Random Wax: 2021 Gypsy Queen Blaster

 

2021 GQ: This is the second of the two blasters of Gypsy Queen I purchased in 2021.  And yes, I'm just getting it posted.  That's part of the fun and randomness.  Bryce Harper has been limited due to injuries this season and not found his power stroke yet but you have to figure it'll come.

I enjoy this Gypsy Queen design.  We look at Rendon and Grandal a lot differently than we did two years ago.  It's really a shame with Rendon.  It was a big swing by the Angels and it's really hurt them as he's battled injuries the last three seasons, doesn't hit like he did with the Nationals and maybe his career is about over.  

Good looking Musial card and it is a base short print.  That Matt Chapman is a Tarot of the Diamond insert which isn't that special and the last is a Missing Nameplate parallel.

Kyle Lewis is now with Arizona but still struggling.  Chapman, who signed a one-year contract with the Royals, was recently traded to the Texas Rangers who are having a good year.

Fun box of cards.  I like the design and I had a really good pull.  

BREAKDOWN:

49 – Total Cards

7 – Green Parallel

1 – SP

1 – Captain Mini

1 – Tarot of the Diamond

1 – Missing Nameplate Parallel

Random Wax: 2021 Topps Archives Blaster

2021 Archives: I'm a big fan of 2011 Topps so this design is a hit with me.  It feels like Soto is having an off year but he's still one of those guys you have to be scared of.

Plenty to show off in this box including some greats of the game, past and present, on 1991 designs.  These look good.

The '62 design isn't a favorite of mine it looks a bit better on new cardboard.

These backs are fun to look at.

Here we have Bazooka Shining Star, Movie Poster and Floating Heads insert.  The Bazooka are fun while I like the Movie Posters.

The 1957 look is another one that is okay but doesn't exactly thrill me.  No issues with the players on them though.

The 1983 cards are a good look.  That Jerek Jeter is a 2091 design while the Varsho is the 2001 Topps design.

1989 Topp Big Foil insert.

That Jose Altuve is a great looking card to me.  I'm a fan of his and was happy to pull this one.

More 2011 greatness including the back of the Alan Trammell card.  He's a favorite of mine and really did have a great career culminating in his election to the Hall of Fame.

This was a fun box but Archives usually is.  Lots of variety mixed with nostalgia and retired greats.  Enjoy the All-Star game tonight that will include this guy who's having an amazing season.

BREAKDOWN:

56 – Total Cards

16 – RC

13 – Retired Greats

10 - 2011

9 – 1962

8 – 1957

7 – 1991

6 – 1973

5 - 1983

5 - 2001

3 – 2091

3 – 1989 Topps Big Foil

1 – Floating Heads

1 – Movie Poster

1 – Bazooka Shining Stars (1:6)

 

The Flash Movie (No Spoilers)

 I enjoyed The Flash.  I actually saw this the week it was released with the younger grandson.  It had a good story, fun characters and was just enjoyable.  I know it's considered a flop already but I'm not sure why people didn't give it a chance.  Maybe the recent history of DC movies, maybe Ezra Miller blowback.  I don't know but it was good.  I liked the actors and of course it was fun to see old and new characters alike.  I thought maybe with time I might think differently but I still think it was good.   Interested to see what others think.  This one has me stumped.

Random Wax: 2021 Score Football

2021 Score:  We have Christian McCaffrey doing one of the things he does best in catching the ball.  It was great seeing him healthy again and having a good season with both Carolina and San Francisco.

The design has grown on me since I first picked up this pack in 2021.  I like the photos on all of these cards.  

Plenty of youngsters here in their college unis which is always fun.

Love the inclusion of retired greats.  More good photos with that Rice standing out.

Some greats of the game.  I like both inserts.  I do think Garrett is smiling because he just found his way to a quarterback again.  Dude is a beast on defense.

These are nice cards but they could have done something with that gray background.  Added some color somewhere.

I like the Elliott and Kamara cards but the Watson shot looks out of place.

Can Watson get back to the level of play we saw in Houston?  I'm not sure but I know Cleveland is banking on it.  Trevor Lawrence on a nice-looking Throwback Rookie card.  Is Jacksonville ready to take their game to the next level?  They have that nice comeback playoff victory over the Chargers from last season under their belt.  I'd like to see him and the Jags be relevant. 

BREAKDOWN:

40 – Total Cards

7 – RC

4 – Retired Greats

3 – Next Level

3 – Score Team

3 – Red Parallel

2 – 3D

2 – Game Face

1 – Throwback Rookie

1 – Collegiate Champion

2023 Donruss Baseball

2023 Donruss:  The 4th of July is a great time for some new baseball.  I held off buying this as Panini baseball isn't a favorite of mine.  Found a pack so I went for it and was surprised at what was inside.  I'd forgotten Panini no longer held a licence with the MLBPA.  So no current players.  All good if you're all about retired greats and youngsters still in the minors.  We'll kick it off with Phil Niekro on the base design.  Love Knucksie and I miss the knuckleball in baseball.

Over half the pack are retired greats which was a win for me.  The "no logo" thing is still very annoying which means I might go after singles but won't chase more of this otherwise.  Here we have a Holo Blue and Holo Orange parallel. Bench is always a strong pull.

Plenty of youngsters.  I don't think I've heard of any of them though.

I like this design more here than I do with NASCAR.  Not sure why but I'm good with the it and the art look.

No Rated Rookies.  Rated Prospects now.  I get it.  Not sure how they determine who is a Rated Prospect as opposed to other players.

I do love 1990 Donruss so this works for me.  The Dom DiMaggio is a Holo Red parallel #/2023.  I like the all red borders look more but I'm still good with these overall.  Not sure why they didn't go all red borders with all the retro '90 cards.

Wasn't what I was expecting but I'm good with this I think.  Again it doesn't mean I'll go looking for more.  Was excited to see john Smoltz here but that Holo Orange combined with the red is a bit of a bummer.  Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards

18 – Retired Greats

6 – Rated Prospect

5 – Retro 1990

3 – Diamond Kings

3 – Holo Orange Parallel

1 – Elite Series

1 – Holo Blue Parallel

1 – Holo Red Parallel #/2023

Damian Lillard Requests a Trade

Dame has officially requested a trade.  This hurts.  While not completely a surprise I still held out hope when he didn't ask for one early last week when meeting with the team and a trade request didn't come out of that.  Lillard is my favorite Trail Blazer of all-time.  It's easy to have recency bias but I am truly a big fan.  I hope all the best for him.  I know Portland will try to maximize their return.  Not often a top 10 players is traded.  They need something that will set them up for success.  That can happen in different ways so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out.  No matter how it turns out I doubt I'll be happy for a while.

2023 Donruss NASCAR Hobby Box with Auto

2023 NASCAR Donruss:  Been looking forward to this box and we'll kick it off with one of the sport's best, Kyle Larson, on this base design.  He was the 2021 Champion.

I'm a big fan of 1990 Donruss so I'm happy to see the nod to that design here.  There are variations where the red border goes all around the card.  Would have enjoyed pulling those.  As is I'm good with this though I'd like to see the car number.  They've done this in the past and it gives just that little bit extra to the cards.  Love Austin Dillon's hat here.

My hits included this Marvels (SP) Hailie Deegan and Ross Chastain Monikers autograph.  I'm a fan of the Marvels cards which you can find in Donruss across the other sports as well.  I also like Deegan so this was a win.  Chastain is still young driver at the Cup level and is a bit polarizing.  That said he is good.  He finished 2nd in the final standings last year and is top 5 this year.

I always enjoy seeing the driver's cars.  This is how you see them the majority of the time and they are so associated with their sponsors and cars.  Chase is a fan favorite and one of my favorite drivers.

Power Squad!, Metal Masters, and Unleashed inserts.  I really like Metal Masters.  Those colors work for me.  Unleashed is cool too but I wish they had mixed up the background just a bit for each driver even if it was just moving animals around. 

I'm a big "Kings"/"Queens" fan in the different Donruss offerings and pulled 24 in this box.  The design isn't bad but they went with the blue color scheme with every driver.  Wish they could have mixed it up some depending on the driver's sponsor colors.  It is NASCAR's 75th anniversary this season so I get the idea of going with the diamond which is part of the anniversary logo.  Though it has red, blue and yellow and would have looked sharp in the background.

Cool looking cards.  Lots of color and a fun way of showing off the cars again.

Red, Blue and Purple parallels numbered to 299, 199, and 49 respectively.  Kyle Busch is my favorite driver in the sport today.  Josh Berry has just been announced as the new driver in the #4 car after Kevin Harvick retires the end of this year.

More base cards including a Silver parallel and retired great in Tony Stewart.  The base card design isn't a favorite of mine but I don't necessarily look at it negatively.

I like seeing both the car and driver on these cards.

More 1990 goodness. Bubba is the third of the drivers I follow in the sport.  Toni Breidinger is new to me and has three races in the Truck Series.  She is full time in the ARCA series right now.  I like seeing more women getting their chance in the sport.

Love seeing retired greats in the sport.  The King, Richard Petty, has the most wins all-time in the sport while Dale Jr. was an extremely popular driver and son of Dale Earnhardt Sr., and Jeff Gordon is an all-time great and was just recently added back to cardboard.  Win.

One of the two Race Day relics I pulled.  A little boring but okay.

You'll get one optic card in each pack for a total of 24.  This was a fun box.  Lots of variety and good looking cards while I pulled plenty of drivers from across the sport.  I'm disappointed there'll be no NASCAR Chronicles this year so this will probably be my go-to NASCAR product and I'll show off more of the cards from this box in two additional posts over time.  

BREAKDOWN:
192 –Total Cards
60 – 1990 Donruss
34 – Retired Greats
24 – Optic
23 –Race Kings
15 – Silver Parallel
8 – Cars (Basic)
6 – Elite Series
6 – Rated Rookie
4 – Unleashed
4 – Under the Lights
3 – Royalty
3 – Metal Masters
3 – Red Parallel #/299
2 – Revved Up
2 – Power Squad
2 – Race Day Relic
2 – Green Parallel #/99
2 – Navy Blue Parallel #/199
2 – Holographic Parallel #/199
1 – Marvels
1 – Monikers Auto
1 – Red Parallel #/250
1 – Purple Parallel #/49