Skip to main content

LETHALcollects 2020 Recap - Top 10 Gets!

2020 has been a crazy year. The whole world is in the midst of a pandemic, sports have either shut down or been all around VERY different, and amongst other things - collection hobbies in general have seen a massive resurgence. Maybe it’s everyone being cooped up for months, having nothing better to do than browse eBay? Who knows.. it’s been a double edge sword though. 

On one hand there’s the positive aspects with a growing community where you have more people to chat with, discuss whatever you collect, and build new friendships. On the other hand, however, you have increased demand on a lot of things like cards and actions figures which is driving availability way down, and secondary market prices way up. The best example of this from this year is probably the launch of the AEW Unrivaled series. It was met with unanticipated demand, and couldn’t be found anywhere on launch week other than eBay with figures going for about $60.00 USD each. That’s a 300% markup on retail, and some people seemed completely fine to pay it - absolute insanity. 

Anyways, enough on 2020 and how it unfolded.. on to my top 10 favourite pickups of the year.. but first a few honourable mentions of cool stuff that came into my possession this year!

Honourable Mentions:
  • WALTER - Ringside Exclusive (WWE Elite Series)
  • Getting the rights to the LETHALcollect.com domain - this whole thing has been a lot of fun. Even if no one is reading, I’m having a lot of fun tracking my collecting journey here!
  • Rhys Hoskins - Topps Gold Label RC Gold Frame Autograph
  • Topps Stadium Club Box Toppers - Bitchette & Guerrero Jr
Let’s get into the good stuff now!

Top 10:
  • 10) Kevin Owens - WWE Elite Series 80






I know this isn’t going to be in many people’s figure of the year conversations, but it’s there in mine. This is the best Owens figure to date (no question), and it was delivered to me at a time that he’s absolutely on fire on TV. I love Owens, and I’m so so so glad this figure came out with the detail that it did.
  • 9) Mr. T - SDCC Exclusive (WWE Elite Series)












I had to use some of the stock images of the figure itself as I refuse to open mine. I hope that Mattel abandons this “must open to see the figure” packaging in the future, as it’s awful for people who keep stuff boxed. Anyways! This is a really cool figure, and totally in line with the stuff I love to see out of the annual SDCC exclusive. I hope that going forward the SDCC figures are made available online and it wasn’t just a one off due to the pandemic and SDCC being digital this year. 
  • 8) Super Mario 3D All Stars - Nintendo Switch






Super Mario 64 (and all of its flaws) is one of my favourite games ever. With this (plus two other fantastic games) coming to the Nintendo Switch, I couldn’t be more excited. I had never played Sunshine, and don’t think I finished Galaxy in the past. Basically, for the price of one game I was getting one of my favourites, and two mostly brand new adventures. This release had a pretty small turn around time too from being announced to released. With this supposedly being a limited time release (only sold until March 2021, I guess?) I may look at buying it digital around Feb-March and selling off the physical copy around the holidays in 2021 if it shoots up in value.
  • 7) Ryan Howard - Topps Major League Material Autographs [/50]


Ryan Howard may be my favorite Phillies player of all time. When I jumped into card collecting and scoping out single cards, I knew a Ryan Howard auto was high on my list. The fact that is has the perfectly centred red pinstripe on the patch is just the cherry on top.
  • 6) Undertaker / Kane “Deadman’s Revenge” - Ringside Exclusive (WWE Elite Series)






This is one of my figures of the year, and maybe my favourite Ringside Exclusive ever. It checks all the boxes: it’s a very unique moment, the figure itself is very well done, and it has awesome exclusive packaging. The fact that it’s two figures in one is just the cherry on top!
  • 5) Bo Bichette - Panini Diamond Kings Dual Relic Autograph [/49]




When Panini does cards right, boy are they ever slick. Licensing issues can be an issue, but in some series they get past it well. This having the painted look to it makes it a little less noticeable they had to photoshop the logo off the front of the helmet. Not having to spend an arm and a leg to get an autographed dual relic Bo Bichette card (that’s numbered!) is a massive win in my books. This one stays proudly displayed on my desk.
  • 4) AEW Unrivaled Series 1














I know these didn’t end up looking as good as the initial photos that were shown, but man... these are awesome for a first series. Distribution was A MESS for these so I’m glad I locked them in. Initially I felt a bit silly at the idea of paying a bit extra on ringside plus the shipping when they may just hit stores in my area, but I made the right call. There’s about 3 Walmart stores I go to on a regular basis, and I didn’t see a single one of these figures. Hopefully they get distribution sorted, but based on how wave 2 went as well, there isn’t a lot of reason to be optimistic.
  • 3) Charlotte Flair (WWE Ultimate Series 6)




This may be my figure of the year. Mattel absolutely crushed it with this one, and it’s probably the best Ultimate as of the time it was released. Since this was for the loose shelf, I added the SmackDown Women’s championship as it works PERFECTLY with the soft goods robe.
  • 2) Cole Kmet - Panini XR RC Autograph [/10]




From a value perspective I this may be the top of the mountain for me in 2020. I terms of numbered cards, this is the lowest that I have. Previously my lowest numbered card was a /15 Mitch Trubisky patch/auto. His cards have sunk in value due to him getting benched for a Nick Foles, though. Even though the jury is still out on Kmet and what kind of career the kid will have, I’m both excited to have him on the Chicago Bears and have this beauty of a card in my collection!
  • 1) Vladimir Guerrero Jr - Topps Gold Label RC Gold Frame Autograph [/75]






How good is this card?!? I absolutely LOVE the Gold Label framed autographs, so I NEEDED to add the Vlad card. The RC crest in gold on these pops so much, and it being an on-card autograph is just so supremely clean. I have a good chunk of Bo stuff, but this is the clear cut gem of my Toronto Blue Jays collection. 

———

2020, although a nightmare is some aspects, was a great year for me. Tons of great collection related additions, but the big addition for me was my first child. On July 28th, the world got to meet Maddox, and that was probably the happiest moment of my life. I don’t know if as he grows up he’ll care about wrestling, video games, or sports but if he is I’d love to pass all this stuff down to him some day. 



Now it’s time to move ahead into 2021, and although I doubt 2020 can be topped (for obvious reasons) I’m hopeful it’s a good year. There’s plenty on the horizon that I’m excited for, plus whatever else that we don’t know about yet. I’ll keep the ol’ blog active, that’s for sure!

Comments