GARBAGE PAIL KIDS

~ Series Introduction ~
~ Product Overview ~
~ Artwork Images ~
~ Fun Facts & Tid-bits ~
~ GPK 101 : Annotated Names ~
~ GPK History Section ~
~ Comprehensive Checklist ~

Release Date: MAY 1986

84 CARD SET - 84 Cards + 0 Variations
No Card Variations
Note : 4 Name + 3 Checklist Changes
91 TOTAL CARD SET - 84 Cards + 7 Card Changes

YELLOW BOX (1-491-40-01-6)(1-490-40-04-6 : Canada) - 2 Variations
(Box Artwork : John Pound)

YELLOW WAX WRAPPER - 10 Variations (Below)
(The 1st - 15th Original Series and 1st - 7th All-New Series "WRAPPER & BOX CHART")

WRAPER (0-491-21-01-6) - With "25¢" Logo : Purple Cloud; 'Made and Printed In U.S.'
2 Variations : T-Shirt or Sweatshirt Offer
Note : "Woody ALAN" (checklists), "REESE Pieces", "CRYSTAL Gale", "SALVATORE Dolly"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


WRAPPER (0-491-21-02-6) - Without "25¢" Logo : Purple Cloud; 'Made and Printed In U.S.'
2 Variations : T-Shirt or Sweatshirt Offer
Note : "Woody ALAN" (checklists), "REESE Pieces", "CRYSTAL Gale", "SALVATORE Dolly"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


WRAPPER (0-491-21-01-6) - With "25¢" Logo : White Cloud; 'Made and Printed In U.S.'
2 Variations : T-Shirt or Sweatshirt Offer
Note : "Oak KAY" (checklists), "Puzzled PAUL", "Ig LOU", "Battered BRAD"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


WRAPPER (0-491-21-02-6) - Without "25¢" Logo : White Cloud; 'Made and Printed In U.S.'
2 Variations : T-Shirt or Sweatshirt Offer
Note : "Oak KAY" (checklists), "Puzzled PAUL", "Ig LOU", "Battered BRAD"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


WRAPPER (0-490-21-06-6) - With "25¢" Logo : Purple Cloud; 'Gum Made In Canada'
2 Variations : T-Shirt or Sweatshirt Offer
Note : "Woody ALAN" (checklists), "REESE Pieces", "CRYSTAL Gale", "SALVATORE Dolly"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)

JUMBO PACK (1-515-93-01-6) - Sealed On The Side (5th Series Sealed In Back)
Note : "Woody ALAN" (checklists), "REESE Pieces", "CRYSTAL Gale", "SALVATORE Dolly"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


RACK PACK (0-935-93-01-6) - Printed On Plastic
Found With 4th Series Singles; or 2nd, 3rd and 4th Series Singles
Note : "Woody ALAN" (checklists), "REESE Pieces", "CRYSTAL Gale", "SALVATORE Dolly"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


RACK PACK (1-935-93-01-6) - With Cardboard Sleeve
Found With 3rd Series Singles; 2nd and 3rd Series Singles; or 2nd, 3rd and 4th Series Singles
Note : "Oak KAY" (checklists), "Puzzled PAUL", "Ig LOU", "Battered BRAD"
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)

RETAILER ADVERTISEMENT POSTER (4-491-08-01-6)(10" x 14")
(Poster Artwork : John Pound)


WHOLESALER SELL SHEET (Special Offer In BAZOOKA)(8" x 11") - 3rd through 9th Series
Garbage Pail Kids T-Shirt and Sweatshirt Offer : Same as Wrapper

WHOLESALER SELL SHEET (8" x 11") - None Discovered (4th Series Specific)

24/48 ct. CASE DISPLAY BOX (No Picture)

(CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW ARTWORK)

1. The first and only series with 5 Print Runs.

2. The second and last series to have a Name Change. 125b "Woody ALAN" changed to 125b "Oak KAY"; 149a "REESE Pieces" changed to 149a "Puzzled PAUL" (Pictured below in Fun Fact #11); 158b "CRYSTAL Gale" changed to 158b "Ig LOU"; and 164b "SALVATORE Dolly" changed to 164b "Battered BRAD" (Pictured below in Fun Fact #11).




3. The first series with 4 Different Styled Wrappers (not including advertisements).

4. The second of two series that have cards with a Pink GPK Header. Cards 140a "Mouth PHIL" and 140b "Tooth LES" (Visit the 1st series "Fun Facts & TidBits" section to view the first pink GPK header).


5. This series has the Light Blue Name bar ... but not the light pink name bar.

6. The second series to have a Smaller GPK Header. Cards 143a "MELBA Toast" (Not pictured) and 143b "HY Rye", and 145a "DALE Snail" and 145b "Crushed SHELLY".


7. The first series to have a cards with The GPK Acronym found within the artwork. The product parody G.P.Kola found on the bottle of cards 128a "Sloshed JOSH" and 128b "Low CAL". And, the GPK acronym found on the basketball jersey of cards 154a "Basket CASEY" and 154b "Dribblin' DEREK" (pictured above as the mascot).

8. The first series to have Only One Puzzle in the series and the first series to have a 21 Piece Puzzle (instead of an 18 piece puzzle as before).

9. The series also has the first, slightly Reduced GPK Header.  Cards 147a "Amazin' GRACE" and 147b "Muscular MOLLY" and 164a "TEDDY Bear", 164b "SALVATORE Dolly" and 164b "Battered BRAD" (Picture below in Fun Fact #11).


10. The first series to have a card showcasing GPK Sticker Images within the artwork, but these sticker cards are not characters from previous releases or cannot be identified. Cards 148a "Turned-On TARA" and 148b "TIFFANY Lamp".

11. The first series to have Name Changes With Two Name Bar Colors. Cards 149a "REESE Pieces" (white) and 149a "Puzzled PAUL" (black); 164b "SALVATORE Dolly" (white) and 164b "Battered BRAD" (black).




12. The artwork for cards 157a "LARRY Lips" and 157b "Distortin' MORTON" contain an aligator emblem on the chest of the shirt, this is a parody of the LaCoste clothing line. The name bar covers this image on the card, but can be seen in the final artwork (see the "Artwork Images" section above).

GPK HISTORY SECTION

1. Mark Newgarden's sketchbook page sample shows several pencil and ink rough Sketch Ideas. For the 4th series, the bottom piece became 140a "Mouth PHIL" and 140b "Tooth LES" (bat moved to other shoulder - the head off and being thrown idea possibly became the 7th series card 291a "HOMER Runt" and 291b "Screwball LEW"), and the top example piece became 154a "Basket CASEY" and 154b "Dribblin' DEREK" (with same name, and head dribbled on other side of body).

2. This Tom Bunk Unpublished Completed GPK was painted in 1986 and was intended for the 4th series, although the concept seems to have been reworked by artist John Pound for cards 98a "CHARLOTTE Web" and 98b "DIDI T.". The original GPK artwork was finally published in late 2011 for the GPK Flashback 3 set as LOST GPK cards 68a "Arach NED" and 68b "Web JEB"; however, the published piece is the original finished artwork before being touched-up, the character does not have the blond hair, but rather a bald head.

3. In 1975, Topps released the "Wanted Stickers" set ... In 1986, Topps released the 4th series "Garbage Pail Kids" and rendered this old artwork for the card backs, 10 years later.  Artist Tom Bunk had started working on the front artwork for the cards for the 3rd series with John Pound. Tom Bunk also reworked the art for the back and Mark Newgarden rendered the writing. Out of the 42 "Wanted Stickers" card set, 15 of these concepts were used in the 4th GPK series and 18 were used in the 3rd GPK series (see the 3rd Series section for more information).  The 4th GPK Rendered Titles are: 129a/b "Mailman" (rendered from "Postman"); 130a/b "Librarian"; 132a/b "BABY SITTER"; 135a/b "Chain Smoker"; 140a/b "School Nurse"; 145a/b "Bus Driver"; 148a/b "Lunch Room Cook" (changed from "Cafeteria Cook"); 150a/b "Big Brother"; 153a/b "WiseGuy"; 158a/b "Pet Cat"; 159a/b "Fat Slob" (changed from "Fatso"); 160a/b "Mechanic"; 161a/b "Lazy Bones"; 165a/b "Pet Dog"; and 166a/b "Plumber".   The 4th GPK Titles New To The Series and not used in any Wanted Stickers or Wanted Posters series: 128a/b "NERD" and 142a/b "Substitute Teacher" (both pictured below). Wanted Stickers titles Not Used in any GPK series: "Disc Jockey"; "Baby"; "Maid"; "Telephone Operator"; "Taxi Cab Driver"; "Door-to-Door Salesman"; "Butcher"; "T.V. Repairman"; and "Policeman".

Wanted Sticker : BABY-SITTER
Ransacking the refrigerator
Making long distance phone calls
GPK Sticker back : BABY SITTER
Unauthorized removal of privately held fowl from home refrigeration units
12 hour obscene phone calls to Mongolia
Charging clients $47.50 an hour - and spending them in private consultation with "Biff" and "Binky"



4. In 1980, Topps released the "Wanted Posters" set with sharper artwork and rendered writing from the 1975 release "Wanted Stickers"... In 1986, Topps released the 4th series "Garbage Pail Kids" and rendered this old artwork for the card backs, 5 years later.  Artist Tom Bunk had started working on the front artwork for the cards for the 3rd series with John Pound. Tom Bunk also reworked the art for the back and Mark Newgarden rendered the writing. Out of the 24 "Wanted Posters" set, 3 of these concepts were used in the 4th GPK series and 18 were used in the 3rd GPK series (see the 3rd Series section for more information).  The 4th GPK Rendered Titles are: 130a/b "Librarian"; 132a/b "BABY SITTER" (partial poster #24 pictured below); and 150a/b "Big Brother".   Wanted Posters titles Not Used in any GPK series: "School Flirt"; "Butcher"; and "T.V. Repairman".



Wanted Poster : BABY-SITTER
("WANTED!" outlined in yellow, "For Neglect of Duty" changed to red, etc., for the poster)

5. Though packs were not sold in boxes until 1987, in 1986 Uranus Strikes Cards could be found as complete sets... a parody card set created by Bob Ting poking fun at the Topps Mars Attacks trading cards. The last card in the set, card #36 "Invasion Synopsis!" whose checklist name is "Starry IDA" portrays an alien kid who has crawled out of a garbage pail, holding a Cabbage Patch Kid-looking doll, and blasting its brains out with a laser gun. In the same year, Topps released the 4th series GPK set that includes a parody of their own Mars Attacks set for cards 138a "Alien IAN" and 138b "Outerspace CHASE".


6. Notebooks were used For the earlier GPK series as miniaturized flowcharts. The art director's notebook showed how the work of the set was going -- sketches of concept art, which artist was working on which concept piece, and the stage in which the painting had been completed. Often, concept pieces were denied and the department tried to work them into later sets. A list of concept pieces was kept in case pieces could not be used. The 4th series contained the following ideas which either replaced denied concept pieces within the set, were saved for a later series, or never saw the light of day: "strapped on car like deer" (4th), "Moby Dick", "wristwatch" (16th), "toasted marshmellow on stick", "Cleopatra", "gargoyle", "grim reaper" (3rd), "GPK collector with wrappers" (6th with stickers), "female body builder" (4th), "Mars Attacks alien" (4th), "superhero charging brickwall", "Lochness monster", "bigfoot", "Samurai", "grave-robber", "Jack T. Ripper", "blob?", "trumpet player blowing out brains" (4th farting), "GPK artist", "femme vampire" (unpublished), "walkman/ breakdance", "dog catcher", "animal experimentation", "Scrooge", "femme warrior", "Rocky/Rambo" (4th), "cockroach/scorpion".

C = Change
(Change and Print Run information on Printable Checklist page)

* PRINTABLE CHECKLIST *

91 Total Cards = 84 Cards + 4 Name and 3 Checklist Changes (Not Including Asterisks *, **)

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