Firefly Trading Cards and Binder
November 11th, 2007 Posted in Firefly Merchandise
The Firefly trading cards are in a word, lovely. I get the sense that whoever designed them and wrote the text was a fan of the show, because the scenes and the characters seem so lovingly portrayed. There is a base set of 72 cards which can be obtained for around ten dollars shipped on ebay; this comprises the bulk of the collection and is a great purchase for the Firefly fan on a budget. They are lavishly decorated with key scenes from the series along with tidbits of information about the episodes and characters.The 72-card “base set” includes cards with profiles of each of the characters, ones with images and notes from behind the scenes of Firefly, several cards devoted to each episode of the series with key scenes, memorable quotes and other tidbits, and more. These make up the bulk of the set and they are truly lovely in design, content, and presentation.
Moving beyond the base set, we have autograph cards for many of the cast members. Each card bears an original, authentic signature, and these are actually a great way to collect genuine cast autographs (which are difficult to come by - most autographed items sold on ebay are forged). They’ll cost you about $30-100.00 depending on the cast member. Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Ron Glass, Sean Maher, Adam Baldwin, Gregg Henry, Christina Hendricks, Jonathan Woodward, and Michael Fairman all have signed autograph cards in the series. Notably missing are Alan Tudyk, Summer Glau, and Mark Shepherd. Alan Tudyk and Summer Glau did however sign autograph cards for the Serenity series.
There are some other special cards, which vary in scarcity and price:
The “Partners” series of three cards: Mal and Inara, Zoe and Wash, and Simon and Kaylee.
The Battle of Serenity series of six cards: These have pretty foil accents and portray, you guessed it, the battle of Serenity.
The Firefly Forever “puzzle” series: Nine shiny foil cards which, when arranged in a card-holder page, form a complete picture of the crew. There are also some rare “uncut” sheets available, where the sheet has not been cut into individual cards.
The “Outlaws” card: a rare but not otherwise terribly exceptional card, with Mal, Jayne, and Zoe on the front.
Finally, there’s a lovely padded binder, retail price $20.00, to put them all in. That’s a lot of money to pay for a 3-ring binder, but…it’s a mighty enticing binder. Full-color pictures on the front, side, and back, padding to make it feel all special, and the fact that it’s one of those rare official Firefly items make this a tempting purchase.