Alright, that's a lie. I do collect cards but I'm not very good at it so my interest level is hit and miss on a good day. It's extra funny if you consider that I actually work for a trading card company that produces some rather nice merchandise. No, it's not Topps, Upper Deck or Panini.
When I was young I had the blue Star Wars cards and the Red/Yellow/Green The Empire Strikes Back cards but that was way back in the day when cards were cheap and the coolest thing, besides the stick of gum, that you pulled from a pack was a sticker! Now Star Wars cards run you $4 per pack and you get the chance of pulling things like an autograph or a sketch card. The odds are generally pretty slim unless you happen to buy cards by the box or case where you can be guaranteed a "hit".
I tried a box of the Widevision Clone Wars cards a couple of years ago and pulled probably one of the worst, half-assed attempt at a sketch card ever done. That was $65 out the window. What I learned that day was that if you are going to spend money on card collecting forget about breaking boxes and head to eBay. I managed to get all 7 autographs from the series for a little more than what I paid for the box... and I picked up a couple of really nice sketch cards too.
So this brings me to Topps with their Star Wars Galaxy 7 series. You don't normally find this set at retail level but I stumbled across a couple boxes at Toys R Us. It's a nice set chalk-full of wonderful artist rendered cards but $4 per pack is still pretty steep for this cheap bastard. Regardless, curiosity got the better of me and I bought a few packs. A few too many.
But this story has a happy ending. Perhaps it was the luck of February 29 or just the Force guiding me along my merry way but I made some extremely nice pulls after hitting every Toys R Us in a 50 km radius.
I love these cards. These definitely showcase the talent that is out there and I applaud them for taking the time to create something worthwhile. Charles Hall, Gary Kesele and Eli Rutton are all huge names in the sketch card industry and it's nice to actually have them in my collection. I will cherish them always or at least until I flip them on eBay so I can buy even more Star Wars crap!
