How many Old School Boxes did you buy from Topps?

[BumChex]

From somebody who has a quantity of unopened boxes I say---$100 - $115 per that's WTF!   

watch what happens to the price of boxes. Leslie emailed me and said she has been the one buying boxes in the $100 range and she plans to stop for a couple months. We will see but I think she is the reason these boxes have been selling in this range.

[BustedFinger]

watch what happens to the price of boxes. Leslie emailed me and said she has been the one buying boxes in the $100 range and she plans to stop for a couple months. We will see but I think she is the reason these boxes have been selling in this range.

I agree.  The believe the hype over Old School will die down and everything associated with it start losing a lot of value.

[Dr Popper]

I agree.  The believe the hype over Old School will die down and everything associated with it start losing a lot of value.

That does seem to be the typical pattern. 

[Playbug]

That does seem to be the typical pattern. 

Yes it does, but what will happen down the road from now? One can only speculate...   

[weirdo1]

Yes it does, but what will happen down the road from now? One can only speculate...   

It'll be interesting when Old School 2 comes out.  Will that renew interest in OS 1, which I agree will fade a bit between now and then, or will OS 1 be old news.

[Plan 9]

Yes it does, but what will happen down the road from now? One can only speculate...   

Since half the entire supply was bought by a handful of 40-something forum members there won't be much of an audience to get nostalgic for it. Do 60-somethings ever get nostalgic for their 40's?

[Beanball]

I am trying to figure out how many boxes the forum members purchased from Topps.
I purchased 282

Six boxes.

[Playbug]

Since half the entire supply was bought by a handful of 40-something forum members there won't be much of an audience to get nostalgic for it. Do 60-somethings ever get nostalgic for their 40's?

Good question. Maybe. I think most get nostalgic for their teen years.

[JasonLiebig]

Since half the entire supply was bought by a handful of 40-something forum members there won't be much of an audience to get nostalgic for it. Do 60-somethings ever get nostalgic for their 40's?

Old School is a limited edition product, and for the reasons you bring up, nostalgia won't be a direct part of future appeal.  If there's to be any nostalgia for Wackys in the future, appreciation for Old School will be part of that, just as the many limited items many of us would love to have, but never even knew about 30 years ago.  So kids that become collectors based on their nostalgia for ANS will come to find Old School.

I'm just betting that the children/teens of today will not be nostalgic for ANS or any Wackys the way we are.  

Anytime they have a moment of nostalgia for something, current generations will be able to bring it up "on demand", and I think that changes how one seeks to revisit the past.  

Impossible to know for certain, but I'd speculate that trading card and comic book collecting as hobbies will only shrink as the decades progress.  

[Plan 9]

Old School is a limited edition product, and for the reasons you bring up, nostalgia won't be a direct part of future appeal.  If there's to be any nostalgia for Wackys in the future, appreciation for Old School will be part of that, just as the many limited items many of us would love to have, but never even knew about 30 years ago.  So kids that become collectors based on their nostalgia for ANS will come to find Old School.

I'm just betting that the children/teens of today will not be nostalgic for ANS or any Wackys the way we are.  

Anytime they have a moment of nostalgia for something, current generations will be able to bring it up "on demand", and I think that changes how one seeks to revisit the past.  

Impossible to know for certain, but I'd speculate that trading card and comic book collecting as hobbies will only shrink as the decades progress.  

The ease of finding Wacky Packs was a positive thing for my return to collecting. I don't see how it could be anything but.

Why do you think collectors won't be nostalgic for the ANS? Because there's not one memorable character in the whole run and the gags are mostly spoon fed? 

[BumChex]

The ease of finding Wacky Packs was a positive thing for my return to collecting. I don't see how it could be anything but.

Why do you think collectors won't be nostalgic for the ANS? Because there's not one memorable character in the whole run and the gags are mostly spoon fed? 

wow! Mr. Negative. Bitter...party of one. Mr. Bitter.......

[Plan 9]

wow! Mr. Negative. Bitter...party of one. Mr. Bitter.......

Why should you think my opinion is bitter? I don't think anyone can make much of an argument against my points. Topps censors the crap out of itself to the point of utter absurdity. I know because I had a long talk with Zapata about it, as if we can't see it ourselves. As far as memorable sticker personalities, I'd like someone to name just ten great characters out of the hundreds that exist in the ANS.

[BumChex]

Why should you think my opinion is bitter? I don't think anyone can make much of an argument against my points. Topps censors the crap out of itself to the point of utter absurdity. I know because I had a long talk with Zapata about it, as if we can't see it ourselves. As far as memorable sticker personalities, I'd like someone to name just ten great characters out of the hundreds that exist in the ANS.

Nostalgia comes to people in many forms. Just because you don't think a character is memorable doesn't mean it won't for the younger collectors.

[slamjim]

Since half the entire supply was bought by a handful of 40-something forum members there won't be much of an audience to get nostalgic for it. Do 60-somethings ever get nostalgic for their 40's?

The point of Old School wasn't to make something that people would get nostalgic for later in life but to make a series for people already nostalgic for the old Wackys. I think that most, if not all the boxes were bought by hardcore fans (around 1/3rd or half possibly) that frequent Wacky forums and the rest by non-forum Wacky fans and hardcore non-sport fans. ANS is there for the kids to get nostalgic for.

[slamjim]

I don't think anyone can make much of an argument against my points. Topps censors the crap out of itself to the point of utter absurdity.

Not true IMO. I think there are more edgy ANS stickers than OS ones. Yeah, we lost the cigarettes and booze which sucks but other than a few specific topics (religion, food killing a person, bugs in the food) most everything else is fairly fair game. Just that small bit of toning things down has helped avoid C&Ds all these years and made it possible to continue to have new Wackys. I have been able to get many of my gags through without changes. Sometimes I have to argue them a bit. Sometimes I have to compromise and sometimes I was just wrong and the gag wasn't really as good as I thought it was and they were right for changing it or dumping it all together. No one likes to be edited and looking back I have some things that still burn me that are missing from some of the Wackys I did but overall they let quite a bit through.

And hey, just glancing through ANS6 I see lots of pretty edgy topics. Besides these below I also see rotten food, bugs as food, drooling, fighting and other non silly topics. If anything maybe the ANS needs some more morons and goofball gags. OS series 6 isn't exactly a hotbed of controversy.

And let's not forget Brokeback Mountain Dew in ANS4.

Ronzombie - they are eating a human intestine
Hawaiian Lunch - cannibalism
Birds Eyes - eating human eyes
Roid - steroids
Triscult - cults
Perdude - boobs, boobs and more boobs
Alpoor - homelessness
Russell Starver - starvation
SIP - drunk driving
Dorks - murder
Burn 'ems Animals - animals being burned alive
Lapton - the product is in a toilet
'Shake 'N Break - has a "choking your chicken" hidden gag and is literally choking a chicken
Plague - poisons a family including the kid
WMD-40 - Iraq war reference
Dented - pre chewed gum
Chuck 'Ems - vandalism
Panting - calling the woman a dog based on her looks
Duraflume - hell references
Strip  Peas - strippers and check out the faces and hand whereabouts on some of the pea guys
Fiasco - a shit gag (Metalmucil is as well)
Splithearts - breaking up by insulting the other person

Series 6 of the OS:
Truant - kids ditching school
Super Cigar Crisp - smoking/ cereal made up of butts
Virgina Slums - depicting a slum
Bum Bums - homelessness (or just general bums)
the rest are pretty much just silly goofy gags (of which there is nothing wrong with that).

[slamjim]

Nostalgia comes to people in many forms. Just because you don't think a character is memorable doesn't mean it won't for the younger collectors.

I agree. The 150-200 hardcore fans recall the characters clearly because they are HARDCORE FANS. They've sort of lived with them all their lives or if they became nostalgic for them it was because they were really, really (really!) into them as kids and not just like the majority of kids which were collecting them as just one more fleeting moment in their lives. The majority of people that fondly remember a Wacky if you bring it up recall the gag name first (and most fondly) not the characters. Ajerx to a non hardcore collector is about the name Ajerx not that familiar face we all love.

[JasonLiebig]

The ease of finding Wacky Packs was a positive thing for my return to collecting. I don't see how it could be anything but.

Why do you think collectors won't be nostalgic for the ANS? Because there's not one memorable character in the whole run and the gags are mostly spoon fed? 

Plan,

I speculate about the nature of nostalgia in a broader sense, in regards to the kids of today, and how that might drive collecting 20-30 years from now.  The reason being; we had to find the bits of our past to revisit them, as the nostalgic bug hit us - because these things like Wackys had passed us by.  Not to say that kids won't be nostalgic, but they will rarely have to search long to get a taste of their childhood - they'll simply call it up on their phone, and it'll be there.  Due to that, I wonder about the nature of collecting with the current generation of kids, and how it might change.

That's why I speculate that the amount of people who collect comics and trading cards and Wacky Packages in the same way that many of us do will be far fewer in 30 years.   Not to say that there won't be any folks who won't want to to go back and get the physical stickers, because there certainly will be.   

[JasonLiebig]

Why should you think my opinion is bitter? I don't think anyone can make much of an argument against my points. Topps censors the crap out of itself to the point of utter absurdity. I know because I had a long talk with Zapata about it, as if we can't see it ourselves. As far as memorable sticker personalities, I'd like someone to name just ten great characters out of the hundreds that exist in the ANS.

While 1973 was a different world in many respects, even back then Topps rejected gags, toned things tone, and censored itself for the reasons applicable to the world of 1973.   

In spite of that 1973 censoring, we still find things to appreciate and remember.  IF the kids of today are going to be nostalgic for the ANS, they may find characters memorable that we do not.   Of course the kids of today are also going to be nostalgic for Gossip Girl, The Hills, and Justin Bieber.  Think about THAT. 

[Duznt]

Why should you think my opinion is bitter? I don't think anyone can make much of an argument against my points. Topps censors the crap out of itself to the point of utter absurdity. I know because I had a long talk with Zapata about it, as if we can't see it ourselves. As far as memorable sticker personalities, I'd like someone to name just ten great characters out of the hundreds that exist in the ANS.

I went back to take a peek at the ANS series, and came up with the following that had memorable characters to me:

Zit-Kat - the cat cracks me up
Sicken McSluggets - the slugs are awesome!
Slop Tarts - that silly little pig
Chokin in the Sea - the mermaid rocks!
Alberto's BO5 - the woman is great
Soggy Bottom Wet Pants - gross, but Soggy Bottom himself cracks me up
Headhunter Helper - the "Hand" holding the little head is awesome
Ghoul Whip - ghouls rule!
Creeps - the Creeps themselves are great
Toady Grahams - love the frogs and toad
Yeti Whip - Abominable Snowman - nuff said
Hair - the girl is hilarious
Coca Cobra - the snake is fantastic
Scavenging Bubbles - the razor sharp toothed bubbles kick butt
Miracle Growl - man eating plant is wild!
Alive - more great slimy monsters
Crummy Time - the kids are funny and dopey looking

As you can see there's a ton of them - and I only had time to go through ANS1 - 3!
For me it's more of a "fondness" than "nostalgia" at this point though.

[RonZombie]

I went back to take a peek at the ANS series, and came up with the following that had memorable characters to me:

Zit-Kat - the cat cracks me up
Sicken McSluggets - the slugs are awesome!
Slop Tarts - that silly little pig
Chokin in the Sea - the mermaid rocks!
Alberto's BO5 - the woman is great
Soggy Bottom Wet Pants - gross, but Soggy Bottom himself cracks me up
Headhunter Helper - the "Hand" holding the little head is awesome
Ghoul Whip - ghouls rule!
Creeps - the Creeps themselves are great
Toady Grahams - love the frogs and toad
Yeti Whip - Abominable Snowman - nuff said
Hair - the girl is hilarious
Coca Cobra - the snake is fantastic
Scavenging Bubbles - the razor sharp toothed bubbles kick butt
Miracle Growl - man eating plant is wild!
Alive - more great slimy monsters
Crummy Time - the kids are funny and dopey looking

As you can see there's a ton of them - and I only had time to go through ANS1 - 3!
For me it's more of a "fondness" than "nostalgia" at this point though.

I always liked the (Corpse) from "After-Life" cereal...He reminds me of "Boris Karloff"

[Playbug]

I'm NOT gonna go take a peek, but here are some of my favorites/memorable characters & gag's from ANS.

Zilla Wafers - Giant lizard & nice play on words !!
Fright Castle - Oooh scarey
Senior Mints - Funny
Enlisterine - Great gag
Count Funkula - Ahh the old vamp got a makeover
Ghoul Whip - Nice !!

[bandaches]

I went back to take a peek at the ANS series, and came up with the following that had memorable characters to me:

Zit-Kat - the cat cracks me up
Sicken McSluggets - the slugs are awesome!
Slop Tarts - that silly little pig
Chokin in the Sea - the mermaid rocks!
Alberto's BO5 - the woman is great
Soggy Bottom Wet Pants - gross, but Soggy Bottom himself cracks me up
Headhunter Helper - the "Hand" holding the little head is awesome
Ghoul Whip - ghouls rule!
Creeps - the Creeps themselves are great
Toady Grahams - love the frogs and toad
Yeti Whip - Abominable Snowman - nuff said
Hair - the girl is hilarious
Coca Cobra - the snake is fantastic
Scavenging Bubbles - the razor sharp toothed bubbles kick butt
Miracle Growl - man eating plant is wild!
Alive - more great slimy monsters
Crummy Time - the kids are funny and dopey looking

As you can see there's a ton of them - and I only had time to go through ANS1 - 3!
For me it's more of a "fondness" than "nostalgia" at this point though.

If you had to take a peek, doesn't that prove Plan's point?  I hate the fact that there are so many titles per set.  I think this contributes significantly to the watered down lack of standout titles.  Who the hell can process 75 titles at a time with any detail?  People kill packs and create sets by the millisecond as it is seeking "value" and "chase cards".  We can't get any momentum going on threads that discuss that actual titles, gags and so on.

[Duznt]

If you had to take a peek, doesn't that prove Plan's point? 

No, about half of those are some of my top favorites anyway, which I remembered without peeking.

[blunderbrent]

Plan,

I speculate about the nature of nostalgia in a broader sense, in regards to the kids of today, and how that might drive collecting 20-30 years from now.  The reason being; we had to find the bits of our past to revisit them, as the nostalgic bug hit us - because these things like Wackys had passed us by.  Not to say that kids won't be nostalgic, but they will rarely have to search long to get a taste of their childhood - they'll simply call it up on their phone, and it'll be there.  Due to that, I wonder about the nature of collecting with the current generation of kids, and how it might change.

That's why I speculate that the amount of people who collect comics and trading cards and Wacky Packages in the same way that many of us do will be far fewer in 30 years.   Not to say that there won't be any folks who won't want to to go back and get the physical stickers, because there certainly will be.   

Your post got me thinking about what drives my own nostalgia for Wackies and it has to do with the time capsule of the 70's. Something happened in the early 80's which changed pop culture, the media and the entire zeitgiest. It was like the country itself grew up and lost it's own innocent childhood. The dreamy idealism of the 60's and the experimental id and mellow groove of the 70's got lost in a wave of consumerism, corporatism and careerism. Not all bad, but the nation seemed to become jaded, as if we had all gone through all the stages together and it was harder to believe in anything. Kids who came along afterward do not seem to have the same sort of patience and fascination with simple things. I can't imagine them having the same fondness for cereal packaging, for instance. . It's all fast paced whizbangery.

Finding a 40 yr old Wacky Ad at a flea market is like a little bit of heaven opening, that fresh joy of childhood, stored in a bit of paper. There are so many elements which make that period of the 70's unique, especially as relates to technology, marketing and packaging. A larger aspect for me was how OS Wackies captured the political climate, esp with respect to hippies and the counterculture. Norm's drunk characters were actually imported from the 40's and he left traces of pulp art history all over.

I realize I am biased with my own subjective perspective. I just don't see how future collectors will be nostalgic for the surrounding nihilistic pop culture of George W Bush's America.

[RawGoo]

No, about half of those are some of my top favorites anyway, which I remembered without peeking.

I immediately thought of these:

Air Witch witch
Phoney the Tiger
Cap'n Crutch
Iffy Pop kids
Nauseous person on I Can't Believe it's Not Better
Slipps guy
Weighties guy
Bling Pup dog
Geek Giant
Fiasco guy
Count Funkula

[Bigmuc13]

Your post got me thinking about what drives my own nostalgia for Wackies and it has to do with the time capsule of the 70's. Something happened in the early 80's which changed pop culture, the media and the entire zeitgiest. It was like the country itself grew up and lost it's own innocent childhood. The dreamy idealism of the 60's and the experimental id and mellow groove of the 70's got lost in a wave of consumerism, corporatism and careerism. Not all bad, but the nation seemed to become jaded, as if we had all gone through all the stages together and it was harder to believe in anything. Kids who came along afterward do not seem to have the same sort of patience and fascination with simple things. I can't imagine them having the same fondness for cereal packaging, for instance. . It's all fast paced whizbangery.

I think you hit the nail, brother.  I am sure my kids will be nostalgic for some things when they get older, but it just seems unlkely it will be much.  Fads and things they like come and go in a heartbeat.  Silly Bandz are already yesterdays news with my kids.  They only started getting them a couple of months ago.  About 30 days ago you could not buy them in a store.  I had to go online.  Which is another detriment to the whole process.  Instead of having to wait, you can get anything shipped to your door for the right price, then it is on to the next thing!  Remeber how many packs you had to buy or how long it took or how many good stickers you had  to trade to get that last sticker to comoplete a series back in the day?  About the only 'thing' with any staying power is good old Spongebob.  He has been around for over 10 years and is still always near the top of cable TV ratings.

[BLOODWEISER]

I am trying to figure out how many boxes the forum members purchased from Topps.
I purchased 282

I purchased 6 boxes and opened three ....... 

[blunderbrent]

Yeah, ditto w/ my kids. When Mario Kart was hot for the Wii, you couldn't find it in stores and I had to pay a premium to get it online. By the time it arrived, my daughter informed me she hated it. Enthusiasm for anything lasts less than a month. It is an ADD kid culture supported by the massive marketing aimed at them and the epilepsy inducing MTV quick cut cartoons. I have given up trying to get them interested in Wackys. I slowly doled some out via gift packages (I don't live with them) and later asked if they liked them and wanted more. They said not to bother, they had enough already (sigh). Lotta the stuff is too dated I guess. Plus the parodies are matched w/ real products which they do not know, for the most part. Also, sarcasm and satire is a daily part of their lives, whereas Wackys, along with Mad mag, were innovators in bringing that sensibility to products aimed at kids. Wackies were nasty and subversive to my 10 yr old mind and that carried great transgressive power. Nowadays, everything is put down all the time. Again, that's not all bad, but overkill. No more subtlety or clever wit. An interesting Phenomena that has come around again is Justin Beiber, who mirrors exactly the career of Leif Garret. So some things don't change.

[BumChex]

I am trying to figure out how many boxes the forum members purchased from Topps.
I purchased 282

I purchased 6 boxes and opened three ....... 

The count is roughly around 1500 boxes for forum members and people I know. That makes another 2000 out in the wild. That is pretty strong sales from collectors we don't know of.

[Hustler08]

Yeah, ditto w/ my kids. When Mario Kart was hot for the Wii, you couldn't find it in stores and I had to pay a premium to get it online. By the time it arrived, my daughter informed me she hated it. Enthusiasm for anything lasts less than a month. It is an ADD kid culture supported by the massive marketing aimed at them and the epilepsy inducing MTV quick cut cartoons. I have given up trying to get them interested in Wackys. I slowly doled some out via gift packages (I don't live with them) and later asked if they liked them and wanted more. They said not to bother, they had enough already (sigh). Lotta the stuff is too dated I guess. Plus the parodies are matched w/ real products which they do not know, for the most part. Also, sarcasm and satire is a daily part of their lives, whereas Wackys, along with Mad mag, were innovators in bringing that sensibility to products aimed at kids. Wackies were nasty and subversive to my 10 yr old mind and that carried great transgressive power. Nowadays, everything is put down all the time. Again, that's not all bad, but overkill. No more subtlety or clever wit. An interesting Phenomena that has come around again is Justin Beiber, who mirrors exactly the career of Leif Garret. So some things don't change.

I couldn't agree more..my kids like wacky's, but easily 'move-on' to the next thing..NOW its Silly Bandz..but they've recently figured out that after trading and getting the ones you want with 100+ each, they are kinda boring..this has been over two months and they seem to be over it already..like what was previously mentioned, once you can get the 'hard to find' ones on ebay for the right price it kills the whole thing...kids are now cynics due to the media and country..my daughter recently called Justin Boober GAY! I couldn't agree more..but they came up with that one their own..have you seen leif Garrett recently WHOA!! take about 'down and out' OH Well!!  

[Dr Popper]

If you had to take a peek, doesn't that prove Plan's point?  I hate the fact that there are so many titles per set.  I think this contributes significantly to the watered down lack of standout titles.  Who the hell can process 75 titles at a time with any detail?  People kill packs and create sets by the millisecond as it is seeking "value" and "chase cards".  We can't get any momentum going on threads that discuss that actual titles, gags and so on.

Bingo!, I think they characters are much less memorable because they get skimmed over based on the # of titles in a set.  I think if there were 30 or so we would pay more attention to the individual titles.

[Plan 9]

Nostalgia comes to people in many forms. Just because you don't think a character is memorable doesn't mean it won't for the younger collectors.

What I meant my memorable characters was well illustrated characters that we want to look at again and again with admiration of their artistic design. Ajerx, Slam Jim, De-Mented and the Gadzooka teacher are way beyond the quality of any character done since the OS. The newer characters are funny and many are pretty nicely done but they seem to lack personality or even bone structure. They tend to be flat, falsely rendered and formulaic without having used visual guidance which even Michelangelo and Saunders used right to the end of their careers. Saunders could cheat with the more cartoony stuff because he had already spent decades rendering from real life reference.

[Plan 9]

Ronzombie - they are eating a human intestine
Hawaiian Lunch - cannibalism
Birds Eyes - eating human eyes
Roid - steroids
Triscult - cults
Perdude - boobs, boobs and more boobs
Alpoor - homelessness
Russell Starver - starvation
SIP - drunk driving
Dorks - murder
Burn 'ems Animals - animals being burned alive
Lapton - the product is in a toilet
'Shake 'N Break - has a "choking your chicken" hidden gag and is literally choking a chicken
Plague - poisons a family including the kid
WMD-40 - Iraq war reference
Dented - pre chewed gum
Chuck 'Ems - vandalism
Panting - calling the woman a dog based on her looks
Duraflume - hell references
Strip  Peas - strippers and check out the faces and hand whereabouts on some of the pea guys
Fiasco - a shit gag (Metalmucil is as well)
Splithearts - breaking up by insulting the other person

Series 6 of the OS:
Truant - kids ditching school
Super Cigar Crisp - smoking/ cereal made up of butts
Virgina Slums - depicting a slum
Bum Bums - homelessness (or just general bums)
the rest are pretty much just silly goofy gags (of which there is nothing wrong with that).

Nothing wrong with silly and goofy. As long as there's room for the edgy stuff.

The mere fact that they ban entire themes that they deemed acceptable 30 years ago is evident they are tighter than ever. The third you didn't mention is sex. In the past they've spoofed Playboy, Vampirella and IOU (which contrary to Jay Lynch's comment about IOU, it is still depicted in the gag as a porn rag). Those products haven't changed. So why should Topps product change? What, they can't handle a couple of crybaby parents writing some angry emails?

You kinda stretched your interpretations of those gags. A drunk car does not equate to drunk driving, though I'm happy to at least see a drunk reference there. Drunk is funny! Censored bars over green peas is a very cute idea, but not edgy. As for some of the others, there's nothing edgy about potty humor or grossness. That's about as safe a subject as you get these days. But you have some excellent examples like cannibalism and burning animals. Sometimes I have to do a double take on Burn Ems to be sure it's an ANS. The homelessness theme is sort of there but it's a dog, not a human. Safe. If I pitched such a gag I'd probably call him a bum, not homeless. I think most of your gags are approved because you have a knack for writing gags that are safe and cute. That's just what Topps wants today and I suppose that's the only way they can keep the product going. Personally I'd like to see an edgier product even if it only lasted a few series. Childish humor does not appeal to me anymore. That's why I'm more obsessive about the art. Kids aren't as crazy about Wackys anymore because the product is soft by today's standards. They watch Family Guy and Simpsons and South park. They speak a language when parents are not around that we didn't even allow ourselves to speak when we were that age! That's the kind of edge today's kids need for a laugh. I think the appeal of such a series can potentially carry through for teens and even college age. I'm thinking about creating just such a series and putting it on the national market. It may take awhile but I can do it.

[JasonLiebig]

Plan,

Personally, I don't disagree with your artistic sensibilities - and I think a large part of that is that I'm 41 years old.  

I do question your logic that, if Wackys were edgy like Family Guy, kids would love them.  I think the answer is more generation based, than anything you bring up.  

I'd ask you this question:  Which video games do you play?  I'm guessing your answer is zero.  Yet there are plenty of edgy video games with amazing artwork.  Those would be things you appreciate.   Even so, that doesn't matter to many folks over a certain age.  Video games (I'm guessing) are just not something you're going to be into, in spite of the content and artwork.  I believe packs of stickers suffer a similar problem, with regard to kids today.  My guess is that packaged stickers, no matter the artistic content, simply aren't that relevant to kids today, the way they were to kids 20 or 30 years ago.  

Comic books suffer from the exact opposite of the problem you've identified with Wackys.  They're far edgier, with storytelling and artwork that is, typically, more sophisticated than they were when we were kids - but sales are flat.  And that's partially because kids just don't read comics, whether they're incredible or not.  Is the answer to make them less sophisticated, less edgy, to match what sold in 1973?

And though many kids certainly do watch Family Guy and South Park, many also watch Ben-10, Harry Potter, and High School Musical.   Those three franchises also sell a helluva lot of product in the aisles at Target - far more than even Family Guy and South Park combined.   Ben-10 might be a bit edgy, but High School Musical could not be accused of such a thing - Harry Potter does have quite the edge, though.  I bring it up because those kids you bring up love these things quite a bit, and probably quite a bit more than South Park and Family Guy.  So what can we take away from that?  

[JasonLiebig]

I did want to bring up that as long as Wal-Mart and similar retail giants are going to be so damned censor-happy (though they are free to do business as they see fit, censorship and all), we won't see a general retail product out of Topps that challenges that - and that's just their sane, capitalistic response to the givens they have to deal with.   

Due to that, I'll continue appreciate the wide-release series for what they are, and love Old School for what it is.