Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 2010-2019

In this decade, the current decade as I write this (but perhaps not when I publish it I didn't plan to drag this out to October) so much changed for me...some for the better, but most changes were not an improvement. I nearly died in 2013 from a disease I didn't know I had (diabetes). Some other health related stuff I'm trying to distract myself from with the hobby. On the plus side, I joined the Trading Card Database in 2012, I launched Cardboard History in 2014 and put a massive amount of work into creating the Cardboard History Gallery in 2018, 19 and 2020- hopefully I finish in 2020! (Update: Nope) I began going on Adventures with my brother in 2018, and I also significantly stepped up my photography hobby, taking 10 thousand photos in a year for the first time in 2017, and, if all goes according to plan, blowing that out of the water by taking over 40 thousand photos in 2019. (Update: I ended up taking 41,288 in 2019) In the hobby, all the major sports now have exclusive licenses, and most real sets have been replaced by memorabilia delivery systems, which is not a good thing.

2010

2010 Topps Empire Strikes Back 3Di

2011

2011 Topps American Pie

2012

2012 Topps Galactic Files

2013

2013 Topps 75th Anniversary

2014

2014 Press Pass Redline

2015

2015 Upper Deck Avengers Age of Ultron

2016

2016-17 Upper Deck

2017

2017-18 O-Pee-Chee

2018

2018 Topps US Olympic Team & Hopefuls

2019

2019-20 Artifacts

2011 saw me get back into Non-sports cards in a big way, thanks to a random purchase of the last 4 packs of this 3Di set that my local Target had. I was extremely frustrated with Press Pass at this point and was no longer enjoying NASCAR cards...2011 and 2012 were dedicated almost solely to non-sports cards. Not only that, I now had internet access and a whole new world of information was opened to me that was not available the last time I actively collected non-sports cards in 1996. In 2012 I joined the Trading Card Database and listing my collection on there, based off my paper listings, reminded me of how much I enjoyed the NBA aspect of the hobby, which seemed like such a long time ago although in actuality only a break of 6 years. I've been collecting the NBA again ever since, making up for lost time, at least attempting to. However, the card I've chosen for 2012 is from my favorite Star Wars set ever, Galactic Files. Running 750 cards over 2 years, (series 2 came out in 2013) it accurately covered the entire history of Star Wars...only to have it all thrown out when Disney bought it in 2014. (you won't see Star Wars again on this project, because of it.) 2014's 75th Anniversary of Topps set is a bit of a stretch- the company was founded 75 years previously but didn't produce cards until 1948-but I still enjoy it for it's overview of the company's non-sports history, although at 100 cards is disappointingly small. For 2014, the year I began Cardboard History, I decided to go with the first card I ever showed on here, all the way back on 11/22/14. For 2015, I've chosen a card from the Avengers movie of that year. I never thought it would be possible, but the Avengers series has surpassed Star Wars as my favorites of all time...and got me buying Marvel cards for the first time since 1994. In 2016, the 4th era of my collection began when I became an NHL fan. {The first era, 1988-1995, is the Beginning era. The second era, 1996-2006, is the NBA era. The third era, 2007-2015 is modern era, and beginning in 2016 is the NHL era. I believe this is the final evolving of my collection, unless the card companies realize there are more than just six sports and start giving cards to all the other sports I enjoy watching...in the Modern Era and NHL era I am fully, officially collecting 4 sports (counting the Olympics as one sport) and non-sports.} This was the first NHL card from my first current season pack after I began collecting. Choosing the last three years were actually the hardest. So much of my collection is built around memories, and the cards are still too new to know what's going to stick in my head, what's going to bring me a wave of nostalgia in the future...to be honest, I chose 2017 just so I could get my favorite NHL player into the project, and 2018 just so I could have the Olympics in the project at all, and the 2019 card for the sole, simple reason that it was the most recent card I got while composing this series!

So, what does the future hold? I don't know, of course. I do now that I will continue collecting, and writing about collecting, for as long as I'm able. I don't know what will be produced but if current trends hold true the NHL will eventually overtake the NBA for largest portion of my collection. After only 3 and a half years the NHL is already neck-and-neck with Non-Sports cards for third largest portion of my collection.  Non-sports cards are on a downward trend, with most sets released being for TV shows and movies I have no interest in seeing, which includes Disney era Star Wars. NASCAR, too, is not getting very many cards produced so it's only a matter of time before the NHL surpasses them as well. Even though I do think it will surpass the NBA at some point, it's not going to be soon...not likely in the 2020s, as the NBA still has an almost 80 thousand card lead.

I hope, that by the conclusion of the 2020s, I will have finished scanning my card collection and have gotten the Cardboard History Gallery fully formed where I can just worry about keeping up with new additions...

I do know for sure that, although this project is now complete, I do plan to publish update posts when I fill in those missing years...probably waiting until I get 5 years to post at a time. Complete, but not done...not by a long shot.