Lazy Scranton

I wanted to do another card from The Office so I started thinking about different episodes and what ridiculous Michael Scott exploit would make for some tasty Phantom Cardboard.

There's an episode entitled "The Merger" where the Stamford Dunder Mifflin branch is merging with the Scranton office.  Michael and Dwight make an orientation rap video for the benefit of the  Stamford transfers.  The video parodies SNL's "Lazy Sunday" skit.

This makes a great addition to the growing 1991 Yo! MTV Raps set.

Zack Morris

I've revisited this Zack Morris card I made back in May of 2017 and have added another card to make it a 2 card mini-set. 

At the beginning of that same episode Zack is sitting in the Max stressing over finishing a take home test.  Enter Slater and Kelly all worried that Zack, team captain, isn't going to make the pep rally.  The ever scheming Zack tells that he's got it covered and in walks Screech exclaiming that he can be called Air Zack to which Slater quips "more like air nerd".  And there you have, a custom card is born.

Hey, remember that time right before the big championship game that Zack tripped over Mr. Belding and hurt his knee so bad that he had to have surgery that was preformed by Lisa Turtle's mom?? Good times.  So good in fact that there should have been a basketball card produced...

The episode, which premiered in September of 1991, is "The Surgery" (season 3, episode 5) - or "Operation Zack" (season 4, episode 5) if you're planning to stream it on Hulu.

For this card I chose the 1990-91 NBA Hoops set to emulate.  A couple things to take note of; this is

1990-91 NBA Hoops

the first card I put a brand on, sort of.  I never put Topps or Donruss etc. because I'm not trying to pass it off as one of their cards but rather a fantasy (or phantom if you will) card with a vintage inspired design.  The area that would normally display "NBA Hoops" looks incredibly bare with nothing in it.  To remedy this I put "HS Hoops" (i.e. High School Hoops) down there, which beat out "TV Hoops". Secondly in the text that would usually read the player's position I had a little fun and put "Preppy".  In the episode it was never revealed what position Zack played, I would assume forward?  Slater does state however that Zack's the team captain, which is what I originally had there before changing it to preppy.

I couldn't find a good enough picture online from the episode so I decided to try to get my own screen capture.  After quite awhile of trying to get screen shots of a few different scenes this was the best one I came up with.  I doctored it a bit, but that's as crisp as I could get it.

Okay ... now here's where things get interesting.  When I went to pull a Bayside Tigers logo I noticed that every single example I found online just looked different than I remember.  It then dawned on me what exactly it was.  At some point the Bayside Tiger was replaced with an impostor tiger and everyone just went with it, and bought the t-shirt.  Everyone that is expect for me. You see I recalled the tiger bearing a striking similarity to my hometown Detroit Tigers logo at the time.  And, as it turns out, my memory served me well.

There's no great screen captures, but you can look at the picture above and clearly see what I mean. I'm too anal retentive to let that slide, so I made my own mock up of the Bayside Tiger logo that now resides in the lower right corner of this card.

Doctor Of Thuganomics

I tried to take a picture of the new card I made but only got this shot of artificial grass (git'it?)

Add another to the Yo! MTV Raps collection.

Back To The Minors

When you think the Major League franchise Back to the Minors (1998) is probably not the first thing that comes to mind, or even the second.  Despite that, there’s now a custom card set thanks to my perchance for the somewhat obscure.

I’ll eventually get around to the first two movies.  I’ve already made several cards from the original.  But, for now I want to show a little appreciation to third installment.  I’m not saying it’s better than the original Major League movie which has got to be considered one of the best sports comedies of all-time.  I will say, for me at least, it can be a coin flip between Back to the Minors and Major League II.

I like that even though it wasn’t the Cleveland Indians there is still continuity with the first two

1991 Impel Line Drive

movies with Roger Dorn, Pedro Cerrano, Rube Baker and the Taka Tanaka characters.  Plus, you can never go wrong adding Ted McGinley and Scott Bakula.  Solid cast.

I dig the fact that it revolves around a Minor League team.  It gave me a chance to use a template inspired by the only Minor League card packs I ever busted; the 1991 Impel Line Drive set.  I think I might have bought two packs.  In one of those packs I got a Todd Van Poppel AA Huntsville Stars card.  I was pretty sure that card was going to make me a rich man.  What ever happened to that guy?

The South Carolina Buzz is a fictionalized version of the AAA Salt Lake Buzz (now Salt Lake Bees).  South Carolina was where the film was shot.  The consistent though was the team’s Major League affiliate being the Minnesota Twins.

Step Brothers

Update:
Per the genius suggestion of an Instagram user I've added a 1977 Topps Star Wars style card to make a Step Brothers two card Phan Pack.  I actually wanted to make a "Boats 'N Hoes" Yo! MTV Raps style card but I shockingly could not find one quality screen capture image of that video :(

Step Brothers may not fit the nostalgic vintage theme that most of my cards share but I think it still qualifies as something the is universally loved and could benefit from a Phantom Cardboard treatment.

This card was more about the card design than the subject.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan Step Brothers.  The movie is about as quotable as it gets.  But, I've been wanting to use the 1988 Topps football design for something.  One thing that has kept me from using it for all this time is I really don't know how I feel about the two-tone gradient colors that all the base cards have.  Then, I ran across an picture of the Jerry Rice / Jim Breech Scoring Leaders card.  I personally remember pulling that card out of a pack of '88 Topps football.  That was a big card to get back then.  Jerry Rice was a favorite of mine.  I think he was a favorite of everyone's.  The 49ers were kind of like "America's Team" back then.  Or, at least it seemed that way to me.  I liked this one design for my card because it didn't have the two-tone gradient like the player base cards, or a team helmet for that matter.

I made the template and then plugged in the post-brawl picture of Dale and Brennan with my fingers crossed that it lined up with the the card's split frame ... and it did, perfectly.

All The Right Moves

I've been thinking about doing some cards for All The Right Moves for some time now and I finally sat down and watched the movie for some inspiration.  It’s been years and years since I’d seen it.  I remembered two basic truths about the movie: A) it’s an entertaining movie, and 2) Lea

Thompson has a nude scene.  Hey, what do you want from me?  What I came away with after the rewatch was this movie really needs to get more consideration when the subject of best sports movies comes up.  This is coming from someone who is lukewarm at best on Tom Cruise.  He, as well as the rest of the Ampipe Bulldogs, were all believable as high school athletes.  The dreary Johnstown, PA setting was the perfect backdrop to tell the familiar story of using sports as a way out of a dead end future.  The setting also lends to a great choice for a rainy day movie.  And, although the story might be a little cliche, it’s a good cliche.  If a movie makes me think “nice” when the credits roll, to me that’s a good movie.

All The Right Moves was released in 1983 which finally a chance to again use the 1983 Topps football inspired design I first used on my Charles Jefferson football card.  Fictional Ampipe, Pennsylvania is as “Steel Town” as you can get so using Steelers color scheme from the ‘83 Topps was as no-brainer of color palette choice as I’ve had while making custom cards.

Everywhere You Look

I was never the biggest Full House fan.  I thought it was a show for girls, and girls younger than I was in the early '90s when the show was at its height of popularity.  No, I was more of a Married... With Children, In Living Color type than I was any of the TGIF lineup shows that were just a little too campy for my taste.  Now, that's not say I haven't seen my share of Full House episodes.  Who hasn't?  I don't think anyone can deny the shows place in popular culture for anyone who grew up in the '80s and '90s. 

I came across a a picture of Danny Tanner in a Golden State Warriors warm up.  It was in a meme poking fun at bandwagon Warriors fans. Of course that had to be a card.  The image is from a 1988 episode of Full house and I thought it would be fun in the 1989-90 NBA Hoops inspired template.

The I got to wondering if there was any other cards that could be made from the show or should I just cut it out? (God, I'm so embarrassed for myself)  I remember a couple times Dave Coulier, a Michigan native, wore Detroit sports team gear.  A quick image search revealed a picture of "Uncle Joey" in full Red Wings goalie gear playing a little Tanner living room hockey against one of those Olsen girls. You got it, dude! (I'm a loser) Threw that image in the 1986 Topps hockey inspired design.  The reason being was that I've done a few other Red Wings fantasy cards in the same template so why break with tradition?  Two Full House cards.

Was there anymore I could squeeze out of this syndication monster?  Enter the 3rd adult male living in the home helping to raise three young girls.  Jesse Katsopolis may not have been the sportiest of uncles, but the dude sure could easy rock out.  Jesse and his Rippers are definitely worthy of a 1991 ProSet MusiCards tribute.

So, there you have it.  Three cards from a show I never watched but have probably seen every episode of.

By Request

The following couple of cards were suggested by two followers to the Phantom Cardboard Instagram account.

The first is Nacho from Nacho Libre.  This was pretty straight forward.  Find a cool photo and plug it into the 1985 Topps WWF set I've been using for fictional movie wrestlers.  I'm a fan of Jack Black and I thought Nacho Libre was decently funny.

It was asked if I've ever done cards from the 1979 movie Breaking Away.  The answer at the time was no as I'd never even seen the movie.  That was rectified in short time with another follower to the page hooking me with with his extra copy of the movie on VHS.

This card is done in the style of the 1979 Topps baseball set. I opted to freestyle a team card rather than make a card four each of the four Cutters.  The movie was released in 1979 with the Little 500 race set in 1978.  I know that from seeing a promotional picture of the Dave Stoller character holding a trophy with the year engraved on it.

La Flama Blanca

Ever since I made my White Sox Michael Jordan card in the style of the 1990 Fleer baseball set I've been eager to use the template again.  I almost used it for a Jim Belushi Cubs card from the 1990 movie Taking Care of Business, but that just wasn't doing it for me so I scrapped the card in mid design.

Then one day last week I got an inspiration to make a Kenny Powers Charros card using the '90 Fleer template.  Season 2 of Eastbound and Down was every bit as funny as the first season, and that first season was an absolute riot.  This is actually the third Kenny Powers card I've done.  I've still got to get around to posting the other two on here.

I'm not a huge fan of any Fleer baseball design outside of this year.  To me they're usually kind of boring designs.  The 1990 design is clean.  I like the white background with the color coordinating borders and the flowing nameplate.  I also like how the players break the top border.

Physical Card Challenge!

There's a few celebrities from the 1980's that I've been wanting to make cards of in an effort to get an autograph but I just couldn't come up with cards that made sense to me utilizing vintage sports card inspired design.  So what I set out to do was come up with an original design that I could make a set from that consisted of different personalities from the '80s.

I wanted it the template to be versatile so I could plug in personalities from all different areas of entertainment.  Then it dawned on me where was the one place that a kid in the '80s could be exposed to everything that would help shape their childhood ... on television!  Movies, music and more.

It did take slight inspiration from a vintage baseball card set.  This is in a way the 1955 Bowman baseball set brought into the '80s.  The television frame looks a lot like the one my brother and I had in our room where we would play 8-bit Nintendo and watch shows like Funhouse and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.  Although we wouldn't necessarily have seen Double Dare in our room as he only had a rabbit ear antenna.  Only the living room had a cable box.

I'm pretty happy to have started off this set with an autograph from legendary Double Dare host Marc Summer's autograph.  Now that they've relaunched Double Dare it's something my kids can now watch while I tell them how it used to be so much better back in my day.

Going forward I'll be updating this set with more 80's Icons.  It's going to be mostly the ones that aren't all that well represented in trading card form.  That's not to say that I won't eventually add a Madonna or Michael Jackson, but just not right away.

Don't Be Hatin'!

B-Rad is in the heezy to add another custom cardeezy to my 1991 ProSet Yo! MTV Raps inspired seteezy.  I'm mean, how could he not be?  The dude can rap about anything.  Growing up on the mean streets of The 'Bu will sharpen your skills to a lethal measure.

Look, I don't know if Malibu's Most Wanted was a critical success but I thought it was funny as hell.  If you didn't we'll probably have to fight if we can settle on a meeting place that works for both of us. B-Rad cracks me up going back to the character being a part of The Jamie Kennedy Experiment hidden camera show.  That's the kind of stuff that gets me rolling when you put an unsuspecting mark in a crazy outlandish situation and see how they squirm.  B-Rad was totally over the top and I loved it.

This Is Pure Poppycock!

" Cram it up your cram hole, LaFleur! "

I’ve been working on this Dodgeball set off and on for awhile now; every so often adding another member of Average Joe’s or a Purple Cobra.  Then, as it usually seems to happen with my card sets, I sat down and watched the movies and it took my inspiration for the cards to the next level.

I had originally planned on just making the two teams, but after watching I knew there were a few hilarious ancillary cards that had to be a part of the mini-set.

If you’ve not watched Dodgeball in awhile it’s worth a rewatch.  If you’re pressed for time at least pick it up from the point where the dodgeball tournament starts.  It’s a quotefest.  Pepper f’n Brooks, man.

" They got guys named Laser and Blazer and Taser, and all kinds of azers!"

I’m a fan of most anything Ben Stiller is in.  I dig his brand of humor especially when he plays that sort of put upon character like in Meet the Parents.  Vince Vaughn is palatable but I defy anyone to find me a movie, this one included, where he isn’t the same. exact. character.  Has no one caught on to this?  He plays the same fast talking wise-ass character, literally, in every movie he’s ever been in.

For the card set I chose a 1989-90 Fleer basketball inspired theme.  I liked the idea of using each of the two teams logos with the color coordinated border.

" Wait, there's a guy on our team dressed like a pirate? "

Dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge.

For the Chuck Norris and Chancellor card it took awhile to track down a movie accurate ADAA logo.  There's one out there that is close but I would know the difference and that would never do.  Same deal I talked about with the Bayside Tigers logo.

" It's a bold strategy, Cotton.  Let's see if it pays off for 'em. "

Bull Durham Rebooted

I previously had made a Bull Durham mini-set that consisted of five cards.  About  month of so back I rewatched Bull Durham for the first time in a long time and realized I left a lot of fun cards on the table, so I went back and gave the set a re-up.  The movie had a few details in it that I wanted to match up with different elements found in the 1988 Topps baseball inspired design that the mini-set was made in the style of.

The Crash card saw the least change getting a bit more of a stylized parenthesis around Crash.  I gave the same treatment to the Nuke card plus added the "Future Stars" logo for the young fireballer.

I added a Joe Riggins card.  It seems like a pretty big character to omit the first time around.  The reason he wasn't in the original mini-set was that the first few I made were not done with the idea of making a set but rather for the purposes of getting an autograph through the mail, and since Trey Wilson passed away in 1989 it would prove pretty difficult to get the card signed.  The Larry Hockett card got the addition of the "Pitching Coach" designation which is pretty cool to me because even though the '88 Topps was monstrous in the number of cards it had, it didn't go quite that deep as to include pitching coaches.

Next there's the addition of Jimmy -getting married to Millie- and the Switch Hitting Witch, Jose.

These two cards I got really excited about when I was reminded of the records that were broken during the movie.  Although Crash would never have wanted his dubious distinction of being Minor League Baseball's all-time home run leader acknowledged, but I had to immortalize the milestone on cardboard.  And then there was the litany of records Nuke broke on his first trip to the mound as a Durham Bull.

The Team Leaders card was another I was really excited about.  The meeting on the mound, to me, was one of the movie's funniest scenes.  Tim Robbins played a man-child to a T.

My original mini-set had both a Millie and Annie Savoy card.  I, in a sense, retired those two cards.  Just because they weren't actually members of the team.  I still felt the mini-set needed them so I came up with a special fan card in the style of the Team Leaders card.

These last two would be perfect as like a couple of "Topps Traded" style additions.  If you don't remember Crash broke the minor league home run record as a member of the Asheville Tourists.  He signed on with them after Nuke was called up and Crash was no longer needed to wean the young hurler, so Durham let him go.  I did the card in the Houston Astros color scheme of the '88 Topps set.  Theses days the Tourists are affiliated with the Colorado Rockies, but in 1988 their big team was the Astros.  Normally I rely on the internet for my card's images.  It may take dozens of searches with all kinds of keyword combinations but usually I can source an image that will work.  This wasn't the case for Crash in a tourists uni; there was nothing usable.  I had to have this card in my set so I did my patient best to get my own screen grabs.

They never specifically mention the Major League team name when LaLoosh is called up, but we're going to assume it was the Braves since that is who Durham's big league affiliate was from 1980-97.

This mini-set is available in the online card shop.