With the release of Crown Royale officially happening yesterday and today, we are starting to get our first look at just how bad this product really is. I know I am going to get the usual mixed bag of responses on this, but I honestly believe this is one of the ugliest post-premiere products of the year, as the cards look beyond hideous to me. Not only that, but because of the structure of the product, there is a high probability of buying a higher cost pack and getting nothing but a worthless jersey or scrub auto.
Here are some of the main cards posted so far:
2012 Crown Royale Robert Griffin III Patch Auto Silhouette
2012 Crown Royale Jerry Rice Patch Auto Silhouette
2012 Crown Royale Adrian Peterson Die Cut Auto
2012 Crown Royale Andrew Luck Silhouette Patch Auto
My biggest complaint is with the Rookie Silhouette cards, which have been one of my favorite Panini cards of the last few years. It was a great idea to overlay the player photo with the relic underneath
, and adding on card signatures last year was a rare treat
in Panini’s extensive calendar of products that are all structured and look the same. This year, the design for these cards changed significantly, with the design inexplicably being switch to create a white box to trap the on card signature. Not only does this make the cards drastically less visually appealing, but it really makes me question why the company would opt to trap an on card signature. Add in the multi colored foil bordering and lettering, which clashes horribly with many of the uniform pictures
, and its a recipe for disaster.
Outside of the rookie silhouettes, there are more cards that employ the usual white box mentality that Panini cannot move away from. Rather than designing the card to factor in the stickers are signed in a dark ink, they just slap a white box with a hard border on it. Crown Royale presents a unique opportunity to use an ornate design to wrap the stickers, but that was ditched in favor of a disgusting looking composition
.
I would be entirely surprised if these cards had any legs to make it until Contenders is released, and I think you would be hard pressed to find someone that would say this entire set wont be forgotten after that date. This product has no redeeming qualities at all, and its sad considering how cool some of the previous examples proved to be.
Honestly, I’m sure you bashed the previous Crown Royale releases at the time of release as well.
A couple things I think are important to point out about this set:
1. The extensive use of die cutting & parallels makes it a fun box to bust. Honestly, you drool all over Topps Strata but the clear cut packs are the only exciting packs to open in Strata. Maaaybe the 1 pack with the die cut rookie card. Other than that, it’s base, base, base. At least CR has die cutting, numbering, and inserts that make it a fun rip. It’s hard to believe that for $100 per box, Panini can die cut an entire base set while Topps can’t put more than 1 die cut per box in Strata.
2. VETERAN jersey cards. Ok, basically all jersey cards now are worthless. But, I’d rather have a Frank Gore jersey than a Greg Childs jersey. Crown Royale, and Panini in general, provides MUCH more veteran jersey content than Topps. I bust a lot of both and I can tell you that I get so sick of Topps hobby boxes being full of what is basically a manu-jersey (ok, it’s worn for 2 seconds at the premier). At least a veteran jersey card comes from a guy whose NFL career will span more than 1 training camp.
3. Cramer’s Choice Throwback Autos. You are crazy if you don’t like these. Ok, they’re stickers. But they are a re-release of a REALLY cool 90s/2000s insert set and they include some great veteran autos.
Another disappointment from the “Sticker & White Box Sports Cards Company”. It never occurred to me that Panini’s history of making stickers would translate directly to how they make sports cards.