25-26 Topps Basketball Blaster Break

Hey! This stuff was actually available at Wally World not long after release. Is that a sign I should try one? Yes. Yes, it is. 7 packs makes it hard to split this into two, so I'm recapping all of them here.

Pack 1:

Here's my first card of the season! Just like would happen randomly in the past, they're recycling from baseball design. 

Every team gets their own team card in this. Are they used for a season recap, or a team checklist?

Well, they're used for a checklist, but just an unrelated 10 card portion of the checklist. This might be the oddest thing about the set.

Inserts and parallels are everywhere in this set. The Anthony is a Season Tip-Off parallel. Ray Allen is also shown on a parallel, a Holo Foil one. They're 1:50 packs in blasters, so I'm guessing that's the closest thing to a hit. There are throwbacks here too, going all the way back to 1980. Disappointingly, not a 3-card perforated salute.

Pack 2:

This was definitely the veteran star power pack, even if it disappointing to see Lebron get such a generic photo on his card. Unfortunately, I'd dupe up on both the Cunningham and Edwards later in the blaster. Although they were the only two dupes I landed, it still is disappointing in a product with only 7 packs.

I'm not sure if Anthony Davis really counts as a Power Player still, but that line of thinking might be influenced by the Dallas franchise at this point. Although this was used in other sports in the past, this is its first basketball appearance.

Pack 3:

Just some more inserts to highlight in this pack. Generation Now is a fairly reliable insert set to show up in Topps releases across all sports, so it is not a surprise to see it here, even if it is somewhat understated in its design.

Pack 4:

There's the Pacers version of "Someone from Montreal is going to get a ring" 2025 NBA finals. That's what the non-shiny version of the 8-Bit Ballers insert looks like.

Pack 5:

My first Raptors card of the box and the season. In terms of teams, the collation was really good, with every team making an appearance on at least one card. Even if Denver's only appearance was on the parallel shown earlier.

Clutch City, an insert set from almost 20 years ago and unseen since then is another returning one.

Pack 6:

Definitely the "big pack" in the blaster, with a pair of inserts featuring the cover boy. And those weren't even close to being the best card in the pack. Not in terms of value, but in terms of being incredible cardboard.

Since this parallel was also in this pack. While watching some of the breaks of this product, this photo immediately stood out as the best in the product, and I just needed to add one of these to my misc collection. Getting a bonus of it being a parallel where the design gives it even more of a 3D look to it makes it even greater. 

This is as good a place as any to note that the text write-up on the back of the base cards is the same as the ones on the 80 throwbacks. Or at least it was the same on both the Anunoby and the AJ Johnson. It's also a little disappointing that the throwbacks use modern back instead of the 80 design.

Maybe I just wanted to see the cartoons.

Pack 7:

Raptors card #2!

And a final tip-off parallel.

If I land a card I'm chasing, even if it is a parallel and not the base version, it's a good break! Thumbs up to the box!

And there you have it!