A recent obsession of mine has been collecting old wax packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. Sure, I have a ton of these non-sport cards from when I was a kid, but the artwork and design of the packaging is something I missed. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. Let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display!
Donkey Kong (Topps, 1982)
I did not collect these cards growing up, but as a Mario and Nintendo fan I had to own a pack. I searched ebay for a box of these babies, but couldn't quite find any in my price range. So, I had to settle for a single pack. These cards are more a type of scratch off game. You would scratch off the circles to try to score enough points to reach Pauline at the top. These were fun, but the real prize were the stickers! The artwork is vintage Nintendo! You got several per sheet and Mario is still referred to as "Jumpman". NEAT!
Ghostbusters 2 (Topps, 1989)
In 1989 these cards were elusive where I lived. Every now and then I would spot a box and grab a pack from the local convenience store, but not enough for me to amass a huge collection. One of my friends owned a bunch of these and I would trade with him to get the sweet stickers! This set consisted of 88 cards and 11 stickers. You got the usual screen shots from the movie, but the real stars of this set were the subsets that included "Wide Screen SFX" & "Artwork" cards.
Rad Dudes (Pacific, 1990)
Ah, Rad Dudes, what an oddball set of trading cards. These came out around the time where I would buy anything on the trading card rack. I remember bringing these to school and one of my brother's friends getting all salty because one of the Dudes called another Dude a "Poser" on the back of the Half Pipe Pat card. He said that was a bad name to call someone. In my mind I thought this was awesome! I had another card set that would offend people like the Garbage Pail Kids. As a grown up, I know better now. These are just bad pun inspired characters saved only by the beautiful neon colors.
The Simpsons (Topps, 1990)
The Simpsons is still one of my favorite properties to watch and collect to this day. I've even had my kids listen to the "Simpsons Sing The Blues" album. These cards were a bit of a mystery to me when they came out in 1990. The show had already been on for a while, but the cards did not have artwork from the current show. It had still photos from the Tracy Ullman shorts. I knew the Simpsons were part of that show, but was not 100% familiar with the shorts. When I saw these cards, I thought maybe I had missed a few episodes somewhere? Finally, I figured it out and have come to enjoy the simplicity of the artwork from the early years of this iconic family. I really want to complete a full set of these cards including the stickers!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (Topps, 1991)
Just like the Topps Ninja Turtles cartoon sets, I collected the cards from the first movie with ferocity. Then "The Secret of the Ooze" came out and I bought a few card packs, but was not as hooked as I had been before. I don't know why? I loved this movie and collected everything Turtles. The photos on these cards and stickers are nice and the graphics/colors are some of my favorite of all the non-sport cards I own. This led me to recently purchase a full box of these cards. I am hoping I can complete a full set. Go Ninja, go Ninja, go!!!
Vanilla Ice - Ninja Rap (1991)
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