23 February 2015

Pack of the Day 88: Topps Star Wars Masterwork Box Break: Pack 2 (of 4)


Here I am with Pack 2 of the box of Topps Star Wars Masterwork that I opened up. Again, each box has four packs and each pack has five cards, with one card in each pack being a hit (sketch, manu-relic, autograph, real relic).


Since I got the SP for the box in the first pack, the rest of the base cards from here on out are of the regular variety. This pack yielded the heroic Obi-Wan Kenobi and the villainous Count Dooku.


The Chief Chirpa is a Green Metallic parallel, numbered # 27 / 50. It's got a green background, holographic foil, and the textured accents around the edges are a bit different than on the base cards. The card on the right is a Defining Moments insert of Darth Vader. This set is a 10-card set featuring key moments in different characters' lives. The back of the card discusses the moment when Darth Vader turns against the Dark Side and throws the Emperor to his death in order to protect Luke.


The final card in the pack is the sketch card, a miniature painting by artist Lee Lightfoot featuring Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan in the foreground and R2-D2 in the background. You kind of have to view the card at a distance in order to get the effect of the painting.I'm still not 100% sure what all the other noise in the background is. Maybe if I had watched the movies more recently I would recognize the scene. Given what I have seen pulled out of boxes this is probably an above-average sketch card, but not quite in the top tiers when it comes to sketches in the set.


edit: Corky from the blog Pack War has informed me in the comments exactly where this scene fits into the films. He says, "The sketch card, which is quite awesome, comes from a scene in Return of the Jedi when Luke returns to Dagobah right before Yoda dies. When he leaves Yoda's home he walks around his X-Wing (which is in the background of the sketch card with R2-D2) and he sees Obi-Wan's ghost who goes on to explain why he didn't tell Luke that Vader was Anakin Skywalker." I thought the scene was on Dagobah, but I couldn't remember a time when Obi-Wan had visited Dagobah. It turns out it was his ghost. Thanks, Corky!


Topps provided a signature block on the back for artists to sign their work. Some artists used the space, some artists didn't, and many of the signatures are still unreadable. I looked at a ton of breaks of this product, so I was familiar with Lightfoot's style and could make out the signature. I do wish that artists in these sketch card sets would print their names on the cards somewhere, though. It would make things easier.

And that's it for Pack 2 of the box. I'll probably post the last two packs fairly soon. So far the box shows a little promise, but it hasn't been eye-poppingly spectacular.

11 comments:

  1. Those artist sigs are proof that we all suck at writing our names in cursive.

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    1. Yeah, a lot of the artists have some cool little symbols or initials they put on the front of the cards to identify themselves, but the backs are a mixed bag of illegible scribbles.

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  2. Replies
    1. It's grown on me over the last couple of days.

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  3. The sketch card, which is quite awesome, comes from a scene in Return of the Jedi when Luke returns to Dagobah right before Yoda dies. When he leaves Yoda's home he walks around his X-Wing (which is in the background of the sketch card with R2-D2) and he sees Obi-Wan's ghost who goes on to explain why he didn't tell Luke that Vader was Anakin Skywalker.

    If you type "Luke, Obi-Wan and Dagobah" in to a search engine you will see the source image.

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    1. Thanks for the information! I edited the post to reflect your comments.

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  4. That's a GREAT sketch. Star Wars sets are known for having relatively poor sketch cards. I've pulled three myself, two from Galactic Files 2 and one from Galactic Files 1, and to be honest, I can't even remember off the top of my head what one of them is. (I had to look up my scan- it's a pink line drawing of Boba Fett). Yours is actually full color and has more than one character, also a rarity.

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    1. One of my first posts on this blog discussed a horrid sketch I got from a box of Star Wars cards. Most artists stepped up their game a bit for this set, but there are still quite a few stinkers out there, which are doubly bad given the price tag on this stuff.

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  6. The Luke Skywalker collector in me just let out a little yelp. Congrats on such a cool pull.

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