Garbage Pail Kids Chrome Lives, Set Planned for 2020

Topps has big things lined up for next year’s 35th anniversary of the GPK brand. According to a 2020 retail sales product release calendar, Garbage Pail Kids Chrome is being planned for a Sept. 2020 release. GPKNews has heard from multiple sources who have seen the calendar and confirmed it’s legitimate. GPKNews has reached out to Topps for comment, and will update this article if they respond. There are no other details on the set available. Collectors have been clamoring for Chrome to return after the last chrome set, Chrome OS2, was launched in 2014.

GPK Chrome OS 1 was launched in 2013 to excitement from collectors. Topps and their retail partners overshot on the demand for OS1 Chrome, and the set was vastly overprinted. This caused hits, like Gold Refractors and Pound Autos to be tough pulls. Chrome comes with a higher retail price point, and the lack of hits caused major frustration with collectors. When Topps launched GPK Chrome OS2 the following year, the set was severely under ordered. After being burned with a lot of leftover stock from Chrome OS1, retail and hobby partners didn’t order very much of Chrome OS2. This led to a much lower production run, and plentiful hits. Collectors were happy, but Topps lost money on the set. Chrome OS3 never saw the light of day, as any plans for future Chrome GPK sets were scrapped. Soon later, the extra stock of Chrome OS 1 begun hitting the clearance isles of various online and retail card dealers. GPK collectors enjoyed $30 Chrome OS 1 hobby boxes, and hugely discounted retail chrome product. This led to a renewed excitement among collectors for the GPK Chrome product. Since that time, collectors have been asking Topps repeatedly for another GPK Chrome set. Despite being told, “no”, over and over from Topps, collectors have continued their insistence for GPK Chrome, even hijacking various Topps social media posts through the years.

It appears GPK collectors will be getting their wish. There are still a lot of questions to be answered over the next few months. Will the set be Chrome OS3? Or will Topps move in a different direction for content? Will there be any new colored refractors? Will Pound autos return? Will Topps add sketches this time to the product? In the past Chrome has come as a 12 box Hobby case, with a premium price point. Will the demand be there at launch for a more expensive product than collectors are use to? How will the pre-order demand result in drop rates for hits? These are all things collectors will be thinking about as excitement grows for the upcoming set.

Of course things could change at Topps. Until a sell sheet is released, there is no promise a set is coming out. There are times where a planned product is cancelled and not released. If the set does release in Sept., it will affect the 2020 Series 2 retail set. The calendar also shows 2020 Series 2 GPK releasing in Nov. 2020. Buckle in GPK collectors, 2020 will be an exciting ride.