Sunday 26 April 2009

Adam Bomb And Up Chuck

Having blogged about the Viewmaster the other day, I started thinking about other childhood obsessions. Now, being children raised on a steady diet of Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll and Dr Seuss, our tastes tended towards the strange and the gruesome (and boys tastes generally veer that way anyway, really). So it should come as no surprise that we were utterly obsessed by these:-



Yes, it's the Garbage Pail Kids. We collected these bad boys for years. Being used to the old Panini sticker albums and not having one for these, we made our own out of folded over A3 paper and stuck them all inside (which is a shame because I think they ended getting thrown away for being in a tatty state -if only we'd kept them with the backs on, we could have sold them for a fair amount). We even watched and enjoyed the Garbage Pail Kids movie although I couldn't tell you a thing about it now; that one's lost in the mists of time.

I have to admit they had a genius way to make you collect more - each card had an A and a B version with a different name on it so you effectively had to collect each card twice. Great. Takes twice as long to get the lot.

I had a sneaking suspicion that it might be the sort of thing that just wouldn't happen these days* but a swift Google search has proved that they still make these too! Viewmaster, Top Trumps, Garbage Pail Kids, Star Wars, Transformers, 2000AD, they're all still around and going strong today - it's like my childhood never ended. And some would say that I behave as if it never did as well. They would be right. Now pass me the Top Trumps and let's go down the park...

* Particularly one's like Nervous Rex who's smothered in cigarettes

9 comments:

Toivoa ja Elämän said...

Hey, I'm pretty new to your blog, but it's about time I de-lurk, methinks. I'm 16 and while I have no idea who the Garbage Pail Kids are, Roald Dahl, Dr Seuss, and even Lewis Carroll are definitely still doing pretty well for themselves.
Star Wars is a particular favourite of mine ;D
And your childhood never should end, so good work on behaving that way ;)

Anna Russell said...

Ahh, Panini sticker albums. I had one for just about everything and I don't think I ever managed to fill a single one.
Swapsies?

That Baldy Fella said...

Toivoa - Welcome out of lurkland! And I must say that you have impeccable taste. Don't worry, there are still no immediate signs of me growing up any time soon.

Anna - Ah, swapsies! They only ones we completed were Secret Wars and Transformers. Back To The Future, Return Of The Jedi, ET, The Black Cauldron - all languished on the shelf, incomplete...

kapgaf said...

Well, thanks for making me feel old today (though Toivoa just made it worse by being younger than my children).

My childhood was so long ago that I don't just not remember what I collected, I don't even remember if I collected! Had lots of fun though.

Anonymous said...

The Garbage Pail Kids were awesome! And it wasn't just boys who collected them. Many of my friends and I put them on the outside of our notebooks for school (especially if one of our teachers that we didn't like looked like one of the garbage pail kids!)
Did you have silly putty? And did you use it on your comics? I did!
I'm sure we would have been fast friends back then!
;-)

Diane said...

I'm too old to have collected the Garbage Pail Kids (thankfully ;). But 'nowadays', kids have Captain Underpants... and Professor Poopypants... Bionic Booger Boy... Wicked Wedgie Woman... need I go on?

Zina said...

Wow, I've never seen these before! Good thing the capitalism of nostalgia lets us be kids forever. I love dolls. I mean, action figures. Yeah.

That Baldy Fella said...

kapgaf - Ah well, the collecting never really stopped for me (he says, sat in a room surrounded by books and comics...)

Sweet Cheeks - You had to have GPK stickers, it was the law. Silly putty (we call it Playdoh)?!?! On comics?!? Sacrilege!

Diane - Good, good, nice to know that the kids stuff is just as vile now. Warms the heart...

Rachel - Ah, you missed out! They also came with a pink stick of gum that snapped into brittle shards and lacerated your gums when you bit into it. Happy days.

Toivoa ja Elämän said...

Haha, I just read Kapgaf's comment. Sorry!