I have come to expect absolute failure from the design team at Panini with every turn. In fact, I think that the feelings I express on their products are starting to become a lot more common among collectors. People are sick of the rehashed design, the hideous Rainbow Princess foil stock, and the complete oversaturation of parallels with no discerning purpose. Really, Panini just thinks they can put out anything and people will buy, even if it is the most horrendous unappealing pile of crap that has graced card shop shelves. For the most part, they have been correct. People just dont care about the way cards look, they just want to pull as many of the big name players as humanly possible. No matter that these cards are so cookie cutter and ugly that they rarely hold their value, they just want more, and Panini is always willing to fire up the presses to appease these types of collectors. Its truly sad that I can count the 2010 cards I like from them on one hand, and it looks like that number isnt growing any time soon.
I was actually surprised to see that they had chosen a VERY simple and classy design for the 2010 Contenders set this year, one that didnt go their normal direction. It didnt have overstated 100 point text that played defense in front of the player on the card, it stayed true to the form of the set
, and for the first time in a very long time, it looked to be printed on normal stock. For once, the hard signed signatures would show up without a problem, and the players would finally sign a card for Panini that was worth my attention.
Those hopes were all shattered when I saw the preview video on their blog. Instead of staying with the flat stock and simple design, they Panini-nized the cards and in the process destroyed my want to buy some of these cards. The Tebow ticket cards displayed in the video featured signatures lost among the white text on rainbow foil back, and instead of a GREAT looking card, they have a reprise of everything that makes their 2010 calendar something to hate for years to come.
This is all without talking about the “rookie ink” cards, which will be a second hard signed element to the product, but may end up being some of the ugliest cards of the year. Its actually funny how bad they look, even with the opportunity to add better content to the set. Panini COULD have had a real winner here, and like they have with every set in their camp, failures abound.
Someone needs to wake the fuck up over there, because when the preview looks as good as this:
But ends up like this:
We have MAJOR problems.
I agree. The previews of the contenders rookie tickets looked good, had no foil and were based on the good 1998 design. The final design is foil filled and looks like garbage. Panini has screwed up another card set again. Panini, thanks again for wrecking football cards and forcing up the prices on the already expensive upper deck autograph cards.
I REALLY don’t like 99% of Panini’s designs, but I like that Tebow card. I think it looks good.
I’m by no means a genius, but to me it looks like the Bradford and Teblow are the same foil card stock just scanned/picture take at an angle where the Bradford doesnt show the foil reflection and Teblow does.
I’d still be happy to pull either one and happier when I sold it on ebay for a pretty penny.
I can see where you are coming from, but the Bradford is a Mock-up and was just created on a computer for the purposes of displaying the design. Its not an actual card from the set.
where is my comment? i told you it was the champ ticket.
Im not going to approve a comment with that word in it. You know what I am talking about.
All of the signed tickets are on foil board, some of the parallels are rainbow foil.
thats fine, however that tebow is the champ ticket 1/1
it says championship ticket on the card
Joe from the D,
Really, you think those cards are the same foil stock? No matter what angle the Bradford was scanned or photographed from, the foil would show up one way or another.
Panini took something good and managed to crap it up with foil.
Actually dig the foil 🙂 Think they look fantastic
I think the problem here is that there is nothing out there for the collector who likes well designed, understated, and foil free cards (especially rainbow foil). Many of the cards released today might actually be attractive if they just left out the “Shazam!” factor. What is being said here without it actually being said here, is that there is no class whatsoever in the football card industry. Now, not everyone likes class. Many people love the shiny amazafoilafractor and that’s absolutely awesome, but can we have at least one set of cards that simply relies on quality of design and has a feeling of being a piece of NFL history in our hands? Just one? Please?