Sunday, November 9, 2025

You May Take This Custom Card, But You'll Never Take Its Freedom!

There are plenty of trading card sets out there that feature big action movie stars of the '80s and '90s like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator) and Sylvester Stallone (Rambo, Rocky). 
 
However, I don't think you can mention big stars like Arnold and Sly without adding this guy to the list.


 
Mel Gibson portrayed some of the most iconic characters of the era. Pretty good range, too, if you think about it.
 
And aside from the blockbuster films and memorable characters featured on the card, Gibson had leading roles in other solid films like Conspiracy Theory with Julia Roberts and Patrick Stewart. Then you had the more cheeky and fun action of Maverick, whose star-studded cast has almost no end: Jodie Foster, James Coburn, Graham Greene, Alfred Molina, and the "original" Maverick, James Garner. Here's one scene featuring a few of those actors:
 
 

 
Interestingly enough, there's a 60-card set out there for Maverick, But no cards at all for those three big films (and film franchises) above. So I thought a custom card would help fill the gap. The 1980 Future Stars template does the trick, as there's maybe just a slight wink to a film marquee with those little stars and the way the images are framed.
 
To tie sports into the conversation, did you know that Mel Gibson is trained in the martial arts? (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) He began training in the 1980s, to prepare for the filming of the first Lethal Weapon movie. 

So how about you readers? Do you have a favorite Mel Gibson film?
 
Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

12 comments:

  1. Payback is my favorite Gibson film.

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    1. Might have to add that one to my watch list. Thanks for the comment!

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  2. Signs and What women want were a couple more of my faves.

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  3. I have watched exactly one Mel Gibson movie in my life (Braveheart). His stuff never appealed to me I guess.

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    1. If you had to choose just one, I'd say you made a good choice!

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  4. Gibson has been in a lot of great films. I grew up loving The Road Warrior and Mad Max. We Were Soldiers was another awesome movie. But my favorite has to be Braveheart. That's a Top 20 movie for me.

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    1. I haven't seen We Were Soldiers. But yes, Mr. Gibson has quite a nice career "stat line", doesn't he?

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  5. I'm not big on his movies but I like that episode of The Simpsons he guested on.

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    Replies
    1. "I'm telling Mr. Stupidest Man Alive what I really thought of his movie."

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  6. Gibson has been good in many movies. I like the The Patriot and Get the Gringo.

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