Here is part two in my countdown of my top 30 favorite Non-Sports sets of all time
#20. 1990 Marvel Universe
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| 1990 Marvel Universe #23 |
Surprisingly, Marvel cards will appear more than once on this list. I've been a comic book fan since I was born- just about literally. I had my first comic read to me at 5 days old and I've never left the hobby. But...this is a DC household. In my life I've read a grand total of maybe 8 Marvel comics. However, I do have a lot more Marvel cards than DC cards. There are more to choose from. Marvel has had a much better representation on cards than DC has, and still does, to this day. This was the first non-sports set I ever got completed- my brother bought be a complete set when it was new, back in 1990. Although it was my third year in the hobby, I really can't remember a time when I didn't know this set.
#19. 1942 Gum, Inc. War Gum
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| War Gum #125 |
I'm a huge history buff. That's never been a secret. This set is really interesting because it was issued right in the middle of World War II...and was all about WWII. That's kind of unusual, and it was a pretty large set for the time. Before the war, most card sets were 50 cards or less. This one is 132 cards. (Of which I have 10, 7.6% according to the Trading Card Database). In fact, not only was this set issued in the middle of WWII, it is the only time many of these topics ever appear on cards. All feature painted artwork, some of which is really complex and detailed. One thing about this set that is a little jarring at first is that it tends to use slang terms for people. Especially Japan. We were at war and it was essentially propaganda, but it's not something I'm really used to seeing too often.
Funny thing about this set...I had no idea it existed. I thought that I was buying some cards from Horrors of War the first time I found this set. It was also made by Gum, Inc. and is considered the most important non-sport set ever. But I wasn't 100% familiar with the sets- non-sports is different from sports cards in that I am usually finding out about sets as they enter my collection, at least for sets issued before the 1980s. As it turns out, I like this set even better than Horrors of War, which I did finally add to my collection in 2016. It did not make the countdown.
#18 1983 Topps Return of the Jedi
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| Return of the Jedi #186 |
I used to really love Star Wars. My earliest actual memory of anything is watching Empire Strikes Back. I avidly collected Star Wars cards, comics, books and until 2007, I also collected the action figures- I'm pretty sure I'm one Ewok away from completing the original line. But then Disney got it, and their vapid mishandling of the universe has pretty much killed what was once there. I have not seen the original trilogy or the Prequals since 2015. (I usually watched them twice each year on DVD, and whenever they were on TV as well). I have not seen The Last Jedi, and don't plan to. Everything that was great and magical about Star Wars has been thrown away. I will watch the real movies again at some point. (Real = Pre-Disney). But I'm too frustrated to do that any time soon. I barely even collect the cards anymore. But I did, for a long time, and if the opportunity arises, I will still work on the sets from the real era of Star Wars. All three original sets are very important to me, because they are what got me started in the hobby. My brother collected them when they were new, and in 1988, he gave me his duplicates. He remembered that I had the Bigfoot cards first, but in my head, it was the Star Wars cards that came first. Either way, they were the first non-sports cards in my collection and why this 30th anniversary celebration is happening in 2018. The Return of the Jedi set, it's my least favorite of the three, partly because it's my least favorite of the original trilogy, partly because it's the smallest of the three original sets, with only two series. I have 207 of the 220 cards in the set, or 94.1%. (All percentages are supplied by the Trading Card Database, I don't need to keep typing that for every set, lol). Of the three original Star Wars sets, it's my closest to completion.
#17 1995 DC Power Chrome Legends '95
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| Power Chrome Legends '95 #67 |
An all-chrome set for DC, which, back when this set was issued, I thought was just about the greatest thing ever. I have only a few now, but I am absolutely sure I had the complete set at some point. It's probably lost in my storage unit. When I went to only caring about the NBA in 1996, my non-sport cards were sadly neglected until 2010. I still find some in my storage unit from time to time, and I'm still hoping that I will find the rest of these. I don't really look to add any more because I'm sure that I already have them, but I do count the ones I find or get as new. After all, my storage unit is a terrible mess and we may never actually go through the stuff, honestly. Now that I scan my collection, I don't like the Chrome sets as much. They, like all Chrome cards, scan horribly. But the memories I have of them from 1995, they are enough to get them so high on the list.
#16 1992 Collect-A-Card Musclecars
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| Musclecars #85 |
This is the only time anything from Collect-A-Card makes the list. As I've mentioned many times, I love classic cars. In pretty much any form. That includes in cardboard form. This is a 100 card set, and I've completed it. I kind of cheated, though. I bought a set in pages somebody else had put together at a card show. The Muscle Car era (1964-72) is not my favorite in automotive history. I tend to favor 50s and older cars. But I do love them...I just love the older cars more. I am glad to have these cards in my collection, and this was one of the first non-sports sets I scanned when I got them out in 2010. I prioritized it because the car cards are my favorites. But it's not my favorite automotive set...
#15 1991 Impel GI Joe
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| GI Joe #135 |
The 1991 Impel GI Joe set ran 200 cards and I have all of them. I was a huge GI Joe fan. I discovered it the day after Thanksgiving in 1990. It was one of those days that is so important it's burned into my memory, something that nothing can ever replace and I can't forget. Not that I would want to! I was a huge fan of GI Joe from 1990-1994, when the line was cancelled. I am still a fan. I still collect the comic, although I don't collect the action figures being produced...the proportions are all wrong. But that's another topic. I have batted the idea around of chasing for the figures I never get, but always wanted. I of course still have mine, and they are all
photo documented, but I have not seen them since I took the pictures. It brings me comfort to know that I could get into them any time I wanted to, though. This set came our right in the peak year of GI Joe, which is nice. I can still remember-no paper prompt required- getting most of these figures on the store shelves at Ames, Kay-Bee, Jamesway, K-Mart, Toys R Us, Service Merchandise, and probably others. Those are some really great memories, of this whole time period, that alone gets these this high up on the chart. And to be totally honest, these probably could have ranked anywhere between 9th and here, but how I was thinking on the morning of January 4th, 2018, when I ranked them, I placed them here.
#14 2011 Topps American Pie
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| American Pie #86 |
This was one I debated ranking so high, but it played a role when I was getting back in to Non-Sports, and it commemorates on cards some stuff that's important to me, that otherwise would not be covered. It is a look at American history/pop culture from the end of WWII-2011. Some of the choices made for cards are kind of stupid, and questionable, but overall it's a good set. For example...MTV's Jersey Shore gets a card, but Star Wars does not. However, this set has the only card I'm aware of commemorating the first NASCAR race (it included some sports stuff too, even though the photo is not from that race) something NASCAR has actually never done on cards. It has a card about the birth of Hot Wheels. The Edsel gets a card, although it's kind of terrible. This set is important because it was the first Non-Sports box I did after I got back into Non-sports cards in 2010. I have not done a whole lot of non-sports boxes since I returned, 3 of the 7 have already appeared on this list and more are coming up shortly. I have 171 of the 200 cards, for 85.5% of the set. It was also a card from this set that I learned what a blog was. I didn't know it was a contraction of "Web log" or even what the concept was before I got that card. Now, as you are aware since you are reading it, I write one!
#13 1977 Topps Star Wars
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| Star Wars #30 |
This was the set that started it all. So incredibly popular it ran to 5 series, for 330 cards (of which I have 262, for 79.4%) these were the cards my brother gave me the most of to start my Non-sports collection in 1988. That alone gets them this high on the list. I literally do not know a time in card collecting that this set was not a part of my life.
#12 Topps Star Wars Galaxy
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| Star Wars Galaxy #702 |
Released in 7 series between 1993 and 2012, with a break between 1996-08 with no cards produced, the set ran for 835 cards. I can't easily tell you how many I have because the Database breaks them up for each of the 7 series listed individually. I do know, however, that one of the series- I can't remember if it's 4 or 5-does not yet appear in my collection at all. The set is entirely drawn, with various artists giving their interpretation of things in the Star Wars Galaxy. (Thus the name of the set). I have to be honest, I didn't like the first two series. I got a couple packs of series 1 and 1 of series 2, but I didn't care for them at the time- so I didn't get any more. When I got back into Non-Sports cards in 2010, they were already on series 6 or so, and the majority of my collection are of the final two sets. Some of the cards are truly great, like this one. Some are off the wall, some are funny, and some are actually even kind of bad. The wide variety of topics and art styles makes it very interesting, and I have come around on the earlier issues as my tastes have changed. There's even a couple fun "What Ifs", like a Gungan Sith Lord...which I almost used as the sample image until I found/remembered this space battle scene highlighting my favorite starfighter, the B-Wing.
#11 Musclecards
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| Musclecards #163 |
Although this is not the first car card set I was aware of, or last one on the list, this is the one I have the most memories of. My local comic shop at the time had packs of these for I want to say 50 cents, and I got a lot of them. It was two series, and they had more of the second series, so I have more of the second series, naturally. The photos tend to be a little dark, and the labeling on the cards is not very accurate, as they usually label a car by it's engine, not it's actual name. But I love it anyway. The neon pink and yellow just screams 1992, doesn't it? What a great time to be a collector.
