2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 26: Time To Reload

 I guess I'm going to have to order in some new repacks, as this was the final one in the box:

Football with a hit! Even with a base card, Prizm is a wonderful way to start off any post.

Thank you, Upper Deck, for beautifully capturing a Raiders lineman and the battle with swamp ass. Charming. Bills content! WOO-HOO! Bills content that doubles as OL content is even better. A kicker card is a nice follow-up. 2013 Rookies and Stars was one of my favourite designs of the 2010's - I loved all the colour. 

Marcus Robinson takes us back to a nice time when SP Authentic didn't mean a player with a random silver pattern behind the,. They really got their value off the purchase of a bunch of 1991 UD cards - almost like 1990 Bowman in hockey. Another Bills card! And an example of one of the most literal Hall of Fame cards.

And the hit - a punter hit! I might be the only person on the planet happy to get a punter's card as the hit. Long live the obscurity of special teams! 

This is the second time I've landed one of those Black Gold redemption cards in one of these repacks. I prefer this Barry Foster to the Kelvin Martin. Just because. 

And the finale. I know people that freak out over the tiniest corner ding probably hate these designs, but colourful designs > standard white/silver. 

There you have it!

My newest MST3K'ed movie auto

 

From their Comedy Central finale, Laserblast, here's Ron Masak! He'd play a sheriff in that movie, which would relate to his most famous role, Sheriff Metzger on Murder, She Wrote. MSW is kind of a comfort food show for me, so I can also consider it an auto from that as well.

Here, he's Harmonica Man from a Twilight Zone episode. 

Ron passed away last year, 9 days after Angela Lansbury. 

The Finale

 Time to finally close the TMV mailer with stuff that really didn't fit into any other category.

OK, these actually could have gone with the Mets portion of the mailer.

But there were a bunch of other Piazza cards in here that needed company. I like Oakland/San Diego/Florida cards of his almost as much as Mets cards for the oddness factor.

The baseball card portion of this wraps up with this large Vlad Sr swatch. Big enough to count as truly "Super Sweet"? Yes. Yes, it is.

Here's the hockey portion of the mailer. But what a portion! Alfie Plate! WOO-HOO!

Now I've shown off quite a few cards so far. Yet all these didn't explain why this package was bulkier than most. Here's the reason this package was so large.

Because there were Pinnacle Inside tins within! 

New Cancon! New Vladdy! WOO-HOO! I love when trades go kinda outside the box like this!

Thanks for all these goodies, Dennis! As always, I'm reloading for a future mailer heading your way!

There you have it!

Trade Stack: Diggs In

 I haven't done this for a bit. so let's make up for the gap with 3 cards!

All featuring guys named Diggs.

They join these:

If you have one of the cards on any of my wantlists, I'll trade the contents of the stack to you, in return for a single card (or sticker) from those lists. I'll throw cards onto the stack at intervals of my choosing (whenever I feel like it).

Want them all?

1. You make a comment on the most recent post of the trade stack staking your claim, and say what you're sending. (That's this one!)

2. You send me an e-mail providing your address.

3. I reply, giving you my address.

4. We each drop a PWE in the mail containing the promised card(s).

5. You're shipping to Canada, so remember that!

Back-to-Back

 What are the chances I'd go for 2 straight days with one-card posts from Onyx?

When one is a 2/14 guy, and the other is a guy who goes by Smoke Monday, pretty high.

And 4/20 doesn't fall on a Monday until 2026, and I wasn't willing to wait that long to show it off for a cheap giggle.

Welcome, Nolan Schanuel!

 

Another new member of the 2/14 club!

Given that he's already made his MLB debut, a little over a month after being drafted 11th overall by the Angels, I'll probably have a lot of chances to add cards of his in the near future. Until then, this card of questionable-licensing (if any) out of Onyx is my only card of his.

sucker.jpeg

 Or "2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 25"

I told myself I wouldn't but one of these - unless I came across a Josh Allen one. 

As the title says - sucker.jpg. At least I can say I bought this Pre MNF when optimism flowed through me. At least he (probably) didn't call for the draw on 2nd and 15 in OT.

Here's a look at the entire tin design. It looks like one of those rare Color Blast designs from Prizm. So there's that.

And the as-advertised packs. That Josh Allen on the 2022 packaging was as close as I got to and Bills content inside the tin. Also...Matt Corral? I know last year's QB class was questionable going in, but really?

Let's see if I got more value from the cards within than the tin. Well, at least I got more a shiny card in here (a green ice parallel), and a couple cards to fatten up a future trade package to Ann Arbor. 

Texans hot pack! And more shininess! McCourty is probably as close as I'll ever come to having a player in the NFL with my last name. 

That's a Gold Lazer parallel for the Parsons. Because of course they need a completely unnecessary 'Z' in there. 

And of course the Allen pack contains nothing but base cards, but at least it probably had the biggest star power among the 4 packs.

But yes, sucker.jpeg really applies. 

Bills Mega Post!

 

The season doesn't start until your favorite team kicks off, so it starts officially this evening. This makes it the perfect day to show off all the Bills cards, both from group breaks and COMC, that have shown up recently.

While nothing will hit the greatness of that Gem Masters of Jim Kelly shown off last week, there was still pretty nice stuff in there.

Here's the team set. While we can welcome Damien Harris to the roster, you have to feel sorry for O'Cyrus Torrence. Despite having such a great name, he might be the only rookie not to be listed with the new team. He was a second rounder, so why did he not get the dignity of being listed with the team, as even undrafted players were?

Josh Allen, as expected, is all over the insert portion of the set.

"We have a lot of his stickers left over from his rookie season - let's use 'em here!". Although with James Cook probably sliding into the starting RB position this year, it really doesn't give a sticker dump vibe. Yet.

Here's the base portion of Legacy. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining about the background being wiped in favour of a white background, because that red is a little obnoxious. The Legends looks nice for a set named Legeacy that is supposed to have an older feel to it, with the rookies portion being fine. For a set made-up as such with half being current stars and the other half being legends and rookies, this is what I expected from the checklist. 

I better get used to lots of Dalton Kincaid. 

No base inserts, but here's parallel of one. Bruce is probably my favourite all-time Bill (Jim Kelly's 2/14 status notwithstanding), so the more cards of his the merrier. 

Even if this technically isn't a Bills card, it is my first autograph of their 2023 #1 Draft Pick. The full name for this insert set is "Rookies Premium Penmanship Ruby". Calling that signature either Premium, or even Penmanship is a bit of a stretch. But, Beggars. Choosers. And all that.

Luminance! Here's a set that brings some great photo choices into the collection. Some players get to double up in this set, and Josh Allen is one of them. There aren't enough cards of Allen that feature him hurdling some unfortunate defender. I did fail to land my first Justin Shorter card in this.

Josh can also posterize defenders with a foot still on the ground. 

There is no doubt as to this being a Bills card. These are among the first NFL on-card autographs available, so that's a nice little bonus. At least I don't have to worry about Kincaid developing a wrist injury while signing all these cards. And if he performs at a level worthy of his draft status and hype as the top TE picked, I won't care. 

And I might as well squeeze in some COMC additions as well.

Remember Brian Brohm's time in Buffalo? He made a few starts, when the Bills were playing out the stretch as yet another miserable season would down. He did manage a 17.9 QB Rating in 2010, the season this card is from. That's only 17.9 higher than I managed.

Am I the type of person that would rely on an obvious sticker dump to add Bryce Brown into my Bills binders? Yes. Yes, I am.

Baylon Spector was a 7th rounder last year, but he made the team and got into some games. Which is better than many 7th round picks. He's still on the team this year, albeit on injured reserve.

From the 7th round to the 1st! Kaiir Elam, despite being a 1st rounder, didn't have any autographs as a Bill. Even collegiate products by Panini provided sparse options. But he was all over Wild Card products. So, with so many options, I might as well pick a rarer one. This blue laser parallel is limited to 5 copies. That's the number he's sporting in the photo. Every card in the print run is an ebay 1/1! 

There you have it!

Welcome, Lucy Boryer!

 

The latest addition to my 2/14 collection, and the third, joining Frank Collison and Allen Miller that makes it in via an autograph from a Star Trek themed set. She's probably best known for a few seasons on Doogie Howser.

Although I do wonder if this card exists more for the last name of the character she played.

As best as my non Trek-watcher's research can discern, she's no relation to the more famous Janeway, but I guess this card could be desired by someone who envisions some sort of connection. And goofs that collect cards of people born on 2/14. 

There you have it!

Even Nicer

Sure, seeing this card pop up for the Bills spot in the group break was nice, but getting it in hand is even nicer. I love how it is shiny, but not obnoxiously garish. Also, seeing it written out 'One of One' is so much classier than a simple 1/1.

As to whether this is a card for my Bills collection or my 2/14 collection, I'm considering it as both. Since there is no way this is a binder card, it can be classified either way. 

Because a magnetic is a far better home for this beauty!

There you have it!

Bills! Bills! Bills!

 Kick-off is only a handful of days away! Let's see what Bills goodies were in the TMV mailer! 

Holograms are always welcome. It would be even better if these were more common in modern releases.

Oh, those heady days of pre-season greatness for AJ McCarron in 2018. It is a good thing there wasn't any rookie waiting in the wings that year. Then again, I probably thought Peterman had to have shaken off the rust entering his sophomore year.

The Bills portion of this was either parallels, inserts or hits. Except the ones shown so far, all the parallels were unnumbered. The garish Marquez Stevenson in the top-middle spot is an Astral parallel. Don't confuse it with Astro parallels - those are in Revolution. 

Stevie Johnson and JP Losman ruled the numbers game with 4 numbered cards each.

But there were a few players that made one or two appearances. FYI, this post was already partially written prior to the news of Mike Williams' passing yesterday. How sketchy was the Bills QB situation where Trent Edwards might not even make the top 3 of misery-inducing Bills QBs from the post Kelly, pre Allen era? 

Hit parade! That Singletary would look so nice with a blue swatch, though. Or a different background colour. Other than that, a nice grouping of players I have varying memories of in Buffalo. 

There you have it!