MY LITTLE PONY-JO!

Last September I bought a pack of Pony cards and got this:

oh jeebus he's on about the ponies again

This is a card of Twilight Sparkle's combination Library/Treehouse made out of an actual tree. There's even a basement with a Dr. Frankenstein-like laboratory in there. Carved out of a tree that's still alive even though ponies have crashed right through it at least three times so far. I dunno how either it's magic or some shit stop asking questions. In the first series set, these 'Location' cards were one per pack and confused a lot of people who saw an early checklist thinking that this was going to be a CCG or something. (The actual My Little Pony CCG comes out next month, but I digress). These cards are extremely common and I had a couple of this one already when I pulled this particular card, but there was something special about this one.

i thought he was over this pony nonsense

The special thing about this card is not that 'enjoys' is spelled 'ejoys', although that is an error that was corrected in the second printing. Correcting errors was something done to baseball cards a long time ago back when the cards were popular enough to warrant a second printing. You won't have to worry about corrected errors in your new Topps sets so you have plenty of time to keep on chasing manufactured variations. The special thing about this card is the code at the bottom. it's impossible to see by the scan, but the print of that code is slightly raised from the rest of the card. Most other printed codes are flush with the card. You could enter that code on the URL listed on the card and see if you were a winner! I wasn't. I put the card away and forgot about it for a while.

I got more packs and more codes after this one and started entering them again one night when I stumbled across this one. Since that lettering was slightly different than the others thought 'what the hell' and reentered it again and got this:

pony screenshots even this man has no life

Voice actor autograph!

I IZ A WINNAH

Apparently the first time I entered that O as an 0 or maybe an 0 as an O or got my 5's and S's confused or something but who cares, it worked. The font was changed in the second printing to make it less confusing as well. So now you know the secret to finding winner cards in the first printing of Enterplay MLP cards: look for the codes with slightly raised text. Too bad the contest ended last June.

Needless to say I was very excited about this. I downloaded the official rules PDF and everything. I stuck the card in a plastic sheet all by itself in my Official Enterplay MLP binder (don't judge me) for safe keeping. And promptly forgot about it until the following May.

So the contest expires on June 1st, it's past the Ides of May and I realize I done goofed. I scrounged a self addressed bubble mailer, envelope, 2 $2.05 stamps, a card saver top loader, whatever personal info I was required to send and the actual card itself and mailed it off, hoping for the best. By about labor day I pretty much gave up on it, figuring that I sent it too late or didn't follow the rules to the letter or something.

THEN.

LAST WEEK.

THIS ARRIVED:

ffs can't dayf just chase after puigs like a normal person

OMG RARITY

AUTOGREEF CARD OF SAINT TABITHA OF THE GERMAINS

The card came despite my idiocy and it was one of the three autos I really wanted from the set. (other two being Andrea Libman and Kathleen Barr)(sorry all other non-best-pony voice actors) And in an twist, my redemption card ended up being, literally, a rarity.

please tell me he's not going to be posting more ponies now that the new season is almost here

One interesting thing about this card is how the corners are much more rounded on this card than all the others in the set. The base cards have rounded corners two, just not playing card rounded like this one. Well, it's interesting to me. So there's a good redemption card (technically contest card but whatevs) story for you all to file away. Hopefully I have another good story to tell soon because...

OMG TOPPS CARDS IS WORSE THAN THE DAMN PONIES ROTTEN MONOPOLY HOBBY RUINERS

If not, well, I can always post ponies.

Twelve 12s for 12/12/12 part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Here's the numbers, now here's the cards.

 Did you guess all of them? (ok so I cheated on Heyward)

TIEM TO WATCH TEH PONI

Go to YouTube, type in the search bar "Sonic Rainboom" and watch teh poni. You will not be disappoint. The last time I linked a pony episode here it got pulled so I'm not doing that ever again. You'll have to work for your pony, but you will be rewarded.

If you follow my instructions, you'll be able to answer those trivia questions easy. If not you can still probably answer them if you cheat and look at the bottom. But then you'll miss out on I. AM. RARITY!!! and you'll be sad without even knowing why. Don't cheat. Don't be sad.

YAY PRETTY FASHION PONY

ME: YAY STANDEE INSERT OF RARITY WEARING A PRETTY DRESS YAAAAAY

Every reader of this blog: Pony obsession aside, what the hell is a standee?

ME: IZ INSERT CARD OF PRETTY PONEE WEARING DRESS OR OTHERWISE COSTUME THAT CAN GET FOLDED UP SO PONI CAN STAND

Sane people: Ok, that makes sense. So um, are you going to fold it so it can stand up?

ME: NOOOOOOOOO WHAT YOU CRAZY? IT LOSE ALL VALUE! MUST HAVE GEM MINT RARITY NO FOLDY FOLDY 

People slowly backing away in fear:  Riiiiight. Value. Will you fold one if you get a double?

ME: I shall consider it.

A Trading Card Rarity

What? You expected something different from this blog?

REALLY REALLY WANT

Quite possibly the best sketch card ever created:

The only way this could be better is if Deadpool was brushing Pinkie Pie instead of Rarity. Of course it has been suggested that Deadpool is actually Pinkie Pie in disguise (or perhaps vice versa) so that might not even be a possibility. Here's the artist Peter Nguyen's DA page if you'e interested.

I also kinda sorta want one of these. Maybe I should skip work on June 29th and head down I-75.

Thirteen 1978 Topps Cards

Twelve good, one bad.

Warren is staring into your SOUL.

Cobra and Carew on one card is dangerous levels of Coolness and Bad-assery.

Dave Chalk's nickname is the Honey Badger because he just don't care.

In my mind, Luis Tiant is in the Hall of Fame. If not for pitching, than for his mustache. I am unanimous in this.

Bob Forsch is either in a hurricane or a cow came up and licked him right in the side of his face.

This one here threw me. The 'As Player' photo has a picture of him playing for Boston. The Boston Braves. Checking the stats on the back, he also played for the Atlanta Crackers. Looks like I have to open up a space in my Braves team set binder now. Sigh.

The only good checklist is a marked checklist. This lucky stiff pulled the Winfield!

This could have been the exact Vic Davalillo card that guy marked off on that checklist. You never know...

I never understood why the Cubs always did the floaty head team pictures. Was the owner back then worried that if he gathered them all in one spot long enough to take the photo, their power of suck would reach critical mass and cause a black hole?*

This is simultaneously one of the worst and best photos ever on a baseball card.

I always liked Jack Clark for some reason. I think I have a soft spot for epic eyebrows.

I like Lou a whole lot better now that he's retired. I think it's because I was mad at all the attention he got every time he was ejected from a ballgame. We all know who the true king of ejections is, now don't we?

Boooooo! BOOOOOOOO!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

And here's that pony picture I drew in the video in case you wanted a better look.

Liston never knew what hit him.

*As a Braves fan I really should not be making fun of ANY team from the late '70s. Dear Christ, did we stink back then.

I screwed up my mailday video so I drew you a pony

Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin.



Here's a selection of Cubs Tom inflicted upon me in the package.

Plastic sheet modification time!

So Night Owl loves 1975 Topps Mini cards. He doesn't love that there are no plastic pages designed to hold them tight. That can be remedied! You can make your own custom sheets that hold '75s snug as a bug in a rug! Let's make some now!

I already had my craft stuff out for a different project so this took hardly any time at all. You just need some normal 9 pocket pages and a little ingenuity and elbow grease!

Also: a ruler, an X-Acto knife, some useless cardboard to protect the pages and some scotch tape. I don't actually have any scotch tape, so I'm using blue painters tape instead. Actually I have about 47 rolls of scotch tape, I just can't find any of it. That stuff always seems to disappear whenever you need it! Especially when you're trying to wrap a birthday present 5 minutes before you go to the party. Thankfully I keep some duct tape around at all times for that. I'm using a Fleer Genuine JD Drew card for the plastic page protector. you can't get any more useless cardboard than that.

NOW KIDS - PAY ATTENTION. Using sharp objects is dangerous! 9 billion people in the US were injured by improperly using Xacto kinves last week alone! You need to stay focused while doing this so you don't hurt yourselves! NO distractions! NO Alcohol! (No more at least) NO Ponies! NO staring at your cheap lamp that looks oddly like a robot boob! Pay attention to what you're doing you idiot!

Figure out how wide the new pocket on the page needs to be. By eyeballing both cards in the pocket we can see that the incision needs to be cut right at the team name for the pocket to safely hold the mini card. Or you could carefully measure using the ruler but screw that noise. Are you saying I have inferior eyeballing skills?

Ok, the card is in the pocket. I'm cutting from the back to make the plastic surgery less noticeable. If you put two cards per pocket that's really your problem at this point. Put down the ruler where you need to make the cut. Hold it down firmly and make a cut from just above the seam to just under the top of the sheet. Be careful! The card will want to slide around in there! Don't slip and ruin the page! Or, you know, slice your finger or something.

The slice is in, and thanks to JD it didn't go all the way through the sheet! Now get the tape.

This is a little tricky, but take a strip of tape and get it underneath the little flap on the side. Then stick it on the back back of the sheet. Now the new pocket is sealed, If you're anal, you can put another piece of tape on the back to seal down the flap.

Here's the view from the front. That dark part is where the tape is stuck. You can't see it because my camera sucks.

THIS IS VERY TEDIOUS WORK THAT REQUIRES FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION.
To keep your energy levels up, take a break to have a snack if necessary. I like Blue Diamond Wasabi & Soy Almonds. The Wasabi dust gets all over my fingers, and then I forget and rub my eyes and then I cry for an hour. To avoid this, I'm using some pencils as makeshift chopsticks. Yes, I stole this idea from Wondermark. Too bad I forgot about that pair of actual chopsticks visible at the top of the photo. My erasers taste good when I chew them now though!

Hooray! One pocket is done! You'll just have to take my word for it because this photo is awful! Now I just have to do that EIGHT MORE TIMES! Time to focus!

Oh man, this scene is hilarious! "AS CELESTIA (ouch) AS MY WITNESS, I (ow!) WILL NEVER GO SISTER (oooch!) LESS AGA(OW!!!)IN!" Oh yeah, that's gonna leave a mark.

Four episodes, three beers and a couple band-aids later we have the completed product! It looks better with scotch tape. And less blood. For a team set you just need to do that three more times! For the entire '75 set, just 76 more times! Happy crafting, you plastic page modders!