Pack of the Day 142: Hobby Box of 2016 Topps Star Wars Evolution

My recent order from Blowout Cards included some Star Wars cards in the form of a Hobby box of 2016 Topps Star Wars Evolution. I bought a couple uneventful packs of this product while I was in Ohio in July/August. I was hoping for something a little better than uneventful with this box.

Each box promises two hits, which can include manu-patches, autographs, and sketch cards. There are also a couple of rare inserts and some rare parallels.

Here are the pack odds and the No Purchase Necessary (NPN) information, for those who are into that kind of things. In addition to the two hits and base cards, you can expect a dozen Blue parallels, two Purple parallels, one Stained Glass Pairings insert, a bevy of other inserts, and an outside shot at something more rare, like a 1:75 Lenticular Morph card or a 1:375 Short-Printed Base Card.

Starting with the base cards, I got a full set of 100 cards along with 47 doubles. There were no triples in the box. These cards are all mirror foil, so they are basically fingerprint and dust magnets. The cards follow the evolution of each character, with bigger names getting more cards. A relatively minor character might get just two cards, but major characters like Leia up there gets six cards in the checklist.

I got twelve Blue parallels in the box, which is right in line with the 1:3 packs odds on them. The parallel cards look a little more obvious in-hand than in the scans. This gives you a little better look at some different characters from the set.

I also got the two expected Purple parallels in my box of cards. I think I did all right as far as characters go, with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jabba the Hutt. 

I got 12 of these Evolution of Ships & Vehicles inserts in the box. There are some pretty cool ones in here, with parallels drawn between films and characters.

I got six of the Evolution of Star Wars Comics inserts. They are pretty cool, featuring covers from different Star Wars comics over the years.

I got three Evolution of the Lightsaber inserts. They are all right, but I think I'd rather have pulled some of the other cards in the checklist. Kylo Ren's lightsaber was a pretty big deal during the run-up to The Force Awakens.

My Stained Glass Pairings card is probably my favorite of the checklist, with Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia appearing together on the acetate card. I like this insert set. It's really cool.

My first hit was this manufactured Flag Patch card of First Order Stormtroopers. It's not the greatest hit ever, but it's at least a Blue parallel with 1:151 seeding. It's numbered # 13 / 50. 

My final hit of the box is of the break-saving variety. The box price on this product started out pretty high, but box prices have fallen precipitously in the months since release and I got a pretty good deal on the box, but I still like to feel like I came out 'ahead' on a break.

This hit is a Magenta Printing Plate Autograph of Barbara Goodson as Mother Talzin. Looking at her IMDB, Goodson has done voice work in just about everything, but one of her most recognizable roles might be as the voice of Power Rangers villain Rita Repulsa from 1993-1998. Pretty cool stuff. As cool as this card is, I'll probably wind up selling this one to recoup a portion of the money I spent on this shipment.

Overall this is a pretty nice product. It probably wasn't worth the asking price at the original going rate, but at the $50/box or so price it's a decent break. There's still a good chance that you don't get enough cardboard to pay for the box, but there are some pretty good hits in the product as well, and the SP base cards and Morph inserts sell pretty well.