RELEASE
PERIOD — MARCH 2015

The non-sequential,
‘Yearly’ 2015 Series 1 GPK set, aka as 2015S1, for short, was released
in the Spring of 2015 by Topps, Inc. and distributed in March—about five
months after the 2014S2 set released in October of 2014. The ‘Yearly’ sets would
continue to be released roughly twice yearly for the next decade and be referred
to as ‘Thematic’ sets; this release contained “America’s Favorite Pastime,
Baseball!”, which included Base Sticker, All-Star Sticker, Mascot Sticker
and Baseball Card subsets for the major (league) theme for this release.

The
GPK set includes all-new artwork by artists Brent Engstrom, Layron DeJarnette,
Joe Simko, David Gross, Mark Pingitore, JungHwa Im and Colin Walton (art director)
along with several additional artists that assisted with autograph and sketch
cards as well as concepts. The brand manager for this release was also Colin Walton,
taking on several titles at Topps. For the first print run each foil or plastic
pack, with a suggested retail price of $2.49, contains ten stickers, except for
the Hobby Collector Edition box which packs contain six stickers per pack with
exclusive premium content.

MOCK-UP
BOX — MAIN CHARACTER ARTWORK: JOHN POUND

132
CARD SET : 66a + 66b BASE CARDS
CHASE
CARDS : 10 Baseball Cards + 10 Mascot Cards + 10 All-Star Stickers + 18 Bonus
Cards
(Not Including Rare CHASE CARDS : Printing Plates, Parallels, Sketch
Cards, Arist Autographs, C-Name Stickers, Variant Cards, etc). 180
TOTAL CARD SET : 132 Base Cards + 48 Obtainable Chase Cards

1274
TOTAL CARDS = 132 Base Card Stickers + 132 Black
Parallel + 132 Green Parallel + 132 Silver Parallel + 132 Gold Parallel + 132
Metallic Red Cards + 132 Sepia Cards + 132 Character Backs + 132 Canvas + 10 Baseball
Cards + 10 Baseball Variant + 10 Mascot Cards + 10 All-Star Stickers + 18 Bonus
Stickers + 11 C-Name Stickers + 10 Patch Relic Cards + 1 Sketch Card + 1 Artist
Autograph Card + 1 Baseball Player Autograph + 1 Die-Cut Artist Sketch Card +
1 Printing Plate + 2 Promo

RETAIL:
Parallel card (Black 1:2, Green 1:?, Gold 1:41; 85 per card), Printing Plate card
(1:1,300; Value Box Bonus card Printing Plate 1:1:2,563; Jumbo Pack Bonus card
Printing Plate 1:3,765), C-Name short print card (1:100; Printing Plate 1:12,750),
Artist Autograph card (1:193), Baseball card (1:4), Baseball variant card (1:192),
Mascot card (1:6), All-Stars card (1:12) Sketch card (1:232).
HOBBY:
Parallel card (Silver 1:24, Gold 41; 85 per card), Printing Plate card(1:1,300),
Artist Autograph card (1:181), C-Name short print card (1:100; Printing Plate,
1:12,750), Die-cut Sketch Card card (1:257), Hobby Bonus card (1:24), Baseball
card (1:4), Mascot card (1:6), All-Stars card (1:12).
HOBBY
COLLECTOR EDITION: Parallels (Black 1:1, Silver 1:24, Gold 41; 85 per card),
Printing Plate card (1:280), C-Name short print card (1:100; Printing Plate 1:12,750),
Artist Autograph card (1:96), Baseball Player Autograph (1:76), Baseball (1:4),
Mascot cards (1:6), All-Stars (1:12), Die-Cut Sketch card (1:143), Hobby Bonus
card (1:24; Printing Plate 1:1,167), Patch Relic (1:55), Character Back card (1:24),
Canvas Texture card (1:1), Sepia card (1:24), Metallic Red Canvas card (1:1).
Each box includes one Patch Relic, Autograph, Die-Cut Sketch OR Printing Plate
per box, and one Character, Sepia and Bonus card per box.

HOBBY
& RETAIL PRODUCTION RUNS
MAIN BOX
+ WRAPPER ARTWORK : JOHN POUND
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS : BRENT ENGSTROM, ETC.
DISPLAY BOX : 4 VARIATIONS + 2 BONUS BOXES
WRAPPERS
: 10 VARIATIONS

*

‘CLICK’
TO VIEW SHEETS — PRODUCT RELEASE DIGITAL SHEETS : PAGES 1-19
NOTE:
INCORRECT 2014S1 MOCK-UP DISPLAY BOX + 10/2014 RELEASE DATE

*

HOBBY
PRODUCTION RUN

DISPLAY
BOX — CODE PKG003356 — UPC 8-87521-03453-6 — 24 PACK; ‘H’ ON BOX
NOTE:
BONUS CARDS B1a/b THROUGH B4a/b
CARDBOARD CASE — CODE PKG ? — UPC
? — FGC ? — 24 PACK / 8 BOX
FOIL PACK — CODE PKG003350 —
UPC 8-87521-03452-9 — ‘H’ ON WRAPPER; $2.49

*

COLLECTOR
EDITION PRODUCTION RUN

COLLECTOR
DISPLAY BOX — CODE PKG003361 — UPC 8-87521-03456-7 — ’24 PACK’
+ ‘H’ ON BOX
BOX ART INLAY : CODE PKG003362 — ARTIST DAVID GROSS
NOTE:
BONUS CARDS B1a/b THROUGH B4a/b
CARDBOARD CASE — CODE PKG ? — UPC
? — FGC ? — 24 PACK / 8 BOX
FOIL PACK — CODE PKG003354 —
UPC 8-87521-03455-0 — $2.49 SRP; ‘H’ ON WRAPPER

*

RETAIL
PRODUCTION RUN

DISPLAY
BOX — CODE PKG003357 — UPC 8-87521-03459-8 — ’24 PACK’ ON BOX;
TOPPS ONLINE; SRP $59.99
CARDBOARD CASE BOX — CODE PKG ? — UPC
? — FGC001347 — 24 PACK / 8 BOX
FOIL PACK — CODE PKG003346
— UPC 8-87521-03458-1 — $2.49 SRP

DISPLAY
BOX — CODE PKG003358 — UPC 8-87521-?— ’16 PACK’ ON BOX; SPECIALTY
MARKET
CARDBOARD CASE BOX — CODE PKG ? — UPC ? — FGC ? —
26 PACK / 8 BOX
FOIL PACK — CODE PKG003348 — UPC 8-87521-? —
$2.49 SRP

DISPLAY
BOX — CODE PKG003359 — UPC 8-87521-03471-0 — $9.99 SRP
NOTE:
BONUS CARD B5a/b OR B6a/b
CARDBOARD CASE BOX — PKG ? — UPC ? —
FGC001354 — ?
FOIL PACK — CODE PKG003351 — UPC 8-87521-?

BONUS FOIL WRAPPER : PKG003345

DISPLAY
BOX — CODE PKG003360 — UPC 8-87521-? — $9.99 SRP; NO PRICE
NOTE:
BONUS CARD B5a/b OR B6a/b
CARDBOARD CASE BOX — PKG ? — UPC ? —
FGC001354 — ?
FOIL PACK — CODE PKG003351 — UPC 8-87521-?

BONUS FOIL WRAPPER : PKG003345

GRAVITY
FEED BOX — CODE PKG003365 — UPC 8-87521-03462-8 — TARGET
CARDBOARD
CASE BOX — CODE PKG ? — UPC ? — FGC ? — ?
PLASTIC PACK
— CODE PKG003347 — UPC 8-87521-03461-1 — $2.49 SRP

GRAVITY
FEED BOX — CODE PKG003369 — UPC 8-87521-03468-0 — SPECIALTY MARKET;
DOLLAR STORE
CARDBOARD CASE BOX — CODE PKG — UPC ? — FGC ?
— ?
WRAPPER — CODE PKG003349 — UPC 8-87521-? — $.99 SRP;
4 CARDS

VALUE
DOUBLE PACK — CODE PKG003352 — UPC 8-87521-03475-8 — $4.99 SRP
NOTE:
BONUS CARD B7a/b THROUGH B9a/b
CARDBOARD CASE BOX — CODE PKG — UPC
? — FGC ? — ?

VALUE
SINGLE PACK — CODE PKG003355 — UPC 8-87521-03477-2 — $4.99 SRP
NOTE:
BONUS CARD B7a/b THROUGH B9a/b
CARDBOARD CASE BOX — CODE PKG ? —
UPC? — FGC ? — ?

*

ADVERTISING
/ PUBLICATION

NON-SPORT UPDATE

Set Preview : Volume 26 – No. 2 April – May 2015 Issue

— As with the
2014S2 set, The release contains no nostalgic PEEL HERE
arrow on the card fronts or die-cuts in order to reduce production costs; the
entire card is now a sticker. The ‘PEEL HERE‘ arrow was
put up to a vote at Topps and it was found that kids would not want the arrow
on their stickers, no matter the direction. It should be noted that international
releases of yesteryears without a die-cut often had the arrow pointing towards
the card edge. Promotional image for card #56 pictured.

—
The Card Numbering starts back at #1 for the 2015
Series 1 release, perhaps for the new year; and the bonus cards also start back
at #1. The packs remain at 10 cards per pack,previously known as ‘Mega’ packs,
with a higher SRP; whereas BNS1 had 8 cards per pack. The exception are the Hobby
Collector Edition packs which contain 6 cards per pack due to the exclusive premium
content.

—
The 2015S1 and 2014S2 Mock-Up Box and ‘product release’
sheets, used for promotional purposes, show the 2014S1 box theme and characters
switched to a red theme; the box color is darker green for the actual 2015S1 release
(and blue for the 2014S2 release). The promotional material above shows the 2014S1
box with ‘FPO’ stamped on it, showcased as an initialism, which in graphic design
and printing means ‘for position only’ or ‘for placement only’. Blank placeholders
or temporary low-resolution illustrations are watermarked or stamped with the
acronym FPO to indicate where the final version of an image is to be placed in
the final file, film, or plate. FPO images are commonly used while the layout
of a print project is being determined, and/or when desired images are still to
be scanned, photographed or created.

—
The following six GPK artists signed Artist Autograph
cards for the new set: Brent Engstrom, Joe Simko, Layron DeJarnette, Mark Pingitore,
David Gross and JungHwa Im. Whatever artist worked on the base card set signed
their own cards that they completed final artwork for.

—
There are no new types of insert Chase Cards for
the 2015S1 set, relatively speaking. The parallels stickers (green, black, gold,
red), sepia cards, character back cards (previously blank backs for 2014S1), canvas
cards, patch relic cards, bonus cards, printing plates, C-name cards, standard
and die-cut sketch cards and artist autograph cards are all returning chase cards
for the release. Although the canvas card is pictured with a white border on the
mock-up promotional image, the actual canvas cards have a black border; the image
can also be located on the 2015S1 promotional material.

—
The eleventh release to have a series Checklist titled
and outlined with the color blue Color, after the ANS6, ANS7, Flashback sets,
BNS1 – BNS3 sets (not including the BNS Mini set) and 2014S1 and 2014S2. The recent
base sets are so large they need two checklists, ‘Checklist A’ and ‘Checklist
B’. This is the fourth GPK set checklist to detail artist and writer inclusion
for the Topps set; this hasn’t been seen since the Trash Can Trolls in 1991 and
Wacky Packages the past two years. The set contains NO insert checklist for the
chase cards.

—
The baseball themed artwork by artist Brent Engstrom for the recurring Nasty NICK
character has been changed for the final release. As seen in the final Patch
Card image titled ‘MAGGOTS‘, the baseball cap no
longer contains the crescent moon and star very reminiscent of the OS1 character—see
the OS1 final artwork pictured below for comparison. The Dracula character’s necklace
has become the baseball character’s belt buckle, while the bat has become a rolled
up baseball ‘bat’. A replica of the famous OS1 bat can also be found in Brent
Engstrom’s artwork for cards 14a Stalag MIKE & 14b CAL Cavern. The original
promotional mock-up image for the patch card had the baseball cap changed to a
blue color, with the star removed, and the patch itself was the crescent moon.
The patches are limited to 90 copies each.

—
Two of the rare baseball subsets for the 2015S1 set are the eleven C-Name
Cards and the baseball art variant cards. The C-name GPK characters are
produced as ‘short prints’, often found in sport card releases by Topps and other
entertainment products; these inserts are usually unannounced with no odds are
given and no pack ratio, they do not usually have a published quantity and meant
as a surprise for collectors to find. There are no parallel cards of the C-names,
and they can be located within all packaging types.
There are no parallel cards for the art variant cards either, ten baseball cards
found in two different styles, the regular 1985 Topps Baseball card format and
the harder to find 1952 Topps Baseball card format found one card per case within
the Collector’s boxes. In March 2021, Topps released a 5-card set taken from this
subset as part of their Future Stars Club monthly boxed subscription; more information
can be located on the 2021 Online Releases page.

—
The new chase item for the Collector’s box is a Baseball
Autograph Card that’s a GPK caricature of four different baseball players
with an authentic autograph; although autographs are not a new chase item, the
signature is from a professional baseball player and not by a GPK artist; this
ties in nicely with the overall baseball parody theme of the new set and any Topps
baseball license. The artwork images can be seen within the ‘Artwork Gallery’
section.

—
The Puzzle Preview cards are back once again. The
newer puzzle border gray color can be found again for this release; which goes
well with the cavern theme of cards 14a Stalag MIKE & 14b CAL Cavern. Topps
had previously decided against puzzle preview cards, as previously changed with
Wacky Packages brand, due to the sheer size of the set and becuase there’s a larger
chance of receiving one of the two twin base card singles that show the completed
image rather than just one preview card on the backside of a card.

—
There are several Parody Themes within the new set
including The Cat in the Hat character by Dr. Seuss (pen name for Theodor
Geisel) reworked as a GPK character by David Gross. The overall theme remains
the same, but several items have been changed; from left to right: the boat changed
to a skull, the rake and live fish changed to a dead fish and samurai sword, the
cake changed to slop, the books changed to hand grenades and the hand fan turned
into a chainsaw.

—
The following Same Forenames occur twice for several
different characters within the new 2015S1 GPK set for cards 2b Heady HANK
and 63c Halved HANK, cards 3a Froggy FRANK and Mascot 1 Athlete’s Foot FRANK,
cards 10a Monstrous MATT and B3b Mad MATT, cards 19b Locked LORNE and Mascot 10
Unicorn LORNE, cards 20a Leavin’ LEVON and 65c Leather LEVON, cards 20b Gone JUAN
and B4b T. JUAN Thousand, cards 21a JACK In The Box and 35a Flap JACK, cards 24a
Nested NED and 58b Naked NED, cards 30a KAT Hat and B5b Can-Can KAT, cards 43b
Fiery PHIL and Mascot 8 Roadkill PHIL, cards 47a SETH O. Scope and 63b Safe SETH,
cards 48b Ridin’ RICK and Mascot 2 Rotten RICK and cards 53a Urine AL and 60c
Unatur AL.

—
The new ADAM Bomb ‘standing’ has been used for the
specialty market gravity box. The orginal artwork by artist John Pound was used
for the upper body, and artist Brent Engstrom was requested by Topps to draw the
bottom half for the fully erect character; the position is very reminiscent of
the Funko POP! ADAM Bomb figure. Pictured below are the tight pencil and final
artwork created for the piece.

—
The following Same Forenames occur three times for
several different characters within the 2015S1 set for cards 26b Horse Pie PAUL,
57c Plate PAUL and Mascot 4 Flyball PAUL and for cards 62b Base BILL, B9a Wrecking
BILL and Mascot 3 Spit BILL.

—
The toy block Initialisms located within the artwork
by Brent Engstrom for bonus cards 9a Wrecking BILL & 9b Demolished DAMEN all
stand for something, or in this case, someone(s). From top to bottom: ‘DMG’ =
Dustin M. Graham—GPK concept and sketch card artist, ‘GPK’ = Garbage Pail
Kids, ‘ACE’ = April C. Engstrom—Engstrom’s wife, ‘NPR’ = National Public
Radio—that the artist listens to whilst drawing and painting, and ‘AJB’ =
Aaron J. Booton—the GPK historian for this website.

—
Case study: artist Brent Engstrom’s Final Artwork
for cards 6a All-Seeing IVAN & 6b PIERRE Amid is very reminiscent of OS2 characters
44a SY Clops & 44b One-Eyed JACK by artist John Pound in stance and with the
one eye; the original concept had the character completely erect instead of rising
from the sand and the second concept pictured the character with two eye holes.
The atmosphere was modeled after John Pound’s OS3 character for cards 104a Silent
SANDY & 104b Barren AARON where a pyramid can be seen in the background; the
original concept had the man on camel standing next to a palm tree as the older
artwork portrayed.

—
The twenty-third set to contain cards with the GPK Acronym,
or initialism, found within the artwork; on the spongecake packaging of cards
8a Twin BRIN and 8b Split WHIT, on the top hat of cards 30a KAT Hat and 30b Irresponse
ABLE, on the syrup container of cards 35a Flap JACK and 35b PATTY Pancake, on
the toy block of cards B9a Wrecking BILL and B9b Demolished DAMON.

—
Two GPK-like characters show up in the Wacky Packages
2015S1 set released in June of the same year. Artist Brent Engstrom painted the
first title, Yu-Ki-Oh!—a Yu-Gi-Oh! parody, card #93 that has a GPK
character standing in a dumpster. The second piece painted by artist Dave Gross
titled Konga—an American Girl parody for card #82 is that is very reminiscent
of the OS1 character KIM Kong.

—
The card character 3b Leggy PEGGY has the Nomenclature
as the OS16 unpublished card 647a Leggy PEGGY that was changed to 13a Leggy LAUREN
for the ANS1 set.

—
The base card set and bonus cards contain no GPK Nameplate
nomenclature with white type, only black font lettering, the same as the 2014
Series 2 release.

—
The original final painting for artist Brent Engstrom’s artwork for Bonus
Cards B2a Rock ’em ROD and B2b Sock ’em SOL had all of the character’s
teeth intact; Engstrom painted over two of the teeth to make them missing for
the final release, thus, placing a larger impact on the ‘KO’ knock-out and flying
teeth within the artwork.

—
The unofficial 2015S1 special Promo Cards can be
located within IDW’s second and third GPK comics titled ‘Love Stinks’ and ‘Fables,
Fantasy and Farts’ deluxe versions released in February and April of 2015, respectively.
The character SP2 French Kiss TRISH and SP3 FELICIA Fantasy were painted by artist
Brent Engstrom and have been included in the 2015S2 ’30th GPK Anniversary’ set.
A rare ‘PEEL HERE‘ arrow can be located on the backside
of the cards and the ‘ON SALE MARCH 2015‘ announcement changes
to ‘ON SALE NOW‘.

—
The artwork border used for the Baseball Subset card
backs was completed for the Giant 5×7 GPK set by artist Howard Cruse in 1986.
It has been reused for the ‘a’ backs for the 2015S1 baseball subset. The ribbon
artwork, now with no number, was created and drawn by Mark Newgarden. The baseball
character on the backside was completed by James Warhola for OS7 cards 291a HOMER
Runt & 291b Screwball LEW.

—
GPK artist Brent Engstrom contributed more than forty
paintings for the recent set along with numerous concepts. Engstrom starts with
a digital tight pencil which is then placed within a GPK template provided by
Topps and creates a color rough that displays the GPK header, nameplate, ‘PEEL
HERE‘ arrow and die-cut outline; thus giving a size comparison and placement.
The final artwork is then manually produced once approved, scanned and turned
into Topps. The orginal concept for cards #7 has
the character pulling the rabbit out of his head and changed to a different position
pulling his brain out of the hat. The
orginal concept for cards #26 has the pony being branded and in a horizontal position
holding a roll of toilet paper with no additional stool piles. The orginal concept
for cards #31 has the onion character with a full body and for cards #37 has the
character in a different position.

—
The 2015S1 Wacky Packages set contains six Garbage
Pail Kids ad backs that number #43 through #48—pictured left to right, bottom
to top, with characters pulled from various GPK sets. OS3 card characters 110a
Snooty SAM & 110b U.S. ARNIE with the new tagline ‘I WANT NEW TOPPS STICKERS’,
a parody of the ‘I WANT YOU‘, the U.S. Army’s Uncle Sam
poster; BNS2 card characters B10a Riveting ROSIE & B10b Propaganda PAULA with
a ‘WE CAN DO IT!‘ wartime propaganda poster parody for Westinghouse
Electric; OS2 card characters 65a Shrunken ED & 65b Cheeky CHARLES with the
minimalistic tagline ‘THINK SMALLER‘ instead of ‘THINK
BIG‘; OS4 card character 128a Sloshed JOSH & 128b Low CAL with an Absolut
Vodka parody; 2014S1 card characters 52a Mustache MAX & 52b BARRY Barber with
a Milk’s ‘WHERE’S YOUR MUSTACHES?‘ parody; and 2015S1 card
characters Baseball All-Stars and Patch #7 JOE Blow with Nike’s ‘JUST
DO IT‘ tagline.

—
Artist and writer Pat Barrett wrote all of the bios for the card backs; the artwork
and writing for all of the Comic Backs was completed
by Pat Barrett and Colin Walton(?).