I was very conscious about emulating the presentation and ambience of these things when I assembled the set. Originally, I wanted to do 84 cards as this was the number in the original Topps 'ALIEN' cards set. I decided to go for the full 100 for several reasons. Firstly, they were fun to make and it was easy to make another 16 of them. I also wanted to have the Checklist as part of the set. I also figured out very quickly I would need more than just 2 cards to achieve this.
I must admit, in my younger years (about 40 years ago now... lol) when bubblegum cards were a big thing in my life, I was always disappointed when a Checklist card appeared in a packet. They tended to have no image on them and both sides were printed with information I was going to figure out, anyway. It wasn't until later that I realised that these cards worked great as teasers and helped to fill in gaps in a set.
So yes, had to have the Checklist cards appear at the end of the set for the sake of 'authenticity'.
On the other hand I always loved Title cards. The first card in any collectible or trading card set should be a title card (Not so sure about CCG sets, though). Card No.1 in the original 1979 Topps 'ALIEN' set is 'THE NOSTROMO' which depicts the vehicle detached from the refinery. It's a great image, but as the very first card it feels a little like walking into a movie and missing the title sequence or a book with no cover. Title cards are great. They add a much needed starting point. The image for the Title card for this faux set was an easy choice.
Anyway, onto the next Draw:
Draw No. 9Numbers drawn: 36, 62, 45, 8, 1, 34.
Duplicate No.s(Frequency): 45(2), 1(1).
Corresponding Cards:Notes for this Draw:A good mix of scenes, situations and characters. We get our first triplicated card from the set, No.45. Looks like this might end up being that one card, you know the one? The one you end up with at least half a dozen copies of... it always happens.
Dr. Kuhlman always looks like he needs a good night sleep. Little does he realise he's just minutes away from one serious wake up call.
We also get a duplicate of the Title card. If this had been a real set of cards, this particular duplicate would end up being used as a bookmark in whatever I was reading at the time. Back in the day, that would have been Burroughs, Aldiss, Verne, Wells, Wyndham, Van Vogt, Simak, Dick or Doyle. Today, it would be used as a page marker in Sapkowski, or Lovecraft. (I bought a copy of 'The Shadow out of Time - The Corrected Text' recently and enjoyed it immensely.)
To this day, I still like to use duplicate cards as bookmarks. Right now, I'm using card No.33 - 'MONOLOPHOSAURUS' from the recent 'Ancient Animals' card set as a bookmark.
-Windebieste.