I Have 2014 Topps People, Look At Me!!!!

I liked 2013 Topps, and I might like 2014 even more.  Or maybe I'm still tingly from my first purchase of product, since I didn't expect to find it today.

I found some blasters in Walmart today at lunch, and while I don't expect to spend much on retail wax this year (instead directing funds more towards vintage and finishing some sets) I couldn't help myself and partook.

I'll keep the comments brief since I suspect you mostly just want to see the cards.  Fair enough.  The first card out of the blaster was the bonus manu-patch card Topps puts in retail blasters.  And for me, it was a doozie:

These are very similar to last years rookie manu patches, which is a little lame.  However the makeup of the card is pretty cool:  the picture is a silky fabric, but the Rangers logo, name and graphic semi circle around them is part of the cardboard frame.  It gives it kind of a shadowbox effect and I like it.  There are two types of manu relics in blasters, the rookie reprints like the Darvish above, and some standard patch cards.  My other blaster gave me another rookie reprint, and it was another doozie:

You can tell pretty well in this picture that the Pirate logo is not part of the fabric part of the card.  I definitely like these!

As for the base cards, I didn't really score many that I felt were worth noting.  No favorite Rangers or other big names, but here are a few for examples sake:

The checklist card showing Rivera coming out of his last game is pretty sweet.  Glad Topps added that one.

I did have pretty good luck with the Walmart blue parallels though:

Of course there are several other parallels again this year:

I like the ruby red- that will make a great Ranger team set.  Camos are back too. 

The Power Players parallel intrigues me.  On the back is a code, similar to the Million Card giveaway and other online promotions Topps has done in the past.  I think it's smart to incorporate these codes on player cards instead of a throw away insert.  The site topps.com/powerplayers, is not live yet, but it looks like there will be real cards you can win this year, which is good news.

As for inserts, there are plenty, but I'll show the ones that I liked the best:

 

I wasn't all that jazzed about the 1989 minis at first, but they turned out pretty cool.  They're die cut and the color border makes a difference.

I also kind of like these "Future is Now" cards.  They seem to have a "gypsy-queen-ish" filter on the image, or maybe I'm imagining that.

Looks like it will be a fun set to build!