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When I think of Topps, all I can think about is how awful their high end stuff is, and how bored I am with their stupid ass retro sets. Now that I have seen Topps Magic Football first hand, all I want is for them to stop putting out retro sets. I know that they are having huge troubles selling anything that isnt Chrome or Base Topps, but that is no excuse for boring us to tears with this absolute crap.
In fact, I was so bored out of my mind by Magic, that I couldnt even muster the enthusiasm to write a review. It would have been the lowest graded product so far this year in my mind. The cards are printed on weird stock, the pics are all players in college unis, and they are all playing on empty fields surrounded by trees. I dont get the appeal of putting this together, it just seems like its a retro set for the sake of putting out a retro set.
Last year we had Mayo football, which fell flat on its face. I wasnt too excited about it to begin with, but after hearing about checklist problems and seeing the structure made exactly like A&G in football form, I didnt even touch it. Magic takes it to a whole new level, as the whole set is lacking pizzaz and pop. This is coming from a guy who praises painted "masterpieces-style" cards at every turn. These are amateur and devoid of character.
Then you get to the autographs, and things get worse. In typical Topps fashion, they incorporated a bordered sticker spot INTO THE FUCKING DESIGN, and are staying with the gross foil stickers instead of moving towards on card. Mayo was on card, A&G was on card, all the retro sets are on card, why is this one on stickers that are built into the design? IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE! At least use clear, small, blank stickers instead of creating a bordered place for them and using huge ass ones. I guess they are still stuck in 2003. 
Topps did this set for one reason. . . to rid their stock shelves of all these worthless auto stickers. That's why you see the solid silver auto stickers on some older players like Reggie Williams. Why would Reggie Williams have an auto if it weren't to just get rid of it?
ReplyDeleteLook at your 2 autos above. Leonard Pope and P.J. Daniels? Please. Auto stickers sitting on a shelf is money already spent. Why not create a severly cheap product to throw those stickers on and turn that investment into some quick cash.
It makes business sense, but it sucks for collectors. If I ever opened a product and got a Craig Buster Davis 3rd year auto I would never spend another dime with that company.
We saw this in basketball because of the Panini deal. There is no reason for this other than to make a buck at the expense of collectors. Not that it's not a short term business gain, but it's also a long term loss due to declining customer loyalty and satisfaction.
But hey, there's always Triple Threads.
Nice Perez Hilton stlye graphics Gellamn.
ReplyDeleteTopps makes retro sets for collectors born long before you young pups, and that is whom these sets are targeted at. Will you ever bash UD? Me thinks not...
Regardless of who the sets are targeted at, the cards should be better. There is no need for that ridiculous black border around the stickers, when they already say TOPPS CERTIFIED AUTO on the damn sig. Then, add in that the product is all college jerseys, something that only appeals to a very miniscule part of the hobby, and you got more problems. Finally, factor the rate that you pull an Isaiah Stanbeck auto card, and things get stupid.
ReplyDeleteI may not bash UD all that much, but they rarely pull shit like this...
cf45247,
ReplyDeleteI don't care whether it is labeled 'retro' or not, the product sucks.
If they were in fact targeted old dogs, then why include the crap autos at all? I'll tell you, it's so they can charge twice as much for the product.
If this were really a 'retro set' targeting the people you think they are, it would be a large base set with short prints, and cost less.
It's a sticker dump, nothing more.
I have to agree with Gellman on this. There are some nice autos to be had for sure. The base set is ok and I don't have a problem with it, but this product was meant to do nothing but dump their stock of sticker autos. The auto checklist almost reaches the sucktatude of their baseball products where everyone over the Mendoza line gets an auto insert.
ReplyDeleteThe border around the sticker is not needed, just a note on the back that denotes that the card is indeed an auto, no not the triangular sticker that can be faked from one card to the next.
Even though I think the base cards are ok, Topps already did their All-American retread merely 4 years ago.
Big LOL @ teh treez!
ReplyDeleteI was sort of surprised they went with the full college theme here. Now that is being faithful to the original design.
quack
I only have one problem with this set. You have no idea at all which cards are of rookies. also 201-205 are "short prints" and you get like 2 per pack (they sell the same as 1-199)
ReplyDeleteYou bash topps for retro sets yet upper deck has goudey, goodwin, and philadelphia. I've gotta say, hand it to donini for no retro sets
I agree that Magic is pretty sad, having bought a retail pack earlier this evening (though the James Lauranitis will be fun to shoop into something Road Warrior Animal-esque). But this year's A&G is no less than the second best looking set of cards I've seen all year. Too each their own, however.
ReplyDelete