The next promotion in the long line of shelf clearing gimmicks for Panini is here. Over the last few years, these types of giveaways have existed as a way for them to help distributors move their horrible products that are collecting dust and taking up warehouse space, but it has taken on a collector perception too. Since the beginning, for the shops that can afford to take on extra cases of the designated products, this is a vehicle that does get people in the door. The issue is that not all the shops are happy about making extra commitment on product that doesnt sell.

Here are some of the cards, some of which are pretty nice, some of which are pretty hilarious:

2015 Panini Black Friday Andrew Wiggins Auto – This one is pretty nice.

2015 Panini Black Friday Kris Bryant Auto – This one is one the funniest pictures I have ever seen. The fact that Panini likes this is scary to me.

2015 Panini Black Friday Johnny Manziel Auto – Another nice looking card.

2015 Panini Black Friday Jameis Winston Auto – This, on the other hand is a fucking joke.

2015 Panini Black Friday Marcus Mariota BCA Patch – Just kill it with fire. Great cause, horrible horrible card.

2015 Panini Black Friday Jameis Winston Santa Patch – Worst card in the promotion. What the fuck. Seriously. What. the. Fuck?

I really like the high contrast cards, especially on the baseball side which feature some really nice autographs. Because of the filter applied to the photos, its tough to tell they arent licensed, which is something that Panini has always struggled with. Some of the base cards look nice, while others feature offset logos that make no sense what so ever. Many of the cards feature autograph parallels, including some of the top NFL and MLB guys. The best cards in the whole promotion are the HOF autos, which continue to be hard signed and amazing.

The worst cards, per usual, are the ones that feature the manupatches, which for some fucking stupid reason Panini CONTINUES to trot out. Adding insult to injury are stupid studio posed photos or no autograph at all, and Santa hats, which just make me gag. I cant stand the photo choices and wish Panini would move away from these lame concepts. There is a reason why the secondary market value tanks on these promotions, and its because no one wants the dumb ass cards after the fact. The stuff that holds a bit better is all the normal stuff.

I dont like supporting promotions like this because of the nature of the situation with how shops have to take on additional product. If this was a true shop friendly promotion, they would receive credit for the product they have sitting around. Obviously, that wont help Panini’s partners, because their shelves will still be full of the crap they have to sell. As said before, it does get a lot of people in to buy boxes they normally wouldnt, which is a credit to the concept of the promotion. That’s a piece of this that isnt worth arguing.

My only wish is that the cards stayed closer to normal, instead of going completely off the rails. Ditch the manupatches, ditch the stupid pictures, and I might change my tone. Until then, im fine where I am.