2021 Chronicles Football Blaster

2021 Chronicles Football:  These showed up on the shelf right after the 2022 Chronicles Draft Picks Football that I showed off last Sunday.  We'll kick it off with Patrick Mahomes who is always a great way to start.  We all had him and the Chiefs ready to go on a run of Super Bowl wins.  Just shows how hard it is to win it all in the league.  Won't be any easier this year without Tyreke Hill for him and the Chiefs.

The base cards aren't bad.  Not exciting per se but solid.  That little helmet needs a little team logo on it though.  That McCaffrey is a pink parallel.  Wish they had chosen another color.  I'm not a pink parallel guy.

These are all see through, clear, acetate? cards?  You get the idea.  I hope.  Magnitude, Clear Vision and Playoff Momentum.  The Playoff are my favorite amongst these with a hint of color in the background and the big team logo.

I'm ok with the Panini design.  The Gridiron Kings don't work with white borders in my opinion.  And way too much white on the prestige design this year which I've been consistent in saying.

This set is more my thing as opposed to the Draft Picks set.  I like my veterans.

Flux, Luminance, and Dynagon cards.  I'm meh on all of these.

Good pull and most designs were okay to me.  This Tom "Terrific" helps make my pull a win and this box fun.

BREAKDOWN:
42 – Total Cards
22 – Chronicles
15 – RC
5 – Pink Parallel
4 – Prestige
4 – Gridiron Kings
3 – Playoff Momentum
2 – Panini
2 – Magnitude
1 - Flux
1 – Dynagon
1 - Duplicate
1 – Luminance
1 – Clear Vision

Random Wax: 2020-2021 Contenders Basketball

20-21 Contenders Basketball:  We'll kick off this pack with all-time great Dallas Maverick and hall of famer  Dirk Nowitzki.  Fun looking back at how good he was and I loved that he brought an NBA championship to Dallas.  Especially doing it beating the Heat.

These packs always have fun pulls.  Jimmy Butler is a favorite of mine in the league today.  Donovan Mitchell may be on the way out of Utah.  I think he is very underrated which is easy to happen playing on the Jazz.

Embiid will get another shot with James Harden after he resigned.  I'm really curious to see how good those two can be together.  Say what you will about Harden but when he's invested and healthy he is great.  Oladipo resigned with the Heat this offseason.

Fun pack and good pull.  That short checklist helps to make sure of that.  Last but not least is Jayson Tatum who helped the Celtics get to the NBA Finals before being outmatched by the Warriors.

BREAKDOWN:
22 – Total Cards
1 – Retired Great
1 – Red Parallel
1 – Game Night
1 – 2020 Draft Class
1 – Green Game Ticket Parallel

Green Lantern MetaX Game Cards

Green Lantern MetaX:  We'll keep the Green Lantern theme going this week.  Picked these two packs up last year when they were on the shelves.  I don't play the game but I'm a big Green Lantern fan and enjoy the art.  I've looked at cards from a few of the different MetaX games over the years.  We'll kick it off with Hal Jordan, the greatest GL of all-time.

A couple more Hal Jordan cards and a group shots of all the different lanterns as seen in the some of the great GL stories.

Carol Ferris, on and off love interest of Hal Jordan...and villain.  So many great characters in this universe including the Red Lanterns.  As you've probably guessed they are bad.  Really bad.

Blackest Night was another huge story arc for GL where dead heroes were reincarnated as villains.  Firestorm is my second favorite DC hero so his card had to make an appearance. Even if it is in his dead form.

There are "rare" cards that can be found in these packs but as the world as my witness I can't figure them out.  It's maddening.  I think I pulled one.  I'll never know.  Just saying.  I do like these cards.  I'm a nerd and love the art and of course the characters and that goes for all the different MetaX sets they've released (that I've seen).  The checklist can be found here and we'll end it with GL Sinestro who would go on to be the biggest enemy the GL Corps has ever seen.

BREAKDOWN:
24 – Total Cards (Two Packs)
1 – Rare?

Green Lantern: Beware My Power (NO SPOILERS)

Green Lantern: Beware My Power:  I haven't watched many of the DC animated movies lately but DC normally does them well.  I'm a big Green Lantern fan so I made the leap and picked this one up.  Glad I did.  I really enjoyed it.  This is an origin tale for John Stewart, one of the most popular Green Lanterns, who for the most part is the Green Lantern in the Justice League these days.  While Hal Jordan is widely known as the greatest Green Lantern of all-time John Stewart may be the most popular.  This movie is really good.  I like the cast of characters that includes Green Arrow, and Hawkgirl, both of which are favorites of mine.  Normal Lantern foe, and former green ring slinger, Sinestro, plays the foil.  The movie will work you through the Rann-Thanagar War in a simplified way which makes it easy to catch up.  

What happens?  Stewart gets his ring, galactic issues require him to help the Justice League, and off they go.  Green Arrow is his initial partner who is apropos considering GL/GA have a long history of being partners in the comic books.  Along the way Hawkgirl and others join the adventure to include some surprises.  Sinestro and his band of baddies hamper their efforts along the way.  Most of this and more is played out in the trailer.  These are normally standalone movies and while a few of DC's animated movies may tie into others this will not be one of those best I can tell.  Again I enjoyed the movie.  Are there some plot holes?  Sure.  But I recommend this for anyone considering it and it's worth the watch.  I picked this up at Wallyworld and it is rated PG-13.  People are shown dyeing in the movie and of course there is violence, so it's not made for young kids.  Has me wanting to watch more of the DC animated movies which I'll see if it's something I make happen.  

2022 Chronicles Draft Picks Football Blaster with Auto

2022 Chronicles Draft Picks Football:  These were on the shelves and I thought why not.  They're pretty young player heavy and I tend towards brands that have more veterans.  I won't complain about this box though.  Two Mahomes and an auto make this a win.

Lots of variety in these boxes.  That Matt Corral is a red parallel.

I do enjoy seeing retired greats in these sets.  I'm not a fan of that retro Score look.  Didn't like it then and don't like it now.  The Staubach photo isn't one I care for either.  I do like Illusions brand and that Bradshaw is pretty cool.

A nice Wolverines' uni appearance as well as Aiden Hutchinson the #2 overall pick in the draft.  Never complain about seeing Aaron Rodgers in his Cal uni.

Shiny cards.  With Big Ben retired everyone is wondering what Kenny Pickett will be at the pro level.  Seems like a perfect fit.  Pitt guy.  Had a great year.  Ben is gone.  Now the hard part starts.  We'll see how he does on the field.

I really like these retro rookie cards. 

Mathis is a 4th round pick of the Broncos.  It'll definitely take a few years to see how this auto looks. More veteran players.   Pretty fun box.  I liked my pull and some of the different designs.  Not sure I'll grab more.  If there was a fat pack option maybe but probably not in a blaster.  But never say never.

BREAKDOWN:

24 – Total Cards

11 – RC

3 – Donruss

3 – Legacy Rookie

3 – Retired Greats

3 – Rookies & Stars

2 – Score

2 – Prestige

2 – Chronicles 

2 – Contenders Optic

1 – XR

1 - Optic

1 - Recon

1 - Status

1 - Illusions

1 – Phoenix

1 – Red Parallel

1 – Pink Parallel

1 – Rated Rookie

1 - Prestige Xtra Points Signatures

Nope Movie Review (NO SPOILERS)

 Nope: Watched this Jordan Peele movie today in the theater.  I enjoyed it.  He's known for suspense and it had that with plenty of buildup.  Daniel Kaluuya was great in the lead while Keke Palmer playing his sister was good as well.  It's hard to know what you can say with movies like this because you don't want to give away too much.  As with any movie there are things you can question but I'll let them go.  I know I'm not the only one.  I will say that while the buildup was good I think the reveal came a bit early.  Would have liked it to be later in the movie with a quicker ending.  But I don't make movies.  I'll leave that to the masters like Peele.  That's all got.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

 

Secrets of Dumbledore: Finally watched this one.  I really enjoy the Harry Potter universe but I'm not a "hardcore" fan.  I've enjoyed the latest series of movies but understand there are issues.  Secrets of Dumbledore looks to tie everything together as it ends this storyline.  The three movies definitely struggled with identity.  The second movie, Crimes of Grindewald, didn't feel like a Fantastic Beasts movie and this one seemed like they tried to combined the two.  In doing so some characters didn't get a fair shake and unnecessary plot lines seemed to distract more than help the movie.  Still I enjoyed it.  Much was explained on how certain things came to be to include storylines from the original Harry Potter movies.  I really like the acting overall.  Plenty of good casting including the recasting of Mads Mikkelsen as Grindewald.  I thought it flowed fairly well and was entertaining.  I did have lingering questions about why they did certain things and I'm sure hardcore fans were really shaking their heads.  Hopefully whatever direction this universe takes they get it right next time.  It's a great universe with so many directions it could go to include some of the great characters they have now.  That's my two cents which might be confusing but I enjoyed watching the film.  Always curious what others thought.  Probably go look at some YouTube videos as well to see what finer points I missed.