Random Wax: 2023 Topps Baseball Blaster

2023 Topps:   Vlad and the Blue Jays had a great season earning the #1 seed in the American League.  He "only" had 23 home runs and 84 RBIs, but he still hit .292 with a .381on base percentage.  Big part of why the Blue Jays were #1.  Great photo too.

Dodgers and Guardians had excellent seasons leading to playoff births.  Mets did not.  And boy was I rooting against them there at the end.

Plenty of rookie representation.

Kyle Schwarber led the league in homers again this season with 56.  Pete Alonso has already stated his intent to opt out of his contract.  Ouch.  He could still end up back in New York.  His market wasn't that great last offseason, and he might find the same issues this year.

I never ever complain about Ohtani and Freeman pulls.  I'm a fan of both.  Harper is okay too.  lol

Some greats in the twilight of their careers.  Crazy to think Albert might manage the Angels if the rumors are true.

Welcome to the Club (30/30), 1988 Topps and Aces inserts.  All good-looking cards.  30/30 is my favorite of these three.

Definitely a design I like.  I've posted quite a bit of this set.

Love seeing the Bobby Witt pull.

I never did the Home Run Challenge.  Greene only had 11 home runs that season so my odds would have been low.  I believe that is a Checklist card with the Tigers duo on it.

We get all the stats we want.  Alway fun.

That Team Logo Commemorative Patch insert is one my favorite relic pulls all-time.  I like Bichette and I really like the look of the card.  We also get a Stars of MLB Chrome and a Blue Parallel.

Nice photo on the team card.

Great box of cards.  I like the design and no way I can complain about the pull.

BREAKDOWN:
99 – Total Cards
12 – RC
8 – Stars of MLB
2 – 1988
2 – Future Stars
2 – Retired Greats
1 – All Aces
1 – Checklist
1 – Team Card
1 – League Leaders
1 – Topps Rookie Cup
1 – Royal Blue Parallel
1 – Home Run Challenge
1 – Stars of MLB Chrome
1 – Welcome to the Club (30/30)
1 - Team Logo Commemorative Patch

 

Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025)

FSPQ:  I definitely wanted to do two separate posts in regard to the Fear Street movies.  This one isn't the same as those three movies and has a different tone.  It takes on the horror trope of prom gone wrong.  I liked many things about the movie while there were a few disjointed parts and pieces.  It's an easy watch and it has a classic horror vibe.  The connections to the original trilogy are subtle and they could be missed.  Watch the post credit scenes.  If you watch the trilogy then there's no reason not to watch this one but don't surprised with a bit different take here.

Fear Street Anthology: 1994, 1978, 1666

I'm not sure why I never posted something about the Fear Street anthology but it's worth the note.  This one came out on Netflix in 2021 and iss one I really enjoyed.  There were three movies:  Fear Street: Part One - 1994, Fear Street: Part Two - 1978, Fear Street: Part Three - 1666.  Residents on Fear Street are terrorized by a satanic entity.  The source of this evil goes back 300 years and is interconnected by the cities of Sunnydale and Shadyside. These movies do a good job going back through time to see how we got to where we are in 1994.  They weave this throughout the three timelines while not making it too complicated.  It's a fairly straightforward watch and enjoyable.  I thought Netflix did a good job on this one.

Random Wax: 1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball - 3 Packs

 91-92 SkyBox:  I go back and forth between Hakeem and Kareem as the greatest center of all-time.  His offensive arsenal and defense just made him a sight to watch.  He was rarely bested and one of the greats at everything he did.  Except free agency...we didn't need to see him in a Raptors jersey.

Shawn Kemp was a 6X All-Star and 3X All-Pro.  He didn't have his career high in points per game until his age 29 season with the Cavs.  Really good photo on this card.

These Finals cards are great, and we need more of these.  Are you listening Topps?  Yep, Topps gets the license back this season and their flagship set should be released by the end of October.

We love the photos on the backs.

I'm a big Reggie Theus fan.  Not sure why that is, but I first remember him with the Kings.  He played point guard and shooting guard during his career.  Defense wasn't great but he could score.  He averaged 18 ppg and 6 apg for his career and is my third all-time favorite player. He had good hair game as well.

Stay in School! cards are fun.  I like the facts we get.

Another Finals cards, All-Rookie Team and Single Game Performance cards.  I like all of these.  These should always be a thing in sets.

The back of the MJ Finals card.  I like it.

Love this set.  So much fun, great memories and a cool design.  Not long until the NBA regular season kicks off. 

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards
2 – Finals
1 - Checklist
1 – Stay in School!
1 – All-Rookie Team
1 – Best Single Game Performance

The Jester (2023)

The Jester:  I didn't want to scroll forever looking for a horror movie to watch and found The Jester on Roku.  It was the look of the bad guy who pulled me.  I'll say it was watchable but really wasn't that good.  Again, I like the look of the Jester himself.  The plot itself just didn't suck me nor did the characters.  The basic plot is the Jester torments two sisters after their father dies.  I just couldn't get invested.  I don't mind taking chances on horror movies.  Nothing lost here.

Random Wax: 2024 Score-a-Treat Football (20 Packs)

2024 Score-A-Treat:  Bo Jackson was as scary as it gets if you were the one trying to tackle him. He also led the league in the longest run from scrimmage in three out of his four seasons in the NFL.

I really like Panini going all in on the Halloween fun.  These football cards are better than their basketball counterparts in my opinion. 

Rookies get their day in the set including Brock Bowers who was an All-Pro in his rookie season.

Here we see the Bats Parallel side by side with the base Pumpkin design.

 We get retired greats in this set which is lots of fun.  Each bundle had 40 packs with three cards per pack.

The backs with a bit of Halloween flair.  We see the backs of a retired great, rookie and a veteran.

I also pulled a Mathew Stafford Trick or Treat Parallel #/99.  I like it.  More fun for spooky season.

BREAKDOWN:

60 – Total Cards

29 – Bats Parallel

19 – RC (Rising Stars)

11 – Retired Greats

1 – Trick or Treat Parallel #/99

2010 NECA The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

2010 Eclipse:  Edward was one of the main characters of The Twilight Saga being one of the competing love interests for Bella.  He was played by Robert Pattinson who has gone onto a very good acting career. He was also in one of the Harry Potter movies and is now Batman.

Alice was one of my favorite characters in the book and movies.  The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was the third of five movies in the series.

The design is pretty simple, but I like it.  Lots of room for the photo.  The Twilight Saga as a whole did over $3.3B at the box office.

The backs have another nice design and the brief description of the front works.

I know sparkly vampires aren't for everyone.  I became a fan through my daughter who loved the books and liked the movies. I remember going to a midnight release of the final book in the series.  I read the books as well.  The series and movies are clearly geared towards a different audience than me, but I am good with both.  

The final card was part of the Wolfpack Puzzle.  Glad I checked these out.  They do a good job of representing the movie and overall mood with the design.  Fun cards and a good set to look at in October.

BREAKDOWN:
6 – Total Cards
1 – Wolfpack Puzzle

2025 MLB Playoffs Divisional Round

 Man, the Red Sox battled but young phenom Schlittler was amazing in game three of their series.  He kept the defense off balance and he deserves all the props he gets for his performance.  The next round gives us some fun matchups.  Divisional rivals Yankees-Blue-Jays and Cubs-Milwaukee adds some spice to the matchups while Dodgers-Phillies should be great.  Detroit-Seattle also looks like a good series.  With my team out I'd like to see a Seattle-Milwaukee World Series.  Neither have won a title and seeing a franchise win their first one is always fun.  Toronto and Chicago would also be good in the World Series.  Who do I think moves on to the next round?  I'll take Seattle, New York, Milwaukee and Philly.  Hoping for good series all around.

Pearl (2022)

Pearl:  Pearl is a prequel to X which I really enjoyed last year.  It's not a thriller.  It's a slow grind it out movie I couldn't stop watching.  And I didn't want to.  I don't think there are any huge surprises but there's plenty of suspense as the story and main character, Pearl, played by Mia Goth progress and develop.  I liked this movie.  There's suspense even though you think you know where it's going.  You want to see how it ends.  You want to see how she becomes the character we see in X.  Pearl is also a character you somehow emphasize with throughout the movie.  It gets my recommendation and is a good watch in October. 

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Haunted Hoops Bundle

23-24 Haunted Hoops:  Welcome to spooky season!  We'll kick it off with Zion who's an enigma in the NBA.  No denying that talent but he's got to stay on the court.  He's battled a myriad of injuries and readiness issues throughout his career so it's tough to know exactly how good he is.  Pelicans fans are really hoping for a season not doomed by injuries which have hit them hard lately.

These Haunted Hoops bundles contain 20 packs of 3 cards each.  There's a total of 300 cards in this set with a few parallels including this Orange Parallel.  Nice pull including Paul George and Joel Embiid who are now teammates in Philly.  But can they stay healthy - that is the big question.

Youngsters show up on base RC cards as well as Rising Star options.  That Leaky Black is a Slime Parallel which I like.

We get a little Halloween themed goodness on the backs.  I like it though I'd been fine with more too.

Kevin Looney on a Holo Webs Parallel.  I really like that Tyrese Haliburton photo and card.  Not sure why but it looks good.

Lots of slime...  Anfernee Simons is now a Celtic thanks to the trade that sent Jrue Holiday to Portland.  As a Trail Blazer fan I'm confused.  Someone in Portland's backcourt was likely to be traded but getting Holiday, 35 this season and making $32M, $34M and $37M in the upcoming seasons, makes no sense to me.

I love Domantis Sabonis and he led the league in total rebounds per game for the third season in a row.  Overall, he had averaged 19.1 ppg, 13.9 rpg, and 6 apg.  I'll pick up some of the this year's Haunted Hoops for sure.  Great cards and pull and a great way to start spooky season.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards (20 Packs)
20 – RC
14 – Orange
6 – Slime
1 – Holo Webs