2014 Upper Deck Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Retail

I generally don't do theaters so I finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy on DVD a few weeks ago. I was grossly underwhelmed by the movie- it was no where NEAR as good as most of my friends said it was. Perhaps I had just built up too high expectations, but when it was done I felt much disappointment. The attempts at humor seemed forced, and the lead character was more annoying than anything else- not likable at all.

I had purchased two packs of the card set Upper Deck produced when they were at my local Target, and saved them for after I saw the movie. I opened this one shortly after finishing the movie and finally got around to scanning the cards I got. I scanned the pack back in August and didn't open it until February. Yes, I sometimes play the long game when it comes to cards.

First card up is a card of Yondu.

That's the basic design of the cards. Again, I am underwhelmed.

Card #2 in the pack turned out to be #90, which is the last card in the set. By these cards being issued well in advance of the movie, NONE of the Marvel Cinematic Universe cards detail the full movie, they all stop before the end. Not that it really matters all that much- I found the end to be rather lackluster in and of itself. The best part of the movie came shortly before this card did.

Card #3 in the pack is a blue foil parallel, which is exclusive to retail at 1 in every 4 packs. It is of Drax the Destroyer. Apparently what he destroys is shirts, because he doesn't wear one at all throughout the entire movie.

I do like how the Nova Corps logo appears in the foil design.

The fourth and penultimate card is of Peter Quill, Star-Lord. My least favorite character in the movie. Unfortunately it focuses on him throughout. I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more had he not been in it. At #11, it's the lowest numbered card in the pack.

The final card in the pack is #84, Gamora. My first pack was entirely devoid of Groot, my favorite character, and Rocket, my second favorite character. Maybe they will appear in pack #2, which I have not yet gotten around to opening.

So, in conclusion, an underwhelming pack of cards for an underwhelming movie. Even with my poor review, I am looking forward to the next movie anyway, as it is going to tie in heavily with the Avengers movie series, supposedly.

As always, Thanks for reading!

1998 Donruss Signature Baseball

It's been a while since I've posted, so I come to you with one of the most disappointing packs of cards of all time.





You are thinking "Its from 1998 and there's one autograph per pack... how could it be THAT disappointing??"

Well, it can be.

Lets look at the cards. First the base cards.



Rusty Greer is a Rangers classic. Respectable career .305 hitter.



Jeremy Giambi... the other Giambi. The one with 52 career home runs.



Tom Glavine! Hall of fame career, legend of the 1990's TBS Superstation Atlanta Braves era.



And Sammy Sosa, famous for his home run hitting, steroid use, and rivalry with Mark McGwire.

So here it is, my one autograph per pack...



Its a 17 year old expired redemption for a Nolan Ryan autograph!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

2015 Topps Baseball Series 1 Jumbo

It's time to go big!  I don't have too much to say, we've all seen the new Topps.  We already broke a pack a few packs ago. But here's Zack.

And the rest of the base.  I do love the base design. I think these will look awesome all chromed out and since Topps has already released its sell sheets for chrome we know that almost none of the inserts are going to be carried over.

Drew here is a foil board card.

The Dude!  Nice this is the only First Pitch card I wanted.  He sure looks happy.

Catfish!

Hammerin' Hank too!

And what have we here?  A hit and it's someone I've heard of.

2014 Topps Heritage Jumbo Pack (Target)

Wow, I haven't posted anything here in a long, long time.  But I'm back now to grace your presence with the contents of a jumbo rack pack of 2014 Topps Heritage from the repack box I picked up the other day.  Spoiler alert: This is actually one of the least interesting packs from a very, very strong repack.  There doesn't seem to be a rack pack of the product posted here yet though, so I'm gonna plug the hole.  And because the content isn't very interesting, we shall engage in the maddest of ramblings to compensate.  Begin!

Never tell me the odds!

Top

395 Brian McCann- As good a photo as any to to prove the Yankees facial hair policy is a bad idea.  Either that or he's hoping to play The Watcher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

150 Manny Machado- Is it just me, or does he usually seem much crankier than this whenever he has anything to say?

365 Adeiny Hechavarria- Fun Fact: His name is easier to spell than you might expect.  You just gotta break it down.

310 Dominic Brown- You can tell by the by the smile he had no idea what was he was in for in 2014.

125 Nate Schierholtz- Judging by the wistful, far-off gaze, Nate knew... :(

309 Brandon Barnes- Just a bit dudebro-ish is all.

497 Curtis Granderson SP- Surely someone desperately trying to track down the complete set still needs one of these beauties...

109 Miguel Montero- Hey, my Cubbies have some players who can play now!  If the heart they played with the last couple months of 2014 remains now that the talent has been upgraded significantly, it could be a really, really fun year to be a Cubs fan.  Still keeping expectations in check.  Official prediction: 83-79.

106 Nick Markakis- The anthropomorphic personification of "perfectly cromulent", as far as baseball players go.

256 Wilson Ramos- If nothing else, dude has pretty good pop for a catcher.

Bottom

258 Rick Porcello- Something vaguely silent film star looking about him here.

354 2014 Seattle Mariners Rookie Stars Taijuan Walker/James Paxton- Finally, something I can (maybe) keep.

341 Glen Perkins- One of the dupes I pulled between this and the four regular packs from the repack.

302 Adam Eaton- There are a bunch of throwback variations in this set (including Chris Sale wearing this same era of throwback), but this isn't one.  Why?  "Because SHUT UP, that's why."- Topps, probably.

36 Coco Crisp- Hair status: George Washington.

333 Mark Melancon- Looks like the blandest dude ever, but can actually be a statistically wildly inconsistent thrill ride from year-to-year.  So strap yourself in and FEEL THE G's!

367 Alex Cobb- I dunno, man.  Kinda feel bad MST3K-ing anything Rays-related.  Their owner is legit considering Montreal (I'd go New Orleans myself) as a more viable market than Tampa, and they couldn't draw a million fans a season the last 7 or 8 years of their existence (ownership self-inflicted wounds, but still, they had some great younglings at the time to get excited aboot).

277 Will Venable- Not sure why, but I'm finding his eyes slightly unsettling...

121 Kendrys Morales- The Royals contending in 2015 hinges almost entirely on how he performs.

262 Casey Janssen- Wow, give him a pornstache and a Hawaiian shirt, and he'd look just like indy wrestling darling/undercover cop Dan Barry!

Bonus

Here are scans of all the backs, mainly because old-timey card back comics.

There you go. Buncha faux-school base cards and slightly unhinged rantings.  I had fun, anyway.