Stocking Blaster Time

It is Boxing Day, so what better way to represent than to open a box of cards?

 

Ok, so it is not that type of box but since Santa included two blasters of Topps Chrome Football and one blaster of Topps Olympic in my stocking I will get to ripping packs today. First up is the blaster of 2014 Winter Olympics.

 I like the design which is very similar to the Topps Summer Olympic set from last year. What really grabbed my attention is the action shots, there are some amazing pictures in this set. I think if I were a fan of the Olympic Games I would probably pick up a hobby box and work to complete at least the base set.

The base set is made up of 100 cards and consist of athletes who will be on the 2014 U.S. Winter Olympic team, athletes who will be on the 2014 U.S. Winter Paralympic team and athletes who were expected to try out/compete for a position on one of the teams. Because the set was designed before the teams were finalized some athletes in the set may not be in Sochi. Each base card also has a parallel that is based on an Olympic medal; Bronze, Silver and Gold plus Rainbow. The base parallels are not numbered but the autograph and relic parallels are numbered.

 

With base card parallels I pulled almost 2 per pack; 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 8 Bronze. Here is one of each so you get an idea of what they look like, basically the logo in the bottom corner is a colored foil instead of the U.S. Olympic team logo.

 

 

I pulled two inserts

One Games of the Olympiad set: Erika Brown Curling

I do not know why but I am drawn to Curling, I don’t even know the rules but all of the action involved with tossing the stone down the ice just keeps my interest. Probably my inner ADHD getting the… oh look… a butterfly

One Venue of the Olympiad set: Iceberg Skating Palace

 

Did you know that the word “iceberg” is common to multiple languages including Russian and English? Now that Topps has informed me of this fact I now know and knowing is half the battle.

 

This location is where figure skating and short track speed skating will take place, it only takes coordinators 2 hours to convert the venue from one sport to the other, pretty speedy people.

I close out with a Hannah Kearney two-colored relic, not a bad way to end the break. Kearney won Gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and is expected to repeat this February.

 

Preview: 2014 Topps U.S. Olympic And Paralympic Team And Hopefuls

Scheduled Release Date: 11/6/13

Box Configuration: 24 packs/box, 8 cards/pack

SRP: @$55-60

 

Box Break:

1 Autograph

2 Relics

 

 

What to Expect:

If you are a fan of the Winter Games than this is the set for you, the base set contains 100 Olympic hopefuls as well as a selection of Paralympic athletes and with 192 cards per box you should be able to complete a base set along with a nice collection of parallels and inserts. The base cards even have a similar appearance to the popular Summer Olympics release.

 

The base set has three parallels based on the Olympic medals; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The base autographs and U.S. Olympic Team Relics have four parallels; Gold, Silver, Bronze and Gold Rainbow. No numbering has been announced but I would expect it to have a similar numbering to last year’s 2012 Topps Summer Olympics release.

 

There are three inserts, Games of the XXII Winter Olympiad (Sports that will appear in the 22^nd Winter Olympics), Venues of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games (The various locations around Russia where events will be held) and Olympic Heritage (Chronicling the past 21 Winter Olympics).

 

The hits include:

Base Autograph cards- At least 50 athletes will be featured with each card having four parallels. These autographs are sticker autos.

 

U.S. Olympic Champions Autograph cards- There are 10 athletes on the checklist, including Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi and Mike Eruzione, who have all been champions in their specific sport. These are on-card autographs.

 

U.S. Olympic Team Relics- At least 50 athletes included on the checklist, the set will feature athlete-worn relics. There are four parallels for this set.

 

U.S. Olympic Team Patch Cards, U.S. Olympic Team 2014 Patch Cards and U.S. Olympic Team Logo Pins- These three relic sets are manufactured patches

 

 

My Thoughts:

The Olympic sets are a specialized set, besides the hockey players, most of the Winter Olympic athletes do not normally show up on cardboard so fans are limited to these releases and if the 2012 Summer Olympic release was any indication of what to expect I would figure that this set will do well too.

 

 

Pros:

3 Hits per Box

Some On-card Autographs
Cheap Price

 

 

Cons:

Sticker Autographs

Manufactured Relics

 

 

Rating:

I would give this a mid-range rating; a fair score would be 3 out of 5 loosing points on the sticker autographs and manufactured relics.