The Santa Chronicles 2

The Christmas Chronicles 2: The sequel to the 2018 original movie was released around Thanksgiving.  It stars Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn who was revealed as Mrs. Claus at the end of the first offering.  This one is as fun as the first one and we see someone Santa and Mrs. Claus know try to foil Christmas for everyone.  It's pretty light fair and is good for the entire family.  Just wanted to share some quick thoughts on another Christmas viewing option.

2019-2020 Illusions Basketball (76ers and Raptors)

 2019-2020 Illusions Basketball: Got these from two random slots in a Ben's Cards and Collectibles Card Breaks break.  If you haven't already take a look at what he offers.  They are pretty affordable and cover the gamut across the big four sports.  The looks of these is close to what you see with Illusions football.  I think I like the football better but these are still good.  

The Simmons Bronze parallel is on the right.  Hard to tell much difference when scanned but they show well in hand.  Can't wait to see the NBA again and it'll be fun to see what Doc Rivers can do with the duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

Illusions has a 200 card base set with 50 of those dedicated to rookies.  

I'm happy with the cards and my pull.  Random breaks are tough though.  You either hit it big or you can be a bit disappointed with the teams you get.  I've hit big in one of Ben's breaks when I drew New Orleans and ended up with a ton of Zion cards.  Wanted to show these off and again take a look at Ben's breaks.  

BREAKDOWN:
14 – Total Cards
8 – Philadelphia 76ers
6 – Toronto Raptors
4 – Rookie
1 – Bronze Parallel

Random Wax: 2019 Score Football Blaster with Relic

 2019 Score Football: I might like this set.  Just saying.  This is my ninth post on this set but I really do like it.  Helmets on the fronts is a huge win with that throwback vibe.  Another big win?  Patrick Mahomes cards.  We'll kick it off with this former Texas Tech standout.

This blaster had plenty of star power especially at quarterback.

I'm really hoping Christian McCaffrey can come back healthy and get back to his old self.  I'm okay if he has to sit out the rest of the season.  He's just too good and fun not to be on the field.

I scored well with the rookies as well. 

Always plenty of inserts in Score.

Some nice inserts.  Love Gurley and I love those Rams throwbacks.

I was very happy with this box.  As always I like the design on the base cards and my pull was really good.  The inserts were solid as well.  Speaking of, this Defenders Jerseys insert caps off the box.  I've always liked Tedy Bruschi so this was a great pull.

BREAKDOWN: 

132 – Total Cards
33 – RC
4 – Epix
3 – Captains
3 – All-Hands
3 – Gold Parallel
3 – Fantasy Stars
3 – 2020 NFL Draft
3 – Signal-Callers
2 - Throwbacks
1 – Celebration
1 – Huddle Up
1 – Scorecard Parallel
1 – Defenders Jerseys

2020 Topps WWE Chrome

2020 Topps WWE Chrome: Snagged a couple of packs of these with this being the first.  I'm not a Chrome or shiny card guy in general but I do like the look and design of these cards.  It's really very simple and they look sharp in hand.  This WWE great starts us off.  Not a guy I've followed per se but he's been a big part of the wrestling world with his success.

You'll get wrestlers from across the WWE platforms.  I'm familiar with Sasha Banks but Roderick is not someone I know yet.  Again a nice look and I like the Banks photo.

We get to go vertical with this card.  Really cool photo and you get to see the background a little better in this picture.  Hard to tell but that honeycomb background doesn't dominate the background but augments it.  You still get to see the rest of background when looking at the cards in hand.

The Fantasy Matches cards showcase matches we want to see.  These two actually wrestled while coming up through the low tiers of wrestling but never in the WWE.  The backs are fine but nothing spectacular.  

A nice action photo here.  The two packs I purchased equaled the price of a blaster so I'd probably go that route.  A blaster also has more cards than the two packs I purchased and they have three X-Fractor parallels.

I'm pretty happy with these cards.  My favorite from the pack has to be the Kerry Von Erich WWE Legend insert below.  The price point will probably keep me from buying more but I'm glad I grabbed these when I had the chance.  

BREAKDOWN: 

12 – Total Cards

1 - Duplicate

1 – Big Legends

1 – Fantasy Matches

 

Random Wax: 2019-2020 Donruss Basketball

 2019-2020 Donruss Basketball:  This one has been hanging around for some time and is appropriate as NBA teams are back in camp getting ready for this upcoming season.  I really enjoyed last season and all the ball we got to watch in the bubble.  Don't want to ever see a bubble again if we don't have to but man that was fun.  Trae Young and my Hawks are looking like playoff contenders this season after making some really good moves this offseason.  Can't wait to see what they look like.  Trae Young is soooo good.  His numbers may go down this year but it'll be great to see what he and Atlanta can do with a real supporting cast around him.

Plenty of good looking guards.  Devin Booker had a great finish to the season in the bubble.  Kemba Walker is going into this year hurt but he was a really good pickup for the Celtics.

Al Horford is now the star of the Oklahoma City Thunder after they traded for him while trading away anyone not nailed down.  I really like Horford but Philly was a bad idea from the get go.  I feel so bad for Klay Thompson.  Coming back from one injury he tears his Achilles heel last month.  I'm rooting for him to be successful in his comeback next year.

Paschall and Washington both had strong rookie seasons for their respective teams.  

These three cards work well together.  Really hoping Aaron Gordon can have a really good year and/or get traded to a team where he can excel.  This was a fun pack with plenty of star power. Sabonis is another of my favorite players in the league.  His season ended too early due to injury but should be ready for 2020-2021.

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards

5 – Rated Rookie

1 – Complete Players

1 – Franchise Features

1 – Great Expectations

1991 Score Series I Football Pack

 1991 Score Football: Another fun pack from an Amazon lot purchase of old packs.  We'll kick it off with this Bruce Smith Dream Team insert.  The Dream Team cards had players shirtless for some reason.  There were actually autographed Dream Team cards as well in this set.

Gerald Riggs was a beast.  Loved him as a Falcon and he got a Super Bowl ring with the Redskins.

Maybe not the greatest pull ever but I'm happy with the pack.  Plenty of fun memories here.

I do really like this photo.  I always enjoy these old packs Seeing these players who were great to watch back in the day.  

BREAKDOWN:

16 – Total Cards

1 – Dream Team

2020 Topps Update Baseball

 2020 Topps Update Baseball: The Update sets use to be one that was a chore for me.  Some nice shots or editing of players in new unis.  Maybe some nice inserts but not a lot of fun.  But I'm a big All-Star Game guy so those cards have kept me going since they started adding those.  But what about a year where there was no All-Star Game?  Topps did a really good job but including current and past all-stars as well as homerun derby participants.  Win! The Kid starts this pack off with some goodness.

The All-Star Game cards add the All-Star Game logo for that year which is cool.  You'll also find Active Leaders cards in these packs which I enjoy.

The Turkey Red don't thrill me but I get why some folks like them.  Respect for Derek Jeter but he's a guy who doesn't thrill me either...or most Red Sox fans.  That Baez card is a parallel.  What kind of parallel I'll probably never know.  The listings for the set really didn't have anything that fit.

The backs of some Active Leaders inserts.  Also note the "U" with the card number making it easily identifiable as a card from the Update series.

Fun pack of cards. Topps did a good job pivoting this year considering the issues they faced with the delayed season.  Finding retired greats is also a big plus.  You'll see more of these as time goes on.

BREAKDOWN:

34 – Total Cards

5 – RC

4 – Active Leader

3 – All-Star Game

2 – Homerun Derby

2 – Turkey Red 2020

1 – Retired Great

1 – Unknown Parallel

1 – 20 Years of the Captain