Fanatics-Topps Soviet-Style Modern Sports Cards?

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Hi, welcome back to Mountain Gym Card Collectibles.

[00:00:04]So, you know, one thing I've noticed um about, >> [clears throat] >> you know, our current age of sports cards versus TCG is it really makes me feel like I did in the 1980s to an extent, okay?

[00:00:22]And that may be confusing to you if you didn't grow up in the '80s or even the '90s um but, you know, growing up in the US in the 1980s um I definitely had more freedom than I would have had in the Soviet Union, okay?

[00:00:39]Now, going from the 1980s to 1990s, um I definitely got a lot more freedom in the 1990s, I felt, than I had in the 1980s in the US, okay?

[00:00:50]Meaning that like um the 1990s, you know, I live here in Montana, we didn't even have like speed limits on the interstate.

[00:00:57]And so, I was like driving like over 100 miles per hour on the interstate. And when you don't have speed limits, you give yourself speed limits, okay? But, what I'm getting at is you know, I'm used to freedom.

[00:01:10]I'm used to freedom of choice. I'm used to, you know, when I buy sports card products, I'm used to competition and, you know, choosing the type of card that I like, you know, as long as it's a licensed product.

[00:01:25]But, lately the sports card realm feels to me like the Soviet Union in the 1980s, okay?

[00:01:38]>> [snorts] >> And here we have a map of, you know, the blue countries are NATO.

[00:01:42]Obviously, the red countries are tied to the, you know, former USSR or the Soviet Union.

[00:01:50]But, you know, when I look at TCG and I look at sports cards. Currently, the current model um I really feel like you have just a lot more freedom in the world of TCG, okay?

[00:02:09]You're basically NATO at the this point in time. Um And you're tied in with the US, Canada, you know, all the free countries of the world. To me, that's what represents our current age of TCG, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Magic: The Gathering.

[00:02:30]Um yeah, you are up against scalpers, you know.

[00:02:34]But nonetheless, you can go to your Walmart or Target or some other box store, um purchase your Pokémon cards, and pull out an awesome card, okay?

[00:02:48]That's valued for a lot of money, all right?

[00:02:51]And the thing is is there's just a lot of freedom when it comes to TCG in comparison to our current age of sports cards, all right?

[00:03:03]Because anymore when I think of sports cards you know, um and I know that they're clamping down on unlicensed products now, like the NFLPA is.

[00:03:15]Um I just feel like I don't have any freedom of choice. I don't feel like I even have freedom to consume cards, okay?

[00:03:26]Which really feels like kind of the old West German, East German mentality of the 1980s, you know, we got the 99 Luftballons.

[00:03:38]I don't know if you know the story about the 99 Luftballons, but basically a guy was at a Rolling Stones concert in West Germany, they let go of some balloons, and they floated towards East Germany, and the guy thought that, you know, they could possibly start a nuclear war, you know, cuz it's floating over into the East German border. Okay, that's the story of 99 Luftballons, you know.

[00:03:59]That's an old song from the 1980s.

[00:04:02]But, I kind of feel the same way, okay?

[00:04:05]The way that these sports leagues, you know, like the NFLPA is clamping down on unlicensed product, all right?

[00:04:16]And so, when you get more into the sports cards, it almost feels like you're living in an East Germany and you're looking across the Iron Curtain, you know, you know, the old walls of Berlin and the West Germany.

[00:04:30]>> [laughter] >> It's like, what's going on in West Germany? All those TCG people are just living it up. They have all this beautiful freedom.

[00:04:39]And here in the Soviet Union {slash} current age of sports cards, I just feel like I have cuffs on, you know, like behind my back, you know, I I mean freedom I I mean freedom of what?

[00:04:54]Go to prison?

[00:04:56]>> [laughter] >> Um you know, and to be a good Soviet, you must buy licensed Fanatics Topps product. That's what a good Soviet does.

[00:05:11]And that takes me to this article. Now, this came out on May 3rd, 2026. A lot of people aren't talking about it. I mean, really don't I only saw a few people talking about this, you know, um Strangely enough, Jeff Wilson probably talked about it more than anybody else.

[00:05:27]Um But, to me, this represents the Soviet Union, okay?

[00:05:36]The NFLPA files lawsuit against Leaf trading cards as Fanatics era begins.

[00:05:40]Yeah, almost Fanatics era begins, but the way I read it as Soviet Union era begins.

[00:05:47]>> [laughter] >> The You have no freedom. You are now living in the sports card Soviet Union.

[00:05:54]>> [laughter] >> And the parallels are just astonishing, you know. They They really are, you know. Um And when you get into this article, you basically find out that, well, the NFLPA is mad that Leaf is putting um numerous active players within their sets, okay? And honestly, we all know that um unlicensed product has been doing this forever, okay? So So why are they having a problem with it now?

[00:06:31]And we all know why. It's like it says there, Fanatics era begins.

[00:06:36]Soviet Union sports card era begins.

[00:06:40]You no longer have a freedom of choice.

[00:06:43]All you can do is bend your knee to the Topps Fanatics era, okay?

[00:06:51]Pokemon center to me really represents, you know, Uncle Sam to an extent.

[00:06:56]Freedom. Freedom of choice, you know, like the freedom I had in the 1980s, you know, when I knew all those Soviets.

[00:07:04]You know, our people living in the Soviet Union, you know, they didn't have many rights at all, you know.

[00:07:09]And so, strangely enough, TCG Pokemon and the other ones, you know, like Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, Magic the Gathering, whatever, even Dragon Ball Z, whatever, you know.

[00:07:23]To me, they represent the red, white, and blue.

[00:07:25]They represent the 1980s ideological belief of NATO.

[00:07:31]Um and when you cross into sports cards anymore, it just feels like you're crossing into East Germany, doesn't it?

[00:07:39]You know, you're just going straight into the sports card Soviet Union with you know who's the big Tsar and you know the Soviet Union?

[00:07:51]Or you know I guess they have a president in the Soviet Union but I like to call him a Tsar. Tsar Michael Rubin.

[00:07:56]>> [laughter] >> That is your new Tsar. That is your new Caesar.

[00:08:03]>> [laughter] >> To me when I just see that word Fanatics Collect I just imagine barbed wire walls guards. We got the Nena 99 Luftballons song playing, you know.

[00:08:17]>> [laughter] >> We have Zar Michael Rubin roaming around, you know.

[00:08:24]Um living in the Kremlin of sports cards.

[00:08:28]>> [laughter] >> It's just a total joke.

[00:08:32]I mean today's era of sports cards is a total joke. And yesterday I put on an episode about betas, beta males and what how they have just more or less destroyed, you know, the sports card era by always licking the boots of these guys for the most part. Being their like kind of pseudo girlfriend, you know, the PSA and Fanatics and Topps and all these, you know, horrible corporations for the most part, you know.

[00:08:58]So that's my view of today's era of sports cards, you know. And I know since they're going to really start clamping down on online licensed products, you know, you just have to to see it yourself. I I mean it just feels like sports cards are the classic Soviet Union.

[00:09:21]>> [laughter] >> TCG at this point is the USA, Canada, NATO.

[00:09:28]Um I love freedom, you know.

[00:09:32]Yeah, we're dealing with some high prices here and there in the USA which is a total nightmare. Um, but we still have a freedom of choice for the most part. Until you really start stepping into sports cards these days, at least new modern sports cards, you know. You can always go back and, you know, pick up some old packs of junk wax, which I recommend doing. If If you can find some packs of junk wax, they're usually cheap, you know, maybe two, three dollars a pack. Hey, buy them, rip them open, you know, you're going to get a lot better players for the most part, you know. Um, and, you know, junk wax really was, you know, the classic age of, um, sports cards in my lifetime because of all the opportunities that I have for freedom of choice. And And then, you know, what I saw in the junk wax era was just a lot better designs, you know, because that's what you get with competition is you just get companies who are trying to out-design each other.

[00:10:31]Um, really pushing the envelope for creating better sports cards, you know.

[00:10:36]And I really didn't realize that at the time in the junk wax era that that was happening, you know. I was still growing up for the most part, you know.

[00:10:43]So, anyway, leave some comments. Comments are awesome.

[00:10:48]Like to thank my subscribers. You're the reason I keep doing this cuz I'm still not monetized. If you give me a thumbs up, that would be great.

[00:10:55]I'd like to thank my viewers as well. If you could subscribe to my channel, that would really help me out. And keep an eye out for the subscription list with new episodes.

[00:11:05]Anyway, I hope you have a great day. I'm out of here.

[00:11:08]Bye.