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They can’t be many of us that have never owned a pack of Garbage Pail Kids cards. I was obsessed with how crass, ridiculous and down right hilarious they were. My buddies and I would crowd round as someone unwrapped a pack, eager to see the awesomeness within. Characters such as Adam Bomb, Shaggy Aggie, Nat Nerd and Unzipped Zach would then swap hands at the speed of light, while the distinct smell of the enclosed bubblegum hung in the air. So lets go back and chew some gum and check out some GPK facts.

They were launched in 1985 to parody the then popular Cabbage Patch Kids. Over 600 stickers were released between 1985 and 1988.

Every card had an ‘a’ and ‘b’ version with different names to extend the range. Different series also had a a jigsaw on the back to complete when you had them all.

In addition to the jigsaw back cards, there were many many more different backs to collect. Diplomas and certificates, small panel comics, check lists and wanted posters. Nothing was more uncomfortable than writing a certain friend’s name on a certificate of something horrid, only to forget and trade them that card a few days later. I admit guilt here.

The cards were produced by Topps,who were at that point best known for making baseball/football stickers.  The makers of Cabbage Patch Dolls finally sued for an infringement of trademark in 1986. The ruling led to Topps having to change the look of the kids on the stickers slightly.

The cards were also known as “Bukimi Kun” (Mr. Creepy) in Japan, “The Garbage Gang” in Australia and New Zealand versions, “La Pandilla Basura” (The Garbage Gang) in Spain, “Havurat Ha-Zevel” (The Garbage Gang) in Israel, “Basuritas” (Trashlings) in Latin America, “Gang do Lixo/Loucomania” (Trash Gang/Crazymania) in Brazil, “Sgorbions” (Snotlings) in Italy, “Les Crados” (The Filthies) in France and Belgium, and “Die total kaputten Kids” (The Totally Broken Kids) in Germany.

Due to the cards huge success, a movie based loosley on the cards was released in 1987. It hit the top spot across the worl…Ok, it didn’t. It bombed hugely. Its widely regarded as possibly one of the worst films ever made. I’ve seen it a few times and still own it on VHS. It IS fucking awful. It sadly marked English singer Anthony Newley’s last ever film role.

“Out of the garbage pail and into your heart”. That’s a lie. A total lie. The Kids look amusing on cards, even the really creepy ones. On screen is a totally different matter. Its nothing short of horrifying. As is the acting, script and story.

Just look at them! Some of the actors who played Garbage Pail Kids in the film were also Ewoks in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. They were a lot less nightmare educing on the forest moon of Endor.

It seemed like the bubble had burst as a planned cartoon series to accompany the card sets quickly got pukked from TV, after complaints from parents. Sales on cards also declined, leading to them being totally discontinued in 1988.

Its not all bad news from there though!!

In 2003, Topps reintroduced Garbage Pail Kids with all-new artwork, dubbed the All-New Series (“ANS”). ANS1 was largely made up of artwork intended for release in the 1980s, but 2004’s ANS2 featured brand new concepts. This was quickly followed up with ANS3.

Seems fitting these days.

In fact, it seems that GPK are back on the up and up. Subsequent new sets were released in 2010 entitled ‘Flashback’ cards. A second set of reprints then saw the light of day in 2011, with another set following later in the same year. From there on its gone from strength to strength, with numerous new sets being released fairly regularly. As you can see from some of the ones pictured above they’re still as brilliant and current as ever.

If another film happened to be on the cards (ha!), I could probably be easily persuaded to give it a shot!