Red Rockin': Telling It Laich It Is: Hobbykings.com 2011-12 Rookie Anthology Review

First product opened, last product reviewed...figures right?

Not only did I not know that this product was releasing when I first saw it I was less than pleased that many of the cards were extensions from other products such as Limited, Certified, Crown Royale, Contenders and Pinnacle. As the weeks went on before I broke this product my tune began to change. I liked the idea as it was like a version of "Season Update" and it factors most brands across the board. Additionally they added cards from what were products last year such as Luxury Suite.

Now I get this product would drive the basketball collector's nuts, because lets face it they're already a fickle bunch that takes issue with most everything Panini does to their basketball products, and I don't know how the hockey collector's are treating it since we have all of about 3 on HK but its intriguing. Of course I also feel that the hockey products are far superior to the basketball products and I think a product like this would either be the perfect product to put out at the end of the year to include cards of rookies that didn't make it into the initial sets or had they put it out in basketball as the only product of the strike-shortened season.

But this is a post of what is not what could be or should be. When opening this box you get the feeling that you're either opening a bunch of products at once, that the manufacturer screwed up because of all the different brands, or like you're opening random mystery packs. A box of Rookie Anthology contains 10 packs per box, 5 cards per pack and 2 autos and memorabilia per box.

As always the video then the cards after the jump

The results

Base

Calder Contenders /999

Crown Royale

Pinnacle Ice Breakers

Memorabilia

Autos (Phenoms /299)

Overall not the best box but we did get one extra hit, even if it was a memorabilia and the bottom piece on the Varlamov appears to be from his stick. The redemption leaves something to be desired as no one likes to find them in their packs because they want to have the actual card in hand but they do at least put the player's name on their compared to previous year's where you would have just the number of the card in the set and then you'd have to find the checklist online since they didn't always include one in the product.

As for what we didn't pull

Rookie Treasures Level 1 (5 cards) /99