Heat Check: Jake Paul Cards & Fast Food Advent Calendars

We wear many hats here at Mail Day: tastemakers, historians, market predictors. Today, we’ll be wearing our “fortune teller” hat and make a case for the purchase of an Advent calendar. A very particular Advent calendar. 

Stick with us. It’ll be worth it!

Late last week, Burger King announced they would be releasing a mysterious “BK Advent Calendar” — the details are super murky, but the release has language that should make collectors take notice. For example:

• Each of the BK Advent Calendar’s 12 items are inspired by past and present menu items, iconic campaigns, and memorable moments throughout the rich, 70-year history of Burger King

• Recipients can expect everything from cozy comfort to festive flair, nods to favorite items like Chicken Fries and the Whopper, and nostalgic nods (hello, Burger King Kids Club!)

• The retail value of all items contained within is more than $100 (despite the calendar selling for $19.54)

We are hot off the heels of a McDonald’s “collector cup” campaign that saw people scramble to buy plastic nostalgia to the point where stores everywhere sold out and cups were being resold for hundreds of dollars. The frenzy quickly died down, but for a couple weeks during the summer, McDonald’s cups were “it” — just like the “DunKings” track suits from the Super Bowl commercial were “it” — selling out in under an hour and still being listed for hundreds of dollars online.

So now along comes a secretive nostalgia-heavy fast food Advent calendar — and whatever is inside is worth at least a hundred bucks, it name-checks the Burger King Kids Club, it’s under $20 — and you want JR Fickle to just sit by and not tell everyone to get up early on release day and speed to your local BK to buy five? (One to enjoy, one to give away, three to put on a shelf and never get around to selling even though that was the intent). No.  As your fortune-telling guide, I would be failing you.

The ballyhooed Jake Paul/Mike Tyson fight is set for this Friday and we have no idea how to approach this from just a normal person “who is going to win?” point of view. On one hand, we still have the stench of the Logan Paul/Floyd Mayweather POV “exhibition” all over our empty wallets— Mayweather admitted later that he was very obviously not taking it seriously and was just working out “from time to time” leading up to the match. On the other hand, Mike Tyson, even at 58, is still Mike Tyson. 

This leads us to the Jake Paul card market. Leaf has pretty much all of it, even having made a Paul/Tyson dual auto that’s selling for $200+ on eBay. But the Pop Century and online exclusive Pauls can be had cheaper. The question is: what will it take for his market to go up in value? There are too many possible outcomes here but Paul is a massive betting favorite, so let’s assume he wins. His cards should go up, if Tyson is at least a shadow of the legend we all know and love; ie – if he takes this seriously and doesn’t pull a Mayweather. Paul is a showman, but he’s also a talented boxer who held his own against Tommy Fury — he’s not just fighting fellow YouTubers and influencers anymore. This is a talented, athletic, powerful 27 year-old with nearly unlimited resources. And Tyson is a 58 year-old — but he can still floor someone with one punch.

So this leads us to the conclusion that we will not be speculating on Jake Paul cards, unless we can maybe snag an autographed Leaf card for $30-ish. But that’s just a good price, regardless. And we did, while researching this story, buy an old-school Punch-Out homage custom card just to remember the event. We will be locked in for the fight, either way. Especially with Shadasia Green fighting on one of the undercards and a Katie Taylor/Amanda Serrano rematch on the bill, as well. And just to save you some time, there are zero cards (outside of a few customs) for any of the women fighters. Let’s get on this, Allen & Ginter!!

As I went through my NYCC notes, I forgot to mention something cool but a little too expensive for me that I saw at the Sgt. Slaughter table: Big Rubber Guys.

Wrestling fans of a certain age will remember, fondly, the “big rubber” wrestlers from the 80s. Sgt. Slaughter was at a table with a handful of other wrestling legends from the era and they were selling recreations of the figures. The only problem is I remember getting these at Kay-Bee for $8. They were selling here for $50. And so I went to the website — and they were $60. 

Very cool idea that I want to support because it’s independent wrestlers who I loved as a kid who are now broken and dealing with years of physical tears and hurt — and it tickled that nostalgia part of my brain — but it’s just about $25 too much for me to pay for a toy that will sit on a shelf and make me remember the innocent joys of yesteryear. 

One Big Rubber Guy… or two BK Advent Calendars? These are the choices we have to make. 

That’s it for this week, friends! Good luck, Godspeed, and we hope, as always, this was helpful and fun!