The Corner Penthouse

In the past, I have written about various wrestling and The Walking Dead mystery repack boxes I bought from Target and Walmart. I've never written about any of the blaster boxes that I find cluttering up the "cards and collectibles" area of these stores. That's mainly because I find them to be a waste of money. If you don't know what a "blaster box" is, by Topps' own definition, it is "a type of retail box commonly distributed at large retail stores like Walmart and Target (as opposed to Hobby shops or online exclusives). Blaster boxes have anywhere from 4 to 15 packs and are an accessible and exciting way to engage in The Hobby for new and established collectors."

All of the wresting cards I purchased in the past were from WWE, so when I found three AEW Metal Universe blaster boxes (UPC: 053334329446) - produced under Upper Deck's "SkyBox" brand - in my local Target, I decided to take a chance and buy them. At $29.99 each - blaster boxes used to retail for $19.99 each - was it worth spending $90 to buy the only three that Target had in stock? Read on to find out...

Although these blaster boxes are thick, to give the illusion that they contain a lot of stuff (and probably also to deter shoplifting), they only contain 5 packs, each with only 6 cards in it. That's 30 cards for $30. No cards made in 2025 are truly worth $1.00 each in 2025. You will notice that on two sides of the box it proclaims, "Collect 1 Autograph or Blaster-Exclusive & Numbered Purple Spectrum FX Card per box!" I bought three of these boxes in the hope of getting at least one promised autograph.


One one side of the box it advertises, "Look for 2013 Metal Universe Comic Illustration Cards!" Don't bother looking, because you likely won't find any here. The odds - listed on the other side of the box - state that they are inserted 1 in every 240 packs. You'd have to buy 48 boxes at a cost of $1,440 to get that many packs, and I'd bet that you still won't get one of these cards.


Let's take a closer look at the odds to see what it says about the advertised autographs. The only autographs listed are "Silver FX Auto Parallel" which are inserted 1 in every 90 packs. With only 5 packs per blaster box, you would have to buy 18 boxes to get 90 packs - at a cost of $540 - and you likely WON'T get one single autograph. I really doubt that any autographs can be found in these blaster boxes. I would love for Upper Deck to prove me wrong.

Given those rather extreme odds, it is blatant false advertising for Upper Deck to even mention autographs on the box. If you look at the box images above, you'll note the weasel word "OR" in "Autograph or Blaster-Exclusive", which lets Upper Deck legally get away with advertising an autograph on the box without having to actually provide one.


So, what did I get? Well, I got 90 nice-looking, but rather generic cards.


I got 60 base cards, which includes 18 duplicates... so, only 42 cards. Geez, for $90 I didn't even get a complete set of 100 base cards. Of course, with only a total of 90 cards across the three boxes, it would have been impossible for me to have gotten a complete set of 100 base cards. It's such a shame what the "trading card industry" has become. When I was a kid, I could get a pack of cards for $0.25, and if I bought a whole display box of 48 packs for $12.00, I was pretty much guaranteed to get a complete set of cards; and variants and chase sets didn't really exist in those days. That's how I collected nearly all of the original 15 series of Garbage Pail Kids that I had. Here, I spent nearly EIGHT TIMES that amount and didn't even get a complete set of base cards.


I also got 30 "special" cards. As expected, when the box advertised "Collect 1 Autograph or Blaster-Exclusive & Numbered Purple Spectrum FX Card per box!", instead of the autographs, I got the Purple Spectrum FX cards. The three I got are Evil Uno (#022 of 199), Mother Wayne (#004 of 199), and Marq Quen (#186 of 199). Honestly, there's nothing special about them. As with other parallel cards, they are the same images as the related cards in the base set, only with a purple background color, and individually numbered up to 199 each to give the illusion of being something special.


To prove that they're nothing special, I also got three Copper FX cards: Brody King, Jeff Jarrett, and Nicholas Jackson. Again, they are the same images as the related cards in the base set, only with a copper background color. They are not individually numbered, but that means nothing anyway. The other special cards I got (seen in the above image) are 5 from the "Uno, Dos, Trios" set, 4 from the "Ring Heroes" set, 3 from the "Chopped" set, 4 from the "Prospects" set, 3 from the "Energ-Eyes" set, 2 from the "Blast Furnace" set, 1 from the "Premium TV Performers" set, 1 from the "Smooth" set, and 1 from the "Vivacity" set (which is cut with the corners cut off).


To add insult to injury, in that side panel of legal text on the box, Upper Deck states that one can enter a sweepstakes for a chance to get a special card with "NO PURCHASE NECESSARY" by going to sports.upperdeck.com/npn and filling out one of the many forms. The fine print states that these sweepstakes are "open to legal residents of the United States and Canada, except for residents of Florida, New York, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico and Quebec." This is the first time I've ever seen New York being excluded. Upper Deck screws me over a second way!


The last time I wrote about a wrestling trading card "mystery box", back in November 2018, I expressed my displeasure to the company that produced it (the MJ Holding Company) and they made things right (sort of). I just sent an e-mail to the folks at Upper Deck to see if they will do anything about my displeasure here because I do NOT feel that this was $90 well spent. I actually feel like I got ripped off.

I strongly advise all of you to AVOID these AEW Metal Universe blaster boxes. If they were priced at $10 each, and did not falsely advertise autographs and "Metal Universe Comic Illustration Cards" on the box, they would be worth it. At $30 each, and with those false claims, they are not worth it.

As for these 90 cards, I have no interest in an incomplete set of generic cards. So, I put them up for sale (at a loss) on the Spook Central Shop's Wrestling page.

[UPDATE - 9/17/2025]
I sent my e-mail to the three press contacts listed on Upper Deck's site: McKenzie Young (mckenzie_young@upperdeck.com), Paul Nguyen (paul_nguyen@upperdeck.com), and Dylan Davidson (dylan_davidson@upperdeck.com). I received a reply back from general customer service, and what it said did not surprise me.

Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:54:12 +0000
Subject: RE: SkyBox AEW Metal Universe Blaster Box Review
From: QA@upperdeck.com
To: Paul

Hello Paul,

Thanks for the email. Unfortunately, for retail tins, fat packs, or blaster boxes; there are no guarantees for inserts, hits, autos or parallels. The odds that are stated on retail tins and boxes are the average ratio's and not a guarantee. The only thing that is guaranteed in a Retail product is if it is stated on the box itself of what it is included. See the parenthesis that states (on average) on the front of these boxes.

We thank you for your time and apologize for any inconvenience, but we hope you have a good day.

Regards,

Drake
Customer Care Team
The Upper Deck Company
T: 1-800-873-7332
upperdeck.com

So, yeah, Upper Deck is a scummy company that just wants to rip off their customers and hide behind weasel words. AVOID UPPER DECK LIKE THE PLAGUE!