quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Well, this may add a bit of fuel to the fire, but this sealed case-break speaks for itself pretty clearly so I won't add my 2 cents, And while I prefer to remain positive, I honestly do welcome the snarky comments of anyone who wants to chime in!
(Here's one to get started: Maybe the Arwen at the bottom is crying because she knows "begun, the Gandalf Clone Wars have!")

Sorry about the repeats you got there...great name, btw

quote:

Originally posted by mintoncard:
So, I had an idea that might make those Gandalf cards worth something!

Man I really like that lol. Very Peter Max like.
Maybe I should do that with my Waterhouse Cave Trolls! Did you do that on Photoshop or use another program?

I was going for a Warhol look.

Just did it in Photoshop. I'll do some Cave Trolls next.

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Shaffer:

??? Frodo/Sam in Orc Disguise
??? Aragorn

I believe your Frodo & Sam is by Jon Morris and your Aragorn is by Ramsey Sibaja.

quote:

Originally posted by mintoncard:
So, I had an idea that might make those Gandalf cards worth something!

That's pretty cool looking!

At least those might be worth some money!

Lots of these 'photo copier' cards have been on sale on ebay for less than US$1 and unsurprisingly, many remains unsold even at that low low price.

Here you go. I went for a more oil-based impasto look this time. Suitable for framing!

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Well, this may add a bit of fuel to the fire, but this sealed case-break speaks for itself pretty clearly so I won't add my 2 cents, And while I prefer to remain positive, I honestly do welcome the snarky comments of anyone who wants to chime in!
(Here's one to get started: Maybe the Arwen at the bottom is crying because she knows "begun, the Gandalf Clone Wars have!")

Hey, you got 17 sketchs...see you got one more then you were promised...how can you be upset? i mean, you pulled morris, a probst, a woodall and a color arwen...i mean, ive heard of all thoes names, therefore your case MUST have been good...sure thats only 4 names out of 16 sketchs, but if i can name just THOES 4 artists, and say ETC for the rest, your case sounds magically good!.../sigh...ok...so you MIGHT be somewhat less then hair pullingly giddy about the little things , like say pulling 11 ryan water house smoking dude sketchs that took a combined total of 14 mins to draw...Sure theres that, but think about this...you didnt have thoes 11 sketchs before did you? EH! I mean, sure it cost almost 300 dollars in boxes to pull 11.38 cents worth of sketchs...Sure you might be upset that nearly 3/4 of your sketchs are all by the same guy , of the same thing, took less then 1 min each to draw, and sell for nearly 33 percent less then what topps paid for them originally for (1.50)...but we should all try and remember, its all a gamble, and you should be happy with anything you ever pull from you boxes. I mean, some might argue that its planed sabotage to put 11 of the same very bad sketchs in a sealed case, on the part of the manufacturer...that it shows the customer such a lack of respect by putting in absolutley 0 quality control in either the artist selection phase, or the box coalation ( i mean, my god, not even a hat-dude waterhouse to spice things up?)...but thats just being negative. Remember, you pulled 6 sketchs that WERENT 60 secound waterhouse smoking dude .99 cent sketchs. You would need a SERIOUS agenda to put a negative slant on such a great case like that.

Hi to all.

I just opened my case. I have no time to scan at the moment so please bear with me until next week.

There were a couple of highlights in the case. I had three sketches in one pack making a total of four in the box, and in another I had two in a pack giving me three in that box. I had a total of 19 sketches. The highlights were a very nice sketch of Sam by Dennis Budd and the gnashers of Shelob by our Cynthia. Very happy with the case overall.

Thanks for your observations on my "unusual" case, zhamlau. Ummm, that's goooood snark, astute as always, and comments I welcome as promised. (And no, no sarcasm from me at all there. I know it's easy for praise to be confused as sarcasm on these boards!)

Even so, I can't be mad at Topps over this. We go back too far, and nothing like this had ever happened before to me when I bought their products, which I almost always really enjoy. I guess the closest thing was the the Dinged Autograph debacle in Star Wars Evolution Update, and some poor collation on some of their early to mid 90's non-sports sets like Universal Monsters. But they'd at least tried to make good even on those things, with varying degrees of success.

And, mintoncard, thanks for the display of imaginative photoshop prowess with Warhol Gandalfs and the impasto "hat-dudes" series.
Actually settles a different debate, and proves even the repeats can be "art". Lemonade from lemons to be sure, and just the right note struck to help me laugh the whole thing off. (and again, no sarcasm there. See my previous parenthetical thought!)

And thanks for the sympathy, DaveFox, every little helps.

Finally, a now semi-humorous aside: I remember while I was waiting for the case, I was watching other folks' box breakdowns. Seeing that I was sure to get a fair share of Waterhouses and Woodsides, I remember thinking, "well, I hope I get one of those Waterhouse Gandalfs, they're pretty cool".

Thanks and best wishes everyone, and good luck with your boxes/cases. Somewhere out there, there's a case with 11 Bellingers, I just know it!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chesspieceface,

The Arwen is by John Watkins-Chow

Highlights from 2 more cases and a purchase....along with the usual Goulds, Woodsides, and Waterhouses...



Don't know who did the horizontal Gollum....anybody?

i think thats babbit. btw, thoes are great pulls. 10 good sketchs out of 32, thats not bad. I love the bellinger the most. I keep waiting for him to produce a fine art lithograph for newline for LOTR.

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Shaffer:
The Arwen is by John Watkins-Chow

Thanks for the ident on the Arwen, Bryan!

Rudy

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:

Wow. If nothing else I think you are the current LOTR II record holder for most identical sketches from 1 case. I somehow don't think anyone is eagerly eyeing their unopened cases hoping to beat your record.

quote:

Originally posted by JeffG:
Highlights from 2 more cases and a purchase....along with the usual Goulds, Woodsides, and Waterhouses...



Don't know who did the horizontal Gollum....anybody?

What a fantastic 2 cases you have there. You have almost all of the most popular / High Dollar artists right there.

Here's the breakdown for my second case. Coming soon, I'll report on the sketch cards later after I sort, research, and enjoy them a bit. I won't be rushed through what I expected to be the high point of the month just so that I can express some disappointment.

CASE #2 FROM BATCH #0361202

Each box contains 36 packs of 7 cards. Expect 3.25 base sets of 72 cards if collation were perfect.

Some of the eight boxes were different, and I'll just mention the differences from the "norm" that I saw in Boxes 4, 7, and 8:

- Base cards: 3 complete sets plus 18 extras
- Box-topper poster
- Sketch cards: 2
- Russ Walks Etched Foils (6, 1:6 packs): 1 complete set of 6
- Russ Walks Original Art Redemption (1/1, 1:108000 packs): none
- Alan Lee (ROTK End Credits) Silver Foils (9, 1:4 packs): 1 complete set of 9
- Parallel Bronze Foils (9, 1:36 packs): one
- Parallel Gold Foils (9, 1:836 packs, # to 90): none
- Parallel Refractor Foils (9, 1:72000, # 1/1): none

Box 1:
- Base cards: 2 complete sets, 9 short of 3rd set, 28 extras
- Russ Walks Etched Foils: only 5 (short 1), 4 different + 1 dupe
- Alan Lee Silver Foils: 11 total (extra 2), 7 different + 4 dupes
- Sketch cards: only 1 (short 1)

Box 2:
- Base cards: 2 complete sets, 1 short of 3rd set, up to 6 copies of some cards
- Alan Lee Silver Foils: only 8 (short 1), all different

Box 3:
- Base cards: 3 complete sets, 17 extras
- Alan Lee Silver Foils: set of 9 + 1 dupe (extra 1)

Box 5:
- Base cards: 2 complete sets, 13 short of 3rd set, up to 5 copies of some cards
- Russ Walks Etched Foils: 6, 3 different + 3 dupes
- Alan Lee Silver Foils: 10 (extra 1), 5 different + 5 dupes
- Parallel Bronze Foils: two (extra 1)

Box 6:
- Base cards: 2 complete sets, 14 short of 3rd set, 32 extras
- Russ Walks Etched Foils: 6, 5 different + 1 dupe
- Alan Lee Silver Foils: 9, 7 different + 2 dupes
- Parallel Bronze Foils: none (short 1)
- Sketch Cards: 3 (extra 1)

Case summary: The case contained 25 base sets, 29 short of a 26th. 8 sets of the Alan Lee foils with 2 extras; 7 sets of Russ Walks etched foils, short 1 of an 8th set. One box with an extra sketch and no bronze foils, one box short a sketch, and one box with an extra bronze foil. No parallel gold or refractor foils. Seven of nine bronze foils, missing #3 and #7, with a duplicate for #6.
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Hey guys, I could use some help with who the artists are on these:

Bukshot?


Bukshot again?


Bukshot again again? Kind of looks like a Perna I pulled earlier though...or wishful thinking


???


???


???


???


???



Thanks for any help.

tevans, my first guess is always Bukshot with the stark two-tones (areas of solid black ink), mostly because he seems to have been the guy who didn't sign a lot of his cards. But there are a few other artists who used this style for some cards.

Your others are, in order: Kevin Doyle, Alex Buechel, Jim Kyle, Jim Kyle again, and Chad Hurd.
.

Thanks Jeff, much appreciated.

Here's a sketch-card report from my two cases. I had some gems, but I think my pulls were below average for "scarcity" and "full color", versus what I had hoped for. I don't have any complaints about the artwork, even for the "duplicate images." I just think that Topps should work harder to spread variety over several adjacent boxes or whole cases, and definitely should make it a point to avoid having two sketches by the same "high volume" artist in the same box. I've made other comments in other threads. But this is the last set for a good while where I will "pig out" hoping to collect a nice variety of artists and styles. Unless I see favorable distribution odds before pre-ordering, I'll just wait for the aftermarket.

Here's my sketch breaks by case and box, with images following.

Case #1:
Ryan Waterhouse - Nina Edlund
Zach Giallongo - Jon Morris
Ryan Waterhouse - Bruce Gerlach
Paul Gutierrez - Wayne Lo
Ryan Waterhouse - Jason Keith Phillips
Brent Woodside - Jim Kyle
Cynthia Cummens - Grant Gould
Brent Woodside - Rich Molinelli

Case #2:
Jason Sobol
Brent Woodside - Chris Henderson
Christian Dalla Vecchia - John Watkins-Chow
Chris Henderson - Kevin Doyle
Ryan Waterhouse - Jamie Snell
Ryan Waterhouse - Brent Woodside - Jon Morris
Ryan Waterhouse - Ryan Waterhouse
Ryan Waterhouse - Brent Woodside

First the "duplicates and high-volume artists" starting with my Ryan Waterhouse scan.



I started getting frustrated when I pulled three "hooded mountain trolls" in my first five boxes, and those boxes were adjacent to each other inside the first case. Things picked up after a while, but then I finished with 4 Waterhouses and 2 Woodsides in my last three boxes. I would have been happier with a better "collation" of Waterhouse images, like two of each, but I didn't even get a single "smoking Gandalf." Individually, I like these sketches, but this series has spawned a new marketing tool, where base sets are sold on eBay with a bonus of a "free sketch card, seller's choice."



Here's the "mostly Woodside" scan. I give Brent a lot of credit for making the Treebeards all different, and I'm charmed by the one with the branch growing out of his nose. The orc and the Legolas are worthy, too. The Jon Morris "guzzling Gimli" is very nice, and its only problem for me is that I got two of them.

On to the true "1/1" sketches, in alphabetical order by artist's surname.



The only artist besides Waterhouse and Woodside where I pulled two sketches from the same case is Chris Henderson, and that's not something I will ever complain about. There's still a few too many sketches of hooded Nazgûls across the series, and I think there was a real difficulty finding new subject matter. I didn't pull any color portrait sketches for major characters, and though some of those I've seen are stunning, in some ways they're very similar to art that was presented in Evolution and Masterpieces I.

I love the "tormented Frodo" by Cynthia Cummens. As far as I know, it's the only card I pulled from two cases where the artist produced 256 or fewer sketches, so (in theory) the cases would be disappointing if I planned to sell the sketches. I haven't figured out whether the Gutierrez sketch is of an Argonath, warrior, or Transformer. The two Hendersons are near the top of my favorites list.



I finally show a few dashes of color on this final scan. The Wayne Lo Samwise is very charming, and I see he did several other treatments of Sam that are equally good. Jason Keith Phillips' Gimli is haunting, and Jason Sobol's scene of (I think) Minas Tirith has great detail for a pencil sketch too. The Lidless Eye by John Watkins-Chow probably is in the "low-number artist" list but I haven't seen numbers posted on how many he drew. Both the Cummens and the Watkins-Chow filled gaps in my LOTR collection because I haven't picked up a sketch from either of them for Evolution or Masterpieces I.

In summary, I would rate my two cases for this series to be slightly disappointing when compared with the single cases I opened for the earlier LOTR series. I bought one case each for Evolution and Masterpieces I, and found a nice selection of artists who drew 150 or fewer sketches in each one. There were no "two from one artist" for the first series and only two from the second, Teranishi and Fabbri, and both of those "dupes" were very different from each other. There's a lot of great artwork out there from this release, but I will have to spend more to get it. I'd say that Topps had enough good, original, and varied art to support about 2/3 of the actual print run.
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