Category Archives: First Look

2009 Exquisite Is Hitting The Net, I Am Both Impressed and Not

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Card Informant has a nice little slideshow of the Exquisite Previews, and after going through the pictures, I am both happy and not. I really like the move towards signed swatches, but I cant stand that the booklets are making their way into a product like Exquisite. Triple Threads sucks because of the horrible concepts used in their products, and though these cards look better than that junk, UD is still using the bad ideas. Exquisite was fine without foldouts.

I am still not sold on the Rookie Patches either, as I get a very Las Vegas feel off of them. The borders look weird, and the gold design throws me, but the cards still look good enough that I would chase a few. Not as good as last year, but definitely better than some of the other high end cards this year.
Although the inscriptions are very cool, Im beginning to see a move towards overuse. Instead of getting one subset or two subsets a year, now we are getting three or four per product, and that could get problematic if it continues to spread. Sometimes you just need the old way mixed with new freshness.
Lastly, the biography cards are awful. Just plain awful. Not only are they booklet cards, but they look like the horrid ones I covered back in the worst of the worst from Chirography. They look boring, they have no originality, and are booklets for the sake of booklets. Bad news.




First Look: 2009 Topps Platinum Football

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First we had Chrome, then Sterling, now Platinum. I know, lame as hell, right? Well, as a final hurrah, Topps announced via Twitter that they are putting out this set to close out their license with the NFL. I had heard from a few people that Topps was creating a product to directly compete with the perennial awesomosity of SPA, but this is too little too late.

Basically the product is going to be set up exactly like SPA, 24 packs with one rookie patch auto per box and lots of base. Unlike SPA, however, the product is all stickers (as usual for Topps), and the cards look like bastard children of Bowman Sterling and Topps Chrome.
After seeing this, maybe its a good thing after all that Topps is leaving.

First Look: 2009 Topps Unique Football

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(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

When this stuff was first put out for baseball, I was definitely turned off by the horrible concept. Now that they have brought it to football with a few tweaks, its not as bad. The Brady card looks much better than its baseball counterpart, and the Namath doesnt look as awful as the tag card that was previewed a while ago on Wax Heaven. Im guessing its because the backgrounds look more finished, and the idea of what is trying to be presented looks more flushed out. However, the Mannings dual is typical Topps, and the Peterson and Roethlisberger look awful.

My thoughts are still that the namesake of this product doesnt really apply to the content, and that is going to be the problem. Its not really any different than what we get out of a lot of other products, so to call it “Unique” is a gross misnomer.
As long as it stays as a mid end set and doesnt stretch cost past the 100 dollar mark, it could be successful, mainly depending on whether or not the other cards are as boring as the baseball ones. With Topps, nothing is set until the product hits shelves.
EDIT: Just got word this product is going to run 140-180 a box. Holy fuck. Yeah, im out.

First Look: 2009 Ultimate Collection Football

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I cant believe its this time of year already, but we are getting Ultimate previews, and I love it. The cards have their ups and downs, but there are a few that look VERY cool. Still no word on what the rookie signatures are going to look like, but these mock ups will have to tide us over.

This card is not one of my favorites. Its busy, its weirdly lined, and the design just doesnt look very good. Im pretty disappointed if this is what the base is going to look like, but base is not the focus of this product.
Here is another card that features weird lines, but the team color aspect is pretty cool. Im not really feeling the Louis Vuitton type pattern background, something that I see from upcoming sets is going to be pretty standard. This should look better for other players with better colors.
I love this card. It looks awesome. Last year’s ultimate patches were some of my favorite cards, and this year looks like they are going to be as good. Again, it has that pattern, but im glad it isnt too prominent here. This card would have looked that much better without it.
This card looks pretty sweet as well. The odd lines actually look very cool, and the player setup works very well. These will all be on card, and you can imagine how cool some of these will be. I heard there are all the way up to 8, so those could be some of the most valuable ones of the year.
As good as the rookie one looks, is as bad as this one does. It looks like the Romo was pasted onto the bottom of this card, and it may have been salvaged if there was no line below Big Ben. It just looks odd, but does look like a pretty awesome dual if they had chopped off the Romo sig box.
We also saw that there would be more 1997 Legends sigs, which will be great as they were last year, but you already know what those look like. Darrell Green was the player, and im sure that the 2009 HOF class will be added along with him.
Overall, I would still say Im pretty excited for Ultimate, even though last year’s looked like it was a lot better. Too bad they couldnt have gone with a preview of the RC autos as well, as those are the focus of the set. Ill reserve judgement until I see them. Lastly, it looks like the inscription cards will be back as well, and deservedly so, as last year they were some of the cooler pieces to obtain. Ive taken a few shots at the 2008 Peterson, but have never been successful. After seeing some of the stuff they put into Philadelphia in terms of inscriptions, I would expect them to be pretty nuts for Ultimate as well.
Comes out in december with the same configuration as 2008.

First Look: 2009 SP Signature Edition Football

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This set was definitely a surprise edition to the calendar, and I think that I am going to like this product based on the few previews that UD posted on facebook. However, after considering things, I cant help but draw parallels to the awful 2007 Chirography attempt at a product like this. Chirography was such a bomb that any correllation makes me very, VERY weary.

These cards do look very good however, and SP Signature has been a success in the past, but I get a strange tingle up the back of my neck that tells me to be very cautious about latching on to a product like this. First, I know the MSRP wont be ridiculous like it was for Chirography, Im guessing around 80 bucks, and the cards wont be completely cookie cutter either. Factor in that the autos look on card, and I could be pleasantly surprised.
I will say this, to see a great product like Premier get the axe instead of a price and content cut, only to be replaced by another SP set, makes me angry. Maybe things will work out though.