Topps Prime hit early today as many Topps products are doing these days, and from what I have seen and experienced first hand, this product has very good elements and also very bad elements. The good elements mainly encompass the the base cards themselves, while the hits from this product are borderline hideous and make up most of the bad elements. When you see the checklist being almost 100% rookie based, with NO veteran autograph element, I start to wonder why we got this instead of a stand alone Bowman Chrome set.
Starting with the base cards, they look great. Very reminiscent of what Upper Deck has been known to do for their yearly flagship product, these cards feature very little to distract from the full bleed game shots. I bought a few packs today at target while I was picking up some stuff for the baby, and after seeing how great the base cards look, I sent out 10 TTM packages to hopefully get them signed. I have no idea why Topps didnt do that themselves, as it would have made this product that much better.
Instead we get the booklets that Topps puts in every product, and a slew of sticker autos that impede onto the oddly placed player pictures. They look better than some of the other shit topps has put out, but that isnt saying much considering that a card like this is supposed to be one of their big hits. The jersey cards are blah, and really, this product better be fucking cheap or it may end up as another 2007 Rookie Progression type situation where you cant give the boxes away.
Here are some of the cards that have surfaced on eBay, if I get my TTMs back, ill post them to show you what we missed out on.
Sam Bradford Auto /25 – I really frown upon a card like this because I have no idea why they didnt slap a clear sticker on it and leave the box out of it. Instead of a card that looks decently okay, we now have a big white sticker box covering up the player.
Emmanuel Sanders Auto /599 – That Bradford better be a parallel because if there are only 25 of him and 599 of guys like Sanders, this product is in huge trouble.
Dexter McCluster Quad Jersey Auto /499 – What is the point of a card like this with Triple Threads less than a month old? Just a terrible looking high numbered auto with little to offer.
Ryan Mathews Base Card – This was a TTM I sent out today, see what I mean when they missed out on getting these autographed. I guess they still may show up, but still.
When it comes down to it, on a product that has a pack MSRP of 10 bucks, the autos and hits need to shine more than the base cards. In this case, it looks to be the opposite, and that is a bad situation.
I’ve seen one of those rookie quads with other types of game used than just a jersey?
(eg. wristbands)
Hoping to see more from this product…but it looks a little cheap
Better than those step photographs that Panini is pumping out.
But I liked the SPX in the last 3 weeks. College jersey’s have a vast amount of colors.
How often do you make through the mail requests? Is your success rate pretty good? I had good luck growing up, but am thinking about giving it a whirl again.
I think the base cards look great and remind me of upper decks base cards. Topps, do you really need all these sticker autos? I want more on card autos. Trying to recreate triple threads is a bad idea. Maybe I will try to get some ttm autos with these.
I just figure that they make it easy by continuing to name sets beginning with “T” and “P” as the first letters. Mostly they’re probably not even good enough to wipe your ass with, though.
Not bad looking base cards, but they’re definitely the love child of 2008 Upper Deck and 1999 Stadium Club…
Really don’t get the four hourglass thing on the McCluster…
It is Machiavellian Card Marketing 101.
Step 1: You have 25 copies of the Bradford auto to offer artificial scarcity with the illusion of attainability.
Step 2: You then fill out almost 600 boxes worth of product with Manny Sanders as the big hit. This way you generate demand and interest in your products, but when the hobby enthusiast disappointingly gets his Manny, his sadness is just muted enough so that he won’t send his cards back inside a ticking box.
Step 3; Profit!!!
Step 4: Make moar Panini copycat sets!!!
Step 5; Profit Again!!!
Todd, that has been Upper Deck’s marketing strategy for over a decade. Print up 23 Lebron autos and 23 MJ autos. Put their pictures all over the boxes. Get ready to pull a Chris Kamen auto!