trading cards

I recently had the honor of being a participating artist in Topps’ 5th series of Star Wars Galaxy trading cards, a series that I’ve been watching since the very beginning. Instead of using still frames from the films which we’ve seen a hundred times already, the Galaxy line of trading cards invites artists from all genres to create their own visions of the Star Wars universe. Recently, Topps stretched their participating artist list to include those who are known (or even relatively unknown) within the designer toy & street art worlds, and that’s where I came in. As a result of this project, I was given a complimentary box of cards.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve gone through a whole box of something and tore into randomized packs of stuff, but it’s a good feeling. It was one of my favorite aspects of collecting Heroclix – the lottery of trying to score a rare or powerful piece for your collection. As far as boxes of Star Wars cards go, each box of 24 packs is guaranteed to have one original sketch card – which is what everyone buying these packs is after. In terms of buying this set for its secondary market value, none of the many varieties of chase cards are nearly as valuable as these original artworks that are slipped into the regular packs of cards, and they come in three varieties : sketch cards, manga sketch cards, and shaped sketch cards. Some of these are sold for around $300, with many hovering around $50, and the occasional card not selling at all.

The basic set contains 120 cards in a huge variety of styles, from comic book, to beautifully painted, to propaganda-poster styled works which would look even more amazing if they were done up in actual poster size. Of course, you look at these images much more closely after you tear through the packs searching for chase cards.

Nearly every pack that I opened contained a chase card of some kind. While most were foil cards, depicting a character on a shiny background, one was a much rarer ‘gold foil parallel’ card of Darth Maul, only 770 of which were made. This accompanies the regular and bronze versions of the same card, which have backgrounds in slightly different colors. There were also 4 etched foil cards, which use an aesthetic that was once very, very rare when searching through packs of Marvel trading cards in the 1990s. It’s almost strange to see these types of cards as commonplace, but I don’t object to the new variety of chase cards featuring original art at all.

Finally, as I was nearing the end of my box, I found my chase card – a picture of Greeata (one of Jabba’s dancers) done by a mysterious artist whose signature was a scribble. If there is an element of disappointment in this, it’s that certain artists approached their sketch cards by producing the same image many, many times, instead of using each card as a new canvas for a new character, a new visual problem to solve. I had seen this card before, as someone else on the Scoundrel Publishing boards (where Star Wars card collectors gather and trade) had pulled a nearly identical card. Regardless, it was still an original artwork, and the art is expertly done, so I’m pleased to have a little part of someone else who participated in this set.

A full box yielded enough cards to complete a base card set as well, and enough to stick in the spokes of your bicycle, or whatever one does with extra trading cards now. Cut them up into little Tie Fighter replicas?

Star Wars collectors.

These three words define some of the most passionate, dedicated, invested, and serious collectors you’ll ever encounter. While my own collecting interests have been narrowed down to the Original Trilogy by the cruel, cruel economy, I’ve certainly been an intense Star Wars collector in my day. Maybe I just relate better to funky aliens with eye stalks and distended proboscii than I do with my neighbors.

There have been more Star Wars trading card series than I can count, starting with the original series released around 1980 (including the legendary C-3PO card with the inappropriate anatomical details), and a good handful of recent sets have included cards that feature original artwork by various famous illustrators and designers – but this year’s Star Wars Galaxy IV set did something very different.

Curated by the amazing Sucklord, an underground ‘bootleg toy’ artist operating out of Chinatown, Star Wars Galaxy IV featured hundreds of artworks by artists who weren’t as well known as their big-name illustrator counterparts. Instead, Sucklord called upon the talented and innovative, but not yet ‘famous’ artists that toil away in the relative obscurity of the designer toy art movement and street artists. Seeing as how some of these guys are my friends, I couldn’t have been happier to be two steps away from the fabled and notoriously well-protected universe of George Lucas.

While a few hundred cards were collected from artists around the world, not too many collectors could get their hands on them, considering the ratio of regular cards to these ultra-limited, one of a kind cards. As a result, many of these sell on the secondary market for a minimum of $30, and some have reached as high as $300. Of course, this depends on the appeal of the card and how hot the artists themselves are in their underground circles. You can check out this Flickr group to see a handful of the neat artworks that were done for these cards.

The diversity is apparent – from stencils to paintings and drawings, related to Star Wars or completely divergent from Star Wars themes and off on wild aesthetic tangents. In recent years, Lucas has been releasing his asphyxiating stranglehold on his universe and appreciating the impact that it’s had on popular culture and a generation of artists. This is an amazingly clear expression of this – and collectors, always hungry to devour most of what the Star Wars universe has to offer, are excitedly gathering as many as they can find.

Yesterday, I was invited to an artist in Star Wars Galaxy V, so in a few months, somewhere in the world, fifty different art card collectors will open up packs of Star Wars cards and get a little palpitation when they see my original art on a die-cut Darth Maul head. The collector has become the collected.

I’ve been cleaning. Or, as one astute friend called it, excavating. 30 years of accumulations are being sorted through, organized, preserved, or sold, or given away, or simply thrown out. They start to form geological strata by which I can study the progress of my life and analyze the anthropological significance of my existence with layers of dust and delicate stacks of things.

During this, I’ve found that I have a LOT of games. We’re not talking Monopoly or Life (though a Simpsons edition of Clue lingers around here). We’re talking about the WizKids Pirates trading model game, Heroclix, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Buttonmen, Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, Talisman, and hidden behind it all where prying eyes can’t see it, Xxxenophile.

As far as trading card games go, Xxxenophile was fairly collectible and remains so today – owing no small part to its incorporation of sexual and suggestive themes into its imagery. The card game was launched in 1996 and based loosely on Kaja and Phil Foglio’s X-rated comic book anthologies. All of this, while not explicitly filthy, was certainly highly suggestive, and unlike most material of a sensual nature, was definitely equal opportunity between the genders. The occasional ‘remove one article of clothing’ cards can be ignored, if you so choose.

See, in 1996 I was very much into Magic : The Gathering, so when many of these artists also contributed artwork to the Xxxenophile card game, I made it a point to pursue them across these boundaries. Remember that this is before the internet really was the vast bastion of scanned artwork and easily searchable information that it is today, so when I wanted to see what Quinton Hoover was creating for this new set of cards, I had to find a way to purchase them. Fortunately, the internet didn’t know how old I was for either Xxxenophile or my Sorayama books.

The most surprising aspect of the game was that it involved some truly fun mechanics, involving placing cards in a grid, turning them, matching symbols, and lots of other things that had nothing to do with sex at all. In fact, without cards titled ‘Erotic Potato Prints’, ‘Cornelia’s Double Bed’ and ‘Naked City’ (which are some of the few that I can actually type here), the game could genuinely be fun for all ages. Fortunately, Studio Foglio reworked the cards’ imagery to suit their all-ages comic, Girl Genius in 2001. With cards on the table that effected the gameplay conditions at every turn, and chain reactions that resulted in the accumulation and removal of many cards, the game is a very fun balancing act. You know, if you don’t mind all of the nipples.

One rarely encounters these cards on eBay, though with a set of 270 to obtain, there’s certainly a lot out there to look for, and while complete sets are almost impossible to come by, even back in 2001 there’s evidence of sets selling for over $100. If you can snag a handful of these collectible cards and don’t mind the blushing and weirdness, it’s an excellent game.

Every so often, I get an e-mail asking for assistance with finding a particular piece of nerd paraphernalia… and usually, I’m so entrenched in the nerd word that I can help a brotha’ out. It’s rare that I run into a comic collectible that I wasn’t aware of, but this time, I was a little surprised at my own ignorance.

Back in the good ol’ days, even before I was really into reading comics, I would collect Marvel and DC trading cards. Marvel in particular seemed to endlessly pump out set after set, every year until I just got bored of Joe Jusko’s stiff artwork and Wolverine’s exact birthdate no longer held the magic that it once did. There were a ton of Marvel card collections, and the neighbor kids would trade them during warm afternoons, and in one particularly divisive incident, steal them from one another. The neighborhood was never the same after that.

During this same time as the first few sets of Marvel cards were being released, ToyBiz was producing some of the earlier X-Men and Marvel action figures. As was a common gimmick back in those days, many action figures would come packaged with a single trading card – usually always from one of those existing sets of Marvel cards, and usually something that you already had anyhow. No big deal. If I got an action figure, I’d tear the thing open and chuck the extra card into my box of doubles.

So, it’s not until 2009 that a Collectors’ Quest reader has informed me of the error of my ways. As it turns out, all of the cards that were packaged with these action figures were quietly and subtly branded with the ToyBiz logo – something that was not present on the normal edition of the cards, as they were usually made by a completely different company, like Topps or Impel. This variation had never been brought to my attention before.

Here’s where things get really complex for collectors (and I give much thanks to Jeramy Bonnelle, card collector, for sorting the information out). In 1991 and 1993, ToyBiz only packaged specific cards with specific figures, resulting in a series of 19 branded cards, none of which are too difficult to track down with packaged figures. However, in 1992, ToyBiz decided to reprint the entire 99-card Impel X-Men Series I set and randomly package them with the figures produced that year – a nightmare if you were interested in collecting the branded cards, or even packaging variations.

If you were crazy enough to try such a thing. Like Jeramy Bonnelle.

To make things worse, Jeramy informs me that these cards were roughly taped into the packages, unprotected, and very likely just torn out by the kids opening the toys – two factors that have degraded their condition immediately. I can’t imagine that almost 20 years with tape stuck to ‘em has done too well for the cards that are still sealed, either.

My presumption is that at least a good portion of toy collectors were also card collectors, and also that a good portion of collectors were also not aware of this variation at the time. Remember – we were pre-internet. If you didn’t have a buddy who was super-observant and collected on speculation, this info was downright esoteric. It’s likely that you have a few ToyBiz cards tossed in with your old Marvel card collections and don’t even know it.

Of course, Jeramy seeks these cards, and because I’m both fascinated that people are still collecting the old Marvel cards, and because it’s such an interesting variation to collect, I impel the nerdier readers of CQ to plumb the depths of their collections and drop Jeramy a line. He’s always looking for more, and to upgrade his existing collection.

By way of a visual aid, Jeramy provided these images. Comic geeks, prepare for a trip back in time. The set that was packaged randomly with the ToyBiz logo is the set that features the X-Factor card immediately above, where you can see the light grey ToyBiz logo hovering underneath the flavor text. The two Wolverine cards pictured above are from other sets and provided just for reference. If you can help, drop the guy a line at jdbonnelle77 at hotmail.com.

Good luck!

Every so often, I feel like I need to step completely out of my element and explore a world of collecting that’s completely foreign to me. Enough with the awesome old vinyl records, and the inspiring superheroes. Put the vintage filmstrips and modern DVDs to the side. I know all of this stuff – this stuff is comfortable.

Now, put me into a world of pretty horses and positive reinforcement, and you’ll see some sparks – usually as I ricochet ignorantly off the sides.

Having spent a good portion of the last few years with a pre-teen girl partially under my charge, I’ve been submerged in Club Penguin and Stardoll and Littlest Pet Shop and Webkinz and Little Girl Online Fad #35, so I’m no stranger to the asphyxiating pinkness. Lord, the pinkness. My computer was sacrificed many an evening to that altar of her digital collecting of accessories for her imaginary apartments, or outfits for her rail-thin paperdolls – though I readily admit that Club Penguin’s fishing game was something that I returned to even in my own free time. That game was tight.

Enter Bella Sara, a game that began in Denmark in 2006, created to be a more feminine, constructive alternative to destructive Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh monster fighting games. Instead of enslaving and summoning violent creatures to tear each other limb from limb, you gently take care of digital equines as they shower you with phrases of positive reinforcement. They might not appeal directly to your average 20-something male blog writer, but I easily see the merits, as I’m all for the idea of empowering the fairer sex through whatever means available. The arbitrary, cruel social hierarchy of 3rd grade girls rivals the most complex of your prime-time TV shows.

“Make a plan and commit completely to it.”

“Your spirit is strong and noble. Wear it like a crown of glory.”

“I will be your lucky star. Take a chance and try something new.”

If they were catering to my demographic, or more specifically, ME, they’d read more like. “Your hairline isn’t THAT bad!”, or “That Batman action figure isn’t going to make you less lonely. Invest in a home gym instead!”

The core of Bella Sara is physically collected in the form of trading cards – each card having a unique code which can be entered into the Bella Sara website to varying ends. Even if you’re not regularly attached to the internet, the cards themselves can be used for a variety of oldschool card games.

The eighth and most recent set of cards is called ‘Treasures’, and consists of 55 different regular cards, and 55 ‘extra rare’ cards that are variants of the regular cards, but printed on a shiny foil. While most of these cards are horses that can be added to your online stable, a few of these cards represent trinkets than can be added to your 2-room ‘apartment’ online. For each card you enter online, you get 50 ‘horseshoes’, which is the standard Bella Sara currency. If you’re lucky enough to get shiny card, it’s worth many more horseshoes. All of this is kept track of in an easy to navigate interface. There’s no monthly membership fee, as with many online communities.

Which is worth mentioning : Bella Sara is a completely safe environment, as there’s no anonymous interaction with other players. More than a few times, I’ve had to usher young eyes away from the computer when an online game went sour and foul or threatening language was used. This is an impossibility with Bella Sara. You’re working for yourself – not to compete or show off to your online ‘friends’ – itself being a quiet re-enforcement of the ‘girl power!’ message.

If you need a fast fix of horseshoes, a parent can always purchase them with a credit card and real money, or the player can earn small amounts of ‘em by playing the wide variety of online games. It’s all a slow accumulation of digital wealth, and ultimately converting it into a digital collection of fancy stuff to adorn your apartment with. As is more and more common online, these virtual components are essentially purchased with real money (be it directly or through packs of cards) and are the final result of play and the subsequent accumulation. The whole ‘collecting’ mindset is prevalent, though there’s definitely a healthy distribution of life-positive messages and dexterity building puzzles that are woven into every activity. Daily tasks, such as taking care of your own horse, imply a certain degree of responsibility through a rewards system, but there’s no real penalty for abandoning your pet, either. It’s not like a Tamagotchi, where you log in one day and find the desiccated corpse of your once-beloved Sweet Pepper.

(As a side note, your own horse’s name must be chosen from a set combination of nouns and adjectives, removing much of the fun I had while naming my horse tremendously obscene things while playing Horse Life for the Nintendo DS.)

Each pack of cards includes 5 game cards (with the potential for rare cards inserted), a tattoo card, a checklist card backed with ideas for card games, and a sticker card. Over ten packs of cards that I opened, only about 10% were doubles – and while doubles are potentially disappointing for the completist, they’re still worth at least 50 horseshoes online, and can easily be converted into something completely new – or traded with friends.

The newest introduction to the Bella Sara world, and what initially caught my interest, was their recent collection of Miniatures. Much like packs of cards, each Miniature pack contains one flocked, rubber horse and a code for more online accumulation. I have to say that I’m a big fan of anything flocked, from the original Masters of the Universe Mossman to the recent (and relatively uncommon) Kathie Olivas Dunny. Something about the tactile sensation of flocking is very soothing to me.

There are 20 different horses, each about 1” tall. For every code that you enter, you get a different horse statue to decorate your house with, further cementing the strange bond between the real and virtual worlds, and creating a nifty little display of fuzzy horses for your own living spaces.

It’s adorable, it’s inexpensive, and it actually carries a genuinely positive message, which seems to set it far above those online pursuits that are exclusively about purchasing things or being pretty. I mean, get outside and kick a ball around, but if your kid is going to play online, this is the right direction to send her.