This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2020S2 GPK 35th Anniversary. If you missed Part 1 you can go here to catch up.
In the first post we looked at how many packs/boxes/cases were produced of 2020S2 Garbage Pail Kids 35th Anniversary. Here’s a review of what we came up with.
- Total Production – 1,113,000 Packs
- Collector – 130,000 Collector Packs or about 5,416 Collector Boxes or about 677 Collector Cases
- Retail Display – 237,600 Retail Display Packs or about 9,900 RD Boxes or about 1,237 RD Cases
- Blaster – 404,040 Blaster Packs or 80,808 Blaster boxes or 2,020 Blaster Cases
- Fat Packs – 113,786 Fat Packs or 1,094 Fat Pack Cases
I’ll be using these numbers to try to come up with an idea how many of each type of parallel and insert were created for the set. This will give you a good idea how rare a set is and how quickly you need to snap up that card for your rainbow! I’ll also compare some of this info to the previous sets for reference. As a reminder, in addition to using the sell sheet and odds, we will also have to make some assumptions and flat out guesses when trying to figure some of these out.
So how many of each type of card was made? We can’t figure it out for every type of insert or parallel. Some card types we don’t have enough information. Other times however, Topps is nice enough to tell us exactly how many of a card was produced. Like previous sets, Topps has continued to number many card types. This means we already know most of the parallel and insert numbers already! Makes this post a lot easier! We know Blue /99, Red /75, and Gold /35 for the parallels, and Relics /250 and Autos /50! You’ll notice some changes in this set compared to previous sets for some of these. Relics and Autos have been raised, while Gold parallels have a lower print run this time.
First let’s figure out production for the various parallels.
- Black Borders – 130,000 Collector packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 130,000 total Black borders / 200 cards in set = 650 per card.
- Yellow Borders – 404,040 Retail Display packs / 5 Odds = 80,808 total Yellow borders / 200 cards in set = 404 per card
- Purple Borders – 113,786 Fat Packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 113,786 total Purple Borders / 200 cards in set = 568 per card
- Green Borders – 237,600 RD Green Borders + 404,040 Blaster Green Borders + 2(113,786) Fat Pack Green Borders = 869,212 Total Green borders / 200 cards in set = 4,346 per card
A lot of information here, and none of it should be surprising considering how high the production was. Black borders are nearly twice as many as before. Yellow borders are at an all time high of over 400 per card! Just two sets ago there were only approx. 30 of each yellow border card. Purples borders just 164 more than each yellow border is surprising. Finally, looking at Greens, at over 4000 of each! Collectors should have very little problem putting together any of these sets. There will be plenty of green, purple, and yellow borders out there. Where collectors will have a harder time is finding Reds, Blues, and Golds. Those always have a fixed production, so the higher the print run, the more boxes that need to be opened for them to surface. It will take some time for collectors to open enough boxes to see a good supple of those on the market.
Now let’s take a look at the various insert sets.
- GPK Wacky Package – 130,000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 5,416 total GPK Wacky Package / 10 cards in set = 541 per card
- Midlife Crisis – 80,808 Blaster Boxes * 3 per box = 242,424 total Midlife Crisis / 20 cards in set = 12,122 per card
- Fan Favorites – 113,786 Fat Packs * 2 = 227,572 total Fan Savories / 20 cards in set = 11,378 per card
- No Regerts Tattoos – 237,600 Retail Display Packs / 3 odds = 79,200 total Tattoos / 10 cards in set = 7,920 per card
- Base Trash Bins – 677 Collector Cases * 6 per case on avg = 4,062 Base Trash Bins
- Limited Trash Bins – 677 Collector Cases * 2 per case on avg = 1,353 Limited Trash Bins
More interesting numbers on the inserts. GPK Wacky Packages have increased in line with the production increases, this is the highest Collector insert set print run so far. Believe it or not, the insert sets in the Blasters and Fat packs are not all time highs. By raising the set size of the Blaster insert to 20, Topps was able to keep the total print run down on those a bit. On the Fan Favorites, the number of Fat Packs produced for this set is actually not an all time high. Don’t get me wrong, collectors will have no problem putting together those inserts sets with well over 10,000 of each! With nearly 8,000 tattoo sets out there, collectors also should have no problem putting that one together. Collector cases seem to be averaging 6 base trash bins and 2 limited trash bins per case. As long as boxes get busted, collectors should be able to get the bin of their choice.
Once again you’ll notice a theme, the production is high, therefore the parallels and inserts sets are as well! Now let’s discus some of the things that are very rare in this series. Topps inserted two redemption cards into packs, one for a OS1 or OS2 pack, and another to Be a GPK card. The odds on those are very long, but since we know the pack numbers we can try to determine how many of each there are.
- OS 1 or OS 2 Pack Redemption
- Collector – 130,000 total Collector packs / 124200 = 1.04 per card
- Retail Display – 237,600 total RD packs / 123,888 = 1.91 per card
- Blaster – 404,040 total Blaster packs / 120,888 = 3.26 per card
- Fat Packs – 113,786 total Fat Packs / 112,655 = 1.01 per card
- Be a GPK Redemption
- Collector – 130,000 total Collector packs / 124200 = 1.04 per card
- Retail Display – 237,600 total RD packs / 123,888 = 1.91 per card
- Blaster – 404,040 total Blaster packs / 120,888 = 3.26 per card
Finally, something that’s not overproduced! When talking about both of these, it’s important to note that Fat Packs don’t have odds listed for the Be a GPK Redemption. This explains why I went with the number I did on Blaster packs. In order for the odds to even come out to at least 1 card on Fat Packs, I had to use the lower Blaster number, to get enough Fat Packs. It wouldn’t have made sense to list odds if there were no cards inserted. Looking at the odds it would appear there should be 7 Pack Redemption, and 6 Be a GPK redemption cards. Now as we know, our numbers are never just right on, and often times the odds are rounded by Topps anyway. If I had to guess, there are probably 5 Be a GPK cards out there, and maybe 6 Pack redemptions, 3 of each OS 1 & OS 2. But again, that’s just a guess on my part. Regardless, there are very few, and they are very hard to come by. One tough insert we can not figure out are the unannounced Artist & Employee cards. There are 9 in the set, but there are no odds listed on packs. So, unfortunately, there is no way to figure out the print runs. However, just from the number that have surfaced for sale, they are very rare.
The production on this set shows it was very successful for Topps. This explains why we are seeing the number of licensed merchandise items we are. When the demand is there, Topps will print and produce all they can. Garbage Pail Kids are certainly becoming a larger part of the Topps portfolio. How will Topps capitalize on this momentum in 2021 is the big question. There are already a lot of plans in motion for licensed merchandise and animated shorts.
Finally, can we figure out how many base cards were produced? Not really, but we can use what we know and give it our best guess! We know Collector packs have 6 or 7 base cards per pack, except for packs containing patches, but that number is so small we will go with 7 this time since blues moved to retail display and reds are only 2-3 per box. Retail and Blaster packs have 7 base cards, except for packs containing gold, autos, sketches, and plates, but again that number is so small I’m going to go with 7 per pack. Finally, Fat packs have 17 per pack when there aren’t any special hits.
Base Cards – (130,000 Collector packs * 7 cards per pack) + (641,640 RD/Blaster packs * 7 cards per pack) + (113,786 Fat packs * 17 = 7,205,842 Total Base Cards produced / 200 cards per set = 36,029 Total of each base card.
Over 7 million base cards printed!!! This is the highest total of each base card since BNS 1, which was considerably higher due to the lower number of cards in the set. How long will it be until we have another set surpass this print run?
This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2020S2 GPK 35th Anniversary. If you missed Part 1 you can go here to catch up.