Card of the Day: Loch Ness Monster 2012 Golden Age #31

Under The Tree: 2012 Hot Wheels Monster Jam Series w/ Topps Trading Card

Hot Wheels began to make their Monster Jam series of trucks in 2000. This partnership between Hot Wheels and Monster Jam lasted 18 years and concluded in 2018.

The 2012 set in my opinion is the most interesting. (80) monster trucks make-up the set. (7) subsets cover the (80) monster truck set – 1st Editions, Hot Wheels Originals, Edge Glow, Spectraflames, Monster Jam World Finals Deco, Mud Trucks, and Standard. The “Standard” designation does not appear on any of the packaging like the others do. Its just the name given to those trucks which do not fit in any of the other categories.

2012 was the 30th anniversary of Grave Digger. The packaging for each monster truck contains a special 30th anniversary logo celebrating this achievement.

Packaged with each monster truck is a Topps trading card. The card matches the monster truck it is packaged with.

2022 Topps Gallery Baseball Monster Box Break & Review – MONSTER HIT!

Collector Type: Set/Autograph/Art Fans

Talk about a Monster Box containing a monster hit. I believe everyone reading this would agree. This dude Julio Rodriguez keeps popping up in all of my boxes. The odds of pulling one Orange parallel autograph is 1:302 packs, and two came from this box.

The base set consists of (200) cards. Parallels include Printer Proof (4 per Blaster), Rainbow Foil, Private Issue #’ed/250, Green #’ed/125, Green Pattern #’ed/99, Blue #’ed/75, Blue Pattern #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Orange Pattern #’ed/10, Red #’ed/5, Red Pattern #’ed 1/1, and Printing Plates #’ed 1/1.

Variations (although difficult to pull) offer another chase element. (10) cards have variations which use an artistic filter on the player’s base card. Spencer Torkelson’s variation not only uses the artistic filter, but the photo is different as well. When flipping through your cards you could easily overlook them. That’s why I always check the CMP codes.

• Base – #688
• Variation – #715

Each Monster Box is suppose to have (2) autographs.

Autographs include Gallery Autographs (Rookies, Retired Greats, Veterans, Young Stars), Masterstrokes Autographs, Modern Artists Autographs, Next Wave Autographs, and Portrait Gallery Autographs.

Inserts include Gallery of Heroes, Masterstrokes, Modern Artists, Next Wave, Portrait Gallery, Sketch Cards, and Works of Art Rookie Cards.

The Works of Art Rookie Cards caused some discussion when this product was first released. These surprise inserts feature famous pieces of art with the rookie card logo on them. One of them being of the Mona Lisa. A lot of collectors wondered why the Mona Lisa received the rookie card logo when it has been seen on other trading cards long before now. One of those other cards dates back to 100 years ago. Even Topps has used the Mona Lisa in other sets.

Topps either didn’t remember that the Mona Lisa has other cards prior to this release. Or they knew about them and figured that placing the rookie card logo on this card would create a buzz and get people talking. Which it ultimately did.

Topps Gallery can be found at Walmart in Monster Box and Blaster form. Topps did sell Monster Boxes on their site, but have sold out.

Checklist

Here is what I pulled:

Autos:

• Julio Rodriguez RC Orange Auto #’ed/25
• Griffin Jax RC Orange Auto #’ed/25

Parallels:

• Shane Bieber Blue Pattern #’ed/50
• Ian Anderson Blue #’ed/75
• Kyle Tucker Private Issue #’ed/250
• Tyler Gilbert RC Rainbow Foil
• Connor Wong RC Rainbow Foil
• Roansy Contreras RC Rainbow Foil
• Cedric Mullins Rainbow Foil
• Mitch Haniger Rainbow Foil
• Austin Meadows Rainbow Foil
• Matt Vierling RC Rainbow Foil

Inserts:

• Bryce Harper Modern Artists
• Joe Ryan RC Next Wave
• Willie Mays Masterstrokes
• Freddie Freeman Portrait Gallery
• Joey Votto Portrait Gallery

Notable Rookies:

• Julio Rodriguez RC #35
• Bryson Stott RC #25
• Hunter Greene RC #170
• Jarren Duran RC #49
• CJ Abrams RC #160
• Seiya Suzuki RC #137
• Wander Franco RC #55

Product Highlight: 1990 Classic Monster Trucks

SUNDAY!!! SUNDAY!!! SUNDAY!!! Lurking in the shadows, taking no prisoners, and prepared to give your kittens nightmares!!!

People are spending stupid crazy money on sports cards right now. Almost everyday another card reaches into the seven figures. This gets lots of people thinking everything printed on cardboard has the potential to hit those highs. Not true. But it certainly is fun to watch certain products, specifically mass-produced junk wax, rise in price for no other reason.

It wasn’t that long ago you could buy a box of 1990 Classic Monster Trucks for under $10. Now we’re seeing them sell for $50-$65 per box. This is absolutely insane. In no known universe are these boxes worth that much.

The 1990 Classic Monster Trucks set consists of (125) cards. Throughout the set you’ll find cards dedicated to both drivers and their trucks. You have all of the classics like Grave Digger, Bigfoot, and my personal favorite Thunder Chicken.

On the back of the driver cards is an empty white box meant to be used for an in-person autograph. I’ve always thought that to be a nice addition.

If you’re looking for chase cards there isn’t a single one. No short prints, photo variations, autographs, holograms, inserts, parallels, and/or 3D cards. You have a 125-card set, and that’s it.

Card of the Day: Wally The Green Monster 2013 Topps Opening Day #22

Flashback Product of the Week: 1966 Topps Monster Laffs

Continuing the horror theme for October, this week its going to be 1966 Topps Monster Laffs.  This is another 66-card set that contains black-and-white still images from cheaply made “B” movies.  Beneath the picture you’ll find a smart-ass remark, and on the back a joke.  Some are funny while others are just right out dumb.  What strikes me the most about this product aren’t the cards, but the box they came in.

This is the actual box the 36 cello packs were distributed in.  It has to be the most generic box design in all of trading card history.  It doesn’t give you a single hint as to what type of cards are inside.  You would think a product containing monsters and aliens would have some nice looking box art, but no.  Of all the jokes in this set, I think the box is the biggest one.  Its not like boxes at the time didn’t have artwork, because they clearly did.  I’m not saying this design couldn’t work.  But at least put a monster on the side of the box looking as if its going to attack little Johnny or something.  Way too generic.