Monthly Archives: December 2018

1994, Baseball, Hobby Box, Topps

Throwback 1994 Topps Series 2 Wax Box Break

Leave a comment

There’s a bit of a lull right now for baseball releases, so it’s a good time to step back in time and open an older release. The lucky winner is 1994 Topps Series 2.

This is just as cards were getting a little more modern. Gone were the plain cardboard backs, and in were the glossies finish cards, with full pictures on the back as well. This wasn’t the first year of a glossier finish, but it was still relatively new, and a big step up from the 80s releases. While it was impressive at the time, it causes problems almost 25 years later.


While it is certainly not a unique problem to this release, many of the cards were stuck together inside the packs. There are numerous tutorials online suggesting ways to solve this problem, and we tried a couple of different methods. None of them were 100% effective. That’s something to keep in mind if you’re planning to open these releases. There’s no real high dollar card in this release, but I can’t imagine it would be very fun to pull a great card, only to find it damaged inside a mint pack.

Continue reading Throwback 1994 Topps Series 2 Wax Box Break →
2018, Box Break, Hobby Box, Star Wars

2018 Topps Star Wars The Last Jedi Series 2 Hobby Box Break

Leave a comment

This release has been sitting on a shelf for quite a while just waiting. I think it may be partially the hang over from the movie, and partially just being overloaded with releases this year. But now, some time has dulled my view of the movie a little bit, and that shouldn’t hurt the cards, right?

The second series restarts the card numbering back at 1, and this time features photos from action in the movie. It’s a small base set of 100 cards, but there are a number of insert sets, as well, sometimes falling as little as once per box. The base set has a set of parallels available. Many of the insert sets also feature parallels.

The box has a fairly standard configuration, advertising 24 packs with 8 cards per pack. Each box also includes two hits, one of which is an autograph.

This box contained:

Continue reading 2018 Topps Star Wars The Last Jedi Series 2 Hobby Box Break →
2018, Box Break, Hobby Box, Star Wars, Topps Star Wars Galaxy

2018 Topps Star Wars Galaxy Hobby Box Break

Leave a comment

This is a new type of release for me.  I have dabbled in some other Star Wars releases, but never Star Wars Galaxy.  I wasn’t very familiar with the previous releases, but decided to take the plunge.  Galaxy features contains cards of various artwork, rather than images directly from the source.  While it gives you some fun re-imaginings, not every piece is a win.  Overall, it’s a very fun release, though.  

The first thing to really jump out at me is just the size of the box.  It seems with modern releases, a sealed box is a fairly compact unit.  This is not.  Instead of a small footprint, this is a similar size to an 80s wax box.  There’s a lot of air inside the box, but the packs are presented more than just packed in.  

The release contains a number of parallels, plus a handful of insert sets, all featuring artwork.  Each box contains 24 packs of 8 cards.  It advertises 2 hits per box, including 1 autograph.  The autograph checklist is rather large, so you may dig pretty deep with your hit.  

This box contained:

Continue reading 2018 Topps Star Wars Galaxy Hobby Box Break →
2018, Hobby Box, Topps WWE NXT, Wrestling

2018 Topps WWE NXT Hobby Box Break

Leave a comment

This is a little bit of a different release for me.  I generally like the NXT brand and previous card releases, but this year it seems to be focusing on a much higher price point.  It features two 50 card subsets, one concentrating on the roster, with the other looking at Matches and Moments from the year.  

In previous years, you could find this release in blaster boxes at retail.  This year, however, it is a hobby only release.  At $200 per box, it seems like it may be difficult to find true value in this release, but it advertises an incredible 10 autographs per box.   While NXT definitely has its following, this seems more like a prospects release where you really won’t know the full potential of some of these characters for a few years.  Even the big names will probably get much bigger once they hit the grand stage of the main roster.  

This box contains 10 packs, with 7 cards per pack, including a total of 10 autographs.  This box contained:

Continue reading 2018 Topps WWE NXT Hobby Box Break →