BOUGHT ANOTHER PACK OF CHRONICLES AT TARGET LIKE A DUMBASS - PART 3

IT'S THE CHRONICLES PACK GRAND FINALE! NO GENERIC PANINI ANGLES. ALL SHINIES! AS A REMINDER, HERE ARE THE THREE QUESTIONS FOR EACH DESIGN:

1) HAVE I EVER HEARD OF THIS PRODUCT?
2) WHAT ORIGINAL SET IS THIS RIPPING OFF?
3) IS THIS DESIGN WORTH A DAMN OR NOT?

HERE WE GO, STARTING OFF HOT

CERTIFIED JULIO RODRIGUEZ RC

1) AWW YEAH SUPER SHINY CERTIFIED

2) THIS IS BASICALLY THE 2022 FOOTBALL CERTIFIED DESIGN AND IS WAY BUSIER THAN THE ORIGINAL EARLY 00S LEAF CERTIFIED SETS AND THOSE WERE NOT KNOWN FOR THEIR SUBTLETY

3) THERE'S NO WAY I CAN BE OBJECTIVE WHEN I'M BEING DAZZLED BY A HOLOFOIL J-ROD ROOKIE CARD, ASK ME AGAIN WHEN I PULL, SAY, JOSH LOWE OR SOMEBODY. I'M OVER THE MOON RIGHT NOW

AWW HELL YEAH! JULIO RODRIGUEZ ROOKIE CARD! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT BOWMAN'S BEST STUFF, THAT SET WAS MADE UP FOR A MOVIE, IT'S TOTALLY FAKE AND NOT REAL. THAT 2023 BOWMAN HERITAGE HAS POTENTIAL THOUGH. I HAVE NO DELUSIONS THAT THIS WILL EVER BE JULIO'S PREFERRED ROOKIE CARD, OR EVEN IN THE TOP 20, BUT IT'S MY JULIO ROOKIE CARD AND I'M HAPPY TO HAVE IT, SUPER DINGED CORNER AND ALL

CONTENDERS OPTIC VIDAL BRUJAN PINK PULSAR PARALLEL RC

1)  CONTENDERS IS ORIGINALLY FROM PLAYOFF IN THE 90S AND STARTED UP WITH THE TICKET STUB MOTIF IN 1998. PANINI HAS ABSOLUTELY RUN WITH THIS TRADITION AND ADDED AN OPTIC VERSION

2) LIKE A LOT OF THESE SETS IT'S THE SAME DESIGN AS THE FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL VERSIONS

3) THE TICKET STUB ELEMENT ON THESE CARDS ALWAYS MAKES THE DESIGNS A LITTLE AWKWARD BUT I'VE SEEN IT DONE WORSE THAN THIS

CHRONICLES CONTENDERS IS CONFUSING AS HELL EVEN FOR THIS MESSED UP SET. THERE'S A PAPER ROOKIE TICKETS VERSION THAT IS ALL ROOKIES AND A CONTENDERS OPTIC VERSION ON CHROMEY STOCK WITH A DIFFERENT CHECKLIST INCLUDING VETERANS, BUT THERE'S ALSO AN OPTIC PARALLEL TO THE ROOKIE TICKET VERSION, AND SINCE VIDAL BRUJAN IS CARD NUMBER EIGHT IN BOTH SETS (THE ONLY PLAYER WITH THE SAME NUMBER IN BOTH CARDS, OF COURSE) THE ONLY WAY I COULD FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HELL THIS WAS IS DUE TO THE OPTIC PARALLEL VERSION NOT HAVING THIS KIND OF PINK PULSAR PARALLEL. A HORRIBLE RUN-ON SENTENCE FOR A HORRIBLY COINFUSING SET. THIS IS A LOT OF CONFUSION OVER A GUY WHO DID NOT WIN THE SECOND BASE JOB IN SPRING TRAINING, BUT KNOWING HOW THE RAYS ORGANIZATION WORKS, HE MAY END UP BEING AN ALL-STAR BY NEXT YEAR

CRUSADE SHOHEI OHTANI

1) HELL YEAH CRUSADE, I LOVE THIS DAMN SET

2) IT LOOKS LIKE CRUSADE, I'M NOT GOOGLING THE VERSIONS FROM OTHER SPORTS TO CONFIRM ANYMORE

3) CROWNS AND FLEUR-DE-LIS AND A SHIELD WITH GRIFFINS ON IT THIS IS FANTASTIC

ALL SHOHEI OHTANI CARDS ARE GOOD SHOHEI OHTANI CARDS. THIS ONE HAS HIM PITCHING WHICH IS COOL BECAUSE I WAS ABLE TO PICK UP HIS PITCHING SELF IN MY FANTASY BASEBALL LEAGUE. I HAVE LOW-KEY BECOME AN ICHIRO HOARDER COLLECTOR BECAUSE ICHIRO CARDS INEXPLICABLY ARE IN A BUNCH OF DIME AND QUARTER BOXES. I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO HOARD SOME OHTANI CARDS AS WELL BUT I'M HAVING A HARD TIME FINDING THEM IN DOLLAR BOXES EVEN

SPECTRA LOGAN WEBB

1) I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS. ALTHOUGH THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE I ALREADY GOT ONE IN A PREVIOUS BATCH OF CHRONICLES CARDS, IT DEFINITELY DIDN'T STICK IN MY MIND

2) UGH, IT'S A HIGH END 800 BUCKS A BOX FOR 4 AUTOGRAPHS KINDA THING. OH WELL. KIND OF AN ODD CHOICE TO RIFF ON THE SPEED RACER CCG DESIGN FOR SUCH A SPENDY PRODUCT

3) THIS IS SORT OF THE OPPOSITE CASE FROM THE JULIO RODRIGUEZ CARD, I'D PROBABLY LIKE IT BETTER IF SOMEONE OTHER THAN LOGAN WEBB WAS ON IT. IT'S A NICE THICK CHROMEY CARD THOUGH AND I THINK IT MIGHT LOOK EVEN BETTER WITH A RED OR BLUE BACKGROUND INSTEAD OF THE ORANGE. SOMEONE SEND ME THE ACUÑA CARD SO I CAN DEFINITIVELY DETERMINE THIS FOR SCIENCE

NOTHING AGAINST LOGAN WEBB, HE'S A PRETTY GOOD PITCHER (ALTHOUGH HAVING A ROUGH TIME OF IT EARLY IN THE SEASON) AND SINCE THIS SUBSET IS ONE OF THE BLOATED 100-CARD ONES I COULD HAVE DONE WORSE. LIKE CHRONICLES THERE IS SOME FUCKERY AFOOT AND THERE ARE REALLY 162 CARDS IN THE SPECTRA SUBSET WITH 62 ROOKIE RELIC AUTOGRAPH CARDS TACKED ONTO IT. SO NO COLLECITNG THIS SET FOR ME, ALTHOUGH I DO ADMIT I COVET THE SPENCER STRIDER SHINY AUTOJERSEY

REVOLUTION WILLSON CONTRERAS

1) YEAAAAH PACIFIC CARD DESIGNS SNEAK IN WITH THE LAST CARD IN THE PACK

2) IT'S SHINY AND FOILY AND WAVY JUST LIKE EVERY AWESOME REVOLUTION CARD

3) THESE CARDS MAKE ME HAPPY, FINISHING OFF THE PACK ON A HIGH NOTE

THE REVOLUTION SUBSET IS THE OTHER 100-CARD BEHEMOTH IN THE PRODUCT ALTHOUGH THERE'S THANKFULLY NO GIMMICKS TO MAKE IT EVEN BIGGER UNLIKE CONTENDERS. I CAN'T COMPLAIN ABOUT HAVING SOME BIGGER SUBSETS THOUGH AS IT'S A CHANCE TO SNEAK IN SOME PLAYERS OTHER THAN THE TOP 20 VETS AND TOP 30 ROOKIES THAT ARE SEEMINGLY IN EVERY SUBSET. WILLSON IS ONLY IN THIS AND SPECTRA SO MANAGING TO GET EVEN ONE OF THEM IS A MINOR MIRACLE. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD DO IF YOU WANTED A TEAM SET FROM THIS PRODUCT. REVOLUTION HAS CHARLIE MORTON'S ONLY CARD AND ONE OF THREE AUSTIN RILEY CARDS IN CHRONICLES. MEANWHILE RONALD ACUÑA HAS A COUPLE DOZEN CARDS AND SOME PLAYERS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE IN RELIC OR AUTOGRAPH FORM. I'M HAVING A GOOD ENOUGH TIME PICKING UP A PACK HERE AND THERE AND SCROUNGING THRU BARGAIN BINS THANKFULLY. 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST MY OFFICIAL SUBSET DESIGN RANKINGS FOR 2022 CHRONICLES:

MEH TIER: LUMINENCE, ROOKIES & STARS, THREADS

WTF TIER: VERTEX

OK TIER: CHRONICLES BASE, CLEARLY DONRUSS, CONTENDERS OPTIC, SPECTRA

ALLL RIIIIGHT TIER: CERTIFIED, CLASSICS, PINNACLE

FUCK YEAH TIER: CRUSADE, REVOLUTION, ZENITH

IF YOU ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT TO SEE MORE CHRONICLES ON THIS BLOG YOU BETTER YELL AT ME IN THE COMMENTS BECAUSE I ALREADY BOUGHT TWO MORE PACKS