My youth in Garbage.

I remember a lot of things from my childhood with soft fluffy fondness. The cartoon He-man, making strange things from Lego, Saturday morning kids shows including Ghost train which no one else recalls. Around the twist which was the Australian kids version of The Twilight zone. ITV's Interceptor an ill advised game show along the same lines as Treasure hunt. But with a really annoying guy (Sean O'Kane) dressed like a punk undertaker chasing the contestants around some scenic UK locations with a cheap crappy 80s laser thing on his arm. But one thing stands head and shoulders over all of these, one item still to this day has me hunting through the interweb for bargains, Garbage Pail Kids. Garbage Pail Kids trading cards where made by Topps company in 1985 and where a parody of the very popular Cabbage patch kids. Each card would feature a Garbage kid who would have a abnormality or ill fate using their name as word play. To a imaginative young boy who loved the strange and horrible these where my bread and butter. I wasn't alone, Garbage Pail Kids cards where so popular that there was a ban put in place by a number of schools because they were becoming a distraction from the lessons. There was even a movie made, surprisingly called The Garbage Pail Kids Movie which was and I think a lot of collectors would agree a pile of yak crap. And even TV wasn't safe there was a cartoon made which was met with parental uproar before it was broadcast so much that it was postponed. Its funny because the cartoon was so mind numbingly terrible with little to no resemblance to the cards. I still have my collection of cards and last year payed a pretty penny for a whole set at a memorabilia show. To a lot of people they are just cards with pictures/art on (which they are). They don't form a number game like the rule heavy Japanese games or interact with plastic balls they are just cards but to me they are an example of the days that where a little less politically correct. Each set has its own differences some decided some accident. I have the set which features the only picture name plate card, there are cards that were cut wrong or printed wrong. All these were sent out into the shops and are now collectors items. Topps has printer new collections  and even a reissue collection (2010) but all of these are sold in the US. Even now as I write this I have a smile on my face like a gurning idiot remembering how I would go over the road to the shop to buy a packet of cards. The smell of the horrid crewing gum which looked like a small piece of wood and tasted like a very shitty small piece of wood and the excitement of new cards, oh happy days.

check out the link below to see how collectable these little cards from the 80s can be:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GARBAGE-PAIL-KIDS-RARE-1ST-SERIES-NASTY-NICK-ARTWORK-/150486809324?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2309b67aec

for more info visit:

http://www.wgpkr.com/