Friday Five – Random 90’s Non Sports Card Boxes

Welcome to the Friday Five! Each week I try to help you get to know me a bit better with the help of a Top Five list. This week, here’s Five Random 90’s Non Sport Card boxes.

I’m well aware its been a long ass time since I wrote a post, but sometimes life gets in the way, and medical issues and comas can be a hell of a thing. If anyone is really interested, you can ask, but that’s not really important right now.

What is important is that this past Saturday was the “It’s a Toy Show” at Farpoint Toys. Me and The Hunters drove half way to the shore on Memorial Day weekend like a bunch of lunatics to buy old toys. Here is how I decided to spend $55 by buying sealed boxes of ancient non sports cards no one else in their right mind would ever actually want.

1. Pro Cheerleaders Preview – 36 twelve card packs, 44 card set (1991)
    
   

   It may be hard to imagine, but back in the 90’s this was the closest to porn a kid could get. Looking back almost 30 years later, these seem almost quaint. And my god, so much hairspray and teased hair. Certainly not what I expected from a box labeled “Pro Cheerleading”, it only contained cards from three Basketball Dance Teams: the Philadelphia 76ers, the Washington Bullets, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. There was not a single football cheerleader in sight, which is generally what one would think of. I was expecting cheer skirts. I got American Gladiator cosplay. This set only contained 44 cards, including 3 checklist cards, so a full 36 packs of twelve cards was overkill. Had I known all that at the time, I may have saved myself $8. Each team went with a different motif for their cards. The Bullets all modeled in their one pieces. The 76ers all wore their American Gladiator work out two piece sets. The Timberwolves were the only team to use photos from actual game action. The distribution of cards was a little lopsided, so while I got like 20 of some cards, I only received 4 of others. Also a bunch of cards had visible crimps on them from where the card was supposed to be cut. The box promised the possibility of signed cards or redemption cards for a team signed basketball or an uncut card sheet. I did not get any of those.

   • Number of complete sets made: 4 out of a theoretical 9
   • Number of special insert cards found: 1 promo foil stamped card

    
   

2. Batman Holo Series – 24 four card packs, 50 card base set (1996)
    
   

   Does anything else scream “90’s” like a hologram? In normal card sets from the 90’s, there were bonus hologram cards maybe packed in randomly, but this entire card set is nothing but holograms. I feel a little cheated, as the box had a 1″ thick piece of styrofoam inside, which cut the number of packs the box could have had by about half. This set is a little nuts, because each card is available both as a regular “silver” hologram, or as a special “golden” hologram, with one gold card per pack and the rest standard silver. And the special insert cards come in both silver and gold as well, so that doubles all the permutations if you want a complete set in either color.

   • Number of complete sets made: 1 out of theoretical 1
   • Number of special insert cards found:
     • 8 of 4 HoloAction cards (1:4), including 1 complete set
     • 2 of 50 Parallel Foil Hologram cards (1:12)
     • 1 of 6 DC OverPower cards (1:72)

    
   

3. Batman: Saga of the Dark Knight – 40 eight card packs, 100 card base set (1994)
    
   

   This set tries to summarize the major Batman stories up until 1994. It really just hits the high notes, mentioning “Year One”, “A Death in The Family”, “A Lonely Place of Dying”, “Sword of Azrael”, “Vengeance of Bane”, “Knightfall” and “Knightquest”. That leaves out quite a bit, but would have gotten the average Batfan up to speed at the time.

   • Number of complete sets made: 2 out of theoretical 3
   • Number of special insert cards found: 1 of 5 Spectra-Etch Portrait cards (1:18)

    
   

4. Joseph Michael Linsner: Dawn and Beyond – 36 ten card packs, 90 card base set (1995)
    
   

   Besides holograms, one other sure sign of the 90’s was the trend of all the “Bad Girls”, like Barb Wire, Vampirella, Lady Death, Belladonna, Razor, Shi, and a slew of others. Dawn may not have been the most popular at the time, or even now, but I knew many a goth girl back then who had the same tear stained cheek makeup.

   • Number of complete sets made: 3 (two cards short of a 4th) out of theoretical 4
   • Number of special insert cards found:
     • 1 of 6 Chromium cards
     • 1 of 3 “Dawn” Subset cards

    
   

5. Star Trek: Voyager – Season One Series Two – 36 eight card packs, 90 card base set (1995)
    
   

   I can’t imagine a worse card set to represent Star Trek: Voyager than one that focuses solely on the first season, when it was still pretty much garbage. And this is only half of two sets dedicated to that, so it’s not even all of the cards on the subject. But hey, free Chakotay tattoo in every pack! Every single pack also had a paper insert explaining the trivia contest they were running to possibly win a Super Size SkyMotion card (retail value $39.95), and an advertisement for a U.S.S. Enterprise porcelain diorama that you have definitely seen before (and can still buy on ebay for the MSRP of $37.50). Also, within the box I pulled two cards, one with a survey about what I liked about this set and would like to see in future Star Trek sets, and the other a sales pitch to buy card sets from all of the original six movies for $24.95 each, or all 6 for $124.95 plus a set of mini one sheet posters and a six card set from Star Trek Generations. Why there were only two of each of those in the whole box, but the other ad was in every pack is beyond me. The special scratch and sniff card still smelled of pears after 24 years.

   • Number of complete sets made: 1 (four cards short of a 2nd) out of theoretical 3
   • Number of special insert cards found:
     • 3 of 9 Spectra-Etch XenoBio cards (1:12)
     • 2 of 6 Scratch N Sniff Neelix Recipe cards (1:12)

    
   

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook