Time Travel 2026

My latest Diamond Jesters time travel trade had some fun early 80s stuff.

But as has been my tradition my past few years, I scoop up the leftovers from the first pack of the new year that gets added to the stack.

As just about the last person to get 2026s, I'll keep my thoughts brief. Obviously I like the Bronx Buddies card a lot, though I wish it wasn't so dark. I like how the stripes can line up with other cards, though it's spoiled a bit with the stripe being thicker on horizontal cards. I think the jersey-style design is a solid one, but it's annoying that Topps didn't fully commit on the front. They did on the back and I think that looks better.

So this means I'm officially on a 2026 Topps setbuild. As a sign of how disconnected I'm getting from modern cards, after finishing 2025 Series I last year, I never ended up with a single 2025 series II! I thought about putting a wantlist up here and TCDB, but I checked out eBay and saw that I could get 350-700 for $25, which seems cheaper than what the postage on many trades would be.

So should I do that again for Series I? Looks like 1-350 sets can be had in the $30 range or so. I think I'd only be interested in trading for all or nearly all the set at once. It might seem silly to claim the cards if I'm just going to buy the set anyway, but it's a fun tradition. So, open to any trade offers on substantial lots of '26s, otherwise I'll probably just look for a cheap enough full set on eBay. Some years I've built through TCDB trades but I doubt I'll do that this year, certainly not for hundreds of cards.