If you were around back in 2010, and a fan of high end, you probably remember all the previews of the first go at Five Star that Topps released weekly. It was like someone brought all the feeling back to football cards after we found out Exquisite would no longer be NFL licensed. Seeing previews of Definitive kind of brings that full circle, because I know we are only going to get one version of it before Panini takes over.
2010 Five Star remains one of my favorite products ever:
2010 Topps Five Star Peyton Manning Auto Triple Patch Booklet
2010 Topps Five Star Ndamukong Suh Auto Patch RC
2010 Topps Five Star Ladanian Tomlinson / Ryan Matthews Dual Auto
2010 Topps Five Star Matt Ryan Quotables Inscription Auto
Its rare these days that I am floored by how a design looks, and after seeing the simple beauty here, I am really impressed. Really fucking impressed. On the Gurley and Mariota single autos, it looks like there is a “de-bossed” area with a very intricate design behind the player. I cant remember that ever being done before. The framed element on the Gurley card adds a premium element that I like a lot.
Also, we are getting a set of inscriptions again, which ARE my favorite cards in existence. I love me some inscriptions, and these look as good as ever. Last year’s Five Star left them behind, and I still feel like the set wasnt the same. Glad they are making a triumphant return one last time. The checklist looks pretty strong as well, with a lot of rookies, vets and HOFers, so I would guess that we are going to see some major wars over tracking those down.
The worst part about this is that I know people are still going to put Treasures ahead of this in terms of value, if not only for the reason I mentioned about one year and done. That is fucking bullshit, because these cards look a million times better. Not only does the design look better, but for the first time, it looks like the rookie patch autos will be bigger than treasures. I know how that inexplicably impacts value, despite the relics being event worn for 2 seconds.
Im bitter and sad that Topps is losing their license. They clearly know how to produce the best looking cards on the market.
