Category Archives: Topps Licensed

Update: YouTube version is now up! Full video along with cast credits is at the end of this article. A lot more in this one than the NTWRK version.

As part of this weekend’s Beyond the Streets art fair, NTWR debuted Garbage Pail Kids Mad Mike Fury Load Vol. 1 animated short. The video debuted on the NTWRK app. The video is the brain child of GPK collector and the popular TV show The Goldbergs creator, Adam F. Goldberg. The video is part one of a three part series based off of the recent GPK Krashers set. Joe Simko did the art for that set, and he is a producer on this video series along with Topps’ Ira Friedman. Adam F. Goldberg wrote and funded the making of the animated short. The production was handled by Jam Roll studios, who did a number of stop motion videos for Topps about a year ago. A number of voice actors donated their time to the project including popular actor Christian Slater. The video includes Adam F. Goldberg going over Garbage Pail Kids and his collection. There will be a slightly different version of the video released on Topps’ You Tube channel this coming Monday, which will include the cast credits.

GPKNews caught up with Adam F. Goldberg to answer a couple of questions on the new animated short.

GPKNews – How did the idea of the video and the process of getting it green lit come about?

Adam F. Goldberg – For the past few years I’ve been talking with Ira about making a GPK animated series for a streaming service like Netflix or Disney+. The pandemic unfortunately ended the Goldbergs spin-off Schooled, so I suddenly had a few weeks free, which rarely happens these days. I reached out to Ira and Joe Simko and proposed we stopped talking about a GPK project and just make one ourselves. In that email I pitched 20 ideas for short films that would run 10 to 15 minutes, most were parodies of my favorite 80s movies.  Joe immediately replied with his GPK Krashers artwork and said we have to do your Mad Max idea and use my vehicles.  And so Fury Load was born!

GPKNews – How did working with Topps, Jam Roll, and the crew compare to other TV projects you’ve been involved with?

AG – Let me start by saying this only happened because of Ira Friedman from Topps, (Incrudible Ira from his unannounced 2020 card). In my opinion, Ira is the sole reason GPK is back in the conversation today. He resurrected this brand and has made such brilliant moves on how to make it profitable for Topps.  It’s hard to compete with Baseball cards, but Ira proved GPK can. Ira is the one who found jamroll studios and he spearheaded the original GPK minute long shorts. He had no budget, so found creative ways to make those initial shorts. The creative process with Ira was a dream, mostly because he let me have all the creative control! That typically doesn’t happen. Topps was thrilled that I wanted to fund a movie myself and get stars like Christian Slater to donate their voices. They just let me do my thing and only had one note — originally Mad Mike was the “CHODE WARRIOR” and the joke made it into our final cut, but was swapped out last minute to maintain a family friendly feel. Once the script was locked, Jamroll took my mad ramblings and really made it sing.  They’re truly brilliant animators and did the impossible on a small budget. I wanted each scene to be filled with Easer Eggs specifically for the collectors. I scripted a few, but Jamroll did amazing work in this area. I love in the first scene alone you see tons of GPK march, even the Monopoly game.

It’s also worth mentioning, there’s even Easter eggs about the infamous 80s movie, and Topps helped me cast some of the original actors into roles here! You’ll see how that pans out in parts 2 and 3.

GPKNews – After this video, do you have any plans for future GPK videos, shows, movies, etc.

AG – Currently, Michael Eisner’s company Tornate own both Topps AND the Tornate TV studio, (they produced Bojack Horeseman for Netflix). Topps agrees I’m the geek to make a GPK series, but the problem is my TV company is at Disney. So basically, I’m employed by another company who only wants me to work on their properties.  It’s a shame because I spent a year creating a whole TV pitch which is one of my favorite things ever. The concept is that Topps unlocked their vault and is finally airing the 80s cartoon that parents banned 35 years ago. Only we make a new GPK cartoon now which is a satire of all the classic good vs. evil toons from the 80s (GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, etc.). I even scripted out fake commercial breaks where we have parody toy commercials that never actually existed.  I wish I could pitch it!

The video is still available to watch on the NTWRK app within the listing for the GPK cards. I’ll embed the YouTube video once it launches on Monday.