This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2023S2 GPK InterGoolatic Mayhem. 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 2023S2 Garbage Pail Kids InterGoolatic Mayhem. Here’s a review of what we came up with.
- Total Production – 900,600 Total Packs
- Collector – 465,000 Collector Packs or about 19,375 Collector Boxes or about 2,422 Collector Cases
- Hobby – 435,600 Hobby Packs or about 18,150 Hobby Boxes or about 2,268 Hobby Cases
I’ll be using these numbers to try to come up with an idea of 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? Since there are only two pack types and the supplied odds by Topps seem to be correct, figuring out production on everything should be easy! 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 Gray /199, Blue /99, Red /75, and Gold /50 for the parallels, Artist Autos /75 /50 1/1, and Patches /199 /99 /75 /50 1/1. We now need to figure out all the unnumbered parallels and inserts.
First let’s figure out production for the two parallels that aren’t numbered.
- Black Borders – 465,000 Collector packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 465,000 total Black borders / 200 cards in set = 2,325 per card.
- Green Borders – 435,600 Retail packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 435,600 total Green borders / 200 cards in set = 2,177 per card.
Figuring out production for the unnumbered parallels ends up being very easy. Collectors are used to seeing Black border production much less than Green border. This is the first set where Green borders are actually rarer than Black borders! On Black borders, this is the also highest number of Black borders per card ever produced, even more than Book Worms! Green borders marks the lowest number produced since the We Hate the 90’s set in 2019. Much different experience for collectors on the unnumbered parallels.
Now let’s take a look at the various insert sets.
- Wacky Packages – 465,000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 19,375 total Wacky Package / 8 cards in set = 2,421 per Wacky
- Kosmic Krashers – 465,000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 19,375 total Krashers / 5 cards in set = 3,875 per Krashers
- 3D Morph – 465,000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 19,375 total Morph / 4 cards in set = 4,843 per Morph
- Time Warp – 900,600 Total packs / 3 odds = 300,200 total TW / 20 in set = 15,010 per Time Warp
- Space Farce– 900,600 Total Packs / 3 odds = 300,200 total SF / 10 cards in set = 30,020 per card
Given what we learned about the number of each box type, these numbers make sense. Time Warp and Space Farce are in line with recent retail only insert sets. The Collector exclusive insert sets meanwhile all have higher than usual print runs.
That covers all the various card types in the set. As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, very easy to figure out numbers this time. One final thing I wanted to point out was the huge discrepancy in where the “big hits” are in each box type. Most of the bigger hits in the product can be found in both box types. However, as the odds show, Hobby boxes have very few of each type. Let’s take a look at the numbers for each one.
- Plates (Collector) 465,000 Collector packs / 1,220 odds = 381 plates in Collector Packs
- Plates (Hobby) 435,600 Hobby packs / 26,577 odds = 16 plates in Hobby
- Autos (Collector) 465,000 Collector packs / 65 odds = 7,153 autos in Collector Packs
- Autos (Hobby) 435,600 Hobby packs / 1,377 odds = 316 autos in Hobby
- Gold Autos (Collector) 465,000 Collector packs / 98 odds = 4,744 Gold Autos in Collector Packs
- Gold Autos (Hobby) 435,600 Hobby packs / 2,065 odds = 210 Gold Autos in Hobby
- Foilfractors (Collector) 465,000 Collector packs / 5,016 odds = 92 Foilfractors in Collector Packs
- Foilfractors (Hobby) 435,600 Hobby packs / 106,308 odds = 4 Foilfractors in Hobby
- Pano Sketches (Collector) 464,000 Collector packs / 1,422 odds = 327 Panos in Collector Packs
- Pano Sketches (Hobby) 435,600 Hobby packs / 30,374 odds = 14 Panos in Hobby
Just 16 Plates in Hobby! 14 Pano sketches! 4 Foilfractors! While Hobby boxes do have the big hits in them, the odds are heavily skewed towards Collector boxes. Collectors should keep this in mind when choosing which boxes they want to buy.
InterGoolatic Mayhem marks unfamiliar territory for collectors. By not producing retail packs, it brings a whole new mindset to odds and production numbers. The big question is will this continue for the GPK brand? Will the 2024 sets also be Hobby only? Is this just the new Fanatics distribution model, or is there a marked decline in GPK popularity? 2024 will answer a lot questions on the direction Topps is taking the GPK brand.
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! Both Collector and Hobby pack types seem to have 6 base cards. The number of inserts, parallels, and hits being the average down for this series. So we are going to go with 6 base cards in each pack type.
Base Cards – 900,600 total packs * 6 base cards per pack = 5,403,600 total base cards / 200 cards in set = 27,018 per base card
At just over 27k sets, it’s the lowest number of base sets since the Late to School set. Also, less than half of the base cards compared to the recent Vacation release. Still, there are plenty of sets for everyone that wants one! Go get one now!
This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2023S2 GPK InterGoolatic Mayhem. If you missed Part 1 you can go here to catch up.