There arent many superlatives left to describe a product of premium quality. I mean, Panini is going as far as calling things Immaculate and Flawless. When I heard Topps calling their last figurative hurrah in the super high end market “Definitive Collection,” I thought they had better live up to the name. Seeing the cards live is a statement for sure. Five Star remains one of my favorite products of all. Same with Exquisite collection pre-2009. They set a precedent. The question is, can Topps do the same with a product that will last 1 year? Definitive Collection is going to try to do just that.

Check out the cards up so far, they pack a punch:

2015 Topps Definitive Collection Jerome Bettis Auto Patch /5

2015 Topps Definitive Collection Emmitt Smith Pro Bowl Auto /10

2015 Definitive Collection Phil Simms Auto Inscription /10

2015 Topps Definitive Collection Marcus Mariota Auto

2015 Topps Definitive Collection JJ Watt Auto

2015 Definitive Collection Russell Wilson / Richard Sherman Dual Auto

The cards themselves look tremendous. The level of detail and checklist quality speaks to the fact that Topps didnt want to go quietly into the good night. When you see how much better most of the set looks than Flawless does, its curious what the fuck Panini is spending all that money on? Melee gems dont cost THAT much.

Dont get me wrong, this is a VERY costly product. Think Dynasty baseball in a normal box format. That expensive. For the most part Topps delivered in ways that no other company has really delivered, well maybe ever. Big names everywhere, great looking cards, HUGE patches, cool inscriptions, framed autographs, the list goes on and on. Its like they actually knew what they were coming up short with Five Star and built it up. Made it better for everyone to finally see what they were missing in a super premium set.

That’s not saying the product doesnt have drawbacks. The colors used for the parallels and the level of saturation is horrendous. It looks awful. Because of the way the cards’ color palate were printed, its almost like they chose pastels, which very much clash with the team colors of the league. Not good.

Similarly, the checklist has its fair share of redemptions, which isnt going to make people happy. When you do a full on card product like this, redemptions are part of the game. However, if the quality is high on the finished product, I know quite a few people that are happy to wait. Hopefully the signers fulfill their promises, because some of these cards are fucking balls to the walls ridiculous.

Im going to close with this. Sets like this make me sad. Sad that we dont get to see the future iterations of the product in football. Instead we are left with a Flawless product that costs 1500 but doesnt deliver unique content, or an Immaculate product that has a lot of nice cards, but at a crazy low seeding rate. We need more products that people open the box and think WOW. This is just nuts. Definitive, down to the intricate patterns embossed on the cards, is the first set to do that in a long time. Its gone in football next year. Topps is out.

Last time I checked, Panini is too busy trotting out products that have yet to measure up. They may own the exclusives, but they arent ever going to reach what both Topps and Upper Deck managed. People bought Exquisite because they LOVED it. People bought Five Star because they LOVED it. I feel like people buy Panini’s stuff because they want to make money, not because they think its a great product. I dont get how such value can be attributed to sets that dont look good, and havent measured up to others in the space in theme or concept. It makes no sense. Definitive brings the checklist strength and design, and I am hoping that people give Topps the sendoff they deserve.

Is this going to pan out well for a product with no future? Im intrigued. I really hope people support a set that looks to be done very very well. I think the industry’s future isnt enormously bright, so maybe people will see that its best to live in the moment. Definitive is definitely a great moment, and a nice way to close out Topps’ run. We still have Diamond and other sets to go, including Supreme, but this is the meat. This is the big dog. It barks like a big dog should.