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The Garbage Pail Kids with GeePeeKay.com · Ultimate Rewinds Podcast

• 0:00
  So, I have a very special guest with me
• 0:02
  today. If you guys don't know, I have
• 0:04
  been dying to talk about the Garbage
• 0:05
  Pill kids on the podcast. And for the
• 0:07
  very first time, I have the owner of
• 0:10
  gpk.com,
• 0:11
  who I reference daily going through my
• 0:14
  garbage pill stuff to kind of look up
• 0:16
  stuff. We're going to get into this site
• 0:18
  itself, but I want to welcome Matt here
• 0:19
  to the channel.
• 0:21
  >> Hello. How's it going? Thanks so much
• 0:23
  for having me, man.
• 0:24
  >> No, anytime. People out there don't
• 0:26
  know, I've been trying to get Matt on
• 0:27
  for like three months. His schedule's
• 0:29
  been really really hectic. So, I'm
• 0:31
  finally had finally happy to have him on
• 0:33
  and have a little time to talk about one
• 0:35
  of my favorite subjects. So, I think we
• 0:36
  should start at the beginning. All
• 0:37
  right. How did you first discover do you
• 0:39
  remember how you first discovered
• 0:41
  Garbage Book is?
• 0:42
  >> Yeah, I totally do. And or at least I I
• 0:45
  say I do. And maybe I've told myself the
• 0:48
  same story over and over so many times
• 0:49
  that now I believe it is fact. But I I'm
• 0:53
  pretty sure this is the way it happened.
• 0:54
  and and um I was in my neighborhood over
• 0:58
  at my friend Corey's house and somebody
• 1:01
  rode up and they had a and just a
• 1:03
  handful of cards. One of them was dead
• 1:06
  Ted and I remember from then on I was 10
• 1:08
  and from then on I was hooked just like
• 1:12
  everyone was in our school. I mean they
• 1:15
  were I mean it was like a legit
• 1:18
  addiction. Um where can I get them? You
• 1:21
  know, how many can I get? Uh it it was
• 1:24
  pretty crazy. So I I I totally remember
• 1:26
  exactly where and when I saw my first
• 1:28
  one.
• 1:29
  >> So that that's wild because I try to go
• 1:31
  back and like think about where did I
• 1:32
  first see these things and and I can't
• 1:34
  picture that exact moment, but I do
• 1:36
  remember like seeing them in school 100%
• 1:39
  and then asking where the hell did you
• 1:41
  guys get these things? And I was
• 1:42
  enamored because of the you know the
• 1:46
  mocking nature of the cars. I didn't
• 1:48
  know that they mocked the garbage book
• 1:49
  kids mocked cabbage pass kids back then.
• 1:51
  I just knew they were eerily similar,
• 1:53
  but that mocking all these people and
• 1:56
  like grotesque and whatever, and that
• 1:58
  was right up my alley. And I This is
• 1:59
  1985, so I'm I was eight years old at
• 2:01
  the time.
• 2:02
  >> Sure.
• 2:02
  >> So, one of my fondest memories, right?
• 2:04
  >> Yeah. Yeah. And that's a good point
• 2:06
  because to be honest, I don't think I
• 2:08
  ever really got the Cabbage Patch thing
• 2:11
  either. I had a Cabbage Patch Kid doll,
• 2:13
  so I love those, too. Um, I loved them
• 2:16
  because they were each like these little
• 2:18
  characters and I loved my other favorite
• 2:20
  one was like musclemen or battle beasts
• 2:22
  were probably my my favorite like figure
• 2:26
  to hunt down and they were just these
• 2:28
  unique little characters and on these
• 2:29
  cards I just felt like they were,
• 2:32
  >> you know, you got 50 little characters
• 2:34
  that you could shuffle through and trade
• 2:36
  and yeah, I mean, I'm sure later on I I
• 2:40
  gathered that they were spoofing the
• 2:42
  dolls, but that wasn't that important to
• 2:44
  me.
• 2:46
  >> Yeah, it was more like that humorous
• 2:47
  nature. So, what do you think it was?
• 2:48
  Was it the artwork? Was it the humor?
• 2:50
  Was it the gross out factor? Or maybe
• 2:51
  like a combination of all of it.
• 2:53
  >> Yeah, I think it was a combination of
• 2:54
  everything. The gross out stuff. Sure.
• 2:58
  Um,
• 3:00
  I didn't find them particularly gross. I
• 3:03
  know they were officially banned in my
• 3:05
  school. I did get a stack of them taken
• 3:08
  away by my third grade teacher, Mr.
• 3:10
  Ginehard, if you're somehow watching
• 3:12
  this. Um, so I mean all those things
• 3:15
  happened, but I didn't feel that wasn't
• 3:18
  why I like loved them. I just loved
• 3:20
  them. I loved other trading cards, too.
• 3:22
  I had a bunch of I collected basically
• 3:24
  everything. So, it wasn't rare to get,
• 3:28
  you know, interested or addicted to
• 3:29
  something like that. Um, the fact that
• 3:32
  they were gross and kind of cool looking
• 3:35
  didn't hurt. But
• 3:37
  >> so I I to me the the best thing and I
• 3:39
  think one of the major things that
• 3:41
  attracted to me the cards is that they
• 3:42
  had that A and B card. So like if you
• 3:44
  found a A card in a pack, you wanted to
• 3:46
  find that B card because you didn't know
• 3:48
  what the names were. I mean I guess you
• 3:49
  did if you had got a checklist, you
• 3:50
  would find look on the back and find out
• 3:52
  what the what the B or A card was going
• 3:54
  to be. But you wanted to see it. You
• 3:56
  wanted to match them up. You wanted to
• 3:57
  have everything in the set. So that was
• 3:58
  a big like thing for me collecting them
• 4:00
  as a kid. as I remember like I used to
• 4:03
  like when I first found out about these
• 4:05
  things and it was like probably midway
• 4:06
  through the first series was released. I
• 4:08
  always remember asking my dad all the
• 4:10
  time, you got to take me to the store. I
• 4:11
  don't know who has these things. I
• 4:13
  remember calling around to like local
• 4:14
  like news I would call them newspaper
• 4:16
  stores or like five and 10 stores. I
• 4:18
  don't know if you know what that is. And
• 4:19
  ask if they if they had these packs in
• 4:21
  stock and some of them would say, "Yeah,
• 4:22
  but I have I would have to wait for my
• 4:24
  dad to get home for me to take me." Is
• 4:25
  that the kind of same experience you had
• 4:27
  as well?
• 4:28
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I remember they they
• 4:30
  were hard to find. There was always like
• 4:32
  that one or two kids at school who would
• 4:35
  like come in with a brick and you're
• 4:36
  like, "What the hell?" Like, so I was
• 4:39
  super jealous of them. Um, my house I
• 4:42
  grew up down in Aurora, Colorado. And we
• 4:44
  were it it was just like a half mile
• 4:47
  down the hill to like a 7-Eleven. Um,
• 4:50
  back when 7-Elevens were great. And so
• 4:53
  we I mean it was also the 80s, so you
• 4:56
  could kind of go wherever you wanted. So
• 4:58
  yeah, I mean we were 10 and we would
• 4:59
  ride our bikes down or we would walk and
• 5:02
  you know try to find them. There'd be
• 5:04
  that whole candy row down the aisle and
• 5:07
  there would be the very bottom of the
• 5:08
  candy. They just have a couple boxes and
• 5:11
  take a pack out of there and flop a
• 5:13
  quarter down on the counter and and make
• 5:17
  it barely out the door before you start
• 5:19
  cracking it open. And but
• 5:21
  >> you just you say you just mentioned one
• 5:23
  of the biggest things about garbage
• 5:25
  which I love is that they were so cheap.
• 5:26
  A quarter is getting you a pack. A whole
• 5:29
  box cost five bucks. Like I remember at
• 5:31
  one point, I didn't do this often
• 5:32
  because we didn't have all that kind of
• 5:33
  money. But getting five bucks and be
• 5:35
  able to go in and say, "Do you have a
• 5:36
  box of these? I'll take the whole box."
• 5:37
  And then ripping through all of them.
• 5:39
  >> Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. And it was a
• 5:41
  similar situation um for me in terms of
• 5:43
  money.
• 5:44
  >> There were so many times when you go in
• 5:46
  like the the 7-Eleven or the we had like
• 5:48
  a a Skags, which is kind of a weird
• 5:50
  store name. It's basically like an Osco
• 5:52
  drug or a just a drugstore. and they'd
• 5:55
  have a couple packs and I I would just
• 5:57
  beg and and mope and complain if I
• 6:01
  didn't get them. But I it's funny to try
• 6:02
  to think of now like your kids wanting
• 6:06
  something for a quarter and having to
• 6:07
  like no, you know, so different time for
• 6:11
  sure. And is is a pretty awesome uh
• 6:14
  price point.
• 6:16
  >> It it is. I mean, um, I my kids today,
• 6:19
  like I try to get them in when they were
• 6:20
  like the oldest was like nine and the
• 6:22
  younger one was like five and like just
• 6:24
  showing them them like, "Oh, what the
• 6:25
  hell is this?" They thought it was
• 6:26
  pretty comical. They didn't really get
• 6:27
  into it, but they thought it was pretty
• 6:28
  funny.
• 6:29
  >> Yeah. I I've uh my wife and I have three
• 6:32
  kids, uh, 24, 22, and 18. Um, 24, 21,
• 6:38
  and 18. None of them got into it. So,
• 6:41
  um,
• 6:42
  >> yeah, it's, uh,
• 6:44
  not not that I really tried to push it
• 6:46
  on them, but they're surrounded by it
• 6:49
  enough. I mean, this is my stupid office
• 6:50
  at home, and they would come in and, oh,
• 6:52
  and leave. Um, they never really got the
• 6:56
  itch. So,
• 6:57
  >> do you remember like back then, at least
• 7:00
  back then when you were a kid, did you
• 7:01
  have a favorite card that you that you
• 7:02
  absolutely loved? You mentioned Dead Ted
• 7:04
  earlier, but
• 7:05
  >> Yeah. Yeah, I did love a lot of them. I
• 7:09
  don't know at what point it happened.
• 7:11
  Um, but Joe Blow, he's like the first
• 7:14
  card of series 3 at some point became my
• 7:18
  favorite card and it has been ever
• 7:20
  since. Um,
• 7:23
  I think series 3 is when I really
• 7:27
  bought a a lot of packs. It's when I
• 7:30
  first was able to start getting them.
• 7:32
  Series two was pretty hard to get.
• 7:34
  Series one was impossible when I
• 7:36
  started. Um, so I don't know if it was a
• 7:39
  mix of kind of when I started buying or
• 7:41
  just how simple and symmetrical the the
• 7:44
  character is. I just love it. So that's
• 7:46
  that's my favorite that I always say is
• 7:48
  my favorite now. So
• 7:50
  >> to me like original series one to this
• 7:52
  day is and maybe it's because that's
• 7:54
  when I really got into it is I saw my
• 7:56
  friends have series one. Uh, Ash can
• 7:58
  Andy was one that I remember really
• 8:00
  vividly just loving the blue
• 8:02
  backgrounds. It was a Star Wars play
• 8:04
  that card as well. It was like, "Oh,
• 8:06
  they got this right." And that was one
• 8:08
  of the things the garbage book kids
• 8:09
  like, it was always a play on something,
• 8:10
  whether it was Cabbage Patch Kids, Star
• 8:12
  Wars. Some of the names also were were
• 8:15
  kind of absolutely fantastic, like a
• 8:17
  messy Tessy or another one of my
• 8:20
  favorites, Greta Garbage.
• 8:22
  >> Yeah. Yeah, I remember those cards for
• 8:24
  sure. And and their names were great.
• 8:26
  >> Um, my name is Matt. So, there were a
• 8:28
  few named Matt when I was growing up,
• 8:30
  but they were always the they were just
• 8:33
  dumb. I mean, Fat Matt, I didn't really
• 8:35
  want to collect that. I heard that
• 8:38
  plenty of times before. So, um I never
• 8:40
  really had the awesome like name card
• 8:42
  like some of the kids did, but uh yeah,
• 8:45
  there were uh there were a bunch of fun
• 8:47
  ones for sure.
• 8:48
  >> So, that was one of my questions I was
• 8:49
  going to ask you later on was like there
• 8:50
  was a lot of mats. It was the one that
• 8:52
  you were going to be like uh taken to.
• 8:54
  So, you said that the one I eerily
• 8:56
  remember is Matt Rat, the one that was
• 8:58
  sideways. It was yellow card. with the
• 8:59
  right
• 9:00
  >> that there are honestly I and now that
• 9:03
  there's been so many new releases. I can
• 9:06
  think of like zero Matt. I I've never
• 9:08
  really found a Matt that I absolutely
• 9:11
  love and collect. Matt Rat I think is an
• 9:14
  awesome card, but as a kid it started
• 9:17
  and it's definitely progressed. I have
• 9:19
  this snobby dislike of the horizontal
• 9:22
  cards. I I don't like them. I didn't
• 9:24
  like them as a kid.
• 9:26
  >> They didn't fit with shuffling through
• 9:28
  the cards. because it didn't fit in the
• 9:29
  binders. So when Matt Rat came out I was
• 9:31
  like oh perfect like a cool card that I
• 9:34
  don't want. And um so
• 9:36
  >> I think a lot of kids I felt the same
• 9:38
  way. I was like why are they doing this
• 9:39
  diagonal sideways? It made no sense. But
• 9:41
  I think a lot of kids at that time and
• 9:43
  even now as an adult they look back at
• 9:44
  it because I keep doing them buyers as
• 9:46
  well. It's like oh you're look trying to
• 9:48
  reminisce looking through stuff then you
• 9:49
  have to turn everything sideways just to
• 9:50
  look at the card.
• 9:51
  >> Yep. Yep. It's It's a pain and I don't
• 9:54
  like it even doing my website because
• 9:57
  then I have the images. So yeah, I just
• 9:59
  don't like the horizontal cards. So
• 10:02
  >> So you mentioned series 3 is really
• 10:04
  where you started buying them. Is that
• 10:06
  your favorite series?
• 10:07
  >> No, series 2 is my favorite. Um I think
• 10:10
  it's combined with I don't I I never
• 10:13
  bought a pack of series 2. Series 2 was
• 10:16
  the first I bought. Um but I traded a
• 10:18
  lot of series 2. Um,
• 10:22
  I like coveted those cards. I would just
• 10:24
  like look over my friends shoulders when
• 10:26
  they're going through their stacks and I
• 10:28
  would do whatever I could. I think I
• 10:30
  only had, you know, a handful at a time
• 10:33
  um when I was a kid. But th those are my
• 10:35
  favorite and to this day. I think it's
• 10:37
  the best mix of like
• 10:40
  artwork and cool characters and cool
• 10:42
  names and um
• 10:44
  >> I I I agree with you. Messy Tess is one
• 10:46
  of my favorites. That's one of like
• 10:48
  outside of Adam Bomb and Nasty Nick.
• 10:49
  That was one that like really
• 10:50
  represented the garbage pill kids well
• 10:52
  was that Messy Tessy Loky Lindsay
• 10:55
  character. So I agree with you. I think
• 10:56
  I think series 2 has the best
• 10:58
  characters. I remember um Sumo Sid was
• 11:00
  that series two or series three.
• 11:02
  >> That's series two and it was like the
• 11:03
  end of it. Um yeah
• 11:05
  >> yeah.
• 11:05
  >> That's why I always get confused because
• 11:07
  it was at the end of it. So like I I
• 11:08
  never remember. But that's another one
• 11:10
  of my favorites from series two. But
• 11:11
  like obviously you say series 2 is your
• 11:13
  favorite but where do you think it
• 11:15
  peaked? Like it went one through 15. We
• 11:17
  were going to get a 16th. It never
• 11:18
  happened. They ended up re-releasing it
• 11:19
  later. But what do you think it like
• 11:21
  kind of topped out?
• 11:22
  >> Well, I know when I go through like the
• 11:25
  random bo most of my collection from
• 11:29
  my original collection from when I was a
• 11:30
  kid is gone. I still have some of my
• 11:33
  original cards and then I have like a
• 11:36
  box in the basement that's like original
• 11:37
  rappers. for some reason that made it
• 11:39
  through all the moves and I know that
• 11:41
  like I'll have like a couple series 3, a
• 11:44
  couple series 4, blah blah blah and then
• 11:46
  I have a stack of like eight and nine.
• 11:49
  So I think that's when I bought just a
• 11:51
  ridiculous amount of cards. I was
• 11:53
  probably a little older, had a little
• 11:54
  more money to spend. Um, so I think I
• 11:57
  bought a ton in eight and nine and
• 12:00
  that's where I peaked and I think that's
• 12:01
  where Topps peaked too because then
• 12:04
  series 10 came, the lawsuits came. Um
• 12:08
  and just the high that it was on that is
• 12:11
  impossible to keep going finally
• 12:14
  started to come down. So
• 12:17
  >> So you mentioned the lawsuit and and
• 12:18
  when and people who don't know maybe you
• 12:20
  don't have know the history of Garbage
• 12:21
  Bookheads. We're gonna get into the
• 12:23
  website because it has a ton of
• 12:24
  information on it, especially about the
• 12:26
  history. But do you think with like the
• 12:28
  lawsuit and of course the change of the
• 12:30
  trade dress and the change of of the
• 12:32
  characters look themselves a little bit,
• 12:34
  do you think that, you know, helped the
• 12:36
  decline or or basically started the
• 12:38
  decline, I should say?
• 12:39
  >> Yeah, it's it's weird because looking at
• 12:41
  the cards now, I don't like the changed
• 12:45
  art the, you know, the updated art style
• 12:47
  that they went with. I don't know if
• 12:49
  that would have really mattered as a
• 12:50
  kid. I honestly think it was just
• 12:53
  time for it to
• 12:56
  burn out. Like it it was just so
• 12:58
  insanely popular. Um and they were
• 13:01
  printing those series, you know, three,
• 13:04
  four a year, which is crazy.
• 13:07
  >> Um so I think it it just needed to be
• 13:12
  done. I think the art style definitely
• 13:14
  didn't help. I don't I don't think like
• 13:17
  kids in elementary school though were
• 13:18
  like complaining about a a straight
• 13:20
  banner versus a curved banner. Even
• 13:22
  though now those same people in their
• 13:25
  late 40s are hating on the straight
• 13:27
  banner, but um I I don't think the
• 13:30
  lawsuit necessarily was the death nail
• 13:33
  um that it could be painted to be. song.
• 13:38
  [Music]
• 13:42
  >> So, you mentioned artwork and that to me
• 13:44
  is one of the favorite things about the
• 13:45
  Garbage Bill Kids. I don't know if you
• 13:46
  ever had a chance to check out like some
• 13:47
  of heritage auctions and stuff like
• 13:49
  that. They have like the original
• 13:50
  artwork and I I really want one. I'm not
• 13:53
  going to lie to you. They have a couple
• 13:54
  that are going to be coming up for sale
• 13:56
  in a little bit. A couple sold for a
• 13:58
  crazy amount of money I think a couple
• 13:59
  of months back, but there's like three
• 14:00
  or four that are coming up that I'm
• 14:02
  like, "Oh, wow. These are really, really
• 14:03
  great." Hey, do you have a favorite
• 14:04
  artist?
• 14:05
  >> I mean, growing up or looking at the
• 14:08
  cards from when I grew up, John Pound is
• 14:11
  is my favorite and and will always be
• 14:14
  just because he created what was so
• 14:15
  important um to me. Now, um I do own a
• 14:19
  few pieces of final artwork, but they're
• 14:21
  from all new series or even up to just a
• 14:24
  couple years ago. I bought one um that
• 14:27
  was like a a tweak on Joe Blow. So, I I
• 14:31
  really like that. So, I picked it up.
• 14:33
  Um, but yeah, final artwork is I mean it
• 14:38
  is like legit artwork prices. I mean
• 14:41
  they are pieces of art now and they're
• 14:43
  historical and nostalgic and they go for
• 14:47
  just stupid amounts of money. So I I
• 14:49
  won't ever get one of the original
• 14:50
  series ones. Um,
• 14:54
  but I'm I'm glad I have a just a couple
• 14:56
  um
• 14:57
  >> yeah,
• 14:57
  >> of ones that uh were from artists that I
• 15:00
  uh enjoy and and pieces that I liked.
• 15:02
  So,
• 15:04
  >> I I agree with you. I think John Pound
• 15:05
  is also my favorite just because of of
• 15:07
  starting the series and the iconicness
• 15:09
  of the look. But I do like Tom Bunks as
• 15:12
  well. Some of his artwork I think is
• 15:13
  fantastic as well. But, uh, for the
• 15:15
  people out there who don't know, I found
• 15:17
  you on Instagram. I'm a big proponent of
• 15:19
  Instagram. Um, can you tell everyone out
• 15:21
  there what your Instagram name is? So,
• 15:22
  if they want to follow you, they can.
• 15:24
  >> Yeah. So, let me actually pull it up and
• 15:26
  make sure I get it right. Okay. So, it
• 15:28
  is uh it's it's all lowercase. I don't
• 15:31
  know if that matters. Um, geek
• 15:34
  kay_.
• 15:36
  So, it's just gpk uh com. And yeah, I
• 15:41
  joined that what feels like a hundred
• 15:43
  years ago. Um,
• 15:45
  and through all the social media
• 15:47
  changes, it's still my favorite one, I
• 15:50
  think. Um, I'm kind of annoyed with
• 15:54
  um how it actually works at its core,
• 15:57
  but but the experience of it and the and
• 15:58
  the interface I really like. So,
• 16:02
  [Music]
• 16:07
  >> so I've been following you on Instagram
• 16:08
  for a while. That's how I found you. And
• 16:10
  I've noticed that you have an incredible
• 16:12
  collection of stuff, all garbage bill
• 16:15
  kit stuff. How big is your collection
• 16:17
  now? And what does it actually consist
• 16:19
  of?
• 16:20
  >> Um, well, honestly enough, I will say
• 16:22
  that it is not uh or it hasn't grown
• 16:26
  much in the last 10 years. Um, so it got
• 16:28
  to a point and now it's maybe plateaued
• 16:30
  a little bit. Um, but it's it's it's
• 16:34
  pretty big. It's kind of stupidly big.
• 16:36
  um to the point where now I'm wondering
• 16:39
  why I have some of the stuff I do. Um
• 16:43
  but I I have all the cards up to a
• 16:45
  point. Uh once they started releasing
• 16:48
  some of these newer series that didn't
• 16:50
  really interest me, I I stopped buying
• 16:52
  the cards. Um
• 16:55
  but one thing I'm a sucker for and that
• 16:57
  I was always a sucker for is
• 16:58
  merchandise. So like this cabinet right
• 17:01
  here, this is all like merchandise from
• 17:03
  the 80s. Imperial Toy Company would
• 17:05
  release stuff. Um, I love that stuff. I
• 17:09
  I think it's great. Um, and then all
• 17:11
  these new companies that come in with
• 17:12
  these clever ideas. I I just I have a
• 17:16
  real weakness uh for garbage pail kids
• 17:18
  merchandise. So, that that is where I
• 17:20
  tend to buy stuff. Now, if I do buy
• 17:23
  stuff, it's it's usually merchandise.
• 17:26
  Um, so yeah, it it's it's it's too big.
• 17:30
  It needs to be thinned out a little bit.
• 17:33
  Uh, but
• 17:35
  >> I I was going to say as collectors, I
• 17:36
  mean, I collect a lot of stuff. I'm sure
• 17:38
  you could see in this room, but like
• 17:40
  >> I get what I get what you mean.
• 17:41
  Sometimes you just got to pair stuff off
• 17:43
  a little bit to keep the things that you
• 17:44
  really really love. But to speak on some
• 17:47
  of the like rarer stuff you have because
• 17:49
  I've seen some of the stuff that you
• 17:50
  posted, I'm like, "Oh man, I didn't even
• 17:51
  know that they made that." I agree. Like
• 17:54
  sometimes you find like these these
• 17:56
  obscure little items that you didn't
• 17:57
  know were made in the 80s relating to
• 17:58
  the garbage bill kit. So like what have
• 18:00
  I seen before? Obviously, when I was a
• 18:02
  kid, like the folders we all knew about,
• 18:04
  I never found them in stores. I could
• 18:06
  never get them, but I always wanted to
• 18:07
  own the folders because
• 18:09
  >> going to school, I wanted to have it. I
• 18:10
  wanted to have that. I could never find
• 18:12
  it. So, as an adult, they have them all
• 18:13
  over the place. You can go to eBay and
• 18:14
  find a ton of them now. But like, do you
• 18:16
  have one of like obscure piece that you
• 18:18
  really really love? It's like, wow.
• 18:20
  >> Um, yeah. So, I mean, interestingly
• 18:23
  enough,
• 18:25
  uh, like the Imperial toy stuff is is my
• 18:28
  favorite. Um, and there are only like I
• 18:31
  feel like there's just like 10 guys. I I
• 18:34
  know a lot of them are all they're all
• 18:36
  really great guys and they're doing the
• 18:38
  same thing. They they like want to hunt
• 18:39
  down the Imperial toy stuff. So, um, if
• 18:42
  something rare pops up, you know, you're
• 18:44
  going to kind of get into a battle with
• 18:45
  with this guy or that guy. Um, but one
• 18:48
  of my favorite things I have is is is
• 18:50
  the catalog that they had in ' 86 for
• 18:52
  the Imperial Toys. Um, it's just a like
• 18:56
  a two-page little flyer, but I have
• 18:59
  that. It's It's the only one that's ever
• 19:01
  showed up. There were scans of it for
• 19:03
  years and years on all the early Garbage
• 19:06
  Field GI websites. You could find like a
• 19:08
  couple scans of the the toys they
• 19:11
  released or the catalog. And then one
• 19:12
  day it just popped up and a friend of
• 19:14
  mine helped me get it in my collection.
• 19:16
  And so that's probably my favorite. I
• 19:20
  like that it's a one of one, but I I
• 19:22
  really just like that it represents like
• 19:25
  my favorite part of the collection.
• 19:27
  >> So, I got to ask, and you may not even
• 19:29
  want to answer this question, but where
• 19:30
  do you go looking for stuff like this?
• 19:32
  Because I maybe you don't want other
• 19:33
  people to know like, you know, where you
• 19:34
  find it because I'd be interested
• 19:36
  looking for that stuff.
• 19:37
  >> Yeah, I don't hunt stuff down as much at
• 19:42
  all anymore to be completely honest. Um,
• 19:45
  there was a time where I had like a
• 19:46
  folder on my browser that was eBay in
• 19:50
  every country with save searches for,
• 19:53
  you know, what it was called in that
• 19:54
  country.
• 19:55
  >> Um, a bunch of weird like store links,
• 19:59
  marcados, all those. Um,
• 20:01
  >> that would trigger alerts. I would sit
• 20:04
  at work and scour like Craigslist and
• 20:08
  weird cities. It was stupid. and and
• 20:10
  very rarely did it ever result in in
• 20:13
  anything. Um but when it did, it was
• 20:15
  kind of cool. But uh now I just am I'm
• 20:20
  not too busy. I just put my time
• 20:22
  elsewhere um to do that. So
• 20:25
  >> do you still own the original cards?
• 20:28
  Like does that do you have one through
• 20:30
  15 or did you let them?
• 20:31
  >> Yeah. Yeah, I have like a bookshelf over
• 20:32
  here with binders. Um I have my
• 20:35
  original. It's basically one through
• 20:38
  nine. I have mine. Um, I kind of beefed
• 20:42
  them up and kind of tweaked them here
• 20:44
  and there over the years. Um, and then I
• 20:47
  bought 11 through 15 because I didn't
• 20:49
  have those as a kid. Um, and then I
• 20:52
  bought all the all new series which came
• 20:54
  out in the early 2000s. I loved those.
• 20:57
  That's kind of what got me really back
• 20:59
  into it. Um, and some of the other
• 21:02
  releases they've done. Um, but yeah, so
• 21:04
  I I have some binders full or a lot of
• 21:08
  binders full uh that I like to flip
• 21:10
  through. I They're still I love them.
• 21:13
  Those original cards are I mean, all
• 21:15
  this other stuff aside, the cards are my
• 21:17
  favorite uh thing to do to look through.
• 21:20
  So,
• 21:20
  >> it's funny because when I was a kid,
• 21:22
  obviously I had the cards. I had a ton
• 21:24
  of them. But like obviously as kids, we
• 21:26
  we handle them. We trade them. We we
• 21:28
  look at them. We we round out the
• 21:29
  corners. We we even peel the stickers
• 21:31
  off. put them on walls on our books on
• 21:34
  whatever. So like all my cards are
• 21:35
  basically like you know if we're talking
• 21:37
  about grading wise they're like a ones
• 21:38
  or twos because I love them so much that
• 21:40
  I handle them a lot. So I think there's
• 21:43
  a big misconception out there from a lot
• 21:44
  of people especially who talk to me who
• 21:46
  always contact me about price and and
• 21:49
  grading and stuff like that. And we're
• 21:50
  not going to talk about price today but
• 21:52
  have you ever graded any of garbage
• 21:53
  books?
• 21:54
  >> No. And that's that's kind of a struggle
• 21:56
  for me because um well I mean and just
• 21:59
  to follow up on what you said, my old
• 22:01
  ones that I have from my collection.
• 22:03
  Yeah. I mean there's some check boxes
• 22:05
  like the corners are all mangled. Um
• 22:09
  yeah, so I couldn't grade those if I
• 22:11
  wanted them. Um but I haven't really
• 22:13
  gotten into the grading.
• 22:16
  Um at first I didn't get into it because
• 22:18
  I was confused by it and well I got to
• 22:20
  send them this. That seems like a hassle
• 22:21
  I didn't want to deal with. Um, now I
• 22:24
  just I feel like it's kind of gotten out
• 22:27
  of hand. Uh, I do love the idea of the
• 22:31
  airtight sealed card. I I love that. Um,
• 22:35
  so I actually bought some
• 22:38
  uh PSA type cases online and I I'll put
• 22:42
  some of my favorite cards in there and I
• 22:43
  make my own labels in Photoshop and that
• 22:46
  that works for me um because they're
• 22:48
  protected and they I I think they look
• 22:51
  kind of cool. So that's that's all I
• 22:52
  need. I don't I don't need the PSA
• 22:54
  because ultimately that's just for
• 22:56
  reselling I feel like. So
• 22:58
  >> you're 100% right. And I got to ask you
• 22:59
  at some point maybe after this podcast
• 23:01
  is over I want you to maybe send me a
• 23:03
  picture of that because I would love
• 23:04
  that. And I think a lot of collectors
• 23:05
  who collect GPK would love to do the
• 23:08
  same thing. So like just show them what
• 23:10
  it looks like so they can like put it up
• 23:12
  there and like oh wow that's really
• 23:13
  cool. Because I think a lot of
• 23:14
  collectors out there would like to
• 23:15
  protect their cards but also display
• 23:16
  them. You obviously have a nice display.
• 23:18
  I try to do the same thing here in in
• 23:20
  my, you know, room that I got going on.
• 23:22
  So, I do think that
• 23:23
  >> looks pretty nice. So,
• 23:25
  >> yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um,
• 23:27
  you know, the one thing I wanted to
• 23:28
  mention before which I forgot was we
• 23:30
  were talking about your name, Matt, and
• 23:32
  like how there were a bunch of cards
• 23:34
  that you could choose from, you know,
• 23:36
  oh, so and so, Matt, you know, whatever.
• 23:38
  I never got a Garbage kid with my name
• 23:40
  on it. They never made a Lawrence card
• 23:42
  ever. There was a couple of Larry's and
• 23:44
  stuff like that, which that's not my
• 23:45
  name. I don't go by Larry. So, as an
• 23:47
  adult, I had to create my own garbage
• 23:50
  book kid. So, obviously people who know
• 23:51
  me know me as Mighty Commas and
• 23:53
  Collectibles. So, I did mine on, you
• 23:55
  know, the stock take of Adam Bomb that
• 23:57
  says mind-b blown mighty. So, I thought
• 23:58
  that was pretty cool. So, I had to do
• 23:59
  it.
• 24:00
  >> That's awesome. Yeah, I love that shirt.
• 24:02
  That's great.
• 24:04
  >> Thank you. I appreciate that. I think a
• 24:06
  lot of people probably do the same thing
• 24:07
  if they could. Yeah, I've seen some
• 24:09
  people put those together and I'm always
• 24:11
  super jealous because they look great
• 24:14
  and I love that they're like super
• 24:16
  personal. Um, yeah, I've never I've
• 24:19
  never uh created one like that for
• 24:21
  myself, but maybe maybe it'll be a
• 24:24
  a gift down the line. So,
• 24:27
  >> definitely, man, it's definitely a
• 24:28
  treat. So, the one thing you mentioned
• 24:30
  before that I wanted to touch on was the
• 24:32
  modern cards because a lot of people who
• 24:34
  collect vintage haven't really
• 24:36
  necessarily gone over to the modern
• 24:38
  stuff. You had mentioned the all new
• 24:40
  series before. Uh, I think you said that
• 24:44
  was your favorite. What other modern
• 24:45
  cars have you been into related to
• 24:46
  Garbage Wickets?
• 24:49
  >> Um, what other modern like series of GP
• 24:53
  series?
• 24:54
  >> Um, yeah. So, I mean, if you looked at
• 24:56
  it on like a yearly
• 24:59
  chart, my interest level would kind of
• 25:00
  go down every year. Like, all new series
• 25:04
  was great. Um, it was 2003. I'm suck at
• 25:09
  doing dates live, but I think it was
• 25:11
  2003 to 7 or something. Um, and it was
• 25:14
  just a fun little rebirth of GPK. They
• 25:17
  they had been, you know, gone since the
• 25:20
  early 90s. And it it was new artists,
• 25:24
  new ideas, fun little concepts, easily
• 25:27
  collectible sets. They weren't massive.
• 25:30
  The concept of like parallels hadn't
• 25:32
  really been introduced or exploited like
• 25:35
  it is now. So those seven series were
• 25:37
  were great and I and I loved those.
• 25:39
  There were some awesome artists um that
• 25:42
  I met and that I still keep in touch
• 25:44
  with today from there. And also the the
• 25:47
  artists that are doing it now started
• 25:50
  back then, too. So, it it was just a
• 25:51
  neat uh couple series. And then they did
• 25:54
  like Flashback and brand new series.
• 25:56
  Those were fun. Uh new concepts, new
• 25:59
  artwork. Um I kind of lose interest with
• 26:04
  the themed sets. Um I just don't
• 26:09
  I don't know. It's just not as exciting
• 26:10
  to me to collect like a Madonna garbage
• 26:12
  pail kid because I actually like that
• 26:14
  they were just little kids like and
• 26:16
  imagine trying to find your name in a
• 26:18
  series now. It's just like
• 26:21
  it's just weird. Um, yeah,
• 26:23
  >> I agree with you because what made the
• 26:24
  original Garbage Bill kids very very
• 26:26
  unique was everyone had their own
• 26:28
  personality and not basing their
• 26:29
  personality on like an actual person.
• 26:32
  That that's what made it great because
• 26:33
  they were so what's the word I want to
• 26:35
  use? They were so unique, I guess, is
• 26:37
  the the best word that each individual
• 26:39
  one had its own thing like because of
• 26:41
  the name and because of the way they
• 26:43
  looked. when you start naming it after
• 26:45
  like real people, it becomes like, well,
• 26:46
  you're taking that that part of it away,
• 26:48
  which kind of reduces in my opinion the
• 26:51
  interest.
• 26:52
  >> Yeah. Yeah. And I and I keep like a or I
• 26:54
  kept like a find your name section on my
• 26:57
  site and it just got to the point where
• 26:59
  I decided to just stop with like the
• 27:01
  30th release 10 years ago. Um because
• 27:04
  the names like say your name is Walter.
• 27:09
  um like the excitement of like finding
• 27:11
  your name and finding the card and then
• 27:13
  it's just a drawing of Walter White.
• 27:15
  Like it it's not it's not fun for you
• 27:17
  because you can't you have like no
• 27:19
  attachment to that card. It's just a
• 27:21
  Breaking Bad card which is great. But so
• 27:23
  the whole name thing just kind of got
• 27:25
  out of whack. And I'm admittedly not a a
• 27:29
  horror fan. I'm a total wimp. So I I
• 27:32
  don't like scary movies, but I'm in the
• 27:35
  minority. So, like 80% of the releases
• 27:38
  that Topps does now are just horror
• 27:41
  themed. And I I don't know what's going
• 27:42
  on. I don't know what movie they're
• 27:44
  parodying. I don't I So, so yeah,
• 27:47
  >> that was literally that was literally
• 27:48
  going to be my next question to you
• 27:49
  about all the new stuff that Topps is
• 27:51
  putting out relating to Garbage Book
• 27:52
  Kids because they're so much different
• 27:53
  than what we were used to growing up and
• 27:56
  even then later on with with the new
• 27:57
  series when it came back in the early
• 27:59
  2000s. So, like I'm assuming that like
• 28:02
  Topps hasn't contacted you to to kind of
• 28:04
  collaborate anything because that that
• 28:05
  would have been my first call was to
• 28:06
  call you. No, over the years I mean it's
• 28:09
  almost 20 years um that I've been doing
• 28:13
  things. I've been contacted by a couple
• 28:15
  time a couple of people there. One of
• 28:18
  them was a seasoned assist which is kind
• 28:20
  of cool. Um, I was making a couple
• 28:22
  stickers that looked a little too close
• 28:25
  to what they
• 28:27
  didn't want me to have them look like, I
• 28:29
  guess. Um, and then I've gotten hit up a
• 28:31
  couple times. Somebody will be new to
• 28:33
  the job and reach out to want to talk
• 28:36
  and I think that's great and then it
• 28:38
  never goes anywhere. Um, so I kind of
• 28:41
  gave up um
• 28:45
  building a relationship with them. feel
• 28:47
  like there should be and and I've wanted
• 28:49
  there to be, but at this point, um I
• 28:53
  know a handful of the artists and I
• 28:55
  enjoy talking to them and appreciate
• 28:58
  them being open to discussion, but once
• 29:01
  it gets up one level to tops,
• 29:04
  >> I kind of got a chip on my shoulder and
• 29:06
  I don't I don't really care what
• 29:09
  >> I I was just actually at New York Comic-
• 29:11
  Con uh this past week and I was hoping
• 29:13
  that Topps is going to have a a GPK K
• 29:16
  GPK kind of portion of their booth
• 29:19
  because maybe about two years ago when I
• 29:21
  went there, they had an incredible
• 29:22
  booth, not only did they have like, you
• 29:25
  know, the regular top stuff with sports
• 29:26
  and and Disney and whatever else they
• 29:29
  had, but they had original uh whatever
• 29:32
  series they were garbage books on a
• 29:34
  wall. And I'll never forget this because
• 29:35
  my son is with me was was younger at the
• 29:36
  time and they had like take a card,
• 29:39
  leave a card. So if you had a garbage
• 29:40
  book card, you could put it on the card
• 29:42
  on the wall and you could take one off
• 29:43
  and take it home if you wanted to trade.
• 29:45
  I thought that was such a great idea and
• 29:46
  ended up spending like a half hour
• 29:47
  talking to one of the tops guys and he
• 29:49
  was saying how much people are really
• 29:51
  getting back into, you know, the garbage
• 29:53
  pil hobby, how how great it was for for
• 29:56
  them that that if people had obviously
• 29:58
  if they had higher grade cards to try to
• 29:59
  get them to submit to to for grading
• 30:02
  stuff like that. So like I'm really
• 30:04
  shocked to see that they haven't really
• 30:05
  marketed the new series of cards
• 30:08
  correctly. And in fact, you can't even
• 30:09
  get them to mention it. Like they'll
• 30:10
  just drop them with no notice.
• 30:12
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I I I saw your pics from New
• 30:15
  York and it looked like a blast, but I
• 30:18
  I've been frustrated this whole year
• 30:20
  because it's 40 year anniversary, which
• 30:23
  >> is crazy. I I I don't know. I don't
• 30:28
  I I feel old physically, but mentally
• 30:30
  I'm still like 10 or 15. So, it doesn't
• 30:35
  compute to me that it's been 40 years
• 30:38
  with these cards. But on the on the same
• 30:40
  hand, Topps has not done anything to
• 30:42
  like remind me that it's been 40 years.
• 30:44
  Um, I thought this year would be just
• 30:47
  amazing. Like some fun releases, you
• 30:51
  know, all year kind of little reminders,
• 30:53
  fun things. They've done nothing. I
• 30:55
  mean, zero presence at any conventions.
• 31:00
  They did a 40th anniversary set which
• 31:04
  I I don't know was was kind of a dud
• 31:08
  for me. People people loved it because
• 31:10
  they just threw a bunch of hits in every
• 31:14
  pack and every box and everyone just
• 31:16
  goes nuts over that. But
• 31:18
  >> that's that's unfortunately that's the
• 31:19
  new way of card thing. this I have I'm a
• 31:21
  big comic guy as well and they're
• 31:23
  starting to do that where there's like
• 31:24
  one of whatever one of one of one of a
• 31:27
  hundred one you know one out of 500
• 31:29
  whatever it is like that's like the new
• 31:30
  thing for cars there's no sucks
• 31:33
  >> yeah it's crazy and and GPK did a comic
• 31:36
  book or a handful of comic books last
• 31:39
  year I think they started and so I I was
• 31:41
  like ah cool I I collected comics as a
• 31:44
  kid I bought issue number one and then I
• 31:46
  just gave up because issue number one
• 31:48
  and that's the only one I collected
• 31:49
  there's 38 variants covers. So, I I got
• 31:52
  all 38 of those and then decided I'm not
• 31:55
  going to do anything else cuz I don't
• 31:57
  know. I I'm a complete completist. Um
• 32:01
  >> yeah,
• 32:01
  >> completionist.
• 32:03
  >> Uh so, it's hard for me to have seven
• 32:06
  and not 14. So,
• 32:08
  >> I I can't do that. And and with the
• 32:11
  cards, it's it's not obviously just with
• 32:13
  garbage fail kids. I mean, I see these
• 32:15
  baseball collectors posting their
• 32:17
  rainbows and it's like, you know, 88
• 32:19
  cards or something. I'm like, "Good,
• 32:22
  good job." But, uh, yeah, I can't do
• 32:24
  that.
• 32:25
  >> All right. So, I'm going to ask you one
• 32:26
  question more before we get into the the
• 32:28
  website because I really want to talk
• 32:29
  about that because it's fantastic. What
• 32:31
  does the spouse think of the whole GPK
• 32:34
  obsession thing?
• 32:35
  >> Yeah, she's super patient. She's super
• 32:38
  supportive. Um, I think actually she I'm
• 32:42
  pretty I don't know if shy is the right
• 32:45
  word, but I don't openly talk about
• 32:47
  this, you know, when we hang out with
• 32:49
  friends or anything. Um, I kind of keep
• 32:52
  it to myself. I think she thinks I
• 32:55
  should maybe be a little more outgoing
• 32:56
  with it. Um, but she's great with it. I
• 32:58
  mean, obviously, I mean, our front door
• 33:00
  and our like hallway to our house is
• 33:02
  right there and she kind of approves of
• 33:06
  this. So,
• 33:07
  >> I was going to say she allow she allows
• 33:09
  it.
• 33:09
  >> Yeah, she's pretty great. I hate using
• 33:11
  that term like she gives me permission,
• 33:13
  whatever, because that's not how our
• 33:15
  relationship goes, but she is very very
• 33:18
  cool with it. So,
• 33:19
  >> yeah, my wife mocks me for owning a
• 33:22
  garbage pill kid of of myself. So,
• 33:25
  that's awesome. If your teacher says
• 33:27
  you're send
• 33:33
  >> So, let's talk about the website because
• 33:34
  like I said before, if you're Garbage
• 33:36
  Pill Kids fan and you haven't checked
• 33:37
  this out, I I literally think it's a
• 33:39
  one-stop shop for Garbage Pill Kids. You
• 33:42
  have there's so much information on
• 33:43
  there. When did you launch gpk.com? I
• 33:46
  don't want to spell it for everybody out
• 33:47
  there. Geck.com.
• 33:51
  When did you launch it and what did it
• 33:53
  look like in the beginning? Uh, so it
• 33:55
  was back in 2006
• 33:58
  um that I put the first couple pages and
• 34:02
  created like a a banner for it. I did it
• 34:04
  all in Microsoft Front Page, which is
• 34:08
  some archaic software. Um, it was some
• 34:10
  HTML coding software, but I I created
• 34:13
  that. I I was big in a uh a forum back
• 34:18
  in the day because forums were kind of
• 34:20
  cool before social media. Um, but I had
• 34:24
  like a a username on there, so I I used
• 34:27
  that in my site. And so for the first
• 34:28
  year or two, it was Nicodemus and his
• 34:31
  garbage bail kids collection. That's
• 34:32
  what the the banner said. Um, but I I
• 34:37
  yeah, it was just kind of a fun thing to
• 34:39
  put together. I honestly had no clue it
• 34:43
  would turn into uh 20 years.
• 34:45
  >> So, what made you want to put together a
• 34:47
  site? I guess that's a better question.
• 34:49
  >> Yeah. So, at the time there were a
• 34:52
  couple um sites that you could find um
• 34:55
  that collectors had put together
• 34:58
  um that had just a few things on there,
• 34:59
  a few pages, and I would just stare at
• 35:01
  them all day. I thought they were so
• 35:02
  cool. There was stuff I hadn't seen in
• 35:04
  decades. Um but they weren't updated
• 35:06
  much anymore. There was one that was
• 35:08
  updated, but um so stuff was hard to
• 35:10
  find. That was one thing. And then I had
• 35:15
  some stuff that I liked and I so I just
• 35:17
  wanted to create like a virtual
• 35:19
  collection basically that I could share
• 35:21
  with people. So I would just take
• 35:23
  pictures of the stuff I had, write up
• 35:25
  some information about it and put it on
• 35:27
  there. Um so it just started originally
• 35:30
  as just kind of like
• 35:33
  my room, you know, on the internet, just
• 35:35
  a couple things that I had. And then um
• 35:38
  right around that same time there just
• 35:42
  became this desire to create like a card
• 35:44
  gallery because there was a couple of
• 35:45
  those from the earlier series. Um but
• 35:48
  there was nothing like that for the
• 35:49
  newer stuff that was coming out. So I
• 35:51
  would scan in the cards, you know, crop
• 35:54
  them, put them up there, and um that
• 35:57
  really got to be pretty popular. People
• 35:58
  liked seeing um the card galleries, so
• 36:02
  that's where it kind of took off
• 36:04
  >> for me. like just going back and
• 36:06
  remembering what the numbers for each
• 36:07
  card was, which card was it was in each
• 36:09
  series cuz I still forget to this day
• 36:11
  like like we talked about Sumo said
• 36:12
  earlier it was at the end of series 2.
• 36:14
  So it makes me think like oh he might be
• 36:15
  almost the beginning of series 3. So
• 36:17
  that was a huge help for me but um would
• 36:20
  you think that was the hardest part?
• 36:22
  Maybe scanning in all the cards like
• 36:23
  what was the hardest part about putting
• 36:24
  this thing together?
• 36:25
  >> Yeah, I mean those galleries were pretty
• 36:28
  intense to put together with scanning um
• 36:31
  and just cropping them all. I've kind of
• 36:34
  cheated on the last few because the sets
• 36:36
  are huge now, too. I mean, um, but so
• 36:39
  like I I'll take advantage of some
• 36:41
  people that scan everything for eBay and
• 36:43
  I'll just
• 36:45
  borrow an image or two. Um, so yeah,
• 36:49
  doing that took a a ton of time. Over
• 36:51
  the years, some of the other sections,
• 36:54
  uh, just the information or the putting
• 36:57
  together all the details takes a lot of
• 37:00
  time. I I don't think people really get
• 37:02
  it. And this is not building up what I
• 37:03
  do in any way. I'm just saying how I do
• 37:06
  it. It takes a ton of time to track down
• 37:09
  all the the dates and the numbers and
• 37:11
  the uh the variations and getting
• 37:14
  pictures of everything. So, so yeah, it
• 37:16
  just takes a little bit of time. So,
• 37:18
  >> it's extremely helpful. So, if anybody's
• 37:20
  listening to this, whether you're on
• 37:21
  Spotify, whether on Apple Podcast,
• 37:22
  whether on YouTube, Podbean, wherever
• 37:24
  you are, and you're a Garbage Pill Kids
• 37:26
  fan, you have to check out gpk.com
• 37:28
  because not only does he have all the
• 37:30
  cars listed chronologically for all the
• 37:32
  series, especially the original series,
• 37:35
  but he has all the recurrent series
• 37:37
  after that. It's amazing. Not only that,
• 37:39
  he has the history of the garbage bills.
• 37:41
  You can go actually and if you don't
• 37:43
  know, remember everything how how they
• 37:45
  came out, the lawsuit, what happened
• 37:48
  after that, the re-releases, all that
• 37:50
  stuff is put into this one site. He also
• 37:53
  has a crazy find your name site, which I
• 37:56
  always wanted to check just in case I
• 37:58
  missed anything. Wait, maybe they did
• 37:59
  put out a Lawrence, but they never did.
• 38:01
  Where you could put your name in, search
• 38:03
  for your name, and then look to see what
• 38:04
  cards were released on your name, which
• 38:06
  I found absolutely fantastic. That must
• 38:08
  have taken you forever.
• 38:10
  >> Yeah. Yeah. And and there should be an
• 38:12
  asterisk on everything I say because
• 38:14
  everything does take me a long time. Um
• 38:17
  but like starting back with the original
• 38:20
  site and and to now um I've taught
• 38:24
  myself this. I' I've used it as kind of
• 38:26
  an excuse to learn something new. So
• 38:28
  I've taught myself how to code. I've
• 38:30
  taught myself Photoshop. Um so my coding
• 38:35
  uh probably leaves a little bit to be
• 38:37
  desired. Um, it involves a lot of like
• 38:40
  when I'm typing it, I'll type here and
• 38:42
  then I look over there and it didn't
• 38:43
  work and I um, so I I get it to work,
• 38:47
  but it it takes me a a considerable
• 38:49
  amount of time just because I don't
• 38:51
  necessarily know what I'm doing. So
• 38:54
  >> that's that's amazing that you're able
• 38:55
  to teach I I don't want to toot my own
• 38:57
  horn, but I do the same thing. Like in
• 38:58
  order for me to put out a video, I had
• 39:00
  to teach myself how to do Final Cut Pro.
• 39:02
  I had to teach myself how to use, you
• 39:04
  know, all these other programs like to
• 39:05
  do thumbnails, to do whatever. The site
• 39:07
  is also very very polished. If anybody
• 39:09
  goes to an actual website, your website
• 39:11
  is like very eye appealing and that just
• 39:13
  I don't think it's just because it's GPK
• 39:15
  is one of those things that it's it's
• 39:16
  bright, it's beautiful, but the site
• 39:18
  itself is beautiful.
• 39:20
  >> Thank you. Yeah. Um over the years there
• 39:24
  there's been a few variations of it. Um,
• 39:28
  to be honest, I feel like it needs one
• 39:29
  more rebuild with some of the newer
• 39:31
  technology, but um, yeah, I I I I like
• 39:36
  taking the time to to make it look nice,
• 39:39
  too. But that's just that works for me
• 39:42
  personally. So, it it's nice that it
• 39:43
  works for everyone else, too. But I was
• 39:46
  always creative or or I enjoyed creative
• 39:49
  hobbies as a kid. And then I got to be
• 39:51
  an adult, and I have it's like the
• 39:54
  world's worst boring job. I'm like an
• 39:55
  engineer at a telecommunications
• 39:57
  company. So, it doesn't afford me the
• 40:00
  opportunity to be very creative. So,
• 40:02
  that's why I like this. It's it's a nice
• 40:04
  um aside to
• 40:08
  learn some new things, uh worry about
• 40:10
  how things look. Um so, it's nice.
• 40:13
  >> We have that in common because I have an
• 40:14
  incredibly boring job in healthcare
• 40:16
  space. So, like same thing here. I like
• 40:18
  I like to be creative. I like to talk. I
• 40:19
  like to talk about things that I enjoy
• 40:21
  like the garbage mail kids. So, I don't
• 40:24
  know if you know this, but your website
• 40:25
  has become the ultimate resource for
• 40:28
  GPK. Do people reach out to you and ask
• 40:30
  you questions? You know, do you get a
• 40:31
  lot of emails saying like, "What about
• 40:33
  this? Have you ever seen this?" You also
• 40:35
  have error cards on the site as well.
• 40:36
  So, that's always something that I'm
• 40:38
  still learning about as well.
• 40:40
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I get a handful of emails.
• 40:42
  Um, that's actually gone down a little
• 40:44
  bit. Um, I think people take advantage
• 40:47
  of groups on Facebook or something for a
• 40:49
  lot of their questions, which is fine.
• 40:51
  um odds are they'll find a better answer
• 40:53
  there most of the time. But um yeah, I
• 40:56
  get a lot of questions. What I like the
• 40:58
  most is is every once in a while or a
• 41:00
  few times a year I I'll get somebody to
• 41:02
  reach out to me. Um it just happened the
• 41:05
  other week there's a collector overseas
• 41:07
  who just has some information and some
• 41:10
  images on like some of the foreign
• 41:11
  releases uh for example,
• 41:14
  which is great because I need help with
• 41:17
  those. I I I don't I didn't collect the
• 41:20
  test cards from Belgium in 1985. So, if
• 41:24
  somebody knows that, um I I I love when
• 41:27
  that happens. I'll give a shout out on
• 41:29
  my site if somebody gives me some help.
• 41:31
  Um so, that's great. I I love hearing
• 41:33
  like that kind of stuff. It it is the
• 41:38
  nice uh release from all the people
• 41:40
  saying, "How much does this work?" You
• 41:42
  know, and those I kind of just shove to
• 41:44
  the side.
• 41:46
  I I we were talking a little bit before
• 41:48
  we started recording how like I get a
• 41:49
  lot of emails as well because I put out
• 41:51
  a lot of garbage kill videos on my
• 41:53
  YouTube channel that get quite amount
• 41:55
  good amount of views. So like I want to
• 41:58
  say to everybody out there who's
• 41:59
  listening to this the garbage kids while
• 42:01
  I have done price videos about most
• 42:03
  valuable whatever and I think that's
• 42:04
  what a lot of people are going for.
• 42:06
  Let's not forget the nostalgia about
• 42:07
  these cards. If you grew up owning them
• 42:09
  and you love these characters, you love
• 42:11
  these silly little grotesque fun little
• 42:14
  things. That's what it's supposed to be
• 42:15
  about for especially guys around our
• 42:17
  age. I'm in my late 40s, believe it or
• 42:19
  not. My birthday is is this Saturday
• 42:20
  coming up. So, I'm about to turn I'm
• 42:23
  about to turn 48 and I still love these
• 42:25
  things to death. So, let's not forget
• 42:26
  that, right?
• 42:27
  >> Absolutely. I I turned 50 this year, so
• 42:31
  I got a couple years on you. But yeah, I
• 42:33
  mean, and that's usually my response
• 42:35
  when people will send me a message and
• 42:37
  they're like, "Oh, you know, look what I
• 42:39
  just found. What can I get for it?" I'll
• 42:40
  just reply and be like, "That's awesome.
• 42:42
  Like, keep those." like they're the
• 42:44
  best. They're like they're a little time
• 42:46
  capsule back to the 80s and and you can,
• 42:49
  you know, use them whenever you need a
• 42:51
  little break from whatever it is that's
• 42:53
  going on right now. So, they don't
• 42:55
  really like that response. They want the
• 42:57
  money, but um but yeah, the nostalgia is
• 43:00
  where it started for me.
• 43:02
  >> Um it's where
• 43:04
  I I always go to when I'm like
• 43:07
  struggling with things and it's it's
• 43:09
  what keeps the the site going. It's what
• 43:11
  keeps the hobby going for me. Um, I just
• 43:14
  I just love it. I have such vivid
• 43:16
  memories of the 80s. So,
• 43:18
  >> me too. A couple more questions and I'm
• 43:20
  gonna let you go, Matt.
• 43:22
  >> Sure.
• 43:22
  >> Do you have a do you have a favorite
• 43:23
  part of the site that you actually
• 43:24
  continue to go back and use? And also,
• 43:28
  what do you think the user experience,
• 43:30
  like if I'm a person going to the site
• 43:32
  for the first time, what part of the
• 43:33
  site do you think I would really like or
• 43:35
  really use the most?
• 43:37
  >> Um, yeah. So, I don't know if I have a
• 43:41
  favorite part. Um,
• 43:45
  I some of my favorite sections are like
• 43:49
  I have a a section on like official
• 43:51
  merchandise, um, officially licensed
• 43:53
  merchandise. Um, so there's some pages
• 43:56
  in there that I've put together and and
• 43:58
  selfishly from like I got something to
• 44:01
  work coding wise or image-wise that I
• 44:05
  was what I was going for. So, I like
• 44:07
  those pages. Like there's a section on
• 44:08
  like skateboard wheels that just were
• 44:10
  released over the last few years. Um, so
• 44:12
  I have like every wheel and I feel like
• 44:14
  that page just looks really nice. The
• 44:17
  galleries I like, but I I tend to look
• 44:20
  at those like a a chore almost because
• 44:24
  those are what I'm always like
• 44:25
  struggling to keep up to date with. So
• 44:27
  it's every time I look at them, I'm
• 44:28
  like, "Oh, there's another one I have to
• 44:30
  finish." Um, so I like those, but
• 44:32
  they're they're almost harder to look
• 44:34
  at. Um, I'm a huge fan of the movie that
• 44:38
  came out in '87. So, I I like that
• 44:41
  section of the site. It's not super
• 44:43
  robust, but um that's another little
• 44:46
  selfish hobby I have or um like thing
• 44:50
  that I collect. I will buy copies of the
• 44:52
  movie. So, I have like 40 various copies
• 44:56
  of the movie. And
• 44:57
  >> you you might be the only Garbage Pill
• 44:59
  Kids fan that I know that enjoyed that
• 45:01
  movie.
• 45:02
  >> Yeah, the movie is so creepy. Like it's
• 45:04
  the weirdest thing ever. And I actually
• 45:06
  saw it in the theater. I saw it with my
• 45:07
  neighbor across the street, Robbie, and
• 45:09
  we got dropped off at the Cooper 5 on. I
• 45:12
  remember everything about this. We got
• 45:14
  some cards in the lobby. There was maybe
• 45:16
  like eight people in the theater. And I
• 45:18
  remember just sitting down being super
• 45:20
  excited and then just so confused. I
• 45:22
  hated the movie. I didn't know what was
• 45:24
  going on. But I kept the cards. I still
• 45:26
  have those um to this day. And uh yeah,
• 45:30
  something about it, something about how
• 45:33
  much they missed the mark with that. I I
• 45:36
  think I'm attracted to so I I like plus
• 45:39
  I just love physical media, so I think I
• 45:40
  like buying a VHS tape or
• 45:43
  >> it's it's like the it's like I don't
• 45:45
  know if I'm a big Masters of the
• 45:46
  Universe fan. It's the same thing with
• 45:48
  us with that original movie. Now they're
• 45:50
  coming out with the new Masters of the
• 45:51
  Universe movie. So any chance we're ever
• 45:53
  going to get a Garbage Kids movie, like
• 45:54
  a new one? There's been a ton of rumors
• 45:57
  and if you Google it online, you'll see
• 45:59
  um names like Danny McBride uh attached
• 46:02
  to it. Uh Adam Goldberg, of course, who
• 46:06
  um showed a bunch of love to Garbage
• 46:08
  Fail Kids in his show. Um so there's
• 46:11
  been some rumors, there's been some even
• 46:14
  recently that it's still alive and
• 46:16
  kicking. I don't know. I
• 46:20
  I don't know if it'll ever happen. And
• 46:22
  if it did, I'm not sure it would be very
• 46:25
  good. But um any anything related is is
• 46:28
  always good. Any any
• 46:31
  publicity is good publicity, I guess. So
• 46:35
  [Music]
• 46:40
  >> So again, Matt, I want to thank you
• 46:41
  again for coming on the podcast today.
• 46:43
  We I hope everybody out there who's
• 46:44
  listening has learned a lot about the
• 46:45
  garbage books, but I have one more
• 46:47
  question for you, and that's what do you
• 46:49
  think of all the parody carts out there?
• 46:51
  There's a lot of people out there who
• 46:52
  are doing their own garbage pill kids
• 46:54
  type of cards. What do you think of
• 46:56
  those?
• 46:57
  >> Um, there is a lot. Um, and so I would
• 47:00
  say a I think it's great. I love seeing
• 47:03
  people get creative and some of these
• 47:05
  people are getting really creative. Um,
• 47:07
  so I love that, but B I I don't collect
• 47:11
  it. Um, personally I'm not interested in
• 47:14
  that just because there is that much out
• 47:17
  there and and I can't, you know, I tried
• 47:20
  picking and choosing for a while. Um,
• 47:23
  but it just got to the point where
• 47:25
  there's so much cool stuff out there and
• 47:27
  I couldn't get it all. So, I just
• 47:28
  decided to go for none. So, I just go
• 47:29
  for the official stuff. But, yeah,
• 47:31
  there's some great stuff out there. Um,
• 47:34
  people get
• 47:36
  creative and spend a lot of time and
• 47:38
  money and and I think that's that's good
• 47:40
  for the hobby. Um, I think a lot of
• 47:42
  people find their way back into GPK from
• 47:45
  the parody sets out there. So, so yeah,
• 47:48
  I think that's good and and over the
• 47:50
  years I even released some stuff under
• 47:52
  my website that was kind of like parody
• 47:54
  cards. So, I have to say I like it if I
• 47:56
  did it. Um, but yeah, so I think I think
• 47:59
  it's good and I think I don't think
• 48:01
  we're anywhere near seeing the end of
• 48:03
  that. If you'd like to become a sponsor
• 48:04
  here on the Mighty Rewind podcast, make
• 48:06
  sure you reach out at the mighty
• 48:07
  rewindpodcast@gmail.com.