Cards From Tom

Tom from The Angels, In Order recently was giving away some cards for others to claim.

I have been a long-time reader of his blog and when I saw the post, I had to at least see what he was offering.

I don't claim anything that I cannot use in my collection. I know some people just claim cards to claim cards, but I am not like that (this makes reference towards people on Twitter specifically). 

I find cards that fit some part of my PC.

How about a Robin Hood card featuring Morgan Freeman?

Or a Will Scarlett sticker from Robin Hood?

The next three cards I just thought looked cool, so I claimed them.

It still makes them PC.

OG Superman base card. I will always accept cards like this.

And anyone who knows me...knows I....

 

 

will always take Batman cards. I mean he is the greatest superhero ever.

Thanks goes out to Tom for his generosity!

Keeping Busy

It has been a really busy last few weeks for me and will be for the next couple as well.

So, I thought while you wait for new, witty blog posts from myself that I would keep you busy reading a few articles that I wrote for Beckett online recently.

My series on there is called Second Look where I take a dive into sets that you may have forgotten about, but I felt needed a second look at. 

 

The first one I did was on 1989 Upper Deck baseball that I feel is more than just a Griffey card set. Check that one out HERE.

The second article I wrote on one of my favorite All-Time insert sets in 1996 Zenith Z-Team football. You can check that one out HERE.

And the third published one is based on 1995 hit movie Batman Forever. I didn't think it was much of a hit movie wise, but the 1995 Fleer Metal Batman Forever was. If you don't remember those cards, you can read about those HERE.

I have four others that will be published soon. They haven't been on a weekly basis as I had hoped they would be, they publish randomly usually on Fridays. I would appreciate it if you guys could check these out, maybe leave a comment or click on a link or two in the articles to show support :)

When I have time to get pictures taken from all of the generous Christmas senders I had this year, there will be new blog posts. I also have a few new ideas to post on here as well.

Thanks again in advance and stay tuned for all-new posts on Sport Card Collectors! The blog will be back to full force in 2024!

The Latest

I haven't made a lot of trades this year like I have in years past, at least in the variety of traders I use. But, I have made some and even those some have backed me up with posts on the blog to do.

As I try to get my mind in the right place with blogging, I am still undecided on my future with it still and the direction I will take, I still have lots to post about regardless if anyone is reading these posts or not. September was a brutal month for numbers on this blog despite my new direction for it which is not a good sign of it's future. September both views (especially views) and comments took a BIG DIP. I am not talking a few here and there, I am talking a ton. Comparing August and September on there, there was a 17,000 view difference and in terms of comments, that was cut in half. It's the kind of thing that drives you away some. It's probably the main reason I jumpstarted Cards Over Coffee back up again, knowing if I am not going to get the views or comments anyways, I might as well continue on with that blog.

Which by the way, if you haven't checked out Cards Over Coffee in awhile, it not only has a new jazzy look but has some new posts. I am still in the process of adding new content, a new look and more fun over there. Check out that blog HERE. Please add it to your blogrolls, use it in your blog posts when you refer to me, etc. Those posts take me hours to do so the more traffic to check it out, the better.

In the meantime for now, let's check out a new post on here and from blog reader Oren who happens to be the person who I have traded with the most this year.

A couple for the non sport PC.

I have always liked Kurt, his passion for the game and for his faith is someone worth looking up to. Not to mention his backstory which will soon be a movie.

90's inserts. I never complain about getting these, the more, the merrier.

Another nice Martin relic for that side PC. Think I have 4 of them now.

And finally...yes, I always save the best for last...

 

Batman Forever Built For Speed. Best card in my Batman PC currently. If any of you are sitting on any Batman cards that are collecting dust, I will send you my address :)

Thanks again to Oren for the trade. I am sure by the time this posts we would have done at least another trade.

As for the rest of you, check out Cards Over Coffee please and once again add it to your blogrolls and even a add onto your post would be appreciated as well!

CARDBOARD REVIEW:DC Comics Bombshells III (CONTEST)

Cryptozoic just released a bombshell........of a product.

The third release to the popular DC Comics and collectibles has been released since October and I am just getting my hands onto a box to show off and break down for you guys.

I had a lot of fun opening the previous release, so let's check out the latest one.

 

In every box of DC Comics Bombshells III there are 24 packs of 5 cards per pack. Look for random sketch cards that usually fall one per box and boxes currently sit at $80.

Also found in every box.....

 

Golden Goddess DC Lil Bombshells vinyl figure or even a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted DC Lil Bombshells figure. They are a unique, fun collectible.Imagine if they did this sport card boxes....hmmm....

BASE CARDS

There are 64 bombshell of a base card in the set and most sets should be completed in one box. There is a nice mix of DC Comics characters throughout the set.

On the back of every base card there is credit due to the artist who did the art on the front of the card.

CHASE/INSERTS

 

Gold parallels fall 1:3 packs. The foil on the front is gold instead of blue.

There are 1:8 packs Rainbow foil to find as well when the card is completely covered in rainbow foil shine.

Usually in every box of Cryptozoic products I complete every 9 card insert/chase set along with the base set. Well, not this time. Every chase/insert set I was off by one card. At least it won't be too hard to fill in the set needs.

All inserts/chase have gold foil/rainbow foil variants as well.

Wonder Girls fall 1:3 packs and features the popular characters

On The Front Line falls 1:3 packs featuring all of those DC Comic girls who are out there saving the world in front of all

Gotham's Greatest falls 1:3 packs and was my favorite of the chase sets. Really like the design featuring Gotham City in the front and the featured hero/villain in the back.

 Showstoppers, those girls who are just bombshells. These fall 1:3 packs

Found three rainbow foil variants that make these cards stand out even more.

Vintage Photographs falls 1:12 packs and I am not one card off from this set. These feature a vintage feel and approach. I think they look great in hand even though I couldn't capture all of their magic in this picture.

HITS:

Holy smokes! I have never pulled a Str Pwr before! This is a gold /25 and not an easy pull by any imagination. They don't even give odds on the ones numbered 25 or lower.

 And a 1/1 sketch!!

 Back of the sketch card. Great work!

Here is a look at the checklist for DC Comics Bombshells, find it HERE

OVERALL THOUGHTS: If you are fan of DC Comics, I don't think you will be disappointed. Great art throughout the product and has a nice overall appeal. Also if you opened up past products of this, not much has changed and expect the same fun as you have had before with it.

A big thanks goes out to Cryptozoic for allowing me to review this product and run a giveaway. Please make sure that you follow them on all social media sites and check out their website with incredible products HERE.

CONTEST!!!!!!

 

WIN THIS 1/1 SKETCH CARD BY COMMENTING BELOW YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS PRODUCT!

1. Must have a U.S. Shipping address to enter.
2. Winner will be announced in comments by Sunday, so please come back to see if it was you.
3. Card will be shipped PWE. I will ship it as safely as I can, but remember USPS is USPS. I or Cryptozoic will not be held responsible for LOST, STOLEN or DAMAGED mail. You agree upon this when you enter.

I'm Batman!!

Show of shares on this post, how many of you read the title of this post in Batman's voice? I know I did and I typed it.

Other than my usual Disney cartoon block I watched after school, I had to make sure I tuned in for Batman:The Animated Series as well. The show ran for 3 years from 1992-1995 on Fox Kids. The cartoon for the final 15 episodes had changed its name to The Adventures Of Batman And Robin. Not sure why, but it did.

The show had some great story lines, incredible animation and the best villains. Some of them include, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, the Penguin, the Joker, Harley Quinn, the Mad Hatter, the Riddler, Catwoman, Two-Face and my favorite Clayface.

The show was so popular it ranked second in the best animated series only losing out to The Simpsons, spawned a toy line, all of the toys are on my want list, and had some trading cards from Skybox in 1995.

I was lucky to bust one pack. I am not sure what kind of pack it was as most of these packs had 8 cards per pack and this is 11 cards. I can't remember the details on that but here is what I got from it. I have had these stored in a 50 ct plastic box all these years.

 

Pop-Up of Batgirl

 

Coloring card. Looks to me like they were trying to draw kids in. Literally. A puzzle card as well. I left it whole as puzzles are my enemy. I can't even put together a border.

 

And one of the coolest things, a "stamped" piece of gum. It held up over time as well.

 

 

I think my pack break went pretty well. I might try to track down a few more packs to open for fun but I am currently more interested in adding some figures from the show. Particularly Batman, Robin and Clayface. 

This was actually my only other non-sport pack bust of 1995. We will continue to check out my busting origin through sports from here on out.

Mixed Within The Turtles Was....

So a couple of days ago I posted a flat rate box I got in my recent trade with @Jake1725 and you got to see the toy part of the trade. Now comes the card part.

Inside of the TMNT box was this Loot Locker box filled with cards. Some are baseball, some are football, some are basketball and even some are non sport. Some are rookies, some are base, some are hits.

Today, we kick it off with the non sport version.

This trade brought the nerd and kid out of me with toys and cards from some of my favorite cartoons growing up.

Spider Man! The cartoon was so much better than the movies they do.

 

No villain was greater than Venom.  Loved the episodes he was on.

Freeze! Mr. Freeze that is. Batman The Animated Series was one of my favorites.

Mortal Combat sample cards from Skybox. Cool!

Can't have just TMNT figures if you are a card collector at heart. You need some cards too. These are my first TMNT cards.

 

There were more TMNT cards as well but these were my favorites. 

Still lots more to show of this mail day so stay tuned!

REVIEW:2016 Cryptozoic DC Comics Justice League Trading Cards

I am more of a DC guy than a Marvel guy, so when it comes to comics and card related, I prefer a product I can more relate to and one that involves Batman is good in any nature to me.

So here is a break of Cryptozoic's latest release.

In every box of 2016 Cryptozoic DC Comics Justice League Trading Cards there are 24 packs with 5 cards per pack. There seems to also be a box topper as well in a big toploader. You can find one sketch card per box and the boxes run you around $82.

The box topper I don't have any info on other than they seems to feature a character and their bio from the Justice League. I assume you will find one per box.

Back:

Front:

The base cards are written and artistically done by DC Comics writer Adam Beechen. 

The base cards are very visual appealing and also have a very glossy back, are tad thicker than normal base and have a rough front surface. Not like the rest of the Cryptozoic cards that are usually high in gloss. It would be fun to submit some of these in to be signed as the surface would be great for that. 

There are 63 cards in the base set which one box should complete it for you on average.

Silver foil parallels. Once again, lacking some info on odds for these but looking at the number of them I landed, I assume 1:3 packs will get ya one. They cover both the base set and insert sets.

Now onto the inserts. I believe you complete every set of them per box. Except the Batman Classic TV series Cryptomium Reissue cards that only fall one-per.

Model Sheets fall 1:4 packs. It's literally a model sheet and displays the color theme of each featured superhero and has a back and front look at each.

All-Star Comics fall 1:4 packs. Displaying cover art for some of the covers.

Madame Xanadu Tarot Cards fall 1:4 packs with a featured hero and a Tarot name for each. Such as Superman known as The Hero and Batman as The Detective.

One of my favorites from the product are these Retro's that fall 1:6 packs. These look really cool and my favorite of the group is Batman's. But overall, the color scheme and look on these are quite remarkable.

Batman Classic TV series Cryptomium Reissue cards fall 1:24 packs. These are Crytomium "chromed" cards of the original Batman cards from the 60's I believe.

And now onto the hits, I pulled a Sketch card. Very cool and signed by the artist on the back. All of these are 1/1's. My back of the card picture never uploaded for some odd reason and I will try again at some point.

 

You can also find other pulls. such as Totally Fabricated costume cards (1:192 packs), Replica Patch cards (1:96 packs), Printing Plates (1:192 packs) and Hall of Justice die-cut sketch cards (1:192 packs). All of which are really cool.

Overall, a very nice looking product from top to bottom. The price is a bit steep for the one sketch card per box and that's my only concern. But, you also gotta consider getting a full line of complete insert sets and a full base set in the box value too along with some other parallels. Some boxes may also give you an extra hit which is the usual for a Cryptozoic product.

I will also throw in, it's really hard to do a product like this and find enough "hits" to put in. Kudos to Cryptozoic for their creativity to come up with some unique ones like the Totally Fabricated costume cards. Just like the Totally Fabricated Slime cards they did for Ghostbusters. It's enough to draw collector's attention.

Also, if interested, here is the downloadable checklist.

Bloggers Note:  

Look for some of these cards in future giveaways. Thanks to Cryptozoic for providing this for a review and for future giveaways. You can check them out HERE.