Many of you probably know that there are multiple levels of parallel cards for the Garbage Pail Kids Flashbacks sets.

The normal gold parallels are 1:62 packs, but there are also parallels for the 10 Adam mania chase cards, which are 1:993 packs.

Who in the world could afford to pull a gold parallel set themselves? Even with ebay it seems like this would be a struggle. Is there even one person on the entire planet who has a complete gold parallel set? What is your opinion on chase sets that are this hard to complete?

They are totally pointless as nobody will ever complete them. There must be loads of people who have one or a few somethings each.

Topps are the only people i know who do this sort of thing, it would intresting to know from them what the idea behind it is.

That does seem like it would be a daunting task. If you are trying for it good luck.

Oh, I'm not trying for it. Even completing a green parallel set, the lowest level at 1:2 packs (1:24 packs for the Adam Mania greens) would strain me financially. Though I'm sure eBay and trading with people would be much more helpful for the lower parallels.

Is anyone good at math? What would be the *average* number of boxes someone would have to buy to complete a gold parallel set including the gold Adam Manias?

I don't ever go for the parallels or other chase cards. I go for the base set by opening packs. (The way it used to be done) If I get any chase or parallels I consider them a bonus.

To me the fun is opening the packs and assembling the base set. The rest is fluff!

This set is probably on par with completing the Metal Gear Solid set. Eat away at it one piece at a time.

quote:

Originally posted by James7:
Is anyone good at math? What would be the *average* number of boxes someone would have to buy to complete a gold parallel set including the gold Adam Manias?

You know James, you have mentioned this before in your comments about disposable base cards and I don't understand your thinking. Its no wonder you have too many base cards, you can't buy boxes or cases just to complete chase sets or parallel sets.

If you tried you would spend a fortune and it could go on forever if you only needed a couple of cards. If you have the desire to do all the chase cards, or premium hits, or complete a master set you start with a couple of boxes, maybe even a case if you have the money. After that the missing cards must be picked up individually, usually over time.

That's why it's a hobby, to spend time doing it. Forget about average number of boxes, cases or whatever, even if you could afford to waste the money its not an efficient way to collect cards.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
If you have the desire to do all the chase cards, or premium hits, or complete a master set you start with a couple of boxes, maybe even a case if you have the money. After that the missing cards must be picked up individually, usually over time.

You would definitely need a case to get a start on a GPK gold parallel set. At 1:62 packs and 24 packs per box, if you merely bought a "couple boxes" there'd be a good chance you wouldn't get any gold parallels at all. Much less the 190 golds needed to complete a set of them.

Since the golds are so rare picking them up individually on eBay and other secondary market outlets is a bit difficult. I just checked on eBay. There are only 24 series 2 gold parallels currently available. The average price when shipping is included seems to be about $30 per card. Not to mention the 10 Adam Mania golds, of which only 1 is currently available, and it is nearly $100. Some of the gold cards will probably NEVER show up on eBay at all.

If we are to talk about waste, doesn't each chase card represents a certain number of opened packs regardless of *who* opened those packs? If you bought GPK gold cards individually from secondhand sources, it would be no less wasteful, since there are still three boxes worth of opened base cards out there per gold card. Waste is inherent in the idea of chase cards, once a company inserts chase cards, there is no real way to collect that chase set without a certain amount of inefficiency and waste involved. In the instance of GPK gold parallels, the waste just happens to be enormous and therefore more obvious to us.

If I was going to go after a GPK gold parallel, instead of paying $30 per card, I would much rather spend $120 and buy three boxes to get that card, as this way I will have the fun of opening them, and also be able to pull and assemble the lower levels of parallels on my way to a gold. Not to mention the sketch cards and printing plates.

quote:

Originally posted by James7:
If we are to talk about waste, doesn't each chase card represents a certain number of opened packs regardless of *who* opened those packs? If you bought GPK gold cards individually from secondhand sources, it would be no less wasteful, since there are still three boxes worth of opened base cards out there per gold card. Waste is inherent in the idea of chase cards, once a company inserts chase cards, there is no real way to collect that chase set without a certain amount of inefficiency and waste involved. In the instance of GPK gold parallels, the waste just happens to be enormous and therefore more obvious to us.

You're assuming the person opening has the same goals you do.

Maybe they are just happy with the base set and the Adam Mania cards, but got a gold card in the process.

Maybe they are a dealer and they have customers for the additional sets and chase cards

But yes, there is going to be some waste. You are correct that it is inherent in the current system of having rare chase cards, and even worse if you're just a sketch collector.

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by James7:

Is anyone good at math? What would be the *average* number of boxes someone would have to buy to complete a gold parallel set including the gold Adam Manias?

Well at 1:62 for base and 1:993 for the Adam ones you would need to open 414 boxes for the base and 414 for the Adam ones for 818 boxes and that's assuming you don't pull any doubles which would be ridiculously lucky so let's say 2000 boxes. Not sure how many were made, but based on the fact that printing plates are 1:2636 packs and that there appears to be about 180 cards times 4 plates each for 720 plates so 720*2636 = 1897920 packs or 79080 boxes so about 2.5% of the product. This also assumes that you never pull a gold of each in a single box.

2,000 boxes would cost close to $100,000. For much less than that, someone could probably buy high end printing equipment and make the cards themselves. They are just sticker cards after all. I would never do that, I'm just saying that Topps should probably put some kind of anti-counterfeit device on the golds, like a little hologram in the corner.

If it takes 414 boxes to get the gold, and 414 boxes to get the gold Adams, it takes 414 boxes (on average) to get all of the golds and Adams. Of course, you would end up with duplicates if you were crazy enough to open 414 boxes, that you would then trade to get the cards you need.

That's an outrageous amount of money and effort needed for the set via packs, but I'm sure there are some high-end set builders out there who are spending $30+ per card to complete a set. People collect complete parallel, memorabilia, or autograph sets in sports and non-sport issues all the time where the cost runs about the same.

And while there may be only a very small number of people putting together the gold set, there are people who want only the base set (I'm in that group), or the base set and a certain insert, or the base set and all the lowest-tier base set, or people who want only the lowest-tier parallels, and so on. There are markets for each of these areas. All those base sets aren't a waste. You may only get $5-10 for a base set from some releases, but there's somebody who wants to pay that.

Nobody who puts together high-end sets like these does it by busting the required amount of boxes. Some go straight to singles sellers, while others may bust a few cases and sell the rest of the cards and then buy the remaining singles they need.

Box (and case) busting is really good for three things: the fun of opening packs, putting together base sets, and hoping for a good selection of cards to sell and/or trade.

If all you're concerned with is getting the highest tier of chase cards, or a full set of some insert set, just save your money and time and buy cards from other people who opened product.

If you want to bust 414 boxes of product to build a set like this, don't dismiss the rest of the cards in the packs as garbage. There are always people looking for these cards. You may not want the 400 or so base sets you get from busting those boxes, but there are 400 people who will give you a little return on your cost.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryan G:
If it takes 414 boxes to get the gold, and 414 boxes to get the gold Adams, it takes 414 boxes (on average) to get all of the golds and Adams. Of course, you would end up with duplicates if you were crazy enough to open 414 boxes, that you would then trade to get the cards you need.

I assumed that you would not get a gold Adams and a gold base in the same box.

Chuck: while you probably wouldn't get a gold Adams and a gold base in the same box, you would still need 414 boxes to get the correct number of cards.

For example, assume there are four cards that appear one per box, all printed at the same quantities (the two gold sets are printed in the same quantities - the Adams just are more "rare" because their set size is smaller).

If I want all four cards, I would buy four boxes. I might end up with duplicates, but I would have four of those cards on average. I wouldn't need four boxes for card "1", four boxes for card "2", etc.

Just like a lottery scratch-off, where the odds may be 1:1 million to win a jackpot prize, the other tickets most likely would have other prizes possible. If a second prize is 1:500,000, then you would expect two of those prizes in addition to your jackpot prize - on average, assuming you bought 1 million tickets.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryan G:
Chuck: while you probably wouldn't get a gold Adams and a gold base in the same box, you would still need 414 boxes to get the correct number of cards.

For example, assume there are four cards that appear one per box, all printed at the same quantities (the two gold sets are printed in the same quantities - the Adams just are more "rare" because their set size is smaller).

Yep...you're right although I think the total would still be more than 414. I'd have to think about it more to come up with the right number.

For sets with crazy parallels (like Star Wars 30th), I have traded / sold them for more lower cards. I figure I am never going to complete the set anyway. (and hopefully I can help the few total completeis out there).