Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys: Classic GPK mini figures!

Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys are some of the most popular toys among monochromatic mini figure collectors, but I've never done a proper, detailed post on them. It's time for that to change!

Topps produced Cheap Toys in the mid-to-late '80s (starting in 1986), after GPK trading cards became popular. It was probably one of the first -- if not the first -- American mini figure lines to use the "blind bag" concept. Each figure came hidden in a little green trash bag along with a pack of chalky candy discs that sort of looked like Tums (appropriately billed as "Crummy Candy" on the package). 

My earliest Cheap Toys memory is being at a mall as a very little kid and getting my mom to buy me one bag at a candy store. I can still remember excitedly opening the sucker while perched at a table in the food court and discovering a flesh-colored Thin Lynn inside. That Lynn was the only Cheap Toy I owned until adulthood, and remains in my collection today (that's her you see at the bottom in the photo above!). As a kid I always wondered what the other figures looked like and if they came in any other colors. Little did I know that there were many variations and even rare colors, or that a second series was produced.

Cheap Toys in their natural habitat

Below, we'll take a closer look at this small-yet-awesome toy line.

Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys: Series 2 (rubber reproductions)

I'm a big fan of Garbage Pail Kids "Cheap Toys" mini figures, and still remember getting my one and only Cheap Toy as a kid in a bag of "Crummy Candy" at candy store at the mall (it was a peach-colored Thin Lynn, which I still have). Until a few years ago, though, I was unaware that a second series of Cheap Toys was produced. That's probably because Series 2 figures were made in limited quantities and only available in Canada, so tracking down a set of them is a huge undertaking and costs a small fortune.

Luckily, collector and toy caster Eric Nilla recently made rubber reproductions of the figures available, offering the opportunity for people who don't want to/can't afford to track down originals to add the sculpts to their collections. I picked up a set a while back, and as soon as I received it I was very happy I did!

Probably the most significant attribute that sets these reproductions apart from original Series 2 Cheap Toys is the material. While originals are made of a hard plastic, these reproductions were cast in a soft, keshi-style rubber. With some of my favorite toy lines being the likes of Monster in My Pocket and Neclos Fortress, rubber is my material of choice for mini figures, so without having ever actually felt a genuine Series 2 Cheap Toy, I'm pretty sure I'd prefer them in this rubbery material.

The other difference is color. While these reproductions share the same color scheme as original Series 2 Cheap Toys (red, blue, yellow and green), the hues are slightly different. My versions have a bit more of a neon look--especially the yellows. I really love their vibrant look. I do know that these have been cast by Eric in many other colors, though, including ones that are very different from those of original Cheap Toys.

The 10 characters in the Series 2 set are as follows:

• Berserk Kirk  (based on card 116 from GPK Series 3)
• Fishy Phyllis  (based on card 108 from GPK Series 3)
• Galloping Glen  (based on card 86 from GPK Series 3)
• Still Jill  (based on card 119 from GPK Series 3)
• Catty Kathy  (based on card 159 from GPK Series 4)
• Ali Gator  (based on card 100 from GPK Series 3)
• Mouth Phil  (based on card 140 from GPK Series 4)
• Picky Mickey  (based on card 99 from GPK Series 3)
• Les Vegas  (based on card 117 from GPK Series 3)
• Distorted Dot  (based on card 96 from GPK Series 3)

Maybe someday I'll get an original Series 2 Cheap Toy or two, but even if I never do, I'll be happy just owning these beautiful re-casts.

What do you think of them? Do you own, or have the desire to track down, any Series 2 Cheap Toys?

For more information, check out these links:
GPK Cheap Toys Series 2 at MinifiguresXD
GPK Cheap Toys Series 2 at GeePeeKay.com

Putrid peaches

Here's my latest "toys by color" group shot. I'm running out of colors! 

Toy lines in this photo: Nintendo Super Mario keshi, OMFG, Lucky Yuckies, HACK: OtherWorld Aliens, Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys, Villgust, ZOMBIE, Cosmix, Kinnikuman bootleg, Gorewad Monsters, Weird Ball Wrestlers, Ultimate MUSCLE.

For more of these types of photos, check out my "toys by color" set on Flickr.

Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys: Cracked Crystal custom figure

Cracked Crystal with the previously-released Nasty Nick GPK custom from Muscle Things

Although I'm only a casual collector of Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys, one of the things I enjoy most about this particular subset of the minifigure collecting hobby is that some of its talented fans have taken it upon themselves to produce their own figures of GPK characters. These include characters that were not turned into plastic by Topps in the official late-1980s Cheap Toys line. The latest such figure is the beauty pictured above, Cracked Crystal, who was number 221 in the Topps trading card set (also known as Shrill Jill on the "b" version of the card).

The figure was sculpted excellently by collector/artist "Uraeus," with an equally fine job done on casting by "Muscle Things." This version was cast in a gorgeous clear light green that is very appropriate for the character. It also features Muscle Things' signature slightly rubbery plastic, which has an amazing feel to it. And look at that sculpt. It's so good, it easily looks like it could have been an official GPK Cheap Toys figure. Check out the Topps Cracked Crystal card to the right and see for yourself how the figure compares to the artwork.

I hope these Cheap Toys fans will continue to put their talents to work and create more great figures of GPK characters!

Also check out:
GPK Cheap Toys Nasty Nick custom figure
GPK Cheap Toys + Garbage Can-dy can

Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys: Custom Nasty Nick / Evil Eddie

What: Can you believe the figure pictured above is a completely custom sculpt? This Garbage Pail Kids character (Nasty Nick / Evil Eddie) wasn't made as part of the official line of GPK Cheap Toys figures by Topps in the 1980s, but instead was sculpted recently to fit among them (it is the same size and similar sculpting style as the Topps figures). A collector who uses the handle Muscle Things commissioned a professional toy sculptor (who remains anonymous by request) to sculpt it, and from that Muscle Things has cast and sold the piece in soft plastic in a variety of colors. Aside from the transparent blue pictured above, many other attractive colors such as magenta, neon orange, neon yellow and transparent pink have been created. In addition to the superb sculpting job and eye-catching colors, the plastic material used is noteworthy--it is a unique, flexible-yet-firm plastic with a very nice feel to it.

When: I believe this custom was first sold sometime in 2011.

Where: Sold online periodically in different colors via the Muscle Things forum shop.

Who: Sculpted by an anonymous professional toy sculptor and cast/sold by toy collector Muscle Things.

Ornery oranges

There are a lot of moments in my life where I just stop what I'm doing and say to myself, "Damn, I'm a huge geek." One such moment came during the process of taking the above photo, during which I spent way too much time picking out, arranging and shooting a group of orange toys. I had so much fun taking a pic of a bunch of green mini figures together that I wanted to do the same for other colors, starting with orange. See? Huge geek. But if being a toy geek is wrong, I don't wanna be right. Now to figure out which color to do next...

Here are the toy lines featured in this photo: Dragons N Monsters, MUSCLE, Mini Boglins, vending machine knockoff of Marty Toy space creature, Diener Space Creatures, Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys, Necros Fortress, Freakies, party favor monster, Space Ace, mini vending machine kaiju, Monster in My Pocket

Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys + Garbage Can-dy can

GPK Cheap Toys Crater Chris, Muggin' Megan & Thin Lynn with Garbage Can-dy can

I recently came into a couple new Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys figures to add to my paltry collection and immediately started thinking of how I might photograph them to properly show how fun and cool they are. When I stumbled onto an old Topps Garbage Can-dy container I had lying around (in a nice silvery gray color), I knew I found the answer! GPK figures and Garbage Can-dy containers are a match made in toy heaven (or in this case, the alley). Now, if I could only go back in time and buy a considerable amount more when they were literally cheap toys!

Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys

Thin Lynn GPK Cheap Toys figure

What: Small plastic representations of characters from the popular "Garbage Pail Kids" trading card series of the 1980s. The figures came in a variety of colors, 20 sculpts over two series, packaged in a bag with "crummy candy." For more information and photos check out Soupie's Cheap Toys blog and GeePeeKay.com's Cheap Toys section. I REALLY need more of these.

When: 1986 (series one), with a second series following

Where: U.S. (later U.K. and Canada), sold in various department/toy/convenience stores

Who: Produced by Topps Chewing Gum Inc.