Brand-New Series 3

Arriving in October 2013, Brand-New Series 3 picked up the torch directly from its spring predecessor, continuing the continuous numbering run from card 129a through 194b rather than resetting back to one. The release restored standard packs to ten cards apiece, moving up from the leaner eight-card wrappers used when the Brand-New era began. Topps spread the release across multiple packaging formats, distributing twenty-four pack hobby boxes alongside retail boxes of sixteen or twenty-four packs, value boxes with an exclusive bonus card, and oversized jumbo rack packs.

The 132-sticker base set handed character duties to painters like Brent Engstrom, Joe Simko, David Gross, Junghwa Im, Layron DeJarnette, and Mark Pingitore. Topps also restored a long-absent piece of behind-the-scenes history: the blue-bordered Checklist A and Checklist B credited the contributing artists and writers by name, an acknowledgment the company had not printed on a checklist since Trash Can Trolls in 1991.

Insert collectors had plenty to dig for, beginning with familiar black borders falling every other pack, silver parallels seeded one per hobby box, and scarcer gold versions. Topps omitted an insert checklist entirely this time around.

Hand-drawn sketch cards returned for their seventh Garbage Pail Kids outing, falling at 1:203 hobby packs and 1:440 retail packs, alongside ten return blanks retained by each contributing artist. Artist autographs featured signatures written on clear stickers across 133 distinct subjects, four printing plate cards were inserted, and a sweepstakes code card loomed at daunting 1:47,000 pack odds. Rounding out the hunt were eleven unannounced C-name short prints slipped into circulation without published odds, as well as a P1 Hoodie HARLAN promo card that reached collectors in the mail following the 2013 Philly show.