Category Archives: topps sucks at high end

Where Does Topps Stand for 2010?

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When it was announced that Topps was back in the football arena for the foreseeable future, I started to think about a few things. First, how many boxes of Chrome I would buy, second, whether my personal vendetta against Sterling and Triple Threads would gain more steam, and third, how the hell they would put together a calendar so quickly.

Im not sure how many of you actually understand how much time goes into product development. Im not just talking about creating the design and having the players sign the cards, im talking about the actual amount of time it takes to get a product from stage A to stage Z. Because most of the manufacturers put together their calendars almost a year in advance, Topps may not be prepared to put out a good slate of products until 2011. At that point, the NFL could be in the midst of an epic lockout, and cards may not be the biggest problem on the menu.

Panini knew they were producing cards all through the winter, despite the fact that it has yet to show in their quality of design and content for the already previewed sets. Topps has not. Im sure they already have some of their plans in place from before the loss of the license, but I guarantee you that things are probably in “Holy shit we need this done YESTERDAY!” mode right now for some of their products. Also, because of massive sticker dumps in a few different sets last year, they are probably going to need to replentish their stores of autographs to put on the cards.

Although they have not commented on their understood and expected lack of preparation, im willing to bet that redemptions and fuck ups may abound this year. Who is to say they are even going to be at the rookie premiere, usually scheduled around May each year. With Panini having free reign over the event until a few weeks ago, it may not even happen in its usual form. Then, when you factor in that Upper Deck probably wants to be there to get their NCAA cards signed, things start looking pretty hairy.

Do I think that Topps is going to suck at EVERYTHING this year? No. Will certain aspects of their products lack the usual finishing touches? Probably. I think that Topps, Topps Chrome and Bowman Chrome will all be produced as usual with no drawbacks. The sets pretty much make themselves, especially because there is usually very few memorabilia cards in the set. Besides, if memorabilia is gone, I would actually cheer rather than jeer at its omission from one of my favorite sets of the year. Also, the Chromes have already been produced for baseball, so designs definitely have a better likelihood of being exactly the same.

Lastly, Topps is currently in the market for a new football guru, and I sincerely hope that they invest in some changes to the usual suspects. Instead of throwing us another disgusting helping of Topps Triple Threads with a side dish of Ugly Platinum, I am expecting the new management to take a different design approach to make the sets into viable competition against great looking sets of the past. At this point, I am still not wasting my money on new crap, when old stars still shine more brightly. Why spend 150 bucks on a box of 2010 Triple Threads when I can spend 80 bucks on 2009 Ultimate and get pretty much the same content with better looking cards and hard signed sigs? Why buy 2010 Platinum or whatever, and get stuck with stickers and terrible designs when I can spend less on 2009 SPA and get just about the same stuff? That’s why its important for the new guy to realize what Upper Deck left behind when leaving their NFL license in the forclosure section of the penny saver. Then again, with Upper Deck exclaiming that they will use their NCAA license to the best of their abilities, we may not need to settle anymore. I will say, I would be happy settling if the stickers and stuff from Topps actually looked okay. Hint hint.

My Thoughts On The Ultimate Patches

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There have been a lot of swirling rumors about the recent jumbo patches in Ultimate Collection, mainly stemming from the patches actual use in games. Many of the questions have come from people with a background in game used jerseys of older baseball players, and those people are bringing up some very valid points as to where the patches are coming from.

After the solidifcation of the rumors surrounding the counterfeit yu-gi-oh cards, people are quick to jump to conclusions on the recent release, especially when conspiracy is brought up. The general feeling is in relation to the fact that creating counterfeit gaming cards is not far off from creating counterfeit patches in baseball cards. Despite the fact that Upper Deck did admit to creating fakes, I doubt they would risk fake patches with all the ways it could come back to bite them. There are just too many experts out there, and way too many avenues of creating a problem if they were discovered. Does that mean it isnt possible? No, but it definitely makes it a little more than improbable that this is the truth behind the curtain.

Obviously, the top draws in the set are players like Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente, and the problem stems from the makeup of the patches. According to these people, its mostly the way the swatches in Ultimate compare to game used jerseys that people know to be game used. What the “experts” are saying is that these jerseys were not from the timeframe specified because of the way they are stitched, as well as the material of the jersey. Their prediction is that the jerseys are from old timer games and from situations like that, to which many people are echoing their sentiments. Personally, after reading a lot about this subject, I have to agree with the people who know their stuff. However, I don’t think that it completely damns UD into a new realm of deception. That’s where I differ on this.

The reason I have this belief comes from two specific products that are NEVER blasted despite obvious correlations. The first is Topps Triple Threads, and the second is Topps Sterling. Both are heralded products among the legally blind portion of our hobby, despite the fact that its obvious that the same type of swatches are used, with language on the card that is even more vague than UD’s. Im sure you all have seen the stark white swatches on many of the cards from those sets over the years, but no one seemed to care about it. I guess when you arent screwing the pooch every other week, people overlook things.

In fact, the language on the back of a Triple Threads cards reads that the swatches are not from any specific game or season, while the Upper Deck says that they are used “in a game.” From these statements, its easy to see that the companies are leaving the door open for jerseys used outside a regular season MLB game. Although I don’t support or buy cards like that, others have never had a problem buying both Triple Threads or Sterling despite this terribly worded statement on the back.

To that, I say, if you have a problem with player worn versus game worn, don’t buy the Williams or Clemente cards. If you don’t, go right ahead. For the other players, im sure the cards are real, yet if you don’t feel comfortable buying them, that’s up to you. This is the joy of competition, and I am sad that exclusivity has gotten to this point in the hobby.

Topps Platinum is to SPA As CZs Are To Diamonds

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Topps Platinum has started to pop up on eBay and though some of the cards remind us of chrome-y like goodness in a good way, others remind us of horribly laid out cards with oddly placed pictures, patches and stickers. Jeff from New Card Smell has posted his thoughts if you want a more positive take on things. My commentary is not going to be as favorable.

Im sure most of you are familiar with Bowman Chrome’s disastrous rookie auto jersey cards from this year. You know the ones where the jersey window obscurred a good part of the player picture? Yeah, I get a similar vibe off these cards, mainly because they are using the player picture in such a weird way.
Instead of building the card around a good and well thought out space for the player picture, they decided to shove it behind three photoshop layers of sticker spaces and chrome backgrounds. When you try something like that, your competition with SPA ends in a loss.
Now, you may say that this product is not meant to compete with SPA, but its tough to ignore when the price point and the box set up is pretty much the same. The difference is that SPA is all on card, and one of the favorite sons of the hobby, while this is a rehashed chrome bastard to get rid of stickers. I dont mind the regular base cards all that much, they could pass for chrome if they came out around the same cards. However, when you start getting up into the autos and especially the auto patches, things get awfully ugly.
We will see how more of the box breaks shake up, but so far, this stuff looks to be not worth your time.

The Creeping Death Of Foldout Cards

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I cant stand booklet cards. I just hate everything about them. Its pretty obvious that my hatred for Topps Triple Turds has something to do with it, but it extends far into this year’s preview for 2009 Exquisite Football. It is a completely needless innovation, it looks awful, and most of the time, its just Topps looking for extra places to spell out weird shit with swatch windows.

The onslaught of the foldout cards started in 2007 Triple Threads, when Topps decided that one card wasn’t enough room to stuff their relics into. They created hinged cards where the outside alerted the collector that they had pulled some “OMG SIZCKZ MOJOZ!!” and the inside was where the neon foilboard magic happened. In the product, there were one player hinged cards, and multi player hinged cards, all with the goal of trying to have a little more room to spell out that incosequential phrase.

In 2008, Topps went a step further, introducing their famed visual laxative “Triple Threads XXIV.” For this card version of 2 girls 1 cup, they threw design and layout to the wind in order to shoehorn 24 different windows onto the two cards. This meant little room for player pictures or common reading practices, as many of the cards required some major deduction skills to read.

These cards extended into other sets as well, including the horrid Topps Sterling baseball and other high end fare. Collectors who cared little about the way a card looks and more about getting “relics” of their favorite players went nucking futs for these cards, while a vocal minority group of people scoffed at them. Due to Topps’ notorious reputation of cutting up jerseys from old timer games and exhibitions, cards like the booklets held little value for people with eyes.

Fast forward to 2009, where booklet cards have continued their Sherman March into the hobby. In 2008-2009 Exquisite Basketball, the booklet cards made their mainstream upper deck debut, to much fanfare. These “upper-deckers” were little more than glorified triple threads foldouts, even though they were signed on card and very low numbered. Topps even took it a step further to stay ahead of the wave, introducing cards that were tri-hinged for extra vomit, and cards hinged vertically rather than horizontally.
Being a part of that vocal minority, I have voiced my opinion quite a bit on the existence of foldouts. Oddly enough, some of those collectors with relic manifest destiny on the brain have started complaining to. The main reason is that these cards are very hard to protect without paying 20 bucks on ebay for a custom holder. Add in that jerry rigging a holder out of two top loaders doesn’t give you complete coverage, and there is a larger problem at bat here. Yes, I realize its only a matter of time before one touch comes out with something, but until then, I will laugh heartily at the people who chase these hobby versions of the people of Wal Mart.

See, I am not a person who cares how many pieces of jersey you can stuff onto a card, no matter if its game or event used. I want to see cards that look good. Most of the time, these foldouts are created for the sole purpose of tickling the testicles dangling from the collectors who live and die for jersey cards, not those who care about design and content. I also think it’s a good reason why these rare cards, even when autoed, hardly eclipse the price of a simple and elegant single jersey auto or patch. Hopefully this gimmick will go the way of the atomic refractor very quickly, though its not looking good at this point. As long as Joe Collectors outnumber those of us who don’t scream “LAST PACK MOJO!” everytime we bust a box, things will continue as is. All I can say is bring on the boredom, ill stick with my old favorites.

Worst of the Worst 2004-2009 #3 – 2007-2009 Topps Triple Threads

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Everyone knows how much I absolutely despise Triple Threads, but it only made it to number 3 on this list. That’s how bad the top two are. In my opinion, this shit house of a product is one of the longest running crap fests in the history of the hobby, stemming from 2007 through 2009. Usually, if a product is bad, they dump it before losing face on another year’s worth of bad cards. Not so with Triple Threads. This product has somehow built a following with Joe Collectors hobby wide, who have cared more about how many “relics” and stickers you can stuff onto a card than how it looks when its done. In fact, many of them consider it to be the best product ever made. How they have kidded themselves into thinking that is beyond me.

First, lets start with the format, because this is where most of the JCs even have problems with this product. For the price you would normally spend on a box of a vastly superior product, Triple Threads gives you absolutely nothing. Your first hit is a triple jersey card, most of which are from back end rookie premiere players, or oddly comboed triads of “related subjects” (I use the term related loosely). These cards are usually one color swatches of material “not from any specific game or season.” These cards can sell for less than the cost of some of the base parallels, and rarely get you back any of the cost of the 100 dollar MSRP pack. Your second hit is an auto, which over 75 percent of the time will be a crap rookie. This means “getting Simpson’ed” runs rampant in this product, more than any other product of this cost bracket. Just for comparison, here are some other products and their cost, and how they relate to this product:

Topps Triple Threads 170 dollars, 1 auto, mid range resale value

SP Authentic – 120 dollars, 3 autos, high resale value
Leaf Limited – 80 dollars 1-3 autos, mid range resale value
Ultimate Collection – 80 dollars, 1 auto, mid range resale value
Leaf Certified Material – 80 dollars, 1-2 autos, mid range resale value
Topps Chrome – 50 dollars 1-2 autos, mid to low range resale value

When you look at it that way, things get crazy. Topps Chrome uses better designs, the same stickers, and people love it, yet the box costs less than half of what a Triple Threads box costs. The format of this product is ridiculous and justifies a spot on this list, but wait! There’s more!

The design of this product is one of the worst in the industry, year to year. Since 2007, the cards have changed so little that some people cant tell the difference between an older card and a newer one. The layout that Topps’ design team chooses is always a combination of neon colored rainbow foil, huge swatch windows diecut with odd words and phrases, tiny player pictures, and foil auto stickers that are recessed into the actual design of the card. Yes, despite being a high end product, Topps still wants us to look directly at the gaudy foil sticker.

I havent even started with the fold out cards, which have proven to be the worst part of this worst of the worst set. Because Topps couldn’t find enough room on one card for their junk, they needed find a way to STUFF more crap onto an extra card that is connected to the first one. Actually, there are now TRI-fold cards in this years product because two werent sufficient. Wow. Don’t even ask about some of the weird ass phrases they try to confusingly spell out with die cut windows. More space = more confusion for these.

Then we have parallels. So many parallels that I cant even name them all off. They all have their own neon foilboard color, and some even spell out more stupid shit. Each card has at least 10 parallel versions, 4 printing plates, a 1/1, and as many prime versions. Each player can have up to 4 different designs for the set, and when the top level is as high as /199, things can get fucking crazy.

If this was a contest for worst product of the year, Triple Threads would be at the top year after year. Its just the worst product ever conceived for a long run in the industry. Sadly enough JCs buy and melt for this product that it should continue in Baseball, but luckily for us, football is done after this year. Maybe Topps will put out one last set just to fuck with me. Funny enough, this set spawned the golden rule of Topps. This is what started it all.

I actually wish I had the intellectual fortitude to continue writing about this product, but it is so bad that I am choking down the remains of my breakfast from two hours ago. I can only imagine what I will have to go through for the set up next.