Like every good stick-it-to-the-adults product, Garbage Pail Kids cards were an immediate hit with kids when they debuted in 1985 … and an immediate thorn in the side for parents, teachers, clergymen, and no-fun-nicks.

Made to parody the wildly popular Cabbage Patch Kids dolls of the day, the Garbage Pail Kids actually showed up on stickers albeit with stiff cardboard backs and checking in at a regulation-baseball-card-size 2 1/2″ X 3 1/2″.

Featuring cartoon versions of the same types of familiar dimply visages that graced Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, Garbage Pail Kids then perverted each tableau through a series of pun-derful disfigurements and naughty moments that included the likes of …

  • Adam Bomb, with an exploding head
  • Nasty Nick, a vampire-thing on the verge of (apparently) defiling a Barbie doll in some fashion
  • Thin Lynn, a skeletonized redhead whose diet went a bit too far
  • Stinky Stan, a garbage-can-dwelling baby-thing who appears to be naked

… and many other awful, terrible, delightful, irresistible beasties.

In all, there were 41 different tykes, issued across 82 different cards — basically, two series (“A” and “B”) each featuring the same artwork but with different clever(ish) child names.

While kids of the era ate these things up, there was, of course, backlash from adults, and maybe even a conspiracy or two as the cards sank into obscurity and eventually ended up mostly in commons bins or — gasp! — discarded entirely.

But those kids grew up, and when we did, we remembered how much fun it was to make fun of those pudgy, little-kid Cabbage Patch things … and realized how much we really wanted to stick it to the man, just like our stickers did way back then.

And, so, what did we do?

Yeah, we sought out our Garbage Pail Kids.

When we did? Well, we found out they weren’t quite as easy to come by as we might have imagined. Demand rose, supply didn’t, and prices climbed.

Eventually, these silly little baubles entered the realm of real collectibles, so much so that we started getting graded, just like our Mickey Mantle and Pete Rose and Pete LaCock baseball cards.

Today, you need look no further than the list of most-watched Garbage Pail Kids cards on eBay right now (see below) to realize that these little troublemakers will never truly go out of style. And check back often, because this GPK list is updated all the time.

(NOTE: The section below contains affiliate links to eBay listings for the card shown. You might also enjoy our rundown of the 100 Most Expensive Pokemon Cards Sold on eBay in the Last 30 Days.)

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2022 Topps X MLB Garbage Pail Kids Artsy Alex (Pardee) On card Auto Card 1b

Watchers: 7  
# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $49.99
Auction Ends: 29-Sep-2023 23:09
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#’d /150 2022 Topps X MLB Garbage Pail Kids Modeled Mike (Trout) SP Card 4a

Watchers: 3  
# of Bids: 1
Current Bid: $0.99
Auction Ends: 28-Sep-2023 23:09
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2023 Topps International Card Day lot of 5 Unopened GARBAGE PAIL KIDS packs!

Watchers: 3  
# of Bids: 3
Current Bid: $2.25
Auction Ends: 30-Sep-2023 17:09
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1 OF A KIND LOT 1450 CARD LOT~MLB STAR WARS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS HISTORY AMERICANA

Watchers: 2  
# of Bids: 1
Current Bid: $29.99
Auction Ends: 27-Sep-2023 17:09
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2022 Topps GPK x Keith Shore - Garbage Pail Kids Card of Popular Pete Alonso 2a

Watchers: 2  
# of Bids: 2
Current Bid: $1.51
Auction Ends: 26-Sep-2023 01:09
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Topps MLB x GPK Pardee VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR Silver Foil TOM NATOR Card 6b Psa 10

Watchers: 1  
# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $249.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 05:10
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Alex Pardee Autograph On Garbage Pail Kids Vladimir Guerrero Card

Watchers: 1  
# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $59
Auction Ends: 27-Sep-2023 16:09
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Garbage Pail Kids 2021 Chrome Series 4 GPK TROPHY TREY AN1a Card

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# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $0.99
Auction Ends: 29-Sep-2023 15:09
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS BRUTAL BRAD TRADING CARD

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# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS ONE-EYED JACK TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS GHASTLY ASHLEY TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS SY CLOPS TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS SPACEY STACY TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS GORGEOUS GEORGE TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS BENT BEN TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS POURIN' LAUREN TRADING CARD

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# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MONA LOSER TRADING CARD

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# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MATT RATT TRADING CARD

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# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS BONNIE BUNNY TRADING CARD

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# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS ZACH PLAQUE TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS PATTY PUTTY TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MUGGIN' MEGAN TRADING CARD

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Current Bid: $3.99
Auction Ends: 01-Oct-2023 01:10
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Sue Venir 2023 Garbage Pail Kids Go On Vacation Booger Green #81a Puzzle Card

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Current Bid: $0.99
Auction Ends: 28-Sep-2023 01:09
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Scam Pam 2023 Garbage Pail Kids Go On Vacation Booger Green #93b Puzzle Card

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Current Bid: $0.99
Auction Ends: 28-Sep-2023 02:09
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1987 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS TURNED- ON RON TRADING CARD

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# of Bids: 0
Current Bid: $1.99
Auction Ends: 03-Oct-2023 17:10
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