2013 Topps Big League Minis Collectable Vinyl Baseball Figures Box Break Recap, Review And Limited Edition Checklist

When I want to pick up a few packs of cards and I don’t have time to get my local card shop, I hit my nearest larger big box store.  Next to the trading cards I’ve noticed there are collectable mini toy figurines of things like ponies, not so appealing to me but very popular with kids, like my 6-year-old.  But buying these toys is not like buying a figure from the Skylander Giants where you know if you are purchasing Thumpback as opposed to Hot Head.  These are wrapped so you don’t know which figure you are buying until you open the package.  

This concept of buying toys without knowing what you are buying seemed odd to me. But my daughter likes the surprise element of opening the package and seeing what is inside.  Then Topps announced they would be making mini collectable vinyl figures of some of today’s top baseball players and that’s when I made the connection.  I’ve been getting the same fun out of opening packs of trading cards without knowing which cards are inside for years, so why not the element of surprise with purchasing small toy figures.

In the writing of this review I thought it only fair to include my daughter, who loves baseball by the way, so I could get plenty of perspective and view points, looking at these toys through the eyes of a kid, a parent and a collectable hobby enthusiast.

2013 Topps Big League Minis Collectable Vinyl Figures stand about 3 inches tall.  For purposes of our review, we will review them using our fun cards format even though they are toys/collectables.   Each individual pack contains one figure and a visual checklist.   We opened a seal box that included 20 figures.  Let’s take a look at the figures we pulled from the box.

2013 Topps Baseball Series 2 Trading Cards Box Break Recap And Review

Reviewing Topps' flagship Baseball Card release is just an exercise in personal taste.  It is a given that any Baseball card collector should include Topps Baseball Series 1 & 2 in their collection each year.  2013 Topps Baseball is all about "The Chase" and that theme permeates from base to inserts to hits.  Everything about this year's version is on par with past releases, walking the middle ground when it comes to design which should appeal to a wide range of tastes.

For a detailed description of the cards with Everything You Need To Know About 2013 Topps Baseball Series Cards, use this link.

For the purposes of this review, we classify Series 2 as trading cards.  You can find Series 1 in a wide variety of configurations in both retail and hobby.  We opened a box hobby box which contained 36 – 10 card packs with a promise of 1 autograph or 1 relic card per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

2012 13 Panini Score Hockey Cards Box Break Recap And Review

Collecting used to be simple.  Not hits, just base and perhaps some inset cards. But in most case, even those inserts were just another part of the set.  While the huge hits are great, there is something to be said for straight up set building, the essence of collecting.  In Hockey, I can’t think of a better set of cards to do that with than 2012/13 Panini Score.  While it might skew towards less experienced collectors, there is still enough here for serious collectors thanks to great photography, design and content.  In addition the cards are a lot of fun and perfect for set building.

For the purpose of this review, we will classify Panini Score as trading cards even though the price point could easily send them into the fun category.  Score Hockey can be found in many different retail configurations.  We opened a complete box that contained 36 packs with 7 cards per pack.  There are autographs to be found but they are rare.

Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled.

2013 Topps Archives Baseball Cards Box Break Recap And Review

I am compelled to write a disclaimer for this review along the lines of “Hits contained in this box are not typical, your individual results may vary” simply to combat the cries of “loaded box!”  All one has to do is look at the odds to know this was a special box.

Mind you, I feel this is more of a case of beating the odds rather than a collation error as all of the cards were part of the normal box structure.  While not typical, it could easily be repeated.  There are probably even better boxes to be found.  But once the excitement of hitting a box like this settled a bit, I returned to take a critical look at the set over the entire run.

The one thing that a product like Archives has going for it is that Baseball is timeless.  While there might be slight styling changes, over time the look remains, for the most part, the same.  This allows for seamless interchangeability between players photos and card styling from different decades.

2013 Topps Archives Baseball Cards comes in with a different flavor from last year’s release, moving out of the ‘50s and early to mid ‘60s, mostly settling between the ‘70s and the ‘90s, perhaps in an attempt to appeal to a younger collecting crowd. It still provides a reasonable challenge for set builders, while also servicing hit seekers looking for pulls that can’t be found anywhere else all with a wisp of nostalgia.  The one draw back for me is the change from 1970 styling to 1972 styling only because 1972 min are included this year in Topps Series Baseball cards.  When I pulled the 1972 Yu Darvish it felt as if I had already pulled that card before.

For collectors who were around during the original releases of these cards, this redo will feel familiar while, at the same time, seem current and should bring back feelings of when you first opened these packs. Unlike the popular Heritage line, collectors won’t have to wait 50 years to see their favorite releases get the updated treatment.

Archives Baseball falls under our classification of trading cards. Hobby Boxes contain 24 – 8 card packs with 2 Fan Favorites Autographs Per Hobby Box and the potential for some amazing and rare finds.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our hobby box.

2012 Panini Prizm Football Box Break Recap And Review

2012 Panini Prizm Football follows in the footsteps of the widely sucessful 2012/13 Panini Prizm Basketball and does just as well.  With a simple configuration and low number of inserts, all that is left is to concentrate on the base cards, which in this case are spectacular. It is difficult to look at these stunning cards and find fault. The truth is, even without the Prizm parallels, this set of cards works on it’s own merit. As an added value, Panini added Black Border 1/1s to the Gold Border cards that soared in value on the secondary market for the Basketball release.  All of this adds up to one the best Football card releases of the year.

Though on the high end of the category from a cost standpoint, we classify Panini Prizm as trading cards.  Each box contains 20 - 6 card packs with a promise of 2 autographs, 3 regular Prizms , 1 red diecut Prizm and 5 Inserts in every box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

2012 Panini Signature Series Baseball Box Break Recap And Review

The ever-expanding slate of Panini Baseball products extends to prospecting on a premium level with an easier per box commitment with 2012 Panini Signature Series Baseball.  At 3 hits and a total of 6 cards per box, this is clearly intended for a fast break with a reasonable amount of risk, but there is plenty of opportunity for some really nice pulls.

Signature Series Baseball falls into our premium cards category.  Each box contains 6 cards with 3 Autograph cards per box.

Here are the cards from our box.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Baseball Cards Box Break Recap And Review

With Topps Museum Collection Baseball cards technically in it’s second year of release one would expect some sophomoreitis. Some forget that Museum Collection became the replacement product for 2011 Topps Marquee Baseball so Topps has had some time to work out the kinks.  2013 Topps Museum Collection Baseball its all the notes correctly with sharp design and a nice variety of great looking hits, even improving in some ways from last year’s release.  All of this adds up to a cohesive set that does justice to it’s Museum moniker.

Museum Collection fits nicely into our Premium Cards category.  Each Master Box contains 4 mini-boxes with 5 cards per mini.  There is the promise that each Master Box will contain 1 on-card autograph, 1 autograph relic, 1 quad relic, and 1 jumbo relic.

Here are the cards we pulled from our box.