The first series release of the 2005/06 season saw Corinthian continue with a theme, this time choosing club rivalries, with Series 30 Dazzling Derbies being a 12 figure strong series, highlighting 6 of the fiercest derbies.

 

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The Manchester derby was a fixture heavily dominated by United during this time period but City were closing the gap. For United we have a new sculpt of Paul Scholes with there being 3,145 blisters, while for City there is fresh sculpt of Robbie Fowler with him being the lowest blister volume in this series with just 1,704.

 

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The Merseyside derby is one of the most historic and indeed iconic derbies in football, with both clubs having a new sculpt released, as for Liverpool we have Fernando Morientes, this was a much improved sculpt from the one seen in Series 19 and like that sculpt it would not be used again, with there being 4,593 blisters. James Beattie is released in the Everton home kit and there are just 1,705 blisters made which was an incredibly low number for a first time figure, one which would not be released again.

 

 

There is a London derby with Arsenal and Chelsea, with Joe Cole having 3,504 blisters in Chelsea home kit and for Arsenal there is the first ProStars release of Robin Van Persie, with Corinthian making just 2,612 blisters.

 

 

The Milan derby has always been a favourite of mine, a game full of talent and passion and that was embodied by the first and indeed only regular series release of Andrea Pirlo, in AC Milan home kit with 5,487 blisters. For Inter Milan we have the first time sculpt of Esteban Cambiasso, with there being 4,407 blisters of the Argentine midfielder.

 

 

Rome derby is contested between Lazio and Roma, with Roma club captain Francesco Totti having a fresh sculpt, i was never a fan of this figure and i think neither were Corinthian as it was only used on this one occasion, with 3,688 blisters made. For Lazio there is first time release of Massimo Oddo, with there being just 1,887 blisters, his only other release would be in the AC Milan Champions Of Europe 2007 team pack.

 

 

Tuscan derby sees Fiorentina take on Livorno and for Fiorentina we have the Corinthian heavyweight that is Hidetoshi Nakata, with his figure of course being the highest produced blister in the series, with 8,907 and that equates to over 20% of the entire series run. Cristiano Lucarelli made Corinthian history for being the first figure released for Livorno, this figure would never be released again and Corinthian made just 2,067 blisters.

 

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In total Corinthian made 43,706 blisters for Series 30 Dazzling Derbies, which was almost 30,000 fewer than Series 29 but this series did only have 12 figures, so that becomes an average blister production of 3,642 per figure which was roughly the same as Series 28. From this series on Corinthian would stick to the blueprint of 12 blisters per series and 2 redemption figures.

 

 

Corinthian produced 2 special redemption figures for Series 30 Dazzling Derbies, which are Joe Cole for Chelsea and Paul Scholes for Manchester United, both in their respective club away kits. Collectors were able to directly purchase the redemption figures, which were priced at £5 and came in clear sachet with a non numbered collector card.

 

 

Series 30 Dazzling Derbies was released on the 10th October 2005, with blisters priced at £3 each and Corinthian also made the series available in a case assortment, which contained all 16 blisters and 1 platinum pack, with the case assortment costing £36.

 

 

Along with the regular blister packs, Corinthian produced something special called the Platinum Pack, these were produced in much lower numbers and not available for direct sale, they were given away free for money spent with Corinthian Direct. The figures are identical to those in the standard blister but are on a Silver base and assigned a PP (Platinum Pack) collector code, which was the same code as the PRO version, with the figure then placed on a specially designed Platinum Pack blister card, coming with an individually numbered collector card with just 360 of each being produced.