I literally despised last year’s Contenders set because of the way it looked. In addition to having one of the worst designs of the year, the on card autos that were supposed to be the next big thing, turned out bubbly and amateurish looking. It was a complete disaster. This year, it looks like Panini took a different approach with parts of the set, which for the main parts of the set look tremendous, but leaves me speechless in a bad way for other parts.
We all know people buy Contenders for the rookie ticket autos. Its been that way for over a decade, and some of the most iconic cards of the hobby have come from this product as a result. In the last few years, the ticket autos have been terrible at best, culminating in last year’s abomination. This year, Panini has gone back to the roots of the set, using a simple design and nice use of white space. The cards look great. When the main guys will all be on card, it adds to the appeal, especially if the bush league pen problems from last year improve. I think that incorporating the actual “ticket” back into the design was a great idea, and not printing 2010 Rookie in huge letters across the picture is a welcome adjustment. For the first time all year, I say NICE JOB PANINI. Lets just hope these turn out to be on flat stock and not foil.
As for the other parts of the set, its stickers as usual, and that is where I think this set has its down points. First, the quad auto looks ridiculously bad, just because you cant display all the autos at once. The design looks weird and awkward to boot, and in the end you just end up with a WtF?!? moment. The Super Bowl tickets are a great idea, and I just wish they would get on card sigs to match the rookie ones on these. I know a bunch of people who would want an on card Elway ticket as shown.
Lastly, I cant say enough bad things about the rookie ink cards. Seriously, I want to know who designed that card because they should not have a job anymore. It is beyond disgusting, and I would be pissed if that was an auto in my box. What an eye sore. Hopefully the Tickets make up much more of the product as usual, because that set will terrorize my dreams at night.
Here are the preview cards posted on Panini’s Blog:
Hmmm, perhaps something that will finally make me spend a couple bucks on Panini products… but only if they’re on-card and not smudged, on card, like last year. And, is that a Tom Brady on card signature? If so, isn’t that like the first since about 2004??? It probably means that card is numbered to, like, 2 copies.
With the rookie ink cards it seems as if the player picture was the last thing the designer thought about.