Category Archives: Topps

2016, Baseball, Hobby Box, Topps, Uncategorized

2016 Topps National Baseball Card Day Hobby Pack

Leave a comment

Topps is starting to get in to the business of National Baseball Card day. Six card packs were given away at hobby stores, as well as a bonus Kris Bryant card with a certain purchase. The full set consists of 49 cards, but the packs also include random autographs as well. There’s not much too it, but for free, you can’t really complain. It’s a bit of a different design, and seems a little out of character for Topps. It’s a nice change of pace, though.

This pack contained:
Continue reading 2016 Topps National Baseball Card Day Hobby Pack →

2016, Box Break, Jumbo Hobby Box, Topps

2016 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Hobby Box Break

Leave a comment

There’s not much to be said about series two of the basic Topps release that hasn’t already been said.  I guess I’ve gotten more used to the design, but it still doesn’t feel like Topps, for some reason.  It features the continuation of many Series One insert sets, including the Wrigley Field celebration.

They also seem to really be cutting back on the amount of inserts in a box.  This is great for set collectors, but not as much for the value of a box.   Maybe it will lead to better values for the inserts in the long run.

The jumbo box advertises 10 packs with 50 cards each, including one autograph and two relics per box.

This box contained:
Continue reading 2016 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Hobby Box Break →

2016, Box Break, Hobby Box, Star Wars, Topps

2016 Topps The Force Awakens Series 2 Hobby Box Break

Leave a comment

This follow up the very successful movie release late in 2015, with a second series of cards. The first series was released in late 2015 along with the movie. This one is officially called a second series, even though the numbering has been reset.

The base set is 100 cards, featuring scenes from the entire movie, with a number of possible parallels. There are also two reported short prints in the set, numbered 101 and 102. Many familiar inserts return from series 1 or the Journey to The Force Awakens set, with Character Stickers, Concept Art, Heroes of the Resistance, Power of the First Order, and manufactured Medallion cards.

The Hobby Box release advertises 24 packs of 6 cards, with two hits per box.

This box contained:
Continue reading 2016 Topps The Force Awakens Series 2 Hobby Box Break →

2016, Baseball, Jumbo Hobby Box, Topps

2016 Topps Series 1 Jumbo Hobby Box Break

Leave a comment

The first baseball release always brings an early taste of spring each year. It seems Topps has started taking some more chances with the base card designs, after many years of primarily a solid white border. Last year, they ventured in to a multi color border, but this year, the border is almost completely gone.

I really liked the design when I initially saw it online. It’s different from the standard releases. Then someone from the comic shop completely changed how I saw them by saying one word. Panini. After he said that, I do see it. It feels a lot like the types of designs Panini would release. Somehow, despite not having a border, the cards have more of a flat feel than usual.

It’s possible it will grow on me, but my initial feel is a bit of a let down. I still like seeing Topps change it up a little bit, even if some years end up missing the mark a little bit.

There is the usual assortment of inserts, including autograph and relic versions. In what seems almost a yearly occurrence now, buyback cards are featured once again. It looks like they go beyond base topps this year, and include other releases and even stars. They’re also starting to include different parallel levels of buybacks, based on the color of the foil stamp up to a 1/1 gold stamp.

This box contained:

Continue reading 2016 Topps Series 1 Jumbo Hobby Box Break →

2015, Hobby Box, Non-Sport, Star Wars, Topps

2015 Topps Star Wars The Force Awakens Series 1 Special Edition Hobby Box Break

2 Comments

This is a bit of a different release from Topps for the opening of the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. They are offering two different configurations for Hobby Boxes this time, which seems to have caused some confusion in the market place. The first is a traditional box containing 24 packs of 8 cards, with a chance at various hits including autographs and relics. The second one (featured here) is the special edition with 24 packs of 6 cards each, with no hits.

It seems a little bit different to not have the chance at autographs, but with the usual long odds of getting any desirable ones, this seems like a decent alternative. It is targeted more to the set collector, while still including inserts as well as parallel cards.

This is the first series of movie cards and seems to cover approximately the first third to first half of the film. Given the recent release, if you are avoiding spoilers, you may not want to look at the cards yet, although I don’t think this first set is very filled with spoilers you would not have gleaned from the trailers before the release.

The set contains 100 cards, along with various subsets featuring Behind the Scenes shots, Movie Scenes, Locations, among other details.

This Box contained:

Continue reading 2015 Topps Star Wars The Force Awakens Series 1 Special Edition Hobby Box Break →