Wow, wow, wow. Panini really blew their load today, and previewed just about every product they have coming up during the usual mid calendar blur of products. Not only did we get confirmation that they are bringing gold standard to football, but we got a good look at Limited, Certified, and Crown Royale’s rookie box hits. I was expecting disasters, absolute train wrecks for lack of a better terms, but much to my surprise, they werent as bad as I expected them to be.
Absolute Jumbo Swatch Rookies
Not bad, much like the preview we got a couple of weeks ago. At least they are not going to be covering up players with swatches this time. Thanks to the horizontal orientation, they have a lot more ability to use the blank spot on the card. The number die cuts are fine, nothing ground breaking, but again, it could be a lot worse.
Certified Freshman Fabric Rookies
Thank god they left the helmets on for these cards, and for the most part, they look pretty good. They will be foil, of course, but really aside from that, my only complaint is the rookie’s name crawling up the side instead of on the bottom. I think if the set is done correctly, these cards could be winners, even with the foil that I hate so much.
Crown Royale Rookie Die Cut Autos
I think that last year, this set was a complete clusterfuck, in every possible way that it could be. The one bright spot was the diecut rookie memorabilia auto cards that were numbered ridiculously low. They are back this year, and from what these are looking like, much improved. I think this set will most likely fall short again, but I am definitely excited for these cards.
Limited Rookie Phenoms
I thought these cards were absolutely awful last year after being awesome the year before. Again on foil, these cards don’t look to have improved all that much. They are better in some ways, but I still get a very distinct triple threads vibe off these cards. Considering that Limited is one of the biggest products of the year, these should be a lot better than they seem to be.
Panini Gold Standard Rookie Autos
Snooooooooze. That’s all I really need to say. More of the typical Panini junk. Throw these in the trash with Timeless Treasures. Blechhhhhh.
Remember, these cards are just the routing table version of the design, and as we saw with Prestige, can be destroyed in the meantime. Secondly, we know that Panini still fills content in their products like its 2003, so im sure there is not going to be a lot to write home about when we see the final versions of the product. The good thing is that for most of these, they are very much improved over the absolute turds from Elite and Prestige, and they will be the main box hits for major products. That is a good thing.
Hopefully this signals a turnaround for them, but I am not holding my breath yet.
Wow, that Crown Royale stuff brings back memories of Collector’s Edge Excalibur. Hopefully, Panini will pull a Collector’s Edge and go the hell out of business.
no comment on the the other stuff, but I hope the crown royale die cuts turn out as good as they look. i am mostly a hockey collector and the crown royale rookie silhouettes panini made this year were probably the best cards of the year in that sport. these have the potential to be that if they dont use pictures of Cam Newton smiling like he is going to disney world while throwing a pass.
IF the Gold Standard RCs have on-card autos – in gold ink – on the black area they will be pretty nice IMO.
I have wondered this for a while: Why don’t card companies use the “C” (team captains patches) from players’ jerseys in cards? That would be a very valauble and cool item. A lot like the NFL sheild.
Gold standard cards look to me like they’d be better off with out adding memorabilia into them. Just make an insert set Panini no need to cram it full of worthless swatches.
EXACTLY. This crap will be typical stuff regardless. As someone said on blowout, they need to focus on current calendar rather than creating these worthless add ons.
Maybe part of the problem is that every single product seems to be focused on rookies, who have a limited appeal to non-speculators.
Piss off Panini. More worthless crap from a shitty company.
Its a requirement to having an NFL license. Its also a cost thing. Rookies are cheaper, and HAVE to be a percentage of every set per the NFLP license.