Retro Review – Trick or Treat

As a part of the Halloween theme for the month of October, we’ve covered Urban Legends and Movie Monsters so far. I’m going to break up the scary for this post and focus on the sweet part of Halloween; the candy! As a kid, I wasn’t nearly as excited about dressing up as I was about loading up my plastic pumpkin with candy that I could munch on for days. Today, when I take my girls on their Trick or Treat excursion, I usually wind up swiping some of the good stuff as we are walking around the neighborhood. I’m a sucker for Laffy Taffy, Air Heads, and SweeTarts! My oldest daughter knows that now and she usually keeps her bag close to her through the trip. I’ve still got G’s bag though!

When I was a kid, we still had some of the same candy that they have now. They still get Reese Cups, Snickers, Baby Ruth, and Now and Laters. But we also had some unique candy from the 80’s that isn’t really around anymore. We also had to watch out for the “razor in the candy” routine that wound up being part Urban Legend part Truth. There are news stories that float around each Halloween about some candy scare but I can’t think of anyone in my old neighborhood that scared me when it came to candy consumption. I lived in a small town and everybody knew everybody, but the stories were still used as stern warnings to be careful what you ate. I think it’s still sound advice to check the candy closely, don’t get me wrong, but I think the better advice is to Trick or Treat somewhere you trust.

One of the most famous Halloween candies of all time is also one that I have never liked. Candy Corn is just not a good candy. The orange and yellow colors are festive enough but the flavor leaves a bit to be desired. It started as a candy called “Chicken Feed” in the late 1800’s and that feels like a more appropriate name today. This candy is made up of corn syrup, sugar, wax, marshmallows, and fondant and I’ve never been able to properly identify the taste. I understand that I’ve probably already lost half of my readership with this hot take because some people will swear by Candy Corn. If you are one of those people, it’s nothing personal, I just think your taste buds might be out of whack.

Another classic that can still be found is the Chick-O-Stick. This candy is much better than Candy Corn to me and it has the added benefit of peanut butter and coconut as ingredients. I appreciate this candy more as an adult than I did as a kid. The major downside to this candy is that it gets stuck in your teeth EVERY TIME you eat it. The upside is that you get to eat that peanut butter the next day, even when the original Chick-O-Stick is long gone. I know, that’s gross….

Another Halloween staple is the peanut butter taffy found in the seasonal orange and brown wrappers. This is another candy I appreciate more as an adult. I gave this candy to my dad when I found it in my bucket as a kid and as a dad myself, I understand why he liked it. These are also referred to as “Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses” and I wasn’t a big fan of the “Mary Jane” Taffy as a kid either. This candy has an evil twin that was a white candy with a little peanut butter center. That was a terrible variation!

Sixlets were a multi holiday candy. I found these in the Easter Basket and the Christmas Stocking each year as well. This candy is a nice chocolate coated cocoa ball that came in colors similar to M&M’s. For you card collectors, this candy was originally made by Leaf as well. I think these were better in the 80’s than they are now but I’m sure that can be said about most candies. As time has passed, they have sapped everything of the really good ingredients because people are lactose intolerant, allergic to gluten, or they have some strange aversion to good tasting food. A lot of times, it feels like the chocolate we are eating has been heavily sedated.

Bottle Caps was the classic “hit or miss” candy from the 80’s. The Cherry Coke and Grape flavors were off the charts good and the Orange was ok if it was all that was left. But the Coke and Root Beer flavors were about as bad of a candy flavor as you could create. Ugh, I have the flavor in my mouth just thinking about it and I need to go brush my teeth. There are just some flavors I don’t need in my candy and “cola” is one of them. I probably just offended another batch of readers.

These are still around in certain places like Cracker Barrel and other old Country Stores. Bailey has made me buy these in the past and she thinks the liquid inside them is really good. It helps that they are sour. But she won’t ever believe me when I tell her that we used to eat the wax bottles when we were done drinking the juice. I even showed her one time and I instantly regretted it. I chewed it for a little while as if it were a piece of gum. But the flavor was similar to the 34 year old piece of gum I recently tried from my 1984 Topps rip. if good candy has gotten worse, imagine what they have done to the stuff that already tasted bad!

Here is a candy I loved for a while. The outside of the candy was like a piece of taffy and the inside was a tart gooey type filling that “bonked you out” when you ate it. At least that is what commercials like this would have you believe. I soured on Bonkers eventually, pun intended, but for a while, it was one of my favorites! They ultimately disappeared altogether and were nothing more than an 80’s fad. They could still be lurking somewhere in some corner of the world but I haven’t seen any in a long time.

One of my all-time favorite Halloween candies was the Mr. Bones candy from the 80’s. They still make some variations of it but you could put the old ones together and form a full skeleton. They were made out of a SweeTart style candy and they came in a coffin so they were perfect for Halloween. This is another candy that the card collectors may recognize as it was made by Fleer. There are two versions of this candy. There is the dollar store version and then there is the real deal. The difference is easy to tell!

I’ll close with this “Skull Crusher” candy. I remember this candy because it made me sick one year. I remember throwing up the red goo and never wanting to see this again. But there it was when I was looking at old retro candies and I immediately went back to that fateful night. I’m sure it wasn’t the actual “Skull Crusher” and was more of a result of mass sugar ingestion that made me sick but it was the one that sent me over the edge. I’m kinda queasy looking at the picture to be honest.

Besides candy, I always got some sports cards from close family members that knew I collected. I specifically remember the night my GaGa gave me the pack of ’90 Fleer and I pulled the Mark McGwire that went straight into my binder. I’ll never really understand why I still remember that card so vividly but it’s one that is burned into my memory. Of course, cards have changed a bit since that pack of 1990 Fleer and no one in our neighborhood gives them out anymore. Personally, I stopped giving out candy and goodies when my oldest daughter was born because we started going door to door instead of staying at the house. But if I were still giving out candy, I’d find a way to incorporate cards again.

I recently went to my LCS with my treat basket and scored the new release, 2018 Panini Phoenix. This was one of my favorite releases last year so I hope this year it’s more like the “Mr. Bones” candy and not the “Skull Crusher”. Phoenix has a really nice card stock (similar to Prizm and Optic), a chromium base, and multiple colors throughout the set. It’s kind of like Prizm with color in the base design. You can read Ryan Cracknell’s breakdown HERE for all of the particulars but I’ll cover a box break and give my thoughts on the 2018 product. Each box has 12 packs with 5 cards per. There is one hot pack of “Color Burst” parallels that we will save for last. Also, each box produces 2 autographs and 1 memorabilia card, on average.

The base set is 200 cards with veterans making up the first half and rookies on the back end. The rookies are only found about 1 per pack so building the set through box breaks would be a costly and timely endeavor. Let’s crack into this box like we would our plastic pumpkin at the end of the night. We know there are some sweets and some sours to be found but the only way to find out is to dump it out on the table and sort. Wish me luck and hope that no one gave me candy cigarettes in this haul!

This Patrick Mahomes II is a base version. There is still a lot of flash here!

This is a base version and Pink Parallel numbered to 199.

The Red Parallel numbered to 299 is probably my least favorite of the parallels. It’s not very vibrant. But hey, it’s Tom Brady!

The Purple Parallel is a good looking card. These are numbered to 149.

Jerick McKinnon didn’t get his season off the ground thanks to an injury in the preseason. The 49ers have had a rough year. This is the Yellow Parallel numbered to 75.

This Bradley Chubb is the base rookie version. Again, you can still see how the Prizm provides a lot of colors, even for the base.

The Red is numbered to 299 in the rookie checklist as well.

Roquan is rocking the Pink Parallel numbered to 199.

This Terrell Edmunds is the Purple numbered to 149.

Here is an Orange Parallel, which I didn’t pull in the veteran checklist. I’m expecting good things out of Sutton in the 2nd half of the season. Orange is numbered to 99.

Here is another Yellow, Ronnie Harrison. The rookie from Alabama got into a little trouble over the weekend in London but is expected to be a key piece to the Jags defense over the next few years. Yellow is numbered to 75.

These are the best looking cards in the set. Each box includes a pack of “Color Burst” cards. The veterans and rookies both have unique looks. This is a striking card!

Here is the rookie version of the “Color Burst”. These look good as well but I prefer the veteran design.

The first insert of the set is this “Adrenaline Rush” Odell Beckham Jr.

Another insert is the “Agility” card. This Zeke is pretty sweet!

I have only pulled one “MVP” in two boxes so far. Nick Foles defied all the odds last year to win MVP of the Super Bowl versus Tom Brady and the Pats.

This is one of my favorite cards from my rip. It’s the “Unmatched” insert and it’s a numbered Eric Dickerson. This is such a sweet looking card. The Purple is numbered to 75.

“QB Vision” is a nice looking insert. Of course, the checklist is all QB’s and there are a lot of stars to be had. I pulled Brady and Mahomes as well.

The memorabilia card is a player I have pulled a ton of this year. I don’t know if Mike White will eventually pan out but if he does, I’ll have a head start on the Super PC! This is numbered to 100.

The first autograph in the box was this Jaylen Samuels, rookie running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is the Orange version numbered to 199, though it differs from the Orange color found in the base Parallels.

The big hit in the box was this awesome Sony Michel, numbered to 199. Not only is he a rookie off to a great start, aside from an injury, but he is also one of the most beloved Georgia Dawgs in modern history. He ranks #3 on the All-Time rushing list in Athens, behind only Herschel Walker and Nick Chubb.

Phoenix is one of my favorite sets over the last two years. It’s not quite Classics in my rankings but it’s close. The card stock, Prizm base, checklist, and box configuration are all positives. I wish it was about $15 cheaper but it’s definitely not one of the high end boxes you’ll find. And the cards don’t have a low tier feel either so it’s an ok value. If you see a blaster or can pick up a box at the shop, I’d recommend it with a Dub Score of “4”. It’s not a “5” because of the price and the fact that in 2 boxes, I’ve pulled 2 Mike White memorabilia cards, along with a points card. I know that’s a personal reason that isn’t very objective but it plays into my recommendations. What say you about 2018 Panini Phoenix?

J-Dub