Hi Eric:
I did a search for "Michael Jackson" on blowoutcards.com and did not see anything there for MJ cards. Regardless, I first think I need to give you an overview how things work with these card companies, and why they do things the way that they do. I'm pretty familiar with this since I used to be an avid baseball card collector for many years (I still have tens of thousands of these cards, for whatever they may be worth), as well as Star Trek collector cards.
In general, this is basically how it works. Card companies make these limited "numbered" cards to insert into packs of cards that they make. These cards are numbered, meaning they would include something like "13/199" which means this is card #13 of only 199 that were ever printed. It might be a "foil" card or similar. And sometimes these cards even contain "swatches", which in this case, are pieces of stage worn clothing (that has literally been CUT UP, and then mounted onto a card.)
The consumer often has to buy SEVERAL packs of cards from these retail packs to find these limited cards. So, you end up having to sort through all of the non-limited cards (which are usually called "commons") to find these limited numbered cards (in a way, it's like looking for the "golden ticket" inside a Willy Wonka bar!) But it's worth it in many cases, because in this case, certain "golden tickets" are going to be worth a LOT of money. Like you see that "Eclectic Threads" card in the original posting in this thread? That one has a very nice costume swatch on it (this one was worn by MJ on the Flip Wilson show in the 1970's). That card is going to be worth a LOT of money. I can't say for sure how much yet, but I can see some of those costume swatch cards going for possibly hundreds of dollars, and certainly at least $150-200 out of the gate. But for many collectors who can't afford to buy a complete "stage worn" costume, this is great, because it could be the only way we can acquire a piece (literally!) of something that is 100% authentic stage worn by MJ!
Now, specific to these MJ Panini cards, this is it in a nutshell. There is a "base set" of 190 cards. And then, there are 59 different numbered cards (some of these cards, like those with the costume swatches, are numbered to less than 100). For retail purposes, there are two options, the "Blaster" collector's box, which contains ONLY the 190 base cards, as you know. And then there are the 24 pack boxes that USA retail stores will sell by the pack (the 73333's). THESE are the ONLY place where you can get the limited numbered cards.
You see, card makers are smart, and they know that collectors will buy the collector "Blaster" boxes, and keep them sealed because they are so beautiful. And that is why they don't include the limited cards in with them! You see, they want you to OPEN up several packs of cards, and in essence, buy the same cards again and again looking for all of those numbered cards!!
So now you see how it works. And why there are two different options in buying and collecting cards. In answer to your other question, in a case of the 73333's, there are 20 boxes, and since there are 24 packs in each box, that is 480 packs per case (with 5 cards per pack, that's 2400 cards, as I said before). So yeah, you would have to buy (and open) 480 packs (presuming they all came from the SAME case) to be assured of at least ONE memorabilia card. And YES, it is a lot.
I would suspect that the costume swatches will wind up for auction on EBay, as they will be HIGHLY sought after! In fact, many sports card dealers spend a lot of their time and money opening up entire boxes of cards to find the limited cards, and put those single cards up for auction. And collectors will pay good money for those cards, because otherwise they would have to spend a lot *more* money buying packs and opening them to find that one special card(s) they are looking for. As I said, it's a bit like a "lottery card" system, looking for that "golden ticket." Some people could buy a retail pack for $4-5 and find a card in there worth $200. Or, you may have to buy several hundreds of packs (or pay big money on Ebay) for those special cards. OR, you can simply do what most collectors will be doing as a minimum, and collecting the 190 base card set, and hope that you find a special card along the way to doing that.
In answer to your last question, we have no plans to change the price on the Blaster hobby boxes, unless Panini drops theirs, which is doubtful. There is a reason why the Blaster hobby boxes are about the same price as the 73333's. As I said, most collectors who buy the Blasters will likely KEEP THEM SEALED. And Panini knows that, which is why they don't put the insert cards in them. You see, they WANT you to open up those retail packs looking for those special cards. And the more that you buy to find those cards (getting the same cards over and over again), the more money that Panini makes. Bottom line, if you want the insert cards, buy the retail packs. If you want to keep them sealed, buy the Blaster hobby boxes. Or both. Or neither. It's up to you.
I do see that there is a place on Ebay that is selling the Blasters in Europe. Here you can buy them by the box:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MICHAEL-JACKS...ultDomain_0&hash=item3a6551ffdf#ht_3061wt_932 for 31 pounds on the Ebay UK site and here you can buy them on Ebay France:
http://cgi.ebay.fr/MICHAEL-JACKSON-...Collection&hash=item3a655851f0#ht_2119wt_1072 for about 36 Euro.
Hope that answers your questions!
, Album of the Year (“Thriller”
