2012 Topps Allen & Ginter is live and in the MCM house!!!

I haven't gotten my hobby boxes, but I did make a late night run to Target just to check for retail A&G.

I found it.

I had to resist somewhat (I wanted to buy all of the blasters and all of the rack packs), since I'm a little heavy into 2012 A&G already.  I did pick up one blaster and two rack packs.

The packs are nice looking.

I got 4 short prints.  The Headley and Johnson weren't worthy of being face up with the Ripken and Ryan.  The Ripken and Ryan have got to be the best looking base cards in the set.

 I got two cards for my collection. I dig the new O's caps.

A&G does pretty well with their main insert set, and these are no different.  I like the name theme.  Having looked at the checklist, some of the cards should be pretty interesting.

The Baseball Highlights Sketch cards for this year are absolute gems.  These cards are so gorgeous, when I saw the Jackie in my first pack, I actually looked it over front and back a few times before moving to the next pack.  The way I card-nivorously ravaged these packs, that's saying something.

I will be collecting these sets...though the Murder in Willow Cove may take until the Ginter Code hype dies down.  The Historical Turning Points set looks great, but I want to see more Tallest Buildings before I assess that set.

The minis are awesome as usual.  Topps seems to have done a good job making the regular back mini set a little more attainable.  Only 2 of the 7 regular border minis were A&G backs. Papelbon is a short print.  I won't be collecting the mini sets or any of the mini inserts.

I wish the Tallest Buildings set was a mini set (Tallest on a mini is always cool) and the Musical Masters set was full size like last year's Minds the Made the Future.  Man's Best Friend does nothing for me at all.

However, I am a fan of the ladies.  Especially when they show up unannounced and fashionably late:

This insert set wasn't announced.  I have no idea if it's rare or not, but I damn sure put it on eBay because they weren't any others on there, just in case.  I've never been the first to list something on eBay.  Pretty crazy.

Update: I listed it last night for $50 (obo) and accepted an offer this morning for $33.  That, ladies and gentlemen, pays for my purchase. Gotta love that. The way I look at it, I figure that, at best, these cards are like the Face Flocculence cards of last year.  Since there has only been one other Fashionable Lady on eBay, I'm guessing these might be the retail answer to the Guys in Hats minis this year.  Since the Flocculence cards are going for ~$10-15, I figured $33 for this card was a pretty decent offer. It doesn't hurt that it pays for the blaster and two rack packs.
Anyway, that should hold me over at least until Target opens in the morning.  Damn I need my boxes to arrive.