All posts by dpatera

2018 Topps Solo A Star Wars Story Hobby Box Break

A new Star Wars movie means a new Topps release.  This time, it features Han Solo’s origin story.  It’s a fun movie, but it’s a little bit of a departure from the recent releases.  The card set, however, seems to follow a similar pattern.  The base set contains 100 cards, along with many familiar insert sets including Icons, Silhouettes, Stickers, Patch Cards, Sketch Cards, and Autographs.

The base set is a fun design featuring the Millennium Falcon along the edge, and numerous parallels.  I question the black parallel, however.  It looks much more grey than black.  If you have the black and silver together, it is easy to tell which is which, but apart, it may be more difficult.

Maybe it’s just me, but many of the insert designs seem to blend together, as well.  I guess they’re easy if you know what you’re looking for, but they don’t seem quite so obvious at first glance.  The different insert sets are displayed below, so you can judge for yourself.

This box contained:

Continue reading 2018 Topps Solo A Star Wars Story Hobby Box Break

2018 Topps WWE Hobby Box Break

The 2018 Topps WWE release once again features superstars of the WWE on the current year’s flagship style release. The 100 card base set makes some interesting checklist choices. It’s clear they’re holding back some of the bigger names for the fall release. At least the superstars featured on the box are represented in the cards available.  You will find superstars from Raw, Smackdown Live, and NXT, as well as announcers and others in this base set.

The release feels pretty light on inserts. There is one main insert set, Evolution, which shows various wrestlers over the years. There are also three tribute sets, exclusive to different types of releases. All the rest of the inserts are variations of hits. You also see a regular assortment of parallels.

This box advertises 24 packs of 7 cards each. Each box contains two hits, including one autograph.

This box contained:

Continue reading 2018 Topps WWE Hobby Box Break

2018 Bowman Blaster Box Break

While 2017 was the year of Judge, it didn’t start quite as early as it has this year.  2018 has seen Ohtani being even more sought after.  We saw it a bit with Heritage, but now with the Bowman release, Ohtani-mania is in full effect.  Normally, we’d have a hobby box to break, but we’re seeing prices double and nearly triple the normal price around release time.  That’s way too out of hand, for what is essentially hoping for the lottery ticket of an Ohtani autograph.   That one card is the only way to really have a chance at getting value out of a box.

 

Retail is still the regular price, if you can find it.  As a result of Hobby being so expensive, even retail is getting scooped up and often resold at a higher price.  You have a lot tougher odds on inserts and parallels, but for many, retail is going to be the only option to open Bowman packs this year.

There are other rookies available as usual in Bowman, but they all seem overshadowed this year.  This release is pretty standard fare for Bowman at this point.   You have a 100 card base set, featuring some veterans and some rookies, along side the prospects paper and chrome insert sets, which is the meat of the release.  These feature 150 prospects.   Some are well known, and some really aren’t.   I guess that’s part of the beauty of Bowman.  You won’t really know how good a release it was for a few years.  Which future stars may be hiding in this release?

Continue reading 2018 Bowman Blaster Box Break

2018 Donruss Hobby Box Break

Panini Donruss fills an interesting role in the hobby.  Topps has an exclusive contract with Major League Baseball to produce fully licensed trading cards, but that hasn’t stopped Panini from putting out a quality alternative.  There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground as people either really like it or really hate it.  I definitely fall in to the like it category.

Continue reading 2018 Donruss Hobby Box Break