When Topps first announced 2014 Chrome Mini, I was skeptical but intrigued. For me, as long as we get more on card Chrome autographs, im on board. However after we saw box after box of 2014 Regular Chrome fall flat due to vast over production, things have gotten dicey with collectors. People were so turned off by what Chrome delivered on a box and case level, that it will surely impact how Mini sells. Being that it was already a relative niche product, im not sure what is going to happen.

Here are some of the bigger hits so far:

2014 Topps Chrome Mini Teddy Bridgewater Red Refractor Auto

2014 Topps Chrome Mini Johnny Manziel Die Cut Auto /15

2014 Topps Chrome Mini Odell Beckham Red Refractor Auto /5

2014 Topps Chrome Mini Derek Carr Black Refractor Auto /25

I will say this. From the breaks I have watched, Chrome mini looks to be the set we were all hoping for in terms of regular Chrome. It has a reduced autograph checklist and lower print run, and is look to run 3-5 lower number color autos per case from what I have seen. That is what we needed to see before. The number of autographs from top tier rookies is still yet to be determined, but even that should be easier considering the run is shorter.

If you liked the main Chrome design, it transfers almost 100% to Mini. There may be fewer parallels available, which is expected due to lower production run, but you should get more of them per box. Additionally, for boxes that dont have color autographs, I saw those boxes are more likely to produce color from the base side. The base parallels have a much better numbering scheme too, a lot lower than normal Chrome.

Overall, Chrome Mini is not going to get much love because of what happened earlier in the year, but I think it deserves some credit. The cards look as good as ever, and the box break improvement should be a huge improvement overall. Because fewer boxes will be broken, the rare hits are really going to sell higher than I would guess people are going to expect. I have already seen some collectors trolling the boards trying to get a head start on rainbows and sets. That is a good thing on a short run product.

My complaint is that they didnt update the pics on the cards with new pictures, which is so fucking disappointing I cant even put it into words. If we could get game shots on these cards for the whole set, and release it later, I would break cases of this product. Because its the same pics we got in mid 2014 with base Topps, Im not as excited. This was a missed opportunity, even though this product was an afterthought. Chrome takes forever to print and sign, but the wait would be worth it to me. The combine pics in February are inexcusable, regardless of the original release date.

I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.