK became popular and review the two incoming additions to the Garbage Pail Kids universe.
Topps is best known for their baseball cards. However, they also create bubble-gum cards for popular TV shows and films. Some of their releases were quite funny. For example, Wacky Packages parodied popular customer products.
In the mid-80s, the Cabbage Patch Kids were the biggest toy product around. Topps made several attempts to obtain the license to produce cards based on their characters. However, original Appalachian Artworks, the owners of Cabbage Patch Kids, rejected their approach.
With the efforts to obtain a license proving abortive, Topps went for the next best thing. In the words of Len Brown Topps, Creative Director, 1959-2000, “let’s parody them if they don’t give us the rights.”
In 1985, Series 1 of the Garbage Pail Kids was released. Again, the public response was epic. Millions of Garbage Pail Kids cards were sold, and it became the country’s most controversial kid product. This controversy brought more publicity and more money to Topps.
Topps was sued in May 1986 by Appalachian Artworks for copyright and trademark infringement. As a result, Topps was forced to change its artistic style. As a result, sales declined, and Topps ended the initial Garbage Pail Kids run in December 1988.
But the GPK refused to go away. So Topps tapped into the fascination with the 80s at the turn of the century by reintroducing the Garbage Pail Kids. In 2003 Topps released the All-New Garbage Pail Kids Series 1. This foray was so successful that Topps followed it up with several installments, creating the All-New Garbage Pail Kids Series line.
Collectors have two new Garbage Pail Kids series to look forward to in January 2022. The 2021 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation and 2021 Topps Chrome Garbage Pail Kids Original Series 4.
Both series had their release date scheduled for December 2021, but collectors had to wait until the New Year to lay their hands on one as Topps pushed the release date forward. The current official release date on the Topps website is “January TBD.” However, several major online retailers have 26th January 2022 as their release date.
So far we only have information on the hobby boxes. But we will keep you updated as new information comes in.
This Garbage Pail Kids series takes collectors on a trip with its kids on vacation theme. Like similar sets over the last couple of years, collectors looking to purchase this series have two options to pick from – Hobby and Hobby Collector boxes.
Cards per pack – 8
Packs per box – 24
Boxes per case – 8
Famous Landmarks by Tom Bunk – 8
Booger Green Parallels – 24
Set size: 200 cards
Cards per pack– 9
Packs per box– 24
Boxes per case– 8
Pack Your Bags Wacky Packages – 1
Bruised Black Parallels – 1
Hits/Premium Inserts – 1
Luggage Tags – 1
Set size: 200 cards
The 2021 Topps Chrome Garbage Pail Kids takes the 1986 GBK Original Series 4 and makes them shine! Topps adds extra flash to the GBK Original Series 4 cards by giving them the Chrome technology treatment. Only the Hobby Box format has been announced, but we expect the Hobby Collector boxes to be announced soon. We’ll update this article once we have more information.
Cards per pack – 4
Packs per box – 24
Boxes per case – 12
Refractors – 8
Set size: 100 cards
Hobby boxes of the 2021 Topps Garbage Pail Kids: GPK Goes on Vacation are pegged at $58.94, while the Collector’s Edition Boxes would set anyone looking to grab a copy back by $109.95.
Collectors hoping to buy a hobby box of the 2021 Topps Chrome Garbage Pail Kids Original Series 4 would need to part with $89.95. There’s still no word on the Collector’s Edition boxes for this series, but it should be around double the Hobby Box price when they come out.
While Garbage Pail Kids cards are undoubtedly popular, how does that popularity translate to value? Understandably, the series from the Original Garbage Pail Kids 1985 run command the most value. For example, boxes of unopened Series one cards have sold for $24,000 on eBay. First, however, we shall review a few of the 2020 and 20201 GBK releases and see how they perform value-wise.
2020 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire | $274.99 |
2020 Topps Garbage Pail Kids 2020 Was The Worst | $74.99 |
2021 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Funny Valentines | $149.99 |
2021 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Crashers Series 2 | $50 |
2020 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Bizarre Holidays | $20 for each mini set released weekly |
However, the new Garbage Pail Kids releases have held their wax value exceedingly well. We imagine that the value will keep increasing as the year goes by, and you’ll be able to sell your 2021 Garbage Pail Kids boxes for decent profits a few years from now.
At some point in its history, Garbage Pail Kids was amongst the most love card series, and today, almost 40 years later, that love still burns strong. Nostalgia powers some of that love, However, a new generation of collectors are beginning to collect the cards for reasons other than nostalgia.
The demand for these cards is increasing, and it’s a great idea to own a few of the top cards. The obvious choice for investment is cards from Series 1. However, any cards from the first five series should offer collectors a decent ROI if the community keeps growing after a few years. And we expect the Garbage Pail Kids collection community to keep growing.
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