More Avengers Chibis Figures

As promised, here's another pack of the Marvel's Avengers Chibis figures.

Let's hope I don't end up looking like Cap by the end of this one...

Success!  I pulled the Nick Fury figure which was my most wanted character plus one of the two Thor designs.  I also pulled a double Agent Coulson but I already have a lead on someone who would be willing to take that off my hands.

2012 Marvel's The Avengers Chibis Figures

I hadn't really taken a look at these packs too closely and until today I had not considered purchasing a pack.  The $1.99 price was enticing but it wasn't until I flipped the pack over and saw what I could pull from it that I knew this was a product for me.

I mean, just look at that Nick Fury figure you could pull!

For the uninitiated, "chibis" is a Japanese term meaning "short person" or "small child" and is used to describe when known characters are "miniaturized" for a toy or drawn smaller for a comic.  So for this product they have taken Earth's Mightiest Heroes and transformed them into one inch figures.

As far as my pack goes I'm hoping for Nick Fury, Hulk, and the Thor figure with the helmet.  Let's see what I got...

We begin with what I believe is Bruce Banner.  If I've got to get one of the "non hero" figures I'll be happy with this one...plus it will look nice next to the Hulk I'm hoping to pull next.

Next we have...another "non hero." This time we have a figure of Clark Gregg as SHIELD agent Phil Coulson.  I wish they would have had him posed with The Destroyer Gun rather than just a handgun and if you've seen the film you know what I'm talking about.

My first hero and it's The Black Widow and what seems to be her double eyebrows.

Okay, this pack wasn't the greatest but I'm viewing it as a way to get the "undesirable" figures out of the way and I'll be onto another pack the next time I'm at Target.

The Agent Coulson figure has such a big head that it's hard for that figure to not fall over but I must admit that they do look sort of cool once you get them lined up together.

1981 Fleer Star Stickers

Are you looking for a cool oddball set to collect? Then look no further, because in a few minutes I'll be showing off a pack of one of my favorites: 1981 Fleer Star Stickers.

But before I crack open the pack. Let's look at the set specifications. Fleer produced 128 cards (125 players + 3 checklists) and distributed them in wax boxes that contained 36 packs.

Each pack had a suggested retail price of 25¢ and contained 5 stickers & a stick of gum. I purchased four boxes of this product a few years ago in hopes of building hand collated sets. Unfortunately, "gum" damage and poor collation forced me to stop halfway through the first box.

As the product's name suggests... Fleer filled the sticker checklist with some of the league's brightest stars: Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, and Reggie Jackson.

Let's go ahead and find out how I fared:

First card... #52 Jack Clark

Clark was a four time MLB All-Star and two time Silver Slugger Award winner. In 1980, he won the inaugural Willie Mac Award given to the San Francisco Giant who demonstrates great leadership as voted by his peers and coaches.

Second card... #68 Bill Russell

Russell spent his entire eighteen year career playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a three time MLB All-Star, two time World Series Champion, and has played more games as a LA Dodger than anyone else.

Third card... #55 Roy Smalley

Smalley was the first overall pick in the 1974 amateur draft. His best season was in 1979 when he hit .271, 24 home runs, and was the American League starting shortstop in the All-Star game.

Fourth card... #54 Rickey Henderson

I could write a few paragraphs on Rickey's accomplishments, but my guess is you already know who he is and what he's done for the game of baseball.

Fifth card... #69 Larry Parrish

Larry is one of two players (Jim Northrup was the other) in MLB history to hit 3 grand slams in one week. Did anyone else think that Larry & Lance were brothers?

And for those who are interested... here's a brief breakdown of the similarities & differences between this set and the regular issue 1981 Fleer baseball card set:

Although the designs are completely different on the front, the card backs are identical with the exception of ink color. Fleer used blue ink for the Star Stickers and yellow for the regular issue set.

Fleer also decided to use the same photos for some players and different photos for others. But obviously the biggest difference is the fact that one is a set of cardboard, while the other is a set of stickers. So, the question is... Which one do you prefer?

Have a safe, holiday weekend!

2012 Topps Archives Hobby

Keeping the Topps Archives train alive, here is a pack of 2012 Topps Archives Hobby.



This set is similar in a lot of ways to the All-Time Fan Favorites sets of the mid-2000's in design, except featuring current players in addition to the retro ones.



First is R.A. Dickey. I'm a big knuckleball enthusiast so this is a cool way to start the pack. This is the classic 1980 Topps Design, famous for Rickey Henderson's Rookie Card.



Next is Brandon Morrow in the '84 Design.



Casey Kotchman is next. I've had a vendetta against him since he faked getting beaned earlier this season.



Another 1980, this one is Clayton Kershaw. This photo is eerily similar to some of the pitcher shots from 1980.



Repping the 1987 Topps Design is Von "Purple" Hayes. He was a one-time all-star (1989).



Here's a nice Joe Morgan.



To add insult to a Sox fan's injury (the Kotchman), here is a Jeter.



And finishing things up is one of my favorite players, Adrian Beltre.

2012 Topps Archives Value Pack

Here's the first value pack I purchased of Archives.  You are getting 14 cards in these for $5.29 which is a few less cards than products like Heritage which give you 16 in the value packs.  I've split these up in to the year groups the cards are modeled after.

I received four from 1954 design:

And three from the 1971 Topps design...I think I'm going to go for all the cards from this section of the set which is card #51-100.  The Reggie Jackson is my favorite that I've pulled overall from this product.

Next we have three from the 1984 design and I'm happy to have pulled an Eric Hosmer.

And finally three from the 1980 design which is my least favorite of the four designs Topps decided to use in the set.

My final card is one of the Fan Favorite subset which makes up the final 40 cards in the set. 

I pulled a 1988 Andy Van Slyke which looks very similar to the real 1988 version but the fonts and photos are slightly different.  

I also bought a single retail pack in which I actually hit some MOJO...but we'll have more on that later.  

2012 Topps Series 1 Baseball Target Red Border Blaster Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone's doing well and getting ready for the big Memorial Day weekend.  Stay safe, everybody!

Keeping with the parallel theme, here's a pack of the Target red bordered cards that came with the specially-marked blaster boxes...it's a 2012 Topps Series 1 Baseball Target Red Border Blaster Pack!

Once again, I scanned the side of the blaster box so you can see the special designation announcing to the world that this box would have 2 packs of Target exclusive parallel cards.  And again, the packs containing the parallels were not marked in any special way either.  Here's one of the packs:

#203 - Jeff Niemann
#140 - Troy Tulowitzki
#316 - Nick Blackburn

No need to bore you all with opinions and stats.  I could take them or leave them with the colored borders.  Topps should have had different shots for the parallels, that would have been more fun.

#283 - Brandon Allen (Golden Parallel)
#GS-22 - Nolan Ryan

The Golden Parallel Allen looks pretty nice.  They should have kept the serial numbering of the prior XX Years of Topps.  Still would have rather got 2 more red bordered cards.

#98 - Domonic Brown
#269 - Jason Vargas
#56 - Geovany Soto

See, suppose the Vargas shot was a Target exclusive.  That would be cool, right?  I guess it could backfire, with 3 different chains with 3 different versions of the same player.  Maybe I should keep quiet about my wacky ideas.  Still, I do like throwback unis!

Anyway, that's the pack.  More eventually.  Now, go outside and enjoy the weekend!  Thanks for reading!

2011 Topps Series 2 Baseball Target Throwback Blaster Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone's doing well.  Well, the Wax Pack Geek's time as the site's Rookie was short-lived, as Fuji quickly took on that role.  Welcome aboard Fuji; hope to see many an interesting pack from you.

Interleague is once again upon us, so it's back to baseball.  I didn't see this posted so I might as well do it.  Here's some 2011 Topps Series 2 Baseball Target Throwback!

I scanned the side of the blaster box so you can see the special designation announcing to the world that this box would have 2 packs of Target exclusive parallel cards (not all boxes were specially marked).  The packs containing the parallels were not marked in any special way either.  Here's one of the packs:

#533 - Lorenzo Cain
#652 - Edwin Jackson (back)
#347 - Darwin Barney
#447 - Toronto Blue Jays

The differences between these cards and the regular base cards are the old school Topps logo and the card stock (thicker cardboard).  The image and card design are the same.  Too bad they didn't use the old school logo on the back of the cards.

#360 - Ivan Rodriguez (#1456 / 2011) [with Stephen Strasburg cameo!!!]
#379 - Ben Francisco
#364 - Tim Wakefield
#652 - Edwin Jackson (Diamond Sparkle)

How often do you get the Diamond Sparkle version of a player you got in the same pack?  Yeah, I know, dumb question.

Anyway, that's the pack.  They really should have had the whole pack be parallel cards.  Oh well.  Thanks for reading!

1996 Skybox 101 Dalmations

Picture yourself at an Eagles concert.

You just heard Hotel California. They rocked it and it ended with an awesome guitar duel from Joe Walsh and Don Felder.

Then...uh oh. Don Henley's coming out from behind the drums. The other band members are changing instruments...and you realize...oh no... its time for Don's solo set.

My last Bowman pack = Hotel California.
This pack = New York Minute/Dirty Laundry



This is from 1996 Skybox. Each pack features 9 cards. Chase cards are Magnetic Frame cards and "Foil n Fur" inserts *shudder*



So here is a "Puppy Pin-On". This is designed to go on the button of your shirt. Perfect if you like getting the crap kicked out of you at school.



Here are two villains and some stickers. I'm pretty sure the dude on the right is Hugh Laurie.



A  pop-out card of "Pongo" and a checklist. There were a couple checklists, I'm not scanning the others. The pop-out card is kinda like some of those cards from the 80's Baseball sets, except lamer.



This card is a piece of a "Build-a-Dog-House". It requires 6 cards to complete.



Okay, so, lets just think about this for a minute. Imagine if the first iteration of 101 Dalmations didn't come out in 1961. Imagine it came out in 2012. Imagine parents reacting to a children's movie where a crazy old lady tries to slaughter a bunch of dogs. Yeah, I don't think it would fly either.



Here's Cruella (Glenn Close) covered in Molasses.

That was a waste of my time.