Random Wax: 2019 Contenders Football

 2019 Contenders Football: I love this set and I've had this post sitting for a while.  Love the design and the small set means you'll see plenty of stars most of the time.

Who doesn't love Derrick Henry and his throwback smash mouth running of the football?  Aaron Donald is a beast and looks great in that classic Rams uni.

A couple of big time receivers here.  Julio and the Atlanta offense have to get it figured out.  And he needs to stay healthy.  Who will be throwing the ball to Michael Thomas in 2021?

Both of these guys were starters for Buffalo this year.  Each had solid years.  Hopefully they can be even better next season and Buffalo can compete once again for the AFC Title.  Fun pack and great cards.

BREAKDOWN:
22 – Cards
2 – Rookie of the Year Contenders
1 – Retired Great
1 – MVP Contenders
1 – Round Numbers

2021 Topps Baseball Blaster

2021 Topps Baseball:  They finally made it to my small corner of the world so I picked up a blaster, a few hanger boxes and some smaller packs.  Let's kick it off with the blaster and the man himself.  This blaster was like a Mike Trout hot box.  Three of his cards including this one.  Love it.  I'm a big fan and he is so frickin great.  

I wasn't sure about these when the press photos came out last year.  Folks talked about how they looked like last year's Donruss.  Once I got them in hand there were no issues at all.  These are really sharp looking cards.  Crisp with really good photos for the most part.  My only complaint, and a complaint of almost everyone, is that teeny tiny font.  What moron at Topps thought that was a good idea?  Still I like the design so I'll overlook it for now.

The backs are fairly good with the stats we like to see. 

The youngsters have their day with the normal RC, Rookie Cup and Future Stars variety.  Or the Rookie Cup/RC card in the case of that Alec Bohm card.

Two team cards here. I like the inserts and stats/facts/team leaders on the back.

Here ya see a royal blue parallel which I like and a rainbow parallel and a league leader.  The rainbow parallels don't do anything for me in hand but aren't bad looking cards.  I'd like if the league leader cards had a stat on the front.  Something as easy as "HR XX" with XX being the player's homerun total.

Checklist cards show players in any any variety of situations and are nice cards.  If you count this as a Trout card I actually pulled four Trouts in this blaster.  

Here we have the 1986 Topps 35th Anniversary, Chrome, and Stars in Service inserts.  Not a big fan of the '86 set but these are okay.  I do like the Stars in Service cards showing players supporting the community in various ways.  This card is only one example.  

My relic.  Not bad looking cards.

Glad Topps and MLB didn't shy away from the masks that were 2020.  It wasn't overly done but you see players wearing them whether that be in the dugout, at the plate or even in the field.

Did I say I pulled a few Trouts?  This is a Topps 70 Years in Baseball insert. This set shows players on cards of various designs throughout the years.

The 1952 Topps Redux inserts are one I like.  Not sure why but it works for me. 

And I pulled Ronald Acuna Jr.  Whoo hoo.  This was a fun box.  I like the design and the photos are good.  And if you're still looking for that last Trout, it is below.  I'm looking forward to more of these throughout the year.

BREAKDOWN:
99 – Total Cards
16 – RC
7 - 1952 Topps Redux
5 – Future Stars
3 - Team
3 - Checklist
3 – League Leaders
2 – Rookie Cup
2 – Royal Blue Parallel
2 - 1986 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary (1 – Black #/299)
1 – Topps Chrome
1 – RC/Rookie Cup
1 – Rainbow Foil
1 – Stars in Service
1 – 70th Anniversary Patch
1 - 70 Years of Topps Baseball

Random Wax: 2019-2020 Mosaic Basketball

 2019-2020 Mosaic Basketball:  Don't get excited.  This post has been gathering dust for some time. This green parallel was the highlight of a very strong pack. Luka Doncic is so exciting to watch.  He has amazing court vision and can play ball with the best of them.  He's definitely a top five player in the league right now and maybe top three.

This green parallel works really well for Tacko Fall and the Celtics green.   I really enjoy having Sir Charles on cards again.  I liked him as a player but I really enjoy him as an analyst. 

Nikola Jokic continues to get better and this year is he is #3 in the league in assists with just over nine a game.  Amazing.  Blake Griffin really fell off this year.  No idea what happened to him but I was counting on him as a late round find for my fantasy team.  That didn't end well...

I'm a huge Domantas Sabonis fan.  Loved his dad, Arvydas as well, who played for the Trail Blazers .  He's another of those big guys who has good hands and I expect he'll make the all-star team again this year.  He's also hitting the three really consistently now.  Anthony Davis finishes this pack on a high note.  Fun pull and pack.

BREAKDOWN:

15 – Total Cards

3 – RC

3 – Pink Camo

2 – NBA Debut

2 – Green Parallel

1 – Got Game

1 – Hall of Fame

1 – Will to Win

 

 

1997 Topps Football Pack

1997 Topps Football:  This is the last pack from an eBay lot purchase some time ago.  The design isn't my favorite.  The top border and lack of anything at the bottom throws me off.  The red borders appear on the cards of NFC players and green borders are on the AFC teams.  Does that make any sense?

Not much star power in this pack.  When you go back to 1997 you're hoping to grab guys like Favre, Marino, Young, Rice, Elway, Sanders and Rice.  

I like the backs for the most part.  The photo, stats and write-up are all nice.  The gold border seems out of place.  The red and green work so why put that jarring gold border in there?

Even though I wasn't thrilled with the design or my pull this pack was still fun.  Love going down memory lane with old packs and especially with sets I've never seen before.  

BREAKDOWN:

11 - Total Cards

1 - Mystery Finest

Random Wax: 2019 Topps SummerSlam Wrestling Cards

 2019 Topps SummerSlam Wrestling Cards: This was a fun pack led by this great photo of Triple H.  With the theatrics within the sport good photos should never be in short supply. 

I like the design on the roster cards.  Lots of color which is helpful if you are going  with promo photos.  

Cards showcasing highlights from matches is fun like this one and Charlotte Flair's victory in the first women's Hell in a Cell match.

In ring photos are always the highlight of these sets. That's where the wrestlers are at their best and most entertaining.

Plenty of great matches and photos to go around.

I really enjoyed this pack.  Always gets me excited about the sport and reminds me I need to pay more attention.  Lots of fun and I like the poster card.

BREAKDOWN:
20 – Total Cards
10 – SummerSlam Leadup Roster
5 – Roster Cards
2 – Mr. SummerSlam
2 - Greatest SummerSlam Matches & Moments
1 – Women’s Evolution
1 – SummerSlam Posters Spotlight

Imperial Snowtrooper (Hoth) 6 Inch Star Wars The Black Series Archives Figure

 Star Wars The Black Series Imperial Snowtrooper (Hoth): I freed this guy from his packaging in 2019 but somehow never posted the photos I took back then.  As a kid stormtroopers were my favorite Star Wars characters with the snowtrooper being at the tops of the list.  I was real happy to see this guy as part of the Black Series release. 

This guy looks like he should be in snow right by Darth Vader's side.

I like this guy.  Now I just need to find one for the grandsons.  This was quick and easy.  I obviously didn't do a ton of different angled shots but you get the idea.  I hope everyone has stayed safe and warm during these cold days.

Rebel Trooper (Hoth) 6 Inch Star Wars The Black Series Archives Figure

Star Wars The Black Series Rebel Trooper (Hoth): I'd been waiting for some snow to show off this guy and it doesn't get better than breaking him out during a polar vortex and snowmageddon to show him off.  And photos were not easy.  It was so cold so gloves were a must have.  I did take them off for a few seconds at a time and quickly regretted it.

The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie in the Star Wars franchise and those scenes from Hoth are probably my favorite.  The rebel troopers in the movie had a great look to me as did the snowtroopers which I'll show off in a different post.  I really like how these first two photos came out.

This is a good looking figure.  That said it takes some work to get him posed.  I looked at some poses online to help me get him in the right position.  I suggest that when posing any figures.  You can get some good ideas and see how others were able to get these guys in the right position. 

He comes with goggles which you he can have on or off.  Note - do not try moving it in 2 degree weather and wind.  Small pieces...numb fingers...'nuff said. On his right hip is a blaster holster with the blaster in it.  He also comes with a mask that goes over the bottom of his face.  

This was fun.  I enjoy getting to show these guys off.  Looking back I somehow never showed off my snowtrooper when I opened him up in 2019 so I'm going to do that pretty soon as well.  

2018 Prizm NASCAR Blaster

2018 Prizm NASCAR:  The season starts today with NASCAR's most celebrated race of year at Daytona.  This is one of those few products you can still find hanging around the shelves at some Wal-Marts.  Kyle Busch is my favorite driver and he already won the Busch Clash on Tuesday night.  Hopefully it is a sign of things to come this season.  The Explosion inserts aren't bad looking in hand.  As with most shiny cards scans don't always do them justice.

A couple retired greats here.  Dale Jr. was always fun as a driver and is great in the booth now.  Jeff Burton has taken well to the booth as well.  The base design is okay but not overly exciting.

Nice looking Fireworks insert.  I like cards that are able to show the driver and their car.

Both of these are Vortex inserts with that one on the right being a camo parallel.  Good looking inserts.

This G-Force card shows Carl Edwards' car.  Definitely not a paint scheme I associate him with but I think it was from his last season or next to last season.

Hannah is now a NASCAR reporter for various outlets.  Hailie Deegan and Bubba Wallace were the names I was really looking for in this blaster but no luck.  The backs don't have stats which is a foul.  NASCAR stats work well in telling the story of a driver's season.  

The base cards do look good next to each other when placed side by side.  I'm not the fan of shiny cards most collectors are but this set wasn't bad. Some good inserts and mix of current and past drivers makes for some fun.  Pulling Danica Patrick is always a plus.

BREAKDOWN:

24 – Total Cards

5 – Retired Greats

3 – Camo Parallels

2 - Vortex

2 – Fireworks

2 - Explosion

2 – Star Gazing

1 – RC

1 – G-Force

1 – Team Tandems