One Eck of an Advent Calender Closer

Hope all of you had a very merry Christmas.  Mine was filled with family, food, football... with some presents sprinkled in between.

Today's post will cover the final four days of Ryan's (aka SumoMenkoMan) annual advent calendar. 

Day #22:  Super Heat Packs

Back in 2011, Super Heat released a collectible card game for skate fans.  I picked some of these up over the years... most recently back in October and have been slowly working on the set for a decade.  I'm down to needing only twenty-four cards.  Hopefully I will pull a few from these six packs and one starter deck.

However I want to try and publish this post.  If I have some free time, I'll open these packs up when I'm finished and let you know if I'm any closer to finishing the set.

Update:  Pulled six cards from the six packs and the starter deck that I needed for my set build:

Here's what I still need:

I cannot confirm this... but I'm starting to think that all of these cards on my list are rares, because the six I crossed off my list were gold foil cards that were issued one per pack.

Day #23:  Seven Servings of Mt. Fuji

I've never been to Japan... but if I ever make it across the Pacific... Mount Fuji is on a long list of places I'd love to visit.  In the meantime... I enjoy collecting things related to the active volcano.  Ryan gave this collection a huge boost with the following six items:

Decorative Fan

Puzzle

Magnets

Phone Card #1

Phone Card #2

Eraser

Three of the items have been added to the Papa Fuji display:

Can you spot them?

Day #24:  Historic Autograph

When it comes to the sport of sumo wrestling, Ryan is the guy I turn to when it comes to knowledge of the sport... especially in regards to trading cards.  So I was very happy to see this signed 8x10 photograph of Konishiki Yasokichi show up on the 24th day.

At first, I thought this guy was the WWE wrestler known as Rikishi... but after some research I discovered that he was the first non-Japanese born sumo wrestler to reach the rank of Ōzeki... which is the second highest in the sport.  After he retired from wrestling, he released a hip-hop album in 2000 titled, KMS.  This appears to be a promotional photo for that album.

Konishiki was born and raised on Oahu... so this is a really nice addition to my Hawaii PC.

Day #25:  One Heckuva Closer

And rounding out this year's advent calendar that was custom created by SumoMenkoMan is this gorgeous on-card Dennis Eckersley autograph:

2022 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary

Aqua Refractor Auto #CPA-DE (#'d 115/150)

If he wanted to close out this calendar with one of the best closers in MLB history... then mission accomplished.

Thank you Ryan for another year of an awesome entertainment and goodies for my collection.  I truly appreciate all of the time, effort, and energy you put into these gifts.  I'm grateful to be able to call you a friend.

As for everyone else who has come along for the 2024 advent calendar ride... thank you for joining me and taking the time to read these posts.

And if you happened to miss any of them, feel free to check them out.  Here are the links:

Day #1 through #7: The Annual Advent Calendar

Day #8 through #14:  Round 2

Day #15 through #21:  Highs and Lows

Happy Thursday and sayonara!