A Simpsons Long Story

The Simpsons have become such an ingrain part of pop culture it is surprising that there is not many options when it comes to Simpsons cards. In the 27 years of the show there are only a handful of Simpsons specific releases and this includes food releases, oddities, TCG and region specific sets in addition to various promotional cards. This may not be a complete list but as close as I have been able to research.

1990 Diamond The Simpsons Stickers

1990 Topps The Simpsons US release

1990 Topps The Simpsons UK release

1991 Cromy Los Simpsons Argentina release

1991 Panini The Simpsons Stickers European releases

1993 Skybox The Simpsons Series I

1994 Skybox The Simpsons Series II

1991 The Simpsons Glo Slammers

1996 Tazo Mexican The Simpsons

1996 Lucky Dip Australia release

1996 Tempo The Simpsons Down Under Australia release

2000 Artbox The Simpsons Filmcardz Series I

2000 Artbox The Simpsons Stickers

2000 Doritos/Lays mini cards

2000 Inkworks The Simpsons 10^th Anniversary

2001 Inkworks Simpsons Mania!

2001 Kellogg’s Cereal German release

2002 Topps The Simpsons Bubblegum & Stickers

2003 Artbox The Simpsons Filmcardz Series II

2003 Wizards of the Coast Trading Card Game

2014 Hot Shots 25 Years Cell Animation cards

Argentina Trading Card Game

German Trading Card Game

The Simpsons Top Trumps (Various sets and packs)

Ignoring the foreign releases, trading card games and the oddball sets and there are only 9 official US releases and the last one was 15 years ago, not much when you consider the show has been on for nearly 30 years.

I have been picking up Simpsons cards for over 20 years and instead of covering them individually I decided to do them all in one large bunch. I have written a couple of posts for specific Simpsons cards but this post is for the more common cards, those other Simpsons related posts will show up from time to time over the next week or two.

The 2000 Artbox Filmcardz are a pretty cool set, there are actually two series but I prefer the first one because it focuses on surfing which is one of my true loves. The cards are designed with an acetate-like cel card between two borders. The front border is foil and reflective while the back is just a standard red/yellow cardboard. These are just a couple of the 10 cards in the Surf set.

I have always been a fan of glow-in-the-dark and neon/backlight cards. In 2000 Inkworks include the neon acetate cards, which I posted about a couple of years ago. In 2001 they put out a SimpsaDelic Black Light 9-card chase set. On one side were mini black light posters designed in a 1970s style but the backs were puzzle cards when put together they made one large black light poster.

I have saved the best for last, the autographs. I have two autograph cards from the 2000 Simpsons Anniversary set. Yeardly Smith, who voices Lisa, and Harry Shearer, who splits most of the male voices with Hank Azaria. I also picked up a Dan Castellaneta autograph that was signed at a convention.

Happy 25th Anniversary Homer, Marge Bart, Lisa and Maggie

On December 17, 1989 FOX unleashed The Simpsons in their own 30 minute show when they showed “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire. The episode, which was initially scheduled as the #8 episode, was shown first because the show’s season was delayed so starting with a Christmas episode was the next best thing.

 

Since the episode hit the air it has become the longest running primetime series with 561 episodes not to mention a movie, comic books, action figures, books, CDs and multiple card sets.  As much as I have loved the Simpsons since day 1 I have only opened one box (in 1994) and a handful of packs. I was fortunate enough to pull a Mary Fleener Arty Art card from the box, which remains in my collection to this day.

 

Since then I have slowly added to my Simpsons collection with two big pick ups just a couple of months ago. In June I came across a very fair price for the entire 6-card neon set from the 2000 Inkworks Simpson’s 10^th Anniversary release and then in August I grabbed up a 1994 Simpsons Series II Willy Dipkin B1 promo card.

I still have my sights on a 1994 Skybox Willy Dipkin P4 promo card (the one with stats on the back), the 1994 Skybox Shadowbart Arty Art (#A4) card, 2000 Artbox Homey Isle Style promo and any of the autographs from the 2000 Inkworks Anniversary release or the 2001 Inkworks Mania1 release.

A Simpsons Nuclear Accident

This is one of my recent, more fun pickups. The 6-card neon set is from the 2000 Inworks Simpson’s 10^th Anniversary release. The cards are acetate, neon cards and they glow under black lights.

N1 Blinky the three-eyed fish

N2 X-ray Bart

N3 Homer eating radioactive waste

N4 Homer with a radioactive donut

N5 Skeleton Bart skateboarding

N6 Homer advertisement

These cards are pretty cool and I have been watching them for 14 years but never pulled the trigger because the cards usually sell for $3-5 each and that was just too much for something like this but when I came across a British dealer selling the entire set with a .99 cent starting bid it caught my attention. In the end I won the auction with a bid of $3.28 plus $4.31 shipping from England. A total of $7.59 for the entire set was more reasonable when you figure you could only get 2 cards from most sellers.

I have a strong LED black light so the cards were reflecting the light in to the camera so the full glow effect cannot really be seen in my pictures but when they are in hand they glow beautifully without a reflection. I did find a image of the set glowing nicely under a black light, but it is a small image but you get the idea.