The Garbage Pail Kids Turn 30

Well, this is news that'll make you feel old quickly; the Garbage Pail Kids turn 30 this year. It really doesn't seem that long ago since I was collecting these, and to be honest, sticking them all over my headboard on my bed. I wasn't particularly good at keeping them pristine anyway (a skill I think I only developed when The Simpsons trading cards came out), but I had great fun trading these with friends in school; they seemed perfectly pitched for kids, despite the somewhat grotesque characters. It's something that seems to be missing for young 'un's these days; we loved the gross-out humour and awful puns, and no doubt children now would, too. So while taking in some of the gloriously revolting artwork, let's have a quick look back at the start of the collecting craze.

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