Monday, Sept. 29, 2015 Recap – SD Exclusive Emperor Palpatine, Final Series 2 ESB Illustrated Cards, Galactic Moments, Topps Classic C-3PO and R2-D2, Classic Art Lando in Disguise, Another R2-D2 Modernography, 3rd Day Yavin IV Rebel Hanger, Gold Slave 1

I’ll start today with the super elite drop of the day: the Gold Slave 1 vehicle from the Smuggler’s Den. To make this ship, first you need to shred a Blue Slave 1 Schematic for a 10% chance to receive a Gold Slave 1 Schematic. Then, all you need to do is find 2 Metal x25 cards, 2 Wires x25 cards, 2 Fuel x25 cards, and 2 Computers x25 cards. Good luck finding any Metal Resources after the Chrome Phasma Helmet chase. Topps is finding some really creative ways to make the 500k Builder’s Box Bundle attractive. After about 12 hours there are 16 Gold Slave 1 Build Cards that have materialized. What’s unknown though is, how many individuals have these cards. I’ve seen tweets about teams of people working together to complete the build. This is a really interesting consequence of the build mechanic and something I was wondering would happen. +1 Topps.

Early again this morning (PT time) there was a new Smuggler’s Den Exclusive Variant of Emperor Palpatine. Something I noticed, that is probably a complete coincidence, is how close Palpatine is to Papal. There are obvious parallels to both their positions in Christianity and the Force. There has been a lot of news about the Pope’s visit to the U.S. this last week and it made me think of this.

The final 5 cards in Series 2 of the Empire Strikes Back – Illustrated set dropped today. There are about 1/2 as many Steel cards pulled as there were in Series 1. That’s a pretty steep decline and I’m sure directly connected to the Resource cards. There is more long-term value on having Resources than the Steel cards.

The 6th Wave 3 Galactic Moments card dropped today: Rebel Assault. This is a video game that I only barely remember playing in the 90s. An arcade style first person flight simulator. Personally, I was preferential to the more “realistic” flight simulator games, X-Wing and Tie Fighter.

The next Force Awakens: Topps Classic card today was C-3PO & R2-D2. I’ve been trying not to get too spoiled about the upcoming movie so I haven’t spent a lot of time looking for photos and stories so, I was surprised to see C-3PO’s red left arm. Not sure what that is about. Did they need to reclaim the metal for the war effort or maybe he’s being upgraded to a stronger more durable material? Perhaps, it’s also a weapon that shoots rockets or laser beams. 🙂

The next new Classic Art 2 design is Lando in Disguise Blue variant, a.k.a. Crab face Lando.

Topps is calling the next Modernography card R2-D2 Astromech Droid 2. But, in reality it’s the 3rd R2-D2 card. I guess their calling the first one just R2-D2, even though it also clearly says “Astromech Droid” on the card. OK Topps.

We have had 3 straight days of new Yavin IV cards now. Today’s card is Rebel Hanger. This set is now chock full of double dips. If this pace continues we’ll be onto our next Location in less than 2 weeks. What’s nice about many of these Location cards is they aren’t just rehashes of base card images—we actually get new images! Also, though it feels a bit on the nose to me, the peanut gallery is also clamoring for an Award card that features the Award ceremony from A New Hope.