Sketch Card Saturdays: I'll Form the Head!

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I'm a few minutes late, but here is today's edition of Sketch Card Saturdays, featuring an awesome sketch of the mighty Voltron by David Namisato!

You never know what's gonna get licensed..

This sketch card set was produced by 5finity and released in 2010.  According to Jeff Allender's wonderful House of Checklists, Namisato contributed 50 cards to the set.  It's the only card by him I own, I think, which is is a shame.  But it's also an excellent card from something I'm a fan of, so I'm not sure I could really top it, and I definitely couldn't for the mere $5 I paid for this one many moons ago.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

Sketch Card Mania Volume 2: Comic Book Heroes

Well, not all heroes, I guess.  Karai is a villain and Sleepwalker and Swamp Thing are more antiheroic in nature.  Whatever, enjoy the art!

Sleepwalker..

Sleepwalker was an early-'90s Marvel creation that never really caught on, but was interesting (and maybe good) enough that the series and character have a small cult following in the here & now.

Squirrel Girl..

Speaking of Marvel cult classics from the early-'90s, Squirrel Girl was a bizarre one-off character from the era that's grown into a hugely beloved icon.  She's known for being the anthropomorphic personification of fun in the Marvel universe and having a knack for taking down villains seemingly far beyond her (or ANY individual, and most teams') weight class.

Swamp Thing..

This Swamp Thing might still be my favorite card I did in the entire bunch.  I feel like it was pretty strong through every stage of the process.  I never really struggled with it at any point, which is still a fairly rare feat, even with simple headshots.

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Karai could have fit in the cartoons & anime post as well, being a fairly prominent, though usually easily dispatched, recurring antagonist in the awesome (it could've been all-time great if not for the BS executive meddling) 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.  There are a couple in the third post that could've gone into this comic post as well, but also fit in with that bunch just as well, which makes every post even in number of cards.

Kitty Pryde..

Finally we have Kitty Pryde.  It's fine, I love how most of the colors turned out.  But no, I don't know why I tried to go sexy with it either.  I suppose it stands a better chance at eBay success that way though.  Whatever, I'm done for today.  We'll see if my computer's slowdown issues are sorted out (they seem to be!) in time for me to keep me personal record posting streak alive tomorrow and at least into the weekend with Sketch Card Saturdays, which will happen regardless, because they don't require that much effort to put together and post.

That's all for now.  Dell computers suck!  Thanks for stopping by.

Until our next...

The Art of Wrestling: Deep Connections

Homocidal, suicidal, genocidal, etc..

Just a short post today.  I've botched my schedule something fierce and will just barely be getting this in under the gun, if at all.  This year's Topps WWE Heritage set came out fairly recently and I bought pack not long after.  The cards mimic the 1986 Topps baseball set.  Unfortunately, I feel they look pretty terrible.  So I decided to pretty 'em up a bit.  Above you see ECW (and to a much lesser extent, WCW and WWE) legend Sabu, drawn on the back of his long time tag team partner and rival Rob Van Dam's base card.

One of the better looking cards in the pack, actually..

I prefer to have connections when I draw on the back of cards, be it just team for sports cards, or friends/partners/rivals for individual disciplines like this.  As such, my first attempt, shown below, features perhaps the ultimate personal rivalry in the history of the business in freshly minted WWE Universal Champion Kevin Steen/Owens and El Generico/Sami Zayn.

I like Sami Zayn!

Rather than read my words inexact, babbly, gushy about it, I highly suggest a trip down the memory hole of Youtube or Dailymotion or whatever to get a handle on their legendary Batman/Joker-esque "I think we're destined to do this forever" rivalry.  I think I will do the same in the near future.  Maybe I'll be able to form more coherent words about their rivalry then myself.

KO side..

Quick edit: I thought I forgot to scan the front of the Kevin Owens card, but it was just in a different folder than I thought it was.  I still don't like the design, especially with the red lettering.  Bleh.

That's all for tonight.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

More from the Cubs/Cards Connection

I sent more Cards cards to Cards on Cards cuz he pulled some Cubs cards I liked that my night owl tendencies allowed me to get to before the other Cubs collectors were awake to notice them.  We are an unintentionally competitive bunch.  There's just so many of us, and none of us are even bandwagoners.  We've been through the lean years, yo.  And so it goes...

Mercifully, today will be a MUCH shorter post than yesterday.  It's just a PWE, and I'm only showing the blingier half of it.  Long posts that take forever to put together are one of the prime culprits that have knocked me out of the blogging game for months on end in the past, but not this time.  Not yet anyway.

So, without further ado, here's the gems of the PWE Kerry sent my way.

KB Chrome Perspectives..

Up first, quite possibly this year's NL MVP, Kris Bryant!  I never really got the hate for these nifty Perspectives inserts the first place, but the chrome versions really bring them to life.  Outstanding.

Pink Refractors..

They're more magenta really, but they look nice too.  This year's set was really made for chrome, and much like 2008's set, I feel the chrome version will eventually partially vindicate this year's largely disliked design (I was never bothered by it in the first place).

You just never know from season-to-season, but if everyone else keeps playing at a high level, how unstoppable could this lineup be with Schwarber in it next year?  I guess will depend on who is leading the charge at the top of the lineup, since Dex is finally gonna get PAID this year, but yeah.  The Cubs window for success hasn't been this wide open since the 1930s.  Hopefully they can make it all the way through it this time.

If you complained about Addison Russell starting the All-Star game, you've been feasting on crow the whole second half of the season.  Kid has found his next gear.  He might yet steal the Gold Glove from Crawford at short (not that egregious, Addi's easily the next best in the NL, metrically speaking), and will almost certainly win the Silver Slugger for the position.  A good September could put him at 25+ homers and 100 RBIs on the year.  He may not be Barry Larkin yet (Lindor looks the most like Larkin to me, while Correa looks like the love child of Ripken & ARod), but he's already calling to mind Jimmy Rollins, and he might be a significantly better defender than either, and they were both great defenders (both 13+ career dWAR).  Crawford's got the metrics this year, but I haven't seen anyone play the position so silky smooth since Ozzie Smith.  Addi is just that fun to watch.

Whew, rant mode off.  That's all for today.  I'll try to do better tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

Sketch Card Saturdays Vol. 1: A HUGE Twitter Win

Exactly what it says on the tin.  If I post nothing else any given week, I'm going to at least try to post up a sketch card every weekend.  It shouldn't be too difficult (though I do have a way of making simple things needlessly complex) to queue up quite a few posts in advance.  I already have enough sketch cards right now that I could post every Saturday without fail and get almost an entire five year mission out of it.  What can I say?  I LOVE sketch cards, yo.

Doctor Light II Die-Cut Sketch Card by Melike Acar..

With that all said, we'll start it off the very best sketch card in my entire collection, and one of the newest.  This die-cut (the outline resembles the Hall of Justice) beauty is by perhaps the single most talented artist in the entire history of the comic book business, Turkish artist Melike Acar (who I am fortunate to be able to call a good internet friend and also quite a beauty in her own right).

I won this card (I'd never be able to afford it myself) in a Twitter retweet and follow giveaway by Cryptozoic Licensed Product Developer and Master of Internet Ceremonies George Nadeau.  He does giveaways like this for various upcoming, and recently released, products all the time.  So give him a follow and check out all the cool new card sets in the Cryptozoic pipeline, and maybe win something cool yourself.  Best of luck to you, and thank you again to George for pulling my name out of the hat.

The back. Signature of the best artist in the world..

A sketch card by Melike has long been one of THE White Whales for my collection, and I definitely shed a few tears when I found out I won this.  I still get goosebumps when I look at it.  Amusingly (well, not so much at the time), Twitter had locked down my account, for reasons I still don't understand, a day or so before I ended up winning the card.  Melike messaged me on Facebook about it, prompting me to frantically figure out how to get back into my main Twitter account.  Otherwise I wouldn't have known so soon and may have even ended up missing out on the prize.

That's all for this post.  Most future Sketch Card Saturdays probably won't be as wordy as this one.  The debut subject just happened to be extra special and had an interesting little story attached to it as well.  Heck, I mentioned a few posts ago that I'm so bad with signatures that I don't even know who drew an annoyingly large number of the cards I own.  Again, I digress...

Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

A Well-Executed Bunt Keeps the Streak Alive

Billy Hamilton Platinum Parallel #'ed 82/99..

I wasn't gonna post anything today, but I picked up a rack pack of Topps Bunt and thought I'd share the good stuff & keepers and maybe a few quick thoughts.

Up top is a Platinum parallel of Billy Hamilton.  It wasn't nearly as difficult to pick out as the internet would have me believe.  He is for trade.  Get at me, Redlegs fans and/or Billy Backers.

Trevor Story RC..

I pulled a couple nice RCs in Story and Maeda.  I'll hang onto them for the RC binder for now, since they represent the first card I've pulled of either guy so far this year.

Kenta Maeda RC

The first thing you'll notice about these cards is they are more fragile than a men's rights activist, and flimsier than most of their excuses.  They rival Panini Complete basketball in that regard, though Bunt is much glossier.

Rizzo!

I love the look of the base cards, for the most part.  The logos mostly pop, but depending on the player photo and general drabness of certain team's logos, it can be a little hit-or-miss.

Hawk!

 There's nothing wrong with the Cubs logo though.  It works phenomenally on two I pulled.

Hosmer Program..

The Program inserts might be the insert of the year, but all the inserts seem to be pretty nice.  Topps brought their A-game, if not their A-cardstock to this set.  The Programs are the only set I'm definitely chasing though.

Big Unit Unique Unis insert..

I dig the Unique Unis set as well, because I loves me some unique unis, but I'm gonna let this one pass & just try to track down the players I like in it.

Free Bunt virtual pack redeemer..

I haven't scratched this yet, and nobody DM'ed me on Twitter, so if you're on the App and want a freebie pack, email me, and it shall be yours.

Base backs..

Closing it out with the backs.  The only one of note is the Program insert.  Everything else is meh, but it doesn't really bother me, to be honest.  I understand why some folks are disappointed, but backs have never been a big selling point to me.  To each their own, I guess.

Insert backs..

In closing, I have absolutely been known to give Topps a lot of crap when I feel it's warranted, but I gotta give 'em props on this release.  There was clearly a decent amount of thought and effort put into this, and overall, I really like it.  Nice job, whoever it was that lead the charge in putting this set together.

That's it for this post.  Got it in just under the gun again.  We're up to eight days in a row.  Every day is a new personal best.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

Sketch Card Mania! Vol. 1: Cartoons & Anime

Krillin!

A couple months back I was wanting to draw up several sketch cards in one sitting, but was struggling to come up with who/what to draw.  So I opened up the suggestion box to my geekier Facebook haunts, because Twitter senpai refuses to notice me (though I've had a lot more engagement and interaction on there recently).  I got about 28 doable suggestions, and drew 18 of them, three of which I still haven't gotten around to coloring yet.  I also somehow managed to not actually have any regular blanks at my place, which I didn't realize before I put out the call, which is where the title comes in.  I had to tear the page of blanks out of the back of my two copies of the book Sketch Card Mania (note the perforations).  This is also why I only drew 18 of the suggestions.  I only had 18 blanks to work with and wanted to keep the continuity (I even searched for dad's copy in order to keep it all on the same stock, but it never turned up).  It's a stupid reason for not getting to all of them, but I'm a stupid guy... Hey wait!

Anyway, good ol' Krillin from the legendary, massively overrated Dragon Ball franchise is up top, and here's the rest of the first bunch.

Haku from Sprited Away..

Haku was one of the better ones, I think.  He was one of the only ones I managed to move.  It was pretty popular though, I guess, because I ended up making a second, which you'll see at the end.

Misato from Neon Genesis Evangelion..

I know it's considered an all-time classic, but I've never seen any of Evangelion, nor am I particularly interested in doing so anytime soon.  I'm also not particularly fond of how this turned out.  I prefer to keep the colors relatively simple on anime sketches, but something went wrong and I had to go all out, and it just ended up looking kinda weird.  Bleh, moving on.

Steven Universe...

...and the Crystal Gems!

Steven and the Crystal Gems came from different people in different groups, which I guess isn't too surprising.  It is a wildly popular show.  The card of Steven is noticeably skinnier, because all the cards on the right side of the pages were like that.  It was weird, and I didn't even notice until after I'd already drawn & inked everything and pulled 'em apart.  The other ones are almost all too wide to fit in penny sleeves, and they're all slightly too tall to properly fit in binder pages too.  If you wanna buy one ($10 a pop, free PWE shipping), you'll probably just wanna leave it in its top loader as is.

Bonus!

More Haku!

The original Haku, which was bought by its suggester, ended getting me an actual commission for a second one out of the deal.  I still only charged the same low, low price I was charging for the Sketch Card Mania bunch, but hey, it's better than nothing.  This one turned out rather nice too.

Another post in the books.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

COMC Miscellany Vol. 1

Captain Marvel & Absorbing Man 2-piece puzzle card..

It's been at least a couple shipments since the first bunch from COMC (newest batch just came in on the 18th!) I'd originally intended to post about, so I guess I'll just throw it all together into a series of random 5-10 card posts when I feel like it.  Some will have a theme tying them together, making them less miscellaneous than others, but this is not one of those posts.

Up top is a Captain Marvel/Absorbing Man sketch card puzzle.  I feel like I should know the artist, but I can't quite place it, and I'm absolutely terrible with signatures.  I probably don't know who close to half of the artists are on the 250-ish sketch cards I own.  Also, holy crap I own 250-ish sketch cards!  How insane is that?!  I really like the look of this though, and while both pieces came from different sellers, I only ended paying a shade below $7 between them.  Captain Marvel was only $2(!) and several months later, Absorbing Man weighed in a lil under $5.  Great addition to the puzzle binder!

Apex Orange #'ed 14/25..

I'm pretty sure most soccer autos are out of my league, so this low numbered orange parallel of 2014 US World Cup standout Jermaine Jones will likely end up serving as his page's centerpiece.  I don't think it even cost me $3.

Fergie Jenkins/Terry Puhl dual jersey..

I picked up a jumbo Fergie jersey from this interesting set sometime back.  It reads as an Americana-type set for Canada, but it's higher end, which makes it more like a contemporary of the (also originally ITG-produced) Sport Kings.  In practice, the randomness, yet still heavy emphasis on athletes, makes it feel more like Goodwin Champions than anything else.  Regardless, I like it a lot, and I couldn't pass up a copy featuring that glorious old school Astros swatch on Puhl's side once it dropped just within the upper edge of what I'm willing to pay for a relic card.

2015 Panini Cooperstown Crown Royale Silver /75..

Another Fergie, this time a shiny, die-cut numbered insert from a higher end, Hall of Famer-exclusive Panini offering.  Amongst many others, I also have an odd fondness for the juxtaposition of old school players on cards featuring blingy modern technology.  Cooperstown, and the previous year's even more explicitly-titled Hall of Fame, deliver on that particular craving in spades.

2016 Marvel Masterpieces Shanna th She-Devil..

The back..

How about some high end Marvel Masterpieces?  I guess this set is all about Joe Jusko's art, which calling fantastic would be an understatement.  The higher and/or un-#'ed cards are pretty cheap though, so I'll probably be picking up a few more.  I already grabbed one for the Rogue PC that will be coming in next month's shipment.

Get a room...

Speaking of Rogue, I picked up another of these weird Embrace inserts (and sometimes case toppers), the second I have of the four she's represented on.  The other Gambit one and Wolverine are both out of my price range, so this and Magneto *audible shudders* will have to suffice for now.  This and Shanna are from the August shipment.

Padma Lakshmi auto!

We'll close it out on an awesomely random autographical note with this sweet Padma Lakshmi signature.  Not quite a Penmanship Hall of Fame candidate, but her entire name is present and accounted for.  That's always nice, and far too rare.  Pretty cheap for what I consider one of the better names in the set too.  I wanna say it set me back less than $5.  A very nice addition to my random cheap (mainly) celebrity autograph collection, which is surprisingly not all nonsensically beautiful women.  There are some dudes in there as well.  Ed Asner, Jonathan Frakes, Common, Eddie Pope... Okay, so I don't have a bunch of guys.  There are couple more male additions I'd like to make in the relatively near future, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

2016 Donruss Optic!

Jason Heyward DK Purple Refractor.. 

It's so pretteh.  I picked up one of them there $9.99 "Value" packs, which, for this release anyway, are actually just a fat pack with three packs worth of cards plus a pack of exclusive parallels all in one instead of separate.  Probably saves on packaging, or at least on the amount of crap being thrown out after you're finished.

Hard to tell by the scan, but this is a refractor..

I'm not going to get too deep with this post, because I think I'm gonna to post the pack to APtbNL sometime in the next couple days if I don't get lazy.  So for now, I'm just showing the keepers, of which there were surprisingly many.

These two are base..

The first thing that caught my attention when I found out about these not long before they came out were the chromed out Diamond Kings, and they do not disappoint.  It certainly didn't hurt my enjoyment that a full quarter of the pack was comprised of these beauties.  I'm all in on piecing together a set of them, plus *any* parallels I can get my saucy little mitts on (I'll accept base Donruss DKs & their parallels too).  So if you have any for trade, I WANT THEM. I want them all...

Kris Bryant Purple Refractor!

My keepers weren't all Diamond Kings, however.  I leave you today with the big hit of the pack: The above KB purple refractor!  Epic score for a Cubs fan on an extremely limited budget like me.

In summation, these cards are great and you should get you some (and send me all of the Diamond Kings you pull).  I know I'll be getting more when I'm not so heinously broke.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

The Topper

I picked up the topper to a full player collection earlier this summer.  It arrived not long after all my technologies went haywire on me.  That's why I'm just now getting around to posting it, and many other things, in the here & now, in case you're just catching back up with me at this post.  The thing about this PC though, is that I didn't know it was a full player collection at the time.

2016 TSC Robinson Cano Lonestarr Signatures Gold #'ed 8/10 *manly grunting*..

Yeah... Pretty nice, huh?  Shortly after completing another small trade with him (the highlight of which I believe was a blue Archives Michael Brantley parallel #'ed 1/199), the legendary Night Owl pulled this beauty out of blaster and tweeted about it, so I offered up every decent Dodger (amongst other surprise oddities) I could dig up and sent them his way.

The back..

Now, about the premise of the post.  I have a bit of an affinity for second basemen because, in the long, long ago, that was my natural position in little league.  I have a full collection dedicated to Ryne Sandberg, because DUH, and Single Page Sensations collections going for a lot of the better players to play the position, from the very old to very new: Roberto Alomar, Jose Altuve, Luis Aparicio, Craig Biggio, Rod Carew, Ray Durham, Jackie Robinson (though he's not here merely for the position he played, obviously), Devon Travis... and of course, the subject of this post himself, Mr. Cano.

Greg mentioned being happy the card went to a Cano collector, and I dwelled on that for a bit, wondering why I don't just take the plunge and make him a full player collection.  I mean, that's my position, and he's already the best to have ever played it, despite probably still having another 3-4 solid offensive seasons left in the tank, and now I suddenly have the showpiece to make it complete when I finally break the 100 card mark a little ways down the line.  And that was that.  Robbie is the real deal now.  A full Player Collection.

~~~~

It's kind of an anti-climax, and barely even related, but while I was writing this up, I found the Brantley scan and edited to size.  I can't think of any other reason I might have for posting it later though, so I'm gonna leave you with that.

Here's Mikey!

eBay 1/1! :P

Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...

The Trading Post: Cards from Cards on Cards (on Cards)

This is the only redbird you'll ever likely see on this blog..

I have another trade in progress with Kerry from Cards on Cards, so I better get this older one posted already!

He loves him some Cardinals, and I hates them so, but I often manage pull them by the buttload, and he is the primary beneficiary.  He struggles similarly with Cubs, and some of them make it back my way.  The competition for Cubbies is often fierce in the cardsphere (even when they stunk), however, and my collecting habits are... eclectic, so I tend to have to mix it up, and this post will be no exception.

3/4 of the major additions..

The Gold BowChro Cespedes came from a Loot Locker pack, I believe, and was the catalyst for this deal.  Cain was a late request as well.  I wasn't expecting the Heritage Chrome, but it was a welcome surprise.  While Lorenzo Cain's page is still in the early stages, my Yoenis Cespedes single page collection is now nearly complete. :)

2016 Bowman Solers..

The undercard of this trade was a lot more Cubs-centric, though there was a psychedelic Allen Iverson base card from the late-'90s in there too.

Some new Jakes..

Finishing up strong..

We'll close it out with a couple nice Schwarber RCs and the last of the four big scores in this trade, that there Kris Bryant RC.  I also wasn't expecting it, but I will never ever turn down a KB RC, even if it's my third copy of the same card.  It's an instant classic too, cropped enough to see the concentration in his eyes.  Great, great card, amongst a package filled with many.

That's all for today.  Thanks for stopping by! :)

Until our next...