2026 Absolute Football: Orange Stars, Blue Stars and a Sayin Kaboom

Julian Sayin is halfway across a Kaboom before you have finished reading his name. Panini’s 2026 Absolute Football preview turns the Ohio State quarterback into a comic-book runner, one knee up and the ball tucked tight, with enormous orange letters exploding behind him. The green-and-gold background is almost as loud as the title. Subtle has left the stadium.

That card is a shared chase in Hobby Blaster and Hobby Mega, two six-pack formats with different color palettes and different box averages. Blaster brings 48 cards and Orange Stars. Mega brings 42 cards, Blue Stars and an autograph-or-memorabilia average. The interesting choice starts with those star parallels: Joe Montana and Eli Manning make a very good case for matching the border to the uniform.

Blaster vs. Mega: what’s in the six packs?

The Hobby Blaster has eight cards per pack. The Hobby Mega has seven. Both boxes picture Sayin and CJ Carr, so the pack count alone will not tell you which configuration you are holding; the card total and parallel callouts are the useful differences.

One Blaster detail needs clearing up: Panini’s configuration lists four Orange Stars, while its box mock-up says one. Dave & Adam’s description follows the four-card count. Panini has yet to reconcile those two figures.

Panini describes the listed box yields as averages. Mega’s autograph-or-memorabilia slot can be either type of card; it is not an autograph in every box. Blaster advertises autograph chases, but its configuration does not include an autograph or memorabilia average. That gives Mega a different opening experience even though Blaster contains six more cards.

Montana’s Orange Stars and Eli’s Blue Stars

Montana’s Blaster preview is wonderfully warm: red jersey, gold helmet, orange border and a scatter of stars behind his shoulders. The photograph breaks through the inner frame, letting the helmet rise above it while the football sits close to the left edge. Pale aqua accents around the logo and name keep all that orange from swallowing the card.

The Orange Stars pattern makes sense with Montana’s San Francisco colors. It also gives the parallel something to do beyond changing a narrow strip around the photograph. Stars occupy the field behind the player, while the thick outer frame carries the orange. The result is busy without losing Montana’s face or the ball.

Manning’s Blue Stars Mega preview uses the same basic architecture and changes the temperature. His blue helmet and jersey sit inside deep blue borders, while red stripes on the helmet and trousers supply the contrast. The stars remain visible in the darker background. Beside Montana, it feels like a deliberate companion card: two quarterbacks, two strong uniform matches, two box-specific treatments.

On the pictured cards, Montana gets our slight edge for the way the orange, red and gold work together. Manning is the cleaner choice for a blue-heavy New York collection. Neither preview needs an autograph to make the design interesting.

Sayin’s Kaboom and Moss’s Solar Eclipse

Sayin’s horizontal Kaboom uses an illustration rather than the photographic treatment of the base parallels. His diagonal running pose cuts across the oversized lettering, with thick white and black outlines separating him from the background. The Ohio State name and Panini NIL badge keep the college identity prominent. Even at thumbnail size, the card’s shape and color are unmistakable.

Randy Moss’s Solar Eclipse goes almost the opposite way. His photograph emerges from a dark lower half, with a bright orange-and-yellow flare behind his helmet. The title runs vertically down the left side in gold. White outlines and jagged background shapes give it energy, but the brightest point sits behind Moss instead of behind a giant word.

Moss’s purple helmet and white number 84 jersey make the player easy to pick out against that darkness. This is our favorite of the two chase previews: the light looks as though it is arriving over his shoulder, and the black lower field gives the composition somewhere to settle. Sayin is all comic-book motion; Moss has the more dramatic entrance.

Panini calls both Kaboom and Solar Eclipse SSPs in these formats. Numerical pull odds have not been announced, so there is no supported basis yet for ranking one box ahead of the other as a way to find either insert.

Trinidad Chambliss brings the college ink

Signing Day Signatures puts Trinidad Chambliss on the left of a horizontal card, with a large blue autograph sticker on the right. His white uniform and bright blue number pull forward against red panels; teal bands frame the title and name. The signing area gets nearly the entire right-hand width, keeping the ink separate from the running photograph.

The Panini NIL badge ties this preview to the college side of Absolute’s autograph offering. Panini also advertises signatures from all-time greats, and its galleries show Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Michael Irvin autograph designs. Those names give the product a veteran lane alongside the collegiate players. A preview gallery does not establish the complete autograph checklist or the distribution of those names between boxes.

Release date and the format we’d pick

Dave & Adam’s estimates November 25, 2026 for the Hobby Blaster release. That remains a retailer estimate. Panini has both formats marked Coming Soon, with no direct launch price or exact opening time announced; a separate Hobby Mega release date has not been established.

These boxes are also separate from the 2026 Absolute Football Countdown Calendar, which has its own holiday configuration and parallels. The Blaster date belongs to the 48-card Orange Stars box.

Our choice starts with Montana’s Orange Stars. That preview is the strongest argument for Blaster: a lively color treatment that fits the player’s uniform and makes the regular base design worth a second look. Mega’s draw is different—six Blue Stars and the autograph-or-memorabilia average, with Manning showing how well the blue treatment can work. The prices will matter when they arrive. For now, Montana has won the border contest, and Moss has claimed the dramatic lighting department.