Topps planned to make 2026 the year of GPK Universe. Instead, the set slipped to 2027, and the year became the first since 2009 with no mainstream retail Garbage Pail Kids release. The kids did not take the year off; most of them went online.
Most of the action was online. The Valentine’s Day set came round again in February. Bizarre Competitions ran for six weeks from late July as a print-on-demand series, with Topps publishing each week’s print run once sales closed. The weeks ranged from 1,162 to 1,803 sets. In October came the Halloween box, sold through an EQL draw at $75 and heading to hobby shops in November at about twice that.
The biggest print run of the online year belonged to the strangest card. El Moco Verde, a Topps Now card painting the Colombian singer FEID as a Garbage Pail Kid, sold 5,763 copies, more than three times the best week of Bizarre Competitions. It confused plenty of longtime collectors and did not confuse his fans at all.
The kids also kept turning up inside other products. Topps put GPK inserts in Topps Chrome WWE in April and in Bowman Chrome Baseball for the third year running, and the 2025 to 2026 Bowman Basketball release carried NBA versions.
Away from Topps, the licensed side stayed busy. GetAGrip released a third series of Giant Art Prints, MeTV’s Svengoolie got his own set, Thrilljoy added PIX! figures, and the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame kept the bobbleheads coming.
What the year lacked was a set you could pick up at a checkout. Universe is meant to fix that in 2027. Our news desk follows what comes next.