Saturday, July 12, 2025

2003 Inkworks Justice League

Inkworks JL:  Still waiting for the sequel to The Batman movie.  Doesn't mean we can't show him some love nonetheless.  Even animated, he looks menacing.
Justice League ran three seasons centering around Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Flash, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl.  The design is pretty nice even though the side containing the name feels large.  I like it.
I like the art overall from these screen captures.  The first card here stands out to me.
Maybe a Hawkgirl hot pack.  These packs only had seven cards in each.  This is a Friends and Foes card that comes one per pack.
The backs provide us some nice background on each character as well as information specific to the show.  
I do like these.  I've never seen the series but given time and the subscription I'd really like to watch it.  Fun pack of cards.
BREAKDOWN:
7 – Total Cards
1 – Friends and Foes



Friday, July 11, 2025

Random Wax: 2024 Topps Stadium Club

2024 Stadium ClubRobin Yount not only was a 2X MVP, had 3,185 hits and hit 285 over 20 seasons but he also had strong hair game.
I really like this Evan Longoria photo.  Longoria really had a strong career that spanned 16 seasons.
The Pink Foil Parallels really don't do much for me.  Plenty of good photos in this set which is what we're used to from Stadium Club.
Yamamoto is having another good season for the Dodgers.  Wilyer Abreu Chrome and Red Foil Parallel pulls.  Red parallels I like.  He's also having a really good season in Boston.
Marte is having a great year for the D-Backs.  I really like him.
More retired great which are really fun.  The retired greats in this set really came in team bunches.  Especially in the blasters where you might pull 4-5 retired greats from the same team.  Another fun pack of cards.
TRADING CARDS:
15 – Total Cards
3 – RC
3 – Pink Foil
3 – Retired Greats
1 - Chrome
1 – Red Foil
1 – Special Forces



Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Random Wax: 1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball - 3 Packs

91-92 SkyBox:   Kevin Johnson had a great career playing 12 seasons for the Phoenix Suns.  He was a 5X All-Pro and averaged 17 points per game and 9 assists per game for his career.
I like that James Worthy card.  Was never a big Worthy fan but I like the look of this card.  Rex Chapman throwing it down looks nice as well. 
Basketball Centennial, Stats and Stay in School subsets.  I like the variety here.  The stats were sometimes random, but I do like league leaders or stats cards.
When you invent a game, you're a somebody.  I wish he had gotten to see what the game has grown into.  To know that he created this massively entertaining game that is played worldwide.
We love the backs.  How can you not?  Detlef's stare (and hair), Oakley interacting with fans and Scott Hastings being a goofball.
Tyrone Corbin was the only surprise for me here.  Solid player.  He averaged 18 points (career high) and 7 rebounds that season for Minnesota.
So much fun.  There was so much great basketball in this era and so many great players and I've always been a big fan.  Too much fun.  We'll end it with a favorite of mine in 2X 6th Man of the Year Detlef Schrempf.

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards
3 – Stay in School!
2 - Stats
1 – Centennial Highlights



Sunday, July 6, 2025

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Jurassic World: Rebirth:  Got to see this one in the theaters this weekend.  My son went with me and we both enjoyed it.  I'd kind of lost interest in the last trilogy.  Probably not the only one.  This one has good characters, action and dinosaurs.  Seeing it on the big screen was a big plus as well.  This is a good first foray back into the franchise.  
 

Random Wax: 2023 Score Football

2023 Score:  I really like this set and Hall of Famer Warren Moon in those classic Houston Oilers unis is great.
George Pickens was traded to Dallas and there have been rumors of the Ravens moving on from Mark Andrews.  I really do like this design.  Can't put my finger on way but it hits well with me.
Nolan Smith had 6 1/2 sacks last season for Philly helping them get to and win the Super Bowl.
Fun photo on this Celebration insert.
More youngsters.  I like the design on both the Protential and 2023 Throwback Rookie cards.  All three of these players had good seasons for their teams.
The look on Russell Wilson's face really helps this Sack Attack insert.  I do like these.
The First Ballot inserts are great.  Big fan.
I do like the Huddle Up inserts.  Joe Klecko is a guy I liked when I was younger.  I recently saw part of an ESPN documentary on The New York Sack Exchange 30 for 30 which was good.
BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
6 – RC
3 – Sack Attack
3 – Retired Greats
2 - Protential
1 – First Ballot
1 – Huddle Up
1 – 2003 Throwback Rookie




Saturday, July 5, 2025

Hro DC Unlock the Multiverse Chapter 4

 Unlock the Multiverse Ch 4:  Reverse-Flash is one of the Flash's biggest arch enemies.  Pretty good card to kick off this post with.
I showed off Chapter 2 cards last month and I really wanted to pick up more Hro DC cards after doing that.  The basic design is good.  Hro is no longer in business, but their niche was "hybrid trading cards" with a physical and digital piece to each.  There are QR codes on the backs of these that allowed you to add them to your digital collection.  
We even get characters from the movies.  That variety adds to the fun.  Chapter 2 was Black Adam centric while Chapter gives us The Flash movie cards.
I'm a JSA fan and enjoy the Dr. Fate and JSA pulls.  The JSA card may be my favorite from this box.  I purchased the box on Amazon for $13 and it contained 29 total cards.  The Ray is one of my Holo Parallels but that's hard to distinguish unless you are seeing them in hand.  
The art seems to be from across many different eras and comic books.  I sporadically read comics at best, but I still love seeing art like this.
I was okay with the Flash movie.  I was entertained and think the blowback was more about DC movie universe fatigue more than the movie itself.  Michael Keaton did a good job in his return as the 1989 Batman, and I enjoyed seeing him take up the cowl again.
We'll get to see Guy Gardner soon in the new Superman movie.  I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
The design is really simple but I'm okay with it.  Lots of room for the art while there is enough information and color to make it easy to look at.
Not a Harley Quinn I'm familiar with but still fun.  She's had many different looks over the years.
I really like this card as well.  I'm not sure I'll buy more boxes of this chapter, but I may look at a complete set.  Hro made some nice DC cards.  They aren't cheap though so that may be a long-term goal.  I am interested in some of boxes of other chapters.  The grandsons really enjoy the cards as well which is where most of these end up.  And I do enjoy opening these up.  Does it make financial sense?  No.  We'll see.

BREAKDOWN:
29 - Total Cards
5 - Holo



Friday, July 4, 2025

2025 Stars & Stripes USA Baseball Blaster

2025 Stars & Stripes: Brennan Seiber had a 2.28 ERA over 23 innings primarily as a reliever for Vanderbilt this season.  Stars & Stripes seems like a great way to kick of the 4th of July.
This blaster was a surprise gift from my daughter.  These are fun even if I won't know if I had a good pull for years to come.  From a design standpoint it is fine though I wish there was some color in the logo on the front of the card.  Players are from the 13U/14U Athlete Development team, 16U, 18U and Collegiate National teams.  
These three are Opening Day Parallels.
Three of my Stars Parallel cards. I like these.
Dean Curley had a good season for the Tennesse Volunteers hitting .315 with 14 dingers.  Damian Rivas won't graduate high school until 2029.  Again, that's part of the deal with this set.
We'll end the post with my Red Fireworks and Blue Fireworks Parallels.  These are probably my favorites from the box.  This was fun.   Hopefully a few of these guys hit at some point.  Enjoy your 4th of July!
BREAKDOWN:
35 – Total Cards
7 – Stars Parallel
5 – Opening Day Parallel
1 – Blue Fireworks Parallel #/75
1 – Red Fireworks Parallel #/225
1 - Collegiate National Team Materials
1 - 13U/14U National Team Signatures