COMC Blaster - A Little Bit of Everything

Today turned out to be a beautiful day in Rhode Island, but it didn't start off that way.  I took advantage of a couple of rainy hours this morning to raid my card chest and put together one of my patented "COMC Blaster" posts.  Let's see what $20 in store credit landed me on the site over time...

This Canvas parallel of Ryan Johansen was one of my favorite hockey cards of the 2015-16 collecting season.  A stellar photo, and stellar cropping (notice Ryan's name and number on the scoreboard at upper right).  I paid 32 cents for this card, and thanks to Upper Deck's e-Pack promotion you can grab a copy for even less than that today if you'd like.

Here's a pretty big card in my quest to complete the 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs 3-D insert set.  Tyrannosaurus Rex is probably the most well-known dinosaur, so I happily snatched this one up for $1.45.  I've got 17 of these inserts in total now, 25 more to go...

Every so often I look for cheap Liverpool cards on COMC, as they've been my favorite club since I started following English Premier League back in 2011 or so.  For the same price as the T-Rex above, this green parallel of Daniel Sturridge's Hot Shots insert from the 2013 Topps Premier set seemed like a good deal.  It's serial-numbered to /99 on the reverse.  There aren't anywhere near the volume of soccer cards as there are for sports like baseball or football, so this is actually one of the more unique pieces in my very small Liverpool collection to date.

Since we've covered hockey, dinosaurs and soccer, let's switch over to some standard baseball cards for a bit.  This one was purely the result of searching for Xander Bogaerts cards, and looking for low-hanging fruit.  It's a Purple parallel from 2016 Bowman, and is numbered to /250.  Not all that rare, but it set me back just $1.25 so I'm not complaining...

Here's one for my 1959 Topps set!  A nice high number at that (card #534), and in damn fine shape.  The only issue I see is that oddness on the lower right corner, which is strange.  For $2.05 I could not click purchase fast enough.  I'm now sitting at 299 cards in my slow-burn '59 set build.

How about a couple of 2014 Finest X-Fractors.  I have far too many projects, and one of them is completing this 100-card set in X-Fractor form.  Carlos Gomez was a no-brainer pick-up at just 34 cents...

...and Yu Darvish I spent 63 cents on.  If I can keep scoring these at two-for-a-buck prices maybe I will finish this off someday after all.

I paid 87 cents for this 1957 Topps Don Elston.  Did not notice the crease until I got it in hand.  Doesn't bother me in the least, the card has good centering, presents well, and it's a Brooklyn Dodger from the '50s.  I can't ask for more than that for less than a dollar.

You've likely seen me post a Star Wars Tek card before, I'm just a sucker for acetate cards and always loved the films.  I'm not a total nerd about it like a lot of folks are, so the only thing I remember this character from is the opening scenes of The Force Awakens.  I try to grab these Blue Rainbow parallels, #'d /99, any time I see them for less than a buck, and this one fit the bill at 97 cents.

I like what Topps has done with some of the image variations in their flagship set over the last decade or so.  I know they're not for everyone, but at least they do it in a way where you can easily ignore them if you choose and they won't interfere with your set collecting.  For team and player collectors I think it's a fun element to chase.  This Blake Swihart RC is a prime example, I like the image used here much more than the one on the standard version.  At $2.25, this is the second most expensive card in today's post.

Can't get enough of these Bubbles Refractors from 2014 Bowman Chrome.  There are just 99 copies of each in circulation, so they're rare enough to feel somewhat significant, but still available enough not to break the bank.  For example, this Strasburg cost me all of $1.15.

One more Xander Bogaerts card for today.  I believe Topps Museum Collection is maybe considered a mid-tier type product?  Whatever the case, I'm certainly never going to buy any, but I'll definitely pluck Bogaerts cards from releases like that for my collection.  Especially when they cost just 75 cents.  This is my 130th Xander Bogaerts card and counting, though I know I have quite a few more that I just need to inventory and add to my collection proper.

A week or two ago I posted a trio of '55 Topps Red Sox that I'd picked up while trying to plug some holes in earlier team sets.  Continuing with that same theme, here's a '60 Jim Marshall that I grabbed for just 50 cents.  It's slightly diamond-cut, but for two quarters this will more than do for my collection.

I already had a copy of this fantastic Rick Ley New England Whalers card in my collection, but this is a significant condition upgrade.  Used $1.40 in credit for this one, but it's in amazing condition and Ley's a significant guy in the history of my favorite franchise.  I really need to make an attempt to finish all of the '70s O-Pee-Chee WHA sets once and for all.

Yup, one more Star Wars Tek card today.  This is an even rarer Gold Rainbow parallel (#'d /50).  I know many Star Wars fans hated the Ewoks, but I was just a little kid the first time I saw Return of the Jedi so they've never bothered me.  Anyway, I remember the character Logray most from the 'Ewoks: Caravan of Courage' TV movie that came out a year or two later.  Watched that one and its counterpart, 'Ewoks: The Battle for Endor', many times growing up.  Believe it or not, this was the most expensive card in today's post at $2.50.

Loved Nolan Ryan as a kid, still enjoy picking up his cardboard to this day.  I've been trying to back fill some of his '80s releases that I had as a kid, but that didn't survive into my adult collection.  This one fit that bill nicely, especially at just 35 cents.  I've got just about 10,000 baseball cards added to my collection on The Trading Card Database so far, and Nolan is one of just three players who I have 100 cards of or more (Bogaerts and David Ortiz being the others).

Last card for today, as the $1.25 I spent on this Don Zimmer brings me to $19.48 for a running total.  I'm sure I could scrounge around for another 50 cent pick-up, but we'll just call it here.

I always liked Zimmer because he seemed to me like the consummate baseball lifer.  His 1961 Topps card is pretty great, I was happy to snag this copy in great condition as cheaply as I did.

That's it for today, I'm off to watch the Bruins hopefully even the series with Toronto here!