The Ultimate Ginter Mini Set Bracket: Seeding Vote #6 (2012)

Before we get to the next round of voting, I need to give the Step Right Up! circus themed mini insert set from 2011 some praise for winning (via tiebreaker) over the Animals in Peril set.  The Step Right Up! set will join the other winners from each of the individual years as our top seeds in the master bracket that will begin once we've gone through all of the seeding posts.

Now, I return you to today's originally scheduled post:

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Welcome to the sixth of my Ultimate Ginter Mini Set Bracket posts!

For the first part of the bracket creation, we need to seed the various mini insert sets.  I thought it'd be fun to first have a vote for the best mini set within each year and use each vote winner as a top seed.  From there, I'll fill in the rest of the bracket with some of the non-winning mini sets and then the entire bracket will be set and we can have our giant vote-off!

I also hope that each of these Seeding Vote posts give you a bit of information about each of the mini sets for a specific year.  That should help with your voting as we move forward into the heart of the Ultimate Ginter Mini Set Bracket.  I laid out the rest of the ground rules in my introductory post so feel free to check that post out as well.  Now, we move on to the good stuff (and remember to vote at the bottom of the post)!

The Ultimate Ginter Mini Set Bracket:  Seeding Vote #6 (2012)

The 2012 Allen & Ginter set has caused me quite a few collecting headaches but we'll get to that in due time.  First, let's update our running tally of mini sets and the total number of mini cards in each year's edition of Allen & Ginter:

• 2006:  0 sets, 0 total cards
• 2007:  3 sets, 65 total cards
• 2008:  6 sets, 107 total cards
• 2009:  5 sets, 90 total cards
• 2010:  9 sets, 181 total cards
• 2011:  8 sets, 95 total cards
• 2012:  8 sets, 116 total cards

And now, let's take a look at each of the mini sets from 2012!

Culinary Curiosities

In 2012, Topps changed the way it reported its seeding of mini cards within the Allen & Ginter set.  Most of the "common" mini sets were simply lumped together with an overall stated odds of getting a mini 1:5 packs.

The design for this set features the "food" on the front of the card overlaid on a design that looks sort of like a picnic tablecloth might (a nice touch if you ask me).  I say "food" because of the entrees featured in this set are probably things that most of us wouldn't be keen on eating.  I'm fairly certain that Balut, for example, has been issued as part of a food challenge on the TV show Survivor - that's how bad most people find it!

Speaking of finding things, I've managed to final all ten Culinary Curiosities so this is one set that's complete for me in 2012.  Unfortunately, as you'll see, I can't say that about all of the 2012 mini sets!

Complete set checklist:
CC1 Nutria
CC2 Haggis
CC3 Kopi Luwak
CC4 Casu Marzu
CC5 Rocky Mountain Oysters
CC6 Hakarl
CC7 Fugu
CC8 Sannakji
CC9 Balut
CC10 Muktuk

Fashionable Ladies

Our first "stealth" insert, the Fashionable Ladies set features a whopping ten cards to track down.  I've managed to acquire all but three of the Ladies (still missing #2, 7, and 10).   The backside of each card in this set simply features the checklist (which is kind of a good thing I guess since this is a stealth insert but then again, the internet does exist and I doubt it'd take that long before the entire checklist could have been built by hand online).

Complete set checklist:
FL-1 The First Lady
FL-2 The Flapper*
FL-3 The Queen
FL-4 The Victorian
FL-5 The Bustle
FL-6 The Weekender
FL-7 The Bride*
FL-8 The Sportswoman
FL-9 The Ingenue
FL-10 The Icon*

Giants of the Deep

The next "common" mini set for 2012 is the Giants of the Deep set, basically a set dedicated to whales.  This set also features only a set checklist on the backside of each card which is different than most of the announced mini sets from Topps over the years.

Complete set checklist:
GD-1 Humpback Whale
GD-2 Sperm Whale
GD-3 Blue Whale
GD-4 Narwhal
GD-5 Beluga
GD-6 Bowhead Whale
GD-7 Right Whale
GD-8 Fin Whale
GD-9 Orca
GD-10 Pilot Whale
GD-11 Pygmy Sperm Whale
GD-12 Minke Whale
GD-13 Gray Whale
GD-14 Bottlenose Whale
GD-15 Bryde's Whale

Guys in Hats

The second stealth insert for 2012 was the Guys in Hats which I suppose pairs nicely with Fashionable Ladies.  Like the women, the guys set is also ten cards deep...and like the ladies, I'm still not done with this set either.  In fact, I'm still missing half of this set (#4, 5, 6, 7, and 9)!
Complete set checklist:
GH-1 The Bowler
GH-2 The Boater
GH-3 The Fedora
GH-4 The Fez*
GH-5 The Pith Helmet*
GH-6 The Top Hat*
GH-7 The Mortarboard*
GH-8 The Flat Cap
GH-9 The Garrison Hat*
GH-10 The Bicorne

Man's Best Friend

For the dog lovers out there, Topps released a large (20) card set focused entirely on canines.  This is another one of the more common insert sets and I've completed the entire set...which is probably a good thing since I'm a dog lover (we have a golden retriever which is why I scanned that card's front for this post)!

Complete set checklist:
MBF-1 Siberian Husky
MBF-2 Dalmatian
MBF-3 Golden Retriever
MBF-4 German Shepherd
MBF-5 Beagle
MBF-6 Dachshund
MBF-7 Yorkshire Terrier
MBF-8 Labrador Retriever
MBF-9 Boxer
MBF-10 Poodle
MBF-11 Chihuahua
MBF-12 Shih Tzu
MBF-13 Collie
MBF-14 Pug
MBF-15 Cocker Spaniel
MBF-16 Saint Bernard
MBF-17 Bulldog
MBF-18 Boston Terrier
MBF-19 Basset Hound
MBF-20 Shetland Sheepdog

Musical Masters

Topps definitely varies the subject matter of the mini sets in 2012, perhaps more than any year previously.  The Musical Masters set is exactly what you'd probably expect - a bunch of composers!  I personally like the small blurbs on the back of each card, especially since I'm not all that up on my classical composers.  This set is complete in my binder but I can't help but be a little annoyed with the fact that there are 16 cards in the set.  What a weird number for a mini card set.

Complete set checklist:
MM-1 Johann Sebastian Bach
MM-2 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
MM-3 Ludwig van Beethoven
MM-4 Richard Wagner
MM-5 Joseph Haydn
MM-6 Johannes Brahms
MM-7 Franz Schubert
MM-8 Georg Friedrich Handel
MM-9 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
MM-10 Sergei Prokofiev
MM-11 Antonin Dvorak
MM-12 Franz Liszt
MM-13 Frederic Chopin
MM-14 Igor Stravinsky
MM-15 Giuseppe Verdi
MM-16 Gustav Mahler

People of the Bible

From dogs to musicians and now to Bible subjects!  I told you that 2012 Ginter was wild.  The People of the Bible is yet another common mini (seeded 1:5 packs overall).  And like the other common mini sets, I have this one completed as well.

I do wonder what made Topps put a checklist on the back of some of the common mini cards while other sets got full write-ups on the back.  I get the point of the checklists on the stealth minis (and I'm fine with that) but I don't care for checklists only on the "regular" mini insert sets.

Complete set checklist:
PB-1 David
PB-2 Moses
PB-3 Abraham
PB-4 Job
PB-5 Jonah
PB-6 Daniel
PB-7 Mary Magdalene
PB-8 Peter
PB-9 Jesus
PB-10 Luke
PB-11 Adam & Eve
PB-12 Isaiah
PB-13 Joseph
PB-14 Mary
PB-15 John the Baptist

World's Greatest Military Leaders

And finally, last but perhaps not least (your vote will determine that), we reach the World's Greatest Military Leaders set.  This 20 card set is also part of the common mini insert sets (and I've completed it).  Unlike the previous set we looked at, the Military Leaders cards all get a nice write-up on the reverse side of the card.

Complete set checklist:
ML-1 Alexander the Great
ML-2 Simon Bolivar
ML-3 Oliver Cromwell
ML-4 Julius Caesar
ML-5 Cyrus the Great
ML-6 Hannibal Barca
ML-7 Napoleon Bonaparte
ML-8 George Washington
ML-9 Ulysses S. Grant
ML-10 Dwight D. Eisenhower
ML-11 Leonidas
ML-12 Charlemagne
ML-13 Saladin
ML-14 Duke of Wellington
ML-15 Horatio Nelson
ML-16 Frederick the Great
ML-17 Duke of Marlborough
ML-18 William Wallace
ML-19 Darius the Great
ML-20 Sun Tzu

And with that, we are now ready to vote on your favorite mini set from 2012.  Be sure to cast your ballot in the comment section below.