General Forum

So I like to watch box break videos of the sets I'm interested in collecting so that I can get an idea of what to expect from the set. Im generally trying to determine whether or not it is worth plunking down a hundred bucks or more for a box or if I should just wait and get a pre-collated set from someone on eBay.

Does anyone else find it really annoying when someone posts a box break video and doesn't know a darn thing about the set they are opening? In my opinion, if you are going to do a box break, unboxing, unpacking or whatever you want to call it, at least have a basic knowlege of the product first.

I find it super frustrating when I'm watching a video and the person(s) have no idea what they are looking for in the box. They don't know what the parallels are (or look like), they don't know the odds of getting certain chase/inserts, they don't know the difference between the base set and higher number SPs. 

Also, and this is probably more specific to non-sports cards, not knowing the characters on the cards. Idk how many videos I've seen of people who say the wrong character name as they are sifting through their cards. This doesn't bother as much as not knowing the basics of the set because I don't expect people to know every character but it's worse when you post a video saying you are a HUGE <fill in the genre> FAN at the beginning of the video and then don't know the most common characters. Is this as common in the sports realm as it is in non-sports? Again I don't expect you to know every character/player, but when you don't know the most common ones and you don't know squat about the set, it's not really a useful unboxing, it's just you bragging that you have a box of cards.

P.s. This probably comes across as pretty harsh but I'm really not hating on anyone. I know it is exciting to open up a box and when you do you want to share it with others. This was just a post to hopefully spark some lighthearted conversation.

Ohh yeah. A funny story- about 2006, on a NASCAR collecting forum, one person said he was the driver's biggest fan. He did not know how to spell his name properly, thinking it was Khane instead of the correct Kahne.

Granted, I'm still learning about hockey...I don't know the proper way to say everyone's name yet, especially the players who retired before I started watching...BUT, I don't proclaim to be an expert. I tell everyone I'm new to it and trying to learn. I think if you are up front about it and say you're making an effort but don't know then that's OK.

I generally don't watch break videos- to me it is against the grain of true collecting. I collect for the cards themselves, not just chasing hits.

I get annoyed when people breaking open boxes in their videos don't know the characters either, vargsa. I remember watching a box break of Marvel set recently and the guy didn't know who Galactus was, but I know some peoepl are huge fans who just only specialize in a few characters or don't keep up with the stuff beyond the movies when it comes to superheros, so you have to take that into consideration. Comic characters change all the time, adn even I don't know who some of the major characters are when I first look at the cards becuase I didn't keep up with the latest costume changes.  

Yeah, that's the best. When they proclaim to be huge fans and then stumble through the entire thing. 

Also, don't get me wrong about the box breaks. The hits are part of it but I'm mostly trying to get a sense of the set as a whole. I'm a semi-casual collector in that I am pretty aggressivley searching for the cards from sets I'm currently collecting but I don't necessarily have the funds or time to collect every set I can. I'm sure that's probably true of a lot of collectors.

Not to rehash a previous conversation but if you remember from another thread I started a month or so ago, I talked about how some of the newer sets are just too complicated and expensive to collect these days. At least for completionists like me. When I watch a box break I want to know that if I'm spending the money for a box that I'm going to have a good experience. From the look and feel of the cards, to how many you get in a pack and how many hits I can expect. Maybe one day when I'm retired I'll have the money and time to go in blind on the stuff that interests me, but right now? I've got three toddlers, a wife and a mortgage. Box breaks help me decide where I'm going to spend my time and money to get the most out of the experience.

I know exactly which video you are talking about and it is one of the two I was thinking of while I was writing this thread. I think he was the same guy who talked about some very obscure B-list character being his absolute favorite and having several of his comic books and then didn't recognize him in the set. 

To your point about the characters changing all the time, I agree. Magneto has gone through some crazy changes that at times make him difficult to spot (i.e. the all white costume). But again, what annoys me the most is not knowing anything about the set itself. Especially when you are ripping through a pack and you think the parallels are inserts or you don't know that the base set is tiered.

I'm probably just being too hard on these guys. I appreciate the love for the hobby, but that doesn't mean it doesn't annoy the heck out of me sometimes.

I don't think you're being too hard on them. If any one of us were to do anything that we acted like we were completely knowledgeable on, and then it was discovered through our actions that we weren't so knowledgeable, our credibility would be shot to...well, you know. Maybe that's not the case for these guys breaking online with a huge following, but it would certainly make me go look elsewhere.

If you're going to break a product, you should have an idea of what's going on. Maybe you didn't realize so-and-so was traded to this team or that team; that happens. But some research on the product and the contents before starting would be good.

Regarding breaks themselves, I usually follow Billy's lines - I don't like them. I don't like that the hobby has become so enamored with the "sick hitz" that everyone is chasing. I occasionally buy into a fellow blogger's baseball breaks for something like $10 or so; they're usually a couple boxes of mid-1990s or mid-2000s baseball and maybe a new blaster. There's little cost, you get cards of the team you collect, and it's fun to participate. There's no disappointment if the hits aren't found.

If you're watching breaks, fine. If you like to participate to get cards that you normally wouldn't be able to obtain, fine and smart. If you're participating in breaks to get those aforementioned "sick hitz", I personally don't like that but hey, we each collect our own way - no harm, no foul.

I could go on and on about the hobby and it's box or even case breaks, but I think I'll stop now before I ramble too far and get grumpy 

They're obviously buying to look for the "big hits". I yell at the screen when they mispronounce a hockey player's name. It doesn't have to be perfect, but when it's not even close, it does bother me. I also find it odd that when they get those really nice cards, most of em don't even get remotely excited. I get excited seeing the cards on the break video and they're not even mine!

Due to the type of collecting that I do I'm not into breaks and have not watched any.  I have been at several in-person breaks.  The breaker did not even state who the players was if it was a common.  Just 49er common, Lion common and etc.   At the end of the break guys picked up they piles and looked through them to see what they really got.  Do not impress me.