What collectors say
Ask collectors which series is best and the answer is often whichever one they found in a shop first. Here is where the conversation stands on the sets, the artists and Topps.
The Original Series
OS1 is where it started, with Adam Bomb at 8a. It was scarce for a lot of kids at the time, and collectors who finish it now like to put it on display. OS2 and OS3 both have vocal fans, and OS2 earns extra credit from set builders for its double prints and variations. The later series have smaller crowds that stay loyal: OS12 was named as a favourite when collectors traded picks this year.
Plenty of collectors skip the set race entirely and follow one kid, or one a and b pair, across every printing. The name, the gag and what the card meant to them as a kid decide it.
Chrome and Sapphire
The reprints serve two kinds of collector. One wants the original art in crisp condition. The other wants every colour of a single kid, a rainbow. Collectors who want new jokes find the reused art less exciting. Chrome 5 divides people, and at least one collector rates it the best of the run. Chrome 7 is built around parallels, which rainbow collectors like and some base-set builders call filler: one two-box report still came up short of a complete base set. Sapphire 5 was talked about mostly as a box that was hard to get.
The modern sets
When a newcomer asks where to start with new art, InterGOOlactic Mayhem is the most common answer, and Book Worms and Oh, the Horror-ible get recommended too. Kids at Play is the budget pick. Battle of the Bands, Go on Vacation and We Hate the '80s sell to people who like what they parody. The Green Day boxes drew complaints about value and card quality.
The 40th anniversary
The Worst of GPK split collectors. The Adam Bomb homages and the sketch pulls got shown off with real excitement. The preorder was hard to catch, prices climbed, and resale listings went up quickly. One collector felt the many sketches made each one less special and would rather have seen the set cheaper and easier to get.
Topps
The complaints about Topps are practical ones. Can you get a box at the release price? Did anyone tell you when it dropped? Will the packs be sealed and the cards cut cleanly? Can you finish a base set without drowning in duplicates and parallels? Publishing a date on a product page is not the same as collectors feeling told, and the 2026 Halloween release, with its EQL draw, showed the gap. Individual reports of rough edges, damaged corners and unsealed packs come up, but nothing in the conversation adds up to a defect rate, or shows whether things changed after Fanatics took over.
There is an older argument underneath. Some longtime collectors resent a chase model for a hobby they remember as a quarter a pack. Others are opening the new packs with their own children. A common middle path: buy singles or a complete base set, and open a box for the fun of it.
The early artists
John Pound painted the fronts of the first two series and set the look. Collectors prize his signature and anything tied to the original paintings. His 2005 sketch cards get argued over, and more than one near-identical sketch can carry a 1/1 number, so read prices with care.
Tom Bunk drew the early card-back cartoons and started painting fronts with OS3. Of the original artists, he is the one collectors talk about commissioning most. James Warhola painted alongside them, Jay Lynch wrote gags and drew card backs, Mae Jeon has artwork credits from the original run, and Art Spiegelman and Mark Newgarden shaped and edited the series. Their place in the history is settled, but collectors rarely rank them against each other.
Want a custom card of your own? Our commissions guide lists artists whose custom work collectors have shown and praised, and explains sketches, proofs and customs. This page reflects collector conversation on Reddit sampled in November 2026. It is what collectors are saying, not a price guide.