All-New Series 2

Topps issued All-New Series 2 in March 2004, having readied the packaging late the previous year before sending packs to retail aisles and hobby shops across two main production runs. With brand manager John Williams overseeing the art direction, the eighty-card base set reunited seasoned veterans John Pound, Tom Bunk, James Warhola, and Frank Santopadre with concept art by Jay Lynch, while introducing newcomers Strephon Taylor, Jeff Zapata, John Czop, and Chris Hebel. It rolled out characters such as Peg Leg Greg, Bubbly Brianna, José Soufflé, and Umbilical Corey.

The release arrived in two distinct box configurations, beginning with standard thirty-six-pack hobby boxes, which each came packaged with a window-cling poster box-topper. Individual foil packs carried a ninety-nine-cent suggested price and held five base stickers along with one foil card, but Topps shook up the formula by introducing proper chase cards to a domestic release for the first time. Inserted at one in every six packs, a twelve-card Scratch 'n Stink subset gave collectors something aromatic to hunt, accompanied by three Wacky Packages promo stickers seeded at the very same odds. Later, a second wave of distribution introduced bonus boxes holding eleven packs, giving buyers ten regular packs alongside a bonus pack and an exclusive cello-wrapped card.

Cost considerations still shaped the physical product, meaning ANS2 became only the second GPK set to rely entirely on puzzle backs without any comic or humor gags on the reverse, a choice made to keep production costs down. Six nine-card puzzles spanned the reverses, but unlike those in the previous series, these assembled pictures dispensed with character nameplates and GPK banners. Meanwhile, artists Pat and Sean Glover returned to handle the fifty-card foil insert roster, rendering familiar characters from original sets with newly rendered finishes. While the previous foil cards were restricted strictly to red, this run gave the nameplates and banners a variety of colors, paired with online codes on the back that unlocked thirty different features for fans to build their own characters on the web.

The bonus box exclusives, B1 On Camera Cameron and B2 Paintball Paul, broke long-standing franchise tradition by becoming the first domestic character cards issued without corresponding twin names.