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A List of the Most Popular Garbage Pail Kids

The Garbage Pail Kids, originally released between 1985-88, were twisted, strange, humorous and popular trading cards. GPK featured an outlandish cast of grossed-out characters, and the series spawned a film adaptation and various related merchandise throughout the 1980s. While each collector has his own favorite Kid, pop culture journalists and fans help remind us of some of the more enduring characters.

Series 1-7
- Many of the most popular Garbage Pail Kids appeared in the original run of the trading cards - actually, peelable stickers -- spanning Series 1-7. Some characters ribbed American icons, such as Snooty Sam's nose-picking take on Uncle Sam and Have a Nice Dave's rendition of a smiley face pin switching places with someone's actual face. Cut Up Carmen from Series 7 broke the fourth wall and parodied the cards as she appeared to break free from her two-dimensional bounds. Card number 87b, Hot Head Harvey, poked fun at the popular Transformers toys of the era, while Adam Bomb presented social satire, depicting one of the Kids playing video games as a nuclear mushroom cloud erupts from his head.
Series 8-15
- In Series 14, Fake Jake satirized trademark litigation forced on GPK-creator Topps by the manufacturers of the Cabbage Patch Kids, a prominent victim of GPK parody. The result of the lawsuit changed the design of the Garbage Pail Kids. The Fake Jake card, number 572a, shows a two-dimensional cutout of a Cabbage Patch-like doll with a grotesque drooling alien sneaking behind it. Proving the Garbage Pail Kids know nothing of political correctness, Interracial Rachel -- card number 626a -- illustrates the faces of a black, Asian and white doll stitched together.
2003 Series
- Trading card manufacturer Topps relaunched GPK in 2003, and though the series didn't enjoy the success of the original cards, fans latched on to a few standouts. Hollow Wayne depicts a carved Halloween jack-o'-lantern appearing to have human organs inside. Dough Boyd, card number 55b in the second-generation of GPK, continues the tradition of pop-culture parody, showing a gross version of the Pillsbury Dough Boy with chocolate cupcakes exploding from his rear end.
Movie Characters
- In the 1987 film version of the Garbage Pail Kids, some of the more popular characters made the transition to celluloid. Ali Gator, the half-human half-alligator from Series 1, leads the weird GPK gang, which also includes the constantly-gassy Windy Winston from Series 5 and the barfing Valerie Vomit from Series 7. Cards number 45b, 172a, 62a and 70b -- the snotty Messy Tessie, pimply Nat Nerd, 1950s-themed Greaser Greg and bad-breathed Foul Phil, respectively -- all bolstered their popularity with onscreen appearances.

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