A One Card GPK Post

I love coming across cards that I never knew about, which is the case with some Breaking Bad cards from the 2014 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 set. There were various bonus cards inserted in to hobby boxes, retail boxes and jumbo packs. In the Hobby Boxes there were eight different bonus cards which included two Breaking Bad cards (#B4a and B4b) and these bonus cards were inserted one per box.

I was able to pick up the #B4a Breaking Brad last summer for under $10 but I was outbid for the #B4b Weird Walt version. I am still watching for Weird Walt with no luck. On a separate note, when the artwork was originally done for this card in 2013 card #B4a was supposed to be Weird Walt and #B4b was supposed to be Brock Candy, I am not sure why they changed it but I think the names they finally used are better choices.

Garbage Pail Kids Friday Nightmare On 13th Street

Over the past couple of months Topps’ has had some online exclusive GPK cards. Most have been political and I wasn’t interested in them but in between the run up to the election they have released some based on television, music and movies and that’s where my attention lies.

 

Shortly before Halloween they released a horror movie inspired exclusive set and two caught my attention, cards based on Friday The 13^th and Nightmare on Elm Street. I put in my order and waited, turns out there had been an error somewhere in the system and I was charged but my order wasn’t actually ordered. In between getting ready for my move I contacted Topps’ customer service and I was worried they would just refund my money, which I was not too keen on because each set was selling on the secondary market in the $15-20 range and I spent $20 on both sets through Topps’ website. The customer service department ended up taking care of me and got my cards sent out so I appreciate that greatly.

GPK Goes MLB

Now some good news from the Topps front.

A little unannounced surprise from Topps in the recent 2015 Topps Garbage Pail Kids release, there are MLB players autographs included. When I did a quick peek on the product last week I had even written how cool it would be to see GPK versions of Mantle, Mays, Campanella, McGwire and Clemens. We may not seem them but we will see GPK versions of players like Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado, Mike Piazza and Joey Votto. The official checklist has not been announced so there may be additional players.

The cards are based on the 2015 Topps Baseball design and while the players have been given the GPK treatment the artists were not allowed to use the teams colors or logos due to some legal issues. I am guessing that it is because this isn’t a MLB release so they probably would have required a special authorization.

GPK Goes Baseball... Sorta

               

With Garbage Pail Kids hitting its 30^th anniversary Topps is paying tribute to where it all started with the 1985 design and a touch of baseball when the next GPK release next week. Along with the standard Garbage Pail Kids cards, stickers, sketch cards and printing plates there will be a couple of baseball related cards.

The cards include the 1952 Topps Baseball design, the 1985 Topps GPK design, All-Stars, Mascots and manufactured patches. I do not normally like manufactured patches but when it comes to comic card products like this (Archer, Epic Battles, Women of Legend and Adventure Time) I actually like them because it provides some tangible from a cartoon.

I don’t expect to chase these cards but if I have the opportunity to pick a Logo Patch for a reasonable price or in a trade I would be happy to include it in my collection. I think it would be cool if Topps created GPK versions of some of the players from the 1952 & 1985 sets. I think seeing a GPK version of Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays or Roy Campanella in the ’52 design or Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens in the ’85 design would be awesome.

A GPK Take On The Olympics

I am not a Garbage Pail Kids collector, I was hitting my teens when they were first released. I looked for the cards that played off of my name but those are long gone but my daughter loves them now so I get a chance to see what is out there and I have to say that some of the artwork is quite clever.

 

What got my attention from the upcoming 2014 Series 1 release are the inserts. Following trends from both sports releases and comic releases we have seen chrome versions, parallels, printing plates, inserts, sketch cards and artist autographs but Topps stepped it with Full Bleed Canvas cards, Olym-Picks Motion cards and Textured Relics.

Because the set is being released around the time of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia there are a number of Olympic related cards. There will be cards based Olympic sports, medals and lenticular motion cards showing “Epic” crashes.

 

Cloth stickers and Full Bleed Canvas cards are pretty cool. Cloth stickers are not new, they have been in Topps products before but the canvas cards are printed on an actual canvas. Sketch cards, artist autographs and bonus stickers are back with the addition of die-cut sketch cards.

 

 

The cards that caught my attention are the Texture Relics, they are manufactured relics added to some of the cards to give a new dimension. I figured that they would be similar to the manufactured relics that we have seen taking over in sports so I didn’t give two thoughts to it until I saw a relic card and got a laugh. They are 1:48 packs (every other box) so they are not super rare but I think GPK collectors are going to grab them up because they are different.