Tavern Blog

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February 16, 2025

Very cool news that Upper Deck will be releasing a card set dedicated to The Boys Season 1 & 2! I have not seen a release date.. but I'm so down to pick up a few of these cards. There's going to be both auto and costume cards. I think this set is going to be very popular.. and a fun one!

A couple of weeks ago I added a few things to the site, You can see what was added on the update page. Also, I was able to get a second uncut sheet from the Xena Movi Vision set. You can see a larger image at the link.

Another fun thing that's going on is that I got my very first iPad. I never got one in the past, because I thought them to be just a very large iPhone or iPod Touch. And for a long time they were. I got the iPad Pro 11" with the M4 chip. And the software it has is so very close to a desk top,

I'm mentioning this because I am able to update my two active websites 100% using the iPad. It's very cool. I had to figure out a couple of new apps to use. But it's all working.

It's also great, becuase the iPad is a lot easier to take places and I can work on the site and back end of things when i'm not home. I'm super happy being able to do this easily,

I'm really looking forward to what 2025 will bring collecting wise.

😀

The Boys Upper Deck

Movi Vision

January 12, 2025

Happy new year!

I'm glad to be back to uploading items for the site. I have been having a blast going to concerts and working on my other music discography website.. I easily worked over 100 hours on it.. and I still need to do a few more things there.

I have not found too many Xena card things to collect and upload.. But I do have some very cool items coming. 😉

And there is the big news of two new Funko Pops, for Xena and now YAY Gabrielle! Since I broke down and got the Xena & Herc ones.. I'm def going to get these. It will be interesting to see if they keep the waves coming on this license. I also added a page for the Funko Pops on this site to show the artwork and figures. I will be adding to the page as time goes on.

Also coming up is the Xena Con.. I am absolutely going. I don't have a ticket yet. I'm still trying to decide on General or get a reserved set. Hmm.

I have lots on my mind about the devastating fires in LA and surrounding areas. I'm in shock and it's heartbreaking. 😔

June 23, 2024

I managed to pick up a few goodies over the last few months. Glad I have a beautiful summer day to relax and upload them to the site.

I was looking at collecting trends and I have noticed that a lot of people are selling their entire collections. Video games, toys, DVD's , Funko Pop's.. etc.. lots of videos on You Tube. I'm feeling really lucky that I downsized way before the pandemic, and sold near the top. I would not want to be selling in this market. I'm keeping some funds handy to scoop up any deals that pop up.

Xena cards continue to move as long as they are priced right. There are loads of deals now.. and some of the more expensive cards are still keep their price over the more commons cards. Cards should be cheap and affordable and bring the fun for all. 😀

One of the cooler things I picked up was a post card from the Turkish Press. This is a special card.

Postcard from Turkey

"She's my little friend now" 😂 This is amazing.. I purchased the card game "Cards Against The Known World "From the Xenite Retreat team. I have not gone to Xenite Retreat, it looks like a blast. Hopefully one day I will be able to attend.

This card game is so well made from The Game Crafter. The cards feel like a high quality deck of playing cards. They are beautiful and I really appreciate all of the hard work that went into creating the game. ❤️

It's also really exciting to see a wonderful game like this produced. Battle On!

A while back I mentioned a company called Vaulted that is made a very cool case for funko pops. Well now they have a very cool case for cards. Looks very high quality like Zion, but has the cool display windows. Of course light damage is always an issue.. but to keep some cheaper cards there is very cool.

Here's the link to check it out. Vaulted

Purchase Here

March 28, 2024

Here's the link for the Salute to Xena 30th Anniversary convention. I plan on going again. And again I have no idea yet what kind of ticket I will get, but I'm pretty sure this time I will go all three days 😀

I'm also planning on attending the Burbank Card show in Anaheim this year. The dates are August 22-25, 2024. 😀

Later this month I'm going to pick up a new scanner.. The one I have now works good, but drivers are not available for my lap tap. I use it with my older lap top. Planned obsolescence is very frustrating. See how it goes.. my project for the year.. is to once again see what scans I can clean up and do better. If the new scanner works out.. I will be able to donate my old one.. and dispose of my old laptop.

Right now I have few things to add to the site... and a few items on the way. I feel really lucky to still be able to find things here and there to collect. In looking at Ebay... I continue to see Xena cards sell. There are a wide range of prices.. and great deals can be found.

One of the things I have be contemplating is selling my stamp collection. I would not sell all of it. I would keep my childhood collection, and maybe an album or two of favorites. I guess the reason why is that I have not added to this collection in a while, and I have not been taking the time to enjoy it as I should.. It's a pretty solid MNH US collection 1920 onwards.. I do have lots of older stamps.. but not many MNH ones. I also have a large collection of mostly used and some mint classic world wide stamps. It would free up quite a bit of space. And other collectors would be able to enjoy the stamps. But of course.. should I sell it little by little to maximize $, or just let it go in larger lots? Or should I just keep everything? I am a dedicated minimalist, so anything sitting around and not being enjoyed I start to think about letting it go. Also-- would I miss the collection? I have some things to think about, and it's not an easy answer.

January 28, 2024

I'm happy to say that I attended the Xenite Reunion Xena Con, Yesterday. I made the decision a while back to just go on Saturday. I had picked up auto tix for both Lucy and Renee, so it worked out. It meant a lot to be able to attended. Last time I went to a Xena Con was in 98. I found it to be completely different, and fun in a different kinda way. I had a general admission ticket and I was about five rows from the back. I did bring my camera, it has a decent zoom. So I was able to get a few pics. I have posted some on instagram.

I have a lot of cards. I have a lot of autographs cards. It was special to get a couple of my favorite cards signed in person. I'm really grateful.

I took quite a few pictures. I added some to the conventions page.

There will be another Xena Convention on Jan 31-Feb 2- 2025.

I have some cool cards on the way to put up here.. Starting out the ninth year of this website.

Happy New Year!

July 3, 2023

This is the first July I can recall in LA, that in July the weather is very mild. Really loving the cool mornings. This has giving me a little extra time to spend on cards.

It was just a matter of time I guess. I had mentioned before I would pick up cheap Xena cards in PSA 10 all day, if they price out at cost. Well now my normal purchases are coming in already graded. Picked up a Star Wars sticker auto plate already graded. I found another parallel Star Wars auto BSG authenticated. I guess this is how it's going to be.

Well the party is over. So many new collectors, and those returning in 2018, 2019 and in the pandemic, pulled an animal house and got card drunk. Made a mess.. now they are all hung over.. and a few have sobered up for good. I have watched countless YT videos on this very interesting time in card history. Happy to say as always the collector wins in the end.. over the last two weeks I have made many, very cheap purchases of non Xena cards I have wanted, but have side stepped for the last three years. The most mind boggling is that so many cards printed in near millions, saved by collectors blew though the roof.. tons of junk wax busted open in the hunt for 10's.

Maybe I just don't have a trained eye, but for modern cards I just don't see the difference on an 8-9-10, with the exception of centering which is easy to see. I think if grading companies put more resources into vintage, including what they charge, more time spent on the card. They would be able to spot the trimmed and altered cards better. Unless the grader is on the take in collusion with the auction house. But the grading company's want to be like McDonalds and fast grade and slab and get profits from high volume cards. This has led to the high drama of any changes to their grading scales and labels. Which is happening now, in additions to the sloppy grading and missing important details on vintage cards.

GMA Graded Star Wars Auto Plate 1 of 1

My new Zion Case

There have been several benefits to the boom. As more and more collectors have spent untold 1000$ on modern slabbed cards.. there is the need for premium storage solutions. Solutions that both protect and look great. Once again the sports collectors are ahead of the curve in that area. It was from seeing the the sports collectors I had a custom Stand up display made. And now I have my Zion case. I will say that I love my two card collector pro cases. Love the adjustable walls and side handles. But the Zion is larger. And has the closed cell foam interior. Lots of color options. And the XL fits Top loaders in "Superior Fit" sleeves 100% perfect. I got the newer version with the TSA approved locks. I plan on getting a second case. I'm going to use the two card case pros I have for supply storage(top loaders, penny sleeves etc) and some other things, like DVD's and Blu-ray's.

I heard some chatter on Facebook they are coming out with a water proof version. From what I can tell the case I have now has an excellent seal. Plus I use silica packets for moisture. But I get that if you have $100,000 in slabbed cards, water proof is where you need to be. Especially if you have to get on a plane and something gets spilled due to turbulence.

The struggle is real ;)

I shared on Instagram this meme I made about my card collecting. Yes as a child I used rubber bands to keep my cards together. And to separate cards from different sets. Maybe I'm over protective of my cards. lol. Perhaps if Ultra pro sheets were everywhere when I stared I would have a different perspective. But as a child I'm stressing putting my Star Wars cards in baggies to keep them less worn and clean.. my OCD is still a thing.

I still have all of my Star Wars cards.. full sets and stickers and wrappers SW-ESB-ROTJ. No PSA 10's in there. But the pure joy putting sets together as a child & teen. And enjoying my cards for decades, is worth more to me than PSA 10 could ever be.

Custom Playmat

Playmats are of course a big deal with TGC, CCG players. The costs of having one made never seemed beneficial to me. But I found this custom playmat on Ebay. Took a chance.. and I love this thing. I used it to sleeve some cards and the smooth surface made for a better working area then just the table surface.❤ I added a large photo my collection photo page

I owe a lot to the Sports cards and TGC community for their innovations, that we Non-Sports collectors have used. The 9 pocket and top loader were also created due to the needs of sports card collectors. ❤

August 5, 2023 International Trading Card Day

On August 5 2023 it's international trading card day. This is such a cool promotion, especially for kids and people outside the hobby. No Xena Cards, but a cool GPK

The Boys VS System Game Cards Upper Deck

While scrolling Instagram the other days I see Karl's face on Upper Deck's feed. ❤ Upper Deck will be releasing soon a "The Boys" additions to their VS System game. Since "The Boys" is based on a Comic Book, this makes so much wonderful sense.

I'm definingly gonna pick up some packs and some singles. I really enjoy the show.. and I'm always looking to add cards of Xena alumni cast to my collection.

Funko Pop Collecting

I have watched countless YT videos from Funko Pop collectors. I have noticed some trends. And I wanted to offer my advice as a life long collector. Most of the collectors who are public with their collection tend to be younger. And they tend to collect complete sets and keep the pops in the box while keeping a large collections of over 500 pops. The more expensive ones are in hard shell cases. Mid range ones in pop protectors. And cheap ones raw, just stacked 10 or more high along a wall. Pops are very small. I have two out of the box that I love, and they are tiny on the shelf. However boxed pops stack up fast and take up so much space in a room. One sentiment that I hear repeated over and over is.. I have so many pops I can't afford pop protectors for all of them. The top crystal clear acrylic cases run 20-30$ each, and decent pop protectors 4-5$ each. If the pop has a value of 5-6$ I can see the issue here.

My advice is that adding a piece to your collection, is a special thing. Each pc deserves the space and care you will give it, while it's in your home, and enjoying your hobby.

Some of my favorite cards have no value. But I put them in penny sleeve and top loader the same as cards that cost more. The no value card has value to me as a collector and person who appreciates the the item for what it is... not what it's worth. Hence I care for it the same. I long since disposed of all the cards that didn't have value to me. Some were worthless, and some I sold for $$$. But none had value to me. Every card in my collection is picked by me, and has priceless value to me.

If a Funko collector has 500 pops, and no money for pop protectors, I would say this collector has yet to develop discipline. This is not a knock down. I was a card hoarder, I have been there. In 20-30 years, the pops without protectors will have dust inside, yellowed bubbles, and probably faded. As well as crush marks from being stacked. Also if you move the handling will add a lot of wear and tear. If you only have a few pops and you can't afford pop protectors it's fine.. you can always re buy them. No doubt most are being kept in cases on pallets in a warehouse and in future years you can get them. But if you have over 500, and have laid out $1000's not being able to get all your pops in protectors you may regret it.

I saw this really cool pop display, that solves the stacking weight issue. It's not cheap. A 6 pack that displays 54 pops is $450.00 plus tax and shipping. LINK There is space in there so the pop can also be in a case. The good thing for collectors is with items like this in the market, Funko pop collecting has become more sophisticated. It's just a matter of time before more items like this become available.

THE DISPLAY VAULT AIR

June 25, 2023

I picked up is a Zion Card Case. I have them in the links section. Photos coming. I got the four row XL. I love the card case pro cases I have, with the adjustable rows. I had read so much on the quality and craftmanship of the Zion Cases. It's the number 1 case for sports card collectors. It exceeded my expectations for quality.

As I was putting cards in the case I found the penny sleeve, top loader and team back combo, was a little snug. Even though I got the XL that's made for slabs. The reason is the team bag is about 1/4" wider than the top loader. I could carefully fold back the excess, but that's way too cumbersome to deal with. So I began a search for more snug fitting team bags. Not only did I find them. I found the perfect place that specializes in this exact thing.

Superior Fit Innovations

I added a link for them on the link page. I ordered 500 for regulars top loaders and 50 for mags. I am blown away at the fit, quality, crystal view, thickness and strength. Not only are my cards even more of a joy to look though. They fit as they should in the Zion case. I'm putting a photo below. As you can see the Xena card is in a regular team bag. The Callisto card in the new sleeve. Love the tapered flap too. I have now gone back and ordered all of the other sizes. I also ordered some card sleeves... will share photos on how these work out.

I have mentioned before that I am not a display person. I love having my card stands on my card shelf. My shelfs are in a cabnet. So when the doors are closed, I have no cards on display. When I open the doors to my card cabnet, bam... I love seeing the cards on the stands. But that's me. I have been seeing more and more card collectors displaying the cards.

Yes that's been a thing for a long time.. But I'm just seeing it so much more. Persoanlly keeping cards in view case binders and card cases and boxes it the way to both enjoy and store my collection. And this is going back to the 70's. My cards were always kept in a box. Seeing glass displays that you would normally see figures, but instead you see cards is a new flex for me,

First of all there is the space being taken up. Only a handful of cards can be shown. And being behind glass, you can not see the back. You can't hold them and flip them over. There is also lighting that needs to be installed. And even with glass doors there is still the issue of dust. The cards are fine. But the display itself needs to be cleaned and dusted. And if the cards are signed, fading will be an issue no matter what kind of lighting you use. That said the collectors who have built these dispays are very proud of them. There's no right or wrong way to collect or store. It just opened my eyes to a new way.

If you put up a display of beautiful cheaper cards.. That would be very nice. But personally for me it's not how I enjoy cards.

I always hear from collectors of video games, figures, funkos that you don't want to have your collection in totes.. you want it out so you can enjoy it. But cards are different to me. If you have carded figures, and you have them in totes.. then I can see if you take out the tote and enjoy your collection then yes handling it, the card back will get wear. As will most collectables that are carded like hot wheels.

Cards don't have this problem. When in pages and top loaders.. cards can be handled, sorted, flipped through and enjoyed without issues. One could argue the cards are the most collector friendly for both cheap storage and the plastic materials to protect them. And thirdly they take up less space than most collectables(except stamps). And further.. if you buy a graded card you can enjoy it 100% front and back. This is not the case for graded video games and comics.

All of these things are also why I love cards. Another thing happened the other day that made me so happy I collect cards. I've seen with older action figures on the card...they sometimes have a yellow card bubble. That would not be a deal breaker.. but when the bubble is yellow you can't clearly see the figure.. that part is the deal breaker. Going though my cards.. one of my top loaders yellowed out.. all I did was put it in a new top loader. And I was thinking what if this was an expensive vintage figure. It would be very frustrating, So yeah.. happy to be a card collector for so many reasons beyond loving cards.

I reached out to the Ebay seller about the Famous Superstars pack. It turned out they have more. So I purchased two packs. Super happy. Seller was in Sweden. Scans will be coming to the web site.

Ebay Find

June 11, 2023

I had been looking for more info about the Lucy Lawless card I found from a set called "Famous Superstars". Well I found a sealed pack had sold on eBay. I am sharing the photos here. What's interesting is that it's labeled made in Spain there are no copyrights on the pack, nor a date or number of cards in the pack. Also confusing is on the front it says 100 Different Cards to Collect and Play. I have no idea what the play component of the set is. And again everything is in English. Perhaps this was meant to be for an EU release, and these were all prototypes and samples of the unfinished product that never made it out. I'm not an expert on UPC/EAN for Europe, but it's possible the UPC is real. Hopefully more details will come to light about this set in the future.

Ebay Photo

April 8, 2023

If you browse though the Rittenhouse Archives sets inc Hercules.. I added the splash text that RA had on their site to promote and advertise the upcoming sets. I had saved most of them. This, along with the photos RA had up of the costumes used for the cards... and the card quantities and detail info.. all of info has been preserved for collectors to reference.

If RA never rebuilds their Xena card information, on their site, we collectors will be not be missing any details. I have it all copied here.

It's interesting to read how RA presented the Xena sets to collectors and created excitement for them. I pasted in an example.

March 13, 2023

I didn’t have any new things to upload. Spent the afternoon working on the site. Fixing typos, adding more details to the set summary’s.

Adding more scans and extra photos to the main pages as needed. And reorganized the home page a little bit.

Rittenhouse used to have a splash page devoted to every Xena and Herc release to promote the sets. I had copied the text for my personal reference. Since it’s no longer on the Rittenhouse house site, I will be pasting this text into the site, with an origin note.

So lots of cleaning up and minor enhancements.

I went back a project I had put on the back burner.. and that's working on the Cyber Xena/Herc digital cards. I want to pull out the backs and text. It's very time consuming.. but it will happen little by little. Here are three digital cards that were previews for the next set that was never released. I have not seen these posted around, so I'm sharing these here. Lots more on this project coming soon.

March 4, 2023

Tomorrow is the Ides Of March ;)

I picked up a fantastic card. And though the seller provided information. And I also got the flyer checklist.. I'm not convinced of it's origin. It's part of a decent well put together set. Loads of the other cards are on Ebay. From 2005, it's supposed to be from Spain. hmm. There's no Spanish on the card. It's possible is an unofficial set. Hopefully more info can be found.

I want to point out something regarding the Topps Garbage Pail Kids, Xena sepia stickers. And that's that there are not many of them. The total print run for the set is 1185. And (1) sepia sticker per set. And there are 10 different stickers. So there are 118 of each Xena sticker. That's not very many when you take into consideration the large number of GPK collectors, Non-Sports collectors and Xena fans who may pick it up. If you plan on getting it at some point, I would not wait.

Famous Superstars 2005

GPK Xena Sepia Stickers

And lastly.. an article is making the rounds that every collector should read. This is insane. Over 30$ Million worth of Funkos will be dumped into a landfill. So many people have predicted that funko's would fizzle out in a bad way. And it seems to be heading in that direction. They are still very popular and i'm sure the big collectors will keep going. The most difficult part would be maintaining a large space. Pops are small. But in the box, you could fill a room before you know it. And for me that takes the fun out of it.

One thing that I noticed is that a lot of the collectors are young. And a collection is a time and responsibly commitment. You have to monitor light, heat, moisture, dust. And protect the collection from damage and fading. And keep up a display. Iv'e seen so many pop collections that the boxes are stacked up. And I think the weight of them over time, is not going to work out so well. And though the pop is protected in the box. People buy box protectors. I can see that a lot of collectors are getting out. It's hard to take care of pops and keep a huge boxed collection in pristine condition.

I enjoy the two pops I have (Xena & Hercules), personally I think funko got too deep into all the variations and exclusives. They made it so expensive and difficult just to finish a set. And with the multi packs and other products and merch.. it's like what Pez did.

Over $30 Million Worth Of Funkos Are Headed To The LandfillSorry Funko Grogu, may the Force be with you, wherever you are

February 25, 2023

Really no surprise that I did pick up an Auto ticket for both Lucy & Renee. And that after I purchased the tickets I got excited about the Xena con coming this Jan. 2024. 😍

I was digging though some old file folders and I found some old images. I recall being hesitant about uploading these, since they are not my photography. What they are, are the images Rittenhouse Archive put on their product page to advertise the card sets of Beauty & Brawn and The Quotable Xena. They had snapped photos of the exact costumes they purchased before they got cut up. The gallery of each is at the bottom of the main set pages. Rittenhouse no longer has these images on their site. I'm sure they have the full resolution of these photos somewhere. Happy to put them up, though they are very low res for 2023, back in 2002 these were good.

I also found the HTML for WOTC product page that I had save before it was taken down years and years ago. I put it up in three screen shots. It's at the bottom of the main set page. Fun throw back.

February 4, 2023

I started a fresh new page to this blog. Page 4.

Just did some minor tweaking to some sections and fixed some typos.

While I was looking at facebook groups this morning I saw someone posted about a new Xena Con, coming next Jan. 2024. Talk about a do over. I'm kinda in the same state of mind about it. See how it goes. I do like that it's in Burbank instead of LAX. Since I didn't go to the last one.. I am strongly leaning towards going. It's just difficult to get excited about it. But I'm super happy for those who are crazy excited for it. Yay!

In case anyone is new to visiting this site, or reading here I want to mention a few things. 😊

I'm a die hard nutball Xena fan and trading card collector. This site is a fun passion project. And it makes me very happy to share scans and info about Xena cards and card like items. Over the years I have enjoyed so many Xena sites made by fans, inc fan fic. So it makes me extremely happy to give back to the Xena verse in any way. And I have gotten positive feedback😊 It's all here for anyone to sit back, blast a Xena soundtrack and enjoy looking at Xena cards. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to organize the site. To keep it as clean and simple as possible. Without having to click though a bunch of pages to get to the info. And yet manage a trove of data. Every single scan, 100% of them, is scanned by me from my collection. If there is no image here, that means I don't have it. And all of the info is complied by me by going through my collection card by card, item by item. For the insert ratios and production quantity's, this info comes from the manufacturers, that was publicly released on wrappers, sell sheets and their websites. Some of this info is no longer on line. Wizards of the Coast and Rittenhouse Archives no longer have Xena card details on their sites anymore. I'm very happy I copied all of it, and have it here.

Also I have an instagram, that account along with this site is updated as I collect.. There can be weeks or months there is no update. That is just because I have not added anything, nor is there anything I wanted blog about it. Most of the images here are watermarked for obvious reasons.

I feel it's important to mention all of this, because I see many collecting sites that are put together, using other sites lists and images. Sometimes it's very obvious the data has been copied. Some collection sites contain $100,000 worth of cards or more. And tons of 1/1's, I often wonder if the webmaster has all those cards.. or if they are pulling in data and images from elsewhere to build a complete site. I don't know. Unless a site states all the items there are theirs. I will assume they are not theirs.

Check out this beautiful new Star Wars Card from the Galaxy set. It's of Ketsu Onyo, with a Gina Torres Autograph. 😍

There are a few levels of chase for this card. So there are loads of them out there. So easy to pick one up.

"Wait ..to the caves"/yes this is the actor 😆 "The Quill is Mightier..."

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