Chronicling

 Lots of retail Chronicles at Wally World! Let's bust a few of 'em!

Football is up first. Despite what it says on the pack, there were no green parallels to be found today.

And to play into the short-attention span nature of the the set, the first card out isn't even a Chronicles design. But if you take away the silver foil for the name, this is a pretty nice looking representation of 1993 Donruss baseball in 2023.

We have some group break dupes from a recent Seattle purchase here, even though this does provide me with my first actual pull of 2/14 baby Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

While I didn't get one of the green parallels, I did get one of the Astro parallels of the Revolution portion of the set. On a whole, the Revolutions are retail exclusive. This is also the third card that is of a current Seahawk, but since that break was of the hobby version, this one isn't new.

Some foil-y cards. Even with the re-used photo, the Black design might be my favourite design used in this release. In some lights, that does appear to have a green tinge to it, but I don't think it is one of the parallel. Also, back-to-back from the same set? At least one of them is of a dude (nick)named Tank, Tank > Nathaniel. 

It is a Tank hot pack once we get to the acetate portion of the pack! Although I'm more hesitant to proclaim that Tank > Cartavious.  It is also a Zay Flowers hot pack, as he makes a second appearance here. Such is the nature of a rookie-heavy set.

WOO-HOO! New Jim Kelly for the 2/14 collection! The best thing about this being a Miami card is that there's no doubt that this will end up in that binder as opposed to the Bills one. If you've being doing the math, this is also the 16th card in a purported 15 card pack. Last year, a Score pack contained Jadeveon Clowney and Drew Bledsoe with a few cards of each other, so this isn't the first time I've gotten a pair of 2/14 folks in the same pack.

One nice pack deserves another!

A dupe from the previous pack isn't the best way to start. Aside from that Walker being a dupe from the Seattle break, everything else here would be new.

No green in this pack either, but here's another Astro parallel.

Here's some foil-y cards. Another double image card here, but I think I prefer the Black design just because the background image isn't as overwhelming there. This is just a little bit too crowded. I'm not sure why, but Lamar Jackson collegiate cards are a favourite of mine. I'm disappointed there's no little factoid on the back of the Classic design in this set.

Hey! A hit! It is a hit of the only person on the planet who should tell airport security that "No, I didn't pack my own bags.". This card was supposed to be released last year, but Prizm Draft was shelved, and some of the lower end cards for that set ended up here. But an auto in retail is still an auto in retail, even if he can't stay on the sticker. 

I'm not sure who I'd be more surprised to see in a 2023 release back in 2015/6ish. Geno Smith or Johnny Manziel.

And the finale for this pack. At least Revolution isn't the sole domain of veteran content. 

An auto is nice, but finding a pair of 2/14 cards in the same pack, even if one was a dupe, makes the first pack the easy winner of the two.

Let's end with some NBA Chronicles!

First up, an actual base design this time. The set is a little different than football, in the sense that the whole set, aside from parallels and autos, are a base set. The base design is really the only one with a notable veteran presence. 

The paper base cards. Banchero is the big name in this bunch (and the only guy from the packaging in this pack), but Luminance is probably my favourite design from this pack to show up. I love the darkened arena vibe. There's also a nice collection of alternate/City jerseys in this bunch. The variety of the jerseys along with the design is one of the reasons Chronicles is my favourite basketball release.

More City jerseys with the foil portion of it. 

Unlike with the football and the green parallels, I actually did get some Teal content in this pack. Given the past 4 cards, maybe this pack should have been available for purchase in Texas instead. I'm divided whether or not the teal parallel of that Malaki Branham card, complete with that jersey would be perfect or obnoxious.

I think Classics are also exclusive to the hanger format. The Memphis Grizzlies also make their third appearance among the 15 cards. This one is an orange parallel limited to 75, and any time you can get a card numbered within double digits from a retail pack, that's some good luck to make you forget about the lack of team variety. 

Factoid on the back too! WOO-HOO!

There you have it!