Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Another Single Card Review: Garbage Pail Kids Batty Brad Promo


The Good: Good (enough) image, Inexpensive enough, Necessary for collectors
The Bad: Identical to common card in set, Light on information.
The Basics: Not enough to make an adult want "Garbage Pail Kids," the Series 5 promotional card of Batty Brad is an unimpressive promo which is as juvenile as the main cards.


When I was in elementary school, I got my start with collecting trading cards the way most kids did; with cards clearly designed for children. They were the trading card/stickers "Garbage Pail Kids" and my mother fostered my collecting by helping me get my first complete set of cards when I was in the third grade. Now, years later, I deal in trading cards for series' I like on-line as I write reviews and struggle to make money as a novelist.

Well, Garbage Pail Kids are back and to prepare collectors for the release of the fifth series of Garbage Pail Kids trading cards, Topps produced a promotional card. Promotional cards are designed to give collectors a tease of the new set and generate enthusiasm for forthcoming card releases. Topps gave away tens of thousands of "Batty Brad" promotional cards to collectors (who simply asked for one and sent a self addressed, stamped envelope) and to dealers to freely distribute to potential customers.

The "Batty Brad" promotional card prepares fans for the style of the common card set for the Series 5 trading cards. As such, this is a standard trading card size and there is no gimmick to it. It is the standard sticker card which is differed from the common card of Batty Brad only by the content on the back.

The front of the trading card features the original artwork of Batty Brad, a Garbage Pail Kid dressed as Batman who is propelling his Batmobile using the power of his fart. Oriented in a landscape orientation, it clearly identifies itself as both a Garbage Pail Kid and Batty Brad with bright text and clear lettering. The image on the front is very clear and the color contrast is decent, which prepares collectors well for the actual set.

The back of the card simply announces the "Garbage Pail Kids" Series 5 trading card set, illustrating that it will be a set that includes two of each character and indicating that it would be available in 2004 (and it was)! The back features only the basic image and the iconic Garbage Pail Kid image of Adam Bomb (in this case leaping out of cake).

In the end, this card is underwhelming and has very little actual information on the card set. As a result, those looking to purchase one of these ought to avoid overpaying. The fact that this is identical to one of the cards in the actual set further devalues it. Many dealers throw promotional cards in for free (usually with a purchase) and this card only has a guide value of $2.00. There is no reason to pay more than that.

This was not enough to renew any interest in my childhood card collecting favorite.

For other promotional card reviews, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Clone Wars Season 1 San Diego Comic-Con P1
2005 Family Guy P1
Twilight P1

4/10

For other card reviews, please check out my index page on the subject!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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