Someone once said that the only absolutes in life are death and taxes. Well, there is another Absolute, and its design is something that you can count on each year as well. Like Death and Taxes, Absolute’s design rarely offers anything new, and in most cases, just makes things worse with each passing year. If you put a gun to my head and asked me which box I would rather break, Absolute or Triple Threads, I would probably just wait for you to pull the trigger. The cards look THAT bad.
Besides the fact that these cards offer little, design and content-wise, outside of the typical Panini crap that they usually put out, this year looks worse than it normally does. The patches that cover up the whole player are back, as are the extremely lame ass event used football swatches, and the whole set is produced on the most ridiculous eye burning rainbow foil that Panini could find. It would be one thing if these cards were printed on the normal base stock and just let things speak for themselves, but to try to hide design imperfections with this crappy and condition sensitive shitty rainbow stock is a slap in the face. Then when you see that just about all the cards are EXACTLY the same as they were last year, it becomes questionable how much, if any, effort went into this boring set.
I still have no idea why Panini wants a swatch like that from an event used football in a card. As completely stupid as event used jerseys are, they are at least worn by the players for a few seconds. A tiny swatch of a football thrown around at the event is a complete reach. Cmon.
Lastly, the way these cards are layed out makes me wonder if the design team has any training at all. Despite the fact that the names of these subsets have been around forever, it doesn’t make them any less comical. Tools of the Trade? Star Gazing? That is some funny shit right there. The only cards that have any redeeming value in this entire product are the Absolute Patch set, simply named, simply designed, but even those are a complete downgrade from last year’s awesomeness.
Listen, Panini may try wow you with pictures of logos and 1/1s, but we all know the junk that typically comes out of one of these boxes. Go ahead and spend 120 bucks on one of these boxes, I can guarantee you that come the end of this year, whatever you pull will be right there next to the early released stuff, because of how poorly the value holds on these cards. Save your money and buy a few extra boxes of Chrome. You wont be sorry.
These cards are ugly. The foilboard is uglier than before. UD premier football, sp authentic, ultimate, exquisite are so much better. Panini has killed my interest in basketball cards. The only reason I keep collecting football cards is all the upper deck ones still on ebay. Panini needs to step back and talk to the topps low end design design team about how to design cards well.
I agree for the most part. But if I pulled that Steve Smith, I swear I might stop collecting right there. If that is game-used, and an actual card, that is an amazing piece.
This product is always hit and miss. In one ’07 box I got from blowout last year I pulled a Steve Smith Tools with helmet piece, a Brady Quinn Notre Dame Jersey Auto (I know, I know, but in its day it would have been epic) and a Jumbo patch of Walter freakin Payton.
That being said, if I remember correctly, the box we split had nothing but a Larry Johnson jersey that I can remember.
I would love to say that I will never buy any, but I will probably be in for a box. I am stupid like that.
Thanks to you, it has been almost a year since I spent more than a dollar on anything Panini. The only Panini product I can see myself buying this entire year is Panini Limited. I think 3 Hits and 5 numbered cards for the price tag, including 7 case hits seems to be pretty good value.
I love that these idiots make it sooooo easy for me to save my money! Thanks, morons…. another product I won’t waste a penny on!