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Post by rusVan on Jul 19, 2010 11:40:14 GMT -5
 Uk Cheap Toys = 1980s Garbage Gang Cheap Toys = 1990s This article is about the first Uk Cheap Toys, released WHO KNOWS WHEN (lol), but probably 1986 or 1987. Of all 5 of the Cheap Toy releases, this is the least popular among collectors. In fact, many collectors don’t know about it! This writer feels it is a significant series and has unique colors. A complete color list for Uk Cheap Toys does not currently exist. One big reason a list doesn’t exist is because no new colors were introduced, and worse, it appears that only Base Colors were sent to the Uk (and NO rares!). There appears to be some variants though. The obvious color variant is with green. A color that will soon be introduced, and called Uk Green, is the darkest green Cheap Toy. Uk Green could be called Green, since it is 2 or 3 shades darker than the USA Light Green (Glossy). Uk Green is also semi gloss, which helps it stand out. The Uk CT box is perhaps the best artifact of this issue. The box is easily recognizable due to the printed white circle in the top right corner. This feature is found on the other Uk Garbage Pail Kids boxes from that time. The bottom of the box states that it was distributed by Topps Ireland, Cork. The weight of the contents is translated into grams instead of ounces. Another interested note is, at least on my example, the box is made from a different cardboard stock-a rough tooth stock compared to the slick USA boxes. The Uk CT wrapper is nearly identical to the USA packs, except “Topps Ireland, Cork” is printed on the backside. The plastic is darker, if anything, than the USA packs, but this will need to be researched further. The strangest fact about the Uk Cheap Toy release is how rare they are: MIP packs rarely pop up for sale, only 3 or 4 displays are known, and there is only a RUMOR of a full box known. Yet, when a Uk MIP shows up they sell for about as much as a USA pack! I prefer to not discuss prices in historical essays, but there’s a point to be shown here. Uk wrappers, for example, range in the 8-12 dollar range, yet under 20 are known(viewed in photographs or confirmed directly from collectors). Why? One reason is because collectors don’t know much about them, but the biggest reason is Uk wrappers, for example, are nearly identical to USA ones so they don’t cause a lot of excitement. Uk CT display boxes range in the 80-150 range (condition is crucial and accounts for the wide range). Why? The probable reason is the box has the identifying white circle on the lid! If anything, this article was written to show the awkward place Uk Cheap Toys have in our hobby. It’s almost a secret in some circles.  |
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Post by rusVan on Jul 19, 2010 12:22:01 GMT -5
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Post by Robiero on Jul 20, 2010 6:55:19 GMT -5
i gave about 20 wrappers and an empty box to ukrob for free a few years ago. what the f*CK was i thinking
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Post by GPK-kid on Jul 20, 2010 10:32:01 GMT -5
i gave about 20 wrappers and an empty box to ukrob for free a few years ago. what the f*CK was i thinking Ouch!  |
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Post by rusVan on Jul 20, 2010 23:35:38 GMT -5
i gave about 20 wrappers and an empty box to ukrob for free a few years ago. what the f*CK was i thinking Did you open the packs yourself? If so, what colors were in them?! |
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Post by Robiero on Jul 21, 2010 11:36:00 GMT -5
yeah i sold a few and opened about 20 packs myself.
they were regular greens,blues,reds and dull non glossy peaches.
also pulled a lime green from 1 pack and one of the packs i sold to Soupie also contained a lime green.
i know of 3 full boxes that are definatly out there Ben (gotneed) has one of them but not sure where the other 2 are at now. and maybe a 4th box might be owned by the guy who sold me my full box that i had
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Post by rusVan on Jul 21, 2010 15:38:42 GMT -5
B.P. will NOT confirm his box(Go figure, right?  ) If you say so Rob, that's awesome... Just wish these collectors would step forward... but at least you know where they are ! Btw, I would like to score one Uk MIP pack, 4 have come up for sale in the past 3 years on eBay, but not yet in 2010, and I passed them up because I figured they were common. Uk packs are not common.  Yeah, I looked at a Uk lot I won that had those darker greens and the same lot had Limes, also had Dark Blues... yeah i sold a few and opened about 20 packs myself. they were regular greens,blues,reds and dull non glossy peaches. also pulled a lime green from 1 pack and one of the packs i sold to Soupie also contained a lime green. i know of 3 full boxes that are definatly out there Ben (gotneed) has one of them but not sure where the other 2 are at now. and maybe a 4th box might be owned by the guy who sold me my full box that i had |
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Post by Robiero on Jul 21, 2010 15:43:59 GMT -5
Russ what do u mean B.P won't confirm his box ? he posted pics on cheaptoyland before isn't that confirmation ?
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Post by rusVan on Jul 21, 2010 15:46:42 GMT -5
yeah i sold a few and opened about 20 packs myself. they were regular greens,blues,reds and dull non glossy peaches. also pulled a lime green from 1 pack and one of the packs i sold to Soupie also contained a lime green. i know of 3 full boxes that are definatly out there Ben (gotneed) has one of them but not sure where the other 2 are at now. and maybe a 4th box might be owned by the guy who sold me my full box that i had Does the price range on the Uk Display Box surprise you Robiero? It's a GREAT box, and is an interest to foreign Gpk collectors, Uk GPK collectors, 1980's collectors, Vintage Candy collectors, box and packaging collectors, and of course us CT collectors. These will only go up in value.  And, I don't think any collector would argue paying 8 dollars for a Uk CT wrapper, I wouldn't. I'd buy them all day long for 8 dollars each. |
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Post by Robiero on Aug 2, 2010 16:15:57 GMT -5
recently ive talked to a uk ebay member who listed 12 uk figures on ebay 2 of which were floaters. now he tells me that he brought all these figures from the local shop in his area around 86/87 which backs up ukrobs thoughts of uk floaters also being available at this time. so its likely that a small number of uk floaters were in the 1st uk gpk release mixed in with mostly sinkers. then the later garbage gang release seems to have contained only uk floaters.
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Post by cockneyrebel on Aug 8, 2010 1:41:59 GMT -5
Ha ha onot that anyone gives two tosses but I remember writing to Topps ireland asking them for new GPk stuff, they sent me batman stickers and GPK 1992 packets for free, freat stuff.. ha ha!
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Post by cockneyrebel on Aug 11, 2010 20:53:02 GMT -5
recently ive talked to a uk ebay member who listed 12 uk figures on ebay 2 of which were floaters. now he tells me that he brought all these figures from the local shop in his area around 86/87 which backs up ukrobs thoughts of uk floaters also being available at this time. so its likely that a small number of uk floaters were in the 1st uk gpk release mixed in with mostly sinkers. then the later garbage gang release seems to have contained only uk floaters. Ok, I'm not being silly now.. but, surely, SURELY.. they only released the UK floaters in the Garbage Gang series... They (Topps Ireland) released the GPK figures at the same time as the GPK stickers - 80s - then released Garbage Gang figures with Garbage Gang 91 (When I bought all my floaters) The other figs are all sinkers like the US ones - pre 91, This must be the case.. There were no floating figs in the first UK series, why would they use another plastic? They wouldn't.. it was the same as US (I think?), Topps Ireland produced the GG figs on some new wave cheaper plastic floating material.. this is what happened. Surely this is set in stone now??? |
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Post by UKRob on Aug 12, 2010 12:49:00 GMT -5
recently ive talked to a uk ebay member who listed 12 uk figures on ebay 2 of which were floaters. now he tells me that he brought all these figures from the local shop in his area around 86/87 which backs up ukrobs thoughts of uk floaters also being available at this time. so its likely that a small number of uk floaters were in the 1st uk gpk release mixed in with mostly sinkers. then the later garbage gang release seems to have contained only uk floaters. Ok, I'm not being silly now.. but, surely, SURELY.. they only released the UK floaters in the Garbage Gang series... They (Topps Ireland) released the GPK figures at the same time as the GPK stickers - 80s - then released Garbage Gang figures with Garbage Gang 91 (When I bought all my floaters) The other figs are all sinkers like the US ones - pre 91, This must be the case.. There were no floating figs in the first UK series, why would they use another plastic? They wouldn't.. it was the same as US (I think?), Topps Ireland produced the GG figs on some new wave cheaper plastic floating material.. this is what happened. Surely this is set in stone now??? Fraid not cockneyrebel, Its set in stone that floaters were around in the 80s, as i never obtained any of the 90s GG cheap toys, but had floaters.... My guess at an explanation would be; GPK CTs sold well in the USA in the 80s, so the shipped some over to the UK. These first toys were the same as the common USA toys, sinkers in the common colours. Then pershaps a second batch was ordered, but there werent enough toys/original plastic around to complete the batch so the floating plastic was used to make up numbers. Any leftovers of these floaters were re-branded and sold in 1990 along with GG91 as a tie in, to offload them. Its all guesswork, as there are so few boxes of UK cheap toys known about..... |
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Post by cockneyrebel on Aug 16, 2010 18:36:02 GMT -5
Wow, right on mate. I would never have thought they would've done that But hey, who knows?? That's v interesting.... I wish some Topps UK bod would give us the history of their toy releases hahahaha! I actually dream about these lil' plastic f*ckers now and again, I know you lot do too!!!! Anyways... the saga continues.... |
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Post by rusVan on Jun 10, 2011 23:20:13 GMT -5
Wow, right on mate. I would never have thought they would've done that But hey, who knows?? That's v interesting.... I wish some Topps UK bod would give us the history of their toy releases hahahaha! I actually dream about these lil' plastic f*ckers now and again, I know you lot do too!!!! Anyways... the saga continues.... Uk CT numbers in the past year has TRIPLED. It's nuts, and honestly depressing to me personally. I went to HELL to get MOST of my uks and uk misc items, and now they are next to worthless, well..ALOT cheaper. AT LEAST, what can come of this is some UK CT History-mysteries solved, SOMETHING! f**cking quirky ass sellers.  |
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Post by Nolan JP on Mar 28, 2012 8:32:08 GMT -5
Hey guys, I was thinking about this earlier, I guess it comes down to personal choice - I have UK floaters and UK sinkers so technically a complete UK set of all 4 colours for floaters and 3 colours for sinkers - 70 in total? I never saw a "cinnamon" before coming here and thought that there were only 3 colours, pink, blue and green. My sinkers are darker in colour I guess but not by much, the Green being the most significant difference. So although the sinkers are pretty much identical to the U.S. base are they still a variation being the UK release?  UK Green(sinkers) are an offical variant, but are IDENTICAL to US Pea Green. I was never able to prove UK Base colors were different than USA's, except for the obvious Green difference. You being an UK Cheap Toy collector, and just now confirming the Green issue, let's continue calling these UK Green, with the understanding they sometimes-rarely-show up in the US and can continue being called PEA green, for now. My mission, btw, was always to try to make the UK Cheap Toy(sinker) release significant in some way-the packs and box have different information, but the toys are generally identical except for the darker "Light Green." Since UK Green aren't as glossy as USA Light Green "Glossies", I always hoped to prove that ALL UK Cheap Toys were gloss variants(Red, Blue, and Peach TOO!) but couldn't complete the research. |
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Post by Nolan JP on Mar 28, 2012 8:33:18 GMT -5
So a complete masterset is 430 toys?
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Post by rusVan on May 24, 2012 22:48:48 GMT -5
So a complete masterset is 430 toys? Oooo, including copyrights or no?... |
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Post by spanky on Jul 8, 2012 16:10:07 GMT -5
Here are the wrapper scans I said I would post when I was feeling less lazy  Side by side with a US wrapper for comparison   |
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Post by rusVan on Jul 8, 2012 16:20:25 GMT -5
Here are the wrapper scans I said I would post when I was feeling less lazy Side by side with a US wrapper for comparison Nice Spanky!!  Can I have it?  Just kidding, I have a few. Thanks for posting! |
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Post by spanky on Jul 8, 2012 16:27:06 GMT -5
Nice Spanky!! Can I have it? Just kidding, I have a few. Thanks for posting! I'm assuming this is the most common between the two UK wrappers. I stopped looking years ago when my super poorness got worse lols |
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Post by Edmasta on Mar 22, 2013 11:49:32 GMT -5
A little off topic but I always wondered why Alice/Libby is not on the picture of the series one box?
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Post by Nolan JP on Mar 22, 2013 12:32:40 GMT -5
A little off topic but I always wondered why Alice/Libby is not on the picture of the series one box? Me too. Bunks ineptness? Maybe Alice wasn't confirmed as a character at the stage of painting the box art? So come on, own up! Who owns the original art to the cheap toys box? I actually would totally own that piece of Bunk. |
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Post by Edmasta on Aug 2, 2013 8:27:05 GMT -5
A little off topic but I always wondered why Alice/Libby is not on the picture of the series one box? Me too. Bunks ineptness? Maybe Alice wasn't confirmed as a character at the stage of painting the box art? So come on, own up! Who owns the original art to the cheap toys box? I actually would totally own that piece of Bunk. O god I would pay some money for this piece. |
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Post by LuCypher on Jan 30, 2017 8:59:31 GMT -5
Anybody up here win the full UK box that ended last night? It was in a USA box but full of "11G" CTs. Meant to bid on it and totally forgot. Seller had no idea what he had. Ended at $231, seems cheap. www.ebay.com/itm/182430708894 |
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Post by G.I. JASON on Jan 30, 2017 18:57:39 GMT -5
that was a u.s. box, with the 11g baggies inside. so it was basically full of commons. price was a tad high considering it would definately only have commons in it.... in my opinion.
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Post by LuCypher on Jan 30, 2017 19:16:16 GMT -5
that was a u.s. box, with the 11g baggies inside. so it was basically full of commons. price was a tad high considering it would definately only have commons in it.... in my opinion. So UK 11G packs are comparable in price to the US packs, just no chance of hitting rares? Good to know and glad I didn't bid on it. I wanted to fill my UK display box but maybe I can find some much cheaper if there's no big hits in there. I was thinking the UK packs were more sought after than US. Good to know! Thanks |
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Post by G.I. JASON on Jan 30, 2017 23:05:39 GMT -5
that was a u.s. box, with the 11g baggies inside. so it was basically full of commons. price was a tad high considering it would definately only have commons in it.... in my opinion. So UK 11G packs are comparable in price to the US packs, just no chance of hitting rares? Good to know and glad I didn't bid on it. I wanted to fill my UK display box but maybe I can find some much cheaper if there's no big hits in there. I was thinking the UK packs were more sought after than US. Good to know! Thanks to me, they are basically just common packs..... i do agree it's "neat" to have the gram baggie for sure... but maybe others can chime in if they hold them more valuable, or the same due to the gram/oz designation on the baggie. to me, samesies. lol |
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Post by G.I. JASON on Jan 30, 2017 23:06:47 GMT -5
that was a u.s. box, with the 11g baggies inside. so it was basically full of commons. price was a tad high considering it would definately only have commons in it.... in my opinion. So UK 11G packs are comparable in price to the US packs, just no chance of hitting rares? Good to know and glad I didn't bid on it. I wanted to fill my UK display box but maybe I can find some much cheaper if there's no big hits in there. I was thinking the UK packs were more sought after than US. Good to know! Thanks no chance for floaters that is, which is why most folks want the GG cheap toys |
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Post by thebiggerm on Jan 31, 2017 11:29:31 GMT -5
Not a bad price, considering the US box went for $305 a couple days earlier.
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Can I have it? 
Really cool box. I wish they had the Nasty Nick box too though 