As of last year, Absolute was about as dead a brand as it ever has been. Not only were the cards incredibly ugly, but the value in the boxes was akin more to 2007 than 2013. Absolute’s format has not changed in years, even though the hobby has relatively moved on from tiny swatches and worthless autos. Now that we have somehow made it to this brand’s 20th anniversary, I am surprised to say that it looks good for maybe the first time ever.

You can see, this product has produced some VERY ugly cards over the years:

2012 Absolute Andrew Luck Rookie Premiere Materials Auto BGS 9.5

2011 Absolute Aaron Rodgers Jersey Auto

2009 Absolute LeSean McCoy Jumbo Patch Auto

2012 Absolute Russell Wilson Jumbo Patch Auto

There have also been a few nice designs too:

2012 Absolute Tools of the Trade Matthew Stafford Quad Relic Auto

2011 Absolute DeMarco Murray Rookie Premiere Materials Auto RC

I think the biggest change (at least according to the sell sheet) is the shift away from die cut spellings on the Rookie Premiere Material cards, which have been an ugly staple of the brand since 2006. Instead they have chosen to go with a quad swatch pattern, that I think is a really nice choice. Although we still have sticker autos, the broad line design with the player focused layout works very well. In the past, these cards have been complete train wrecks.

As for the other major part of the set, Tools of the Trade, we get another pretty nice looking design. It has been one of the more consistently awesome sets of this product. My only complaint is that the main look doesnt vary all that much from the RPMs, which is a bit confusing. In the past the tools design has been a different look all together, where as this year looks very similar to the other parts of the set. Even the jumbo patches look pretty good, which is saying something, considering the history of eyesores with this product's jumbo patch designs.

I think that Absolute still needs a major overhaul to be relevant in today’s market. However, I think that the look this year seems to be improved enough to get a few collectors to stay interested.