Check out the Rest (Jan-2022)

I am ridiculously far behind on posting stuff, but I refuse to let this little thing I do die, so here is the rest of the COMC package I received like 2 weeks ago. One of my top 5 pick-ups of 2021, Sandy Alomar, Jr. has been in a ton of these Topps Archives Buyback releases, but I finally spotted one that featured one of his few Rockies cards. I paid $20 for this serial number 3/4 and was very happy to do so.

First Comc Mailday of 2019 (Part 2)

I passed on buying a couple boxes of Panini Revolution and instead just bough the two autographs I really wanted, along with the Bogdanovic I found for cheap as a pending redemption. It's so nice to see Jason Williams on-card autos with the Kings in modern products and having one in Revolution, my favorite NBA product is about as good as it gets. 

10 From Sportlots

2015 Gypsy Queen for some reason has been a huge pain to finish. I finished 2016 a long time ago and other than maybe 2011 no other set has given me as much grief. A quick sportlots search took me a little closer. For some reason these short prints have a high asking price most places, but these we all 50 cents a piece, a total no-brainer at that price. This plus another order leave me just 4 shy.

Check Out Everything Else

I already went through the Basketball and Rockies card, so here is the rest out of the scan folder. If you are will to put some serious time in trading you can get some decent card from the Upper Deck e-pack program, this Tokarski is the Gold version, I really don't want to do the math, but 10 Base = 1 Blue, 5 Blue = 1 Red, 5 Red = 1 Gold.

TCBD Trade #9

I can't think of a clever title or opening sentence, so right down to business. TCDB, still not in love with it, but it keeps some trades coming in, like this one, that had a Green Jon Gray parallel. I still don't like 2017 Gypsy Queen (BRING BACK THE MINIS), but I will probably be adding some in trades.

COMC Spring Cleaning Sale 1: Rockies

A recent sale over at COMC led to a few purchases which led to a shipment coming my way which led to a stack of cards to scan and post. Starting with one of my top 2 favorite cards from 2016. There were a lot of Trevor Story cards covering his rookie year, but this one really stood out, not an action shot, but a different look with a dugout shot. The high socks and the black vests really sell it for me.

2017 Gypsy Queen - The Good, The Meh, and the Ugly

It has been a few weeks since 2017 Gypsy Queen dropped and having time to get used to this years offering of the only set I build every year, I came with up some thoughts on what was a very different product from past years.

The Good:
- The autographs are always gorgeous and this year they really shine with a slightly different, and in my view better design than the base cards. As with the base set, the parallels are pretty meh, but overall I am a huge fan of the autos and the checklist has a nice mix of current and retired players.
- The base card design has grown on me, it's not my favorite GQ design, but it is fine. I really dislike the top with the team name, if it was more like the auto design I would be a bigger fan. I love the card backs, the number in middle was a complaint of some, but after sorting two boxes worth of base I had no issues with it.
- The high end cards look great, booklets, auto patches and Leather and Laces all look good, but way to high end for me, for a retro style set Gypsy Queen does high end very well.

The Meh:
- The inserts were fine, but a little boring, I liked Fortune Tellers more than I thought I would. In the past we had photo-centric sets like Play at the Plate, Glove Stories and Sticky Fingers. Nothing like that this year. I really miss Glove Stories, there were some great cards in those sets.
- The parallels were a big "meh" for me, if you read this blog (or care to go back to Top Parallels posts One & Two) I like parallels that give something different and usually flashy. Leaving a players name off, taking the black out, or making the photo Black & White doesn't add anything, in fact it literally takes things away.
- The short prints going from 6 per box to 2. Less cards to chase, but less chance of pulling one, again leading to me not wanting to buy more packs.

The Ugly:
- I think 2017 Gypsy Queen will be remembered more for what it didn't have than what it did.
1. Minis and all the mini parallels - This one really bugged me, for me in the past it has added value in pc cards and trade bait. I would pick up the odd pack hoping for a cool mini, no chance of that now. I feel very certain I won't rip another pack of Gypsy Queen this year.
2. Framed parallels - These have been around since the start in 2011, and they wouldn't have been such a huge loss other than the fact this was the only set that did them, and if they were replaced by something worthwhile, but they were not.
3. Base and mini framed relics - I don't collect relics so this didn't bother me personally, removing them takes some value out of a box, but with the price drop, it's a wash.
4. Printing Plates - Did these get scrapped as well? I have seen none, just more value removed by Topps.

Summary: Overall, I am very disappointed in this years offering. I just feel Topps took a lot of the fun out of this set, comparing my wantlist to other years, I really don't care that much about anything other than the base set. I will admit, my two boxes sucked and if I had pulled a big card I might feel a but different, but if I knew this years product was so boring, I would have just bought a base set off ebay and chased the short prints. Topps if you are reading this, please, bring back mini's at least, come up with some good parallels, the mini retail foils last year were great, how about full size foil parallels, how about some acetate, even take the price back up, just please, do something interesting with it in 2018.

Gypsy Queen Set Help

Set help going both ways between Sportscards From The Dollar Store and myself, staring one of the box loaders, I am still torn between "looks amazing" and "hard to store/display", but leaning toward looks amazing.

2017 Gypsy Queen Trade/Wantlist

Wantlist

Updated Feb 27, 2019

Base
Complete!

Short Prints
303, 305, 306, 307, 309, 314, 316, 317

Autos
Raimel Tapia, Trevor Story

Green Back
David Dahl, Ian Desmond

Tradelist

Base

6, 8, 8, 17, 21, 27, 29, 33, 43, 44, 46, 48, 49, 58, 62, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 74, 76, 76, 80, 86, 88, 92, 94, 95, 97, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 112, 117, 124, 127, 130, 131, 133, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 152, 159, 160, 161, 164, 167, 174, 176, 179, 180, 181, 182, 189, 190, 192, 193, 194, 198, 201, 206, 208, 210, 215, 216, 218, 220, 223, 224, 225, 227, 229, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 239, 242, 243, 246, 251, 254, 256, 257, 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 265, 266, 269, 270, 272, 274, 275, 277, 290, 291, 292, 296, 298, 300

Short Prints
301

Purple
23 Blake Snell, 47 Solarte, 144 Lindor, 264 Adrian Beltre

Green Back
157 Kipnis

Missing Blackplate
100 Mookie Betts, 111 Freddie Freeman, 113 Edwin Encarnacion, 155 Max Kepler, 284 Tommy Joseph

Missing Nameplate
205 Alex Dickerson, 207 Hellickson

Original Art
CH2 Hamels, RC2 Cano, XB2 Bogaerts, RCL2 Clemens, MS1 Schezer, ZG2 Greikne

Fortune Tellers
Pujols, Trout, Cano, Ivan Rodriguez, Bregman, Lester, Hamels, Bumgarner

Purple Auto
Joe Musgrave

Glassworks
Jose Fernandez, Zack Greinke

2017 Gypsy Queen Box Break 2

Forgive my laziness but I am not breaking down the second box as much as the first. Mostly because they are so similar. A couple differences, box 2 contained 2 base doubles, and switch a Black & White parallel for a green back, that's about it. My box topper is Zack Greinke, despite the potential storage issues, these are very nice looking cards.

2017 Gypsy Queen Box Break 1

Just in time for Opening Day, my annual 2 boxes of Gypsy Queen show up. Topps really changed this brand up, and I will cover my thoughts on that more in my summary post, for this one I will just break down what a box gets you.

2017 Gypsy Queen First Look

Every year I have a small dread that Topps will discontinue the Gypsy Queen line, there is no reason for this, just a little voice in my head that likes to torment me with worse-case scenarios. My fear can be eased for another year as details of 2017 Gypsy Queen are out. First impressions, not good. It looks like it is not finished, I really don't the look of the faded photo, as opposed to the framed style of every other year of GQ. The Gypsy Queen logo is also nothing like previous years. Honestly, I don't mind the bottom half of the card, but the top half is a disaster.