Before artificial intelligence told you what you liked, before people stared aimlessly into a phone - There were Garbage Pail Trading Cards.
If you were lucky enough to be a kid in the 1980s, you probably remember one of the most chaotic trading card crazes ever unleashed on an unsuspecting generation.
Parents hated them, teachers hated them. schools tried banning them.
Kids absolutely loved them. I was one of those kids.
"Created by Topps in 1985 as a parody of the ridiculously wholesome Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, Garbage Pail Kids took everything cute and wholesome and launched it headfirst into the dustbin".
The result can be seen in the 1-5 series artwork.
It really is some of the most brilliantly disgusting artwork ever printed on a trading card.
The cards themselves were unlike anything else around at the time. Every character had multiple names depending on the version you pulled. The artwork was outrageous. The humour was ridiculous and somehow every kid wanted as many as possible.
But collecting wasn't really the point.
The real action happened in the playground. Every break time sounded the same.
"Got. Got. Need."
"Swapsies?"
"Got."
"Need."
If you know, you know.
Entire playground economies were built around those three words.
You'd spend all week trading, scrimping, saving and sometimes begging to get the card you wanted. Pocket money for me was either spent on bon bons, football stickers or Garbage pail. Every birthday pound note meant a trip to the newsagents before school to pick up a fresh pack. Then came the best bit.
Rip open the wrapper.Take a quick look through the cards.
Chew the pink slab of bubble gum that somehow managed to taste both amazing and terrible at exactly the same time. Then head into school ready to trade. The bubble gum probably removed three layers of enamel from your teeth, but nobody cared.
The cards were worth it.
Everyone had their favourites and namesakes. For many people nothing ever topped Adam Bomb.The card that launched a thousand collections. A mint Adam bomb was the first item Old's Cool sold! (see museum). A grinning kid pressing a nuclear button while his head exploded into a mushroom cloud. Pure Garbage Pail Kids madness.
Others preferred Nasty Nick the first of the series.
For me, Graffiti Petey has always been right up there with the classics. A mischievous troublemaker armed with spray paint and bad intentions. Everything that made Garbage Pail Kids great wrapped up in one character.
Well 2 really his twin being New Wave Dave.
Looking at the card today is like opening a tiny portal back to a decade where everyone seemed determined to wear the loudest outfits possible. The 80's - a technicolour yawn.
The artwork was the star of the show.
Created by a team of artists led by the legendary John Pound, the cards mixed gross-out humour with genuinely brilliant illustrations. Every card looked like it had its own story. Some were funny. Some were bizarre. Some looked like they had arrived from an intergalactic nightmare.
Garbage Pail Kids weren't just cards. They trading items, they were talking points, they were magical.
Glorious weirdness, stuffed into a wax wrapper and sold next to football stickers and sweets.
Fast forward forty years and the Garbage Pail Kids live on.
Topps continue to release new sets, special editions, Chrome releases and anniversary collections for collectors around the world. Just because you can't pick them up from the local newsagents anymore, doesn't mean they've disappeared.
Far from it.
In fact, 2025 marked the 40th anniversary of Garbage Pail Kids, celebrating four decades of gross humour, outrageous artwork and playground nostalgia. Forty years after Adam Bomb first detonated his own head, new generations are still discovering what all the fuss was about.
At Old's Cool® we're keeping the spirit alive with two genuine Series 1 classics currently available: Graffiti Petey and New Wave Dave, both in near mint condition.
These aren't reproductions.
These aren't reprints.
These are original survivors from the era when swapsies ruled the playground and every collector had a list of cards they were desperate to find.
Where else would you get 2 un-thumbed series one Garbage pail cards?
Whether you collected them back in the day, still collect Chrome, Sapphire, refractor, magenta rares and limiteds today, or simply remember the excitement of opening a fresh pack and hoping for Adam Bomb, Garbage Pail Kids remain one of the greatest trading card crazes ever created.
Got.
Got.
Need.
Some things never change.
https://olds-cool.co.uk/products/garbage-pail-kids-series-1-uk-topps-cards-n-m-circa-1985
When collecting old Grabage Pail Kids (GPK) cards, it's worth noting that the UK version of Garbage pail are smaller than the originals from the U.S.A - the size difference can be seen in the picture above. The American Cards are where the big money is at. If you have a Mint Adam Bomb from the U.S - Give me a shout.