This year’s product is exclusive to Target locations. Collectors can buy a Collector Box, which features two hits and a 20-pack format; fat packs; or a blaster box.
A blaster box includes seven packs, with six cards to a pack — plus a bonus pack of four “exclusive gold minted” base parallels.
Graphic artist Tyson Beck put together another challenging, and in many cases, intriguing set of designs this year. The intricate looks range from stunning to murky. I am not a fan of very busy designs, but if I was, I would choose the brighter, orange or yellow flame backgrounds. The Miguel Cabrera base card, for example, uses bright yellows and oranges to create a nice backdrop. The darker colors used on some of the designs, however, do muddy up the look quite a bit. But bold, bright colors tend to be successful.
The card backs contain a six-line biographical sketch in the center of the card, flanked by sharply edged flames and bolts of lightning.
In the blaster box I opened, I pulled 35 base cards. There also were two Red Flame parallels (Nolan Arenado and Manny Margot), an orange parallel of Jose Canseco, and a purple parallel of Willie McCovey.
I found two different types of inserts. There was one Walk It Off card of Justin Upton, one of 15 cards in the set. Collectors can expect to find these in every other blaster box, on average. What they depict is obvious — walk-off winning moments.
I also uncovered two Monikers cards, of Babe Ruth and Rickey Henderson, and both were Gold Minted parallels. The Monikers are interesting, as it celebrates the player’s nickname (“The Great Bambino” and “Man of Steal,” in the cases of Ruth and Henderson. The background has a graffiti-like quality to it, as the player’s image is set against a backdrop of a brick wall.
Topps Fire is definitely not one for those collectors who like sedate, safe designs. Fire has been a useful outlet for Topps to think out of the box in terms of design, and it takes advantage of a standalone product to highlight it even more.