Wizards of the Coast Transformers TCG Booster Pack

Some time ago Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast announced that they were working on a collectible trading card game for the Transformers brand. Time went on and I forgot about it, that was until San Diego Comic Con earlier this summer. An exclusive preview pack was made available, but I was unable to get my hands on one. However the booster packs showed up at my local Target a week or so ago and I grabbed a few.

I know most of my readers here come for sports cards, particularly baseball. However I can't be the only trading card fan, who likes things outside of sports...right? Anyhow, here are the contents to one of the booster packs I purchased.

The booster packs retail for $3.99 each and contain 8 cards. 7 of the cards are traditional trading/playing card size while the included foil card is oversized. I'm not too sure how I like this as I can't put these cards in regular 9 pocket pages. I've yet to hit my LCS to see if they have anything that will fit these larger cards, but I hope I can find something.

If nothing else these larger character cards do offer a larger view of the great artwork. Only one side has the holofoil treatment however, that being the side featuring the character's robot mode. If I'm reading the small text at the bottom of the card correctly, Jazz here is an Uncommon card. (you'll have to excuse the fact that these oversized cards don't come across any larger in my scans)

These four cards are all Commons. I've yet to figure out how to play the actual game, I'm waiting to buy a starter deck before I try that...but it seems pretty straight forward for a card game.

These two cards are Uncommons. I particularly am fond of the card on the right featuring the Decepticon Thundercracker.

Lastly we have the pack's only Rare card, an upgrade as it appears for the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime.

Even though I don't read the IDW Transformer comics, I do recognize some of the art and the artists. The cards in hand are quite beautiful and I'm sure at some point I'll sit down and create a section for these cards in my Transformers Bio Card Database.

New Comic Wednesday - 11/28/18

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving last week. Because of the holiday I was able to post that week's new books, so this post will be a catch up of sorts. Before we get to last week's books, I wanted to share my haul from DCBS. As I've mentioned before, the majority of my monthly books are ordered through Discount Comic Book Service as the discounts they offer are very generous and much better than any local comic shop offers. I elect to have my books for each month shipped in one large shipment once a month to save money, that and I'm still getting caught up reading my current books. Below are the books I received in my latest DCBS order.

I've opted to buy all of the Ron Lim variant covers to Infinity Wars. I particularly love this cover w/ Thanos and Gamora.

I'm absolutely thrilled to see Humberto Ramos back on Amazing Spider-Man. He's one of my favorite artists period, but I particularly love his take on Spider-Man.

I've got to get caught up because I loved Spider-Verse and I can't wait to see how Spider-Geddon shakes out. I've been trying to stay away from any spoiler type material because I want to go into these stores "blind" as much as possible.

The Iceman issue was purchased not because of the Spidey appearance, but because of Firestar! I don't know what really became of her after Secret Empire so I'm anxious to read this issue.

I grabbed a few of the Battle Lines variants, including this issue of Weapon H featuring the Red Hulk.

New books for last Wednesday, 11/21/18:

Gobots? Yes please! I flipped through the book in the store and I love the vintage look the pages/art have. This one will be read this weekend.

I wasn't sure if I would bother with Web of Venom: Carnage Born, however I'm told that it ties in w/ Venom's title since Donny Cates is writing both. Never cared for the Carnage character...maybe Cates will change that?

Lately I've been trying to branch out from the larger publishers and check out some smaller indie titles. I started off w/ Rags from Antarctic Press (thanks to the awesome Key Collector app) and I loved it. I made sense to try another title of theirs so I grabbed Punchline #1. This one is more in the traditional superhero vein from what I know of the book. I plan to sit down this weekend and give it a read.

New comics for Wednesday, 11/28/18:

Jenny Frison is killing it with these Wonder Woman covers. They are simply gorgeous and worth the price of admission alone!

Two more installments in the Infinity Warps stories of Weapon Hex and Arach-Knight. I didn't think I'd care for the merger of these characters, but they are much cooler than I thought they'd be.

I'm still trying to play catch up w/ Daredevil so I have a few issues to find before I can sit down and find out how this title is "ending". I really enjoyed Uncanny X-Men #1 two weeks ago and I'm eagerly looking forward to reading last week and this week's new issues. As you can see, I have a lot that will be added to the backlog stack of books. Hopefully I can have a productive weekend and put a dent in the books that need to be read. Later!

NECA Masters of the Universe: SSSqueeze

Back when I had a robust Masters of the Universe 200X toy collection, I had branched out to include the NECA "staction" figures into my collection. Even though these were essentially little statues, I loved the fact that the Four Horsemen continued to sculpt these.

I wasn't the biggest MOTU fan growing up as it was just a tad before my time, however I always loved the concept of the Snake Men. I was really sold on how the Snake Men looked in the Mike Young Productions cartoon and in the 200X toy series. These NECA figures continue the same look and are packed with detail. 

The original toy for this character was too goofy for me to take serious, but this guy, I wouldn't want to bump into him in a dark alley or on the battle field!

There are times I really wish I hadn't sold my 200X collection, however like many toy collectors there is only so much space to display things and eventually they because causalities in the great toy purge. Outside of certain NECA staction figures having fragile parts, these were great additions that helped fill out any MOTU 200X collection. Did you ever own any? What was your impression of the character selection, sculpts and overall durability?

Hot Wheels: '15 Dodge Challenger SRT (Muscle Mania 4/10)

From time to time when I'm rummaging the toy department at my local Target or Walmart I'll find myself on the die-cast vehicle aisle looking at Hot Wheels. While I've longed given up on "collecting" Hot Wheels and other die-cast vehicles, I can still find a few that catch my eye. This 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT is part of Hot Wheels' 50th Anniversary, part of the Muscle Mania subset.

I'm not a "gear head", bur I can recognize the beauty of this muscle car. I love the shiny black paint with the subtle touch of blue used on the nose and on the sides.

Sometimes less is more and I feel like that is what Mattel gave us with this version of this mold. The wild and tacky deco that is used at times on these cars may attract kids and other people, but I like the toned down more "serious" look and this deco fits that bill.