A Perfect Blaster for Christmas

Waiting for me under the Christmas tree this year at my parents' house was a blaster box of 2019 Topps Series 1 baseball.  The tag said the gift was from Santa, but I'm pretty sure it was my Mom that provided this one!

I don't get a chance to rip many packs these days, given that I tend to focus my hobby spending on singles for my collection for the most part, so it was awesome to be able to tear into some wax (or foil, more accurately) for a change.

The blaster contained 7 packs, 14 cards per pack (Is that standard?  Bravo, Topps!), and one commemorative patch card.  While I'm not actively trying to build the 2019 Topps set, this turned out to be the perfect blaster for me!  Red Sox cards seemed to abound, and I even ended up with a few non-Red Sox keepers for my collection as well.

I didn't do a pack-by-pack scan or anything like that, opting instead to simply highlight some of my favorite cards overall.  Here we go...

As you'll see, the number of Red Sox cards I pulled from just 7 packs was rather incredible, starting with this David Price World Series Highlights card.  Obviously the fact that Boston won it all in 2018 resulted in a large number of Red Sox cards sprinkled throughout the 2019 checklist.

While it's tiring to see Topps reprint the same iconic cards to death year after year, at least in this case I landed one of my absolute favorite cards from childhood.  The '87 Bo Jackson Future Stars card, while not his true and proper RC, is cardboard gold if you ask me.  Easily one of my favorite cards from the '80s, period.

I think just about every baseball card collector can agree that the team stadium cards in this year's flagship set were a complete success.  Everyone seems to adore these, and it's easy to see why.

I'll be hanging onto this pair, especially since SunTrust Park is one of the stadiums I've actually caught an MLB game at.  My wife and I were able to see Bryce Harper and the Nationals play here not long after it opened while I was down in Atlanta at a conference for work.

More Red Sox content, with Mitch Moreland's base card.

Thought this one was pretty cool.  I don't recall having seen these "Grapefruit League Greats" inserts before.  Although it does seem that Topps shoves the same retired stars down our collective throats year after year, it's hard for me not to get excited about pulling a Babe Ruth card (though I would've preferred a Ruth Red Sox card).  Also, unlike a lot of Topps' mindless insert sets from recent years, I think this one is just quirky enough to kind of work.

The Sox love continues with a League Leaders card of the man Boston just secured for at least one more season, to the tune of $27M dollars.  Money aside, as a fan I'm excited to know that I can enjoy watching Mookie play for another season at minimum.  Didn't have this one for my team set, either.

The two stadium cards above weren't the only ones I pulled, and this one was obviously my favorite of the handful that I landed in the blaster.  I've got quite a few cards of Fenway Park now, and I'll always welcome more.  I've experienced so many fun times in this ballpark with family, friends, and co-workers over the years, at both sporting events and concerts alike.  I would have eventually picked this one up on my own, happy to have pulled it here instead!

Just one more Red Sox base card from the box, this Steve Pearce World Series Highlights.  Pearce is a guy who's under-represented in my collection, especially given the key role he played in the 2018 championship, so this was a cool pull.

That marks the end of the Red Sox base cards, but not the inserts.  Also pulled this '84 Topps-inspired Andrew Benintendi.  I'm telling you, my Mom picked the best blaster she possibly could have off the shelf here!

Oh and how about another Grapefruit League Greats insert, this time featuring Big Papi?

Held onto this Phillies Citizens Bank Park card as well, just because I'm accumulating all of these despite not collecting them that actively.  This is one park I have not been to, though I hear it can be a tough crowd!

We'll close out the standard cards with yet another Red Sox insert, this time from the '150 Years' insert set that contains so many great photographs.  I remarked above that it was cool to get a Ruth insert, but would have been better had he been in a Sox uniform, and before the blaster was through that exact thing happened.  Like I said, hard to imagine a better blaster than this for a Boston fan.

Closing it out is my one-per-blaster commemorative patch card.  I don't hang onto these typically, but it was kind of cool to pull a guy who I looked up to in the early '90s.  "Juan-Gone" could really mash the ball.  If any of my regular trading partners would like this one just leave a comment and I'll toss it in your next package.

So, that's a wrap on what was a very satisfying blaster of 2019 Topps.  Just a few weeks until the 2020 set hits shelves.  I don't think my Mom reads this blog, but I know my Dad does, so a big thank you to both of my parents for this really fun gift!

This post does not mark the end of my holiday season spoils however, as a big gift from my parents was a $100 eBay gift card.  I put that together with another one I had, and a little cash, to land one of my most-desired cards since ever since I began collecting as a young boy!  I'll be back with that card soon, in the meantime thanks as always for stopping by!

Topps Star Wars 40th Blaster

With the final of the nine films in the original Star Wars saga dropping later this month, it seems like an opportune time to feature this blaster that had been collecting dust in my card closet for a couple of years now.

This was a really fun set that Topps released back in 2017 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars franchise.  I wish I'd actually grabbed another blaster or two of this back in the day, as it's an entertaining set, and the cards aren't available very cheaply on the secondary market these days.

The blaster contains 10 packs, with 6 cards per pack.  Add in the one-per-blaster manufactured medallion card and you're walking away with 61 total cards for $19.99.

I'm not going to show every single card from the blaster, but instead just scanned some of the more interesting highlights as I went.  Let's get to it!

What I like most about this particular set is the sheer variety found within the checklist.  Unlike other Star Wars sets that simply follow the plot of one or more of the films, or simply have a card for each character from the franchise, this release is all over the map.  One of my favorite subsets features posters from the various movies over the years.

There's some great custom artwork on the checklist as well.

Another thing I love about this set is that it's an education in the world of Star Wars when you thumb through each pack.  For example, despite being a child of the '80s/early '90s I'd never heard of this "Star Wars:  Droids" cartoon show before.  Somewhat surprising given that it was released just after my third birthday, but then again in the '80s it wasn't easy to find television shows like it is these days in the world of streaming.

The back of each card does a good job giving you a run-down of the content.

Here's another cool promotional poster, in Spanish this time!

Mos Eisley Cantina!

In each pack you get five base cards and a single parallel, typically a green parallel which is the most common.  I was smiling big-time when I pulled this one.  The two made-for-TV Ewok movies from the mid-'80s were absolute staples in my household growing up.  Our home-recorded VHS copies practically got worn out.

I'm not too proud to admit that as a grown adult I own both films in my Amazon Video library.  Possibly my favorite card in the entire blaster right here based on pure nostalgia alone.

Some of the cards towards the beginning of the checklist do simply feature famous scenes from the films.

While not particularly accurate (especially with respect to Princess Leia), how cool is the artwork on this one?  I love the small details like the row of Storm Troopers along the very bottom.

As a kid, Return of the Jedi was my favorite of the original trilogy, just because I was young enough to really like the Ewoks (though I can understand why older Star Wars fans may have been turned off by them).  I mentioned this in the pack of this stuff I posted back in 2017, but my brothers and I just about wore out our VHS copy of this back in the day, same as we did the Ewok films.

Here's another green parallel, paying homage to the release of Rogue One back in 2016.  I saw this film in the theater with my wife and thought it was a good effort by Disney.  Much darker and with more of a "war movie" feel than other films in the genre in my humble opinion.

Best artwork in the blaster?  Yep, I'd say so.

When I ripped some of this back around its release date I learned about the Star Wars radio broadcasts, and this time around I pulled the green parallel of that same card.  In the two years that have passed since that first hanger pack of this product and today's post, I purchased all three broadcasts on Audible, and have listened to each of them.

Simple, but effective design here.  I like the minimalist aspect of this one in contrast to a lot of the "busier" artwork cards.

Was pumped to pull another card of my favorite film in the franchise from childhood.  Plus the green parallel works well on this one with the largely green planet of Endor in the background of the action.

Here's a cool one.  According to the back of the card this was a design used on a lunch box in the late '70s.  I would have brought this lunch box to school with some serious pride as a grade schooler back in the day.  Hell, I'd probably turn some heads bringing my lunch to work in this now as a 37-year-old!

Love the predominantly red "evil" vibe with this artwork.  Good stuff.

While it would have been more appealing to me had I pulled a card featuring one of the Star Wars toys from my youth, this still evoked the same feeling of nostalgia in me.  My brothers and I had quite a few Star Wars figurines growing up.  Another example of this set really covering all aspects of the Star Wars universe, not strictly the films.

This one made me chuckle, because I had this exact DVD boxed set maybe a decade or so ago.  I sold it when I upgraded to the Episodes 1-6 Blu Ray boxed set a few years back.  That will probably be the last round I purchase in physical format, as Blu Ray finally fully succumbs to streaming services over the next few years.

I chose to feature this one because I thought it was one of the more striking images from the recent run of Disney films.

Another cool poster here.

While the green parallels are the most common, you get a single blue parallel per blaster (or hanger pack) if memory serves.  I'm happy that mine at least featured an iconic scene from the original trilogy.

Finally, as promised, each blaster comes with a commemorative medallion.  I landed R2-D2 with a death star medallion.  These medallions seem pretty popular on the secondary market, with available copies of most on COMC going for $10-$15 or more.  Maybe I'll sell this one someday if I ever get around to sending a box of cards in for my port.

So, that's a wrap with respect to this blaster of Topps Star Wars 40th Anniversary.  A fun little set for sure.  I should also note that there were buybacks included in this release, though I'm not sure it's even possible to pull one from a retail blaster like this one. 

I'm certainly looking forward to the finale of the 9-episode saga later this month.  I'll be catching it in the theater for sure.

I'll be back with actual sports content tomorrow, in the meantime thanks for stopping by!

Sometimes You Get McDavid, Sometimes You Get Crouse

Each year I tend to pick up just a single retail blaster of Upper Deck's flagship hockey release around the holidays.  I guess it's habit more than anything, I haven't completed this set in years but I like to get a small sampling and it's always fun to rip open some packs for a change of pace.

Last year my luck was absolutely incredible, as the very first pack I opened contained the card everyone was searching for, Connor McDavid's Young Guns rookie!  Would my hot streak be extended?  Was there an Auston Matthews or Patrik Laine Young Guns waiting for me in this year's blaster?

Here's the blaster I grabbed.  More Connor McDavid, as he's the poster boy for the flagship release this season.  Twelve packs in a blaster, so you're paying less than $2 per pack...

...however as you can see here you get just five cards per pack.  So, 60 cards in a blaster, or 3/$1 essentially.  These have been out for a few weeks, and I'm sure you've probably already seen them elsewhere, so I'll skip showing every single card and instead just pick one favorite from each pack.

The very first card to greet me from the blaster was Bruins forward Ryan Spooner.  You'd think this would be a good omen for a B's fan like myself, but as you'll see below you'd be wrong.  I do like the design this year.  The foil makes the player names difficult to read when scanned, but in hand they're not so bad.

Pack 2 yielded my first Young Guns rookie short print, left winger Lawson Crouse.  I admit that I am not familiar with Lawson, he's a -11 with 3 points in 31 games with the Coyotes so far this year.  Yikes.  In fairness, this kid is still just 19 and I guess I should be grateful that I pulled someone who's logging regular NHL playing time.

Pack 3 was somewhat of a dud.  I settled on this Claude Giroux because he's one of my favorite players, and because I love this Flyers sweater.  Maybe it was just my blaster but I feel like there were a lot of standard, tightly cropped photos like this and less of the creativity I've come to expect from Upper Deck.

Pack 4 yielded my lone Canvas insert of the box.  I look forward to these every year and will gladly accept any that I don't have, so I was bound to be pleased with this one.  And I was.  I think the added color along the bottom really brightened these up, good decision by Upper Deck if you ask me.

Back to back Blue Jackets cards?  Well, this Brandon Dubinsky was the best photo to spill out of pack 5.  I don't think many fans could possibly have predicted the year that Columbus is enjoying to this point.  They're just 1 point behind Pittsburgh for the top spot in the entire Eastern Conference, and have four games in hand on the Pens.  Crazy.

We hit the halfway mark of the blaster with David Pastrnak, who has really turned up his game for Boston this season.  Even after a recent slowdown, he's still got as many goals as any player in the NHL this season not named Crosby.

Alex Ovechkin quietly has 16 goals of his own this year.  You just know he's going to be close to 40 by season's end.  This nice celebration photo was my favorite card of pack 7.

Pack 8 was nothing spectacular, but I do like this retro Devils sweater.

In pack 9 I found my other Young Guns rookie, Anthony Beauvillier of the Islanders.  Anthony is just 19 as well, and has 9 points in 25 games with New York this year.  I could have sworn you got three Young Guns rookies in a blaster, but I guess not.  Last year, Connor McDavid.  This year, Lawson Crouse and Anthony Beauvillier.  Can't win 'em all.

Pack 10 yielded the Bobby Ryan card that you've probably seen a hundred times by now.  It really is a great card, nice job by Upper Deck with this one.

The inserts, as usual, didn't do it for me.  This Shining Stars Erik Karlson that slid out of pack 11 will probably be shipped out to a trade partner at some point, if there's anyone out there that even wants it.

The last pack of the blaster provided me with a new Jaromir Jagr card at least.  I never get tired of acquiring new cardboard featuring the man who is now the second leading scorer in league history.  For me, a nice ending to an otherwise dull blaster.

So yeah, two less than exciting Young Guns and a pile of cards that are already nickel box fodder.  Until next year Upper Deck!