The 2025 GPKNews.com Best of GPK Award Winners

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After a down year for Garbage Pail Kids in 2024, there was some optimism going to 2025 that GPK would have a comeback in their 40th anniversary year. While there were more releases, 2025 will be seen as a letdown due to a lackluster 40th anniversary effort by Topps, and massive changes to everything GPK. Retail, or more realistic, “Hobby sets”, were the main focus in 2025 for GPK. Fanatics has now implemented many of the changes they have wanted to since purchasing the company more than three years ago. Gone are the usual yearly themed releases, and standard chrome releases. 2025 did see a Chrome release, allbeit with major structure changes. That was followed by the 40th anniversary release, which was popular, but with that ushered in a new distribution model that was followed by Sapphire and Green Day sets. For a lot of collectors, 2025 will also be seen as the year of the reprint. The majority of releases in 2025 featured reprints or reimagined artwork based on old characters. Only the controversial Green Day set saw fully new artwork. 2025 also saw a continued focus on GPKs being inserted into other brands. Three baseball releases saw the inclusion of GPK cards during the year. Collectors should expect much more of this in 2026.

Online sets saw a bit of a decrease in launches in 2025. Only one packed out release, two six week series, and a couple of standard releases this year. Licensed merchandise surprisingly saw an some new licensees in 2025. After trimming down the old licenses, it looks like the company has started to make new partnerships with companies like ThrillJoy, Homage, and Bull Airs. With some of the others still involved, 2025 was a solid year for licensed GPK merchandise.

There was still a lot to celebrate in 2025. Sketch card artwork may have had its best year ever due to changes in quality standards set by Topps. There was also the largest group of new artists in years to choose from. The following is the 9th annual 2025 GPKNews.com Best of GPK Awards. Winners have been selected by the editor of GPKNews.com in eight categories. Additionally, a Reader’s Choice winner was also named in each category. Readers of GPKNews were able to vote in a poll on GPKNews’ Facebook page in mid-December. On some awards there is agreement, while others vary in opinion. Let the debate begin! It’s time to celebrate the best in GPKs for 2025!

And the winners are…

2025 Hobby/Retail GPK Set of the Year
Winner: 2025 Worst of GPK 40th Anniversary Edition
Reader’s Choice: 2025 Worst of GPK 40th Anniversary Edition

This category was a letdown in 2025. The releases were mostly reprints. Chrome did have insert sets with new artwork, but the major one was reimagined artwork of OS cards. Sapphire and the 40th anniversary set were nearly all reprinted cards. The only set that fully featured new artwork was the controversial Green Day set that upset half of collectors before it was even released. So the winner this year is the set that was by far the most popular, 2025 Worst of GPK 40th Anniversary Edition. The new format, more focused on a breaker friendly product, along with popular reprinted characters like Adam Bomb and Nasty Nick, saw this product rise sharply in price with collectors and gave collectors that rush of finding product at GameStop stores around the country. We are in a new era for Hobby/Retails sets, 2026 will continue to see changes in this category. Honorable mention: 2024 Chrome 7, 2024 GPK Sapphire.

2025 Online GPK Set of the Year
Winner: 2025 Oh the Horror-ible Expansion Set (1-6)
Reader’s Choice: 2025 Oh the Horror-ible Expansion Set (1-6)

Some collectors on Facebook groups may be posting their proclamations that “GPK is dead”. However, that couldn’t be any further from the truth with online sales numbers in 2025. All online release did excellent sales results. Of course the leader was the ever popular 2025 Oh the Horror-ible Expansion Set (1-6). GPK collectors have proven over the years that horror is their favorite. There will surely be more horror in the future for collectors. Honorable mention: 2025 GPK Valentine’s Day, 2025 GPK InterGoolatic Mayhem (1-6), 2025 GPK Media Menace..

2025 Non-Traditional Set of the Year
Winner: Roxanne Toser Tribure Set
Reader’s Choice: Roxanne Toser Tribute

After passing away in late 2024, there was only one way to honor non-sports card hobby legend Roxanne Toser, a tribute set in her memory! Artists Joe Simko, David Gross, Neil Camera, and Joe McWilliams teamed up and all turned Roxanne into a GPK card that focused on some of the favorite things in her life. Promoters of the Philly Non-Sports card show gave away cards at their show and offered complete sets for a donation. GPK collectors were able to add great memories of Roxanne to their collections in 2025. Honorable mention: 2025 Bowman Chrome GPK x MLB, 2025 Dynamic Duels MLB

2025 Topps GPK Licensee of the Year
Winner: GetAGrip Skateboards
Reader’s Choice: GetAGrip Skateboards

For another year GetAGrip continues their strangle hold on the GPK Licensee of the Year award. The company continues to put out a large variety of GPK merchandise that ends up being a huge hit with collectors. This year’s large Art Prints set was a surprise that was very popular with collectors. From skateboard decks, to jewelry, to promos for next year’s Cheap Toy release, GetAGrip dominates the licensed GPK space. Honorable mention: ThrillJoy, Greenlight Collectibles, Atomic Toybox, Homage.

2025 Rookie Sketch Artist of the Year
Winner: David Day
Reader’s Choice: Vincent Rappa

Up to this point in the awards there has been agreement with the readers of GPKNews on everything. Let’s change things up! 2025 was another banner year for new sketch artists to the GPK brand. There were 23 new artists to pick from this year. The 2025 Rookie Sketch Artist of the year is David Day. While he might be new to GPK, David has sketched for many different brands and companies over the years. He made his debut with the 40th anniversary set, and his sketch work for both pack inserted and artist returns was spectacular. There were a number of artists that could have easily won this category this year. GPK appears to be in good hands moving into 2026! Honorable mention: Vincent Rappa. Sandy Meeks, “Ghoulie” Julie Kuaniver, “Albino Ryno” Ryan Harris.

2025 Sketch Artist of the Year
Winner: Mike Stephens
Reader’s Choice: David Acevedo

This is another category where there could have easily been multiple winners. With over 100 artists working on sketch cards in 2025, there was so much to choose from. New quality standards instituted by Topps resulted in maybe the best year, top to bottom, for sketch card work. Leading the way this year was the 2025 Sketch Artist of the year, Mike Stephens. Mike’s work has gained in popularity since he begin working on GPK sketches. Mike’s work on both Chrome 7 and the 40th set was superb. His sketches this year were some of the most sought after by collectors. He work has lead him to be added as a final card artist on some online sets this year. Collectors are spoiled with such high quality work being done. Honorable mention: David Acevedo, Mike Ritchey, Nik Muggli, Chris Meeks, Fox Layng.

2025 GPK Artist of the Year
Winner: David Gross
Reader’s Choice: Rory McQueen

2025 was a down year for new artwork and GPK gags. Topps focused more on reprint sets, and new styles. Perhaps it’s not surprising then that the hugely popular reimagining of the OS 7 artwork by Rory McQueen in the Chrome set lead him to winning the Reader’s Choice vote in this category. There is a large portion of the longtime collector base that has clamored for new art styles in GPK sets, and for the first time there were multiple examples of that throughout the year. However, so far these new styles have shined the most with reimagined artwork from older sets. Half of GPK is the gags, and that’s why the 2025 Artist of the Year is once again, David Gross. Gross remains the top gag writer in the hobby. David had the most new characters in 2025 with his highlights being 50 cards in the Bowman Chrome MLB set, multiple cards in InterGoolatic Mayhem and Oh the Horrorible, and the Green Day set. Topps certainly kept Gross busy in 2025! Honorable Mention: Rory McQueen, Joe Simko, Brent Engstrom, Joe McWilliams.

2025 GPK Card of the Year
Winner: Adam Boom Art by Rory (Chrome 7 #RA-AB Artist/Concept Rory McQueen) 
Reader’s Choice: Adam Boom Art by Rory (Chrome 7 #RA-AB Artist/Concept Rory McQueen)

More and more collectors are demanding different art styles with their GPK cards. In 2025 Topps obliged! Lowell Isaac’s Green Day Insert set, and the multiple artist Adam Bomb Homage insert in the 40th series were two examples of the company testing the waters with new styles. Perhaps the most popular example of this, was Rory Mcqueen’s reimagining of OS 7 artwork in Chrome 7’s Art By Rory insert set. Rory’s style has been used previously in online sets and GetAGrip artwork, but this was the first time it was featured in a retail set. The insert set proved to be one that was sought after by collectors. So much so, that the most popular card in the set, Adam Boom, proved to be the 2025 GPK Card of the Year. Topps is not slowing down with experimenting with various styles in future sets. Collectors can expect more of this is 2026. What will be interesting to see if new GPK gags can be translated to these new styles.  Honorable mention: Fightin Freddy, Ringo Leader, Rockin Roxanne, and Adam Bomb 40th Anniversary.

Zion Cases Launches Licensed GPK Slab Cases and 40th Sticker Pack

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Zion Cases has partnered with Topps to launch some new officially licensed products to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Garbage Pail Kids. The company has launched three new graded slab cases along with a 40th anniversary GPK sticker pack. The graded slab cases are heavy duty durable cases that product your graded slabs during travel or storage. The company launched three different sized cases. The Slab Case XL GPK Edition holds 172 slabs ($149.99), The Slab Case XL GPK Edition holds 110 slabs ($129.99), while The Slab Case 2R GPK Edition holds 60 slabs ($99.99). The GPK Branded 40th Anniversary Sticker pack contains a mix of classic GPK artwork, the 40th anniversary character artwork, along with plenty of logos of various sizes. The pack contains three 8” x 11” sticker sheets and is available for $19.99. All items can be purchased directly from Zion Case’s website. GPK collectors can travel in style now with all their graded GPK treasures.

The 2025 GPKNews.com Best of GPK Awards, Vote Now!!!

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Welcome to the 9th annual GPKNews 2025 Best of GPK Awards. 2025 was a year of change for the GPK hobby, from distribution, to set structure, and more. Still, there were a number of hobby, online, and licensed releases during the year. What were your favorite things GPK in 2025? It’s your turn to help choose the Reader’s Choice awards!

Click here to vote now in the 2025 GPKNews.com Best of GPK Awards!

Read on for an explanation about how the categories and nominees were chosen, along with the fine print of voting.

Here are the categories to be voted on this year:

  • 2025 Hobby/Retail Set of the Year – Due to massive distribution changes by Topps in 2025, this category is now the Hobby/Retail Set of the Year. Packed out products offered by both Topps directly and available to Hobby and/or Retail channels will appear here. Four set this year to choose from!
  • 2025 Online Set of the Year – Fewer online sets than previous years in 2025. Still have some familiar choices alongside a couple of new products!
  • 2025 Non-Traditional Set of the Year – A tribute set along with the various other brands that featured GPK in 2025. Which was your favorite?
  • 2025 Licensee of the Year – A bit of a rebound in GPK merchandise in 2025. A couple of new licensees along with some old favorites to pick from!
  • 2025 GPK Rookie Sketch Artist of the Year – A super sized total 23 artists made their debuts on GPK in 2025! Which was your favorite?
  • 2025 GPK Sketch Artist of the Year – To be eligible an artist must have had official Topps GPK sketch cards appear in a set in 2025. Two hobby and one online set had sketches this year! Over 100 sketch artists in 2025. Who was your favorite?
  • 2025 GPK Artist of the Year – To be eligible an artist must have painted an official Topps GPK final published card in 2025. Retail, Online, Convention, and Licensed sets are eligible. Don’t see your favorite on the list? Feel free to choose the write-in option and vote for them!
  • 2025 GPK Card of the Year – All GPKs published in 2025 are eligible. Retail, Online, Convention, and Licensed cards are eligible. For nomination purposes if a/b versions are available, only the “a” card is listed. Not as many new cards as usual in 2025 due to the over abundance of reprints. Don’t see your favorite on the list? Feel free to choose the write-in option and vote for them!

Categories and nominees were chosen by the Editor of GPKNews.com. Any GPK releases after 12/17 will be eligible in next year’s (2026) awards. Categories such as best artist, sketch artist, and best card also contain a write-in option. Write-in votes will only be counted for a valid artist/card. Voting will be live from Wednesday 12/17 through Wednesday 12/24 @ 8:00 PM(PST). Voting will only be done through Facebook. Participants can only vote once. Vote totals or individual votes cast will not be made public. Winners will be revealed in a future article that will appear on GPKNews.com right around the 1st of January.

GetAGrip Launches Final XL GPK Sorting Mats

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After yesterday’s GetAGrip’s launch of sorting mats to birthday bash club members, the company is back with more mats for everyone. Today GetAGrip launched the final two XL Garbage Pail Kids sorting mats of their planned run. Today’s Mats are based off of the wrappers from OS 13 and OS 15. Mats measure 31.5” x 24” and are limited to /50. Mats can be purchased from GetAGrip’s website for $39.99. The mats should ship at the end of January. Last chance to scoop up the sorting mats of your dreams!

GetAGrip Launches Two New XL GPK Sorting Mats

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The final Birthday Bash launch from GetAGrip is here. The company today launched two new XL Garbage Pail Kids sorting mats. The mats are based on the wrappers from OS 12 & OS 14. The mats are available today to members of the 40th Birthday Bash Club. Members received an email today with a link to purchase. The mats measure 31.5” x 24” and are limited to /50. The mats are available for $39.99 and ship at the end of January. The company mentioned in their email that the final XL sorting mats launch today and tomorrow, so collectors will want to keeps their eyes peeled to GetAGrip’s website for another possible launch tomorrow.

Topps Reveals Print Run for 2025 GPK Media Menace Cards 1-10

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Last week was all about GPKs being a menace! Topps offered 10 cards throughout the week celebrating all

the big pop culture things in 2025. The company finally has revealed the print runs for 2025 Garbage Pail Kids Media Menace cards 1-10. Here’s the rundown for how each card sold.

  • 1a – Six Severin – 3,191
  • 2a – Robbin Museum – 1,494
  • 3a – Chicken Jackie – 1,863
  • 4a – Losing Lincoln – 2,067
  • 5a – Cole Play – 1,986
  • 6a – Cap n Katy – 1,554
  • 7a – Sricky Nicki – 1,436
  • 8a – Fighting Fred – 1,452
  • 9a – Cheesy Chad – 1,496
  • 10a – Nuclear Neo – 2,038

Another excellent round of sales results online GPK cards. Despite the higher prices for individual cards, collectors continue to show up to purchase the latest releases. This finishes off the releases for 2025. Topps is sure to be back on 2026 with plenty more GPK.

Topps Launches 2025 Garbage Pail Kids Media Menace Cards #9 & #10

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The end of the week, means the end of the menace for this year. Today Topps launched 2025 Garbage Pail Kids Media Menace cards #9 & #10. These are the final two cards of the series for this year. Card 9a, Cheesy Chad, celebrates the story of the Charizard shaped Cheeto that sold in auction earlier this year for more than $87k. Card 10a, Nuclear Neo, has Adam Bomb as Neo the cleaning robot. Both of today’s pieces was done by artist Smokin Joe McWilliams. Collectors who purchase these cards also have the chance of receiving a short print “b” name card, (9b – Red Hot Ryan and 10b – Adam Bot), or a Gold Border version /25. Cards can be purchased for $8.99 each or in lots of 5 for $34.99, 10 for $59.99, or 20 for $99.99. Cards are available for only 48 hours on Topps.com. Shipping is free when choosing the economy option. Print run will be revealed after the end of the sale. Here are pictures of today’s cards.

Topps Launches 2025 Garbage Pail Kids Media Menace Cards #7 & #8

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The gorilla is on the loose! Topps today launched 2025 Garbage Pail Kids Media Menace cards #7 & #8. Card 7a, Sticky Nicki, celebrates everyone’s favorite TikTok mashup song. Card 8a, Fighting Fred, finally answers the question who won win 100 men or 1 gorilla. Both of today’s cards were done by artist Brent Engstrom. Collectors who purchase these cards also have the chance of receiving a short print “b” name card, (7b – Locked Lisa and 8b – Tor illa), or a Gold Border version /25. Cards can be purchased for $8.99 each or in lots of 5 for $34.99, 10 for $59.99, or 20 for $99.99. Cards are available for only 48 hours on Topps.com. Shipping is free when choosing the economy option. Print run will be revealed after the end of the sale. Here are pictures of today’s cards.

Topps Launches 2025 Garbage Pail Kids Media Menace Cards #5 & #6

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Don’t get caught at a holiday party like it’s a Coldplay concert! Today Topps launched 2025 Garbage Pail Kids Media Menace cards #5 & #6. Card 5a, Cole Play, gives us Nasty Nick at a Coldplay concert. Card 6a, Cap’ N Katy, focuses on Katy Perry’s time as an astronaut. Both of today’s cards were done by artist Neil Camera. Collectors who purchase these cards also have the chance of receiving a short print “b” name card, (5b – Dead Eddy and 6b – Putrid Perry), or a Gold Border version /25. Cards can be purchased for $8.99 each or in lots of 5 for $34.99, 10 for $59.99, or 20 for $99.99. Cards are available for only 48 hours on Topps.com. Shipping is free when choosing the economy option. Print run will be revealed after the end of the sale. Here are pictures of today’s cards.

End of an Era, Beckett Ending Non Sport Update Magazine

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It’s the end of as era for one of the most important non-sports magazines in the trading card industry. Beckett Media is ending publication of Non-Sport Update magazine with the December(2025)/January(2026) issue. Subscribers were surprised as the magazine started hitting mailboxes a couple of weeks ago. Above the magazine’s title was printed, “Collectible Final Issue”. GPKNews has reached out to Beckett for comment, but the company has not issued a statement beyond removing all related NSU websites. However, many employees involved in the magazine including current Editor-in-chief, Alan Biegel, have posted online in the last few days confirming the end of the magazine.

Non-Sport Update was founded by hobby legend, Roxanne Toser. Roxanne recently passed away, but GPKNews spoke with her son, Harris Toser, who was the only person involved in some way with every issue of the magazine in its existence. On the beginnings of the magazine Harris shared, “My parents started Non-Sport Update in 1990 with original editor-in-chief Chris Benjamin, (author of the non-sport editions of the Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sport Cards books). My mother was the Publisher. My parents had been dealers in non-sports at the time and heard from some sports card collectors saying they were interested in entering the market with speculation and trying to drive up pricing. They, (my parents), did not want this to happen. There were no regular price guides at the time, so the thought was to get one out there to stabilize the market. Both Roxanne and Chris had a vast knowledge of non-sports so they, (and hobby friends), were able to share their knowledge through features and articles in addition to the price guide that came with each issue.“ The magazine took off immediately, with acceptance from both within the industry and collectors, Harris continued “The magazine was very well received. They had tremendous support from sport and non-sport card dealers to help with advertising. And as anyone in publishing knows, advertising helps pay the bills. The magazine quickly went from a quarterly publishing schedule to bi-monthly. It could have easily gone to monthly as well, but for some reason we decided to stick with the bi-monthly schedule.

The magazine was truly a family affair as Harris worked loosely with the first few issues before moving full time on the magazine. Beckett Media purchased the magazine from Roxanne in 2016, and Harris remained as a consultant on the magazine. Harris maintains many happy memories from his time on the magazine. “I had a full time job in Baltimore in 1990, (my parents were in Harrisburg, PA). For the first few issues, I helped with keeping the subscriber database. In time for NSU’s 3rd issue, I left my job to become full time with the magazine and working for my parents. I have many, many happy memories of the time with the magazine. It was a lot of fun traveling around to go to card shows, trade shows, etc. to promote the magazine. I especially liked the trips to Comic-Con International in San Diego and overseas to Memorabilia, (now called MCM Comic Con), in Birmingham, England.”

Garbage Pail Kids were featured throughout the magazine’s run with various articles including a few cover features. GPKs were always one of Roxanne favorite things, Harris shared this memory of his mother, “As many are aware, we spotlighted Garbage Pail Kids many times over the years. It was definitely one of Roxanne’s favorite subjects. As an aside, she had a GPK phone case and many times when I was with her, people would comment on her case — ‘I remember those…’ Imagine an 80-something year old woman with a GPK phone case proudly displaying GPK’s.” Harris continued to explain how GPKs were featured in the magazine, “We didn’t have a strategy with GPK coverage. From time to time, when a new release came out and Topps would give us access, we would feature GPK’s in the magazine and a few times, on the cover. I always liked how the Adam Bomb cover we did for Vol. 30, #3 (Jun/Jul ’19). I think that one came out really nice!”

No one is shocked in 2025 when a print publication ends. The internet houses all the information on everything these days. However, collectors of physical items, like trading cards, always seemed to gravitate towards physical media. Many GPK collectors would seek out and collect the GPK covers. It was always fun seeing GPK sketch artist’s excitement when they were featured in the Non-Sport Product Hot List section in the magazine. Harris shared his thoughts on the end of the magazine, “It’s very bittersweet. NSU felt like my family’s contribution to the hobby, so to see it end was upsetting. Also, I was 24 when NSU began and as I write this, I’m getting ready to turn 60, so it was the better part of my life! It’s a shame, I’m kind of techie and love the internet and realize you can get a lot of the news and card series details, (that appeared in NSU). from the internet, but hobby people collect cards, physical things, so many people also prefer a magazine over the net. It’s a real shame that NSU, as it existed for 35 years, is no more. It’s definitely an ‘end of an era’ as you say.” While this part of the hobby may be going away, Harris is still involved with running the bi annual Philly Non-Sports Card shows. Their next show, (#84), is schedule for April 18 & 19, 2026.

The ending of NSU leaves just two non-sport related print periodicals, PSA Non-Sport Magazine and The Wrapper. At the time of this article it was unclear if Beckett has any future plans for the magazine. Can the industry in 2025 support a print magazine any longer? Harris isn’t sure, “That is a good question (i.e. ‘Can the hobby still support a print magazine in 2025…and beyond’). Perhaps. And perhaps a different approach is needed to do so.”