Pack of the Day 84: The Other Box of Downton Abbey Seasons 1 & 2

I know what everyone's been wondering. You've all been wondering if I got any 2015 Topps Series 1 yet. I did get in on some 2015 Topps action, but I'm not done spamming your faces off with non-sports cards. I've already broken down the first box of Downton Abbey cards I opened, the missing hit from that box that Cryptozoic sent out to me, and some autographs I bought and busted out of their cases, but I haven't yet shown the second box I opened. Let's get to it.

Here is an example of a base card next to one of the mini cards. The minis use the same images as the base cards, but they are cropped a bit differently, printed on different cardstock, and have a different design, with borders on the top and a changed bottom border. If this is the face Mr. Carson makes when things are normal, I'd hate to see what he looks like when things are bad.

And here are the backs of the cards. The back of the mini features a truncated version of the text on the bigger card and omits the photo. Surprisingly enough, the photo on the back of the large card gives more context than the photo on the front did, as we can see a soldier in the background loading up the supplies mentioned in the card text.

Collation matched the stated odds in this box all around, so I got the expected two cards from the World War I insert. I had a hard time watching the war scenes in the show. It wasn't because the horrors of it all reminded me of my own time overseas, it was just because they got so much wrong. I couldn't take it seriously. I'm that guy. A couple of weeks ago a comic book cosplayer I follow on Facebook posted pictures of herself dressed up as Black Widow and everyone was like, "OMG so cool!" and I was like, "How is she fighting villains without a magazine loaded in her gun?"

Here are the two Downstairs cards I pulled from the box. I don't know much about these two folks, but there is one episode (several episodes?) that features a running gag involving Mr. Molesley. He tries dying his hair and everyone in the house asks him if he is ill or if something is wrong with his head. Eventually he is told to fix whatever is wrong with his hair. Good stuff.

I also pulled two Upstairs cards. One features the Dowager Countess who doesn't have anything better to do than make snide comments and work behind the scenes to mess with everyone. She does have her redeeming moments, like altering the vote so that someone else could win the Blue Ribbon for rose growing at the annual festival. She's not all bad. Lady Edith Crawley is the other card I pulled from this insert set. She might be my favorite of the Upstairs characters, although in reading the episode descriptions it seems that she makes a long string of bad decisions. I guess it wouldn't be a drama without plenty of bad decisions. I would have to watch the episodes, though, to ensure that she is still my favorite. Maybe once I get done with school in about ten weeks I'll get around to it.

My relic from the box was Sarah O'Brien's Black Dress. I guess it's an all right pull, although the Downstairs relics don't pull nearly as much weight as the Upstairs relics. Using the informal gauge of value, my wife hardly gave this one a look, and stated that she wanted to see some of the Upstairs dress relics. She doesn't like O'Brien very much, as O'Brien is one of the more villainous servants in the estate.

The autograph was one I didn't have yet, but it isn't among the most popular in the set. Iain Glen seems to be a fairly prolific actor, but his Downton Abbey character Sir Richard Carlisle only appeared in the show for six episodes as a newspaper editor who is newly wealthy. I guess he tries to marry Lady Mary Crawley and manages to make an enemy out of the Dowager Countess, and then he leaves.

And that's all for this box. Not really the greatest box, but I got all of the promised cards this time. I haven't actually sorted all of the base cards yet, but the collation seemed better than the first box was while I was busting the packs. In the first box I noticed quite a few doubles and packs repeating sequences from earlier packs. I didn't notice that as much with this one.