Retro Box Break: 2013 Rookies and Stars Longevity

What We Pulled:

Cards Per Pack: 5
Packs Per Box: 10
Cards Expected: 50
Cards Received: 54

Base Set Completion: 35% (35 out of 100)
Rookies: 10 (1 per pack) Dion Jordan, Mike Glennon, Christine Michael, Tyrann Mathieu, Bjoern Werner, Jawan Jamison, Onterio McCalebb, Denard Robinson, Matt Elam, Kenny Stills

Inserts:

Freshman Orientation Materials: (3) Geno Smith, Denard Robinson,Robert Woods
Cross Training Materials: (1) Markus Wheaton
Longevity Ruby: (4) Josh Freeman, Jordan Poyer, Santonio Holmes, Steadman Bailey
Longevity Emerald: (1) A.J. Green #/5

Opening Thought:

I do like the design of the front of the cards. The team logo and Last Name of the player on the team color down the left side of the card sets it apart from other cards. The veteran cards have action photos while the Rookies do have some shots of the players during training camp. The back of the cards are nothing too special. The last year stats, the career stats, and a blurb about the player.

The value from this box wasn't there. The material cards aren't worth much, although all 4 were colored, not white. The Emerald card helps because it is semi-star. The rookies didn't pan out.

Best card pulled: A.J. Green #/5
Worst Pull of the Box: Longevity Ruby of Josh Freeman

There are 21 parallels and insert sets in this release. You have Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Signature parallels for lots of the cards. That is too many for a release like this. But all the parallels are a staple of Panini products.

Overall Judgment:

I understand that each and every box that you buy is a crapshoot. There are boxes that will wow you and there are boxes that leave you feeling ripped off. Amazingly, this box was somewhere in the middle. If you go by value only, you would be the latter. But I like the design of the cards, there is a rookie in every pack, and there are 4 hits in each and every box. It would have been better if there was 1 guaranteed Auto in each box, but it was not meant to be. This isn't for a set builder, but for those that feel lucky. If you spend more than $50 on a box, you have overspent. But enjoy the cards and hopefully the pack gods smile upon you.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

2013 SPx Football

What We Pulled:

Packs: 10
Cards Per Pack:  5
Total Cards Expected: 50
Total Cards Received: 50

Base Set Completion: 80% (40 out of 50 Cards)
Duplicates: 0

1997 SPx Subset Card

Inserts:
SPx Rookie Auto Jersey (1:10 Packs): 1 - Tyler Eifert #/30 (Autograph Patch)
Autographs (1:5 Packs): 2 - Rookie Signatures Cierre Wood #/299, Redemption of a Rookie Signatures of Sheldon Richardson #/299
SP Finite Rookies (3:10 Packs): 2 - Mike Gillespie #/899 Marcus Lattimore #/10 (Spectrum)
SP Finite Legends: 1 - Barry Sanders #/899
1996 SPx Subset:  2 - Earl Campbell, Aaron Dobson
1997 SPx Subset: 1 - Joseph Randle
SPx Shadow Box: 0
Memorabilia Cards (1:10): 1 - Eddie Lacy #/250

Our Thoughts:

Design - This is a simple design for the cards. The main team color on top and an arrow on the bottom with gold outline for the different aspects of the card and the picture in the middle. The pictures are basically only of the player which is refreshing. There are some black and white pictures which only enhances the set.

Player Selection - You know most if not all the players in the base set. It is nice to see some of the players you might forget like Steve Owens. Also included are players that did not go on to have stellar pro careers like Charlie Ward and Tommie Frazier.  I would like to see some more players that did not have stellar pro careers included in future sets. Use the set as a way to reach those people that don't necessarily know the history of college football to expand what they know.

Inserts - Too many insert subsets. Auto Rookie Jerseys, 1996 SPx, 1997 SPx, Rookie Auto Jerseys: Tier 1, Rookie Auto Jerseys: Tier 2, Rookie Signatures, SPx Finite Legends, SPx Finite Rookies, Shadow Box, Shadow Box Signatures, Shadow Box Dual, Shadow Box Dual Signatures, SPx Signatures, Super Scripts Autographs, UD Rookie Premier Auto Jersey: Tier 1, UD Rookie Premier Auto Jersey: Tier 2, UD Premier Auto Jersey, Winning Big Materials, Winning Big Materials Patch Auto, Winning Materials Combos, Winning Materials Combos Patch Auto, Winning Materials Trios

That is 22 insert sets. That does not all the parallel sets. That is just too many subsets to even think about collecting. And some of the subsets are at least 30 cards big. I believe that Upper Deck would do themselves a favor to cut back on the inserts and expand the base set.

Price:  At $70.00 for the box, I thought that the value wasn't there. I believe the biggest reason for that is the redemption for the autograph that I received. If you are going to have a large batch of autographs which is your call, then have the cards that need autographs ready to go before the redemptions need to be packed. I will need to wait between 12 and 16 weeks before I can expect that card. That is unacceptable.

Final Thoughts: Upper Deck used to be the king of cards last decade. You would open an Upper Deck product and be in amazement at what you had. It isn't like that any more. This release shows how far they have fallen. They need the NFL license. I like Barry Sanders and others that have retired, but not featured year after year. Expand the base set to 100 and have 7 cards per pack with the same amount of inserts (3 Autos and 1 piece) for a $70.00 price tag and I think most people could stomach it. That is $7.00 per pack.  The card companies are losing collectors. And unless they can figure out how to bring good value to their product, they will continue to lose them.

Box Value 2.5 out of 5.

2013 Impact Wrestling Live Box Break

Cards Per Pack: 6
Packs Per Box: 20
Total Cards Expected: 120
Total Cards Received: 120

Total Base Set (W/O SP Cards): 100
Total Base Set Completion (W/O SP Cards): 100%
Total Base Set (W/ SP Cards): 110
Total Base Set Completion (W/ SP Cards): 91%

Base Set Parallels: 2 Gold(Devon, Gail Kim) #/50
Duplicates: 13 cards

Inserts: 4

Gold Autograph: Garrett Bischoff #/99
Green Autograph: Hernandez #/50
Blue 6 Person Autograph: Gail Kim, Tara, Mickie James, Velvet Sky, Miss Tessmacher, and Madison  Rayne. #/25
Gold Single Memorabilia Card: Chavo Guerrero Jr. #/50

Our Thoughts:

Design: Simplistic and effective for the Base Set. The name is written over fire at the bottom of the card. Right above is the card set name. In the upper corners of the card are the TNA and Tri-Star logos. The rest of the card is for the person or moment being talked about. Even the subsets of the Base set like Live Events which talk about a certain match that the person had or reality TV which talks about what TV shows the performers like just have a graphic near the bottom of the card and do not take away much of the good design.

The autographs are all stickered. It would have been nice to have them on-card. I don't understand how difficult it would be for Tri-Star to go to a TV taping or two and have the performers do autographs on the cards themselves. I do like the fact that all autographs are numbered 99 or less. I also like the fact that Tri-Star went big with the autographs for this set. There are 2 different sets of cards that have 12 autographs on them. 3 sets of cards that have 10 autographs on them.

A couple of days ago, I reviewed the Best of 2013 WWE Cards. This is what they need to aspire to. Because right now, TNA and Tri-Star are kicking some serious ass in the card world in comparison to the stuff that WWE and Topps are putting out there for collectors.

Final Say:

This product is one of those that you should not be disappointed with if you do decide to purchase a box. I bought a second box just to make sure that the first wasn't a fluke. In the second box, I got the complete set without SPs again. 2 Base Set Gold Parallel Cards #/50, a SP Base set card of Bully Ray, a Silver Shirt Piece of Sting #/199. 2 Blue Autographs #/25 of Hernandez and Velvet Sky. And a Rainbow Dual Autograph #1/1 of Gail Kim and Mickie James. Right now these boxes are running between $60 and $70. If you like value for your money, these boxes are up your alley.

Box Value: 4.5 out of 5

2013 Press Pass Gameday Gallery Box Break

Packs Per Box: 1
Cards Per Pack: 4
     Geno Smith Gold #01/25
     Kenjon Barner Gold #75/99
     Zac Dysert Bronze #38/65
     Sheldon Richardson #67/99
    
Our Thoughts:

Design:  Simple. A picture of the player with all NCAA and school markings taken off the picture and then the main school color being put in the background to give it a splash of color. It allows for plenty of room for the autograph and the numbering of the card is up in the Upper Right hand corner out of the way of everything.

This product doesn't mess around. All 4 cards are autographed. There are green ink that are 1/1 cards. Did not pull any of those. There are cards with inscriptions on them, did not pull any of them. What I did pull are 4 autos signed with blue ink and all are numbered to 99 or less.  There are silver cards out there that are numbered up to 149. All cards are on-card signatures.

I believe that the $70.00 price tag for these cards is a bit steep for what you get. Yes, 4 autographs are nice, but there isn't the wow factor that I would have expected. Another thing that might cause you pause is that certain players are inserted more than others. There are 136 Keenen Allen regular cards inserted in the boxes.  The non-helmet picture alternative, there are 26. That is fine. But then you take Geno Smith and he has 64 regular cards inserted in boxes and 26 alternatives. Matt Barkley has 72 regular cards and 26 alternative ones. It doesn't make any sense.

The numbered for bronze, silver, gold, red and blue are different for each and every player. There is no standard. So your gold card could be numbered as low as 20 and as high as 99. I would figure that if it is a gold parallel or whatever they are calling it, that the numbering would be the same. It is not.

If the price came down to around $50.00, I would say that it is a fair price. But until that does happen, I would think twice before purchasing the product.

Box Value: 3 out of 5

Best of WWE 2013 Box Break

Well, since Kelly has stubbornly refused to blog about what he is opening, I am quitting my pledge not to post anything on here until he does. We have opened a Hobby Box of Best of WWE 2013. The Stats are below.

Packs: 24
Cards Per Pack: 7
Total Cards Advertised In Box: 168
Actual Total Cards: 168

Base Set Completion:  70% (77 out of 110 Cards)

Base Set Parallels:
Bronze (1:2 Packs) - 12
Silver (1:24 Packs) - 1
Gold (1:684 Packs) - 0
Printing Plate (1:1235 Packs) - 0
Duplicates - 6 (#8's - 2, #9's - 2, #10's - 2)

Inserts:
Top Ten Inserts
#1's (1:24 Packs) - 1
#2's (1:12 Packs) -2
#3's (1:6 Packs) - 4
#4's (1:4 Packs) - 6
#5's (1:4 Packs) - 6
#6's (1:3 Packs) - 8
#7's (1:3 Packs) - 8
#8's (1:2 Packs) - 12
#9's (1:2 Packs) - 12
#10's (1:2 Packs) - 12

Top Ten Inserts Printing Plates
All Numbers (1:14000 Packs) - 0

Autographs (1:49 Packs) -0

Dual Autographs (1:3064 Packs) - 0

Jerry Lawler Portrait Card - 0

Swatch Relics
Shirt (1:25 Packs) - 1 Daniel Bryan
AJ Lee Teddy Bear (1:1300 Packs) - 0
John Cena Hat (1:2775 Packs) - 0
John Cena Wristband (1:7830 Packs) - 0
John Cena Headband (1:4400 Packs) - 0
Mat Relic (1:48 Packs) - 1 Big E Langston

Thoughts:

Design of the Base Cards: They highlight what people think are the best things that happened in WWE for the last part of 2012 and the early part of 2013. Ugh. Even the writings of Mick Foley on the cards cannot save this mess.  The pictures on the cards are all stills. Some are shot at an angle that you cannot tell exactly what is being done in the shot. And while I like the stories of Mick Foley, the commentary that he provides on the back of the cards grows tiresome.

Design of the Inserts: The numbers are simplistic. And I do like the way that they do the Gold, Silver, and Bronze for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finisher of each Top 10 category.  #4 through 10 are in blue. The categories for the Numbers are Rivalries, Undertaker Matches, Catchphrases, Tag Team Champs, World Heavyweight Champs, Greatest WWE Moments, Trash Talkers, WWE Champions, Intercontinental Champs, and Finishers. The Wrestlemania Mat Card and Shirt cards are uninspired. They are just your average ordinary piece cards.

Other Thoughts:  This is a box and set to stay away from. This looks like a product that was put out there just to satisfy some sort of contract between Topps and WWE. I paid less that $30.00 for the box and I still feel like I needed more to justify spending the money. The WWE may be the biggest Sports Entertainment wrestling company out there, but this shows that they are a clear #2 in the business of wrestling cards.

Box Value 1.5 out of 5.