A Blaster of 2019 Panini Chronicles

Oh, Panini...I just can't stay away from you, can I?

I'll be honest, the lack of logos has become less and less of an issue in the past 7 or so years. It's really not that fact that usually veers me away from Panini products, it's...the drab quality of a lot of them. Believe me, they have some fine ideas in terms of initial designs, but...their ways of updating them for future years are hit-miss. A lot of sets are too wordy, like 2017 Chronicles, and a lot of sets haven't been good in years, like Prism.

Chronicles...I also have a love-hate relationship. On principle, I have a soft-spot for frankenset-type models, sets that are comprised of 12 different designs. I liked it when Upper Deck did it with Timeline, and I liked it when Panini did it with 2018 Chronicles. I still had some problems with it, because Panini products are all kinda fundamentally flawed, but it charmed me.

And that's why I'm here, busting a blaster of the 2019 incarnation. Will I get a glut of parallels like I did with 2018? Let's find out:

The first pack had a trio of UNPARALLELED cards. Granted, the free-pack inserts from 2018 scanned better, but these are cool too. Jimenez and Vlad Jr. are easy picks. Judge's is a parallel of some sort, but it is unnumbered. Looks cool, though.

 Pack 1- I love this one, and I love that they're doing throwbacks to old-school Score. The lack of a logo does hurt here, I will say.

 These are some cooler base designs. Let's go through 'em:
-Crusade looks pretty identical to last year's.
-Stratus, which I loved last year, gets a slight retooling. Still like it, though.
-Limited I arguably like better than last year's, even if Kieboom has yet to make an impact
-Obsidian, which is new this year, is AWESOME. SO DAMN COOL.Thicker stock, shinier stuff, the black base. Oh wow I really like these.

 Pack 2- More sets
-Chronicles, the base set technically, is a variant on last year's, and is fine. Not sure why they went and called him Nathaniel, though
-Ascension, new this year, looks SO COOL. LOTS OF COLOR IN HERE.
-We've seen Crusade, but nice to get another Judge

 These two, part of a Certified subset that looks very much like a Bowman Platinum design, are cool, but...Keller's is a green parallel. Green parallels for certified are unnumbered. So...so much for that? I mean, I don't even remember unnumbered parallels being in last year's, and we just keep running into them.

 Pack 3- Big time rookies of 2019. Tatis is a Classics, which looks...very SI-Kids-y, but fine. Vlad's is a Rookies in Stars. Sounds about right.

 Tuve's is another certified. Lowe's is...not only a dupe, but a GREEN...UNNUMBERED PARALLEL. So we're just running the gamut of unnumbered parallels today. Fantastic.
And Tucker's is a Season Ticket, which is some standard Panini meddling.

Pack 4- Obsidian and Stratus still look cool. Riley's is a Timeless Treasures, and I really like this one. Jimenez' is a Phoenix, which are cool but...not as cool as some of the other ones in this set.

...there was one other card in this pack...

I'm not exactly complaining here. It's not a white swatch, even if it is grey. It's not a player I've never heard of, even if it is Brandon Crawford, who I've actually already pulled a relic card of, though it was a few years ago from Topps Update. This...isn't bad, even if there are better relics to pull in this set. Better than another damned Chance Sisco relic, which I just keep finding in these sets.

So that's Chronicles. It's good this year. I'm pissed about all the unnumbered parallels, but there's enough fun stuff going on in the base sets to keep me happy. May try to find some more this year.