As I mentioned the other day, I’m a Garbage Pail Kids collector - and have been ever since the 7th grade. My dad caught a controversial TV news segment about the stickers. On his way home from work, he decided to pick up a single pack of cards for each one of us boys (Adam, Ben, and myself). I remembered seeing the original series on a KB toy store checkout counter (when I was likely purchasing a Star Wars figure or two), but didn’t really pay much attention to them until Dad picked up these 25-cent (2nd edition) wax packs. Little did he know that this gift would turn into a life-long obsession of mine. We unwrapped them with a curious fervor - and I was instantly hooked. Originally, the Garbage Pail Kids appealed to me because I really didn’t get caught up in that whole Cabbage Patch craze. Quite the opposite, in fact - and GPKs were the perfect punctuation to a counter-cultural expression. They’re trading cards, if you will, depicting disgusting scenes, personalities, and situations - the antithesis of everything pure and good. Overall, I believe it was the humor and quality of artwork that kept me in the GPK collecting vein. To this very day, I can remember where I was when I first saw the earlier series.

1st (as mentioned before) was in passing at a toy store. 2nd was through my father. 3rd was at the same toy store. 4th was in a mall in the greater Chicago area (which we stumbled upon while visiting my great aunt and uncle on summer vacation). 5th was in our neighbor’s backyard, with some kid from another part of our neighborhood. 6th was in Park Fair mall, where my parents once owned a hobby shop (and in a store where my aunt once worked). From there, it was a mix of locations - but I do recall finding the 10th for the first time on a trip to a Des Moines gas station with my grandpa. By then, I had started to keep my Garbage Pail Kids in protective sheets in a single binder. Finding a complete set was still somewhat of a nightmare, given that I could only afford to purchase a few packs at a time - and was limited on trades by the other kids in my area who also happened to collect GPKs past the 3rd series. Remember, this was pre-Internet. You could call around town to find out if people had ‘em in stock, but… it’s certainly not as easy to do as it is today: Point, Click, Collect.

So, there’s A New Series (also known as ANS) that’s just been released - the 5th new GPK series, to be exact. Topps is trying new gimmicks with the Garbage Pail Kids, including a lackluster Web site that’s more annoying than informative. Being an owner of the complete set of original GPKs, I’ve also kept up with the new series as well. Almost. I’m missing quite a few “bonus” cards that I’ll likely have to purchase en masse at some point. It’s frustrating to know that I’ve done my best, and still am missing a few of the more special items. Worse yet, I’m sure other avid collectors will want an arm and a leg for their “bonus” stickers. Still, that won’t keep me from pushing forward. I’ve been watching eBay for off-the-shelf Garbage Pail Kids shopping. I’m sure I’m alone in this passion here. One person’s garbage is another person’s Garbage Pail Kid.

[tags]ebay,hobby,garbagepailkids,garbage pail kids,gpks,5th,nonsports,series,garbage,gpk,topps,tradingcards,collection,stickers[/tags]