May the Fourth Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day!!!

I'm celebrating by finishing my kids' schooling early and then watching their choice of Star Wars content. We plan to start the festivities by lunchtime. This year the 'holiday' is probably an even bigger deal around my house than in the past. Despite the hole left by the lack of a Durham Bulls' Star Wars Night game this year(which has become an annual tradition for us), we will rejoice in the escapism the films enable. We will put on our franchise-themed gear, talk about our favorite scenes or characters, and spend time together.

Is there a more fitting day to show off one piece of a (not so)recent Zippy Zapping? I think not. This awesome manu-relic arrived in an extremely generous package back in mid-January. I highlighted several of the incredible cards from my first official Zapping in a Twitter thank you post at the time. I was very happy to receive this Rey since she is a character that my oldest daughter and I both like. I'm sure she will be the topic of several discussions as the day unfolds. I'm off to put the finishing touches on some Wookiee Cookies and pretzel light sabers. If you're not into Star Wars, try to find something else to be positive about. If you haven't already entered for the chance at some free cards, the claiming window is still open until 8pm tonight. Check out yesterday's post for details. Who isn't positive about free cards? Everyone stay safe and hang in there through these rough times.

May the force be with you! Thanks for reading.

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the fourth be with you!!! A quick post in honor of one of my favorite film franchises.

The first piece of cardboard up serves as a really great recap of the first six episodes and it's got a pretty great photo of Darth Vader as a bonus. While this is a really cool recent release, I am slowly but surely trying to piece together some of my favorite cards from the vintage Star Wars sets.

With that being said, I've always been a huge Yoda fanatic. This card from the Empire Strikes Back set highlights one of my favorite sequences of the original trilogy. I hope you've all enjoyed today's 'holiday'. Thanks for reading.

Chrome-y Topps Star Wars - TFA

A few days ago, while looking for some Chrome Baseball at an out-of-town Target, I found these:

I had to pick up a few to see what they were like.

Pack 1:

Base cards are exactly like the regular version, but given the Chrome treatment which is great if you like Chrome(like I do).

Found this insert, not too shabby.

I found a refractor too! These are incredibly cool because they look more like the various 'wave-style' refractors that have been found in Bowman Chrome the past few years. They're not numbered, but they look so dang cool, they don't have to be!

Pack 2:

I was a bit bummed that of the 4 base cards in the pack, two were already dupes for me.

Another insert. This one doesn't do anything for me at all. I'm not a huge fan of these behind the scenes cards, at least not his one.

Though you can't really tell in the scan, this was another refractor. I really like these. Too bad it would be incredibly difficult to put together the refractor set...

Overall, a nice product. I may have to snag a Hobby box since there are Daisy Ridley(Rey) autos in there. Who knows, I could get lucky and pull one, right? Thanks for reading.

Happy Father's Day

It's been a busy few days traveling back home from a brief post-Kindergarten graduation escape, recovering from said escape and then today being Father's Day. Here are Happy Father's Day wishes to everyone out there that was celebrating today, I hope you all had a great day. Since it's late, here are a few father/son moments on cardboard.

I love this card from the Empire Strikes Back set from back in the '80's. It captures the moment prior to one of the truly great cinematic reveals.

This is a great insert from the recently released version of Topps Archives. It shows perhaps the greatest father-son pairing in MLB history.

True, see cards have little to do with each other outside of the familial links in both. However, if I want to stretch a bit, they both depict and that in one way or another were able to step from their father's shadow. Anyway, that's all I've got this late. Thanks for reading.

A Sad Day...

I had intended to write an entirely different type of post today. However, when I heard the news this afternoon that one of my favorite wrestlers of all time had passed, I had to quickly shift gears. 

'The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes is gone. I remember being a kid and watching some of his battles with Harley Race and Ric Flair. Later, I remember having to turn off the WWF(so named at the time) when he would come on their shows because I hated his gimmick of being the 'Common Man' and the fact that he was never really used in any matches above mid-card level. I may have been young watching him, but I could see that he was one of the most gifted men to grab a mic and cut a promo.

Sadly, this is the only card I currently own of Dusty. I guess I'll have to actively set out to change that.

Goodbye Dream...you'll be missed. RIP, if you wiiilll.