Garbage Pail Kids Bizarre Competitions Series Celebrates the World’s Strangest Contests

Topps has launched a new Garbage Pail Kids trading card series inspired by unusual competitions from around the world.

The 2026 Topps Garbage Pail Kids: Bizarre Competitions collection is being released as a six-week online-exclusive series. A new wave will arrive every Thursday through August 27.

Each weekly release introduces five original Garbage Pail Kids characters inspired by strange real-world contests. Every character receives the brand’s traditional A and B name variations, creating a 10-card base set each week and a 60-card complete set across the full series.

Topps said the unusual competitions were a natural match for Garbage Pail Kids and its history of parody, satire, gross-out humor and exaggerated artwork.

“The real events are already so fun and unusual that they felt like they belonged in the Garbage Pail Kids world,” Topps Product Manager Francis said.

Francis added that the collection also gives Topps an opportunity to introduce collectors to unusual events through a collectible card format.

The first wave includes cards based on shin kicking and wife carrying.

Shin kicking, also known as hacking or purring, dates back to 1612 and remains part of the Cotswold Olympicks in England. The goal is for competitors to kick each other in the shins.

The wife-carrying competition is represented by the character Carried Carrie. The annual Wife Carrying World Championships in Finland requires competitors to carry their wives through a 253.5-meter course featuring different terrain and water obstacles. According to Topps, the prize includes a mobile phone and the wife’s weight in beer.

Wave 2 was released July 30 and features sign spinning, cheese rolling, chess boxing, extreme ironing and gurning.

Gurning competitions judge participants on their ability to distort their faces. Competitors place a horse collar, known as a Braffin, around their necks and create exaggerated facial expressions.

Chess boxing combines six rounds of chess with five rounds of boxing, with a one-minute break between each round. One of the related Garbage Pail Kids characters is Chester Chess Boxer.

The second wave also includes I Ron, a character inspired by extreme ironing. Participants in the activity take an iron and ironing board to unusual locations, including mountaintops and underwater environments.

Additional competitions will be introduced as new waves arrive throughout the six-week release schedule.

The 2026 Topps Garbage Pail Kids: Bizarre Competitions series will continue with new online-exclusive cards every Thursday through August 27.