Metal Universe Update

It took over 10 years, but I finally completed my favorite 90's hockey set: 1996-97 Fleer Metal Universe. I remember getting a few packs of this stuff here and there as a kid and I loved everything about them. There was nothing like it at the time and ever since those few packs I've always wanted to complete the full base set.

Well, thanks to a fellow collector on Twitter (@mruzz), I was able to fill the last three holes in my base set. I am finally done with this portion of my Metal Universe side project after starting it all the way back in 2010. The best part was completing it via several different avenues. I bought a hobby box, picked up a few from the forums, and even got a few like these from Twitter. Even though it took what seems like forever, I'm glad I didn't just outright buy the full set. It seemed more appropriate this way.

My favorite of the last three is this Esa Tikkanen. It is card #160 in the set and features the Canucks skate uniform from the 90's. Those colors look great with this set. Not exactly sure what the background is supposed to be, but it looks pretty cool.

Up next with another cool 90's uniform is card #129 featuring Petr Nedved of the Pittsburgh Penguins.  This one has some awesome dragon wings or something in the background. The purple and green are a nice contrast with the Pens' black colors. 

And to bring things to a close for my set we have card #196 featuring Landon Wilson of the Colorado Avalanche. This one really makes me miss those old Avs jerseys. These make whatever they are wearing today look like garbage. The need that shoulder patch back too. I hated the Avs as a kid, but still bought a replica jersey because they look so good.

This was always my favorite base set as a kid and I'm really excited to have it complete and all in a single binder for safe keeping. It is a lot of fun to flip through all the pages and see all the names I grew up watching. There are a ton of big names in this set too.

The timing of this is perfect as the next iteration of this set is being released soon. Upper Deck's 2020-21 SkyBox Metal Universe. I'll be adding the newer version of this same design to my want list for the project. It even has the PMG's again like in 2012-13 Fleer Retro.