A Gallery of Horrors

Topps Gallery, Allen & Ginter X and more in a #CrackinWaxMailDay from @CrackinWax of course. 

 

Online box breaks continue to be my primary source of new cards with retail purchases no longer an option, although I have been known to sprinkle in a purchase of a batch of singles or two every now and then. I've been meaning to check out that "online dime box" site that a lot of people have been raving about. Hopefully it won't be all cleared out by the time I get there, like the card shows used to be. In the meantime, here's some more break stuff that I picked up from Crackin' Wax.

I picked up a healthy amount of Allen & Ginter X team needs this time around. The weirdest thing about this set this time around is that about half the set is colored in a much darker shade than the rest. I haven't personally opened packs or boxes to confirm that this isn't just an inconsistent printing process, though. Does anyone have a more lightly colored Kolten Wong?
 

In contrast, has anyone seen a darker KK card? It's weird, and not in the usual way that Topps is weird/inconsistent.

Here's one I needed from a set that I remember fondly from purchases from The Loot Locker (RIP). It's 2015 Bowman's Best. I just really like the design. If you're going to crop a player out of the background, it's nice when they put something else behind the player besides a blank void.

While it's true that I finished off the base team set in this year's Topps 206 set, I still need about 928434 parallels. This Piedmont backed-Big Mac reduces that unsightly number by 1. I would have scanned the back, but it just has the Piedmont ad on it with no other identifying info. These are unnumbered as well.

Now it's time to talk about the set from where this post gets its title. Topps Gallery is one of my least favorite sets every year in its current state as a Walmart exclusive. I have to give my usual disclaimer about not being an art person of any sort, so it really feels wrong for me to be too critical of others' work. I just can't handle some of this stuff, though.

Several different artists are used for this set, so you're bound to like certain cards more than others. Topps Gallery used to look like this, though!

I believe this one is a short print. Topps really went for the Stranger Things font with this set.

Again, some of these work better than others. This one almost looks like a photograph. It's cropped a bit weirdly, though.

There are Heritage inserts in this product to be found, and I was fortunate enough to snag one of them. Sometimes these are listed in auctions simply as "Topps Heritage" cards, which always throws me off for a bit by making me think it's a card I'm missing from my actual Topps Heritage collection. These are drawn, or "arted" as I like to say.

There was a hit to be found in the form of a sticker auto from Junior Fernandez. I'm now up to four of his autographs at this point, which is kind of a lot considering I only own 20 unique cards of the young Cardinals reliever.