Prior to 2011, the hole where pre-premiere products were listed on the calendar was enormous. From the ill-conceived products like Prestige, UD Draft, and other vastly inferior products from Press Pass and SAGE, there was little for collectors to get excited about. The bottom line was that once the products with pro uniforms were released after the rookie premiere, the college uniform cards dropped like a rock.

When Upper Deck took over exclusive rights to the CLC license, these products went from bad to freakishly awful, mainly because there was no availability to use college game photos anymore. Instead, the products became focused on heavily airbrushed closeups and studio shots, and collectors have so far rejected every single one of them.

Prior to the premiere in 2011, Topps planned on using a special program and look to a product to fill this hole. The results were a spectacular looking product in 2011 Inception, and Topps made it clear it would be making a return this year too. The best part of Inception was on card autographs of players in their pro uniforms, coupled with a great design and cool concept behind the product. Inception was a high end product before the rookies even hit the field for the first pre-season snap.

Here are some of the goods:

2011 Inception Cam Newton Jumbo Patch Auto

2011 Inception Demarco Murray Base RC Auto

2011 Inception Christian Ponder Silver Signings Auto /25

This year, Topps is not only bringing Inception back, but they are trying to make it even better. Although I am very unhappy that the design hasnt changed on the normal cards, the improvements to cards like the one of Robert Griffin III are beyond incredible. The silver signatures were some of the most highly sought after cards of the year last year, and for 2012, they look to be that much better.

The main drawback is going to be the lack of updates to the product, coupled with a dark stock that promotes chipping on the edges of the cards. However, as much as I loved Inception’s design last year, I guess it wont make that much of a difference to give it a second go around. If the design was awful and they had a similar design for a second year, that would be one thing, but its obvious that this design is enough of a winner that it doesnt matter as much.

To sum it up, I cant wait for this product and I hope it is just as good as it was previously.

These pictures are mockups – rookies will be in their pro uniforms: