Boxbusters

Hey all this is Todd and I’m going to be helping out Will here on Boxbusters with some different breaks and reviews. First of all thanks to Will for letting me stretch my legs here and take a shot at blogging. So without further ado…. With pitchers and catchers reporting in less than 24 hours and two feet of snow outside my door I can’t really say it feels like the MLB season is getting ready to kick off but let’s do a review of the 2010 Topps to try a get into the mood.

The base set is comprised of 330 cards with several short prints replacing regular base cards. This will be a review of one jumbo hobby box bought from my local shop I like to visit, The Rookie in West Des Moines, IA. I do like the design this year with a large area for the player photo, a team colored swoop on the left side with the teams name and then the players name in black outlined with silver in the bottom right corner. Simple design that is pleasing to the eye. The back has another profile picture of the player with the hat logo and plenty of room for full stats and usually a quick write up on the player.

In my jumbo box I got a complete base set with a small handful of doubles. I didn’t get any of the short prints in my jumbo box but have bought a few loose packs since the and did get one. There are also the infamous Yankee cards that have the players receiving the “pie in the face.” These are very tough to pull and I’ve only seen them on E-Bay where they are selling quite well.

When it comes to insert and subsets Topps has NO rival. This year is no exception with 11 different subsets. Toppstown is back, When They Were Young, Cards Your Mother Threw Out, Tales of the Game, Legendary Lineage, Peak Performance, History of the Game, Turkey Red and Topps Million Card Giveaway, Topps Gold and Topps Black. You get in each jumbo pack one of each except the Topps Black. The coolest of these for me is the Million Card Givaway. Each card has a different code on the back that allows you to unlock a card on the website to collect, trade and even have sent to you. I have 16 of these unlocked in my collection right now and my favorite is my ‘89 George Brett, my favorite player and My oldest card is a ‘72 Hal McRae. Though I have heard of guys unlocking cards from the 50’s that are worth hundreds of dollars.

The Cards Your Mother Threw Out does have two different back variations. The more common is the back that tells about the player. The other is a reprint of the original back. I got Ichiro out of my box and also have gotten an Alex Gordon original back as well. As a warning look out for these on any auction sites as the biggest difference is only the 2010 trademark on the bottom.

My hits were fairly nice. In a jumbo you get one autograph and two jersey cards and I got all three. My first hit was a Joey Votto Peak Performance bat card, which I prefer over a single colored jersey any day. My autograph was Shane Victorino Peak Performance and is the regular Topps sticker. The last hit is a manufactured hat logo of the Brooklyn Dodgers Johnny Podres numbered 92/99 and is a really nice card. It may be manufactured but I think they are nice cards and wouldn’t mind getting a few more of these. I also got one Topps Black of the San Diego Padres team leaders numbered 13/59.

All said If you are a set builder a jumbo box is the way to go as you should get a complete set and plenty of inserts as well. I actually may buy another box or two of these in the future. If anybody needs cards to finish out a set let me know and I’ll see what I can do to help. I’ll charge shipping only. I’ll be back later with some other breaks and thoughts. As a sneak preview I have a blaster boxes of racing and football to do and am waiting on a case of the new Star Wars Galaxy so you’ll possibly see some non-sports as well.

Boxbusts

Tristar was kind enough to send over a box of 2009 Tristar Prospects Plus.  If you have read the blog for awhile then you may have figured out that I am not much of a “prospector.”  I really don’t have much interest in chasing down the next hot prospect but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the cards.  A couple weeks ago, Mario posted a preview of Prospects Plus and judging by his comment section, a majority seem to prefer the Tristar design over the Elite. We have one regular hobby box here to bust. (Tristar also offers a “HOT BOX” hobby box, limited to 720 boxes.) For checklist information, click here.  Let’s see how this box goes and be sure to let me know what you think of the bust!

Boxbusters Live Box Break of 2009 Tristar Prospects Plus Hobby Box will start Monday, November 23rd at approximately 7pm CST.  Be sure to tune in – I will be giving away cards from the bust as it happens!!

Click Here for LIVE Chat of the break!

Pack #1

Pack #2

Pack #3 – Our first #’d Parallel……

Pack #4

Pack #5 – Obak Insert of Stephen Strasburg

Pack #6

Pack 7

Pack #8 – Another Stephen Strasburg.

Pack 9

Pack 10

OK – Half-way through the box so far…. what do you think? Does Tristar have enough here to compete with Elite? Be sure to leave comments or join the live chat and let me know what you think!

Pack #11

Pack #12

Pack 13

Pack 14

Pack 15

Pack 16

Pack 17

Pack 18

Pack #19

Pack #20

Well, that wraps up the LIVE box break – what did you think? Does Tristar have enough here to compete with Elite? If not, what do they need to do different in your opinion? To be eligible for giveaways from this bust, leave your thoughts in the comment section and stay tuned to Boxbusters.net for the giveaways!

Boxbusts

I have been wanting to bust a box of this product since I pulled the Tim Beckham Obak Insert in the 2009 PROjections Series 1 back in April.  I really liked the look of the card and was anticipating busting a box or two.  As luck would have it, Tristar sent a box along with the TNA Impact cards they sent over.  Each box is serial numbered, Tristar sent over box #3290 of 3600.

These boxes are currently going for about $70.00 Overall, I really like these cards.  Tristar could have something here, if they clean up some of the images.  As Mario pointed out on his review, quite a few of the images are very pixelated, and some are just plain blurry looking.  The other bad news is that there seems to be quite a few of these cards in the set including historical figures and others, yes that includes Obama.  Take a look at what I mean.

If you can look past these images, there are some upsides with Obak.  For example, I know some of you love the mini parallels and short prints.  Well with 9 guaranteed hits per box, your gonna get your share of these, including 2 Auto’s, 1 current player, 1 retired. 2 Parallel cards #’d to 50 or less, 1 T-212 Mini Parallel #’d to 50 or less, 3 short prints….

And 1 pretty cool 4 card T-212 UNCUT Mini Parallel Strip which is serial numbered 1387 of 3600

The auto’s are stickers, however they really don’t look bad here.  Tristar did a nice job incorporating them in to the design on the card IMO.  Not to mention, its pretty cool to be able to pull a future stars autograph along with an all-time great such as Dale Murphy.

I tend to agree with WaxHeaven on this one and feel if Tristar works on the images for this product, they could have a nice hit on their hands. What do you guys think, is this a product you would buy? If not why? Price, just not in to prospects? Let me know what you think and be sure to stay tuned for the Obak Giveaway.  All cards will be up for grabs including the Obama #’d to 25 and the Dale Murphy Auto!

Thanks to Tristar for sponsoring this bust.

Boxbusts

If you remember, back in March I reviewed Tristar TNA Cross The Line.  It was a fun product that needed some work and Tristar did just that with the release of 2009 TNA Impact.  The photography is MUCH better in this release.  Some good action shots that aren’t as dark and the gloss on the cards is great. Take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me.

Another thing I like is the parallel arrangement.  Last years release was kind of confusing but that is no longer the case with Impact. Take a look at the parallel checklist and you’ll see what I mean.  The base card design has also improved along with the coalition. These cards look a little more modern and definitely look like wrestling. If you are a set builder then this is the product for you! I was able to put together a complete “base” set of cards out of this box (1-99) along with the autographs and numbered parallel I pulled and I was not covered with glitter after I got done!  All in all I would say this is an improvement in the right direction for Tristar and if you or someone you know is in to TNA then these cards will not disappoint.

Full Results

Base Set 1-99 Completed

Doubles: ? ( I see a contest coming)

Auto’s: 3

Numbered Parallel: 1

Thanks to Tristar for sponsoring this bust and be sure to stay tuned for the giveaway!
Also, if you have not done so – be sure to register for the Blaster Giveaway!

Boxbusts

Boxbusts

To celebrate the half-way mark of the 09 season, I have decided to bust my box of 2008 Prime Cuts.  I debated for awhile on whether or not to bust this box but ultimately, I could not resist the temptation.  If you are not familiar with the product, you can find complete product details here.

Up first we’ll take a look at the “commons.”

As you can see I didn’t do to bad here. It’s hard to complain about Mr. October, Ducky, and a rookie of the month #’d to 25.  The other 3 cards in the pack are what we will call the “hits.” You be the judge on that one.

So what do you think? Hits or not? That only leaves one thing…..

Anyone care to guess who it is and if its an auto or jersey or patch or what? If anyone guesses correctly, I’ll send you a prize.  I will be posting the card within 24 hours from now so if your gonna guess, make it quick

Boxbusts

This bust is sponsored by TRISTAR

We have one hobby box of 2009 Tristar PROjections Series 2 up today. If you recall, the series one review of PROjections had a beautiful Obak Tim Beckham inside. Series 2 yields this possibility as well but instead of Tim Beckham this time its Matt Wieters gracing the Obak inserts. Overall I had a good time busting series one and was really looking forward to busting in to series 2. So let’s get this party going shall we?

Product Information including checklists can be found here.

You can’t see from the above scan but there are only 1800 boxes produced – I received box #0674. 5 cards per pack – 20 packs per box & 9 hits per box. Yes, 9 hits per box.

The base cards of this product are solid. They could use some minor tweaks IMO but overall I think it is a pretty solid design. I am showing a David Freese card here – he is a hometown guy and it was neat to pull his card.

Up next we’ll take a look at the numbered parallels. All the parallels I pulled were of the GREEN variation, which are #’d to 50.

In case you didn’t notice, the bars running across the bottom of the photo and up the left side is where the  green is located.  In the above base card, these bars are silver.

Let’s take a look at the AUTO’s I pulled next. I pulled two from this box with one being numbered to 25. Can you spot the difference?

The second auto that I pulled:

In case you missed it, the bottom auto is #’d to only 25 copies. It also uses GOLD bars on the front instead of the standard silver.

Last but not least we have our Taylor Made hit. This version contains a dual swatch and is labeled NY’s Future Stars.

IMO this card could use a little work. It is rather plain and with the plain swatches it is just rather blah in my eyes.  Overall however, I feel Tristar is on the correct path with PROjections.  The base cards are very solid and well done and the quality control on both boxes I have opened has been excellent.  I think if Tristar concentrates on strong photography and makes some minor tweaks to their designs they could really make some noise with PROjections. What do you guys think?

In case you haven’t noticed, I have not given you “full results” of this bust as normal. If your really observant, then you noticed I only showed 2 Auto’s and there were 4 advertised on the box.  Remember when I did the Tristar TNA Knockouts bust and I had 6 packs left over? Well, same thing here. I have 6 packs that I did not open for the review. WHY? Well, I pulled everything I needed to give you a full review of cards to expect out of this series and decided to give the unopened packs away – TO YOU. That’s right – I’m giving away unopened sponsored packs of cards that SHOULD CONTAIN at least 2 Auto’s to you the collector that makes this hobby what it is.

See if those bully’s in Texas will do that for you when they get sponsored product for “review.” Oh sure they may give away cards here and there but do they give away EVERY sponsored card they receive, like they SHOULD? I think we all know the answer to that….. mmmm hmmmmm Beckett Grading Services  + Ebay = $$$$$

Anyway as I said before I will be giving this entire lot away. Instead of holding a seperate contest for this bust – I have just decided to add it to the Boxbusters Birthday Giveaway. So now instead of having 5 winners – we will have at least 6 – maybe more. So if you haven’t entered yet – get your guess in before its too late!!

Boxbusts