Tonight we are starting to get an extended look at the hobby hits for Chrome, and for the most part, even the sticker autos are impressively done for one of my favorite sets of the year. With retail already being live as of Monday, there are few surprises left that we hadnt seem already, but with hobby we are getting a lesson in the patience of waiting. Its obvious there are quite a few jewels left, and I am excited to see the rest as the real product makes its presence felt.
My favorite hobby only cards are easily the patch autos, which have been previously previewed by Topps on twitter. I love the horizontal design and the look of these cards, as I feel as though they make previous year’s examples look inferior. The simple layout and photo placement looks awesome on the chrome stock, and though they are stickers, it almost doesnt matter.
Justin Blackmon 3 Color Patch Auto /50
Doug Martin 3 Color Patch Auto /50
The SSP variation autos are also back for a second year, and I think they are a great addition to the content of the product. Although they are not on card, I believe they are rare enough for collectors to not care all that much.
Andrew Luck SSP Variation Auto RC
Trent Richardson SSP Variation Auto RC
As for on card autographs, the Tall Boys and 57 autos will be highly sought after, as nostalgia and iconic status always means a lot to a hobby so focused on history. I am not a fan of helmet off shots, as I said before, but these are really well done and hearken back to the famous Namath RC.
There are also a bunch of new parallels this year, as mentioned before, and we are starting to see how cool they really look. My favorite so far are easily the Camo Border refractors, which I wish were available in years past. We also see that there are prism refractors this year, which I think are extremely distracting from the content of the card. I really dont like these that much, and almost wish we could go back to the atomic crystal ones from last year.
Ryan Tannehill Camo Refractor Auto RC
AJ Jenkins Camo Refractor Auto RC
As BIG hits are posted, more Chrome coverage to come.