Since 2007, Topps has rolled out the red carpet each year for a set that has quickly become one of the most polarizing in the industry. Triple Threads has consistently been one of my least favorite products of the year, mainly due to design, format and incessant need to overfill the card front with unnecessary swatches. Even worse over the last few years has been the words cut into the windows that display the swatches, as the phrases have gone from simple and predictable to lame jokes and stupid plays on words.
The biggest drawback each year to this product is that it never changes at all, and many collectors refuse to acknowledge just how little is different with each year’s release. This year is no different, even with the claims of added content pack to pack. In reality, these extra hits are watered down sticker autographs on single jersey swatches that will be a fraction of the cost of the overall box. They fail to live up to even the minimum expectations that even the Triple Threads haters have for this product.
Although the photo sizes have increased, the focus is still the die cut swatches on many of the cards, and for the fifth year in a row I am left scratching my head as to why Triple Threads hasnt improved to match Topps’ other products. We have even seen on card autographs for its baseball counterpart, and yet we are left with more stickers than ever in football. No matter that almost every other Topps product has at least SOME big hits with on card content, many of which cost about half of what Triple Threads costs per box.
I am well aware that me shouting my hatred from the rooftops will do little to nothing with this turd of a set, but I think that there is less that can be said about the positive elements of Triple Threads than its ability to continue being relevant in this hobby. The overall determining factor in a product’s success in the hobby side of things centers on secondary market value. In turn, good looking and “special” cards will drive higher value on eBay, which in turn will drive up box prices to make the set successful on the industry side as well. Because there is no discerning factor that makes Triple Threads different or better than other products, or even its offerings from previous years, I dont see success in anything it brings to the table.
Here are some of the cards that have already been posted:
AJ Green Single Auto Jersey RC
Ryan Mallett Single Jersey Auto RC
Shonn Greene/Bilal Powell Booklet Auto Six Jersey – Change of Pace? That’s what was worthy of immortalizing on this card?
Couldn’t agree more. The die cut lettering is just plain stupid! $175+ for this crap? These are terrible. Looks like I won’t be buying anything until Supreme comes out.
I don’t mind it much in baseball b/c of the chase cards like Ruth, Mantle, or Dimaggio. I would never break it in a million years, but I have bought some singles. But in football it’s terrible b/c there is no real high end chase cards. THey should focus on Five Star for high end b/c that’s what collectors want, a chance at pulling patch autos of the best rookies.
Some of last years weren’t too terrible. Will reserve my judgement until I have this years in hand. My pet hate though is the way they mess around with the spacing of the font (see the Hines Ward) so the phrase doesn’t read well anyway !
The “windows ” for the relics are so ugly, i cant believe people buy this…. Well i can because people pay attention to Jersey shore so good taste is hard to find these day i guess…… OMG SUPER MOJOO 1/1version189 “It says “ChaMp” !!!!!”
The state of the Hobby is so bad that even when you buy a box of TTT, pull the top rookie Jersey Auto out of it, the jersey auto won’t cover the pack that it is pulled from (much less the box). Bought 2 boxes of 2010 TTT last year and pulled the Bradford auto/99, Tebow auto/70 and that still did not cover a box when they sold. Boxes are getting too expensive for whats in them. 2011 Chrome this year seems to be the only product worth the money.
I can’t stand these cards. The baseball version is fine but football is pretty terrible. For how much you spend on a box I can’t understand why the rookies are still in the generic pre-season jerseys. I would much rather wait for Topps Five Star and only get one freaking box than to buy several boxes of Triple Threads.