(For a full listing of all Wax Heaven reviews, click HERE)

I have no problem admitting that from the very first public scans of 2009 Spectrum, I was immediately turned off. Looking back at my history with Spectrum, I don’t know why I was surprised. I bought a box in 2007 and was barely amused by it and in 2008 was so outraged at the $150 dollar price tag that I did not buy a single pack of it.

Having had the chance to bust 14 loose packs or the equivalent of one Hobby box I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the cards. No, it did not have the design quality of Masterpieces, the photography of U.D’s flagship release, or the big name “hits” from Ultimate Collection but it was way more fun than I expected.

It was still more fun that I expected.

Design: B-

You are either going to love or absolutely loathe Spectrum’s base cards, which has overdosed on shiny foil. Having seen many of Spectrum’s cards from the past two years I can honestly say this is their best-looking product in that time.

Where Spectrum really shines however, is in its parallels. I pulled a Red (#’d to 299), Black (#’d to 50), and Gold (#’d to 25) and thought the best looking of them all was the Red version. Had the Red version been the actual base card you might have seen more interest in Spectrum.

Price: C

Finally, Spectrum is back to a price tag that insn’t so insulting. You will find a Hobby box from around $80-$85 dollars online but like many products, the later you buy, the better the price.

Upper Deck is going to give you two autographs and one game-used relic per box, along with a handful of #’d parallels. Unfortunately, one of your autographs is going to be a celebrity and despite the vast improvement over the celebrity autograph checklist, they just don’t sell very well on the secondary market unless you pull a Kim K. or Burt Reynolds.

I have seen Kim’s “work” but can someone tell me why Burt Reynolds is famous?

Pulls: B

When one of my autographs is a Henry Hill, the inspiration for the movie ‘Goodfellas’, one cannot complain. I also pulled several stars but it’s clear that you will need a couple of boxes to truly enjoy this product and find all your favorite baseball superstars.

It also wouldn’t hurt to get a few more #’d parallels per box.

Overall: C+

While Spectrum won’t change my mind about Upper Deck’s constant use of the letter “X” in their designs, even I can admit that the product itself wasn’t as lousy as the scans I had seen led me to believe. If the price ever drops to the range of $65-$70 like ’07 Spectrum has, it would make a perfect box to bust over and over again.

However, at it’s current price I would only recommend this product to those “completists” who love busting every release that comes from the big two. You might not pull the biggest hits possible but you will end up with enough foil in your card house to unscramble that channel that shows Kim K’s movie late at night.