A box of Buff Monster’s new ice cream themed Melty Misfits retro-styled sticker trading cards showed up today, courtesy of the card wizards at Sidekick Trading Card Publishing. Here’s a closer look at this special collectible ahead of next week’s online release of the cards directly from Buffmonster.com (6.5, 10 AM PDT).
Opening up the box feels like travelling back to 1985 when Garbage Pail Kids took hold and captured the imagination of impressionable kids including a very young Buff Monster. This retro experience is very much by design. The old-school chipboard box, the true wax packs, Kiss-cut stickers, and the retro printing were all designed to mimic the original experience provided by GPK and other similar now ‘vintage’ trading cards. The series is Buff’s all-out homage to all things Garbage Pail Kids, a deeply personal obsession that continues to grow with each passing day.
As with the Garbage Pail Kids, Melty Misfits offers 60 cards in Series 1 with thirty original character images by Buff Monster along with another 30 variant characters sharing the same art. While some of the cards are based on original GPK cards, the majority are original scenes detailing the humorous peril faced by Buff’s ice cream creatures. The back of each card offers something extra – including part of a card ‘puzzle’ mosaic image, a collectors’ checklist, or in many cases a black + white developmental sketch of the card’s character. In addition to the standard 60 cards, the series also features sketch cards, signed cards, and the holy grail for many card fanatics – variant and error cards. Plus, there’s a single Golden Ticket lurking in the wax packs. Whoever finds it, can use it to claim the original 5” x 7” painting for the unpublished 31st character.
Die-hard fans of Buff Monster and Garbage Pail Kids, may want to pick up a full display box (24 packs, $120). Not only does a box guarantee you a complete set (all 60 standard cards), it also comes with two extras – a fold out Melty Misfits Poster and an uncut four-card portion of an error/test sheet, created in the process of printing the cards. Each four-card segment is different and should thrill those interested in process and rarities.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, Buff Monster will be offering The Melty Misfits directly from buffmonster.com on Tuesday, June 5th @ 10 AM PDT. He’ll be selling both full boxes and bundles of 4 packs, but not single packs which will be available at retailers (7 cards, $5) . This is the first opportunity to buy the cards online.
