Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have done the unthinkable.

I have consolidated my three shelves of Canseco cardboardy goodness to ONE single, solitary shelf.  Here’s what it looked like before:

and here is what’s left standing …

Don’t worry, the others are safe and sound in a box, but as Holly says “It looks much less stalkerish now”.  I guess that’s a win! 

2022 has definitely NOT been the year of monster pickups for me.  I probably only added 2 or 3 PC cards, and likely none that I’m super wild about.  No vintage, no nuthin’.  In fact, I sold a few huge cards, so I guess in the collecting cardboard sense, 2022 has seen me go backward!  That’s ok though, because I’m super content with what I have.  On my podcast about a year or two ago, I mentioned that I HAD to always be buying and selling in order to be content.  This past year showed me that isn’t the case – when I can display my cards, I focus more on what I have, and less on what I don’t.  

While 2022 may not have seen a lot of big pickups, I have done some absolutely wild customs!  I won’t repeat what I posted last month, but you are welcome to check them out here…and frankly, though there are TONS of pics, it doesn’t even cover everything!   

But back to our story …

So, what did I do with the extra space from which I de-Cansecofied?  

TURTLE POWER!  

I picked up a set of NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, because I was so impressed with how closely they resembled the actual movie characters.  I loved 1 & 2 in the 90s, btw.  I was never fully into the cartoon, but Atticus watched them when he was younger, and so did Holly.  

Here is how it started …

… and here’s how it’s going …

Allow me to take you on a tour!

Raphael is dressed in his undercover garb and is just coming back from the streets. He’s talking to Donatello, who is reading a newspaper, and snacking on chips on top of a rusted old canister.  There is a bottle of turtle wax next to the chips as well, and a skateboard in the back.  Raphael, by the way, is holding a custom newspaper I printed out that says “Ninja rap is born”.  

There’s a very cool life like pizza box with several slices of pizza.

As if that wasn’t enough, April has come in with even more pizzas.  

In her purse is Raphael’s weapon she found, along with a drawing she made of Leonardo.  (I printed out the drawing).  

I created a custom small poster of … quite frankly, the coolest poster ever to have been made – The Bash Brothers! 

I figured this poster would be perfect ofr my setup, because it comes fresh off the heels of me doing a thing …

That’s right!  I fused a 1988 Topps Team Leaders card with the coolest poster ever!  Here they are together …

Naturally, I had to create a refractor version …

 

and several variations ….

and several refractor variations!  

Goooosh it would’ve been perfection, if Topps used that pic!

Leonardo is lounging on the couch with a slice of pizza, next to Splinter, who is wearing slippers, and is perplexed as to why there is a slice of pizza on his head (the fun scene from the movie.) 

Next to Splinter is a super cool Simpsons game.  I remember playing this game at the arcades as a kid.  It actually lights up, and also has multiple screens. 

On the wall, is a custom Vanilla Ice concert poster I custom created.  March 22 is the date that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 came out.  Oh, and you will also notice a small bin on top of a TMNT box (we’ll get to the box later).  The bin has two ooze canisters. 

You can open them – I placed glowing stuff inside them!

Michelangelo is enjoying a slice of pizza while spinning his weapon on his finger.

The television is on in the background.  April is doing a news piece!

You can also see a Blockbuster rental (ahhh, the feels!) 

Also, an NES, controls, and a few games.  Mario FTW!!!

Now, let’s talk about those TMNT boxes.  There are 4 of them, and they are SUPER COOL.  Well, what’s inside of them, anyway! 

First, they can stack any which way you want them …

Inside, each one holds a cube. 

Let’s take one out …

Surprise!  They turn into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, complete with weapons!

You can also combine any two to become a party bus.  I think that these guys are super cool and incredibly fun to transform back & forth.  It’s just a neat little Easter egg I wanted to put into my setup. 

Oh, and here’s Casey Jones.  He’s busy playing pinball on the TMNT pinball machine. 

I used Casey Jones and Raphael to recreate the scuffle they had that produced my favorite line in all of TMNTdom.  

“A Jose Canseco bat?  Tell me you didn’t pay money for this!”  Gahhhh … classic!  

Adding a custom background to it …

… helped me create a really cool card.  I present to you, the Casey Jones Bat Barrel card!  Or is it a Canseco bat barrel card?  Or a Raphael?  I dunno, but either way, the barrel is game used from the game used bat I cut up years ago.

I LOVE how this turned out!  It just might be my new favorite all-time bat barrel card.  

So, the final thing is what was on the coffee table …

I created (perhaps?) the world’s tiniest baseball cards, and box!  In order for this to truly be worthy of taking an entire shelf from Canseco, I just had to create a minuscule wax box, and cards.  1989 Topps was the first box I ever opened.  I remember like it was yesterday, though it was over 33 years ago!  The subjects I chose were Canseco (duh), Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio, and two of my favorites in the set: Gary Sheffield, and Greg Jefferies.  

Yes, the tiny cards even have backs!

Let’s give the box a spin-around, so you can see the attention to detail.

I’m not sure if you can read it or not, but in the “SAVE THIS BOX!” yellow portion, the 4th grouping has the names of the Turtles.  Why?  

Because the wax box bottom cards are our heroes in a half shell.

The reason I have a problem finishing any projects in any reasonable amount of time, is because I come up with an idea, and I want to run with it … 1000 miles.  For this portion, I figured if I were to do wax box bottom cards, I might as well make real cards out of them as well.  All of which using pictures of my actual action figures … see? 

Regular cards simply wouldn’t do though … not for the Turtles.  I decided to create colored refractors that match each of them.  

Remember the thing I said about taking an idea and running with it 1000 miles?  Well, here we are.  I couldn’t get the idea of actually embedding ooze into the cards.  First, the backs …

Now, the fronts …

Squeezing the cards makes the ooze actually … “ooze”.  They are really fun!  But that’s not all …

The ooze glows!  

Turning off the lights completely makes them glow even better.  

So, while I am down to one Canseco shelf , I am very satisfied with what has taken its place!  This has been a true labor of love, and hope it was entertaining for you all as much as it entertains Beckett, though, not likely.  He LOVES it, and stares into the newly created mini universe each time he comes into the office. 

So, what’s next for the next shelf?  I’m not sure!  I may do a fun street level Turtles diorama (that’s what Holly thinks I should do … with car transformers as vehicles, etc.) but I’m realllly itching to bust out my Blitzway Voltron, so we’ll see.  Stay tuned!

Happy New Years Eve, everyone!  May 2023 bring you great joy and success both in our beloved hobby, and real life.