Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 2012 Cryptozoic Fringe hobby box (Hour 1)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is Hour 1.

The box: 2012 Cryptozoic Fringe Seasons 1 & 2 (hobby)
The cost: $45 only because of lucky hunting (If available now: BlowoutCards.com)

What’s inside this one? Keep reading …

Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this box: 114
Base set completion:  71 of 71 (100 percent)
Duplicates: 25
Triplicates: 11

Inserts: 4 (all in gallery below with notable base cards)
Our Universe (2) – Phillip Broyles, Charlie Francis
Universe B (1) – The Plot, Olivia Dunham

Autographs/Memorabilia: 3
Autographs (1) – Ryan McDonald as Brandon Fayette
Wardrobe (2) – Walter Bishop lab coat, Philip Broyles white shirt

What’s Buzz-worthy: As previously noted here on The Buzz, these are the home of the only certified autograph cards for Meghan Markle, who will become a member of Britain’s Royal Family next spring. Boxes weren’t in high demand (though they weren’t all that plentiful, either) before the news was confirmed publicly, but since then every single box to pop up on eBay in the $65 to $80 range has vanished and now these boxes have asking prices between $150 and $200. Why? Her card has sold since for as much as $399 on eBay — and it should easily double or go higher next spring. She appeared in just two episodes of the show — not a main character — but it was enough to get her on the autograph checklist in the second-easiest tier of signers, meaning you could land one or two per case. Despite appearing in just two episodes of the show, she appears on seven base cards in the set — Nos. 27-33 (in gallery below) — and I landed at least one of each (12 total) in my $45 box. Yep, I got lucky on the price — but the ink was not here, though this one did include an extra memorabilia card. (One pack had a mem card and five base, while one had the standard one base card and the other mem. Oddly, atop these there was one pack included just a single base card.) The base set includes plenty of scenes from the first two seasons of the show that ran for five seasons but this one, at least right now, is solely about Meghan Markle cards.