It’s true! My “vast” knowledge of trading card-sized collectibles won me a highly coveted T-shirt in last week’s Topless Robot contest. The contest was coming up with TR trading cards. Being the one well-known card geek amongst the regulars (and thus being unwittingly indirectly responsible for one of the things that prompted the contest in the first place), I decided to go all out, so I thought you guys & gals might be amused to see what my winning entry looked like. So, here it is, in it’s ridiculously long entirety, with all the links included:
Alright, back & ready. This is right up my alley, being the resident card geek. I’m gonna go all out and do this up like most movie/entertainment sets of the last decade, with some sports card conceits (and designs) thrown in for good measure.
7 cards per pack; 36 packs per box; 8-12 boxes per case
Base Set: 72 Cards ala most non-sport sets, consisting of the following subsets.
Card #1: Header card featuring a disheveled and possibly drunk Rob, w/ bio on the back. For the amusing juxtaposition, this card will be designed all classy, reminiscent of 1952 topps baseball.
1952 topps design: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Cards #2-10: Topless Robot Contributors. These will be for the more frequent/popular listmakers and the dude that fills-in occasionally.
Front: Action-type photo with a design somewhat similar to the 1972 topps baseball “In Action” subset, wherein the contributors are doing something geeky. Back: A list (date included) of their most popular/best lists.
1972 topps In Action: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Cards #11-25. The Roboteers. Cards of some of the usual suspects here in the comments section.
Front: Simple head shot photo of the Roboteer with geeky undertones in some cases, ala early ’90s Donruss Studio. Back: A self-designed avatar picture (to be drawn by me), and a memorable quote/comment underneath.
1992 (Donruss) Studio: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Cards 26-35: Super Terrific Japanese Things. Pictures of the most memorable STJTs. This set will be embossed ala early ’90s Action Packed football, for emphasis.
Front: The item in question. Back: Item description/explanation of weirdness.
1993 Action Packed: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Cards 36-45: Epic Moments. Some of the most memorable things that have happened here (Whose Responsible This, Rob’s FAQs, the legendary FFFs, legendary Celebrity Acts of Nerdery, etc). This subset will have a computer theme ala MANY late-’90s/mid-2000s card sets & inserts.
Front: The moment will be shown in some way. Back: The back will elaborate on the epicness and date it took place.
1999 Skybox Thunder www(dot)batterz(dot)com insert: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Cards 46-60: Fan Fiction Friday! The most horribly wrong FFFs, now in card form!
Front: The pairing/characters involved and story title with a design much like 1994-95 Fleer Ultra basketball’s Double Trouble inserts. Back: Comments from Rob, Dr. Abraxas, and statistics (number of head asplodes/Tohts/etc).
1994-95 (Fleer) Ultra Double Trouble: http://images.checkoutmycards….
61-71: Things that Make Me Drink: Rob sounds off on the most controversial and hilariously upsetting topics on TR (Michael Bay/Bayformers, Fan Fiction Friday, DC Crisis on Infinite Reboots, maybe Joss Whedon & Tron).
Front: The subject of the rant in black & white, with small pic of an angry Rob in the bottom left corner, in the style of “When They Were Young” subsets topps has trotted out on occasion since at least the ’70s. Back: Rob’s barely coherent thoughts on each subject on the back. (FFF card will of course have his AWESOME reasoning for running them in the first place).
1972 topps Boyhood Photos of the Stars: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Card #72: Checklist. Front: ’90s Hologram style Topless Robot logo. Back: The checklist, duh.
1992 (Impel) Marvel Universe Series III Hologram: http://images.checkoutmycards….
PARALLELS-
Foil Stamped “Comicsnix Approved” Chrome parallel (numbered out of /99 and Atomic Refractor #’ed out of 5 or 10)
2000-01 topps Chrome basketball: http://images.checkoutmycards….
1997-98 Bowman’s Best Atomic Refractor: http://images.checkoutmycards….
INSERTS-
Contest Winners Stickers (1 per pack): A 50 card holographic sticker (ala the shiny stickers in Panini’s recent basketball, football, and 2010 World Cup releases) insert featuring notable contest winners wearing their shirts (or posing with/in front of their prize if it wasn’t a shirt). The backs have the contest and the line/story that won it for them.
2010 Panini World Cup Stickers (shiny version): http://images.checkoutmycards….
Flaming Skull of Death Puzzle (1:8 packs/4-5 per box): This 9 card insert set forms a puzzle that captures an entire post-FFF Rickicker suicide sequence in beautiful etched-foil, ala the etched foil puzzle insert set from Star Wars Galaxy 6.
2011 (topps) Star Wars Galaxy 6 Etched Foil: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Impressive Acts of Nerdery (1:18 packs/2 per box): This 6 card set is in the style of ’80s/’90s Sportflics baseball cards or the recent Empire Strikes Back 3D Widevision set (3D motiony-type cards) features the most impressive acts of nerdery ever committed to video, with info on why it’s so impressive on the back.
1994 Sportfics: http://images.checkoutmycards….
Foe Yay (1:36 packs/1 per box): This 3 card set is made on clear acetate (because acetate cards are freaking awesome) and features a pair of arch enemies on each card (Rob/Michael Bay, Bat Smashy/Abraxy Joker, etc).
2010 Upper Deck World of Sport Clear Competitors (white part is clear, can kinda see what’s on the back through yellow part): http://images.checkoutmycards….
HITS-
Rob/Contributors/Roboteer-worn/used relic cards (1:36/1 per box): Cards 1-25 in the base set will each have a parallel version featuring a swatch of clothing or other item personally worn or used by the person depicted embedded in the card.
Standard relic card (2009 Bowman Sterling): http://images.checkoutmycards….
Rob/Contributors/Roboteer autograph cards (1:72 packs/1 every other box): Cards 1-25 in the base set will also have an autograph version.
Standard (if higher end) on-card autograph (2002-03 UD Glass Auto Focus): http://images.checkoutmycards….
Standard sticker (sticker signed, later attached to card) autograph (2007 topps Finest): http://images.checkoutmycards….
Rob/Contributors/Roboteer autograph/relic cards (2-3 per case): Cards 1-25 in the set will ALSO have a version featuring both an autograph and relic.
Standard auto/relic (2006 Bowman Sterling): http://images.checkoutmycards….
Sketch Cards (1:36/1 per box): One-of-a-kind sketch cards by Roboteers with artistic talent, covering all things TR (fellow Roboteers, FFF, Lists, whatever) and all things nerdy in general.
Standard Sketch Card (2007 Hellboy: Sword of Storms by John Czop): http://images.checkoutmycards….
Printing Plates: The plates used to make fronts of the base cards will be available for the pulling. There are four for each card: black, cyan, yellow, and magenta, all of which are considered true 1/1s. Most plates will be autographed by Roboteers and/or contributors, even some that have nothing to do with the person!
Standard (yellow) printing plate (2009 topps Ticket to Stardom): http://images.checkoutmycards….
BOX TOPPERS
Included in each box will be an oversized 3″x5″ manufactured patch card. The patch will either be the Topless Robot logo, Comicsnix Approved Logo, The Tao of Scoot logo (wait, is there one?), Nerd Nation logo, Dr. Braxy’s Warped+Disturbed logo, Has Boobs, Reads Comics logo, Der Fuhrersaur, and several others, alongside a high quality Kodachrome photo of the proprietor of each site/blog/podcast.
Typical Manufactured Patch (2010 topps baseball): http://images.checkoutmycards….
CASE TOPPER
Each case comes with a redemption card. You can redeem this card for your very own Topless Robot t-shirt, autographed by Rob and several of his contributors!
Typical Panini redemption card: http://shotnottaken.files.word…
Other side: http://paniniamerica.files.wor…
Whew, does that about cover everything? Did I put way too much thought into this?
(EDIT: Added links to pics of the designs and what typical versions of hits look like. All but the redemption card are via Check Out My Cards. Also several of them were intentionally the most amusing I could find. And apparently batterz dot com is a real website that has nothing whatsoever to do with baseball or cards. Whaddya know…)
There ya go. It got rave reviews in the nerd world. What do you guys think?
Oh, and if you made it to the end, I should let you know that I’ll be on Livestream this afternoon working on sketch cards starting around 3-3:30pm est/2-2:30pm cst. Come on by if you want to see the magic happen or badger me for my slowness in trading. If the turnout is decent, I will random off a sketch card or two, and if by some miracle I actually sell, a few, I will random off a free commission.
Until our next… 😉
Life and Baseball Cards 
