Tag Archives: 2021S2

How Many 2023S1 (2021S2) GPK Goes on Vacation Were Produced? Part 2

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This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2023S1 (2021S2) GPK Vacation. 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 2023S1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation. Here’s a review of what we came up with.

  • Total Production – 1,737,000 Packs
  • Collector – 180,000 Collector Packs or about 7,500 Collector Boxes or about 937 Collector Cases
  • Retail Display – 297,000 Retail Display Packs or about 12,375 RD Boxes or about 1,546 RD Cases
  • Blaster Box – 1,260,000 Blaster packs or 126,000 Blaster boxes or about 3,150 Blaster 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? Compared to Chrome 5, GPK Vacation is a breeze to figure out. Topps supplied enough information for us to figure out each pack type. Therefore, that allows us to figure out how many of each parallel and insert were made. 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 Asphalt /66, Blue /99, Red /75, and Gold /50 for the parallels, Artist Autos /75, and State Quarter Relics /99.

First let’s figure out production for the three parallels that aren’t numbered.

  • Black Borders – 180,000 Collector packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 180,000 total Black borders / 200 cards in set = 900 per card.
  • Green Borders – 1,557,000 Retail packs / 1 Odds (doh) = 1,557,000 total Green borders / 200 cards in set = 7,785 per card.
  • Yellow Borders – 1,260,000 Blaster packs / 5 Odds = 252,000 total Yellow borders / 200 cards in set = 1,260 per card.

Again, since we were able to determine each pack type, figuring out the unnumbered parallels was easy. No big surprises here, the sharp drop in production leads to much less of each parallel type compared to Book Worms. Of course there are still a large number, especially the greens. Putting these sets together is very doable for many collectors.

Now let’s take a look at the various insert sets.

  • Wacky Packages – 180,000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 7,500 total Wacky Package / 10 cards in set = 750 per Wacky
  • Luggage Tags – 180,000 Collector packs / 24 odds = 7,500 total Luggage Tags / 12 cards in set = 625 per Tag
  • Famous Landmarks – 297,000 Retail Display Packs packs / 3 odds = 99,000 total Landmarks / 10 in set = 9,900 per Landmark
  • Don’t Make Me Pull This Car Over – 1,577,000 Retail Packs / 3 odds = 519,000 total Pull Over / 20 cards in set = 25,950 per card
  • Travel Stickers – 1,260,000 Blaster Packs / 3.33 odds = 378,378 total Travel / 10 cards in set = 37,837 per card

A few notes on the Inserts. With less collector boxes and a higher Wacky set compared to Book Worms, it’s no wonder why the per card numbers are so low. Wacky’s are about 1/3 compared to Book Worms. Luggage Tags are even less. While those sets are doable, it might take a little searching and more money for collectors to complete. It’s no surprise the retail inserts have huge print runs, especially the ones found in Blaster packs. The Travel Sticker odds are the only ones I noticed that were wrong. For some reason, Topps listed the odds as 1:4. This makes no sense as they are advertised as 3 per Blaster, and box breaks show there are indeed 3 per blaster. I guess since the odds were greater than 3 Topps just used the next number up. The problem with that is, using 1:4 would throw the actual numbers off. So in my calculations I used the real odds of 1:3.33 packs. When looking at the tins we know the  total Collector tins are 7,500. The Blaster tins appear to be evenly distributed, so 180,000 boxes / 3 different tins = 42,000 of each Blaster Tin.

Now let’s turn our attention to the Employee Base Short Print Cards. These are the second group of employee SP cards to appear in a set, the first was in the 35th anniversary set. However, this time Topps was nice enough to not only put them on the checklist, but also put odds on each pack type. The ones from the 35th did not list odds, so we couldn’t figure out the print run on those. However, this time we can.

  • 180,000 Collector Packs / 652 odds = 276 SPs in Collector packs
  • 297,000 Retail Display Packs / 1,056 odds = 281 SPs in Retail Display packs
  • 1,260,000 Blaster Packs / 3,670 odds = 343 SPs in Blaster packs
  • 276 + 281 + 343 = 900 total SPs / 9 in set = 100 each SP

Wow, well that number came out pretty even. Gives me even more confidence the pack production numbers are correct. Some collectors are going to see there are 100 of each and be surprised. Don’t let that fool you! These are still rare, they aren’t coming out of every case or anything. With the much easier odds in Collector boxes, we are seeing a good number of these early. Antidotally these seem to be falling more frequently than the 35th anniversary employee SPs. But truly since we don’t have a way to figure out the print run of the first batch of these, we have no way to know if there are more of this second group of employee Short Print cards.

Collectors are going to see the sharp declines in production and  might think GPK Vacation is rare. That’s both true and untrue. There are a lot of Blaster Tins, a lot. So many, that this set is still the fourth highest produced modern GPK set. However, the Collector tins, and to an extent the Retail Display boxes aren’t nearly as overly produced as some recent series. Collector tins might dry up fairly quickly and could see pricing increase on those. Blasters however, will be side by side with Chrome 5 and Book Worms boxes on store shelves for weeks and months to come.  

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. We will go with 7 for those packs. Retail Display and Blaster also have 6 or 7, but there are more packs than usual that have 6, so let’s use 6.5 for these pack types.

Base Cards – (180,000 Collector packs * 7 cards per pack)  + (1,557,000 Retail packs * 6.5 cards per packs) = 11,380,500 total base cards / 200 cards in set = 56,902 per base card

Still well over 10 million base cards! There will be plenty of base sets to go around. But hey, at least it’s less than half the Book Worms sets!

This is Part 2 of a two part series on the production of 2023S1 (2021S2) GPK Vacation. If you missed Part 1 you can go here to catch up.

How Many 2023S1 (2021S2) GPK Goes on Vacation Were Produced? Part 1

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This is Part 1 of a 2 part series on the production of 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation. Part 2 will be posting soon.

After a 17 month delay, 2023S1 (2021S2) GPK Vacation finally was released. There were a number of reasons why the set was delayed so long. Regardless of the reason, collectors became frustrated having to wait. It became even more of a problem when the set was passed over for the release of GPK Book Worms last year. Production on Book Works was tremendously high. Collectors have been waiting to see if GPK Vacation would surpass that set, or come back to earth. The slightly good news is, while there is a lot of this set, it did not surpass Book Worms. Read on to find out where this set ranks!

First my disclaimer! Production numbers are never an exact science, and Topps makes it tough on us. In order to attempt to solve this riddle we need to look very closely at the clues in both the odds and the sell sheets. Some things to keep in mind for this post. 1) Topps doesn’t want the public to know exactly how much of each card was made. Why? No idea really, I think its dumb, but historically Topps only provides enough information to get close. 2) We need to make some assumptions. Those assumptions will be based on the clues we have, but still some guessing has to happen. 3) The odds never quite seem to come out completely equal. However, we can round and get pretty close to how much was produced. 4) Topps changes what is printed from what the sell sheet says all the time. This will throw off all our numbers. 5) Keep in mind Topps historically holds back up to 5% of the print run to cover missing hits, damaged cards, and their No Purchase Necessary program. These numbers would include that 5%. With all that in mind let’s get started…(Warning lots of math coming up. If you don’t want to read about the process, skip to the bottom for the answer sheet!)

As always we need to figure out the entire print run. Usually, we would use a card type that is numbered and has the same odds in all pack types. In the past Gold parallels would work for this. This time Golds or Asphalt won’t work because the odds are different across the board. We can still figure out total pack production, we will just have to go pack type by pack type. First a quick note on odds. Believe it or not, the printed pack odds actually seem to be correct! This is very rare, I mean very rare. For years now most retail sets either had the parallel odds doubled, or like the case with Chrome 5, just random nonsense numbers chosen for odds. It’s great that Topps got it right this time. It’s not hard, and hopefully this is a new trend.

Let’s start by looking at Collector packs. Both the Red parallel and State Quarter Relics are exclusive to collector packs. We can look at the odds to determine how many collector packs were made.

  • Quarter Relics – 50 cards in set * 99 made per card = 4,950 total quarters * 36 odds = 178,200 Collector packs made
  • Red borders – 200 cards in set * 75 made per card = 15,000 total Red borders * 12 odds = 180,000 Collector packs made

Both those numbers are very close. We are safe to use the 180,000 number for Collector packs. The surprise here is the sharp decrease from Book Worms. Less than half of the collector packs from Boom Worms, and even down from Food Fight. It’s clear the demand from a collector pack standpoint was not there for this release. Now let’s look at Retail Display boxes. We can use the Blue parallels exclusive to Retail Display boxes to get the pack amounts.

  • Blue borders – 200 cards in set * 99 made per card = 19,800 total Blue borders * 15 odds = 297,000 Retail Display packs made

Case break examples have shown the odds on the Blues have been right on. Therefore, again we can go with 297,000 as the pack number for Retail Display boxes. Another huge surprise, as again the production of Retail Display boxes is about half of Book Worms. Now don’t get overly excited yet, production isn’t down this much as we will see with Blasters. Blaster packs sadly don’t have a numbered exclusive parallel or insert card. So to figure out the Blaster pack number we are going to have to go backward so to speak using Gold and Asphalt parallels. If we figure how how many golds and asphalts are in Collector and Retail
Display packs, then we know what’s left to be in Blasters. We can then use the Blaster odds to get total Blaster packs.

  • Gold borders
  • 200 cards in set * 50 of each gold = 10,000 total Golds
  • Collector – 180,000 packs / 57 odds = 3,157 Golds in Collector packs
  • Retail Display – 297,000 packs / 95 odds = 3,126 Golds in RD packs
  • 10,000 total golds – 3,157 collector golds – 3,126 RD golds = 3,718 Golds in Blaster packs
  • Blaster – 3,178 Golds in Blasters * 338 odds = 1,256,684 total Blaster packs

 

  • Asphalt borders
  • 200 cards in set * 66 of each Asphalt = 13,200 total Asphalt
  • Collector – 180,000 packs / 45 odds = 4,000 Asphalt in Collector packs
  • Retail Display – 297,000 packs / 72 odds = 4,125 Asphalt in RD packs
  • 13,200 total Asphalt – 4,000 collector Asphalt – 4,125 RD Asphalt = 5,075 Asphalts in Blaster packs
  • Blaster – 5,075 Asphalt in Blasters * 250 odds = 1,268,750 total Blaster packs

Looking at the numbers from Gold and Asphalts borders are pretty close to each other. To make the math easier let’s go with a number about in the middle, 1,260,000 for total Blaster packs. And there we go, that’s where Topps produced a lot of the product. That’s a large number for Blasters, in fact only Chrome 5 has a higher Blaster count. (Book Worms didn’t have Blasters.) This puts the retail production very close to the Food Fight set, but again nothing close to Book Worms.

Here’s what I believe the total production numbers to be for GPK Vacation:

  • Total Production – 1,737,000 Packs
  • Collector – 180,000 Collector Packs or about 7,500 Collector Boxes or about 937 Collector Cases
  • Retail Display – 297,000 Retail Display Packs or about 12,375 RD Boxes or about 1,546 RD Cases
  • Blaster Box – 1,260,000 Blaster packs or 126,000 Blaster boxes or about 3,150 Blaster cases

Production is down significantly from Book Worms. Vacation production is in fact down slightly from Food Fight, it‘s very similar overall. Let’s take a look how this set compares to recent retail releases.

  • Total Pack Production
    • 35th Anniversary – 1,113,000
    • Food Fight – 1,790,000
    • Book Worms – 3,635,000
    • Vacation – 1,737,000 (52.2% decrease in production vs. Book Worms)
  • Collector Pack Production
    • 35th Anniversary – 130,000
    • Food Fight – 225,000
    • Book Worms – 405,000
    • Vacation – 180,000 (55.5% decrease in production vs. Book Worms)
  • Retail Pack Production
    • 35th Anniversary – 983,000
    • Food Fight – 1,565,000
    • Book Worms – 3,245,000
    • Vacation – 1,557,000 (52.0% decrease in production vs. Book Worms)

As much as I was surprised by the increases in production recently, I’m almost just as surprised by the huge decrease in production in GPK Vacation. Production decreases were more than half across the board compared Book Worms. Production was also down when compared to Food Fight. Don’t get me wrong however, there is still a lot of this set, especially when it comes to Blaster tins. The set is the fourth highest produced in the modern GPK era behind Book Worms, Chrome 5, and Food Fight. What might be the most surprising number is this is the first decrease in production in years. Why is that? Is demand less for GPK? Has Topps realized the crazy production for Boom Worms and Chrome 5 didn’t make sense? It’s probably a combination of things. The set’s delay may have had more to do with decreases than anything. A lot of collectors cancelled their preorders due to the long delay. This could help explain the decreases in Collector and Retail Display production. Topps is now caught up from their delayed releases. They currently have planned one more retail and one more Chrome release for 2023. What will be very interesting to see is if production numbers for those sets more closely resemble GPK Vacation or GPK Boom Worms.

This is Part 1 of a 2 part series on the production of 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation. In Part 2 we will look at production numbers for all parallel and insert sets. Part 2 will be posted soon.

2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation Explained

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The kids are finally back from vacation! For better or worse, 2023 Series 1 Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation will go down as the flag bearer for the the Covid years. The set was originally title 2021 Series 2, and was planned to release in Sept. 2021. The set was first delayed due to Covid and printer shortages. Then came paper shortages, and being passed over by other sets due to contracts. Now 17 months later collectors finally get the set. The release of this set marks the final delayed GPK set from Topps. The set was structured before many of the changes made for the Book Worms set, so the structure more closely resembles GPK Food Fight. Once again, artists David Gross, Brent Engstrom, Joe Simko, and Smokin Joe McWilliams did all the art for the set. The base set contains 200 cards, 100 new pieces with a/b versions. For the first time in a long time, and after the debacle of Chrome 5, Topps actually appears to have gotten the odds correct on all packs. Based on early breaks the parallels and inserts are dropping right at the rate advertised. It’s a pleasant surprise to see accurate odds for a change. Production appears to be down from Book Worms, especially with Collector and Retail Display boxes. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of this set, but it appears to buck the trend of increasing prints runs. I’ll have more information on production numbers in the coming days.

As mentioned, this set more closely resembles GPK Food Fight. Back are Loaded Puzzle and Panoramic sketches in Blaster boxes. Yellow parallels also return to blasters. No Mega boxes for this release. Big box stores will most likely just carry the 10 pack Blaster Tins. Another positive, compared to Boom Worms, Artist autos are down to /75 copies of each, and they are numbered on the back. That does mean however, Topps needed to find hits for Collector boxes. The relic set is a whopping 50 cards, all /99. After telling GPKNews they pulled Wyoming from the set, the card has surfaced. The checklist released by Topps showed the Travel Sticker Insert set with only 8 cards, that was an error, as all 10 cards do appear in packs. Another surprise not mentioned on the checklist is Tom Bunk autographed Travel Sticker cards, these found in Retail Display boxes are /50. Finally, employee short print cards are back, this time they were announced ahead of time, and odds for the cards appear on the packs.

I will have articles in the coming days looking at production numbers in more detail. To see the official Topps checklist click here. (Note: Topps left off Luggage Tags, and Travel Stickers list isn’t complete.) For now, here is what you can find, and where you can find it in 2023 Series 1 Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation.

(Note: I will continue to update this post as new information comes to light and any new parallels/inserts are found.)

  • Base Set – 100a/b (200 Cards).
  • Parallel Sets – Same exact cards from the Base set, except with a different speckled color border.
    • Bruised Black Border (Collector) – 1:1 (200 Cards)
    • Spit Blue Border /99 (Retail Display) – 1:15 (200 Cards)
    • Blood Red Border /75 (Collector) – 1:12 (200 Cards)
    • Fool’s Gold Border /50 – 1:57 (Collector), 1:95 (Retail Display), 1:338 (Blaster) (200 Cards)
    • Booger Green Border (Retail) – 1:1 (200 Cards)
    • Route 66 Asphalt /66 – 1:45 (Collector), 1:72 (Retail Display), 1:250 (Blaster) (200 Cards)
    • Phlegm Yellow – 1:5 (Blaster) (200 cards)
    • Printing Plates –1:1,697 (Collector), 1:5,326 (Retail Display), 1:5,502 (Blaster) (400 total – 4 per artwork)
  • Insert Sets – All the various insert subsets that can be found in packs.
    • Pack Your Bags Wacky Packages – 1:24 – Collector (10 cards)
    • Famous Landmarks – 1:3 – Retail Display (5a/b – 10 Cards))
    • Don’t Make Me Pull This Car Over – 1:3 – Retail Display/Blaster (10a/b – 20 cards)
    • Travel Stickers – 1:4 – Blaster (10 Cards)
    • State Quarter Relic Card /99 – 1:36 – Collector (50 Cards)
    • Luggage Tag – 1 Per Collector Box (12 total)
    • Base Card Short Print – 1:652 (Collector), 1:1,056 (Retail Display), 1:3,670 (Blaster) (9 Cards)
    • Artist Autograph /75 – 1:90 Collector, 1:279 Retail Display, 1:292 Blaster,  (100 Total Cards – 1 per card artwork)
    • Tom Bunk Travel Autograph /50 – 1:1,179 Retail Display (10 Cards)
    • Sketch Card – 1:441 Retail Display, 1:508 Blaster (58 Artists)
    • Panoramic Sketch Card – 1:20,036 Blaster (58 Artists)
    • Loaded Puzzle Sketch Card – 1:4,404 Blaster Boxes (58 Artists)
    • Shaped Sketch – 1:196 – Collector (58 Artists)
    • Triptych Sketch – 1:1,159 – Collector (58 Artists)

Collector Box Odds for 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation

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The official release date might not be until tomorrow, but we now know all the box odds for 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation. Thanks to collector Jared Mccorkendale for sending along pictures of the Collector box odds. As with Retail odds, it appears Topps actually got the odds right for this release. Reds are listed at 1:12, and the early boxes have 2 per box. There is one luggage tag in each box. Based on the odds production is down for Collector boxes  considerably from Book Worms, and slightly down from Food Fight. I’ll have more on production numbers in the coming days.

2023S1 GPK Goes on Vacation Collector Pack Odds

  • Blood Red – 1:12
  • Route 66 Asphalt – 1:45
  • Fool’s Gold – 1:57
  • Printing Plate – 1:1,697
  • Artist Autograph – 1:90
  • Pack Your Bags Wacky Packages – 1:24
  • State Quarter Relic Card – 1:36
  • Shaped Sketch Card – 1:196
  • Triptych Sketch Card – 1:1,159
  • Luggage Tag – 1:24
  • Base Card Short Print – 1:652

Retail Odds for 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation

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After a 17 month delay, seeing is finally believing for collectors as 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) GPK Vacation cards are beginning to show up in the wild. The much maligned set was delayed and passed over by other sets due to Covid, printer shortages, contracts, and paper shortages. Originally titled 2021 Series 2, Topps has officially retitled the set, 2023 Series 1 Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation. Thanks to FexEx being quick despite the holiday weekend, we have odds for both Retail Display (also sold as “Hobby”) boxes, and Blaster Tins. Not a.whole lot of surprises with the Retail Display boxes. Tom Bunk’s Famous Landmarks insert set is exclusive to Display boxes, while the Don’t Make Me Pull this Car Over insert set is found in both Display and Blaster packs at the same odds. Blaster packs also are the only place to find the Travel Sticker. At least that’s what they are called on the pack odds. The checklist refers to them as Bumper Stickers, while the Sell Sheet refers to them as Travel Posters. Yellow parallels, loaded and pano sketches also can be found in Blasters. Finally, there are three different Blaster tins as advertised. A 40 box case contained 13 Yellow, 14 Purple, and 13 Green tins. There hasn’t been a lot of breaks for evidence yet, but it appears Topps may have actually gotten the odds right. Yellow parallels are listed as 1:5, and each tin opened had 2. Meanwhile, the Blue parallels in Retail Display boxes are 1:15, and the one box opened had 1. For the first time, the Employee Short Print cards have odds listed for them on the packs. In an oddity, there are two autograph odds listed on the Retail Display packs. Artist Autographs are 1:279, while a mysterious “Autograph” is listed at 1:1,179. Is that just an error on the packs, or is there an unannounced autograph in the set? Based on an early look at odds it appears there is a lot of this printed. Blaster numbers look to rival the Book Worms set, Retail Display however appears to be less. I’ll have more in the coming days on production info for the set.

2023S1 GPK Vacation Retail Display Box Odds

  • Spit Blue – 1:15
  • Route 66 Asphalt – 1:72
  • Fool’s Gold – 1:95
  • Printing Plate – 1:5,326
  • Artist Autograph – 1:279
  • Famous Landmarks – 1:3
  • Autograph – 1:1.179?
  • Don’t Male Me Pull This Car Over – 1:3
  • Base Card Short Print – 1:1,056
  • Sketch Card – 1:441


2023S1 GPK Vacation Retail Blaster Box Odds

  • Phlegm Yellow – 1:5
  • Route 66 Asphalt – 1:250
  • Fool’s Gold – 1:338
  • Printing Plate – 1:5,502
  • Artist Autograph – 1:292
  • Travel Stickers – 1:4
  • Don’t Male Me Pull This Car Over – 1:3
  • Base Cars Short Print – 1:3,670
  • Sketch Card – 1:508
  • Panoramic Sketch Card – 1:20,036
  • Loaded Puzzle Sketch Card – 1:4,404

Topps Releases 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation Checklist

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We are inching oh so close to finally seeing the release that collectors have been waiting a year and a half for. With less than one week to go, Topps has released the checklist for 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation. The base set iscontains 200 cards, 100 new paintings in a/b versions.

There are a number of insert sets, most of them exclusive to a certain pack type. Artist Tom Bunk returns with his own insert set called, Famous Landmarks. This 10 card set can be found in Retail Display (Hobby) boxes. The 10 card Pack Your Bags – Wacky Packages insert set can be found exclusive in Collector boxes. Collector boxes are also the only place to find the 49 card State Quarter Relics insert set. (Note: The checklist only shows 49 states, with Wyoming missing. According to Topps Wyoming was a late removal from the set.) All retail packs are suppose to share the 20 card Don’t Make Me Pull this Car Over insert set. The 8 card Bumper Sticker insert set is the same set that was called Travel Posters on the sell sheet. Those cards were scheduled to be Blaster box exclusives. For the first time, Topps has revealed the employee Short Print cards. There are 9 total in the set, that can be found in all pack types. The rare employee cards first appeared in the 35th anniversary set. Collector boxes are suppose to also have a luggage tag in each box, but those do not appear on the checklist.

Once again the four final card artists, Joe Simko, Brent Engstrom, David Gross, and Smokin Joe McWilliams did all the cards in the set, and their autographs can be found in packs numbered to /75. The autograph checklist is missing three cards, 19 (Artie of Massage), 66 (Absconding Abby), and 100 (Water Fallon) are missing. There are 58 artists that appear on the sketch card checklist for the set. You can find the official checklist for 2023 Series 1 (2021S2) Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation in PDF form here.

2021S2 Garbage Pail Kids Vacation Officially Gets Release Date, Updated to 2023

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Our long national nightmare appears to be coming to a close. In today’s release date email to distributors, Topps officially gave 2021 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids GPK Goes on Vacation a release date. As had been rumored for weeks, the newest retail set is now scheduled for a 2/22/23 release date. The set was originally scheduled for a Sept. 2021 release, but saw numerous delays due to Covid and printer shortages. Additionally, Topps also updated the set to be titled 2023 Series 1. Topps had gone back and forth the last year on updating the year on the set, with various dates under consideration. This also marks a change from the 2023 internal sales calendar Topps had planned. This confirms what we’ve been hearing, that Topps would back off slightly on the retail releases in 2023. The newest plan is for Vacation to be 2023S1, with both 2023S2 and Chrome OS 6 coming later this year. It looks like Kids are finally ending the longest vacation ever!

Topps 2023 Garbage Pail Kids Plans Include New Chrome/Two New Retail Sets

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Every year, right about this time, Topps lays out its plans for the following year. GPKNews has seen the 2023 Topps Sales Calendar, and once again Garbage Pail Kids have a full slate of products planned. Thanks to Jeff P from The Garbage Pail Kids Superstore for sending along the calendar, be sure to visit their Facebook page! If you’ve been collecting GPKs for more than a week, you’ll know that due to a variety of reasons, the dates mentioned on these calendars should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s almost a certain guarantee all the dates will change multiple times over the next year plus. The calendars do show what Topps has planned for the brand over the next year. With that in mind, let’s look at what we know, what we’ve heard, and what collectors can expect from Topps in 2023.

Retail Sets

If Topps has their way, 2023 will see three new retail releases. Currently the only retail set officially announced by Topps is 2021S2 GPK Vacation. The most recent street date calendar has the set now listed as Feb. 2023 TBD. Collectors have been frustrated that Topps has been unable to release retail sets, mainly GPK Vacation. The set has continued to be delayed due to Topps struggles to obtain sticker card stock. Believe it or not, Topps feels a lot of this same frustration, and wants to release the set as soon as they can. At one point a couple of months ago, Topps thought they would have the necessary sticker stock to launch Vacation in Dec, when it become known they wouldn’t, the date was moved to Feb 2023. GPKNews has heard Topps believes they will have the sticker stock and GPK Vacation should release late Feb/early March.

From there Topps is hoping to go back to a regular GPK release schedule. The 2023 sales calendar also shows two new retail sets. 2023S1 is now planned to release in May 2023. The 2023S1 theme has not yet been announced or the set solicited by Topps. Final card artwork for the set however, has been completed, but sketch cards or autos have not yet been assigned. 2023S2 is also on the calendar for Aug. 2023. Artists have already started working on the gags and art for the 2023S2.

Chrome

Topps surprised collectors when they officially announced that 2022 GPK Chrome OS 5 would release on 12/23/22. Chrome OS 5 had been planned over a year ago to release in late 2022, but collectors thought the set would be delayed longer since Chrome OS 4 was just released in Aug. Topps has been more readily able to obtain Chrome card stock in recent months, that coupled with the date change of GPK Vacation, led Topps to be able to release Chrome OS 5, and get the Chrome releases back on track. GPK Chrome collectors will be pleased to hear that “GPK Chrome” is on the 2023 sales calendar, scheduled for a Nov. 2023 release.

GPK Sapphire 3

For the first time Topps has announced ahead of time that the third GPK Sapphire set will be coming in 2023. Topps this week announced a number of changes to their yearly Montgomery Club. Collectors who purchase a membership in the club will get early access to purchase a limited amount of GPK Sapphire, among other Sapphire products throughout the year. Topps has lowered the price of membership for 2023. With the lower price comes less free exclusive sets, and a lower number of preorder abilities for Sapphire sets. Collectors can renew their Montgomery Club memberships from 12/5-12/7 for $149.99. From 12/7-12/9 new memberships will be available for $199.99. Topps is now also limiting the number of memberships to one per household.

Online

Online physical sets run independently from the retail releases. Their plans aren’t generally announced too far ahead of time. However, with the sales success throughout 2022 for online GPK products, it’s a safe bet there will be a plethora of online releases throughout the year. There are concrete plans to continue the six week online series during 2023. The six week series will feature both expansion sets for past releases, as well as new themes. The first six week series of 2023 will come in early January with the launch of the Trashy TV Expansion Set. Collectors can also expect at least one more online release in 2022 to finish the year strong.

Topps Updates Release Dates, 2021S2 Vacation Now 2023/Chrome 5 Gets Release Date

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Topps today updated their release dates for the next few months on their products. There were a number of GPK changes. 2021 Series 2 GPK Vacation has now been changed to February 2023 TBD, this is a change from previously being Dec. 2022 TBD. The bigger news is the debut of 2022 GPK Chrome OS 5, which shows up on the calendar with a 12/23/22 release date! This is a surprise as the product has not yet been officially announced by Topps, or solicited to distributors. Artwork has been done on the set for several months. If Chrome OS 5 releases it will come just 4 months after Chrome 4, and 3 months after Sapphire.

It Lives! Topps Reinstates 2021S2 GPK Vacation, Cancels 2022S2 GPK

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Topps set off a firestorm yesterday afternoon for collectors when they sent out their weekly communication to distributors saying 2021S2 GPK Vacation was cancelled. Well what Topps kills, they can bring back! This morning Topps send out another message updating distributors on what is apparently the next GPK set. 2021S2 GPK Vacation is back on! Instead Topps “cancelled” the previously unannounced 2022S2 set. In addition, Topps updated the release date to December TBD, meaning the planned October date they were shooting for isn’t happening. The bottom line is this. Regardless of what they call it, Topps plan has been to make GPK Vacation the second regular release of 2022. They are pushing back the other planned themes to 2023. How distributors and online dealers will handle preorders that they cancelled yesterday is anyones guess. Only Topps can make things this confusing.