Box Break: 2010 Topps Update

This box break started off about as well as it could go, and then slowly went downhill.







The pulls:

Base Set
184 out of 330 (55.7%)
66 Doubles
7 Triples
1 Quintuple (Jason Bay)
8 Gold Cards #'d to 2010
1 Stephen Strasburg Rookie (Card 661)

Inserts:
36 Topps Attax Code Cards
13 Cards Yo Momma Threw Out (2 doubles)
8 Turkey Reds
9 Stupid Vintage Legends (1 double)
5 Tales of the Game
2 Legendary Lineage
4 Peak Performance
10 MCG Code Cards

Hits:
Box Loader Rookie Chrome Refractor - Stephen Strasburg
Big Mojo Hit!!!!!1!!!1 - Robinson Cano All Star Game Jersey *groan*

Stephen Strasburg Cards Pulled - 7

Review:
You can't say Topps Updates is a terrible product. You can get an excellent selection of rookie cards in the set, some of whom will pan out and be worth a decent amount of money. Yes, this was the Stephen Strasburg hot box, right out of the gate even with the boxloader. The checklist for the boxloaders is pretty good, and there are decent odds you'll find something good. The regular checklist is the usual for Updates: rookies, traded players, and All Stars, nothing new or different here. The inserts are mostly all the same from Series 1 and 2, also nothing new here. For what you can and do get, it is what it is.

All that being said, the originality of Updates, quite frankly, sucks. I was kind of hoping for something different and original for an insert out of Updates, like with the propaganda posters in last year's set. Instead, it was just more Tales of the Game cards (I'm so happy with that). I'm not great with original ideas, and clearly neither is Topps, but some type of insert needed to be interesting. And can we all agree that the Vintage Legends need to go away? I think so. On another note, the "stamping" of the serial numbers on the gold cards looks even cheaper and worse than it did before in Series 1 and 2. It's still printed on, but the font looks even cheaper than before and looks sloppy, for lack of a better word.

Finally, and Topps you better be reading and fixing this, your quality control sucks. I'm going to be blunt with that. This is your flagship brand, make it a quality product, not this $48 worth of fail I just opened. Ok, so I pulled 7 Stephen Strasburg cards of various types and got my Ryan Kalish Rookie, so it wasn't all fail. But I for one want something more than Stephen Strasburg's galore in a box. I pulled 66 doubles, 7 triples, and 1 quintuple out of this box. 66 DOUBLES FOR GOD'S SAKE! This is just purely inexcusable; I got short-changed 20% of the base set. And, yes I did like Jason Bay during his time in Boston, but I do not want 5 of his cards in one box, and neither does anyone else. And, it wasn't just the base set, I pulled doubles of a few inserts. And it doesn't stop there, I got short changed out of a pack and instead of pulling 10 cards, I pulled 7.

Topps, do you actually give a crap that your quality control sucks this much? Diamond cutting T-206 cards, not following through on the promised hits, poor (and that's an understatement) coalition, not putting the right amount of cards in a pack, does that not mean anything? Are you realizing that people are getting fed up and pissed off about this? Have you just rolled over and given up? Is it just me, or did Upper Deck, who doesn't even have a baseball license, make the best product this year in terms of quality? Does that mean that you really deserve that exclusive license? I'm starting to question that. So, Topps, do what's best for you and start cleaning up your act and giving a crap about your product and the work that goes into making it, and that includes not putting 66 doubles in a box.

In any matter, this is Topps Updates. While this box was a fail, that does not that every box is a fail. I would still say this product is Hench Approved; it should be somewhat unusual to find 66 doubles in a box. This box, on the other hand, is Not Hench Approved, Stras-Jo, Ryan Kalish, and all.

Another thing, the hit was Yankee, Robinson Cano All Star Game Jersey Card, there-by making this box break much worse. As you know, it is for trade, preferably for a Red Sox relic or auto.

2010-11 Upper Deck Victory Box Break

Like I said before, the season is here. So it's time to BUST SOME WAX!







The pulls:

Base Set: 197 out of 250 (78.8%)
Short Set: 179 out of 200 (89.5%)
Rookies: 18 out of 50 (36%)

Parallels:
1 Gold Card-Jamie Langenbrunner (1 per box)

Inserts:
Stars of the Game: 9 (1:4 packs)
Gamebreakers: 9 (1:4 packs)

Review:
From the reviews I read before I busted this, I had a feeling this set was going to be bad. But, I would say that this isn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. I mean, yes the checklist definately isn't long enough (WHERE'S TUUKKA RASK?!), the inserts are cheesy, there needs to be more than one parallel per box, and the rookie selection is pretty bad. But, there are some positives to this. For one, I'm a fan of the base card design; some people might think it is corny and poorly thought out, but I feel they are very pleasing to the eye. I'm really a fan of the design of the Gamebreaker cards, especially with the layout of the color (yes, I like cards like this). Thumbs up to Upper Deck Design. This is also a very easy set to collect for cheapskates and cash-strapped people, like myself. I got close to 4/5 of the base set just by buying a hobby-box for $23.50.

So, it's basically up to the buyer if you want this product or not. If you're a Joe Collector, you can put this product off your radar. If you like more than just 2 sets of cheesy inserts and a bunch of base cards, don't buy it. Save your money and buy Panini's Score Hockey (to be released in 12 days). Though, it is the only hockey product available right now. And, if you have $24 bucks in your pocket and your craving hockey cards, I'd say pick up a box. If you're cheap, this is no question a product for you. I would have to say, by a slim margin, this product is Hench Approved (subject to change with the release of Score in a couple of weeks).

Well Finally! - 2010 Heritage Video Pack Break

Wow, it took long enough to do. Now, to figure out how to embed this damn thing. I'm still figuring out the lay of the video stuff.



And, it worked. Yee-hah!

The pulls:
Buncha Base Cards
2 Short Prints
1 Dice Game Variation (Grady Sizemore; I didn't notice it until after the video when I was sorting the cards, so I apologize for the obliviousness.)
3 Chrome Parallels #'d to 1961 (Prince Fielder, Ian Kinsler, Neftali Feliz)
2 Ruth Chase Inserts (1 and 5)
1 Baseball Flashback (Luis Aparicio)
1 News Flashback (Berlin Wall)

More worth it than a box of last years Bowman? Maybe. I did pull 3 chrome cards (1 in 5 packs, for those who don't know) and a dice-game variation (1 in 3 box hit). But was it like ripping a wax box? No. Was it worth it, in general? I'd say so.