Friday, October 20, 2023

2006 Upper Deck/Kryptyx GrossOut

With Halloween around the corner, why not review a pack of gross trading cards? In 2006, Upper Deck joined forces with a comic/trading card company called Kryptyx to bring us these:


Grossout Trading Cards. 5 trading cards and 1 power card per pack. I love the message "GROSS OUT YOUR MOM & IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS".
 
Also note the website listed on the back, which allowed collectors a bit of interaction. Unfortunately, it's is no longer up and running.

Let's get to the cards now.



First up is Eardrum Ooze. That does qualify as gross. You can see the comic book–style artwork and captioning right from the start.




Next up is Hairball Jewels. The back of the card uses the scientific name bezoar. "A bezoar is a foreign body in the stomach of animals and humans composed of food or hair that has been altered by the digestive process. They're a hard and glassy pearl-like stone that can look quite pretty..."

That's enough.




Carpet Kitty greets us next. The litter box wasn't nearby, I guess. Here's what a card back looks like.



Credit where credit is due: The card backs are quite detailed, and contain an interesting factoid in the blue box, as well as a "gross-o-meter" on the right side that ranks the grossout on the card front by smell, touch, taste, sight, and sound. Cat pee received a 5 out of 5 for smell. I agree with that.




Double-Header. Clever. The illustration on this card might be the most comic book-ish in style of the 6 cards in the pack.




And this one might be the most gross of the 6 cards.




Here's the final base card, "Belch or Slurp". This one is more funny than gross.





And now the "power card" of the pack: Rotten Cheese Rocket. Back in 2006, you'd have gone to the grossout.net site, entered the code on the front of this card, and played some sort of online game with the "weapon" on your card. The more codes you entered for each power card, the more ammunition you'd accumulate for the weapon. Some codes gave you more ammo than others. Here's the card back:




There were 5 power cards in all. Want to know the names of the other 4 weapons? 
 
Ear Wax Whacker
Eye Goo Globber
Fartzooker
Nuclear Sludge Nudger.

I think we all knew a couple of kids back in school who had natural fartzookers.


Anyway, that's that. A pack of Grossout trading cards, for the first time on APTBNL!

Thanks for reading.

Thursday, October 12, 2023

2017 Mega Construx Despicable Me 3 Series 10

Greetings...

Hope everyone is doing well.  Today is my 12th anniversary of my first post on APTBNL.  Time certainly flies when you're having fun, or when you don't notice it. 

As with all of my anniversary posts, it's time for a non-sports pack.


My youngest son was big into Minions for a while, big enough to want the toys and other assorted merchandise.  Based on the file name in my Scan folder, this was most likely a Christmas stocking stuffer.

Here's the back of the pack:


With some of these blind packs, you could tell which character was inside from one of the codes on the back.  It's possible the 217 on the side was the code, or maybe it was the AX, or the DYG.  Or maybe it was none of the above.  Anywho, what did he get?


According to the interwebs, it's the Gouda Cheese Minion!  Common, they made 10 Series of these little guys.  He certainly seems pleased with his cheese wedge.  I saw him in my son's room a couple weeks ago, so either he's still likes Minions or it somehow hasn't been knocked under his bed yet.

Anyway, that's the pack.  Short and sweet today, just like the Gouda Cheese Minion.  Happy blogiversary to Ol' Jafronius, and thanks for reading for 12 years!

Friday, October 06, 2023

2023 Topps Now Card Of The Month - July


Greetings,

Hope everyone is doing well.  Yes, it's been a while since Ol' Jafronius made an appearance here on APTBNL.  

We had relatives from London come in for a visit at the beginning of August, which was very cool.  When they left, we had to diet and detox for a few days.  The boys started school too (High School Sophomore and Freshman, holy crap!).  One of The Wifey's bunnies unexpectedly died last week, so we are all bummed out about that.  Then her mom passed away a few days ago.  Cancer sucks folks.  Today is our 22nd wedding anniversary however, so it's kind of a silver lining for recent sucky events.

Anyway, this has been sitting in the Blogger Drafts for a while now, so let me just knock it out before life resumes.

Just like last year, I got the e-mail alerting me to the pending expiration of Topps points, and somehow, I had enough points to get July's Topps Now Card Of The Month.

Last year, I wound up with Julio Rodriguez.  Who would I get this time?

I looked up the players of the month for July as a default.  Ohtani was the AL Player of the Month, and who doesn't like Ohtani?  Cody Bellinger was the NL Player of the Month.  It would be cool to get a card commemorating Cody's comeback, since his spark jumpstarted the Cubs and had us fans talking playoffs all the way till the start of September.

I didn't worry about getting the rookies or pitchers of the month, so I was thinking either Ohtani, Bellinger, or someone from the All-Star Game or related festivities.


Just like last time, I received a padded envelope which contained the above Topps Now envelope.  The envelope was also covered in bubble wrap, and yes, I still popped those bubbles.  The card came in a small case, with a felt piece with the card for support.

Who did I get?



#M-JUL - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

It's interesting that compared to last year, this year there's a write-up on the back instead of a second picture, and although I like that there's a date on the back, it's not the date of the Derby, but just the last day of the month.  Vladdy's also a bit too cropped; I would like liked to see the full trophy on the card.

In case you missed it, here's the highlight video.

Anyway, that's the Card of the Month.  Check in with us next year to see if I somehow have enough points for the 2024 July Card of the Month and if it winds up to be next year's Derby champ.

Rest in peace, Mom, and Happy Anniversary to my Beloved!

Friday, September 29, 2023

2022 ONIT Jacksons Oregon Ducks Football

 

As one of their early NIL efforts, the Oregon Ducks partnered with a group called ONIT Athlete to make a trading card set sold in packs exclusively at Jacksons convenience stores in Oregon. The set contains a whopping 100 cards, featuring 99 different players from the 2022 roster and a certain push-up loving mascot. Unless you bleed green and yellow, this probably isn't for you, but I thought I'd document it nonetheless.


The Oregon Duck - Right out of the gate, we have a mascot card. I totally flipped out when I saw The Duck was included in Prizm sets awhile back, and now I'm starting to build up a few cards (a flock?) of the colorful character now.


Patrick Herbert - Yes, this is Justin's little brother, and he plays tight end.


Von Reames - Oregon always get mentioned in the media for having, like, a thousand different uniform combinations. It's a bit of a misnomer, as there's only a dozen or so games in any given season, and the actual number of different uniforms put to use is a far smaller number. I do like the all green look the best.


Josh Delgado - It took me a really long time to finally come around to the feathers-on-the-helmet look, but I do like it now. My favorite will always be the classic 'O' or the even more traditional interlocking UO. Of course, we'd need a flashback set to bust those out.


Ty Delgado - Yes, there are two Delgados on the team (or were in 2022, at least), but they do not appear to be related.


Josh Simmons - Here's a look at the back of the card. You get a small circle of the same photo from the front, plus a very basic player bio that even makes Panini look wordy.


Camden Lewis - Lewis is one of the handful of key players on the team that was around for meaningful playing time prior to the dastardly COVID season.


Max Wysocki - All yellow is cool once in awhile, but I wish it wasn't what a lot of people think of when they are talking about Ducks uniforms.


Jeffrey Bassa - The player names are very, very large and probably take up too much real estate here, and the positions are tiny. I wish there was a little more balance to it. I know this company is putting out an Oregon State set this year and it will be interesting to see how the design differs from this one.


Chase Cota - The son of Ducks star and former pro Chad Cota, Chase started out at UCLA before spending his final season in Eugene.


Troy Franklin - Franklin is a guy who I expect to see playing on Sundays one day. Here he shows off the Ducks "eggshell" jersey. I swear I wasn't going to turn this isn't a post about uniforms, but here we are.


Trikweze Bridges - Going through the whole set uncovered some interesting names for me, and Trikweze takes the award for this pack.


Bo Nix - Here's the big current star and Heisman hopeful. Nix resurrected his career after transferring from Auburn and while he still seems like the prototypical college player to me, there have been a number of scouts at the team's early games this season. Maybe some of them are there for ol' Bo.


Christian Gonzalez - We end things with a guy who is playing on Sundays right now. Gonzalez was New England's top draft pick in the most recent draft after transferring to Oregon from lowly Colorado.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

2002 Fleer Tradition

 

2002 was a time of intense patriotism in this country, and people were still pretty excited about the New York Yankees. The year's Fleer Tradition pack wrappers take both of these into account. This contains five MLB trading cards and no more.


340 - Jeff Kent - Kent is often discussed as a should-be Hall of Famer, but I seem to recall his attitude towards the media not making him a lot of long term friends among the voting ranks.


217 - Jesus Colome - I always thought the Devil Rays uniforms were pretty hideous, but we're already at the point where nostalgia has crept in and people really want to talk about the Devil Rays days. I wonder if they'll change their name back once they open their new stadium.


226 - Jack Wilson - Does anyone recall what that star patch on Wilson's uniform was all about?


124 - Michael Tucker - This continues the theme of names you kinda remember.


299 - Tony Clark - Clark is best known these days as an MLBPA head, but early in his career he put up some pretty impressive offensive numbers.


Here's a look at the back for all of you card back nerds (like me.)

Monday, September 18, 2023

1989 Action Packed Test

 

A year before their first official release, Action Packed distributed a test set featuring cards from just three NFL teams: the Giants, the Bears and the Washington team. I'm not sure that I ever knew that these were released in pack form, but when I saw one at a card show over the summer for just a buck, I figured I needed one for "research purposes".


29 - Mark Rypien - The card design is nearly indistinguishable from the full fledged 1990 set. The player photos and gold frame are embossed more of a 3D feel.


25 - Wilber Marshall - This is hardly an "action packed" photo, but it's probably a bit tough to figure out what to do with a lineman.


- Washington Team Logo hologram sticker - A couple of years before Upper Deck's first NFL set sees a different company producing hologram stickers as an insert. I don't know what caused these to be dropped from the first official set, but they look nice in person as holograms usually do. There's a 1-900 number on it as well, which purported to connect the caller with the "Exclusive Sports Collectors' Hotline" for just $1.00 for the first minute and 50 cents for each additional minute. Did anyone try this?


16 - Leonard Marshall - Here's another lineman, just waiting for some action.


13 - Mark Bavaro - Supposedly this set was notorious for cards being seriously damaged straight out of the pack, and Bavaro's card is in the worst shape of the lot, with several creases running through it.


7 - Jay Hilgenberg - To prove that American football is a team sport and not just a solo venture featuring people in ridiculous looking gear, we get to see Hilgenberg actually doing his job and holding off his opponent to presumably protect the quarterback.


5 - Dennis Gentry - Here's a look at the back, which should look very familiar to those of you who have seen a bunch of the 1990 set.

Tuesday, September 05, 2023

1995 Fleer Football Retail


As anyone who has seen the baseball cards from this year knows, Fleer got a little wild in 1995. There's a lot to digest here, starting with the wrapper. Insert cards became the main selling point at this point, and Fleer made all of the information prominent on the cover of each pack wrapper.


112 - Glyn Milburn - Again, if you know '95 Fleer baseball, you're probably already expecting this. If not, well, buckle up! This is one of several base designs within the set. The colors all match the Broncos uniform, so it does have that going for it.


207 - Jimmie Jones - Here's another design, and it's a lot. I've seen this idea used a bunch of times during the mid-'90s on sports cards where they repeat the same photo but put some weird colored shading on it, to make it look extreme or something. Why were the '90s so extreme? Not everything is the X Games, pal.


176 - Kimble Anders - Here's a look at the back. All of the backs do look the same.


261 - Derek Brown - Here's another one from that same design, where the background photo is just the foreground photo and a shade of color.


137 - John Jurkovic - This is the third base card design that we've seen so far. The player name in gold foil has sort of a Friends look to it, or maybe Friends meets Frasier?


4 - Drew Bledsoe Pro Visions - Here's our first insert card. Pro Visions were pretty popular as I recall, so I'm a bit surprised there were only 6 of them in this set. I actually kind of like this one, and sports card art isn't usually my thing (and neither are the Patriots, for that matter.)


357 - Steve Young - Young is always going to be the second answer to the question: "Name a 49ers Hall of Fame quarterback." Er, I guess that wasn't really a question.


398 - Checklist - It's a checklist. You get it. They couldn't even make these look normal, of course.


381 - Charles Wilson - It's another classy Friends card. I'm noticing the NFL 75th Anniversary patch that all of the players are wearing from the 1995 season. This must mean that Fleer's set was produced late in the year, or possibly even early in 1996.


32 - Matt Darby - Here's a fourth distinct base card design. I'm not sure if there was a fifth. I think they were trying to make the player name as difficult to read as possible.


19 - Cris Carter '95 Flair Preview - Lastly, we have something completely different. Each pack contains a Flair preview card that looks like, well, a 1995 Flair card. If you read all of the info on the pack wrapper, you wouldn't have been surprised about this like I was.