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Shortly
after I heard a set based on the first season of Veronica Mars
was on the way, I went out of my way to see the show. I'd
heard some of the buzz but since I didn't have a UPN station,
I missed out. Well, I tracked down the DVD and fell in love. Spinning
equal parts of 90210's teenaged soap opera (or The OC
for the young 'uns in the house) with the wit and angst of
Buffy and storylines nodding at classic film noir, Veronica
Mars became an instant favorite for me. So with that in mind,
it would be a little tough to look at this set with an unbiased
mind. Or would I be tougher on it because of my new-found passion
for the show? Well, I'm happy with my purchase for a multitude
of reasons.
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Box
Break continues below.
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Straight
off the top, any time you get 'the pull', it's going to be a good
review. About five packs into my box I got the promised autograph
card. However it wasn't an autograph card but rather a redemption.
Normally these are fun killers, but I knew going in that there
was only one card that need redeeming - the autograph from the
show's star Kristen Bell. At that point I knew I'd be going after
a master set, something I'd only done twice before.
Veronica
Mars: Season One
is a well laid-out set. The 72-card base set looks at the show's
stars, offers episode recaps and highlights major themes that
came up over the 22 first season shows.
Inserts
are led off by the traditional Inkworks nine-card foil puzzle.
Titled "Who Shot Lilly Kane?", the puzzle looks at the
suspects in the murder that the entire season revolved around.
"Revolving Around Mars" looks at the people in Veronica's
life.
The
set includes an impressive list of autograph signers. Not only
is the titular star on the checklist, but so are the majority
of the show's main stars, not to mention high-profile guests such
as Tina Majorino from the cult classic Napoleon Dynamite
and actor Anthony Anderson who normally stars in garbage like
Agent Cody Banks 2 and My Baby's Daddy, but did
just get some accolades for the Academy Award winning Hustle
& Flow.
Normally
I'm kind of indifferent towards costume cards, but the Pieceworks
from this set are nothing short of spectacular. Almost every card
has a seemingly infinite number of possible variants as most of
the costumes used are bright and multi-colored. Kristen Bell's
shirt has a ton of stripes and Beaver's Hawaiian shirt is like
an abstract work of garage sale art.
The
only major beef I have about the set is the quality of the images
used on the base cards. Many are blurry and don't pop. It's not
a new issue though and I suspect that it will continue to pop
up, especially in niche sets like this where stock photos aren't
readily available.
I
couldn't be happier with my box. All of the odds went accordingly
with the base set and the inserts. Of course, I got the one autograph
that everyone seems to be after and while my Pieceworks card wasn't
from a major player, the pattern on it was very nice.
Inserts
- Autographs
(1:24): 1 (AR1. Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars [Redemption])
- Pieceworks
(1:24):
1 (PW9. Alona Tal as Meg Manning [Shirt - 5 colors])
- Who
Killed Lilly Kane? (1:7):
3 (W-1, W-2, W-9)
- Revolving
Around Mars (1:11):
2 (R-3, R-4)
- Triangle
Box Loader (1/box):
1 (BL-2)
Card
Gallery
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Base
card - front
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Base
card - back
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Pieceworks
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Autograph
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Autograph
Redemption
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Who
Killed Lilly Kane?
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Revolving
Around Mars
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Triangle
Box Loader
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Package
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Box
Breakdown
| Packs
per box: |
24
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| Cards
per pack: |
7
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| Total
cards: |
168
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| Cards
in set: |
72
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| Singles: |
72
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| Doubles: |
72
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| Triples+: |
16
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| Inserts |
8
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| Autographs
(1:24) |
1
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| Pieceworks
(1:24) |
1
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| Who
Killed Lilly Kane? (1:7) |
3
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| Revolving
Around Mars (1:11) |
2
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| Triangle
Box Loader (1/box) |
1
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