Cyber Week Breaks: Day 9 - Knockout Saves the Day, Plus LEGO

Today was going to be kind of a boring break, in my opinion, but the two boxes of 2017 Topps UFC Knockout I ordered from the Topps website arrived and I added a mini-box from the product to today's offerings. Each box of Knockout includes four mini-boxes, and promises 2 autographed relic cards, 2 autographed cards, and 4 relic cards overall. That works out to a relic and some kind of autograph per mini-box, along with a couple of parallels and six base cards. I didn't photograph the base cards, but they look like the parallels with less color. The other stuff I busted today was a box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact and 3 jumbo packs of 2012 Topps Series 2 Baseball.

The first parallel from the Knockout mini-box was this Blue Tecia Torres, numbered # 42 / 99. I am a little bit of a Torres fan, because an Invicta fighter (Sharon Jacobson) I know trains with her. Torres' only loss is to current champion Rose Namajunas, and she's won three fights in a row since that loss.

I also got a Green parallel of Khabib Nurmagomedov, numbered # 037 / 215. My hits from this box were pretty darn good, with a Nate Diaz Tier One relic card numbered # 107 / 125 being the promised relic in the box. This is the base version of the card, which is seeded at a rate of 1:6 packs. The big hit of the box is a Miesha Tate Tier One Autograph Silver Ink parallel, numbered # 08 / 10. These are a tough pull, at 1:61 packs, or about every 8 boxes. It's a nice-looking card, too, with an on-card signature and a dark background to help the ink really pop.

Moving on to the scheduled breaks, here are my pulls from the box of High Impact. Tony Ferguson is the autograph from the box, and I think he is another fighter whose signature is new to my collection. The Femme Fighters insert is Cat Zingano, whose card I already had. I only need a couple more cards from the Femme Fighters insert, so I'm expecting a lot of doubles from here on out.

The three packs of 2012 Topps Series 2 Baseball didn't have much that was very interesting, so I took pictures of the 1987 Topps Mini inserts and a Nolan Ryan Mound Dominance insert.

We were planning on going to see the new Star Wars movie today, but it didn't work out that way. Instead I built some LEGO kits I had kicking around under my desk. First up was kit # 70902, the Catwoman Cycle Chase. The kit has 139 pieces that go together to make a jewelry shop, Catwoman's motorcycle, Catwoman, Batgirl, and Robin. This is a smaller kit, but it was a pretty fun build. The motorcycle looks like a proper custom chopper, and the jewelry shop has enough detail to fit into any retail shopping scene, if you are a person who is building a custom LEGO city.

I am adding a picture of the interior of the jewelry shop to go along with the conversation in the comments. There's not a whole lot to it.

I also built kit # 75168, Yoda's Jedi Starfighter. This one has 262 pieces, and is made up of the ship, Yoda, and R2-D2. This isn't the first time this kit has appeared on a trading card blog, as San Jose Fuji built it last March.

Cyber Week Breaks: Day 3 - Chrome, High Impact, and Little Baseball Cards

Wow, today kind of got away from me. I guess that's mostly good, as I taught a lesson in church and spent some time with my wife and kids. All of that isn't great for blogging, though. Today's breaks are the last 8 packs in my first box of 2017 Topps UFC Chrome, 1 box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact, and a pack of the On-Demand 2017 Topps Mini Baseball. In order for me to make it through all the scanning and posting, I'll just be hitting the highlights throughout this series of breaks.

I got one numbered parallel in these 8 packs of UFC Chrome, a Green Refractor of Cat Zingano numbered # 09 / 99. I collect Zingano's cards, so this was a good pull for me. To this point in the box I haven't pulled either of the two promised autographs, so they both came out of this batch.

First up is this base autograph of Henry Cejudo. I don't think I had a Cejudo autograph yet, so this was better than pulling a duplicate. I can't say much for his penmanship, but he made use of all the space available to him, and then some.

The other autograph was this Tier One autograph of Demetrious Johnson. The odds on these are 1:1,755 packs, or about one in 6 cases. This one is numbered # 4 / 5. It's a pretty cool card, but Johnson is one of the less popular names on the checklist.

From the box of UFC High Impact, this Rose Namajunas insert was one I needed for my set, so I count this as a win already. Some of the cards on this checklist have been hard to track down. Hopefully I'll be able to get the other ones I need.

I also got a Red parallel of Khabib Nurmagomedov. These Red parallels only fall 1:11 boxes, so I may only get one or two of these in the break. This one is numbered # 5 / 8.

The promised autograph features the signature of Luke Rockhold. I think he's another new addition for my collection, so that's a bonus for me. Overall, this was a pretty good box.

The pack of 2017 Topps Mini Baseball cards contained 35 cards, with 30 base, 1 insert, and 4 parallels. The base cards didn't have a lot of star power in them, but these are the highlights I picked out. It seemed like my pack was fairly heavy on the Update portion of the checklist.

My insert featured Joey Gallo on the 1987 Topps design. He hit the 3rd-most home runs in the AL for 2017 and had the 2nd-most strikeouts.

The parallels have print runs of 25 or less. Taijuan Walker was my first parallel, numbered # 07 / 25. You can see there is some color beneath the nameplate and on the spikes coming in from the edges to differentiate this as an Orange parallel.

I was happy to get some Astros content among my parallels, with the orange on this card going well with Yulieski Gurriel's jersey. You'll notice a pattern, as this card is also numbered # 07 / 25.

Staying with the AL West and the number # 07 / 25, I also got this Nomar Mazara Orange parallel.

I also got a Blue parallel of Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood, numbered # 01 / 10. Not a bad pull. I really should have ordered a couple more packs of this stuff. I would be interested to see how much of the print run they sold through, and I imagine it would be difficult if not impossible to put a set together. Player collectors and team collectors should be on the lookout for these.

Overall, this wasn't too bad of a break for the day. I got some PC cards, an insert I needed, a 1:6 case hit, and several low-numbered parallels.

Just a Few UFC Autographs from eBay

I missed out on making a NASCAR post yesterday, as I spent the day traveling to some training I need for job certifications. I didn't feel much like doing anything after I got to my hotel. I guess I could make a NASCAR post anyway, but at the moment I am not inclined to do that. Danica Patrick finished the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in 24th place. She was tied in the points standings with Michael McDowell going into the race, but he finished the race in 23rd place and moved ahead of her by one point. She's currently sitting in 29th place overall for the season.

In other news, UFC 210 happened on Saturday. I missed a lot of the event, as I was trying to get my bags packed for my trip. I did watch the weird ending of the Chris Weidman / Gegard Mousasi fight. Wow. Mousasi landed two knees that the referee decided were illegal, so he stopped the fight to probably warn Mousasi or take away a point. Then he discovered that the knees were legal, but told Weidman that he had 5 minutes to recover instead of returning the fighters to the original position they'd been in and restarting the clock. While that was going on, the doctors came in and called the fight off. The end result was a TKO victory by Mousasi, with both fighters angry about how the fight had ended. It appears that a rematch will be happening at some point.

Daniel Cormier also retained his belt against Anthony Johnson, who retired after the match was over. I always feel bad when a fighter retires after losing a fight, because it takes the spotlight away from the person who actually won the fight. In wrestling (like Undertaker retiring after WrestleMania) because wrestling is all about the story, but in fighting it just seems like a weak move. Hold a press conference or something.

I asked Topps on Twitter if they were planning on continuing the Topps Now line for the UFC after the low print runs on the cards for UFC 209, and here's what they said:

@chonk34 @ufc We are currently evaluating that.

— Topps Company (@Topps) April 11, 2017

So if you're waiting on news from Topps on the status of Topps Now for the UFC, there you go. That's not the most promising response in the world, but they responded pretty quickly and they are at least contemplating the continuation of the line.

These autographs don't have anything to do with UFC 210, but this was the oldest UFC draft in my post queue, so their turn is up. This Joanne Calderwood Archival Autographs card from 2016 Topps UFC Museum Collection was the original card I was chasing after in this lot. I went a little wild for the 2016 Museum Collection stuff, and I don't think I had a Calderwood autograph yet, so I bid on a few copies of this card and finally won this one. It's numbered # 11 / 99 and features a cool on-card signature with a heart in front of it.

I got a couple of other cards from the same seller, including this 2016 Topps UFC Top of the Class Autograph Relic card of Cat Zingano. It's not numbered or anything, and the relic swatch is relatively plain, but I have a small Zingano collection and this was a good addition.

Finally, I also got this Sarah Kaufman autograph from 2012 Topps UFC Bloodlines. It is marked as a 1st Autograph, so this is the first autographed card Kaufman had in a Topps product. It seems like fighters' first autographs always carry a premium for collectors, so I was happy to get this one for just a few dollars. This had kind of a high print run, as it is numbered # 406 / 449.

I went to an Antiques Mall today, looking for something to read or some kind of cool collectibles. I didn't find much, but I did get a nice Cincinnati Bengals jacket for my son and a 4-pack of Ginger Beer for me. I was planning on going to a card shop, but they weren't open today. Maybe tomorrow I'll go, if we get out of class early enough.

Wasted Time

One of the biggest card days of the year for me is the day I get my first BBM True Heart Japanese Women's Wrestling cards. The product usually releases in the early part of the year, and it is torturous to wait for my shipment to arrive from across the ocean. Anyone whose hobby shop or big box store stocks Topps Series 1 late will be familiar with the feeling. For whatever reason, the USPS site said my cards were supposed to be delivered on Sunday, but that didn't happen. They delivered a couple of Amazon packages on Sunday, but not my cards. Usually someone has to sign for packages from Japan, so me or my wife has to be around when the mail comes. I pestered my wife to keep an eye out because I had to work the weekend, but the Amazon packages were all that showed up.

I didn't have work on Monday, so I woke up and set up camp on the couch to wait for the mail carrier. Our mail is almost always delivered before noon, usually by 10:30, so I made sure to be downstairs by about 9:00. Then I waited. And waited. Ten o'clock rolled past. I played on the XBox for a while, as the morning rolled into the afternoon. I kept losing races because I'd pause the game and look out the window every time I heard a sound. I paced around. My wife left to volunteer at our twins' Valentine's Day party at school. I decided that it was too late to still be in my pajamas, so I changed into some real clothes. I wouldn't want the mail carrier to think I was some kind of crazy person who sits around all day, waiting for the mail.

I was tired of playing XBox, so I took out the trash. I checked the mailbox, just to be sure. I went back into the house and looked out the window. I went upstairs and checked some other tracking numbers that showed as 'Out for Delivery' at around 8:00 in the morning. The afternoon school bus went by at around 4:00. My wife and the kids came home from the school around 4:30. I asked my wife if she'd seen the mail truck on the way through the neighborhood. She hadn't. My kids told me about their school day. I did some dishes. I opened the front door and saw a package on the step. It was my cards. They hadn't knocked or anything. After gathering the mail, I checked the tracking on the USPS site. It showed that I had signed for the package at 5:31 PM. They must have signed it for me, seeing that the route was running about 7 hours late.

I'll post my annual review of the product soon(ish). I didn't pull much in the way of wrestlers I collect, but I've got some of those cards coming from elsewhere. Although I am a little irritated that the post office signed my name for me, I am happy that they didn't just leave a delivery attempt notice and take my cards back to the office. Waiting another day would have been the end of me.

The cards in this post probably came from eBay. I saw that Takeya Mizugaki had a pretty cool signature, so I set out to get an autograph of his. I wound up with two, one from 2010 Leaf MMA and one from 2015 Topps UFC Champions. I'm not complaining about that.

The Michelle Waterson cards are Silver and Gold parallels from 2016 Topps UFC Knockout. There is an eBay seller who lists cards of the fighters who are fighting in each UFC event, so I probably got these a little while back when Waterson and Paige VanZant fought. I guess Mizugaki was on that fight card, too, so these probably came from the same place. The Silver is # 131 / 227 and the Gold is # 86 / 99.

Cat Zingano didn't fight on that card, so I am not sure why her card ended up here. Sometimes my stacks get a little disorderly before I scan them, so there is some mixing of lots, especially when it comes to my UFC collection. This card is a Black parallel from 2015 Topps UFC Champions, numbered # 115 / 188.

I'm a little disappointed in myself for wasting basically an entire day waiting for the mail to come, but I did get a few things done and I managed to get some recreation in. It was mostly wasted time, though. I don't think I've ever actually seen this music video before, but I listened to the album about a million times back when it came out. I'm a pretty big Kings of Leon fan, I guess.

Museum Collection Mania

I think I've mentioned once or twice that I went a little overboard on 2016 Topps UFC Museum Collection. It just appealed to me, and I picked up quite a bit of it. This is going to be a picture dump, because I scanned a lot of stuff, but I don't have a lot to say about it at the moment because I want to get this written and posted so I can go to bed.

I kind of wanted to bust a box of the product, but I never could bring myself to pull the trigger on that. I did pick up a fair number of group break slots, though, which brought me a fair number of cards for certain fighters, like Rafael Dos Anjos here. Those are his base and Gold parallels. The Gold is # 05 / 75.

Cris 'Cyborg' Justino has finally been brought into the UFC, and I am pretty sure the new Featherweight division for women was created to give her a place to play, although Germaine de Randamie and Holly Holm are going to kick the division off in a couple of weeks, with the winner presumable getting Cyborg's next fight. I got her base and Bronze card here. The Bronze is numbered # 108 / 135.

I also got Cyborg's Gold parallel ( # 45 / 75 ) and this Rashad Evans Bronze parallel ( # 084 / 135 ), probably from the same group break.

I think these single-swatch Meaningful Material cards came from a mixture of group break slots and eBay purchases. I guess the foil color is different on these, which is pretty much the only difference I can see between parallels. It's pretty subtle. The Justino card is # 06 / 50, the Rafael Dos Anjos is # 01 / 10, and the Daniel Cormier is numbered # 12 / 35.

I think most of these Primary Pieces quad relics came from a single eBay lot. I got a good deal on it, maybe because it came from overseas. I think there are many bidders who have qualms about bidding on stuff from across the ocean. There are a couple that I purchased separate from that lot, though, probably the higher-numbered of the Stipe Miocic cards and the Carla Esparza. I can't read all of the serial numbers, but I'll give a go at saying what I've got here. The first Miocic is # xx / 99, the second one is # 10 / 10, the Chris Weidman looks to be # 04 / 25, the Carlos Condit is # xx / 99, and the Carla Esparza is # 69 / 99.

These Archival Autographs are all base versions. I am pretty sure the Antonio Silva card came from the previously-mentioned overseas lot. It is numbered # 40 / 99. The others were probably separate purchases, although at least one of them might have come from a group break. Anyway, the Jim Miller is # 02 / 99, the Julianna Pena is # 11 / 99, and Cat Zingano is # 13 / 99. Miller, Pena, and Zingano are all PC fighters for me.

These are all single-relic Signature Swatches cards of varying rarity. As opposed to the on-card Archival Autographs, these are all sticker autographs. Again, the parallels seem to be mostly denoted by small shifts in foil color. The Julianna Pena is # 107 / 149, which I believe is the highest of the print runs on these. The two Cat Zingano cards are # 07 / 25 and # 09 / 25, and the TJ Dillashaw card is # 02 / 25.

This Ovince Saint Preux card came from a group break. It is one of the dual-relic Signature Swatches cards, and is numbered # 04 / 25.

Closing things out, I've got a few triple-relic Signature Swatches cards. The Julianna Pena cards are numbered # 25 / 25 and # 23 / 50. The Anthony Johnson card probably came from the overseas lot, and is numbered # 134 / 149.

I would still like to open a box of this someday, but I just know the box I get will have three scrubs for hits and I will feel bad because I could buy three really nice hits I actually want for the price of the box. With new baseball cards coming out now, I imagine the urge to break a box of this will subside as it is pushed off my radar by newer releases.