Random Wax: 2024-2025 Donruss Basketball

24-25 Donruss:  Wemby had a great third season and helped the Spurs take a big leap forward this year.  We get him here on a Magicians insert.

Domantas Sabonis is on a Holo Green Laser Parallel.  KAT and the Knicks have had a really good season.  Feels like he has some ups and downs but he's so talented and maybe the best shooting big man we've seen.

Zach Edey only played 11 games this season, but he looks like he'll be a good center when he can stay healthy.

Big man love.  Dereck Lively is the only player still on the team shown.  Nurkic was in Utah this season while Horford played for the Warriors.

Jalen Johnson really took a leap this year.  He averaged 22/10/7 for the Hawks this year shooting 35% from deep.

Tyrese Maxey is one of the top guards in the NBA.  I'd be very surprised if he isn't an All-NBA selection this year.  DeMar DerRozan is now 16th on the NBA's all-time scoring list passing Tim Duncan and Oscar Robertson amongst others.

BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
5 – Rated Rookie
2 – Holo Green Laser Parallel
1 – Magicians
1 – Great X-Pectations

Bob Horner passes away at age 68

Bob Horner passed away yesterday at age 68.   Horner is my favorite all-time baseball player.  He resonated with me when I started watching the Braves, and I watched a ton of games back in the day.  I did a look back at him on the blog in 2016 and you can see it here.  As players of our youth age, we expect these things but it's still not fun knowing they are gone.  It's a sad day for me.

I even had a customer Bob Horner figure made.

One of my favorite cards of his.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu Movie (No Spoilers)

The Mandalorian and Grogu movie is good and I enjoyed it more than I expected.  I thought they did well adapting it to the big screen and it felt like a Star Wars movie while keeping the feel of the series.  A ton of action in the movie too.  As a Star Wars fan, I'm guarded going into movies now and this one coming from the television series gave me more pause.  But it was just fun.  The grandsons really enjoyed it and they are the toughest critics.  

Nuremberg

Nuremberg:  Really enjoyed Nuremberg which centers around the Germans on trial after World War II.  Specifically Hermann Göring who is played very well by Russell Crowe.  Also really good is Rami Malek who plays the psychiatrist (Douglass Kelley) who looks over the prisoner's well-being.  Michael Shannon also plays the lead US prosecutor and Lee Woodall plays Sergeant Howie Triest, an American soldier who is also German and the interpreter.  I point them all out as they are the focus of the film and all make it as good as it is.  There's a ton of information on the Nuremberg trials but this movie concentrates on a specific piece of the trials highlighted by the interactions of Göring and Kelley.  The movie is 2 1/2 hours long but both pop and I were very surprised at that as you never notice the length.  It jumps right into the story and even with the tough topics brought up it is as easy watch.  We are military history fans so it might be easier for us than others, but again this really is a good movie.

Random Wax: 2025 Donruss NASCAR 4 Hobby Box Packs with Relic

2025 Donruss:  Kevin Harvick is one of the all-time greats in the sport.  He finished his career with 60 wins, 1 championship and finished top five in the season standings 5 times.  He's also a really good announcer and his podcast is a fun watch.  NASCAR is in Charlotte tonight for the Coca-Cola 600.

Ty Gibbs on this Red & Blue Parallel.  He got his first career win this season and has been very consistent after a rough start to the season.  Overall, this design doesn't do much for me and I find this year's set boring.  The 2026 set is supposed to bump up the card totals and hopefully bring back some of the fun.

The backs are fine but without a different photo it feels redundant.  We also need stats.  NASCAR is easy for stats.

You get one Optic per pack.  That Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a Gold Parallel #10.

This Pedal to the Metal is #/99.  Checklist says it is a Red Parallel.  Is it really?  I do like this relic.

Coming Attractions, Season Highlights, Unleashed.  I like all three of these inserts.  That coming attraction is a Red Parallel #/99.  I like Unleashed the most but wish they had different backgrounds for different drivers or at least some variety.

That Matt Kenseth isa Red Parallel #/299.  I like that the set includes retired greats like Kenseth.  Zane Smith is one of my favorite drivers.  He's had an uneven third year of driving in the Cup Series but has seen some promising finishes.

This may appeal to some, but I don't get Spellbound.  It won't look right on a page of cards so I'm not sure what display options it would give you. 

And some Rated Rookies.  Yep, the Frankie Muniz from Malcom in the Middle.  After dominating much of the O'Reilly series (minor leagues) season last year, Connor Zilisch was the most anticipated rookie this season.

BREAKDOWN:
32 – Total Cards
5 – Rated Rookie
4 – Optic
4 – Retired Greats
3 – Red and Blue Parllel
1 - Unleashed
1 – Spellbound
1 – Gold Parallel #/10

1 - Red Parallel #/299
1 – Season Highlights
1 – Coming Attraction
1 – Pedal to the Metal Relic

Random Wax: 2023 Kayou DC Glory of the Universe Collection

Glory of the Universe:   This Storyboard card has Green Lantern, one of my favorite comic characters.  I like these cards which show highlights from the comics and it's appropriate to have Sinestro share the card as his biggest villain.

More favorites of mine.  I've always liked Green Arrow (this one is Connor Hawke I think), Hawkman and Hal Jordan (GL).  Green Arrow and Green Lantern teamed up for one of the best stories of the 70s in the storyline Hard-Travelling Heroes. I've read it and it was a great read.  I may have to reread it at some point to see if it has passed the test of time.

Plot cards in the set highlight movie scenes from Justice League, Suicide Squad, Black Adam or Shazam.

I really like the Super Cute inserts.  Plenty of variety in the set.

Cinephile cards are colorful and I like the look.  I had a double of Darla Dudley, a member of the Shazam family, and showed off the back which isn't much to look at.

No real information on these cards.  In fact, information on this set is really hard to come by.  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 back in 2025.  Each has 10 packs with three cards in each pack.  The boxes they come in are pretty nice.

Here we have a Storyboard, Fate and back of the storyboard card.

These cards are pretty thick which is okay and I'm a big fan of the set.

This is the Oversized Group Portrait in my box.  Each box comes with one and I like them.  They are around 6" X 8".  Always been a fan of the JSA and this is some classic art from an iteration of the team I really like.

About the best webpage for set information is on Kandor Archives here.

We get the Supergirl movie next month.  I'm excited.  I really like these cards and have more to post which I'll do over time.

BREAKDOWN:

31 – Total Cards

10 – Plot

10 – Character

3 - Cinephile

3 – Super Cute

3 – Storyboard

1 - Fate

1 – Group Portrait

Kyle Busch dies at age 41

Kyle Busch passed away yesterday at age 41.  A complete shock.  He's my favorite driver in in the sport today.  I've been a fan of his since early on in his career.  The sport has lost one of the greats and lost someone who meant a lot to others including fellow drivers, fans, and all those associated with the sport which is evident by the outpouring of thoughts and emotions we've already seen.  Just nothing you can say when someone passes this early in life.  I pray for his young family.

As a driver he was a 2X NASCAR Cup Champion in 2015 and 2019.  He won 63 Cup races, which puts him 9th all-time.  He won a combined 234 Cup, O'Reilly Auto Parts and Truck Series races which was best in the sport all-time.  He was in the twilight of his career and had been, and still was cantankerous but that was part of his "charm".  Just a great competitor.  In my mind I'll always see him in an M&M's racing suit or car.

RIP Kyle