Joy of a completed set - 2012 MLP Pink Series Blindbags

My first completed set in 2012 and it's of cards inserted as an afterthought in packages containing figurines of tiny horses.

Actually it's not my first completed set of 2012. I've completed several older sets this year. It's not even a 2012 product as these My Little Pony bindbags were being sold in 2011. But I didn't really start buying the things until this year so that counts for something, right?

I have the complete set of cards but not the complete set of ponies. The last card came in a package from Flywheels that luckily had the only one I was missing from the set. I'm not telling you which one it is because I really really don't need the pony. I have enough of these little ponies on my desk right now to start my own ranch. Maybe I'll enter Applejack in the Kentucky Derby. Here's the whole set, paged out and scanned.

THE BIG SIX and three others. Note the main characters get their own font for their names. Everypony else gets the default MLP font. Also note that some of the ponies look exactly like the others, just with different colors. Get used to it.

Backs have a small write up, the card number, the cutie mark and a small picture of the pony. In later series, all this stuff is on the front of the card.

POD PONIES. Hasbro really likes using the recolored stock images for their toys. You see this stuff on their larger brushable toys all the time. It's kinda unsettling when you see it like this though.

The writeup for the random ponies isn't as in depth as the main characters. Roseluck is the only one on this page that's actually been seen on the show as far as I recall. Might be wrong though.

Firecracker Burst pyro pony is easily my favorite second-tier character in this set. At least until I take my extra Lily Blossom and attack it with acrylic paint and turn her into Derpy. Pegasi got the shaft in this set now that I've been able to look at it all together like this. There are only five in the whole set and two of those are Rainbow Dash.

The "Special Edition!" sparkly ponies aren't rare or anything. No inserts in this set! They're just clear with sparkly glitter sprayed on that comes off in your hand if you play with them too much. Ot hold them at all. Or breathe while in the same room as the figure. Hasbro made a WHOLE SET of the glittery ones too, one that you will see eventually assuming I can finally track down the past card for that set.

I got mad hits like

This was originally posted back in September but that post has somehow become a magnet for spammers so I nuked it. I have included the two actual comments on the post below for posterity.

bluebattinghelmet said...

Love the Beasties reference!

September 19, 2012 4:24 PM 

gcrl said...

Ah. I expected the Adam sandler reference. As in "he converted".

September 19, 2012 11:25 PM 

The Box

It hasn't been a big secret around here that new baseball cards have bored the crap out of me this year. Just haven't been interested at all except for a little Archives frenzy that overtook me for about a month. This is really strange too because I like most of the 2012 designs. The flagship "Hindenburg" design is very attractive and quite fitting for Topps. Allen & Ginter has a snazzy Art Deco feel to it. Heritage ganks the 1963 design which was always one of my favorites. The problem is that they're the same old sets they've been for years, except now all their flaws have been magnified and exacerbated. Ginter still has truckloads of mini inserts and parallels, and now there are MORE of them and the subjects are kinda lame. Heritage is still hard to complete but now there's dozens of SSPs and variations thrown in the mix. And Topps? Well, shit. You can't even COMPLETE that set through ripping packs thanks to Brycie Har Har, so what's the point? Inserts? Topps recycled all of those from the 2001 set. May as well just buy a factory set a couple years down the road if you want that set*.

So this year, many trips to the card aisle ended up with me just shaking my head and walking away empty handed. One problem with that: when I created this blog I named myself Cardboard Junkie for a reason. This is not a fun childhood hobby for me, this is a full blown pathological obsession. I gotta collect something or I get itchy. I really need an intervention, but until that happens I'm stuck with my craziness.

Ponies have helped. Not gonna lie, you're gonna see more ponies here and soon. I'm running out of pony cards to collect though. Vintage has also gotten me through some rough spells but my Vintage show hasn't been her since May and my work schedule is hindering my attendance at other shows and my LCS. But even though I don't have a junkie fix, The Sickness still has a grip on me and when that happens I find... alternate means of getting my cardboard high.

Right down the street from me is a flea market. It's maybe a 20 minute walk if you don't mind walking in ditches or dodging pick-em-up trucks because Georgia doesn't believe in sidewalks. This used to be my #1 source for feeding my addiction. There were at least three or four guys selling cards there every week including one with every new product you could imagine and one with every vintage card you could think of. The county unsuccessfully tried to run 'em out of business a few years ago so they could build a strip mall but they only managed to run off half of the sellers including my card connection. There's still a guy selling cards there, but it's mostly junk wax that he has priced at turn of the century levels because he doesn't know any better. I can find a couple cards here and there I need if I look but lately I just don't have the urge to look.

On the other side of the market though is a comic and toy seller. I like comics. I like toys. I checked out the place once and discovered they had unopened non-sports wax. Including a box of my favorite non-sports set ever. Sooooo I bought a non-sports box. And maybe a couple more. And perhaps the shopkeep started recognizing me as that dude with the hobo beard who keeps buying cards. And there's the *tinest* chance that I was offered a deal on some non-sports stuff. And maybe I took it.

What you see here is a 5000-count box full of near sets of non-sports cards. about 25 or 30 of 'em. Instant non-sports collection basically. Plus on top is a wax bos of Wacko-Saurs stickers that was thrown in because I mentioned I liked the 'dinosaur cards'. All that for the price of a blaster.

Along with the near sets was a big pile of random junk that didn't fit in with anything else. This pile by itself is probably worth the money spent. For one thing, it's going to fuel this blog for at least the next couple of months while I get everything else sorted out. I hope you guys like non-sports cards because now that the new stuff bores me to tears you're going to be seeing quite a bit of it here. Along with the occasional baseball card older than me and some tiny horses thrown in here and there for variety. Don't count on any '13 products though. Unlike this year when I was sucked in by Archives and Ginter in 2013 I might really be out for good this time.

*B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but Bryce Harper's one and only truly rookie card! You have to rip open packs! Bullshit. Card #661 is card #661. I'll let my grandkids curse me for not having the 'good' one.

Happy Birthday

I just announced major changes at the blog so my first post after that is finding something interesting on someone else's blog, getting an idea at 10pm, quickly rushing around to scan everything and getting a nice little caffeine buzz to help me write the post. So basically what I've been doing for years. Tonight we have a package from Captain Canuck.

PRETTY PINK PRINCESS PONIEZ

So basically I told Canuck that I was way overdue in sending him cards so he was not to send me any more cards period I really mean it don't do it. So, he sent me this instead. Which honestly I liked better than cards. My daughter already has this coloring but but now I have one. Mine! All Mine! To color just the way I like! Yay! I think I shall color Cap'n Canook's favorite pone first:

Rainbow Brite. I feel ok with posting this package finally because the cards I've had put aside for Canuck are finally inside of a bubble mailer and ready to mail as soon as I fill out the customs form. With a little bit of luck (ie. if I don't sleep 'till 2pm tomorrow) I'll have it in the mail along with a few other packages. 

The other reason I feel compelled to post this is because apparently it's Dick Perez' birthday today! Happy Birthday Dick! I wish I could paint pictures of ballplayers half as good as Dick Perez. The reason this is at all relevant in a post about a pony coloring book is that Canuck very deviously snuck this card into the book in express disregard for my 'no cards' request. 

1982 Donruss Diamond King Phil Niekro autographed by Perez. Ok Canuck, you get a pass this time. Not much to say about this other than it's amazing. The '82 DK set is one of the best subsets ever made and here's my favorite Pre-Chipper Brave. Signed by the artist! This painting really speaks to me now that I'm trying to be an artist myself. One thing it says is: Cap logos are hard. Shoot, caps period are hard. I hate drawing caps. So this is a hell of a thing to sneak in a coloring book, eh? But wait there's more. 

Eeyup. Murphy too. In the grand pantheon of Braves cards going back over 130 years, this card right here might be in the top 10. If you know of 10 other Braves cards nicer looking than this one, I'd like to see 'em. And look at that cap! PERFECT. Oh hey, what's this here wedged in between the Fluttershy picture and the Pinkie Pie word search? 

OH HAI JOHN SMOLTZ. Yeah Canuck sent three of these signed cards. With another perfect cap! He really is the best Braves card blogger ever. I almost feel bad for bipping him wi- oh, um. Nevermind. No bipping in his package! Happy Birthday Dick and may Canuck's Man U win this week. (they'll win anyway but hey it's the thought that counts)

Changes are coming

Agonizing, slow, glacier-like changes, but changes nonetheless. See, I changed the header! Isn't that nice? Here's the Lemmer background for it if you want it. I'd actually like to get this printed out on actual tangible objects and wrap Christmas presents in it or wallpaper my bathroom with it or put it on flannel and make a kilt out of it. Only worn in the traditional Scottish style, of course.

If have any specific requests or if there's anything you want to see/not see, yell at me in the comments. I know changes are coming, but I'm kinda flexible on what those changes might actually be. Or ignore this post completely and make me consider abandoning Blogger for Tumblr like all the cool kids are doing. I swear I'll do it! Eventually! Well at least once Tumblr becomes the new LiveJournal (or Blogger).

1986 Topps Do Not Want List

Just throwing this out there for my own reference. I very likely have all these cards in my house right now, I just need to track them down. Don't send me any! I have too many cards as it is! I SWEAR TO GAWD IF YOU PEOPLE START SENDING ME '80S TOPPS CARDS THE WORLD SHALL BURN.

COMPLEEEEEEEEEEETE (Thanks Chris Mays)

A
B
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D

My Little Pony - Season 3 Episode 5 - TRIXIEPALOOZA

GUESS WHO'S BACK

BACK AGAIN

TRIXIE'S BACK

TELL A FRIEND

Trixie's back, Trixie's back, Trixie's back, Trixie's back...

Livestreams here.

For pre-Trixie entertainment, why not watch my terrible YouTube video of an Enterplay My Little Pony  Tin box rip. The video is really bad, but the cards are pretty good.

I'll probably dump a bunch of Trixie pics in this post too because Great and Powerful Trixie. After the episode is over I may present commentary assuming they didn't ruin Trixie causing me to ragequit the fandom. Kinda worried about this actually. Oh well, onward to PONY!

 I'll figure out the sources for these pics later. Yeah, I'm a lazy sod. Maybe 10 people will see this post anyway.

ARHGWTRGEARFGVARTEGVVREF#$TR#FQVQ#%$RTG$%^TY H%^WH$%YW^R

BEST EPISODE OF ANY TV SHOW OF ALL TIME PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE THROUGHOUT ALL MULTIVERSES

BJ and the Barves

I love this signing.I don't care what anyone thinks about this deal. I don't care if you think we overpaid. I don't care if you think Upton strikes out too much. I don't care if you (stupidly) think BJ has attitude problems. I don't care if you wanted Bourn instead. I don't care what you think because you're wrong. BJ Upton fills a ton of holes in the Braves' lineup and immediately improves the team without costing a hundred million dollar contract. But forget all that. This is the best deal Frank Wren ever made for one reason:

WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO SIGN NICK SWISHER NOW.

Welcome to Atlanta, Bossman Junior.

RIP Marvin Miller

When I heard the news this morning I was going to write up a post about Marvin Miller but then I remembered I already did five years ago. The Veteran's Committee had one last chance to elect Marvin to the Hall a couple of years ago and blew it again. Oh well. Here's some other random tributes to Marvin I've stumbled across this morning:

Olbermann

Craig Calcaterra

David Pinto

Night Owl

Chris Mays

MLB

Morgan Freeman Rookie Card

A week off, too much to eat and drink and a really good Pony episode has my spirits up a bit. Up enough to jump back into posting this week at least. I snuck out to the flea market on my lunch break this weekend and snagged some goodies from the comic shop. One of the things I got was a box of 1991 Topps Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves cards.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. I've been bitching about how crappy Topps products have been all bloody year and then I blow money on Robin Hood?! Not even Errol Flynn but Kevin Costner??!? Well I did it because reasons.

Reason 1: lots of good supporting actors in there like Alan Rickman, Christian Slater, Brian Blessed and Mike McShane.

Reason 2: If it wasn't for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves there would never have been a Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Think about that.

Reason 3: You can actually get a complete set out of this product. (took 13 packs, check the Twitters)

And the biggest reason of all:

MORGAN FREEMAN ROOKIE CARD.

At least I think it's a Morgan Freeman rookie card. I have not yet found a Driving Miss Daisy set and sadly The Electric Company never got a trading card set. I wonder what set Rita Moreno's rookie card is in?

The set is on glossy Tiffany stock and was packed in plastic wrappers. The purist in me prefers my old Topps cards in wax wrappers but the see-through plastic helped me to cheat and find cards I needed to complete the set on the back. I probably would have had to rip three quarters of the box to build the set otherwise.

Also: Stickers! Does Bryce Harper have a rookie sticker? No, I don't think so! Stick it, Bryce!
Morgan Freeman > Bryce Harper.

The Hobby Is Dead And I Don't Feel So Good Myself

I have today off. I don't usually get weekend days off and to be honest I've already spent an hour today connected to work to clean some stuff up but technically I have today off from work.

There is a card show in Atlanta today. Apparently there are a couple of monthly card shows here that were off my radar. I've never been to them, but a card show is a card show. I'm not going. It's down by Perimeter and I don't feel like driving 40 minutes to go to a card show. Especially when I have my wife's crappy car today.

There's a flea market near me. Literally within walking distance. There's a card dealer and a comic dealer that are still there although the really good dealers have all gone away. There might even be someone new there, it's been a while since I've explored the place. Not going to that either even though my fat ass could use a nice long walk. Not interested in hunting around for stuff I probably don't really need.

My bookmarks as a rule are a gigantic mess. I have 40 tabs open at any given time and when my laptop starts to choke I'll start saving things for later all over the place. One bookmark folder is somewhat organized though. I have a folder for items from Check Out My Cards that I need. That place is pretty much an instant card show. I can knock out a series of 1972 Topps for under five bucks if I wanted. There's an old card from the '30s that I've had my eye on. There's always cheap J-Heys on there. Not really in the mood to try to remember my password today.

It might be the offseason, it might be the fact that real life concerns are stressing me out at the moment, it might be the fact that I've been sick on and off for over a month. Just not feeling baseball cards right now. It doesn't help that Topps no longer wants my money and there has been the collector's version of the Israeli-Gaza conflict on Twitter over it. I don't even want to mess with my own cards. I've got a '78 Topps set to binder, haven't done it. There's about 30 packs of 1988 Score not two feet from me and an unfinished set sitting in a box across the room. Don't feel like ripping and sorting. I probably should start stuffing some bubble mailers today to get rid of some of this stuff. Maybe I'll do that tonight.

Like I said, just not feeling it right now. This is probably the 3rd or 4th post like this I've written over the past few years too. I've got the week off for Thanksgiving. I think I'm taking it off here too. I might be back next week. Maybe next month. Next year? Eh, who knows. Might pull a Stale Gum and abandon Blogger for Twitter. Or jump into Tumblr like everyone else. Or maybe it's time for the Junkie to start a 12 step program?

Y'all keep doing what you enjoy, I gotta figure out what that is for me.

The only Trout that matters

The recent election has conditioned me to oppose whatever group is being noisiest at the time. Looking forward to Drunky Cabrera's MVP award this evening.

Now that everyone reading this is pissed off, welcome to Gerald Laird, the Barves' new backup catcher. AKA starting catcher for two months while McCann heals. I've got cards of his all over the place but I wouldn't be able to find one if I looked for an hour so no image for you.

Also also: Wax Heaven is back. Everyone go follow Mario immediately.

DO IT.

NOW.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season Three Premeire

Premiere's in 10 minutes! Go here and find a stream!

Election Clean Up Post.

We all have a good night sleep? We all get the political angst out of our system? Good. Gonna dig all those bad feeling up again because I was too lazy to finish up my posts last night. Here's all the states/cards I didn't get to.

Nevada - Obama

I pretty much had to post this one eventually.

Oregon - Obama

Damned Portland hippies voting for liberals.

Hawaii - Obama

ANOTHER home state for these jokers. Is Indonesia a home state too? Obama went to school there!

Colorado - Obama

Denver sure loves their Broncos

Virginia - Obama

Virginia is for lovers!

Florida - ???

They'll be counting votes till doomsday, here's a GPK.

Idaho - Romney

Insert Napoleon Dynamite joke here.

Alaska - Romney

I can see Russia from my house!

Yay! it's over!

Now time to fight over Clinton v Christie 2016!

270

Four more years for Barack Obama! The poor unlucky bastard!

FREE WELFARE, GAY MARRIAGE, ABORTIONS, MUSLIMISM, DEATH PANELS AND ATHEISM FOR EVERYONE!!!

OUR NATION'S FUTURE SUMMED UP ON ONE IMAGE

OHIO

RIPOMNEY

That's all she wrote, folks...

IOWA

Iowa goes for Obama!

You got trouble! Right here in River City! With a capital T and that rhymes with B and that stands for SOCIALISM!

Wait, no it doesn't... goddammit Harold Hill quit reading the Drudge Report.

WASHINGTON

Washington goes for Obama!

Fukkin hipsters ruining capitalism! Coffee beans don't grow on trees!