GPK Chrome collectors have been in heaven the past year. 2023 Garbage Pail Kids Chrome is the third chrome release in the past 53 weeks. Topps is now back on schedule after multiple delays due to Covid and production issues. This chrome release highlights the original series 6 release from 1986. The base set contains 100 cards. All 88 original cards, 207a/b-250a/b, appear in the set. For an unknown reason, Topps made a name change for card 224a, Monte Zuma. The new card name is Michael Idol. The card backs feature either puzzle pieces for Dyna Mike, or brand new comics done by artist Brent Engstrom. There are also 12 new cards with artworks done by Joe Simko, Joe McWilliams, Brent Engstrom, and David Gross. Once again don’t be confused by the numbering. Topps, in a major error for the second release in a row, decided to continue the numbering for the new art cards, 251a/b-256a/b. This will cause confusion when next year’s Chrome 7 set is released with duplicate numbers. In an interesting twist, one collector has found 16 base cards in his Hobby case that actually had Panini NBA Prizm card backs, instead of the GPK card back. There is no indication yet how common these misprinted backs were inserted into packs.
Collectors chasing Chrome parallels will once again have plenty to search for. All the same parallels found in Chrome 4 & 5, also appear in Chrome 6. According to the odds Topps moved Gold parallels back to being a Blaster exclusive along with Atomic and Black Refractors. However, early breaks have shown collectors not only pulling Gold Refractors, but also Black Refractors from Hobby boxes. This means the odds for Gold and Blacks will be incorrect. Hobby boxes once again have Red, Orange, and Black Wave Refractors exclusive to them. There are 23 Artist Autos to chase in this set. Tom Bunk signed for the 7 characters he painted, James Warhola signed for the 10 characters he painted, and the new art cards also have artist autographs. GPKNews has confirmed the new art cards feature all sticker autos. So far one Warhola auto and one Bunk auto has surfaced, both also have sticker autos. So there’s a chance all autos in the set are stickers. Like with C5, only one card per character has an autograph. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the unannounced Artist Auto Superfractors. All 23 autos also come in a 1/1 signed Superfractor version. Much like C5’s No Blue Ink Error inserts, C6 has Color Error cards. Color Errors are numbered CE-# and feature different color nameplate and banners. There is one CE for each number in the set, 50 total. One note, the Color Errors are much easier to pull than the No Blue Ink errors from C5. Topps also appears to have made an error with the numbers on some of the “C” name cards. All C cards for the new art characters, (251-256), are numbered with their “A” number, instead of the “C” number. This error is also reflected on the checklist Topps released. Collectors will want to be careful they don’t miss these “C” cards when busting packs.
Collectors can breathe a sign of relief as it appears Topps has fixed their biggest issue with C5, the printed odds. Topps released the odds for C6 on their website, and so far based off early case breaks the odds appear to be fairly accurate. Not only that, but based on the odds collectors will find more hits on average when busting boxes compared to C5. This means production is way, way down compared to C5. Based on quick math, posted odds, and early case breaks it’s clear collectors will be a lot happier with C6 than the over printed C5. In fact it looks Ike there are 70% less Blasters and 20% less Hobby boxes than C5. Overall print run is more than 50% less than C5, and even less than C4, just slightly more than C3. A quick note on the odds, Topps listed odds for both EA and SE blasters. They are the same for the higher printed parallels, but the odds are a bit different with many of the tough hits. So what are EA and SE blasters? For years Topps has released two blasters for every GPK release. Years ago the different blasters contained different bonus cards or parallels. However, the past few years there have been no differences in the blasters except one usually has a printed $19.99 price tag. One Blaster type also goes to Target, while Walmart receives the other. I will have a detailed production article in the coming days. To see the official Topps checklist click here. For now here is what you can find and where you can find it in 2023 Garbage Pail Kids Chrome OS 6.
(Note: I will continue to update this post as new information comes to light and any new parallels/inserts are found.)
- Base Set – (100 Cards).
- OS 6 207a/b – 250a/b (88 Cards)
- New Art 251a/b-256a/b (12 Cards)
- Parallel Sets – Same exact cards from the Base set, except with a different color border or background pattern.
- Refractor – 1:3 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Atomic Refractor – 1:2 Blaster (100)
- Green Refractor /299 – 1:49 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Green Wave Refractor /299 – 1:49 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Yellow Refractor /275 – 1:54 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Yellow Wave Refractor /275 – 1:54 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Purple Refractor /250 – 1:59 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Purple Wave Refractor /250 – 1:59 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Prism Refractor /199 – 1:74 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Prism Aqua Refractor /199 – 1:74 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- X-Fractor /150 – 1:98 Hobby/Blaster (100 Cards)
- Black Refractor /99 – 1:70 – Blaster (100 Cards)
- Black Wave Refractor /99 – 1:79 – Hobby (100 Cards)
- Gold Refractor /50 – 1:139 – Blaster (100 Cards)
- Rose Gold Refractor /25 –1:588 – EA Blaster Pack, 1:587 – SE Blaster Pack, 1:586 – Hobby (100 Cards)
- Orange Refractor /75 – 1:103 – Hobby (100 Cards)
- Red Refractor /5 – 1:1,539 – Hobby (100 Cards)
- Superfractor 1/1 – 1:13,505 – EA Blaster Pack, 1:14,819 – SE Blaster Pack, 1:14,767 – Hobby (100 Cards)
- Printing Plates –1:3,602 – EA Blaster Pack, 1:3,644 – SE Blaster Pack, 1:3,656 – Hobby (100 Cards) (400 Total Plates – 4 per character)
- Insert Sets – All the various insert subsets that can be found in packs.
- C Name Variations – 1:101 Hobby, 1:100 Blaster (50 Cards)
- Color Error Short Print – 1:147 Hobby/Blaster (50 Cards)
- Artist Autograph /50 –1:1,257 – EA Blaster Pack, 1:1,256 – SE Blaster Pack, 1:1,254 – Hobby (23 Cards – 212a, 213a, 214a, 215a, 216a, 218a, 223a, 231a, 232a, 233a, 241a, 242a, 243a, 244a, 245a, 246a, 248a, 251a, 252a, 253a, 254a, 255a, and 256a)
- Artist Autograph Superfractor 1/1 –1:54,020 – EA Blaster Pack, 1:63,497 – SE Blaster Pack, 1:61,526 – Hobby (23 Cards – 212a, 213a, 214a, 215a, 216a, 218a, 223a, 231a, 232a, 233a, 241a, 242a, 243a, 244a, 245a, 246a, 248a, 251a, 252a, 253a, 254a, 255a, and 256a)