REVIEW:2021 Topps Complete Set (Red Box)

I like to define myself as a set collector, but sometimes a sloppy lazy one.

The last five years or so, I have found myself adding a Topps Complete set instead of building one. It's so much easier and more effective for me. It also gives an extra side of fun with variations or parallels to chase within the boxes.

This years set add was a Red Box which has 5 hobby foil board parallels in every set.

 

Here is where the pack lays when you open up the set.

And here were my five from the set,

 

Nothing to exciting to shake a stick at but with over 660 cards to have the parallels from, it won't be easy to land the top players.

Overall, the parallels were just the bonus from this as the main want was the set. These sets range from $60 to $80 depending on where and what version of them you buy.

Let me know in comments if you buy complete sets or chase it by hand.

Let's Talk About Sets Volume 38:1996 Spx Racing Complete Set

Boom! Another day, another Spx set knocked down. Once again I got this in a trade with my buddy @90sNicheFBcard as a full complete set. So much easier to do these sets that way and is definitely more cost affordable then adding one card at a time.

The NASCAR sets for Spx are much smaller than the other sports as they only have 25 cards in the set.

I did good at capturing these. What's creepy with Dale's is the appearance of his head behind his head like he his ghosting over his shoulder. One is to guess Upper Deck didn't lay this out right.

And I tried to til this one right for you guys to see as well.

I have the following to chase still from the 1996 Spx racing product,

• Terry Labonte Comm
• Terry Labonte Auto
• Jeff Gordon Tribute
• Jeff Gordon Auto
• Jeff  Gordon Sample

Some of those should be easier to add than others. I hope to add to this collection soon.

Psych:The Wardrobe/Relic Card Completion!!

First I completed the Psych base sets, second I chased down the autographs, then I shared my completion of all the chase sets and then we come to the final battle I had with Psych, the relic sets.

There was both a single, 1:24 pack pull relic and a dual 1:72 pull dual relic sets. The single relic set has twenty-two cards including an exclusive binder card and the dual relic had five cards to chase.

One by one I chased all summer trying to track these down and find good deals. Not all were easy to accomplish and with some help from a couple of trades I was finally able to knock them down. I had accomplished something I never thought I would. I had done the entire master set of Psych minus one card which is an overly priced exchange card I wasn't going to bother with.

Here are all the relics in all their glory.

Dual relics, these were hard to find for some,

And there we have it.

I had been teasing a major project I had been working on Twitter since June and here I am to finally share the breaking news of it.

Now that I have accomplished this, I feel like I shouldn't leave my Ghostbusters one hanging. But, I haven't even begun thinking about going down that road and that one is much, much longer than this one was.

Now I gotta ask, have any of you ever completed a Master Set of a product?

This MEANS It Is Complete!

24 years ago I hoped to have chased the 1995 Skybox Premium Paydirt insert set and now I can say it is completed.

There are 30 cards in the set with the odds of finding on at 1:4 packs.

 

With my latest HUGE eBay bucks release of $1.14, I was able to score this final piece for $1.04 shipped. It seemed like a perfect fit with the right amount of eBay bucks and being the final piece to a set.

This set is very nostalgic for me with being able to think about the many packs of SkyBox Premium I bust back then, the players in the set and the fact it's a really nice looking insert with its glimmer and shine.

I look forward to the next set I am able to knock down.

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019 Topps Compete Hobby Set

With both Topps Series 1 and Series 2 released, it's time again for the Topps Complete Boxed sets.

These sets are great for collectors who don't want to spend the time or money building their own. I know if I collected newer sets this would be the way to go. Only problem, you don't get to open packs or find hits. However, you get the complete set along with a bonus usually.

Today I am ripping open a hobby version of the complete set.

 

Here is the outside of the box. Usually go for $60. There are actually 701 cards in the box as the Vlad Guerrero Jr card is included in the set. That's good since I didn't pull one from Series 2.

Open it up, and you find all of the cards from the set along with a special pack of five parallel cards each numbered to 162.

Here's who I found in my parallel pack break.

Shane Bieber

Rich Hill. think I pulled him last year as well from this break.

Austin Romine

Willson Contreras

SF Giants team card

There are other variations of the set to find as well with their own special bonuses.

2019 Topps Baseball Complete Set Target Factory Box Break (Green)
5 Rookie Image Variations
1 Chrome Rookie Image Variation
701-Card Base Set

2019 Topps Baseball Complete Set Target Factory Box Break (Orange)
5 Rookie Image Variations
5 Chrome Greatest Card Reprints
701-Card Base Set

2019 Topps Baseball Complete Set Retail Factory Box Break (Blue)
5 Rookie Image Variations
701-Card Base Set

2019 Topps Baseball Complete Set All-Star Game Factory Break (ASG)
5 MLB All-Star Game Cards
701-Card Base Set (with ASG Stamp)

Many great options when you are buying. I guess it depends on which version interests you the most. To me, that orange box has some great stuff in it and the word chrome is mentioned so that alone has my attention.

Let me know in comment which set you would choose and why or do you just complete your own by hand?

Have a great day!

Breakers don't break this stuff, but if you do want to be in a box break for other products,  I suggest Midwest Box Breaks as they pull fire!

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the giveaway on Twitter I am hosting. Please follow me there to enter @SportCardCollec. Also follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well.

REVIEW:2018 Topps Complete Set Hobby

What makes a great gift under the tree-yes this is the Christmas in July in me coming out-A Topps complete set!

Now, buying a complete set for set collectors isn't as much fun as chasing each card you need, but when it comes to giving a gift, I think this is the way to go. I also really like the different versions of the set to chase. The one I am discussing today will be the hobby set with exclusive parallels. There are also the All-Star versions with exclusive All Star Game cards, Retail Factory Set with Rookie Image Variations, and finally the Target Version that comes with a Rookie Cup Chrome card and the Rookie Image Variations.

Let's take a look at the Hobby Set.

 

Each Hobby Boxed set comes with both Series 1 and 2 which equals 700 cards. However, there are two bonus cards as well with a Gleyber Torres and Ronald Acuna to find as well. Which gives you a 702 card set. The set also comes with 5 parallel cards that are numbered to just 190. Hobby Sets sit around for $60 right now per set.

Those parallel cards are packed separately in a pack at the back of the box. Here are the ones I found in my pack and what they look like. Us shiny fans will be quite happy.

Not bad pull here!

 
 

And here are two exclusive rookie card set finds of Acuna and Torres.

 

 

 

OVERALL: I liked this years set and still dig the design for the base. I know, I know, many of you didn't like it, but I liked riding the wave and no border appeal. Three things stood out about this set.

1. The parallels look amazing. And you could pull any of the 700 cards in the set for the parallel so you could find yourself with big bucks with an Otanhi find.
2. Torres and Acuna was a grab for me either way. First real rookie cards of those guys.  
3. The only negative about it, the cards were not put by number but were put by series. It was like someone just dumped series one in and then dumped series two in. Then threw the 2 bonus rookies and added a pack. I like my cards by number. But, don't think I will waste time doing it as I hoped it would have already been done that way. 

Please take a minute out to thank Topps for providing the box to review. Some of the cards you see above will be included in the Fantasy Baseball contest! Follow Topps on all social media sites and check out their website HERE for cards and more!  

Michael's A Rising Star

In posting the Sets Of My Childhood series I was hoping that it would lead to some trading and some set help. What I wasn't expecting was it to lead to completed set.

Some of the sets I was hoping to complete faster than others. 1995 Pinnacle Clear Shots, 1995 Fleer Ultra Rising Stars and 1995 Summit Ground Zero parallel set were my top hopes to narrow down fast. That Ground Zero one may be close to impossible to do but I want to badly try.

Fortunately for me, one of the three was knocked down fast after I posted it.

My buddy @JGfan24ever once again pulled off another trade with me, this time he did the unexpected. He picked up the last seven cards in my set and we worked out a fast trade soon afterwards.

So here are the last seven cards in my 1995 Fleer Ultra Rising Stars set. These cards are acetate printed with a space appeal. They were not the easiest finds in terms of 90s cards. They fell 1:37 packs which was more than one-per-box and at one time the Marshall Faulk in the set was my biggest pull of the 90's.

The set consists of a group of interesting players. You have superstars like Brett Favre and Marshall Faulk. Some decent guys like Drew Bledsoe and others you are waiting for them to rise to be a star.

Drew Bledsoe

The Bus!

Bam Bam Morris

Eric Turner

Ben Coates in a throwback uni

Natrone Means I always liked. He was a solid underrated back

Jeff Blake

And here is that beautiful nine card set all together by number.

 

A big thanks goes out to Michael for helping me finish up one of these sets and especially one of the top ones I was aiming for.

You can check out all of my Sets Of My Childhood needs, HERE.

REVIEW:2016 Topps Factory Set Baseball Hobby Box

Set collecting.

There isn't as much of it around as there once was, but it still does exist in the hobby. I, myself, still collect and put together sets that catch my attention or are a challenge.

There are many ways to collect sets and no way is wrong.

One, you can build it yourself by buying pack after pack hoping to land that last card or two you need. (I have done this many, many times. The chase is what makes it fun)

Two, you can buy a hobby or retail box or two, then fill your set needs through trading/buying singles. (Done it that way too)

Three, you could simply cut to the chase and buy a complete set. (Have done this too if it's something I really need)

That's where today's review comes into play. This is a complete set of 2016 Topps Baseball with both Series 1 and 2.

In every hobby complete set box of 2016 Topps baseball, you get 700 cards and a bonus 5-card special "limited to these sets 'foil pattern' numbered card pack."  These cards are numbered to 177.

 

The cost of the sets run around $50.

Other than this hobby set version, there are also retail versions of this set that come with a 5 card pack of rookie variations and an All-Star version that comes with 5 card pack of All-Star cards.

 

But, today's is the hobby version so let's get to opening!

Once you open up your set, this appears:

The bonus pack is set to the back. My only problem with the set was the cards were not put in order which seemed a bit off to me. I like to have my sets all in order and now will have to number it by hand myself. Which for a set this big it can be a time consuming pain lol.

Before I tackle that project, I took out the cello pack. Here is what the cello pack looks like:

 

After busting the cello-pack, you get some really slick looking foilboard patterned parallel cards. I know I like what I see.

First one, as you saw already was Kurt Suzuki

 

Second one, Yasmany Tomas

 

Third one is a rookie of Ketel Marte,

 

Next up, Giovanny Urshela

 

And finally, Cleveland Indians Team Card.

 

Really sharp looking parallels and now I want more.

 

Overall, this is a solid buy in my opinion. And if I had to choose one of the versions, I would choose this one. Not that the rookie variations aren't tempting, but these I think will be worth more in the long run as they can be anyone from the 700-card checklist and are limited to just 177 for each card. So there is value to find in this $50 set.

Thanks to Topps for the set to review. You can check them out, HERE. 

 

Look for some of these parallels in a future contest. Can you say World Series.....

Thoughts on the set are welcomed below and thoughts & sharing of this review (leave your sharing link in comments) left may earn you some extra brownie points down the road....