2018 Gypsy Queen Cubs Review

Gypsy Queen is a product I have given very little attention to over the years. There has always been a bad taste in my mouth because my only prior experience with a Gypsy Queen has been a few blasters, and there are limited hits and short prints in the product.

All that hate on Gypsy Queen even after I pulled a Bo Jackson autograph from a blaster box a few years ago. I don't why. I've just never liked the product. Which is odd, because I love Allen & Ginter. Since my collecting has taken a different approach for 2018, I have been looking forward to Gypsy Queen. Mostly because it's an early release and I have the 2018 baseball card itch. 

Never have I been lucky enough to get product early. Typically it's release day at best, and that's when I have placed a preorder with a company that will actually get me product on my doorstep on the actual release date. Luck changed this week. 

Gypsy Queen wasn't even on my radar until I received a Facebook message from a collector in my city asking if I had seen any product in stores. That sparked my attention so I made a Target run after work Monday. Conveniently, I pass a Target on my drive home from work.

Normally, this store's cards are not stocked until later in the week (Wednesday or Thursday), though last Saturday a friend was in town and we had made the rounds to the local card shops and stopped by this Target. The card section was ravaged, but there were Excel boxes at the register next to the cards. Knowing those were cards and wanting some Donruss, I asked two Target employees to open the boxes and was told only the distributor could open them and they wouldn't be in until Monday.

So, Monday could be a new day this Target gets stocked. Both Topps and Topps Heritage Retail was released early and saw many people finding these products days before release. I was in luck. 

Not only was my Target fully stocked (even restocked with Heritage), there was a fresh supply of the brand new Gypsy Queen. Blasters, hanger boxes, and packs. 

I grabbed three blaster boxes, and held off the urge to buy more Heritage. Much like Allen & Ginter, I find the design changes very little year after year with Gypsy Queen. Even with that said, I really like the 2018 Gypsy Queen design. 

It helped that I pulled doubles from the blasters. Normally, this is a big complaint if I pull multiple duplicates when buying just three blaster boxes. I'm not complaining because I pulled two Shohei Ohtani rookies, and my favorite Cub, Javier Baez.

Jason Heyward is the forgotten Cub with his struggles the past two seasons. I love how the blue jersey pops on these cards.

The photos are close up on these cards, and Schwarber is donning the white jersey.

Another pull was Jon Lester. 

Finally, Kris Bryant. The only change I would make is place a team logo in the bottom left corner where GQ is located, and place the GQ logo in the top right. The team name or position could be placed below the GQ logo. It looks really odd that the position is in such a prominent spot in the top right. Our baseball card collecting eyes (in my opinion) are trained to see that spot as a team name or brand name. Position is not as prominent as either brand or team.

Gypsy Queen was a fun quick retail break. I won't be finishing the Cubs team set, just hoping the rest come in trades down the road.