Category Archives: Box Break

2019, Baseball, Box Break, Donruss, Hobby Box

2019 Donruss Hobby Box Break

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I’m not sure there is another release that receives the same type of attention as Donruss. It’s not always positive, mostly due to the licensing with Major League Baseball. Topps has recently extended their exclusive license agreement which allows them to be the only baseball card company licensed by Major League Baseball. This limits what other companies are able to do.

Donruss still puts out a few baseball releases featuring current and former players, but due to this license, are unable to show team names or logos. That’s a shame because it really limits the appeal for some collectors. A lot of people are missing out on what has become a fun release every year. The base design is one of my favorites in recent years, and the tributes to 1985 Donruss really stand out.

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2018, Box Break, Hobby Box, Star Wars

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

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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:

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2018, Box Break, Hobby Box, Star Wars, Topps Star Wars Galaxy

2018 Topps Star Wars Galaxy Hobby Box Break

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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:

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2018, Baseball, Box Break, Jumbo Hobby Box, Topps

2018 Topps Update Jumbo Hobby Box Break

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This release comes as the post season is coming to a close.  That’s rather fitting because while it is not the last release of the year, it does provide a bit of a wrap up for a lot of collectors.  It features players making their debut during the season, as well as veteran all stars and other traded players.  

It’s a very familiar set.  Boxes contain 10 packs of 50 cards each.  Every box advertises three hits, one of which is an autograph.  We see the continuation of some insert sets, like the 1983 35th anniversary, but also includes some new insert sets such as international affair.   As an added bonus, during the initial hobby shop release, each box also included two bonus packs, containing 4 special 1983 Chrome cards.

This box contained:

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2018, Baseball, Box Break, Hobby Box, Topps Archives

2018 Topps Archives Hobby Box Break

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This is an interesting release this year.  Archives normally comes out around late May, but as the summer started, there was talk about it being pushed back until August.  That much isn’t particularly unusual.  Releases get delayed frequently for any number of reasons.  What is unusual, is what happened in August.

The cards hit retail in August, but hobby was nowhere to be seen.  It

wasn’t really clear when hobby was coming, or why the delay, but hobby was eventually released on October 24th.   There are a lot of rumors about why, but I’m curious to see what it does to the product.  I feel like a lot of people had a chance to get their fill at retail long before hobby hit stores.  It’s interesting to see how few of some autographs really hit the market from retail, though.  It’s also apparent that some retail redemptions came back and were packed in live for hobby, which is a benefit, I guess.

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