It’s time to open the last five retro card packs that I got for my birthday. Once again, this set includes some I would have bought myself as a kid.
Superman 2 (Topps, 1980)
This is a good set. For starters each pack is stuffed with cards – 12 in total including the sticker:
The cards depict a high amount of action scenes are included (always a positive to a young buyer) and I love the character and die-cut sticker cards:
The backs however are a little disappointing. The plot is relegated to a summary on 15 cards, a few others had random info about the film, and the rest were puzzle cards from at least four puzzles. I prefer detailed plot summaries describing the scene on the front of the card, which Topps was still doing in 1980 although obviously not for this set:
Of note is the gum: It’s easily the biggest I’ve seen in any pack I’ve opened so far, and is almost as big as a card!
I definitely bought a few packs of Superman 2 cards back in 1980. I bet I loved them 🙂
Trivia Battle Game (Topps, 1984)
This came out in the middle of Trivial Pursuit mania and is an obvious cash-in, but I think works as a card set. Each pack includes 7 question cards containing 70 trivia questions and answers:
Two of the cards contain rules and a ‘board’ on which to play:
The questions are very dated now and probably harder than they were in 1984, and to my shame it took me 47 questions to beat the one-player game. I guess therefore I’m ‘fair’ at US-centric trivia from 38 years ago!
I think this would have been a fantastic product in 1984, and an inexpensive way to scratch the trivia itch for kids.
ALF (Topps, 1987)
Alf was a short-lived phenomenon in the late 1980s. He was a sitcom alien puppet that told bad jokes to adults. Inexplicably he became very popular and highly merchandised, and this is the second card set based on him and his show.
The cards are well designed and manufactured, and I’m particularly impressed with the quality of the images considering this was a tv show (was it recorded on film?)! But the jokes – as they were at the time – aren’t funny and the appeal is lost on me.
The cardbacks contain absurdist ‘humour’ that seems like it was aimed at kids but probably missed its target.
The pack also contained a die-cut sticker and a fake baseball card obviously inspired by Topps’ successful Garbage Pail Kids cards (which I despise).
Overall this is a decently produced set, if a bit short on cards in the pack, but I wonder who bought it?
Michael Jackson (Topps, 1984)
Similar to the Cyndi Lauper and Duran Duran cards I’ve shown previously, here’s another set based around a pop star, although in this case the biggest star in the world!
The cards are as you would expect: standard press photos of ‘Wacko’ with empty blurbs on the back:
The gum stick is incredible though, and I reckon would be of interest to a collector today:
Overall a predictable but acceptable set, and had I been a fan of Jacko (or Bubbles) back in the day I would have been happy with these.
Gremlins 2 (Topps, 1990)
Nine years ago I posted a few snaps of some Gremlins cards from the first film, and now it’s time for the set from the sequel. KLS and I watched both of these recently and the first one holds up quite well, but the second is a very strange film…
The cards are nice enough, although the white borders look unfinished. The images on the ones I got are heavy on character photos rather than scenes from the film, but each card has a plot summary on the back:
The stickers aren’t die-cut (once again this is in the final days of Topps’ wax packs) and while the back refers to a puzzle, I didn’t get a single card with a puzzle back in the entire pack!
As I said Gremlins 2 is a weird and difficult to watch film (Phoebe aside…) and I doubt anyone was enthusiastic about this card set when it came out.
So that’s it. Are there any other retro wax packs I haven’t yet opened on this blog? Well yes, but these days the packs are prohibitively expensive (original Star Wars, Raiders of The Lost Ark, Moonraker etc) so it’s unlikely you’ll see them here. Never say never though!