Parks Meets Guardians: A Beautiful Chris Pratt Auto, PSA/DNA Authenticated!

Here's something completely different from what I usually collect, buuuuut it does very easily land in a collection I treasure. A long time ago I completed my Parks and Recreation Collection from the 2013 Press Pass release. It's one of my all-time favorite sets and it was near perfect as a trading card release can be....except for the fact that two main cast members were absent from the auto checklist. Rashida Jones and Chris Pratt did not lend their John Hancocks to the product and it has bummed me out ever since.

A lot of patience and a random eBay search rectified that absence years later as the above beauty is now in my hands! I don't even recall how I stumbled upon it but it cost a decent amount, took months to arrive from overseas (I assumed it was lost), and then made its way to PSA for a reholder that took many more months. Combining my love of Parks and my love of the Guardians of The Galaxy franchise and Pratt's portrayal of Star-Lord, it is the perfect piece to own shy of a second Recs release where he signs a trading card.

Part of me is tempted to have the auto graded but I don't want to give it up for another 6 months of waiting. It's a 10 in my heart and my book.

Guardians of The Galaxy Cosmic Strings Trio: Gamora, Ronan, and Nebula.

I had to add another memorabilia card from Upper Deck's excellent 2014 Guardians of The Galaxy release. They are really quite affordable in addition to being well-done pieces of cardboard. This time around I landed my first triple relic, and it features Gamora, Nebula, and Ronan.

This bad boy was secured for the low, low price of just $7.94 shipped to my doorstep. These Cosmic Strings Trio cards are very aesthetically-pleasing and what's even greater is that in this case each swatch is different from the other two. My non-sport year strongly marches on.

Drax The Destroyer/Ronan Cosmic Strings Dual: Guardians of The Galaxy.

I was able to add another 2014 Upper Deck Guardians of The Galaxy memorabilia card for a relatively low price. The memorabilia cards have seen a pretty substantial drop in prices from the set's original release, and I for one find that to be perfectly a-okay in my collecting book. I'll jump on a deal like this in a heartbeat any time I can acquire one of these for a handful of George Washingtons.

The above Drax The Destroyer/Ronan The Accuser Cosmic Strings Dual piece ran me a paltry $5.95 shipped. It joins the Chris Pratt as Star-Lord Dual Relic in my very modest GOTG Collection. I'm still on the hunt for a GOTG sketch card and will one day pick up an autograph or two from the release, although that won't be anytime soon as they still run a very hefty chunk of change.

Marvel NOW! 1/1 Sketch: Rocket Raccoon and Nova, Guarding The Galaxy

I've got another reasonably-priced sketch card to showcase today, and though it does not come out of Upper Deck's Guardians of The Galaxy release, it is as close as I've come to landing a sketch card from that beautiful product.

Bridgit Scheide crafted a fantastic sketch of Nova and decided to bring along Rocket Raccoon for the ride. Rocket's presence was the big draw for me along with the just over [EDITOR'S NOTE: half a blaster] a blaster price tag. The color in this sketch is tremendous and Scheide's style is pretty sweet as well.

Star-Lord! 2014 UD Guardians of The Galaxy: Chris Pratt Cosmic Strings Dual.

So Guardians of The Galaxy was amazing. I can't wait for the second installment to hit theaters around 2017, and in the meantime I'll just have to watch the movie over and over again. That, and pick up affordable singles (1/1 sketches!) from Upper Deck's Guardians of The Galaxy release which hit shelves in September.

The first single to enter my GOTG PC is the above Chris Pratt -- as Star-Lord -- dual relic from the Cosmic Strings subset. I acquired it for much less than I anticipated and much less than they were going for right after release. Usually it takes months for prices to drop on new releases, especially when it coincides with the biggest movie of the year that raked in half a billion. But $6.09 delivered netted me this beaut which features two distinct pieces of movie memorabilia.

Pratt is already a member of my Parks and Recreation PC. Perhaps one day one of his GOTG autos will end anywhere near affordable so I can add his John Hancock to my collection.