A Triangle of 2017 Panini Chronicles Blasters

It's been a while since we've had a box break on here, so how about some Panini tomfoolery?

2018 Panini Chronicles was a pleasant surprise, giving me some frankenset flashbacks to 2008 UD Timeline, and making itself known as an interesting, if fundamentally flawed, set. So, when Dave an Adams had themselves a sale on THREE blasters of the 2017 version of the product, for a very low price, I jumped at it. I know, it's Panini...poor, logoless Panini, but they can put out good stuff if given the right ideas.

So...we have three 4-pack blasters...or, essentially, a 12-pack mega-blaster. Woo.

Let's get to the packs:

 Pack 1-
So right away, you can see the difference between the 2017 and 2018 versions of Chronicles. In 2017, there was a definite, tangible base set. It looks like this. It's inspired, but slightly wordy. Like Flair meets Fleer Emotion, multiplied by a calculus textbook. Not that the paragraphs are out of place, just...I don't see why they couldn't have gone on the backs. Design-wise, the base set is cool enough, though.
Also, even if this is a one-year-old product, nobody in this pack is still on their listed team.

Don't think the Frankenset-esque quality is completely lost in 2017 Chronicles. No sir. There are still inserts worth of them. Granted, they're not seeded as well as in 2018, but...there's still a good number of them, like this here Rated Rookie of former Oakland, and now Baltimore, farmhand Franklin Barreto.

 Pack 2-
All Red teams. Or just...3 Reds and a Phillie. Good to see Pete Rose in this set. Topps doesn't like him.

This Absolute insert, which looks very awesome and very 2004, is of Ian Happ, who does look good on this one.

 Pack 3- More base. I do like how the left corner triangle changes color with teams. Jones' is a gold parallel, which is #'d to 999. Nice subject for one, too.

 This Prizm insert, which does look kinda cool but a bit too 2000s Finest, is of Adrian Beltre, so I'm glad we got that one in pre-retirement.

 Pack 4- Yankees on left, Yankee killers on right.

A rookie pick that hasn't aged especially well, but this design is cool enough.

 Pack 5- The second box begins with three fairly unspectacular base cards. Don't worry, this pack gets much better.

 I still adore this Absolute Memorabilia design, even if Jorge Bonifacio isn't THE greatest subject for it.

Oh yeah, there was a hit in this pack. And it was not a bad one.

Miguel Sano, who had a FANTASTIC 2017 season...or at least a really good first half, is the subject of this jersey relic, which fortunately does have a navy pinstripe in it. This is definitely a cool enough relic, and it's #'d to 99, which is pretty cool as well.

...Surprisingly it'll get better than that in this break.

 Pack 6-
Generally standard base stuff here. Freeman's the only one still with that team. Reynolds' looks pretty cool, tbh. It's one of those that'd be better as a full vertical card.

 Toles gets the rated rookie here. I really wish he'd eventually end up playing a full season, cause he seems to be a pretty great bat.

 Pack 7-
Standard base here, though it was nice to see the poster boy, Anthony Rizzo, as well as fringe player Ben Gamel and legend Ryne Sandberg.

The Prism insert here was Josh Bell, an awfully nice subject for one of these.

 Pack 8- Two great base cards, one shit one, and a gold parallel of Todd Frazier...AS A YANKEE. Which is nice.

 And a Rated Rookie of Brock Stewart, one of the few RRs I've pulled that hasn't really made the majors for too long yet.

 Pack 9-
Rose and El Torito are dupes. Solarte and Harper aren't. Nice to see Harper, pre-inevitable contract.

As cool as this card does look, Magneuris Sierra would end up heading to Miami...to get, like, no playing time.

 Pack 10- Carpenter is the only non-dupe here.

 Trey Mancini is our Absolute subject, and...gosh I love this one.

...and then...

...this hit happened.

I just happened upon a bat card of Mike Piazza, one of the best hitting catchers of all time. A BAT CARD. Numbered to 99.

Like...I don't have the kind of luck to pull something like this, even if it is out of a blaster from Dave and Adam's. This is just nice.

 Pack 11- Pujols and Altuve are new. Kraken is a dupe. Edwin is a gold, #'d to 999.

 Rated Rookie of Yandy Diaz, who'll be getting a lot more playing time this year.

 Pack 12- All of these are new for me, and I especially like the Mauer and Molina.

And one last Prism insert of Ryan Zimmerman, who...managed to outlast Bryce Harper on the Nats. Which I can't believe.

So...those were a bunch of 2017 Chronicles blasters. I still prefer the 2018 version, for its frankenset-ness, but...this version had some cool inserts, that AWESOME Absolute Memorabilia design, and two really nice hits. So I'd say that break was a net-win.

I did manage to get another box from D&A's...and it'll go up within the week. I did...sort of well on that one as well.