We got our first auctions popping up on eBay, and there are already a handful of box breaks on Blowout, both good and bad. The funny thing is that the havoc wreaked by Paradigm over four years ago are still holding people’s expectations hostage, and from what I am seeing so far in the breaks, those expectations could be heading in the wrong direction.
First, the plusses. The cards look awesome, but this was expected. We saw a lot of what Topps was bringing from their facebook page, and the initial auctions support these photos. The booklet cards even look amazing, and that is coming from someone who thinks that booklets need to go away for good. Now that more cards are starting to show up, im in hog heaven with some of these. For a product that has NO history to build on like Exquisite did, this is a home run. Each of the cards looks better than the next, and I am drooling over some of the bigger hits that have surfaced. If Panini thinks NT is going to look even in the same state as five star, they are going to be sadly mistaken. The cards look that good.
As for the minuses, there are a few. The biggest one is that Topps included the Red Zone autos in this product. Why? Im not sure. Its completely out of sorts to put cards that were available in the lowest end product of the year, in the highest end product. I would understand if the only ones they used were Bryant, Tebow and Bradford, but when Montario Hardesty is making a cameo, things are not where they should be.
Here are the auctions so far:
Sam Bradford Base Rookie Patch Auto /40
Sam Bradford Rookie Patch Auto Booklet /20 – This stuff is VERY low numbered, lets hope some of the other stuff is more around the 99 that Exquisite was at.
Arrelious Benn Base RC Auto /100
Jahvid Best/Ryan Mathews Dual Laundry Tag Auto /4
Ladanian Tomlinson Inscription Auto /10 – Awesome card. Just awesome.
Bradford/Best Dual Patch Auto Booklet 3/5 – another awesome card.
I will cite this fact, as I have said many times over the last few months:
This product will be the biggest and best SINGLES product of the year, BOTTOM LINE.
At this point, we are still playing with the Exquisite and NT standards of the box break, something that may plague this product. However, for someone like me, I could care less. I love the way the cards look, and that’s all that matters in my mind. If you want to break none or a ton of this product, you will have my blessing either way (not that you needed it in the first place).
good looking cards, but again there is no way that 450-500$ a box with that kinda value will make this product that great. It should bee 300$ a box or so and than were talking, I just don’t see a box where the best rookie is Jordan Shiply going for 500$. Also doesn’t each box promise at least one veteran or legend and yet i saw many boxes where the auto are all rookies. If that happens than at least make sure the auto is of one of the top 5-10 rookies not some scrub that i can get out of rookies and stars. (not that i am comparing the products) I will buy some boxes if the price goes down like exquisite did down to 300-350 cause than i wont lose as much money.
This stuff is awful. And it’s only a good singles product if you collect the rookies or one of the VERY LIMITED number of veteran/retired auto subjects.
Topps went the cheap route when it comes to getting a wide checklist of veteran autos. People are pulling the same 10-15 guys over and over again. That’s going to hurt sales. The guys like Favre are SSSSSSSPs in this making them almost irrelevant.
Epic Fail. But it should make my sealed cases of Exquisite go up in value…
First off, long-time follower/reader of this site. First time posting. Props to gellman and all the others who comment on here, it is the best place on the net…
What is with the hate on this product? RM- no offense, but calling this product “awful” is the most ridiculous statement I’ve heard in awhile. BTW, I have no agenda, haven’t opened any-yet.
These singles will outsell NT/exquisite/contenders, whatever. Absolutely beautiful cards, topps has set the new standard.
It continues to amaze me that we clamor for high-dollar products that don’t take short-cuts, then once a company finally answers the call, collectors complain that the product isnt perfect, which will never happen. People, this is as close to that as we have ever seen. If a favre auto was collated/produced the exact same as a howie long – which it shouldnt, it would lessen the value of the favre- again, which it shouldnt. Granted the red zone autos are a shit inclusion, but everything else appears to be top-notch.
I for one will bust a couple of these packs, as it finally feels a product has arrived where even if you DONT pull a bradford/tebow/ridiculous 1/1 hit, the QUALITY of the product would provide you with a nice card to have, why is this so bad?
Gelman, saw you sold your Lott booklet card at a very nice price earlier, EXACTLY what you were alluding to during the bust online yesterday evening. This product is going to produce pretty good value, and some beautiful cards.
RM, not to pick at you again, curious as to why you believe your exquisite cases would go up in value? Im rooting for you to see that through, just cant picture people spending alot of money on a collegiate product when the five star and NT RPA are going to be the standard for this years rookie class…
Did you pull that AD today Gellman?
LOLZ!!! @ RM. Your “sealed cases of exquisite” will not go up because of this product. They will only decrease in value as time goes by regardless of what product comes out at any given time.
This is actually a very nice product and looks awesome. I’ve searched some of the cards on Ebay and they are very impressive. Topps didn’t go cheap on any of this. And the reason why the price is going up is because there has been high demand for this product early. If you’re not into paying inflated prices like me, then yes, wait 6 months to a year or longer. That’s what I did with National Treasures and Exquisite boxes and I got them for 25-40% off the original price. Patience is a virtue.
Nope, bought it off the guy on blowout.
I Totally agree, i wanted to buy exquisite last year when it came out at 500$ a box, but waited till a few weeks ago got a case for 980$ which is less than what 2 boxes used to cost. I believe that most products go down after the new season comes. I’m not really into selling cards i just buy them because i like the players and the game, but when i pay 400-500$ a box i expect at least one very good veteran or legend as to me they have or should have more value than an unproven rookie. anyway I love the look of the product but there should be at least one proven player a box. Will wait until same time next year to get it at 25% less.
Besides these cards and the older upper deck autographs, I will not buy anything else. The prices are skyrocketing on 07 and 08 premier football hall of famer autos. Same with the sp authentic and exquisite ones. If I can find the previously mentioned cards at a reasonable price, then I will gladly get them. The problem is demand is high, leading to high prices. When you throw in a constantly diminishing supply of upper deck cards, it doesn’t help.
Real quick – is it just me or do 90% of the five star cards on ebay look like they have bad corners? Has anyone owned any of these in person? I’m wanting to buy some super high-end bradfords and stuff but everyone I see (not the booklets, but the singles) look like they have chipped/rounded/ just plain bad corners. Is it the photos?
I have a couple cards on ebay at the moment, just look up the name I am posting this under. The cards that I got are in great condition, i scanned them for ebay. I think I might have won the week 1 bounty. I have the tebow 4 patch/auto booklet 15/20 on ebay right now. not plugging it, just wanted to let you know. I emailed topps but have not heard anything back yet. If I won that helmet, it would be sweeeeeeet! And by the way there is re-sale value for these cards, they are wayyyyy nicer than I expected!