Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine:  Finally got to see this one and I really enjoyed it.  As did I think everyone.  It did $1.3 billion worldwide, $636 million in the US alone.  You know what you are getting in a Deadpool movie - sarcasm, profanity, LOTS of profanity, the breaking of the third wall and over the top violence.  And somehow it really works.  I've never read his comics, but I've enjoyed these movies.  Add in Wolverine and it feels like these two characters were made to play off each other even though they are opposites.  Lots of timeline stuff, Deadpool variants, heroes from the Marvel universe and a ton of great Marvel and Fox superhero references.  Felt like 90% of the other characters that show up were leaked or shown on social media within two weeks of the movie's release.  I was ready to be "meh" about this movie, but it is funny and it works.  They did a great job of making this new and fun.  There are many breakdowns of films, but I enjoy New Rockstars and you can find their look at all the details you missed in the film here.  And there is so much you'll miss, so it's fun to go back and see the goodies we didn't catch with your first watch.

 

 

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Donruss Basketball Blaster

23-24 Donruss:  Anthony Edwards and the T-Wolves are struggling this season after the trade of Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks.  It seemed like an okay trade at the time, but it has not been as KAT has really played well in New York.  Edwards is shooting a crazy 41% on 10 attempts from deep a game this season.

Not a design I care for but plenty of great players in this box.  George and Maxey are now teammates on the sinking Philly ship while Young and the Hawks have been better than expected.  Who woulda thunk?

Plenty of youngsters.  GG Jackson and Amen Thompson are good players in the league while Ausar Thompson has been solid in Detroit.

New Orleans is doing everything they can to find Brandon Ingram a new home.  Not an indictment on him as a player as much as his impending free agency.  LaMelo Ball is healthier this season and having a great year averaging 30 PPG.  

SGA is an appropriate Franchise Features and may well be the league MVP this season.  Complete Players are not much to look at.  Dame can't even save that design.  Another nice Edwards pull.

Zion is injured again, and New Orleans has to be listening to any halfway sane offers for him.

Lots of big man love.

Kawhi back?  The Clippers are another surprise team this year and I'm curious what adding him to the lineup will do for the team.  Nice LeBron pull.  Three PC guys here with Kawhi, Dame and Sabonis.

BREAKDOWN:
90 – Total Cards
7 – Rated Rookie
6 – Holo Green Laser Parallel
2 – Great X-Pectations
1 – Bomb Squad
1 – The Rookies
1 – Complete Players
1 – Franchise Features

Justice League: The New Frontier Commemorative Edition

 Justice League: The New Frontier: This was a Christmas present and a good one.  The New Frontier is set in the 50s. It focuses on the Justice League who have to deal with a threat to the world.  Before that we get some background on the characters and their relationships which isn't the cohesive team it is today.  We also see some origin stories along the way.  I enjoyed the movie.  There were some parts early in the movie I was surprised about but it was all about setting up the dynamic between the heroes.  Good movie.  For a more comprehensive look at what the Commemorative Edition comes as well as additional plot details here. DC does such a good job with their animated movies and I'll definitely pick up more.

The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian and the Night the Titanic Was Lost

The Other Side of Night:  This book is really good.  It details the night from the points of view of the Carpathia and the Californian, and to how their Captains, Arthur Rostron and Stanley Lord, reacted that night.  We've seen the movies and we've seen what happened from the Titanic's point of view many times in print and on the screen.  This was great as it shows us a different perspective.  Arthur Rostron and the crew of the Carpathia are widely praised for their reaction to the Titanic sinking while Stanley Lord and the crew of the California were scorned for their lack of urgency and reaction.  If you have any interest in the subject this is an easy read as you'll want to know what was happening on these other ships and what shaped their responses.  I enjoyed learning more about that as well as what happened when the ships returned to port, the investigation and to what happed in years to come.  This is done from a critical eye from an expertise of the shipping industry, where it was, how ships dealt with emergencies like this and how other ships would normally react.  There's so much taken from the actual accounts from the crew members as well as those travelling aboard the ships.  It gave insight I'd never seen before.  I highly recommend this book.  

2024 Championship Collection Football Tin

 2024 Football Tin: I didn't think I'd want one of these but when I saw what was included I was in.  We'll kick it off with a good looking Any Given Sunday insert from 2024 Prestige.  Jared Goff and the Lions are still trying to lock down the #1 seed in the NFC but they have shown they have an offense worthy of the top spot.

Despite the missing logo something about the 2024 design works for me.

You receive two 2024 Prestige packs totaling 20 cards.

You also get two packs of 2024 Score.  I love the helmet on this design.  In my opinion we need more helmets in card designs.

Plenty of options in Score for the youngsters including this nice Jayden Daniels pull on a 35th Anniversary card.  

I'm always down for Contenders so this 2023 pack is a nice inclusion for me.  You'll get a total of six packs in each tin with one of those being a fat pack.

2023 Absolute was my Assorted Panini Pack inclusion.  Only eight cards in the pack but not a bad pull.

My tin.

This is my first look at 2023 Prestige.  I'm okay with these.  I like 2024 a bit better but they are pretty similar.  And on these we still get the college logos.  2023 Prestige was my Fat Pack in the tin.

The inserts.  I like the Alma Maters concept, but the design is a bit funky for me.  I'm all for Record cards as well and this one works for me.  Living Legends is fine and anytime we can get more retired greats I'm happy.

This tin was fun.  For $30 it's basically the price of a blaster and you get a tin to keep.  No, I don't have a plan for the tin but that's okay.  There is also an Optic Edition of the tins.  I might grab another of these.  I won't chase the Optic Editions though as I'm not as big into shiny cards.

BREAKDOWN:

78 – Total Cards

2 2024 Panini Prestige Football Packs

2 2024 Panini Score Football Packs

1 2023 Panini Contenders Football Pack

1 Assorted Panini Pack (2023 Absolute)

1 Assorted Panini Fat Pack (2023 Prestige)

Godless (TV Mini-Series 2017)

 Godless:  Pop and I finished this series last week.  It's really good.  It follows a town that is populated mostly by women after most of the men folk are killed in a mine explosion.  Notorious outlaw Frank Griffin, played extremely well by Jeff Daniels, finds his way to their town looking for one of his former gang members who did him wrong.  The movie can be brutal, honest, new and realistic all in one.  The characters are easy to like and given lots of depth.  The story is really good, and it keeps you coming back.  The series is seven episodes, and I highly recommend it.  It can be violent and has elements of sexuality so I will throw that out there for those who may not care for that sort of thing.

2023 Kayou DC Glory of the Universe Collection

2023 Kayou DC:  Happy New Year!  The Superman trailer dropped last month so we'll kick off this post with The Man of Steel himself.  

These just came to my attention recently and I'm so glad.  They are cool cards.  The stock is thick.  They are printed on "holographic foilboard".  The character cards here look great.  I like the art, design and the color choices.  The foil isn't overdone and the look is nice combined with a thick card.

Plot cards are movie stills from the Justice League, Shazam, Suicide Squad and Black Adam movies. The backs are full size black and white versions of the front photo. 

These are Super Cute cards.  Not my description but the set.  I really like these.  When I saw the photos online I kind of rolled my eyes, but I really like them in hand. 

These are Storyboard cards.  I like the simple feel of a comic book they give us.

Here we have two more Storyboard cards as well as a Rally card.  The Rally cards make a Justice League montage that spells out You Can't Save the World Alone.  I kind of like it.

Kayou is a licensed Chinese brand and it's almost impossible to find out much about these cards.  They are available on AliExpress.  I purchased two boxes.  Each has 10 packs with three cards in each pack.  The boxes they come in are pretty nice.

These are Cinephile cards.  They are nice.  Those colorful backgrounds stound out in foil.

Backs of Character, Storyboard and Cinephile cards.  I like all three.  Simple but good looks on each.

The cost was about $25 for each box.  I really want this whole set.  Singles are tough to come by even on eBay and those prices are tough.  I may grab some more boxes.  With only 30 cards per box and a total of 151 cards that's a tough ask.  We'll see.

This is the Oversized Group Portrait in my box.  Each box comes with one.  Pretty nice.  They are ~6" X 8".  

These were so much fun.  I'll show off my other box in the future and one way or another I'll be picking up more of these.  Great way to start off the New Year!

BREAKDOAWN:
30 – Total Cards
10 – Plot
10 – Character
3 - Cinephile
3 – Super Cute
3 – Storyboard
1 – Rally
1 – Oversized Group Portrait