Fictional merchandise based on movies is the best. There’s just something special about owning a trinket based on, or from, a movie or TV show that you never thought possible, or maybe never even thought of. Imagine a poster from a movie inside a movie, a t-shirt of a fake band, the watch a certain character wears or, in this particularly cool case, trading cards based on sports movies.
For the past several years, artist Cuyler Smith has been doing just that: making actual trading cards based on characters in sports movies. And, while most sports movies aren’t io9 material, there are some sci-fi sports, and Smith has covered those too.
The fourth iteration of his show “Trading Cards” opens Friday night at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, CA. And in it, he’s created this…
That, obviously, is a card for Ben Richards, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in The Running Man. It’s got a back on it with facts from the movie and everything. It’ll be available at the show, and it’s super cool.
Unfortunately, Smith told io9 it’s the only sci-fi sport represented in this latest show…or, at least, that he’s willing to reveal until the doors open Friday night. But here are some examples of sci-fi sports cards he’s done in the past, two of which are still available through the gallery (along with a TON of non-sci-fi films).
How awesome are those? And, again, they aren’t as big as these images suggest. They are literally trading card size, about 3 x 10cm. And the Potter and Pilgrim cards? Those are actually lenticular, so they change as you move them.
For more on Smith’s show, which will have cards from properties like Cobra Kai, Parks and Recreation, Kickboxer, The Office, and many more, keep an eye on the Gallery 1988 Twitter. And click here to see all of the cards that are still available: Varsity Blues, The Wizard, The Mighty Ducks, Bad News Bears, Dodgeball, Friday Night Lights, you name it.