GPK FLASHBACK ALMOST HERE!!

It's been 2 years since ANS series 7 came out and there were new Garbage Pail Kids for collectors and fans to purchase. Sure, Ebay is a great place to find items and fill in gaps in collections, but there is just something about buying a fresh pack of cards off the shelf and putting together a set from scratch. It's the little things in life that give us something to look forward to and remind us of being a kid again.
For a while now we've listened to rumors of a Garbage Pail Kid Flashback set similar to the popular Wacky Packages Flashback sets that came out the last couple years. At one time the set was rumored to be released in January 2009 but when that didn't happen some of us fans thought matbe the whole thing had been scrapped. When news was finally released from Topps that the GPK Flashback set was scheduled to be released early 2010 it seemed so far away, but now it's finally upon us and coming to fruition.

Here are the box and pack images:





The most specific release date I've found is the week of February 15th, 2010 for the cards to appear in stores. According to the promotional materials and dealer ads that have been released along with the Topps website, this set is going to be one crazy mess to collect. Kind of fun though.





The full dealer ad explains it all.



The 160 card "base set" includes a&b versions of 80 classic cards with 6 of them being part of a "Lost Gpk" subset consisting of unused or rejected card images from the 80's.


1a Nasty NICK 1b Evil EDDIE
2a Dead TED 2b JAY Decay
3a ADAM Bomb 3b Blasted BILLY

4a Tee-Vee STEVIE 4b Geeky GARY
5a Potty SCOTTY 5b JASON Basin
6a Corroded CARL 6b Crater CHRIS
7a Bony JOANIE 7b Thin LYNN
8a New Wave DAVE 8b Graffiti PETEY
9a SY Clops 9b One-Eyed JACK
10a Rappin' RON 10b RAY Gun
11a Double HEATHER 11b FRAN FRAN
12a RUSSELL Muscle 12b BRETT Sweat
13a Spacey STACY 13b JANET Planet
14a Shrunken ED 14b Cheeky CHARLES
15a Ghastly ASHLEY 15b Acne AMY
16a Split KIT 16b Mixed-Up MITCH
17a JOE Blow 17b ROD Wad
18a Hot Head HARVEY 18b ROY Bot
19a DINAH Saur 19b FARAH Fossil

20a BLAKE Flake 20b Hippie SKIPPY
21a ALI Gator 21b Marshy MARSHALL
22a Silent SANDY 22b Barren AARON
23a Starin' DARREN 23b Peepin' TOM
24a Half-NELSON 24b Glandular ANGELA
25a Armpit BRITT 25b Shaggy AGGIE
26a Sloshed JOSH 26b Low CAL
27a Stuffed STEPHEN 27b RUTHERFORD B. Hay
28a Swollen SUE ELLEN 28b Bloated BLAIR
29a MAX Axe 29b Deadly DUDLEY
30a Alien IAN 30b Outerspace CHASE
31a Baked JAKE 31b Dry GUY
32a Losin' FAITH 32b Dyin' DINAH
33a Handy RANDY 33b JORDAN Nuts
34a NAT Nerd 34b CLARK Can't
35a Meltin' MILTON 35b Lazy LOUIE
36a MOE Skeeto 36b Sting RAY
37a FRAN Furter 37b Hot DOUG
38a Dangling DOLLY 38b Surreal NEAL
39a Fluoride FLOYD 39b Dental DANIEL
40a Toothie RUTHIE 40b Dental FLOSSIE
41a Over FLO 41b Moist JOYCE
42a JOEL Hole 42b Teed-Off TOM
43a Upliftin' CLIFTON 43b Air-Head JED
44a Tiny TIM 44b Small SAUL
45a BEA Sting 45b Screaming MIMI
46a CLAIRE Stare 46b Bloodshot SCOTT
47a HARRY Canary 47b BURT Cage
48a MARC Spark 48b CHERRY Bomb
49a Milky WAYNE 49b Dairy CARI
50a On The MARK 50b Bull's IRA
51a Cut-Up CARMEN 51b Dotted LIONEL
52a Curly SHIRLEY 52b Blown JOAN
53a Have A Nice DAVE 53b MILES Smiles

54a Soured HOWARD 54b PAUL Bunion
55a MANNY Heads 55b MAX Stacks
56a GRANT Ant 56b Sticky NIKKI
57a Bowling ELAINE 57b MIKE Strike
58a Heartless HAL 58b BOWEN Arrow
59a MOE Bile 59b Dang LEN
60a HALEY's Vomit 60b Inter STELLA
61a K.O.'d KARL 61b Sparrin' WARREN
62a Waffle IRA 62b Griddled GRETA
63a Leather HEATHER 63b Chained SHANE
64a Glowing AMBER 64b Bright DWIGHT
65a Cute TIPPI 65b Waxy WENDY
66a Early BERT 66b Rotten ROBIN
67a Snot Rope HOPE 67b Drippy DEBBIE
68a Con VIC 68b AL Catraz
69a CLARK Shark 69b MANNY Eater
70a Beasty BOYD 70b Semi COLIN
71a Dent AL 71b Fluoride IDA
72a Scalped RALPH 72b Bone-Head FRED
73a Locked DORIAN 73b SIDNEY Kidney
74a Vermin HERMAN 74b Gullivered TRAVIS
75a Pickled PETE 75b Formaldehyde FRED
76a Baby ABIE 76b LINCOLN Park
77a Global WARREN 77b AL Pocalypse
78a Stitched STELLA 78b Patchwork PAULA
79a Raisin' ELLA 79b Grape VI

80a Finger-Paintin' FIFI 80b LIBBY Stick

In addition to that each one of the base cards has four levels of parallels; Gross Green border (inserted 1:3 packs), Punk Pink border (insterted 1:6 packs), Silver border (insterted 1:12) and Gold border (sequentially numbered to 85). This means there are essentially 1040 different cards just in the base set alone. When the first Wacky Packages flashback set came out with parallels the ultra-rare "gold border" cards not only sold for enormous costs on Ebay but skyrocketed the amount of full box sales and ultimately made the cards a huge pain to find at any of the normal retailers. Kind of a Willy Wonka "Golden ticket" effect. This just shows how scarcity and supply/demand can shoot the prices for a brand new card to an even higher level than the old cards from the 80's and even highly prices collectables like original card art and rarities.
There will also be a "Where Are They Now" subset, portraying classic GPK as they would appear today. There are 10 of these cards in the set:

1 ADAM Bomb
2 Tee-Vee STEVIE
3 Cranky FRANKIE
4 Babbling BROOKE
5 Split KIT
6 Hot ? (SCOTT)
7 NAT Nerd
8 Nasty NICK
9 Boozin' BRUCE
10 Bony JOANIE

This set will also contain a Motion (Loco or Lenticular) card (inserted one in every 12 packs). There are 10 of these:

1/10 Up CHUCK
2/10 Wacky JACKIE
3/10 Drippy DAN
4/10 Cracked JACK
5/10 Bony TONY
6/10 ADAM Boom
7/10 Gooey HUEY
8/10 REUBEN CUBE
9/10 Explorin' NORMAN
10/10 Squashed JOSH

This set will also most likely contain 5 "bonus cards" which are available through purchase of bonus boxes sold by different retailers. These can be some of the most frustrating cards to obtain, especially if the retailers are not in your area or don't participate (like the Toy's R Us in my town).

Last of all the set also gives collectors the rare chance of scoring a "printing plate" which is a metal plate used in the printing process of the cards, and randomly inserted Sketch cards sketched by a GPK artist.

With all these opportunities for chase cards it's going to be very interesting to see what kind of response comes from the set. Happy hunting!!