First Guest on tap, along with the early morning sun, was artist Camron Johnson

My show was the first podcast to start the day and I was able to bring on a handful of guests including Topps and Comic artist Camron Johnson, a WCHS alum, who talked about some of his new work and the busy schedule he has this year promoting his work. Jason Johnston from PeoriaCon was on hand to talk about the upcoming event in March and what it takes to put on an event. Crista from Tailored Geek was a returning guest and vendor and talked about what costuming she brought with her to display and what it takes to put that together. Mike Sommer from the Wax Pack Hero Podcast lives not too far and came up with some of his family. He talked about some of the things he liked about S.T.E.A.M. and some of his plans for 2024.

Ross Hollebon came on briefly and gave a preview of his special show for S.T.E.A.M.

I asked the host of the Album Cockpit Podcast and writer for Fantha Tracks, who like me had driven in the previous night across the blowing snow roads of central Illinois to attend the event to sit in with me for a minute and talk about his thoughts on S.T.E.A.M into Star Wars.

“Just making sure that people that people are involved these students are learning to build something like this so that they can have that confidence someday. Hey, you know what?

I'm really into this. I want to understand you know, they may want to professionally someday because of this get into events right into hospitality get into those elements So anything you know, I'll put the plug here for Butler University where I were work, anywhere we can allow opportunities for real experiential learning that's what you want to get so the fact that Tom set it up this way and it grows year over year and more students get involved and they're elevating up to leadership and management roles within this process is just invaluable and just great experience.

So I love that that happens and then it's just a great excuse for all of us to get together as well.”

Well said.

Be sure to check out Coffee with Kenobi for Dan’s show recorded there as well as John Aloise and Shawn Degenhart of the Hyperion Hub Podcast who also did their show from S.T.E.A.M.

L-R: Hyperion Hosts Shawn & John bring on Dan Zehr during their live show.

My thanks to Tom, Dan, and all the folks at WCHS for inviting me down to the event again. It was a blast getting to hang with everyone and helping put on a fun show!

Follow the Rebel Base Card Podcast on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Hive, & Facebook @rebelbasecard Email: greg@rebelbasecard.com

Andrew Augustine, or ‘Augie’ was one of over two hundred vendors with tables at the recent Chicago Sports Spectacular that was held at the Donald E. Stephans Convention Center the weekend of November 17th through the 19th. This show generally happens a couple times a year and, although smaller in size than the National Sports Collectors Convention, which was held earlier in the summer, the growth and interest of the hobby has helped this show get bigger.

In addition to many many tables of sports cards, sports memorabilia and autograph tables, there are in certain places a table or two of fun random odds and ends. I happened to find myself at a far corner of the show on a relatively calm first night of the show, when to my surprise, someone yelled out ‘REBEL BASE CARD!’ I turned and a nice fellow greeted me and mentioned he was a listener to the show. After talking to him for a few minutes, I felt this might be a fun opportunity to learn more about who sets up and sells at the show.

Here then is our conversation.

So it pays to really go to the far corners of the Chicago Sports Spectacular, where I get to meet AUGIE - I don't see a lot of cards, but I see a lot of memorabilia - you were telling me, this is not your main gig.

Ah no, I'm a teacher, so this is kind of my side hustle. I've been doing this for years. My dad and I were setting up at shows when I was just a little guy, and he's more into the, you know, the sports memorabilia side of it. And so, going to a card show, there's just lots and lots and lots of cards, but there's not a lot of little bobble heads or Funko Pops or just some of the kitschy stuff. I've got some Starting Lineups here that, you know, guys our age - that's the nostalgia for us. So, they might see a player that they like growing up, and grab a Starting Lineup. But it's just - this is fun. I do this a couple times a year, and I enjoy it.

I have to say that, coming from like the national, which was here earlier this year, to a show like the Chicago Sports Spectacular, you got to feel like maybe there's a little less pressure. It's a little more relaxed than some of the bigger shows.

Yeah, yeah, and, you know, I'm a local guy, so I don't travel outside the area.

It makes sense for me, because, I can go home and sleep in my bed every night, I can eat my own food every day, but, you know, some of these guys are coming in from all over the country, spending lots of money, making lots of money, but for me, it's just - I like doing this a couple times a year. My passion is more, you know, Star Wars, Star Wars, action figures, but this kind of helps pay for that a little bit.

Well, talk to me - we have a little bit of everything here. We've got lots of bobble heads, drink ware, you've got, like you're talking about, the Starting Lineup (figures).  What are some of your bigger sellers, or is it just something where you get surprised every time?

Bobble heads and Starting Lineups are what helps me pay for this show.

It's crazy just, you know, people, for some reason, they see that bobble head or Starting Lineup, again, like they did as a kid. It's something that's small, doesn't take a lot of space, they can set it on their desk, so those are usually some of my bigger sellers at shows like this.

I know at this point you have to be an old pro, but there are some things that probably, you've got to be real careful about packing up repeatedly. Do you worry about that kind of, you know, damage, and is that just part and parcel of what's happening?

Yeah, I mean, I'm careful, you know, some of the bigger items I try to avoid, just because they take up a lot of space and they can get damaged a little bit easily. So some of these smaller things can go in a bin, I can just put them in a storage unit for the next show, six months from now.

Do you collect yourself, or is it just, is this, you just see this completely different?

Yeah, no, because I'm a Star Wars action figure collector, so this just helps me pay for that nonsense that I got myself into 45 years  ago, whatever it is now, so yeah.

Does this get stored somewhere? Do you have a storage facility, or do you have to make arrangements with family?

No, the wife would kill me if this went back to my own home, so yes, I have a storage unit that this basically all gets back to way. So it gets put there after the show, and then like I said, next show, I'll go do it all over again.

And how has the show, folks, been to you? Do they treat you guys pretty well?

Yeah, I mean, this is, honestly, besides the national, this, a lot of dealers here said, this Chicago shows are always some of the better shows. And attendance, and just, yeah, they do treat us right.

And I am kind of curious, you're, seems like you're maybe a one person operation here. Do you go look at other things, or is this just like, this is my home, and when I'm done, I'm done.

Yeah, it's tough, you know, maybe in the morning, as I'm setting up, I can kind of walk around, drink some coffee, and let's see what other guys have. But like, you know, I don't, the good thing is I don't really collect a lot of this stuff that could get me in trouble, I think. But yeah, I can maybe get around a little bit.

Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, and you know, like it's one of those things, I never quite know what I'm going to find. But I'm happy I found you today.

Yeah, thanks Greg, appreciate it.

The next show will be March 15-17, 2024.

Follow the Rebel Base Card on Instagram, X/Twitter, Facebook, Threads and on Bluesky @rebelbasecard. Check out the podcast here.

While helping Dan out with pictures and video for Coffee with Kenobi, I was able to assemble a little bit of audio for the podcast and thought that this interview i did with Regional Archives Manager Kevin Kern would be a good selection to post in Substack.

I used the MacWhisper transcription software which did a decent job and after going back over and correcting it’s straight interpretation, here is the our chat.

You can check out the full episode for more from the Media preview of Disney100: The Exhibition. For more info or tickets, please visit their site.

First, if you don't mind, could you introduce yourself and what your role is and where we're at?

My name is Kevin Kern. I'm the Regional Archives Manager for the Walt Disney Archives. Previously, I was based in Burbank, recently relocated. Now I work out of the Orlando area for the department. We're here at the Disney100 The Exhibition here in Chicago, which is opening up this coming Saturday November 18th, 2023, which is also Mickey's birthday. It's the fun day for all of us.

If you could talk a little about the origins of the archives, and as far as what goes into an archive and what makes the decision as far as what gets kept.

The really unique thing about our collection at Disney is we were really the first corporate or entertainment archive to exist in this fashion. It wasn't just film material, it was all the correspondence, it was business correspondence, it was a large photo collection. Later on, for the department, it became props and costumes and movie vehicles. So it's a really diverse robust collection. And that's grown over our 50 plus year history. When we started, Dave Smith, Disney legend, who founded our department, really his first goal is to ask what's the catalog everything in Walt Disney's offices.

And that's really how our department got it started. After Walt Disney passed away, the company was trying to figure out what the next steps were. And Roy O. Disney, Walt's brother, business partner, helped found the company, realized, hey, we have a lot of historical material around. Maybe it's time we start doing something formal with it. At that same moment, Dave Smith had said, hey, you guys really should start thinking about starting an archive. So it really was a perfect moment for the company to look back on its history to do something saving it proactively. So since 1970, our team has been around to preserve the magic, if you will, with all manners of Disney company history.

So your role at the archives, what do you get to do and what's a day to day for you?

The cool thing about our gig in the archives is very few days are the same. Every day is very different. We support a very broad line of business across the whole Walt Disney company. It's every business unit. It's not just corporate, it's not just studio, but it's parks, resorts, it's imagining. It's our colleagues that Disney consumer products, it's a little bit of everything. And that's a really dynamic space to work in. And it's really engaging and it's quite honestly, it's a lot of fun. You don't always know what's going to come next, but the projects we get to work on certainly mean a lot to a lot of people.

We love to contextualize the material in our collection. It's not just stuff in boxes around shelves, but we want each of our historical objects, our assets to tell story. And we're kind of the emissaries that help get that story out to the world. There are very few companies that have as much public historical outreach as Disney does with our collection. And we're really lucky that we're supported across the company in that way and empowered to do that. I don't think there's any company that reuses its history as much as Disney does when you think of everything and all the forth thought that Walt had for the projects that he worked on.

We're still seeing the dividends from a lot of those creative output, you know, in examples today. And, you know, we're really here to be the guarantor of that history and to make sure that it has a voice, you know, that it isn't forgotten about in a box. That it's something that we can all look forward to to celebrate. And that's certainly what this exhibit does. We hope it does at least.

Do the archives change over time as far, as like I think you mentioned before about like trying to identify, you know, what is and isn't, but over time like any collector, right?

Yeah, sure.

You do have to have to make hard decisions in space as well, given your location. Can you talk about as far as like, okay, that we're going to have to kind of let go, of this we're going to have to do that.

You know, the department kind of ebbs and flows with the needs of the business, right? The needs of the company as the company grows so to does our collection. You know, certainly the last two decades when there have been some massive acquisitions when you look at Pixar or Star Wars or Marvel, there's a lot of material that comes with that. Along with a lot of really rich and amazing institutional knowledge. We have some fantastic historical partners around the company that do similar work to as to what we do. It's actually not just the archives collection, you know, there are many collections around the Walt Disney company that all have to talk to each other to make sure that we're preserving as much history as we can. Because again, in five years, 10 years, 50 years, hopefully when Disney turns 200, we'll be able to celebrate, you know, in an even grander fashion than we are now.

Can you talk a little bit about what went into the decisions as far as what we are displaying here and if there was any, challenges as far as like how do we get some of this stuff here, especially if it's as valuable as it is?

No, we have some really large objects. We have a couple of attraction vehicles. You know, something we really wanted to showcase and share was again the scale of the collection, right? And how varied it is. You're going to see examples of original art, original props, original costumes, huge attraction vehicles, large models. We hope that that's impressive, right?

Some things that we work with all the time. And certainly all of our shipping considerations take a long time to plan. We're also, you know, very cognizant of where things are going and when they're going. We track everything meticulously. So we're always in the know of where our stuff is. And an exhibit like this that's traveling all over the country is certainly no small feat.

And our team takes that responsibility very seriously.

When you think of all of the things that exist in our collection, the stuff that's here is really just the tip of the iceberg, you know. It's something that highlights specific moments in our company history and also is meant really they're selected to try and reach as many people as possible. We want this to be an experience for all ages. We want parents and grandparents and children to all have something unique to see and take away from it. So hopefully with the selection that's in here that you see, people will be able to have that experience.

Is there something in this collection that you have to do a double take or is there something, I know you can't play favorites, but there is something you go: I'm glad that's here.

Yeah, anything that Walt used, right? That Walt Disney touched, that Walt Disney interacted with, for me is always something really special. And considering we're here in Chicago that adds a whole other layer of special you know, speciality to it. You know, there's a model of a jungle cruise boat that Walt holds on television. You know, like that anytime you can point at that type of object and say like the great Walt Disney was using this material. It kind of does make you do a double take. It's certainly not lost on me at least the specialness of that.

I loved that you are wearing your Disney badge and you had mentioned before there was another one in your collection you really liked. Without going too much into personal history, is there something in your personal collection that you go: I'm happy I have this.

Yeah, we you know we do a lot of special events and exhibits and things and over the years there have been a couple of special name badges that have been designed. One of our managers has designed several of them for us. The one for our pirates exhibit a few years ago is my favorite, I think. You know it's hard again to pick a favorite one. Well, you know, we're really lucky that our cast culture at Disney in many ways is very unified and having something like a name badge, that everybody has is really a helpful tool and it's something that means a lot to each of us to just to have samples. It's a nice it's a nice thing to have to make you feel like part of the Disney legacy.

And so people can find out more about this exhibit. Where would you point them online?

You can go to the exhibit website. We open here in Chicago on Saturday, that's November 18th of 2023 and it'll be here through the spring.

Kevin thank you so much.

You're very welcome.

My thanks to Kevin and the fine folks working at the exhibit for their time.

My worn copy of ‘Heir’ I pinky-swear-promise I’m finishing it this time.

In part one we talked to Sean Taggart who was the Topps project manager for the first Galaxy set, under the direction of Gary Gerani. He talked about the effort for them to engage with artists and put together, what would be the largest Star Wars base set fans had seen. While he was keeping those artists on schedule, Gerani and Steve Sansweet were doing the copy for the backs of the cards. It took them and many others to bring the cards to life, and they all were rewarded with a successful product that spawned two additional sets back to back - and 8 additional over the next several years. While 2022 saw the most recent Galaxy set, revisiting some of those classic cards in chrome, Topps Star Wars Card Trader, the mobile app, has created it’s own Digital Galaxy cards that bring in top artists who showcase their talents to a new audience, that can enjoy the art of Star Wars anywhere they go.

In part two we talk with several guests who can give us a wide scope of how the hobby was at the time of the first galaxy release, to the modern Chrome Galaxy cards of today. The influences on the hobby, and those who might pick up a pencil and start making their own dent in the art universe. Fausto Barrionuevo, Karl Schmidt, Steve Stolk and David Dickson are collectors who have enjoyed Galaxy sets from long ago and today, and they talk about what the cards mean to them and how they collect. We talk with Ben Abusaada, who returns once again to the program, he was an artist on the 2018, but he also collected Galaxy as a youth. And we get a taste of a new member of the Galaxy family, as Brandon Bernard, Lead Graphic Designer for Topps Star Wars Card Trader, talks about the amazing original art that collectors can chase under the Digital Galaxy banner. And one of those contributors, artist `Robert Jimenez, also returns to the program and helps us close out the show talking about art being enjoyed right on your smart phone.

One more surprise guest on the program, series one artist Dave Dorman who I caught up with recently at Joliet Star Wars Day,  was kind enough to give us a few words on being in that first set.

As I had mentioned in the episode I wanted to give you some resources if you would like to check out the artwork and additional content on those early Galaxy sets. You’ll see some links below.

Abrams has done books on the card sets of each movie of the original trilogy, as well as the mid-90’s WideVision card sets, that owe a debt of gratitude to the success of Galaxy. This book was released in 2016 and can be found at amazon and I’m sure other book outlets.

Resources:

Star Wars Galaxy: The Original Topps Trading Card Series- Abrams Books 2016

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Galaxy-Original-Trading/dp/1419719130

The Art of Star Wars Galaxy is a trade paperback with two volumes that followed the first two card sets. Both are gorgeous 9 by 12 books that feature large and in some cases full page copies of the artwork that graced the card sets, plus fuller profiles and stories about the cards. Written and edited by Topps’ Gary Gerani, this is a must have for Galaxy Collectors and lovers of Star Wars art. Although both were released in 93 and 94, you can still find copies on Amazon and secondary markets like eBay.

Collectors should also check out the old copies of Star Wars Galaxy Magazine which ran for 13 issues, from 1994-1997, often coming with exclusive cards, posters and even comics, if you find them still sealed. On their own, they are great time capsules of that time in fandom. The successor, also from Topps Publishing, Galaxy Collector ran 8 more issues finally coming to a halt in 1999.

Star Wars Insider # 53, published in the spring of 2001, has a very nice section on Star Wars cards and is a nice cap to the end of the decade and gives hints at the cards that would launch in the new millennium including a new collector chase card, autographs. Sketch cards for Star Wars wouldn’t be too far behind.

After the first three sets of galaxy, between 93-95, many different kinds of Star Wars cards would be sold, including 3D, prequel tie-ins, wide vision, themed sets and so forth, but  Galaxy wouldn’t make its return for another decade until series 4 in 2009, but like I said, it would make up for lost time between then and now.

The Art of Star Wars Galaxy Vol 1 - Topps Nov 1993

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Star-Wars-Galaxy/dp/1883313015

The Art of Star Wars Galaxy Vol. 2 - Topps 1994

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Star-Wars-Galaxy-Vol/dp/1883313031

Collectors:

Norrin Radd (Fausto Barrionuevo) @sketchcardhive on Instagram

Karl Schmidt - @pileo64 Instagram

Steve Stolk @star_wars_topps_cards, @starwarsfanSince1977

David Dickson @starwarscardcrazy

Artists:

Dave Dorman davedorman.com

Ben AbuSaada @ksgeekman Instagram

Robert Jimenez @zerostreet Instagram https://linktr.ee/zerostreet

Industry:

Brandon Bernard - Topps Star Wars Card Trader

@stbernard81 Twitter/Instagram

https://www.starwars.com/games-apps/star-wars-card-trader

Galaxy Series 1 breakdown

3 Sections

1- Title Card

2 -A Tribute to George Lucas -Drew Struzan

3-14 Portraits by Joe Smith

5-47 The Design of Star Wars -

Production and Development Art

48-81 - The Art of Star Wars -

Poster, promotional and merchandising art

82- 139 New Visions -

New art by comics illustrators

140 Checklist

I have inserted a copy of the episode at the top of this post and would encourage you if you like what you hear, subscribe to the program on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows from.

This was especially satisfying to finish and post. Galaxy really is a key release for Star Wars cards. Although I think there would have been card sets released at some point, I don’t think they would have been as ambitious and fulfilling as if they had been releasing them just to release cards. You should take a look back at some of the other ‘90s releases as there is just so much content packed into each card. Steve Sansweet would return to help write copy on other releases of this era as well.

Coming down the road in the podcast, we will be revisiting Return of the Jedi and its 40 year card saga with some special guests. Part one of that special is already recorded and I can’t wait until you hear it.

Until then, enjoy the recent ‘Breakfast Pack’ show with returning co-host Gregory Cass of and get ready for some upcoming shows covering the National Sports Collectors Convention taking place here in Rosemont at the end of the month.

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Sealed box of 36 packs

In the spring of 1993 Topps launched its first Star Wars product in 10 years, since the last cards, stickers and candy were gobbled up by kids after the Return of the Jedi (now passing the 40 year mark). The folks from Topps had a bold idea, to feature an entire set dedicated to the art of the famous trilogy, plus bring in new art from renowned comic artists of the time which would help define a new interpretation for the trilogy and become a classic, which would not only spawn 9 future sequels, but arguably set the stage for bringing a steady flow of Star Wars cards for the next 30 years.

Series 1, 2 and 3 boxes

In part one of a two part series we get a unique and inside look in to the making of that historic set with our guest, artist Sean Taggart who was the Topps Project Manager for Star Wars Galaxy 1.

Instagram: @seantaggart

Sean’s website

In part 2 we will feature several more guests who can give us a wide breath of how the hobby was at the time of the first galaxy release to the modern Chrome Galaxy cards of today. The influences on the hobby and those who might pick up a pencil and start making their own dent in the art universe.

With the number of Topps Star Wars cards out there these days, it’s hard to think of a time they weren’t around.

But that was the situation in the early 90’s. You’ll often hear of fans referring to the time after Jedi and before Phantom Menace as the Dark Times. Star Wars had been off the big screen and store shelves for a time. Even with the Ewok Movies and cartoons of the mid 80’s, most had thought that was it for the franchise.

But some things happened in at the turn of the decade that would set the scene for a return to that Galaxy far far away. Timothy Zahn breathed new life into the Star Wars universe with with the Heir to the Empire, the first of three books continuing the adventures of Luke Leia and Han after Return of the Jedi. Comics and Trading cards had had a huge resurgence since the late 80’s. Now with more direct market shops, companies like Marvel, DC, Topps and others had access to a more die-hard audience, who were interested in bigger takes on their favorite franchises.  And speaking of which The 1989 Batman film and its sequels proved that super heroes could appeal to mass audiences and summer blockbusters were getting bigger and bigger budgets.

The early 90’s Marvel captured the imagination of card collectors with its Marvel Universe card releases and the smash 1992 Marvel Masterpieces with original art by Joe Jusko. Clearly the writing was on the wall that collectors took to these art sets.

Topps had been looking for a way to resurrect Star Wars cards and with the 15th Anniversary of A New Hope coming up, an opportunity presented itself to make a splash. Topps’ Ira Friedman, head of New Product Development turned to Gary Gerani, the architect behind the vintage Star Wars cards of the classic films to make a impression with a bold set. With consulting help from Stephan Sansweet they would create a 140 card set - broke up into several sections, that would showcase classic art and be capped with art created just for this release.

Galaxy 1 starts off with a bang! An Impressive title card featuring A Ralph McQuarrie DARTH VADER and Luke. Card 2 is a Drew Struzan tribute to the Maker, George Lucas. The next dozen are amazing portraits done by Joe Smith and called The Star Wars ensemble

Title card featuring art from Ralph McQuarrie

The Design of Star Wars is the first of three large sections. This first features lots of concept art packed with details and more images on the back.

The backs of many of the cards feature rich detail and secondary pictures

The Art of Star Wars is the middle section and features poster, promotional and merchandising art.

Dave Dorman’s cover art for the Dark Empire comic series from Dark Horse

Finally New visions would feature nearly 60 cards of new original art by the likes of Dave Stephens, George Perez, Steve Ditko, Dave Dorman, Cynthia Martin, Gil Kane and scores of others. The backs of those would feature a picture of sketch of the artist with a small bio.

Steve Ditko’s contribution to the New Visions subset from the first Galaxy set.

Chase cards in Galaxy 1 would feature a 6 foil card puzzle by Walt Simonson.

Since mine are still sealed in the box, here’s a Simonson foil from Series 3

All told this was the larger base set than any previous Star Wars one. Its success would spawn a trade paperback with huge full color renderings of the cards. The next year came series 2 and in 1995, Series 3. Topps Comics division would eventually spawn Star Wars Galaxy Magazine and eventually Star Wars Galaxy Collector.

Spin offs of Galaxy included two trade paperbacks, magazines and a later book.

After Galaxy 3, Topps would have its first Finest set in 96, along with the Shadows of the Empire Tie in, featuring a full set from the brothers Hildebrandt. A large sized Master Visions would cap an impressive run in the mid 90’s of amazing art cards, and along with the wide vision and 3D cards would carry the momentum through the special editions hitting the big screen, and then in the late 90’s the beginning of a new trilogy of movies and of course movie photo cards.

But that first set needed to get off the ground and it would need a person with an artist’s insight that could help reach out to an expanding roster of comic artists and ensure their artwork was approved by Lucasfilm, and more importantly, get finished on time.

That’s where Sean Taggart comes in. A great artist in his own rights, he was the Project manager for this set. On the podcast episode, you’ll hear part of his story on how he comes to Topps and his job in helping bring the first Galaxy set to life.

His story in many ways is just as amazing as this set and I think it’s a perfect part one for this special 30th Anniversary look into Topps Galaxy one.

For part two, several guests give a great spectrum of comments about Galaxy throughout its run, from the state of the hobby in the early ‘90s, to the Chrome versions of today.  Collectors and artists as well as folks who work on the Digital versions in the mobile app.

More on the Star Wars Digital Galaxy cards in part two

Norris Radd, Karl Schmidt, Steve Stolk and David Dickson are collectors who have enjoyed Galaxy sets from long ago and today talk about what the cards mean to them and how they collect. We also talk with Ben Abusaada who returns once again to the program. He was an artist on the 2018 series 8, but also collected Galaxy as a youth. And we get a taste of a new member of the Galaxy family, as Brandon Bernard, Lead Graphic Designer for Topps Star Wars Card Trader, talks about the amazing original art that collectors can chase under the Digital Galaxy title in the mobile app. And one of those contributors, artist `Robert Jimenez, helps us close out the show talking about art being enjoyed right on your smart phone. Dave Dorman, a last minute addition from a small conversation at Joliet Star Wars Day helps make this a great cap to the two-part special.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you liked what you read and saw, make sure to comment below and you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Threads and Hive @rebelbasecard.

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Weirder so, it seems like just a few days ago we were waiting for snow in Lake Geneva as I hung with Tom Gross and Dan Reem of Teachers in the Dungeon as they were giving a talk on running D&D summer camps for kids to a small, but engaged audience before they disbanded and continued their scheduled set of games that are the core of what Gary Con is all about. Lake Geneva is the birthplace of Dungeons and Dragons and Gary Con is an apt tribute to the father of D&D by setting a table of honor to him in the center of the Grand Geneva resort, the con's home, and setting all manner of RPG, Tabletop and Miniature games all around him.

A worthy set up indeed for the original Dungeon Master.

I was a late registry to the event, so my gaming options were slim, but having attended as a spectator (yup there’s a spectator badge), I was pretty content to wander the hallways and watch others throw some dice in anger. Plus, Tom had had some time before and after the event to talk on mic, so I actually had enough to put together a full show.

It’s super hard for me to come to an event and NOT start interviewing people. I admit I have a problem. Such is the case with walking with Tom as he was canvasing the vendor floor. One could seriously drop some coin on all manner of role playing themed goodies, custom dice and dice bags and rug material of all shapes and sizes.

One thing that caught my eye was Jim and Dave from Smuggler’s Coffee. I had heard that we were going to make a stop and it’s not hard to get me to show up when someone mentions coffee. I loved their array of well named flavors with artwork that would appeal to fantasy and science fiction fans. One item that another member of the group, Marcus had mentioned, is that there was this coffee flavored root beer that they were selling. Sure enough this can was on display with a picture that harkened back to my days playing Warcraft 2. The soda was called ‘For the Hoard’ and even had the words ‘Zug zug in the description. I had to have it. They even had these rad can toppers that were themed off of disc golf, which I have just started learning how to play.

Smuggler’s coffee may just be my new favorite brewers.

So at the end of the day, episode 134 turned out to be a pretty good episode with a wrap around discussion with Tom and Dan and a small interview with the Smugger’s coffee folks in between.

This week will be a doozy with the Bad Batch final two episodes dropping with a fresh Mando while I am literally in flight back from a small trip to San Diego. The next day after my trip up north to Lake Geneva some of my family and I were lucky to sneak out here for a few days while my little one is on Spring Break. I’ve never been to San Diego and I would have to say it did not disappoint. I can see why people flock here in the summer for San Diego Comic Con. Its weather is really amazing and the food here is fantastic. We stayed just southeast of the airport in the Little Italy neighborhood. If you are planning to come out and you’ve never been, it’s carpeted in this section of town with tons of great food options. And between Uber and the trolley, the convention center to the south is not really a long way away. And if you are looking for other stuff to do in between trips to the convention center, this place is like many others with plenty to do and see. We hit the U.S.S. Midway Museum, which is an older aircraft carrier that’s been converted to a museum. You could also take any number of land and sea tours, check out the famous San Diego Zoo, or check out many other museums all within Balboa Park just north of downtown. Very easy to get to.

So later this week, the premier midwest pop culture fest kicks off, which is C2E2. This con has been a cornerstone for me ever since I started the Instagram page and podcast. It harbors a huge artist alley, which is a favorite stop, plus C2 also has autograph tables, vendors, gaming and something for just about everyone.

The Midwest Garrison of the 501st always has a nice setup for families to come and check out the cosplay from them, the Rebel Legion and the Mandalorian Mercs. Plus the Droid builders always have cool things running around and interacting with fans of all ages.

Plus, no stop is complete until I check out the 501st cards to see what I am missing. These setups always have such great cards with numerous wicket cool designs.

You can check out the YouTube page for a nice walkthrough that, yes, contains my picture in picture video from last year. I was testing out an app that utilizes both front and back video called DoubleTake which I had also played with a little at Celebration. I chuckle every time I see the comment that the video would have been better without me in it. Can’t say I blame them lol.

I am looking forward to seeing my friend and artist Camron Johnson, who should have some new books to talk about and display. He was on last year with his Bonecheck and Freezer Burn comics in hand. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for this year. You can check out his web page here.

The swag packs are ready to pack and I do have a small stack ready, with more to be made to hand out.

This week is already half over and somehow between today and next week, I will have talked with my friend and Breakfast Pack co-host Gregory Cass about the end of Bad Batch Season 2 and Mando, and somehow have some audio from C2E2. I have no idea how I will pull this off, but as the lounge is getting ready to close and my flight is hopefully coming here shortly, I can’t wait to find out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another busy week here at the Rebel Base Card. Started off the week by publishing my conversation with Ian Taylor of the Marvel Card Collector's Podcast. Always good to have Ian back on the program talking cards. It has been a stretch of time, as Ian was last on way back in December of 2020 on episode #79. This is his third appearance, with the first, being in the first year of the show on episode #32.

Now doing the show solo with guest hosts, after the departure of longtime co-host Norrid Radd, Ian and the MCCP still has a great gauge on new releases, sketch artists and Marvel card collectors. His recent series on the stages of collecting at the end of last year was perfect to expand upon. You do tend to evolve in your hobby and what you started off collecting and coveting may change over time as you refine and gravitate more towards certain aspects of your collection. I was forturnate to have been on his show recently, episode #162.

This week also marked the 8th Anniversary of Star Wars Card Trader, which debuted in 2015. I dove back into the archives and did a nice post of some of the physical promo cards done a few years back by Topps for the app. These were either given out at cons or put into trading card packs for various releases. Looking back at the cards you can see how some early base series cards were designed and it's always fun to look at the image used for the mobile device and how old it looks now.

I had jumped in early in the app history, but was off for a number of months before I picked it back up. On the first promo card show on my Instagram post, you can see the elusive 'Vintage Han' which still is a white whale of a card for hard core collectors. One reason is, although this was an early insert series with a population of 1500, many users dumped out of the app completely, taking this card with them, making the population much lower. I would see this card on secondary markets like eBay for a long time fetching quite a pretty penny.

On Tuesday, Topps Online refreshed the Living set with two new cards from Carlos Cabaleiro and Kris Penix. The featured charachters this week were Todo-360 from the Bad Batch and General Pong Krell from the Clone Wars. Both cards are up for a 7 day period and the set is $11.99. You can also buy these individually for $7.99 each.

On Wednesday, Topps Online also released the second chapter set from the new third season of The Mandalorian. Like the other Topps online sets, these are up for a week only. This 5 card set with pictures from the show sell for $19.99. Numbered colored variants are possible and come as an additional card in your order if you are lucky to pull one.

Thursday also saw 3 new Throwback Thursday cards released, featuring Kylo Ren, Saw Gererra and Emperor Palpatine. The Kylo Ren card also has a variant short print card that could be included in your order if you 'pull' one. This 3 card set goes for $14.99. Cards 19-21 are a part of the second wave of this set and are desinged to mimic the 1984 Topps MLB one. Cards 1-12 looked like the 1952 MLB set.

While we are on Thursday, that saw the release of the latest 'Breakfast Pack' insert podcast episode, #51. Greg Cass from eyeoncanon.com and I traded questions on Bad Batch episode 13, Pabu and Mandalorian Chapter 19, The Convert, which premiered on Wednesday March 15th. I won't spoil the Pringles can ratings for these two episodes, but I will say they did not disappoint.

In our 'Greg's List' segment where we highlight other shows and media we took in over the previous week after the last show, we talked about a number of amazing content creators.

The list includes:

Greg Cass:

Blast Points

Skytalkers Podcast

Podcast Stardust

Riververse

Coffee with Kenobi

The Long Take Substack from Jen Sopchockchai

Greg McLaughlin:

Making Tracks from Fantha Tracks

Rebel Force Radio

Star Wars Reactions

What the Force Podcast

Fantha Tracks reviews - Feat. Ross Hollebon, Daniel Lo, Jen Sopchockchai

The Long Take Substack.

Honorable mentiones to Kara Dj from the Into a Larger World Fanzine

Congrats to Dan Z from CWk for his Celebration Europe announcement

There are only 3 more episodes of the Bad Batch left, with the season finale being a 2 parter on Wednesday March 29th. There's certainly going to be a lot of TV happening that night with Mando moving into high gear.

The Chicago Sports Spectacular is back at Rosemont this weekend, which for me kicks off some of the upcoming Con season. The next two weekends will be busy with GaryCon in Lake Geneva Wisconsin next weekend and C2E2 the following one. I sent the last card of the Swag Pack series off to the printer this week and expect to see it by mid week of next. I have been making tweaks to the wrapper and should have them ready for handing out at C2. These Swag packs have become a great set of memories for things that have happened over the course of the previous year and it's fun to create trading cards that have the look if not the complete feel of the vintage run. In these packs you will find 9 cards, a sticker and 3 classic Return of the Jedi cards from 1983, as it is getting closer to the 40th anniversary of the last of the original trilogy films. As we get into May I will be putting together a couple of shows that will celebrate not only ROTJ, but the 40th anniversary of the cards released for the film.

Also soon celebrating 30 years is the first set of Topps Star Wars Galaxy cards which debuted in April of 1993. The 140 card set highlighted the amazing artwork that helped paint the picture of what the universe might look like, by Ralph McQuarrie, but also feature art by great comic illustrators and artists and how that contributed to the popularity of the franchise. The release, which was originally set to coincide with the original film's 15 year anniversary, came 10 years after the last set of Star Wars Cards have been released. The Galaxy sets are wonderful ones to chase and there have been 7 more regular sets of Galaxy, along with 2 subsequent Chrome editions, the last just released a few months back.

I hope you all have a great holiday and weekend and we will talk again soon!

Greg

The Throwback Thursday cards are continuing their 1984 inspired design. Like the Living Set and the Mandalorian weekly sets, this is a one week only offering and are sequentially numbered. This week’s release featured Jar Jar, Han Solo, and Jabba. Each week the middle card also has a variant image ‘short print’ and like the Mando ones, will come as an extra card. The first 12 cards of the set were in the style of the 1952 Topps MLB set, where cards 13-24 will feature the ‘84 design, with 2 images on the front and the home planet vertically placed on the card’s left side. The cardstock is a thick 18pt, and its back talks a little bit about the character.

The Living Set continues is push towards 400 with 2 new cards - this time from Kris Penix, instead of the usual one each from him and Carlos Cabaleiro. I do believe this was an error to have both from one artist, since they had been matched releases for quite some time. Cards 393-394 were Captain Canady from the Last Jedi and the droid BNI-393 from the Clone Wars.

One the main podcast this week, episode #131, I spoke with authors John and Mary Jo Tenuto about their upcoming book: ‘The Winds that Shook the Stars',’ which is available on Amazon or pretty much wherever you buy your books. This book chronicles the making of the Star Wars radio dramas of the 80’s and 90’s for NPR which added a smidge of new content to A New Hope, Empire and Jedi that was not in the films. Those dramas were written by noted science fiction author Brian Daley, who you might recognize from his work on the early Han Solo trilogy, of what is now considered the Legends era of Star Wars books.

From the description: “A comprehensive history of the Star Wars audio dramas. An expanded radio dramatization of the original Star Wars trilogy, produced in 1981, 1983, and 1996 respectively, produced and broadcast by National Public Radio as part of NPR Playhouse. These radio serials were made with the full co-operation of George Lucas, who for one dollar each sold the rights to KUSC-FM, the public radio affiliate at his alma mater, the University of Southern California. Lucas also allowed the use of original sound effects and music from the films. A Wind To Shake The Stars explores the creative origins, production and legacy of this oft-forgotten chapter of Star Wars history.”

The book is out in July and the pre-order price is $27.95.

Also this week on the podcast insert series, the Breakfast Pack, Gregory Cass from and I traded questions on Mandalorian Chapter 18, The Mines of Mandalore and Bad Batch: The Outpost. Hard to believe this little micro insert series has hit a whopping 50 shows.

Both the Mandalorian and Bad Batch have had sets in the Star Wars Card Trader app as well as a nice one for International Women’s Day. I am still on my weekly quest to do the Gilded chase, which involves collecting near daily releases of variant cards - this week with a Rebels theme - and then melding them on Saturday for a special card.

One more item of note: Card #35 of my Swag Pack series arrived from PrimoPrint, which means I am only one more away from completion and I can begin wrapping packs to give away at conventions I attend this year. You can follow the progress on Instagram @rebelbasecard and Twitter. I am working to be ready for the initial release for the C2E2 convention in Chicago the last week of March.

For a first post, this was quite more than I expected to write, but I appreciate any comments and feedback. See you on the socials!

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