2010 NECA The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

2010 Eclipse:  Edward was one of the main characters of The Twilight Saga being one of the competing love interests for Bella.  He was played by Robert Pattinson who has gone onto a very good acting career. He was also in one of the Harry Potter movies and is now Batman.

Alice was one of my favorite characters in the book and movies.  The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was the third of five movies in the series.

The design is pretty simple, but I like it.  Lots of room for the photo.  The Twilight Saga as a whole did over $3.3B at the box office.

The backs have another nice design and the brief description of the front works.

I know sparkly vampires aren't for everyone.  I became a fan through my daughter who loved the books and liked the movies. I remember going to a midnight release of the final book in the series.  I read the books as well.  The series and movies are clearly geared towards a different audience than me, but I am good with both.  

The final card was part of the Wolfpack Puzzle.  Glad I checked these out.  They do a good job of representing the movie and overall mood with the design.  Fun cards and a good set to look at in October.

BREAKDOWN:
6 – Total Cards
1 – Wolfpack Puzzle

Random Wax: 2009 Press Pass Eclipse Blaster

2009 Eclipse:  Former NASCAR Champion and all-time great in the sport, Kevin Harvick is now an announcer in the sport.  Tonight is Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte which is a grueling 400 laps totalling 600 miles.

This set has a space based them. The design isn't bad but its full of stars (no pun intended) and it is fun to look back 16 years to see so many greats in the sport.  Jimmie Johnson was the NASCAR champion for five years straight, from 2006 through 2010.  He would be the sport's top driver seven times in his career.  Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch are also past champions.

I like that these Pathfinders inserts give us a glimpse of drivers in their youth.

Denny Hamlin was still young in the sport but 2009 would mark his second top five finish in the standings.  I like the Take Off design.  The colors and the driver tree in the background work for me.

The Checklist card gives us a great photo of Jimmie Johnson away from the track, probably part of the press tour after winning the championship.

Ground Control cards seem to show drivers after victories, and I like these cards.  That Tony Stewart card is a Solar System card which is plastic.

I like this Ecliptic Path card.  The colors and photos of the driver look good.  This card is plastic.

Nice looking Brightest Stars cards and two drivers I really like in Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer.  Stars Over NYC cards show us drivers in a different setting.

I'm still not feeling these Lunar mission cards, but I get where they are going with them.

More base cards.  Martin Truex Jr. would go on to win a championship in his illustrious career.  Hard to remember him ever looking like this photo though.  Again, fun to look back so many years.

These are fun cards.  So many stars at a different time in their career.  Enjoy the race tonight!

BREAKDOWN:
40 – Total Cards
5 – Brightest Stars
4 - Pathfinders
4 – Blue Parallel
4 – Lunar Mission
3 – Orbital
3 – Take Off
2 – Eclyptic Path (Plastic)
2 – Stars over NYC
2 – Ground Control
1 – Checklist
1 – Solar System (Plastic)

2009 Press Pass Eclipse Blaster

2009 Press Pass Eclipse:  The NASCAR 2023 Awards Banquet is tonight so let's do some NASCAR.  We'll kick this one off with my favorite driver in the sport, Kyle Busch.  As a two-time champion he knows a thing or two about awards.

These are fun to open and see drivers what is now 14 years ago.  And look at these greats. The design is okay.  Photos stick to the head and shoulder shots for the most part.  Wouldn't have minded a bit more variety in driver photos. That Jeff Gordon is a blue parallel.

Brightest Stars highlighted up and coming stars on the track and they nailed it.  Denny Hamilin is one of the best drivers in the sport today, while Dale Jr. was/is a huge fan favorite but is now retired and an announcer.  Kurt Busch recently retired but won a championship in his career.

These Lunar Mission inserts are different.  

Pathfinders is another insert that is okay but doesn't wow me.  NASCAR and a space theme don't necessarily work together that well.

Solar System inserts are plastic cards.  Here we a Stars Over NYC insert.  Not sure why New York was important but okay.  That Carl Edwards is a Ground Control insert.  They weren't shy in shoehorning the theme into cards.

This Orbital card is one I like.  We have a good driver photo as well as being able to show off the card.  Not saying Orbital is great but I like the look.

More base cards of greats from the sport.  Harvick retired after this season and will move to the Fox Sports booth while Jeff Burton is already an announcer for NBC.

Again, a pretty good look on these Orbital inserts.

The backs aren't bad.  Never see stats on NASCAR cards which is a shame.  They have plenty of stats to share.  Still, these are good.  Nice photos with more variety.  Some of these would have played well on the front.

The rockets on the bottom of the cars just has me shaking my head.

Take Off inserts are another plastic card.  I like those and I like the Brightest Stars cards.  Great Jeff Gordon Photo.

That Burning Rubber raced used "WIN" tire is #/85.  I know I made some fun about the space themes but I really enjoyed these cards.  It's great seeing all the drivers over a decade ago on cardboard.

BREAKDOWN:
40 – Total Cards
6 – Lunar Mission
5 – Brightest Stars
4 – Blue Parallel
3 – Orbital
3 – Take Off
3 – Pathfinders
3 – Ecliptic Path (Plastic)
1 – Solar System (Plastic)
1 – Stars Over NYC
1 – Ground Control
1 – Burning Rubber Race Used “WIN” Tire #/85