Trading cards have witnessed an ebb and flow to their popularity over the last one hundred years or so, but the late 80s into the 90s mark a period when they were enjoying the spotlight. While sports fans have had their niche carved out with the four major North American sports represented in card form for a very long while, making a series of cards became standard with any mass marketing blitz starting with the late 1970s. Any movie, TV show, musical act, comic book, or toy line that had even the remotest chance of entering popular culture had to have a set of cards.This episode takes a look at two non-sport card sets from the late 80s /early 90s,--New Kids on the Block and Desert Storm, both from Topps--and what they can tell us about that era.