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Complete Set Chronicles: 2010 Allen & Ginter: Monsters of the Mesozoic

Welcome to the Dinosaur theme week here at Nachos Grande.  We begin the week with a look at the most recent baseball card set to feature a lot of dinosaurs...2010 Topps Allen & Ginter.

That's right.  In 2010 Allen & Ginter, Topps produced a 25 card mini set devoted entirely to dinosaurs and other creatures of the time period.  As you would expect, the set begins with what is probably the most famous of all the prehistoric creatures - the T-Rex!

Alpha:

You can't go wrong with T-Rex, though any time I think of him now I imagine the T-Rex from Meet the Robinsons shouting "I have a big head and little arms."



Omega:

The set ends with a dinosaur that I had never heard of before the set was released:  Giganotosaurus.

Card design:

The front of each card has an easy to read name plus a drawing of the appropriate ancient creature.  The one downside to the front is that the rocks and grass are exactly the same on all the cards.  I would have preferred something akin to the mural idea that Topps used for their Ascent of Man set in 2011.  Each dinosaur has a nice (but small) write-up on the back of the card - something I definitely appreciate as a fan of the dinosaurs.  I wish all of Topps' Allen & Ginter mini sets had as much attention put into them as this one!

Other:

The entire set is quite nice - and if you are interested in you can find my extra dinosaurs (plus other cards from the 2010 Allen & Ginter set) here.  For the most part, the images are well done.  Although I complained about the same rock/grass image in every card, I have to admit that taken as a whole the set looks fairly sharp!

Overall:

When I first saw the sell sheet that listed a dinosaur themed mini set in Allen & Ginter, I was extremely excited.  Luckily for me, Topps didn't disappoint.  To this day, this is one of my favorite mini sets ever to grace the Allen & Ginter line-up.  In fact, I'd love it if Topps did a second set just like this but with 25 more dinosaurs.  My only complaint about the set is that the rock/grass takes up too much of the image but it's a minor quibble compared to the majesty of the set.  Overall, I give the set a 9.5/10

Comments

  1. I have to agree one of my favorite insert sets of all time.

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  2. If it was not for reading your blog I confess I wouldn't know there was this set in A&G.

    Pretty cool but I agree with you, the landscape should be different for each dino. Even if they might repeat some but at least having 4 or 5 kinds of rocks, trees and so.

    Ultrasauros and Supersauros seems like they didn't know what to call them..that oe they were watching DragonBall at the time.

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  3. Anonymous10:19 AM

    That's a great Mini card set!

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