Topps Replacing Missing GPK Sapphire Hits With Unnumbered Pink Parallel

Some GPK collectors received a surprise in their mailbox today in the form of their GPK Sapphire replacements. Topps has begun issuing replacements for collectors whose Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire boxes did not contain the stated “2 parallels inside”. Thanks to collector Chris Yuergens for sending along pictures of his cards. Chris received what appears to be five “pink” Sapphire parallel cards. The color resembles the 1/1 Padparadscha, but with one important difference, they are not numbered on the back and instead are stamped with “Refractor”. Other collectors have also posted their replacements.

GPK Sapphire was a huge hit with GPK collectors, and non collectors, as the excitement brought in collectors from other card types to the hobby. However, collectors soon begun to realize the product was riddled with errors. Many boxes contained 0 or 1 “hits”, despite the statement on the box saying there were 2 parallels inside. After the release of the product, a handful of collectors received either random parallels or GPK Sapphire packs for their replacement requests. That was a very small number of collectors, and most collectors have been waiting months for Topps to respond to their requests. Tracking done by Benjamin Siegler and others within the various GPK break groups, have shown that nearly 20% of boxes opened do not contain 2 parallels. With a print run of upwards of 16,000 boxes, this left Topps with many requests for missing hits, and not having replacements. In addition to the missing hits other errors in the product has surfaced. Tracking has shown there are 22 characters that have not had a Teal (/99) parallel surface, 34 base cards are double printed, and multiple Nasty Nick 1/# parallels have surfaced.

Topps has not commented on any of the GPK Sapphire issues to date. GPKNews has made multiple requests to the company for comment, including today for the replacement parallels. If Topps responds, this article will be updated.

 

2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire Box Odds and Print Run

The surprise launch of 2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire is starting to hit collector’s mailboxes. We now have a look at the printed odds on the box, and wouldn’t you know it, Topps makes it as confusing as ever! Thanks to ebay user cardsarewhatwedo for sending along the odds and pictures of his box break. Each box contains 8 packs of 4 cards, wrapped in unmarked silver wrappers. There are unnumbered Dark Blue base cards in each pack. The odds are printed along the side of the box. For some reason Topps left off the odds for the Light Blue /99, and Green /50 parallels. The odds printed on the box are:

  • Orange 1:4
  • Gold 1:7
  • Purple 1:10
  • Red 1:20
  • Padparadscha 1:96

Now this is where it gets confusing. The side of the box says the odds are “per pack”. However, all the evidence suggests the odds are actually per box. Printed on the top of the box it says “2 Parallels Inside”. In addition, collectors breaking boxes today have all pulled between 2-3 parallels per box. When looking at the math and numerous box breaks, it’s apparent the odds printed are per box.

So let’s look at the print run. How many boxes did Topps make? Based on the odds being per box:

  • Orange 166 cards in set * /25 = 4150 total Orange cards * 4 odds = 16,600 boxes
  • Gold 166 cards in set * /15 = 2490 total Gold cards * 7 odds = 17,430 boxes
  • Purple 166 cards in set * /10 = 1660 total Orange cards * 10 odds = 16,600 boxes
  • Red 166 cards in set * /5 = 830 total Red cards * 20 odds = 16,600 boxes
  • Padparadscha 166 cards in set * * /1 = 166 total Padparadscha cards in set * 96 odds = 15,936 boxes

It appears there are right around 16,600 boxes produced of the set. How many parallels can a collector expect per box?

  • 34,030 total parallels in set / 16,600 boxes = 2.05 parallels per box

At 2.05 parallels per box, that comes out to right what is printed on the top of the box, “2 parallels inside”. So how many base cards are there?

  • Base Cards 32 cards per box – 2.05 parallels per box = 29.95 base cards per box * 16,600 total boxes = 497,170 total base cards / 166 cards in set = 2,995 per base card.

So there are right around 3,000 of each base card printed. While that seems like a lot it pales in comparison to the 45,000+ of each base card in Chrome OS3.

Topps Shares 2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire Checklist

The first mystery behind the upcoming GPK Sapphire release has been solved. Today Topps shared with GPKNews the checklist for 2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire. As advertised on the box, the checklist features every card from OS 1 & OS 2. All cards from 1a/b – 83a/b appear on the checklist, 166 cards in total. There are no inserts listed on the checklist. No other information on the set has been revealed by Topps. Its still  in known if there are unnumbered base cards, or any of the odds on the parallels. GPK Sapphire was first available to 582 Montgomery Club members last Monday, then sold out to the general public in less than 30 mins. the following day. There is also no information when the boxes will ship from Topps. For now, the checklist can be seen in PDF form here.

Topps Launches 2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire Edition

Garbage Pail Kids are moving up in the world. After a very successful year that has seen the popularity of GPK be its highest in over 10 years, Topps is using the brand to introduce non-sport cards to their exclusive club. Today Topps launched a presale for 2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire Edition. The cards were available to purchase today exclusively to Topps 582 Montgomery members. The 582 club is a yearly membership club that Topps first launched in 2018. Memberships are sold out for for the 2020-21 year already. One of the perks of the club is exclusive early access to products. This is the first non-sport product to launch to the club, previous products have focused on sports, mainly baseball.

According to the picture of the box the set contains cards from OS 1 and OS 2. Each box comes with 32 cards. The listing advertises collectors can find the following parallels.

  • Blue Sapphire: #’d to 99
  • Green Sapphire: #’d to 50
  • Orange Sapphire: #’d to 25
  • Gold Sapphire: #’d to 15
  • Purple Sapphire: #’d to 10
  • Red Sapphire: #’d to 5
  • Padparadscha: #’d 1-of-1

Topps did not show any pictures of the cards, nor reveal a checklist. Members were able to purchase 1 box for $50, plus shipping. The listing claims boxes will ship in 3-5 days. Boxes allotted for 582 members sold out immediately. Many club members complained about being unable to purchase boxes. Secondary prices for boxes have reached 8x-10x in price already. Many times with 582 releases, Topps will release additional boxes to the public in the days following the release to 582 members. It’s not known if this will be the case with Sapphire. Collectors should keep their eyes open to Topps.com for a possible public release.

2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire Edition Launching Monday

Topps, today in their email to collectors, began advertising 2020 Garbage Pail Kids Sapphire Edition. Not much is known on what the set will consist of. The box features Junky Jeff artwork. The box also advertises it contains artwork from OS 1 and OS 2. The box says it will contain 32 cards. Purchases will be limited to 1 box per membership. No other details about the set has been offered. The set will first be available only to 582 Montgomery Club members beginning Monday 12/7. The club is a paid membership Topps offers to collectors. Memberships are already sold out, so anyone not a member will not be able to purchase the pre-sale. Historically, products offered to 582 members first, sell out quickly with the only option for collectors buying on the secondary market. It’s a new world as GPK enters the high end exclusive card markets.