Over the last few weeks, we have gotten a better look into what the rest of Panini’s calendar will look like. Although I am person who dislikes just about everything they have put out so far this year, I am absolutely shocked they still have as many products to release as they do. They previewed a few of the upcoming sets yesterday for DeMarco Murray and a few other rookies, but the results are matching up with expectations set a long time ago, and that is not a good thing.
First, and most importantly, the National Treasures auto turned out better than I expected. It is still far below where it should be, especially in terms of the places the rookies have to sign, and the ridiculous ornate border that sits around the swatch window. I understand that value on these cards is determined more by what is in the patch than what the card looks like, but this design does not measure up in my opinion. Additionally, I don’t get what they were thinking with the borders using the red and green foil, it looks incredibly odd, especially on the 1/1. The red foil is juts out too much from the logo shield, and for some reason, it just doesn’t sit well with me.
Second, with the Totally Certified preview of Alex Green, I get why people loved this set in baskeball (after the fact), but I know it was not for cards like this. It is basically Limited’s design with a different foil and die cut, and I fail to see what makes this special over all the other junk they have put out so far this year. Its just another notch on the belt, and this hole isn’t any different than the last fifteen.
Lastly, I think there is a definite disconnect in release dates, which is only exacerbated by the NFL combine that is currently going on. Collectors will be moving on to Luck and RGIII, and I am guessing that 2012 product solicitation that should start soon will be a factor in that. If I were Topps, I would push all I can into the next few months to show that 2012 is here, and that 2011 is forgotten. Its way too late in the card season to continue to do stuff like this. The Prime Signatures card is nice, but Im over it. That’s about it.
I totally agree that the foil around the patch makes no sense. It’s actually kind of ugly and seems like Panini felt like they had to add “flare” to an already high end product by bringing more attention to the extremely large jersey patch and takes away from what should attract you to the product, which should be creative design and great photos of the actual players being depicted. When you look at the card, your eyes are drawn to the ginormous patch surrounded by colored Reynolds Wrap. And holy crap, if I pulled one of the RPAs and that bitch was single colored and not multi-colored, these card would be even more hideous! I’m not a Topps Five Star guy, so I was really hoping 2011 NT would be really nice high end pickup for me this year. Now I’m on the fence…..
I think that any set released this far into 2012 as a 2011 product is ruining its credibility.
I couldn’t agree more G-man. I won’t even get into the content of any of their upcoming releases. My biggest problem with Panini is their “schedule”. I’m already saving and getting ready for 2012 products, like Leaf Metal Draft. Why would I want to spend stupid amounts of money on over inflated (MAPP) priced 2011 products? I can damn near get a case of Leaf for what these knuckleheads want me to spend on a few boxes of their old news stuff. My hope is that 2012 will bring a little more sanity to the rookie checklists too. How about some greater variety among the sets??? If all the sets have the same rookies as they did in 2011 I will definitely be buying less product!
Prime signatures looks good! White and clean with an on-card auto that pops. I like it.
National Treasures looks fine so far. The foil doesn’t bother me as much. Obviously the design borrows from Exquisite and Five Star, but Five Star borrows from Exquisite. I think NT is missing the chance to really capitalize on it’s brand name and have a design that completely sets it apart from the other two.
The real problem I have with NT is that aside from the rookies, I don’t expect much else from a box; i.e., sticker autos, patch cards designed to have autos but don’t, and an incongruous design. That’s not high-end.
That brings up a rather important question:
What makes a product “high-end”?
Low numbering? The quality of the patch? The initial box price? The design?
To me, most of these cards look like they belong in the $1 commons bin, (which is probably where most of them will be in 5-10 years).
Once upon a time, cool patches were unique and rare…now they’re in every product and a dime a dozen…
That green foil NT makes it look like he plays for the Jets. Definitely needs to go and why are there parallels in “high end” anyway?
I’d say the design is what makes a card ‘high-end’…and yet, the Prime Signatures card is the only one up there that looks (for lack of a better word) “clean” enough to be a truly high-end card.