During this past Halloween season I participated in a Halloween contest courtesy of Pop Pop..! It’s Trash Culture. Brian the Trash Man is a real awesome guy and I ended up randomly winning the contest. Click here to see what the items consisted of, and keep reading as I do the unthinkable!

Brian was kind enough to include vintage trading cards, including this unopened Gremlins 2 pack. I have been going back and forth with my mind about opening this pack up. I love Gremlins 2. In some ways it is more my favorite than the first one, though I truly love them both. So… I went and did it. I opened the pack. I just made sure I didn’t get anything wet and they weren’t opened past midnight…

If the cards do get hungry though, they have some gum they can try and munch on. I loved the stick of gum in trading card packs. The sweetness didn’t last long and eventually it felt like you were chewing a brick, but I still loved trading card gum. I like gum in general. The manufactured chemically treated taste of bubble gum flavor is amazing.

In order to streamline this post, I am going to show the cards in their numerical order. This was the first card featuring an image of the Gremlins 2 movie poster. I love this image so much. Gizmo peeking out from a desk drawer while a Gremlin dusts ash on him is just amazing. Poor Gizmo, he was always struggling to stay alive. On the flip side of each card was a brief piece of information about the image too, but I could not capture those images clearly, so they are not featured in this retro look back.

The Metamorphosis! The Gremlins go Greek. How chic! I like this comparison photo of the Gremlins at the bottom, and their Mogwai counterparts with Gizmo. The one with the googly eyes (Daffy) was one of my favorites. I thought he was comical and cute.

A character card on Daniel Clamp! I know his character was meant to be that of an annoying jerky guy at first, but he actually turned out to be a likable character. The back of the card explains that Daniel Clamp was played by John Glover and his other film credits include: Julia, Annie Hall, and The Last Embrace.

It’s Grandpa Fred! Robert Prosky was a great actor and I loved him in this movie as well as Zach Galligan (reprising his role of Billy Peltzer.) I had the biggest crush on Zach Galligan. I also liked the relationships and connections that were expanded upon in this sequel. There was just so much stuff to pay attention to in this movie.

There were many scenes in Gremlins 2 that made me hungry. This trading card represents one of those moments. That sandwich that the secretary has on her desk always looked so good! I was always nervous though about what would happen if a mousetrap snapped on my face.

The next card continues with the Gremlin taking on the role of Mr. Clamp’s new secretary. This Gremlin had such a funny, if not grody, part. As mentioned on the back of the card, “Clamp pushes the squirming Gremlin into a shredder machine- which sprays him out of the bottom like a black, bloody, eyes-only memo of death!” See, grody.

Close ups of Gremlins are always nice and appreciated. Goodness, they were gross little runts weren’t they?

Christopher Lee is a great actor, and his role as Dr. Catheter was such a great part of Gremlins 2. Had it not been for his madness, we never would have had such a colorful cast of mutated Gremlin characters!

Another trading card of the heroic Clamp! That ending was pure perfection. I loved the flirty glances between Clamp and Marla Bloodstone. The characters were just so much fun. “They find nothing but a sea of green goo on the lobby floor…” I can’t even imagine what it must have taken to clean all that mess up.

The final trading card in this set was also a sticker. Lenny the Mogwai was similar to Daffy. They both had big eyes, but when Lenny became a Gremlin, he just looked sleazy and mean. I just loved all the different Gremlins though. How could anyone not?

This has got to be my favorite Gremlin though: Greta! I’ve talked about her before, and though she was not featured on the trading cards, this tiny pvc figure from Applause is just the coolest piece of Gremlins 2 merchandise ever made.

That’s about it for the Gremlins 2 trading cards. A big thanks (and a Happy Birthday) goes out to the Trash Man. I adore these cards and was apprehensive at opening them, but I am glad I did!