Cody-Dust

 No surprise to see Cody here is the Stardust garb, though nice to see the Walmart blue border parallel...

I do enjoy the way that Cody treats it as a rumour that he and Stardust have never been seen together and some believe he may have been Stardust, but it's never been proven - a nice chuckle, but glad to see he is able to joke about it as the "dirt sheets" have always reported that he did not enjoy the gimmick when doing it, and that it was part of what drove him out of WWE to eventually go and start what became AEW.

In the mid 10s, he just wasn't treated as a main event player, and really, I don't think he was "there" in really connecting with the audience and finding himself. As a fan watching, this seems to be where stars are really born. It is the rare occasion someone young really connects with fans for a long career at the top, it's something that seems to need more maturity and experience to get stars there. A great example is L.A. Knight. It took him a while to get that connection and really drive the Eli Drake personal in Impact, and a bit of getting the opportunity once he was in WWE, to share and spread the charisma, and he is no spring chicken being 41 - but better late than never. Heck Cody is almost 40.

As for this pack, only the Triple H insert was a dupe, so another successful one for my collecting at least.

Bizarre Indeed

Another pack today, and a reminder of a match that was bizarre, and really not that good (even if it was a bit unique). 

Jake "The Snake" Roberts and that blindfold match against Rick Martel was...different. I mean, suspending belief to think they can't actually see out of the hoods, it's decent for what it was, but I mean, we know that they were see through enough to really not mean much. The fact they had to then act like they couldn't see each other and fumble around to find each other in the ring to perform a move here and there, just wasn't that entertaining compared to if they just had a match. Probably a good reason why you don't see a match or two like this every year.

I can't believe Daniel Bryan and the huge star he was and Wrestlemania main event push and win was over 10 years ago now. It does seem like every 10 years of Wrestlemania, you get a huge main event and story line - Cody this past year, Daniel for 30, he who shall not be named and Wrestlemania 20 (which at the time was similar to the other two, but obviously viewed differently now), and Wrestlemania 10 was Bret Hart.

The Rock insert is the only dupe here for me, so otherwise, a great pack and hey - seven cards, just as promised!

Feeling Short

 Okay, so, not happy when this happens...

I only count six cards here when it clearly says on the pack and box, and in each of the first packs opened, there were 7 cards each. Dang - I mean, I guess it can happen, but that sucks to be short changed like that. Maybe it'll even out by the end of the box? Maybe?

The good news is - all the cards are keepers for me, and any time I can be reminded of one of the greats like Harley Race, these be solid cards. I can't believe he was inducted back in 2004, back when the Hall of Fame was really just starting to "find" itself and be more than a token list of names, and really doing a show presentation, though it wasn't yet at the full drama of a night event and having fans attend in large numbers, but glad it has changed into that.

More "Inserts"

 Today, the second pack of 2015 Road to Wrestlemania WWE Topps cards to look at.

It does bother me that more than half the pack is "insert" cards - it'/s more like having a base set (3 cards) and cards you get one per pack subsets for the Wrestlemania, Hall of Fame "sets" which are each only 30 cards. Maybe they should have just done these as subsets in the base set, but insert sounds so much more cool and like you can charge a premium for.

As for the cards themselves, at least the Hogan card is a one per 6 packs pull, so we may see 2 in this box, and The Rock cards are every other pack, but I have 6 of the 8 cards already so I didn't actually need this one.

John Cena's base card was also one I already had, so not a full win of new to me cards, so as Ron Simmons would say - Damn!

Early Start on the Road

Usually the road to Wrestlemania begins with the Royal Rumble in January, but I can't wait, so let's take a look at the series from 2015 with a blaster I picked up a while ago from www.pastimesports.ca.

The box itself was a little beat up but opening it up, the packs inside were all good and fine, so I don't think we will have any issues of dinged corners. Going into this box though, I don't have any unopened packs, and I only have 10 of the base cards. I may have a few inserts, but I am not going to get into the details of those as we will just see what I get as I open packs, and if any dupes arise.

One of the packs, and the relic pack for this box, get added to the unopened pack collection. I put a sticky on the pack to "label" it since it has no markings whatsoever.

As for the packs, let's start with one today...

Well, not great on luck, though at first glance, thought it was a good pack. Only the top card base add as, the other two happened to be in the 10 cards I already had - go figure.

The blue Miz bordered card is a Walmart exclusive - one every two packs. The Hall of Fame and Wrestlemania match cards are inserts, but one per pack, so not big odds there, and the HHH@WM is one insert set I have about half of, so this one wasn't new to me either.

Not a great first pack, but I am sure it will get better!

23 Years

The terror attacks of 2001 in the US were a big part of history and changes to how we viewed every day life for many who lived through it. Definitely something that needs remembering to ensure it's not repeated, though if nothing else, the changes going through airports is vastly different than it was many years ago before that day.

I know you are here for cards though, and that we will go through briefly now...

A quick trade share from TCDB member ChicagoPatla who sent some baseball my way for some basketball...

A few 1982 Topps set helpers - still about 250 short on the set including Cal.

The early 80s Jays cards move along a couple needed team sets, but still plenty of Donruss cards needed.

On a separate note, my mom picked up a couple Duos packs for me from Timmies a while ago which she was kind enough to provide...

One for the unopened pack collection, and the one to share. I don't like the base cards - at all. I mean, sure there is a full card front on each side so you get two players highlighted on a card. Guess what though, no stats, info, or anything....yuck. I will still keep these as they are "special" being food issue cards, but I don't have to like them.

A Decent Second Half

 Here is the second half of the Magic card pack, and is decent enough, though not as good as the first.

Four of the five artifact cards are keepers - again, the Prophet isn't needed.

The Thrull card is the one that actually brought back a lot of memories. Fallen Empires was the set that had just come out in 1994, when I first got into Magic. It is probably the worst set all time for Magic as the cards were generally horrible, and the packs could be picked up for less than $2 up to the start of COVID. Once COVID started, even though packs started to pick up steam and some value. I remember back in the day, buying more packs of it than I ever should have given the poor play quality of the cards, but we didn't know better back then.

Serioesly - seven lands is just unacceptable for one of these - way too many!

Of course, another unneeded Merfolk...

Well, I can say these repacks are consistent, sometimes in the exact same cards, and sometimes in what I pull as this one ends up just in line with another I opened...

Maybe some wrestling to open and start sharing tomorrow!

A New 100

Today, first half of another 100 Magic card pack for sharing...

Not sure if Dollarama's still do this configuration as I know this is a few years old and just now being opened...hock, I think I have in my "to open" pile, a box of 1984 baseball Rub-Down which have been in my possession the better part of a decade, but I digress.

O  tof the first 50 cards, these six are the would be keepers. I did already have 4 Prophet of the Peak cards, so he's out, but the rest are good for the collection. As for the rest...

Definitely not a fan of getting multiple land cards in these packs, let alone in a single half.

Wow - I can't remember the last time I saw 4 lands in an entire pack of these, let alone, one half.

Some cards on the other hand, are in every single one of these. I think I have more than a dozen of the Merfolk cards now.

Not too bad of a first half, and as you can see, the newest cards are from 2020 sets, which is the year I would have picked this up - or maybe early 2021. Second half tomorrow.

A Strike By Myrke

First, it's my wife's birthday, so I know it best to be short here and spend the time with her celebrating. While I am off doing that though, let's see some cards with TCDB member myrke who was able to actually finish off a few smaller insert sets, etc for me in my Jays collecting.

Cerutti wasn't the "no dot after U.S.A" variation I expected, not a big deal as I am still missing a few such micro variations. The Delgado though was the second of two Jays base cards from 2000 Fleer E/X to finish off that team set. Similarly, the two 2013 Finest cards finish the 4 card Jays set there as well.

The centre David is a nice SN to 500 card and the snazzy blue border for Jays cards always looks solid.

As luck has it, the 2022 and 2023 Topps flagship insert sets of the Stars of MLB are both finished off here with the last Vladdy card in the first scan and the Bo dead centre in the above. As I am still sitting on a bunch of 2018-2022 baseball base cards, I wonder how much of those I really need, but the inserts, definitely nice to pick up.

Really appreciate the trade as always!

Random Hockey Pack

 As it says, today we have a single random hockey pack to share, one that I had laying around unopened as I have a copy in my unopened pack collection.

Not a set I am collecting, so we are down to hoping for a nice insert or a Leaf card, so let's see what we get.

Definitely not my favourite colour design for O Pee Chee, but we do have a Bruins card to pass along to a better home than mine. LeClair and Berezin are solid names for the pack, but nothing in the first 8 cards that are for keeps.

The last card salvages the pack. I had one already, but a Leaf pick up is always great and McCabe for 2002-03 is a solid one to get. There was also the 10th card which is an insert, and yes, checklists can count, so that's a good keeper as well.

Not a bad pack, but nothing to write home about. Definitely lower half of the list below because it's not a set I am collecting, but still a neat little rip!

Best Pack Pull So Far

 Just the single last pack of 2021 Topps Gallery baseball today, and I guess it was worth it!

Mark McGwire is a polarizing figure given the obvious issue around steroids at the time, though I would think he is still on the "more liked than not" side of the argument compared to others of the era, so there are still a lot of collectors of his out there. Here we get a serial numbered to 99 (and this one is actually numbered 01/99). These are pulls of one every 1,062 packs so - yeah, this definitely wins so far this year for my best pack pull.

As for the card itself, the blue border does make this card look much better than the basic version, and personally - I was always a McGwire fan (save for when the Jays were needing to get by the A's in the playoffs).

All it takes sometimes is a single card to make a purchase worth it, and definitely the case here - very cool card, and yeah, I'd rate it fairly high too. Hopefully it isn't the last sweet pull I have this year.

Getting Some Rainbow

 Back with a couple more packs of 2021 Topps Gallery baseball, and we finally get something more than just Printer Proof inserts.

What seems to be the second most common insert - rainbow foil parallel cards which stand out in the scan easily enough. With the design of the Gallery cards, I actually prefer the base design, but maybe it's just me.

Honestly - I must prefer the Ty Cobb card than the parallel rainbow foil. Not often you get to add a Ty Cobb card to your trade list, but even if it's a new reprint, still a cool card to see and have in hand. The way they are able to "modernize" the photo as much as they have really works well as it comes across so clean and crisp considering.

Nice! Along with another rainbow foil, we get our first MLB originals insert which fall every 18 packs. Fernando Tatis Jr. doesn't do a whole lot for me personally - not a player I collect or anything, I do appreciate the pull and being able to add it to the collection. The design is alright and reminds me a bit of the hockey Bee Hive designs from the mid 2000s. Definitely helps this blaster which is slugging along as nothing too special.

Same Make Up

 Two more packs of 2021 Topps Gallery baseball cards to share today, and the pack make up looks exactly the same as the last - just a statement, but not necessarily a complaint.

One Printer Proof parallel and three base cards. I do like the base set having some stars of past years, as well as stars of today. I'd rather it be done in a subset type of fashion rather than sprinkling the stars throughout the set, but that's just my like for keeping such players grouped together - just like bunching the rookie cards at the end of a base set (though they don't have to be short printed).

Well, that's a great pack of star power. I mean, current and past, and the weakest in the bunch is either Chipper or Harper, and that's saying something. Definitely an Atlanta hot pack regardless, and a solid pack of cards, though still not much to keep, but hopefully some nice cards for trade!

Enter The Gallery

 I like the look of the Gallery sets, and I liked the price of this blaster so put those together, and here we are. I don't plan on building the set though, so it's going to be harder for this box to come away with a great score, but you never know what's in the packs. First, a look at the box...

Then we can look at the packs....one of which I do need for the unopened pack collection...

Yikes - just 4 cards a pack. I mean, it could be less I guess, but my bottom on cards in a pack is 7, I hate when it's less than that.

SO the design if quite nice as expected. First cards from the set I have had in hand. Add to that the names, and this is a solid pack. No Jays card as this was past his Jays time for the Stro Show, but Pojols is a nice base pick up as well.

We get our first insert and it's a Printer Proof which is a blaster only insert which appears in every other pack. I gather we will be seeing more of them since we wouldn't want more unusual inserts that fall less than every other pack....

With so few cards and 6 packs to open, that's just 24 cards, hope to get one Jay card at least.

Brother Hooked Me

 Okay, having a great experience with the Brothers' War bundle, I had to take a look and pick up more of the artifact cards from the set, but a few others which were cheap and available as well.

These would be some of the others first including the dated promo card in the middle. I do have a number of promos now which are cool. They aren't exceptionally rare of a premium price to get, but still nice for the getting. The last few are foils from the new Assassin's Creed MTG set...packs to see below because I had to get those too....

Ah, the retro borders..luckily a bunch of the cards are still fairly cheap as they didn't see high play and don't command a big price, but are still fun and collectible for me.

Some solid extended art versions too - and again, the rare cards have the gold symbol in the middle right of the card, uncommon is silver colours and black is common. As you can see, most of these are rares, and were less than $1 each, mostly 50 cents.

As promised, the Assassin's Creed packs here as well. I may never have played the game, but from seeing what I have, I get the crossover and it works fine with MTG, at least for what it is. THe packs do have less cards than usual though which is a shame as the price is about the same as regular play and collector boosters.

Nothing - Just Nothing

 Yeah, there are the rest of the cards from the blaster which you can see below, but it's a little rant time. I understand the work of collating cards and what you get in a box, but how come I get such bad luck on these? I mean, I bought 2 blaster boxes that I have opened, and those are the only cards I have for the set. Keeping in mind, I didn't even open one of the packs from the first blaster.

From 6 packs in the first blaster, with 35 cards in blaster number 2 - 21 of them were in the first 6 packs in the first blaster. This isn't a 50 card set or anything, and that just seem crazy high. If it was a one-off, I'd chalk it up to a bad experience and move on, but I had this or even worse, when opening a WWE product. I think it was 2016 heritage and similarly, I had 2 blasters, and they were almost identical for the base card make up. I know it can happen, but come on!

Guess what? This ended up not being a great blaster accordingly. Here the list and it's down near the bottom, right where it belongs- I am worried about that third blaster now though....is it going to be the same too?