A new product from Enterplay has been slowly—very, very, very slowly—to DollarTree stores around the United States over the last month. If you remember what happened for Series 1, 2, and 3 of the My Little Pony: Trading Cards, it should come as no surprise that a VALUE version of the trading cards have been produced for the My Little Pony: The Movie Trading Card Fun Packs!
And much like those previous Value Pack releases, there are 9 brand new cards enclosed in them for everyone to collect. Naturally those 9 cards, when collected together, are pieces in a puzzle! Collect all 9 cards and you solve it.
So buckle up folks, grab a sandwich, and get ready to dive in once again for another Merch Review after the break!
The first part of the Value Packs anyone will see is the packaging itself. Which is identical to the non Value Packs, save for Rarity being where Fluttershy is and the contents of the package.
In the Value Packs you get 3 Trading Cards, 1 Puzzle/Checklist Card, and 1 FunTat Tattoo Card. This is different from the non Value Packs where you get 6 Trading Cards, 1 FunTat Tattoo Card, 1 Sticker Card, and the chance for getting 1 Foil Card in every pack.
Why the big difference in the contents? The answer to that is simple. The Value Packs only cost $1.00… assuming you can find them at Dollar Tree. Which I wasn't.
Yes, I am bitter about that. And so is my wallet. Let's move on to the contents of the packs shall we.
There are three types of trading cards in the base set of the My Little Pony: The Movie Trading Cards. They are Characters Cards, Scene Cards, and The Making of Cards. With these packs only having three trading cards per pack, it would make logical sense to ensure there is one of each card in there. Sure the potential of getting doubles is high, but at the same time it would allow the person collecting the cards to have a chance at getting something different with each purchase.
You know, as opposed to having all three of the trading cards being in sequential order—which would make the chance of you getting a pack which contains everything you already own is sky high. Which is exactly how these packs break down.
I should know. I've opened up 27 of them. All 27 of them had three sequential cards in them. And out of those 27 packs, I only got 6 character cards and 32 duplicate cards from the base set.
That doesn't count the 18 duplicate Puzzle/Checklist Cards when putting together one complete puzzle set…
Speaking of, let's go take a look at the Puzzle/Checklist Cards!
Starting with the back because the puzzle image is an amazing piece of Movie Concept Art featuring the most awesomest pony in Equestria.
The back of the Puzzle/Checklist cards really doesn't contain any surprises. The checklist format is the same used for the My Little Pony: Equestrian Friends Puzzle/Checklist Cards, and for those cards from series 1, 2, and 3. It's a checklist of the cards in the base set, the 9 puzzle cards, and star reminding the purchaser to collect all the tattoos.
This one has just been themed for the My Little Pony: The Movie instead of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon series. It looks sharp and it serves it function as a checklist for the cards in the packs well.
Now as for that puzzle…
You have no idea how pleased I am because this image was chosen to be the puzzle for the Value Packs. No idea.
Though if you purchased The Art of My Little Pony: The Movie (available from VIZ Media) not only have you already seen the above image by Tony Cliff on pages 92 and 93 of that book, you'll also know that it's cropped down from the original. The reason why it was cropped is understandable, after all the image needed to fit into the format of the cards. And the image is still awesome, even if Rarity got cropped out of it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Under no circumstances should anyone ever purchase the Value Packs for more than the MSRP of $1.00. There isn't enough in product in these packs to justify any price higher than $1.00.That said, even at the $1.00 price point, as the contents of them stand, they aren't quite worth it. And that's because of the trading cards being packed in sequential order. Sure having the cards packaged in order in theory means the collector can fill their collection very quickly, however the odds of getting nothing but what you already own and completely wasting a dollar are way too high. Especially since there are already three different types of cards built into the base set.
However if you are a card collector, and a completionist cause why else would one collect trading cards, these packs are one of the only ways you're going to get the Puzzle/Checklist Cards.
The other way would be… trading for the cards you need.
And on a completely unrelated note, I am missing MLP Series 3 Trading Card Value#7 Puzzle/Checklist Card.
Till next time folks, this has been The Illustrious Q. See you in the discussion below!
Twitter: The Illustrious Q
