Friday, July 19, 2013

2012 Panini Golden Age Trading Cards Box Break Recap And Review


Is it really possible to have too much of a good thing?  When it comes to 2012 Panini Golden Age Trading Cards that might be true.  Individually the cards found in this set are fun and have a great design, but with the jumps in years and subject matter, it makes this a somewhat disjointed group of cards when looked on as a whole. I’m also bit of a stickler when it comes to the continuity of title and theme and while the “Golden Age” for the sports and entertainment included are pretty close, there is somewhat of a stretch beyond he accepted definitions.  As one example the Golden Age of Television is generally thought of as the transition of popular radio performers to TV like Burns and Allen or Jack Benny and ground-breaking shows like I Love Lucy and The Twilight Zone, from it’s inception to about the late 1950’s or the very early 1960’s.  While I love their inclusion in this set, Giligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch didn’t really start until the mid to late 1960’s, certainly past the era that would be considered TV’s Golden Age. So while a little disjointed, there is no denying the appeal of these cards, its just that it makes set building a little muddled.

Golden Age falls under our classification of trading cards. Hobby Boxes contain 24 – 6 card packs with 1 Autograph and 1 Memorabilia card per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our hobby box.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

2013 Topps Big League Minis Collectable Vinyl Baseball Figures Box Break Recap, Review And Limited Edition Checklist


When I want to pick up a few packs of cards and I don’t have time to get my local card shop, I hit my nearest larger big box store.  Next to the trading cards I’ve noticed there are collectable mini toy figurines of things like ponies, not so appealing to me but very popular with kids, like my 6-year-old.  But buying these toys is not like buying a figure from the Skylander Giants where you know if you are purchasing Thumpback as opposed to Hot Head.  These are wrapped so you don’t know which figure you are buying until you open the package.  

This concept of buying toys without knowing what you are buying seemed odd to me. But my daughter likes the surprise element of opening the package and seeing what is inside.  Then Topps announced they would be making mini collectable vinyl figures of some of today’s top baseball players and that’s when I made the connection.  I’ve been getting the same fun out of opening packs of trading cards without knowing which cards are inside for years, so why not the element of surprise with purchasing small toy figures.

In the writing of this review I thought it only fair to include my daughter, who loves baseball by the way, so I could get plenty of perspective and view points, looking at these toys through the eyes of a kid, a parent and a collectable hobby enthusiast.

2013 Topps Big League Minis Collectable Vinyl Figures stand about 3 inches tall.  For purposes of our review, we will review them using our fun cards format even though they are toys/collectables.   Each individual pack contains one figure and a visual checklist.   We opened a seal box that included 20 figures.  Let’s take a look at the figures we pulled from the box.