When it comes to the sports world, there's plenty of licensed merchandise for fans to use in their daily lives when they're not focused on baseball, football or whatever their pastime may be.

But why can't it be more creative? Sure, maybe the sports world doesn't translate as well to fun merch like what you see here -- it's is one of a few items found via thinkgeek.com.

What is it? It's a USB car charger -- but what it really is a Flux Capacitor that will transform your vehicle into a time machine. Or something. Keep reading to see a few more cool things that can geek up your day ...

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When it comes to the sports world, there's plenty of licensed merchandise for fans to use in their daily lives when they're not focused on baseball, football or whatever their pastime may be.

But why can't it be more creative? Sure, maybe the sports world doesn't translate as well to fun merch like what you see here -- it's is one of a few items found via thinkgeek.com.

What is it? It's a USB car charger -- but what it really is a Flux Capacitor that will transform your vehicle into a time machine. Or something. Keep reading to see a few more cool things that can geek up your day ...

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Mark Hamill may need to chime in on this one.

No, it's not an autograph for the actor to authenticate -- it's a prop DL-44 heavy blaster pistol of Luke Skywalker's from The Empire Strikes Back and it's up for auction with a $200,000 opening bid.

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The last time we had checked in on the Mystery Redemption from 2015 Topps Star Wars: The Force Awakens Series 1 it had sold for big bucks on eBay -- going for $1,700.

(Spoiler alert: It was initially revealed to be for an autograph of Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey, though Topps Marketing Communications Manager Susan Lulgjuraj said there is not yet a confirmed subject for the card.)

But now an actual sale has gone even higher.

Earlier this month, a copy of the redemption topped the $2,000 mark, selling for $2,050 via a Best Offer in this auction. That has helped inflate asking prices for the card in active auctions as cards continue to be tucked away into personal collections.

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What: 2016 Topps Star Wars: The Force Awakens stickers
Arrives: March 9
Box basics: five stickers per pack, 50 packs per box, 24 boxes per case

What's buzz-worthy: The newest Star Wars release comes with some sticking points that have nothing to do with the plot of The Force Awakens. Instead, it's all about a collecting experience that beginners -- and a few others -- might adhere to.

Keep reading for more.

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A few famous faces from television and movies are getting the Funko Pop! treatment and are on their way to stores next month.

Characters from Friends, The Hateful Eight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and a new dose of Star Wars toys are all on their way from the Everett, Wash.-based company.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: The Steiner Sports Cleveland Browns trade-in, Nick Saban's greatness, some Panini America NBA and baseball cases and one mighty pack of Star Wars cards.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza, Johnny Manziel, Steiner Sports, BGS 9.5s, Star Wars and more ...

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Simply put, it pays to follow @blowoutcards and @blowoutbuzz on Twitter.

Besides the latest info about your hobby and collecting, there are also contests -- and we're here on the first day of 2016 to reveal the final contest winners of 2015.

Boxes of Topps' Star Wars cards, Upper Deck's hockey cards, Topps' 2015 Bowman Draft baseball cards and Panini America's football cards were up for grabs with a simple retweet contest that developed on Twitter Thursday evening.

Were you one of the winners?

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It's a time of change, a time of high-end product exploration and a time of options for many collectors in what we call the sports card industry these days.

Tastes, products and prices continue to evolve as does the business environment that helps bring us our cardboard. For every super-pricey box being made, there are seemingly just as many buyers ready to rip or pick off singles for not-always-so-super prices (but super bargains).

The Buzz has only been around for part of 2015, but Buzz has been here all along as part of the world of collecting. Here are Buzz's picks for 15 cards that helped define 2015.

2015-16 Upper Deck #201 Connor McDavid RC
The impressive prices being paid for what's just a simple piece of cardboard with just gloss and some foil stamping shows that fundamentals never go out of style when there's a big name involved. This time, it's the No. 1 pick Connor McDavid, a Canadian phenom drafted by the Edmonton Oilers. This photo was selected by collectors and it even has a fun sign of 2015 -- the fan showing off a photo on her phone in the background.

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There was an awakening and it's been felt on eBay as well as the box office.

Another Mystery Redemption from 2015 Topps Star Wars: The Force Awakens Series 1 has sold for big bucks on eBay, going for $1,700 on Sunday. (Spoiler alert: It's for an autograph of Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey.) Four other copies have sold for $1,200 or more on eBay since the product's release 11 days ago, while a fifth sale came in at $900 to set the low mark.

Asking prices for the card in current auctions have gotten steeper, though.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Results from 2015 Topps Dynasty, favorite sets, Star Wars, prospecting the 2016 NFL Draft & more

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Will it sell? That's the simplest question as the first certified autograph of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' John Boyega has hit eBay.

Click here to see its price -- if it's not gone already.

Boyega plays Finn in the film, which opens today and this card is from 2015 Topps Star Wars High Tek, which includes one autograph or sketch card in every box. He's the only signer for the new cast members in the product and it's his first run at a certified autograph.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars. Oh and National Treasures, Tim Duncan and ... Panini Eminence football cards?

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Update (Aug. 8, 2016): After a long wait, Ridley has been confirmed as being the mystery auto by Topps.

Topps has released the checklist for 2015 Topps Star Wars The Force Awakens Series 1, and it includes a Mystery Redemption on the autograph checklist.

But there's no mystery -- it's Daisy Ridley. (It says so right on the checklist.)

>> Click here to view the 2015 Topps Star Wars The Force Awakens Series 1 checklist as released by Topps

Among the signers, only Ridley and John Boyega are the only signers among the new cast. The rest are notable names from the past films who'll apparently appear in The Force Awakens. Among them are Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew.

Keep reading for a full autograph checklist and more details.

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The awakening will be felt by many starting tomorrow but there still could be a sleeper set out there when it comes to Topps' newest Star Wars trading cards.

Two types of 2015 Topps Star Wars: The Force Awakens Series 1 boxes have been made for hobby distribution atop its retail presence. The standard hobby box will have all the hits and things collectors have come to expect -- expect a checklist to arrive on those in the next 24 hours -- but there's also a Hobby Special Edition version of the product that has a cheaper box price.

And these boxes have an added bonus not found anywhere else.

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Less than two days away from the arrival of The Force Awakens and the newest Star Wars card sets, Topps solved one of the mysteries about its forthcoming releases.

John Boyega, who plays Finn in The Force Awakens, will appear on the autograph checklists for both 2015 Topps Star Wars High Tek and 2015 Topps Star Wars: The Force Awakens Series 1.

“We are very excited to have John Boyega join the Topps family,” said brand manager Mark Von Ohlen. “He’s such an important part of the movie and having him in the product was pivotal for us. We know all the fans out are going to love opening packs of cards knowing they can potentially find a John Boyega autograph.”

>> Click here to view the 2015 Topps Star Wars High Tek checklist

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We're less than two days away from the arrival of The Force Awakens and the newest Star Wars card set from Topps -- and both have carry plenty of mystery.

Why? We don't have a checklist yet because even it could contain potential spoilers.

The checklist for 2015 Topps Star Wars: The Force Awakens Series 1 is coming as early as tomorrow and it's likely to include the first autographs of the new generation of Star Wars stars -- the likes of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver, who haven't had certified autographs before.

And that got Buzz thinking about the possibilities.

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Somewhere out there in a galaxy not far, far away is a list where every single character in the Star Wars universe exists. Whether they are a bit player or a background character, they seemingly all have names because of merchandising needs and they all probably have back stories to justify the action figures, trading cards and other ways those small-time wonders on the big screen can help make big bucks.

We're not here to showcase bit players who had a few seconds or a few lines. We're here for 10 of the top names from the previous films as the hours melt away before the arrival of The Force Awakens on Friday.

Here are 10 cool cards for 10 key characters in the past Star Wars films.

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If you haven't felt the awakening yet, you will by Friday.

That's the day that Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives and that's also the day that the galaxy right here right now gets a new set of Star Wars cards -- one that includes full scenes from the film and the most-important thing of them all.

Autographs from the new faces of the franchise. (If you thought Star Wars was a force on cardboard before, you haven't seen anything yet. Guaranteed.)

In fact, Friday's release of 2015 Topps Star Wars: The Force Awakens is merely a first series of cards. In fact, it won't even be the only Star Wars set of the week ...

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Hollywood's awards season is here with the nominees for the SAG and Golden Globes arriving this week and the inevitable chatter about who might get an Oscar nomination on Jan. 15 heating up online.

Good luck finding yourself Oscar cardboard, though, as cards showing Hollywood's biggest honor aren't all that common at all. In fact, they're downright scarce even though countless Oscar winners themselves have appeared on cards. (At right is a 2005 Topps Chronicles card Buzz bets most of you have never seen.)

Because of that, we're going with a different piece of awards cardboard above -- you all remember that one and its 2011 Topps American Pie card, right? -- as Buzz presents his picks for the top Oscars collectors need to know.

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As you may have seen here on The Buzz last month, this single copy of Star Wars Vader Down No. 1 sold for $3,739 on eBay. (No, really, go look.) Why? Because it's estimated to be limited to only 12 copies and it was only available to dealers who ordered 4,999 copies of the standard book to get one.

Something even more impressive? An auction of a signed copy ending tonight (Dec. 6) will probably top that sale.

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Sotheby's is home of notable auctions that are probably not on the radar of most of us -- unless you're somehow a collector of fine art.

In past years the auction house has sold iconic pieces such as Edvard Munch’s "The Scream" for $119.9 million or Pablo Picassso's "Garcon à la Pipe" for $104.3 million. (You probably know the images but not their names.)

If you didn't believe it by now after watching TV or walking down any aisle in a retail store, there's one more way to know Star Wars is a big deal this month.

Sotheby's has an auction coming.

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 What: 2016 Topps Star Wars Evolution
Arrives: May 4, 2016
Box basics: Two hits in every 24-pack hobby box with 12 boxes per case (hobby only)

What's buzz-worthy: One of Topps memorable Star Wars brands from the past returns with a new wave of autographs, hits and more from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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There will be an awakening in less than a month and we've all felt it in some form or fashion as collectors.

The latest example of that might be Empire magazine's newest issue, which arrives this week with not one, not two, but six different covers for stars of Star Wars: The Force Awakens arriving on Dec. 18.

Each cover arrives with a 3D look delivered via lenticular plastic -- you know, like the old school Kellogg's and Sporflics cards ... but just more intergalactic and stuff.

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