In Review: Once Upon A Time Trading Cards

Months ago we were treated to the announcement that a set of Once Upon a Time trading cards were to be released by Cryptozoic Entertainment. After many date changes and several changes to the box content set up, they have finally arrived. In this Oncer’s opinion they were definitely worth the wait! The cards are absolutely gorgeous visually. The quality of the cards themselves is fantastic. The extras in each box are things any fan would love.

Each box contains a complete base set of 45 cards. For those of you who have collected trading cards in the past, you will appreciate not having to buy multiple boxes and make trades/purchase individual cards just to complete your base set. There are also 2 chase cards, which are special individual character biography cards, in each box. These are random, so there is no way to tell which characters you might get. Where your base set is complete, the chase set of 9 cards is not, so herein lies the “trading” part of the trading cards. The chase cards are called “The Price of Magic” set. I personally love the hunt of trying to complete a set, and the rush you get when you find that one piece you’ve been searching for. If you are incredibly lucky, you might find a sketch card, which are only placed in one out of every 25 boxes.

By Amy Hood - @Amylia403

Finally, the most collectable and sought after part of every box is the 4 insert cards. Every box will have 4, and they will be a combination of autographs and real pieces of the actors costumes on wardrobe cards. These are gorgeous. The costume pieces are lovely on screen, but having a piece to see and touch up close is wonderful. You can see how detailed and rich the fabrics are. A piece of wardrobe from the show worn by the actors! If that isn’t the ultimate collectable, I don’t know what is.

The wardrobe pieces include multiple costumes worn by Josh Dallas, Ginny Goodwin, Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle. Pieces of Charming’s iconic red jacket, The Evil Queen’s wedding crasher outfit, Rumplestiltskin’s leather jacket, just to name a few. The autographs are all hand signed on the cards. They include Jamie Dornan (Huntsman), Lana Parrilla (Regina), Robert Carlyle (Rumplestiltskin), Kristen Bauer Van Straten (Maleficant), Giancarlo Esposito (Sydney), Raphael Sbarge (Jiminy/Archie), Tony Perez (Regina’s father, Henry), David Anders (Dr. Whale), Jesse Schram (Cinderella), Eion Bailey (August) and Jared Gilmore (Henry).

The pictures do not do the cards justice. If you are able to acquire a box, I can’t recommend these enough. I have collected trading cards for a long time and this is likely the best set I’ve seen so far. I am very much looking forward to trying to complete my set of autographs, wardrobe cards and chase cards, as I’m sure many of you are as well. Ready? The hunt begins.

The cards are available now from Cryptozoic