I have written several times about my love for the vintage-era Wacky Packages stickers to relatively limited response.
I get it. They are not sports cards, which is the main reason people visit this blog. Also, they are from an era that fewer collectors remember when compared to, say, the 1980s and Garbage Pail Kids. So that's a double whammy if I'm looking for "hey I remember those!" and "they were the best!"
But I can't help it. I have to collect them. And I have to write about them. Wacky Packages stickers were right there, dead-center, at the start of my collecting enthusiasm. I bought them along with 1975 Topps baseball cards. You know how much I love '75 baseball cards. I put packs of both baseball and Wacky stickers on the counter at the same time and tore into each when I got home. Naturally, I bought more baseball but, those stickers, I connected to those.
They were quirky. They made light of common products I saw every day in my home, in advertisements or commercials or in the store. They were illustrated to look like the product but with some adjustments. I loved all of that, the product fit my growing personality and who I would come to be in the future.
That's why they still mean so much to me and why I collect them now. I do most of it on my own -- not a lot of fellow collectors have them or care about them -- and for a long time that was through purchasing on COMC. I don't buy there anymore so that's put a dent in Wacky acquiring. But not too long ago, I received three of the vintage stickers from a new source -- The Collective Mind!
Greg, through his TCDB connections, found three stickers from Series 6, which was released right at the peak of me collecting the stickers in the '70s. Series 6 was issued in 1974, a year before I started buying baseball cards, but I'm sure those stickers were still on store shelves in '75. Probably some moms wouldn't let their kids buy those stickers so they sat longer.
I remember each of these, especially the Run-A-Way monster vitamins, a spoof on One-A-Day Vitamins. (The other two stickers are plays on Camay Soap and Velveeta Cheese).
I was thrilled that Greg was able to get stickers from Series 6, which is the series I had the most stickers for. That spurred me to get the final three stickers that I still needed.
Those were the final three, and now, for the first time, I have completed a Wacky Packages series!!
Here are all the Series 6 stickers.
That gives me a thrill. I remember many of these from when I was a kid and a few of them -- Bit-O-Money, Ditch Boy Paint, Mold Rush Gum, Peter Pain Peanut Butter, Super Cigar Crisp cereal -- go right to the heart of childhood and what I thought, and a few of my friends thought, were sooooo funny at the time. I still remember my 10th birthday party with friends being centered around G.I. Joe and Wacky Packages.
I have a binder dedicated to vintage Wacky Packages and I will add the rest of Series 6 to the binder. I'm not interested in any of the so-called variations (1 or 2 asterisks and the different-shaded backs), because none of that was on our minds when we collected them as kids.
But I will not stick them, which we definitely did as kids.
This development with the sticker arrival from The Collective Mind is key because about the only other card blogger who has sent me Wacky stickers is Johnny's Trading Spot. Also I know I can now rely on ebay for Wacky buys, which I don't think I've ever done before.
Now, the stickers were just a small portion of what Greg sent ("thank goodness," some of you are saying). I don't do a lot of Allen & Ginter buying anymore but Greg does and he was kind enough to send some Dodgers.
The top three are minis from the 2025 set -- I have done almost nothing with those Dodger minis. The bottom two are parallel minis from 2026 -- I have done nothing with 2026 A&G period. The Yamamoto is a "metal mini," which I think is new this year?? This falls into the "exotic to me" category that I mentioned a few posts ago. I've never seen one before.
I probably don't need to say that adding yet another parallel to A&G is one of the reasons I don't buy these cards anymore -- though not the main reason.
Here is another parallel that didn't exist back when I was buying boxes of A&G. This is the "silver parallel" of Clayton Kershaw's card. For awhile I confused these with the chrome parallels and why are either of these in Allen & Ginter?
But anyway, these are cards I don't have to chase now. Yay!!
Finally, The Collective Mind answered my plea for 1987 Fleer cards and sent this stash:
He sent a handful more but Baseball Card Breakdown beat him to those. I actually received four envelopes containing 1987 Fleer in quick succession so there have been a few repeats, as is to be expected.
Still this is how I want it to go! Let's get this set finished quickly!! I still have a couple more envelopes of '87 Fleer to show off.
And that was a nice display of my varied collecting interests all in one envelope. I'm happy to show all those interests off, even the ones that may not have that much appeal, because that's what makes our little collecting world go 'round -- the variety of interests.
And you know I'm going to show off Wacky Packages Series 5 and Series 4 and Series 7 and Series 8 -- heck my binder covers Series 1 through 13 -- when I get those done.
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